External Storage


Work through the following topics to connect K2 Media Client models with external storage to the K2 Storage System:

About load balancing

When you purchase a K2 Storage System to provide the shared storage for your K2 Media Clients, your Grass Valley representative sizes the storage system based on your bandwidth requirements. These bandwidth requirements are based on how you intend to use the channels of your K2 Media Clients. The bit rates, media formats, and ratio of record channels to play channels all effect your bandwidth requirements.

As you add your K2 Media Clients to the K2 Storage System, you must assign a bandwidth value to each K2 Media Client. This value is based on your intended use of the channels of that K2 Media Client. There is a page in the K2 System Configuration application on which you enter parameters such as channel count, bit rate, and track count per channel to calculate the bandwidth value for a K2 Media Client. The K2 System Configuration application takes that bandwidth value and load balances it across the K2 Storage System, so that the K2 Media Client has adequate bandwidth for its intended media access operations. When the bandwidth values you enter in the K2 System Configuration application match the overall bandwidth requirements upon which your K2 external storage is sized, you have sufficient bandwidth for all your K2 Media Clients.

Load balancing is important for the K2 Storage System because of the relative bandwidth constraints inherent in Gigabit Ethernet and the iSCSI protocol. The K2 Storage System uses a mechanism called a TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) as a bridge across which all media must travel between the iSCSI/Gigabit world and the SCSI/Fibre Channel world. Each TOE has a limit as to how much bandwidth it can handle.

Depending on the level of your K2 Storage System you have one or more TOEs available for load balancing. A TOE is hosted by the iSCSI interface board, which also provides the Gigabit Ethernet connection. The Level 1 RAID Storage device has one iSCSI interface board. K2 media servers each have two iSCSI interface boards.

As you configure your K2 Storage System, the K2 System Configuration application assigns a K2 Media Client to a specific TOE and keeps track of the bandwidth so subscribed to each TOE. A single K2 Media Client can only subscribe to a single TOE. However, a single TOE can have multiple K2 Media Clients subscribed to it. The K2 System Configuration application assigns K2 Media Clients to each TOE, filling them until their subscription is full.

You should add your highest bandwidth K2 Media Clients first to the K2 Storage System, so that the K2 System Configuration application can distribute them equally across the available TOEs. Then when you add the lower bandwidth K2 Media Clients, the K2 System Configuration application can add them to the TOEs with bandwidth remaining.

It is important to realize that this load balancing does not adjust itself dynamically. If you change your intended use of a K2 Media Client and increase its bandwidth requirements, you risk oversubscribing the TOE to which that K2 Media Client is assigned. If this happens, media access fails on all the clients assigned to the TOE.

To prevent oversubscription problems you should load balance your K2 Storage System again if you must increase the bandwidth requirements of a K2 Media Client. You can do this using the K2 System Configuration application. To stay under the total bandwidth limit of the K2 Storage System, you might have to decrease the bandwidth requirements of another K2 Media Client. In any case you must again load balance.

Determining K2 Media Client bandwidth requirements

The K2 System Configuration application provides a page in the Configure K2 Client wizard that calculates the bandwidth requirement for a K2 Media Client. On this page you enter information regarding the channel count, bit rate, and tracks per channel for your intended use of the K2 Media Client. The page then calculates the bandwidth requirement and make it available for load balancing. Refer to Adding K2 Media Clients for procedures.

Preparing the K2 Storage System

Refer to the K2 Storage System Instruction Manual to install and configure the K2 Storage System so that it is prepared for the addition of your external storage K2 Media Clients.

The following K2 Storage System preparations are required to support K2 Media Clients:

NOTE: Do not run Storage Utility on an external storage K2 Media Client. For external storage, run Storage Utility only via the K2 System Configuration application.

Preparing K2 Media Clients

Do the following to each K2 Media Client in preparation for its addition to the K2 Storage System:

NOTE: The connections to GigE ports 2 and 4 documented here are only valid for external storage K2 Media Clients that access shared storage on a K2 Storage System. To connect GigE ports 2 and 4 on internal storage K2 Media Clients, refer to the Internal Storage chapter ealier in this manual

Installing Multi-Path I/O Software

The following procedure is required for external storage K2 Media Clients that have both Gigabit Media ports (ports 2 and 4) connected to the iSCSI Media network. Typically, this configuration is used for redundant K2 Storage Systems, such as Level 2R and Level 3R.

