Setting Up and Configuring a Video Portal Appliance

Revised: March 3, 2008

This chapter describes in a checklist how to set up a a Video Portal a appliance and configure its software. Use the checklist to track your progress while you complete the required tasks.

Before You Begin

•Verify that at least one computer on your network is configured for access to other networked devices through TCP ports 80 and 8080.

•Enable popup windows in your browser if they are disabled. You can complete the checklist only if popup windows are enabled.

•Learn if your network uses dynamic (DHCP) or static IP addresses, and — if your network uses static IP addresses:

–Learn what IP address to assign to the Video Portal appliance.

–Learn what subnet mask (netmask) to use.

–Learn what IP addresses are assigned to the default network gateway, the primary DNS server, and the secondary DNS server.
Task

1. Set up Video Portal appliance hardware.

a. Unpack the equipment from its container and verify that all components are present.

b. Plug in the redundant power cables on the back of the appliance.

c. Connect a live Ethernet cable to Port 1 on the back of the appliance.

d. Connect a monitor to the VGA output on the back of the appliance.

e. Connect a standard PS2 keyboard to the purple PS2 port in the back of the appliance.

f. Power on the appliance.

2. After you can see and read the "Start of First Boot" message, press Enter.

Caution You must not enter an IP  address when you are prompted to enter the fully qualified hostname. Even though we supported your use of IP addresses for this purpose in prior releases, we do not support them now.

3. Specify the fully qualified hostname for the Video Portal appliance. You must enter the DNS-routable hostname, then select OK. For example:
server.example.com

Caution We recommend that you do not use DHCP to obtain an IP address for your appliance, due to the sometimes unpredictable expiration of IP addresses in DHCP systems and the administrative overhead of reconfiguring other devices to reestablish disrupted connections (for depoloyments or any other purpose). We further recommend that you do not change the static IP address that you assign to the appliance.

4. Enter IP address and routing information.

  ·    If your appliance will obtain its IP address from a DHCP server, select Yes.

  ·    If your appliance will use a static IP address, select No, so that you can enter the static network settings.

If your appliance will use a static IP address, you must:

a. Enter the IP address that your appliance should use.

b. Enter the subnet mask.

c. Enter the default gateway IP address or DNS-routable hostname.

d. Enter the primary DNS server IP address or DNS-routable hostname.

e. Enter the secondary DNS server IP address or DNS-routable hostname.

f. Select OK.

5. Confirm if you entered the correct network settings. If the settings are correct, select Yes. Alternatively, if they are wrong, select No to go back and correct them.

 

6. Configure settings for the appliance network interface card (NIC).

Do one of the following:

  ·    If the NIC for your appliance should autonegotiate the fastest possible transmission mode when it is
       connected to another device, select Yes.

  ·    If the NIC should not autonegotiate, select No, select the NIC speed, select OK, select the duplex method,
       select OK, then select Yes.

7. Select the time zone settings.

a. Use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate through the Time Zone list.

b. Stop when the correct time zone is displayed, then select OK.

c. If the settings are correct, select Yes. Alternatively, if they are wrong, select No to go back and correct them.

8. Select the current month, year, and day.

a. Use the Tab key and the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate and change the selected values.

b. When you are done, select OK.

c. If the settings are correct, select Yes. Alternatively, if they are wrong, select No to go back and correct them.

9. Select the current hour, minute, and second. Use the format for military time (24 hours that increment from 0100 to 2400).

a. Use the Tab key and the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate and change the selected values.

b. When you are done, select OK.

c. If the settings are correct, select Yes. Alternatively, if they are wrong, select No to go back and correct them.

10. Select the supported filetypes and formats for video encoding.

a. Select the media formats that your Video Portal will support (any combination of the options WMV, FLV, QT, and RM), then select OK and:

  ·    If you selected two or more formats, specify the primary format, then select OK.

  ·    If you selected three or more formats, specify the secondary format, then select OK.

  ·    If you selected four or more formats, specify the tertiary format, then select OK.

b. Confirm your selections, then select OK.

Caution You must enter the instance name. If you do not, setup fails.

11. Enter the Video Portal instance name, then select OK twice.

12. Enter a password for the admin account. This is by default the account to use when you administer the appliance. The password that you enter must contain at least six characters. When you are done, select OK.

Tip We recommend that you use a strong password. A strong password has at least eight characters and contains numbers, letters (both uppercase and lowercase), and symbols.

13. Enter a password for the pwadmin account. This is the account to use if you forget your password for the admin account. When you are done entering the password, select OK twice.

After a moment, the appliance reboots and a login prompt is displayed.


Your Video Portal installation will be complete after you complete the required steps to obtain a license and activate the Video Portal features. See Chapter 3, "Setting Up and Configuring a DMM Appliance."