Mediasite Administrator Update, May 2015
As part of an ongoing effort to keep Mediasite administrators on campus informed, we created this DELTAwire article specifically for you! For help with any Mediasite questions, please contact us at mediasite-help@ncsu.edu.
This article includes information on the following topics:
Mediasite Recorder Upgrade
Sonic Foundry has released Mediasite Recorder 7.0.23 hotfix, which you will need to push to your recorders after the maintenance window on May 13, 2015. This can be done with the centralized Recorder Software updates from the Management Portal. This hotfix resolves the current recorder stability issues we have experienced, and of which we informed you on April 10. Please note, the permanent solution for the settings issue experienced on reboots will not be resolved until the July 2015 release, which will include fully automated remotely re-imaging and restoring settings pushed from the management portal.
In the next version release, 7.0.24, the duplicate recorder issue we have experienced is scheduled to be resolved.
Clarification on Flash Drives
If you received a flash drive distributed at the MUG meeting in 2014 which contained both version 6.1 and 7.0.9, this is the exact same image and version 7.0.9 on the recent flash drives distributed. Therefore, you can use either drive to re-image a recorder if you are told to do so by Sonic Foundry. Please be aware, this is also the same image you can push from the management portal. The flash drives were simply distributed for convenience because some preferred the drives to logging into the management portal.
At this point, Sonic Foundry has stated there is NOT a need to re-image a recorder to 7.0.9, unless Tech Support suggest you do so in troubleshooting a recorder.
Mediasite Server Maintenance
Server Maintenance
The Mediasite 7.0.23 server hotfix will be applied to the servers and the servers will be configured to use SSL during the maintenance on May 13 between 9 a.m.—12 p.m. We will also begin removing the remaining WMVs on May 13, but this could take up to a week to complete. The servers will be offline and users will not be able to login to the management portal for a short period while the work is being performed. While we don’t anticipate using the entire window, the longer period is reserved for unforeseen circumstances.
For further information and updates regarding this maintenance, please see http://sysnews.ncsu.edu/news/
Monthly Server Maintenance
The monthly Windows Updates for the Mediasite servers will be installed between 5-8 a.m., on May 15, 2015. The servers will be rebooted one at a time. There will be a brief outage when the database and file servers are rebooted, but no other interruptions are expected.
For all regularly scheduled server maintenance windows, please see the Updates & Maintenance schedule.
Mediasite Browser Compatibility Issue
- We have seen a trend that browsers such as Chrome and Firefox are beginning to block plugins. Some Mediasite recordings require that plugins be enabled for videos to play. Because Sonic Foundry predicts this trend will continue across other browsers, they are actively working to address the situation by first, updating the Mediasite Player so it uses browser-trusted plugins. Then, they plan to evolve the Player so that it is not dependent on plugins. Until the releases, if users experience videos that do not play, we recommend they enable plugins in their browser or try another browser that does not block plugins. Read this article for instructions on how to enable plugins.
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With the recent announcement of Chrome dropping support of Silverlight, Sonic Foundry has a solution in place for playback of live and smooth streaming. Thus, individuals can watch presentations without any problem in the browser of their choice; however, if you are editing a presentation or remotely monitoring recorders in the Recorder Control Center through the management portal (which requires Silverlight), these administrative functions will NOT work in Chrome. Therefore, you will need to use a different browser such as IE, Safari or Firefox.
In addition, please note, My Mediasite users who wish to edit their presentations will need to use IE, Safari or Firefox.
Sonic Foundry is currently planning for a short-term solution, but their long-term strategy over the next nine-twelve months is to move to MPEG DASH which will alleviate plug-in issues.
Presentation Format for Archive
Sonic Foundry recently confirmed the publish to go file (PTG) is not the ideal format for archival purposes. There is a second format, export, which is only available through the systems manager. Currently, there are API’s for PTG, but there is not currently an API for exports. However, the good news is that Sonic Foundry engineering is currently building an API for the export function (which is faster and more suited for back-ups and archive purposes) and will be ready by early summer.
UNLEASH 2015, Mediasite User Conference
Whether you attended UNLEASH and would like to view sessions you missed, or if you were unable to attend the conference, below is information on viewing the on-demand presentations.
URL: http://unleash.mediasite.com/
Username: Unleash15
Password: UL15Live
More Information
To learn more about Mediasite at NC State, or to see other topics covered in our next update, please contact Laura Stephenson at laura_stephenson@ncsu.edu. Your suggestions are always welcome.
Please send Mediasite help requests to mediasite-help@ncsu.edu.
Subscribe to Mediasite updates by sending the message “subscribe mediasite” to mj2@lists.ncsu.edu.
