MediaCentralUX Admin

CX300 Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Platform for Administrators

Version 2019.11

Avid Technology, Inc.

Copyright and Disclaimer
Copyright and Disclaimer
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Acknowledgments
Avid Worldwide Education would like to thank all Avid Certified Instructors for their ongoing suggestions and comments,
based on their experience in the classroom and their professional expertise, which have resulted in the continued
improvement of Avid’s curriculum.
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CX300-v2018.11-November2019
 Preface iii
Contents
Preface ..................................................................................................................................................... viii
Who Should Take This Course ........................................................................................................... viii
Course Prerequisites ......................................................................................................................... viii
Course Structure................................................................................................................................. ix
Avid Learning Services ........................................................................................................................ ix
Avid Certified. Real skills, proven........................................................................................................ ix
Other Resources ..................................................................................................................................x
Avid Knowledge Center..................................................................................................................x
Avid Communities ..........................................................................................................................x
Avid Product Documentation .........................................................................................................x
Agenda ............................................................................................................................................... xi
Module 1: Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform ........................................................ 1

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform Overview....................................................................................... 2
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options ................................................................................... 4
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options ..................................................................... 4
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview .......................................................................................... 5
Server Requirements ..................................................................................................................... 5
Cluster Requirements ................................................................................................................... 6
Operating System ........................................................................................................................ 6
Memory Requirements .................................................................................................................. 6
Networking Requirements ............................................................................................................. 6
Caching and HDD Requirements .................................................................................................. 6
Antivirus ........................................................................................................................................ 7
Security Updates .......................................................................................................................... 7
MediaCentral |Newsroom Management-only Deployment Hardware Requirements .................... 8
Trusted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL Certificates)........................................................................... 8
Port Usage .................................................................................................................................... 8
MediaCentral | Cloud UX MCDS Overview ......................................................................................... 10
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Workstation ................................................................................................ 11
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Mobile Application Devices ......................................................................... 12
Device Support ............................................................................................................................ 12
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Device Compatibility ........................................................................... 13
MediaCentral | Production Management Data Model Object Types .................................................. 14
Media Formats Supported for Playback............................................................................................. 15
Media Formats Supported for Send to Playback ................................................................................ 18
Bandwidth Requirements ................................................................................................................... 19
Media Format and Stream Count Assessment ............................................................................. 19
Client-Side Bandwidth Requirements for MediaCentral Cloud UX .............................................. 24
Multi Resolution Workflows ............................................................................................................... 25
Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 25
Review Questions .............................................................................................................................. 26
Exercise 1: Confirming the Configuration ............................................................................................. 28
Module 2: Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management ............................................................... 29

Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management Overview ..............................................................30
Service Accounts .........................................................................................................................30
Signing in to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Admin Portal ..................................................................30
Administrator App Overview ........................................................................................................ 35
User Management Overview .............................................................................................................. 36
User Management: Sidebar ......................................................................................................... 38
Sidebar Toolbar........................................................................................................................... 33
User Management: Results .......................................................................................................... 34
Filtering and Sorting the Results Panel ........................................................................................ 35
User Management: Details .......................................................................................................... 36
Group Details .............................................................................................................................. 36
User Details ................................................................................................................................. 37
Adding or Removing User Groups ...................................................................................................... 37
Adding Client License Types .............................................................................................................. 39
Summary ...........................................................................................................................................40
Exercise 2: Opening and Closing Apps .................................................................................................. 43
Module 3: Managing MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings ...................................................................... 45