The installation files for the Multi-Path I/O software are copied on to the K2 Media Client when the K2 Client software is installed.

To install Multi-Path I/O software, do the following:

  1. If you have not already done so, connect keyboard, monitor, and mouse to the K2 Media Client and log on to Windows.
  2. Stop all media access. If AppCenter is open, close it.
  3. Click Start | Run, type cmd and press Enter. The MS-DOS command prompt window opens.
  4. From the command prompt, navigate to the C:\profile\mpio directory.
  5. Type the following at the command prompt:
  6. C:\profile\mpio>gdsminstall.exe -i c:\profile\mpio gdsm.inf Root\GDSM
  7. Press Enter. The software is installed. The command prompt window reports the following:
    • Pre-Installing the Multi-Path Adapter Filter...
      Success
      Installing the Multi-Path Bus Driver...
      Success
      Installing the Device Specific Module...
      Success
      Installing the Multi-Path Device Driver...
      Success (but need a reboot)
  8. Restart the K2 Media Client.
  9. After restart, to verify that the software is installed, on the Windows desktop right-click My Computer and select Manage. The Computer Management window opens.


  10. In the left pane select Device Manager.
  11. In the right pane open the System devices node and verify that GVG ISCSI Multi-Path Device Specific Module is listed.

Adding K2 Media Clients

For each of your K2 Media Clients, use the procedures in this section to configure for operation using the K2 Storage System as the shared media storage.

Before beginning with these procedures, make sure the K2 Storage System and the K2 Media Clients are prepared as specified in the sections earlier in this chapter. Cabling must be complete, K2 Media Clients must be communicating on the control network, and the K2 Storage System must have a viable media file system.

Configuring a K2 Media Client for the K2 Storage System

Configure a K2 Media Client as follows:

  1. On the K2 configuration control point PC, open the K2 System Configuration application. A login dialog box opens.


  2. Log in to the K2 System Configuration application with the correct adminstrator account. By default this as follows:
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: adminK2
    Refer to the security topic elsewhere in this manual for more information about administrator accounts and logging in to applications.
  3. In the K2 System Configuration application tree view, verify that the K2 Storage System is correctly defined.You should see the correct number of K2 Media Clients. If the correct number of K2 Media Clients is not currently added to the K2 Storage System, you can add or remove clients now (before clients are configured), as follows:
    • Select the top node of the storage system and click the Add Device button
    • Select a unconfigured K2 Media Client and click the Remove button.
  4. Select the top K2 Media Client.
  5. Click the Configure button. The K2 Media Client Configuration wizard opens. Follow the on-screen text as described in the following table.:

    On this page…
    Do this…
    Page 1

    Enter the IP address or network name for a K2 Media Client, as currently configured on the K2 Media Client. You should configure your highest bandwidth K2 Media Clients first, as this ensures load balancing is correct. Refer to the load balancing topic earlier in this chapter for information on load balancing.
    For the Storage Access settings, leave iSCSI selected.
    Click Next
    Software Configuration
    This page checks the K2 Media Client for required software.

    If software with Yes in the Required column reports as Not Installed, you must first install it on the K2 Media Client before continuing. Refer to Managing K2 client system software. After installing the software, click Check Software. When all required software reports as Installed, click Next.
    Network Configuration
    This page configures the Ethernet ports for both the control network and the media network. The K2 Media Client actually has four Gigabit Ethernet ports, but they are configured as two teamed pairs. Each teamed pair shares an IP address and appears on this page as a single port.

    The top port is the port over which the K2 System Configuration application is communicating with the K2 Media Client. If correctly configured, it is already assigned the control network IP address, which is displayed in the window.
    Select the other port and click Modify. A network configuration dialog box opens. Enter the media network IP address and the subnet mask.
    Click Next.
    Database Client Configuration
    This page connects the K2 Media Client as a media database client to the K2 Media Server taking the role of media database server. If there are redundant K2 Media Servers, both are listed on this page as database servers.

