Avid
®
iNEWS™
Redundancy and Failover in
Avid News Management Solutions
Ta b l e o f Co n t e n t s
Introduction . . . .1
iNEWS Newsroom Computer System (NRCS) . . . .2
Redundancy and Failover . . . .2
Local Redundancy . . . .3
Wire Caching . . . .3
Disaster Recovery . . . .4
Database Backups . . . .4
iNEWS ControlAir™ Automation Assist System . . . .4
Running Without Connection to iNEWS . . . .5
Flexibility . . . .5
Backup ControlAir Server . . . .5
Rundown Mirroring . . . .5
MOS (Media Object Server) Gateway . . . .6
Backup MOS Gateway . . . .6
1
I n t r o d u c t i o n
Newsroom technology has matured along with IT systems design and network architecture. While broadcasters are realizing greater productivity from increasing reliance on networked news management systems, they are also seeing the necessity for a robust architecture that provides high availability and reliability while getting the news on the air. Whether running remote newsrooms, airing multiple newscasts, ensuring protection during downtime or even during network-disabling disasters, Avid iNEWS news management products provide very high availability and reliability across the system, through a redundant architecture and the capability for failover to a standby system.
Redundancy in a newsroom system is one of the most important technical design elements for high reliability. By reducing single points of failure, enabling failover to standby production devices, servers, or network paths, and building in non-interruptive regular maintenance capability, newscast production can continue during a malfunction. Avid iNEWS news management systems incorporate all these techniques in a carefully designed infrastructure, purpose-built for breaking news.
i N E W S Ne w s r oo m Co m p u t e r S y s t e m ( N RC S )
The iNEWS newsroom computer system automates ingest of news wires and other stories, sorting them into categories and sending notifications to groups of users automatically, all based on customizable rules. It collects news data from diverse sources, including serial wire feeds, telnet, email, and network shares. Journalists use iNEWS to browse wire feeds and the internet from their desktops, dragging and dropping pertinent information into assignment sheets and news stories.
iNEWS increases efficiency by allowing multiple users to collaborate on the creation and production of a show. The latest content is instantly presented to all users working in the rundown. When the rundown is ready to air, it can be sent to the iNEWS ControlAir system or the MOS Gateway, or it can be extracted by a third party automation system. Any changes made to the rundown in iNEWS are reflected in the attached production devices.
Re d u n d a n c y a n d Fa i l ove r
Up to three iNEWS servers can be configured in a mirrored cluster, connected over a special LAN backbone (dedicated 100-base-T network recommended). All iNEWS data, including directory structure, stories, and user information is constantly mirrored across each server in the system. User sessions and processes are load-balanced automatically across the servers. In the event that one of the servers becomes unavailable, the users connected to that system would be logged off with a message. When they attempt to log back into the system, they will automatically be connected to an available server.
Loss of mirroring network service between servers causes the servers to disconnect and run independently. At this point, one server is designated as the master, and once any hardware faults have been rectified, the system administrator restores the failed server. This process also involves running the diskclear utility on the failed server in order to erase the residual database
3 L o c a l Re d u n d a n c y
iNEWS provides a local backup mechanism that allows the client to save a backup copy of a story as it is being edited. The backup location and interval are customizable. When a user is working on an unsaved story and becomes disconnected from the iNEWS servers, he is prompted to restore the most recently backed-up copy as soon as reconnection occurs. iNEWS supports a local database, which can be used alone or in combination with the online system database. Story forms and print styles can be synchronized with the online database at any time while the user is online. A directory structure can be created in the local database, and forms can be assigned to different groups or functions so that stories will always be written in the proper format. Stories can be moved or copied between the online and local databases, allowing users to view or edit stories offline, then move them back into the online system when they reconnect.
Wi r e Ca c h i n g
The Data Receiver built for the iNEWS system is designed to ensure that newsrooms reliably receive their wire content under demanding conditions. It ensures that no data is lost if the system is taken offline. The system captures status and error events in Data Receiver logs, and sends system notifications to specified users in email form.
If the newsroom system becomes unavailable, the Data Receiver can cache incoming stories up to a configurable volume of disk space, transferring them into the newsroom system when it becomes available. This is a useful feature in the case of either planned maintenance downtime or unexpected network failures.
iNEWS Server A iNEWS Server B iNEWS Server C iNEWS Fast Text Search (Indexing) iNEWS Data Receiver (Wire Ingest) iNEWS Data Receiver
(Wire Ingest) iNEWS
ControlAir Server (Video) iNEWS ControlAir Server (Backup Video) Control Room 1 iNEWS ControlAir Server (CG) iNEWS ControlAir Server (Video) iNEWS ControlAir Server (Backup Video) Control Room 2 iNEWS ControlAir Server (CG) iNEWS Console Console Modem 100 Base-T Ethernet LEGEND Gigabit Ethernet
Serial Control Connection Mirroring
Switch
LAN/WAN
iNEWS Clients
Figure 1
A newsroom network designed with mirrored iNEWS servers, a hot standby Data Receiver, and backup iNEWS ControlAir servers ensures availability to all users and processes.