Using the Configuration Settings App................................................................................................ 46
Configuring the General Settings ............................................................................................... 47
Configuring the Modules-Asset Management Settings ............................................................... 48
Configuring the Modules-Production Management Settings....................................................... 48
Configuring the Distribute Setting............................................................................................... 49
Using the Workflow Settings App ....................................................................................................... 49
Configuring the Playback Settings .............................................................................................50
Configuring MediaCentral | Analytics .........................................................................................50
Configuring Archive/Restore .......................................................................................................50
Publish-Configuring for Send to Playback ........................................................................................ 51
Configuring the Publish Settings ................................................................................................. 51
Creating a Send to Playback Profile-AirSpeed 5500................................................................... 52
Creating a Send to Playback Profile-MediaCentral | Transfer..................................................... 54
Configuring MediaCentral Production Management Settings ........................................................... 56
Server Settings-Update Tracking................................................................................................. 56
User Authentication Providers-MediaCentral Platform Authentication ........................................ 56
MediaCentral Platform Settings .................................................................................................. 57
Application Database Settings .................................................................................................... 57
Interplay Transfer Settings .......................................................................................................... 58
MediaCentral Search Connector ................................................................................................ 58
 Preface v
Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 59
Exercise 3: Create an AirSpeed Send to Playback Profile ................................................................... 62
Module 4: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing ..................................................................................... 63

Licensing Overview .................................................................................................................................... 64
Understanding the License Types ............................................................................................... 65
User Licenses .............................................................................................................................. 65
Platform Licenses ....................................................................................................................... 65
App and Feature Licenses........................................................................................................... 66
License Distribution .................................................................................................................... 67
Importing a License ........................................................................................................................... 69
Reviewing the Licensing Results Panel .............................................................................................. 70
MediaCentral | Newsroom Management Licensing ........................................................................... 72
Verifying the Newsroom Management Licensing ........................................................................ 72
Verifying What or Who are Taking Up Session Licenses .............................................................. 72
iNEWS Connectivity Toolkit Connector (CTC) ............................................................................ 73
Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 73
Exercise 4: Verifying the Configured Licensing.................................................................................... 76
Module 5: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server ............................................................................................ 77

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview ........................................................................................ 78
High Availability vs Failover ........................................................................................................ 78
MediaCentral Cloud UX Services .................................................................................................79
Rebooting a MediaCentral Cloud UX Cluster Overview ...............................................................79
Adding or Removing Nodes ......................................................................................................... 80
Kubernetes-Monitoring and Troubleshooting .................................................................................... 80
Connecting to the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server .......................................................................... 84
Files and Directories ................................................................................................................... 85
Listing the Contents of Directories and Changing Directories .................................................... 85
Viewing Files ............................................................................................................................... 86
Verifying the Primary Node of the Cluster .................................................................................. 87
Viewing the .yaml Files................................................................................................................ 88
Editing Files ................................................................................................................................. 91
Status Commands ...................................................................................................................... 92
Working with Services ................................................................................................................. 92
Working with Kubernetes ............................................................................................................ 92
Restarting a Pod ......................................................................................................................... 93
Displaying Pod Logs ................................................................................................................... 94
Power Cycling and Maintenance Mode ............................................................................................ 94
Putting a Node in Maintenance Mode ......................................................................................... 95
Rebooting or Shutting Down a Single MediaCentral Cloud UX Server or Node ........................... 95
To Power-Cycle an Entire MediaCentral Cloud UX Cluster......................................................... 96
Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 97
Exercise 5: Using the Kubernetes Dashboard ..................................................................................... 100
Module 6: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Maintenance and General Troubleshooting ............................ 101