    Verify that the K2 Media Client is connecting to the correct K2 Media Server or Servers, as follows:
    • For Level 1, the client connects to the L1 RAID storage device.
    • For Level 2, the client connects to the only server.
    • For Level 2R, the client connects to server A as database server 1 and sever B as database server 2.
    • For Level 3, the client connects to server 1.
    • For Level 3R, the client connects to server 1A as database server 1 and sever 1B as database server 2.
    Refer to the K2 Storage System Instruction Manual to identify servers.
    If there are multiple FTP servers, the K2 System Configuration application automatically assigns the K2 Media Client to a FTP server to provide optimum FTP bandwidth across the system.
    Click Check. When the wizard reports that the configuration check is successful, click Next.
    File System Client Configuration
    This page connects the K2 Media Client as a media file system client to the K2 Media Server taking the role of media file system server. If there are redundant K2 Media Servers, both are listed on this page as file system servers.

    Verify that the K2 Media Client is connecting to the correct K2 Media Server or Servers, as follows:
    • For Level 1, the client connects to the L1 RAID storage device.
    • For Level 2, the client connects to the only server.
    • For Level 2R, the client connects to server A as file system server 1 and server B as file system server 2.
    • For Level 3, the client connects to server 1.
    • For Level 3R, the client connects to server 1A as file system server 1 and server 1B as file system server 2.
    Refer to the K2 Storage System Instruction Manual to identify servers.
    Click Check. When the wizard reports that the configuration check is successful, click Next.
    iSCSI Initiator Configuration
    This page load balances the K2 Media Client’s iSCSI connection to the K2 Storage System. The iSCSI adapters on your K2 Media Server or servers are listed here as iSCSI targets. The K2 System Configuration application determines the iSCSI target to which each K2 Media Client subscribes, based on the bandwidth values that you enter. This enforces policies by which each K2 Media Client has sufficient bandwidth for its intended use and no individual iSCSI target is oversubscribed.

    Click Modify. The Bandwidth Input dialog box opens
    .
    Enter the channel count, bit rate, and track count per channel information according to your intended use of the K2 Media Client.
    Click Calculate and verify that the total bandwidth is correct according to the system design for your shared storage system. You should be configuring your highest bandwidth K2 Media Clients first, to ensure that they are distributed equally across iSCSI targets. To verify this, while you are on this page for your first K2 Media Client, you can temporarily enter information and calculate the bandwidth for each of your K2 Media Clients and compare bandwidth values.
    Click Assign Portal, then OK to confirm.
    If you have a redundant K2 Storage System, the K2 System Configuration application makes the appropriate assignment to the redundant server, as reported in the Secondary target box.
    Click Next.
    Completing the Configuration Wizard
    Click Finish. The K2 Media Client restarts and the wizard closes.
  6. Repeat this procedure for each of your K2 Media Clients.

Basic operations for external storage K2 Media Clients

Use the following procedures as you operate your K2 Media Clients with the K2 Storage System:

For other procedures refer to Administering and maintaining the K2 system and the K2 Storage System Instruction Manual.

Power on/off procedures

As long as the K2 Storage System remains operational, you can use the standard power on and power off procedures for K2 Media Clients attached to the K2 Storage System. When a K2 Media Client goes offline or comes online it does not disrupt the K2 Storage System.

However, if you are powering down or otherwise taking the K2 Storage System out of service, you must follow the correct procedure as specified in the K2 Storage System Instruction Manual. You must first stop all media access on your K2 Media Clients to ensure that they do not cause error conditions. You can power off the K2 Media Clients or take them offline using the K2 System Configuration application.

When powering up the K2 Storage System, power on the K2 Media Clients last so that they can verify their media storage as part of their start up processes.

Taking a K2 Media Client offline

  1. Stop all media operations on the device. This includes, play, record, and transfer operations.
  2. Open the K2 System Configuration application on the control point PC.
  3. In the K2 System Configuration application’s tree view, select a K2 Media Client and then click the Take Offline button.
  4. After you have completed your service work on the device, similarly select the K2 Media Cleint and then click the Bring online button.

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