D i s a s t e r Re c ove r y
For disaster recovery, customers have the option to set up a separate server system in a location other than the primary news production location. This system would be licensed identically to the primary production system. On a weekly basis, the database from the primary system would be backed up to the disaster recovery system, with possible incremental backups performed nightly. Some important, customer-defined areas of the iNEWS database could be mirrored regularly throughout the course of the day via FTP transfers.
This remote system would be configured with appropriate hardware and licenses to
accommodate users in the event that one of the primary systems was to become unavailable. Wires could be ingested into the remote systems directly, ensuring that the latest wire content would be available in any event. Fairly static areas of the iNEWS database, such as archives, user files, and rolodex, would be backed up from the primary system and restored to the remote system on a daily or weekly basis. Rundowns and assignment desk areas could be mirrored to the remote system throughout the course of each day.
Da t a b a s e Ba c k u p s
All areas of the iNEWS system, including the directory structure, stories, and user information, can be backed up and restored using any method supported by the server operating system.
i N E W S Co n t r ol A i r A u t o ma t i o n A s s i s t S y s t e m
iNEWS ControlAir server works with the iNEWS system to assist in playout automation of news production devices including character generators, video servers, and still stores. Rundowns created in the iNEWS system are sent to the iNEWS ControlAir server, which coordinates the playback from numerous devices. Changes made to the iNEWS NRCS rundown are reflected in the iNEWS ControlAir playlist in real time. Even if the iNEWS ControlAir server becomes disconnected
5 Ru n n i n g w i t ho u t c o n n e c t i o n t o i N E W S
Should the iNEWS servers become unavailable, playback control by the iNEWS ControlAir system can continue using the last copy of the rundown that was available. However, the iNEWS ControlAir system would not receive playlist updates during the failure; once the iNEWS system became available again, a user would simply reload the show in the iNEWS NRCS and reserve the new playlist in the iNEWS ControlAir.
F l ex i b i l i t y
Separate iNEWS ControlAir servers can be installed for each control room, with the capability of controlling broadcast devices at either their local site (for CG, still stores, and video servers) or in a remote location (specified video servers only). Any iNEWS ControlAir workstation with network access can connect to any of the iNEWS ControlAir Servers, enabling them to control playout from the server’s attached devices. Many larger Avid iNEWS customers use the iNEWS ControlAir system to playout machine events from multiple geographic locations.
The iNEWS ControlAir system can be configured to control channels on separate video servers. In the event that one of the servers becomes unavailable, playback can continue by assigning all the remaining video events to alternate channels.
Ba c k u p i N E W S Co n t r ol A i r S e r ve r
In the event that the primary iNEWS ControlAir server becomes unavailable, a backup iNEWS ControlAir server can be loaded. This allows playback to continue with only a brief interruption.
Ru n d ow n M i rr o r i n g
The iNEWS system supports “action servers” which can create mirrored copies of the working rundown in another location. The mirrored rundown can be loaded to a backup iNEWS ControlAir server, which would be available in the event of a failure of the primary iNEWS ControlAir server. The backup iNEWS ControlAir server can even be connected to a separate video server and iNEWS ControlAir workstation, providing complete redundancy with a hot standby for every component in the system.
Primary AirSPACE
Primary AirSPACE Primary iNEWS ControlAir System
Backup iNEWS ControlAir System iNEWS – Mirrored Rundown
iNEWS Working Rundown
iNEWS Monitor
iNEWS Rundown Mirroring
iNEWS Monitor PAPI
PAPI
Figure 3
iNEWS rundown mirroring can be utilized to provide a hot-standby iNEWS ControlAir system. Here, the rundown is mirrored to another location on the same iNEWS system, with iNEWS ControlAir servers linked to both the main and the mirrored rundowns. This setup is in hot standby status at all times.
M O S ( Me d i a O b j e c t S e r ve r ) Ga t e w a y
Media Object Server (MOS) is a communication standard developed to facilitate the transfer of media object information between broadcast devices and newsroom systems. The standard has been implemented by a large number of vendors, including Avid. Avid has representation on the MOS Committee, and has been instrumental in moving the standard forward. The MOS Gateway offers an additional method for the iNEWS system to communicate with third-party devices. Ba c k u p M O S Ga t e w a y
In the event that the primary MOS Gateway becomes unavailable, a backup MOS Gateway can be loaded. This allows playback to continue with only a brief interruption.
Co n c l u s i o n
The widespread user and technology base of worldwide news organizations and station groups, including ad hoc newsgathering and transmitting locales during significant events around the world, makes complete confidence in a system’s reliability one of the foremost considerations in building the newsroom infrastructure. For local or independent stations, having fewer newscasts, users, locations and devices may seem to mean fewer points of failure. However, making sure to consider both typical and worst-case scenarios, from normal database backups or system monitoring to a remote system malfunction or disaster recovery, is the best way to ensure the technology in the newsroom keeps running smoothly.