Verifying the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Software Versions ............................................................... 102
Verifying the version of MediaCentral Cloud UX Feature Packs ................................................ 102
Verifying the version of CentOS ................................................................................................ 103
Verifying the NEXIS Client Version on Cloud UX ........................................................................ 103
General Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................. 104
Verifying Hostname, Network, and DNS Connectivity ............................................................... 104
Active Directory-Users Working in Disconnected Mode ............................................................. 105
Notes for Active Directory User Accounts .................................................................................. 105
Working with MongoDB ................................................................................................................... 105
Reviewing the Database Files .................................................................................................... 106
Backing up the Mongo Database ...............................................................................................107
Restoring the Mongo Database ................................................................................................. 108
Scheduling Automatic Backup .................................................................................................. 108
Troubleshooting Playback ................................................................................................................ 110
Verifying Access to Shared Storage ............................................................................................ 111
Troubleshooting Sync Server Clocks ................................................................................................. 112
Verifying the Server Date and Time ............................................................................................ 112
Viewing the NTP.CONF File ........................................................................................................ 112
Making sure the Configured NTP server is reachable ................................................................. 113
Syncing the System to the Configured NTP server without waiting ............................................ 113
Troubleshooting MediaCentral | Newsroom Management Connectivity Issues ................................. 113
Identifying the INEWSCTC Resources ........................................................................................ 113
Viewing the INEWSCTC Configuration ....................................................................................... 114
Restarting the INEWSCTC Service.............................................................................................. 114
Viewing the INEWSCTC Log Files ............................................................................................... 115
Troubleshooting MCDS ..................................................................................................................... 115
Using MediaCentral Production Services Status......................................................................... 115
Verifying the Location of the MCDS Service ............................................................................... 116
Restarting the MediaCentral Distribution Service ....................................................................... 116
Finding the MCDS Log Files ....................................................................................................... 117
Reconfiguring MCDS to point to a Different Instance of MCDS.................................................. 117
MediaCentral Cloud UX and System Logs ........................................................................................ 117
Log Locations............................................................................................................................. 117
Viewing Log Files ........................................................................................................................ 118
Collecting Logs .......................................................................................................................... 119
Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 120
Review Questions ............................................................................................................................. 121
Exercise 6: General Troubleshooting ....................................................................................................123

 Preface vii
Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS ........................................................................................ 125
Reviewing the Publish Workflow ....................................................................................................... 126
Configuration Settings ..................................................................................................................... 127
IPC Profile .................................................................................................................................. 128
Production Management Profile ................................................................................................ 129
STP Profile ................................................................................................................................. 130
Vantage Profile ........................................................................................................................... 131
Workflow Settings ............................................................................................................................ 132
Twitter Application Profile .......................................................................................................... 132
Facebook Application Profile ..................................................................................................... 133
YouTube Application Profile ....................................................................................................... 134
Generic CMS Application Profile ................................................................................................ 136
Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 137
Review Questions ............................................................................................................................. 138
Exercise 7: Viewing Configuration and Workflow Settings ................................................................ 140

Preface
In this course you will learn about the tasks for administering the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Platform.
GOALS
 Understand the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform
components
 Manage MediaCentral | Cloud UX users and groups
 View and modify MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings
 Configure Publish for AirSpeed and MediaCentral | Transfer
Send to Playback
 Understand MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing
 Understand Kubernetes
 Troubleshoot real‐time playback
 View log files
 Understand Publish to Twitter, Facebook, and CMS
Who Should Take This Course
This course is designed for system administrators who will support the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Platform.
Course Prerequisites
Depending on the MediaCentral Cloud UX Platform and components that will be supported, the
administrator should have experience administering:
• Avid MediaCentral | Production Management
• Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom Management
• Avid ISIS | 7500 or ISIS | 5500 or Avid NEXIS

The skills needed to administer these products can also be learned in the following courses
• DependiWG213 Avid Interplay| Production for Administrators (3 days)
• IN300 Avid iNEWS for System Administrators (3 days)

• UN212 Avid ISIS | 7500 for Administrators (2 days)
• NX216 Avid NEXIS for Administrators (1 day)

Course Structure
This course was developed by the award‐winning team of Avid course developers and education
specialists to provide you with an in‐depth overview of the concepts and techniques necessary to
create a program on an Avid system.
The course is divided into modules that use a combination of conceptual material, step‐by‐step
procedures, and illustrations to teach the operation of the Avid system. Throughout the modules you
will also find Tips and Notes that also provide useful guidance.
Avid Learning Services
As the recognized leader in media and entertainment production solutions, Avid is committed to your
success. Through a combination of up‐to‐date courseware, educational best practices, and industry‐
experienced instructors, Avid makes learning interesting and rewarding.
Avid Certified. Real skills, proven.
Avid Certification helps professionals attain and demonstrate the skills and credentials they need to
increase their value, competency, and efficiency in the highly competitive media industry.
Avid certification programs cover the broad range of Avid products, as well as other professional
roles, including Avid Certified Instructor, Avid Certified Support Representative, and Avid Certified
Administrator.
If you want to learn more about Avid training, please check out our official online resource by going
to www.avid.com/education. There you will find information about our training partners, specifics on
the various certification options available, and detailed course descriptions for each course offered
through our programs.
To offer feedback on this or any other education offering, send e‐mail to training@avid.com.

