17-2
XMS Configuration Guide
Propagating Assets to Other Xmedia Servers
Once propagation is configured on the propagation server’s Xmedia Server Control Panel,
there are two (2) methods for propagating assets to the recipient servers:
automatic
propagation
and
manual propagation
.
Automatic propagation requires you designate propagable categories on the propagation
server’s Xmedia Server Control Panel. Once this is set up, certain events within the
propagable category, like adding or editing an asset, will trigger the propagation server to
automatically propagate the category’s assets to the designated recipient servers.
Unlike automatic propagation, manual propagation does not require you to first set up
propagable categories on the propagation server. In fact, manual propagation allows you to
perform an immediate, on-demand propagation of any asset or category stored on the
propagation server to a specific recipient server. However,
manual propagation can only
be performed within the Vertigo Suite’s Xplorer and Xstudio applications.
Unlike
automatic propagation, manual propagation distributes the assets/category to the recipient
server the one-time and does not update it until another manual propagation is triggered.
Whether you choose automatic or manual propagation, there are a few concepts and
behaviors that you need to be aware of regarding the Xmedia Server propagation model:
•
When propagation is executed, a recipient category is created on the recipient server
that is identical to the propagated category on the propagation server.
•
The propagation of categories is recursive. Since categories on the propagation server
can contain sub-categories, the entire contents of the parent category (i.e. sub-
categories and assets) are propagated to the associated recipient servers.
•
Child asset propagation is not supported. In other words, if a propagated asset contains
assets that are bound to the propagated asset, only the principal asset is propagated,
not the bound assets. For example, a template can be propagated to another server,
but all its bound assets (i.e. the scene, images, video clips, lookup tables...etc.) will not
be propagated along with the template. The template on the recipient server could
potentially be incomplete. Therefore, it is very important that you correctly set up
propagation to propagated all of the assets individually to avoid such a scenario.
•
Deleting a propagable category on the propagation server also deletes the recipient
category and its assets from the recipient server.
•
The Xmedia Server’s propagation model uses a mechanism called
P
ROPAGATION
E
XCEPTIONS
that allow assets and categories to be propagated to the recipient servers
despite name clashes. This is accomplished by temporarily renaming the propagated
asset or category and raising an exception on the recipient server, which prompts users
on the recipient server to fix the problem by renaming, deleting, or moving one of its
assets so that the propagated asset can use its name.
•
When propagation is set up, work orders created on a recipient server are considered to
be
distributed work orders
because they exist simultaneously on both the propagation
server and a recipient server. To use distributed work orders, the servers must be set up
in a hub and spoke configuration. See
“Propagation and distributed work orders” on page
17-14
for more information.