Other Resources
Avid Technology, Inc. offers additional resources that you can use to enhance your understanding of
the product.
Avid Knowledge Center
The Knowledge Center is a repository for thousands of technical documents, file downloads, and
tutorials. It can be accessed at www.avid.com/onlinesupport/.
Avid Communities
The Avid Communities offer a variety of ways for you to interact, share, and find out more about Avid
products and services from fellow users and industry professionals. They can be accessed at
www.avid.com/community.
Avid Product Documentation
Documentation for all Avid products can be downloaded from the Avid Knowledge Center.

Preface
In this course, you will learn about the tasks for administering the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Platform.
GOALS
 Understand the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform
components
 Manage MediaCentral | Cloud UX users and groups
 View and modify MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings
 Configure Publish for AirSpeed and MediaCentral |

Transfer Send to Playback
 Understand MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing
 Understand Kubernetes
 Troubleshoot real-time playback
 View log files
 Understand Publish to Twitter, Facebook, and CMS
Who Should Take This Course

This course is designed for system administrators who will support the Avid
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform.
Course Prerequisites
Depending on the MediaCentral Cloud UX Platform and components that will be
supported, the administrator should have experience administering:
• Avid MediaCentral | Production Management

• Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom Management
• Avid ISIS | 7500 or ISIS | 5500 or Avid NEXIS
The skills needed to administer these products can also be learned in the following
courses
• DepndW
i G213 Avid Interplay | Production for Administrators (3 days)
• IN300 Avid iNEWS for System Administrators (3 days)
• NX216 Avid NEXIS for Administrators (1 day)
Course Structure
This course was developed by the award-winning team of Avid course developers and
education specialists to provide you with an in-depth overview of the concepts and
techniques necessary to create a program on an Avid system.
The course is divided into modules that use a combination of conceptual material, step-
by-step procedures, and illustrations to teach the operation of the Avid system.
Throughout the modules, you will also find Tips and Notes that also provide useful
guidance.
Avid Learning Services

As the recognized leader in media and entertainment production solutions, Avid is
committed to your success. Through a combination of up-to-date courseware,
educational best practices, and industry-experienced instructors, Avid makes learning
interesting and rewarding.
Avid Certified. Real skills, proven.
Avid Certification helps professionals attain and demonstrate the skills and credentials
they need to increase their value, competency, and efficiency in the highly competitive
media industry.
Avid certification programs cover the broad range of Avid products, as well as other
professional roles, including Avid Certified Instructor, Avid Certified Support
Representative, and Avid Certified Administrator.
If you want to learn more about Avid training, please check out our official online
resource by going to www.avid.com/education. There you will find information about
our training partners, specifics on the various certification options available, and
detailed course descriptions for each course offered through our programs.
To offer feedback on this or any other education offering, send e-mail to

training@avid.com.
Other Resources
Avid Technology, Inc. offers additional resources that you can use to enhance your
understanding of the product.
Avid Knowledge Center

The Knowledge Center is a repository for thousands of technical documents, file
downloads, and tutorials. It can be accessed at www.avid.com/onlinesupport/.
Avid Communities
The Avid Communities offer a variety of ways for you to interact, share, and find out
more about Avid products and services from fellow users and industry professionals.
They can be accessed at www.avid.com/community.
Avid Product Documentation

Documentation for all Avid products can be downloaded from the Avid Knowledge
Center.
Agenda
Module/Exercise Duration
Module 1: Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX 60
Module 2: Managing Users 30
Module 3: Managing MediaCentral Cloud UX Settings 30
Module 4: MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing 30
Module 5: MediaCentral Cloud UX Server 60
Module 6: MediaCentral Cloud UX Maintenance and 30

General Troubleshooting
Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS Situational

MODULE 1
Introduction to Avid
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX delivers workflow tools for media professionals through both web
and mobile applications allowing users to access media and control text, video, and audio.
Beyond the user interface, MediaCentral provides a platform for additional apps, modules, and
services that can be leveraged by other connected systems—extending workflows and creating
new collaborative solutions.
This module introduces the key components and supported asset types for playback and send
to playback in a MediaCentral UX world.
Duration: 60 min
GOALS
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform Overview
 Deployment Options
 Cloud UX Server Overview
 MCDS Overview
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Workstation
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Mobile Application Devices
 MediaCentral Production Management Data Model

Object Types
 Media Formats Supported for Playback
 Media Formats Supported for Send to Playback
 Bandwidth Requirements
 Multi Resolutions Workflows

2 Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform Overview

Avid MediaCentral Cloud UX provides a simple, user-friendly graphical interface that can
integrate with MediaCentral modules such as MediaCentral Production Management, and
MediaCentral Newsroom Management. You can access the Cloud UX user interface through a
web client or mobile device.
Beyond the user interface, MediaCentral provides a platform for additional apps, modules, and
services that can be leveraged by other connected systems.
The MediaCentral Cloud UX server is built on a Kubernetes managed Docker container structure.
In a Docker environment, you have a host server (the hardware) and a host operating system
(CentOS). Docker is installed on the host operating system. After it is installed you can create
one or more images or containers (which do not contain an operating system).
A container is generally composed of a single service or application as well as any dependent

components.
Kubernetes is a cluster manager/container orchestration engine. Kubernetes does not manage

Docker containers directly instead it manages pods. A pod is a construct that wraps around one
or more containers. Kubernetes is installed on each MediaCentral Cloud UX server and provides
the foundation for the system’s clustering technology. Depending on how the system is
engineered, Kubernetes can create multiple redundant pods. If a pod goes down, another can
be brought online quickly.
Module 1  Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform 3
You can interact with Kubernetes through the CentOS command-line interface. However, you
can also access Kubernetes through a web portal that provides a graphical view of the managed
systems.
For more information on Kubernetes, see https://kubernetes.io
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options

MediaCentral Cloud UX allows individuals in different media production functions to access the
tools they need to complete tasks with greater visibility to assets, team collaboration, and
workflow agility. Through Cloud UX, users can access Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom
Management, and/or Avid MediaCentral | Production Management, and Avid MediaCentral |
Shared Library depending on which Platform Licenses are sold.
MediaCentral Cloud UX includes a set of apps and features common to every installation. Avid
allows organizations to add new options to the Cloud UX as needed, allowing you to customize
the user experience by eliminating features that do not apply to your workflow.
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options

The three main platform deployments are detailed below:
 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT
The Avid MediaCentral | Production Management system provides a database for

organizing, protecting, deleting, and searching content across an Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS
shared storage solution. Production Management provides tools that let journalists and
producers add rich metadata to stories, work collaboratively, and send the assembled
video sequence to a playout server (this requires additional products/licenses).
 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | NEWSROOM MANAGEMENT
The Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom Management system provides journalists, producers,

directors, and various technical personnel in the newsroom with an array of tools to make
their job easier. It is primarily made up of Newsroom Management workstations and
Newsroom Management servers which allow users a centralized location for writing stories,
building rundowns, working collaboratively and working with standard television station
technology such as teleprompters, character generators, video servers, and automation
systems.
 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | SHARED LIBRARY OR AVID MEDIACENTRAL | ASSET MANAGEMENT
The Avid MediaCentral | Shared Library system provides a powerful archive solution for
Production Management assets that use the Cloud UX interface to perform all archive and
restore workflows.
Avid MediaCentral | Asset Management manages the entire life-cycle of your content
making it easy to browse and retrieve assets across multiple tiers of storage for reuse and
repurposing. This course will not focus on this product. For details, please consult the
MediaCentral | Cloud UX User’s Guide and the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
In addition to the Platform deployment options, there are different Cloud UX license types that
allow access to either standard features such as modifying Newsroom Management stories or
editing Production Management sequences. There are also App and Feature Licenses for such
applications as MediaCentral | Hoverscrub, MediaCentral | Ingest plugin, and the MediaCentral |
Panel for Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Each of these license types and deployment options is covered in further detail in Module 4:
MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing.
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview

In Kubernetes, each MediaCentral Cloud UX server is identified as a node. In a cluster
configuration, you can have Master nodes, Worker nodes, or a node that fills both roles. Master
nodes are responsible for coordinating activities across the cluster. Worker nodes are generally
more passive in that they run pods, but do not manage them. Nodes that are identified as both a
master and a worker have enough resources to both coordinate activity and run pods. In a
MediaCentral Cloud UX cluster, the first three servers operate as both Master and Worker nodes.
All other nodes are simply Worker nodes. When creating a MediaCentral UX cluster, Avid requires
a minimum of three cluster nodes. Two node configurations are not supported.
Server Requirements
A number of factors affect how many servers you deploy in a MediaCentral | Cloud UX
environment.
 Deployment Scale: The type of deployment is the primary influence on server

requirements. Newsroom Management only deployment without video playback has the
lowest processing needs. MediaCentral Production Management deployments require
more CPU resources, due to the media transcoding requirements.
 Media Formats: The next biggest consideration is the source media format. Certain
resolutions are more resource-intensive while others are more lightweight by comparison.
 The number of expected users and how those users connect to the system (client versus
mobile device) may affect the hardware specifications.
A single server is the minimum deployment model, which is suitable for MediaCentral for
Newsroom Management-only, or environments with few users and/or undemanding transcoding
requirements. This solution offers some hardware redundancy (dual power supplies, dual
internal drives), but little redundancy for system services.
Three or more servers (cluster) offers redundancy for both hardware and system services. This
adds increased peak-usage and media transcoding capacity. Deploying multiple servers in a
cluster is important for sites with many users and/or resource-hungry media formats.
Cluster Requirements
A MediaCentral Cloud UX deployment is a minimum of a single MediaCentral Cloud UX server.
If you are configuring multiple MediaCentral Cloud UX servers in a cluster, note the following
requirements:
 Avid requires that you configure at least three nodes (servers). Three node configurations
allow for high availability where you can lose one node and continue to operate. Two node
cluster configurations are not supported.
 You must ensure that the primary network interface (the one associated with your default
gateway) is assigned to the same name on each cluster node. If the interface names do
not match, inter-node cluster communication and connection with Avid shared storage
might not be reliable.
 The path to your GlusterFS block device must be the same on all cluster nodes.
The MediaCentral Cloud UX server is currently qualified on the following servers as of the 2018.11
release:
 HP ProLiant DL 360 Gen 8, Gen 9, and Gen 10

 Dell PowerEdge R620, R630, and R640
Operating System
Community Enterprise Operating System (CentOS) 7.5 with MediaCentral Cloud UX 2018.11.
Memory Requirements
MediaCentral Cloud UX servers require a minimum of 128GB of RAM. If desired, more RAM can be
added to the server to potentially support additional users or stream counts.
Networking Requirements
Avid supports the on-board 1 Gb network adapter in many HP and Dell servers. However, certain
workflows require the increased bandwidth of a 10 Gb network adapter. For example, a 10 Gb
connection is required for any MediaCentral | Cloud UX deployment that intends to use 100+ Mbps
video formats such as AVC-Intra 100, DVCPro 100, and DNxHD 145. 10 GB connections might also
be desired or required to enable increased client connections or playback streams.
Caching and HDD Requirements

In several workflows, MediaCentral Cloud UX generates and locally caches transcoded media
assets. These workflows include:
 Working with multi-cam assets from a MediaCentral Production Management system

 Media Composer Cloud Remote workflows using multi-cam media
 MediaCentral Asset Management workflows that require file-based playback
These workflows all share the same requirement: asset playback from a web application is
requested of a source media asset that is not web compliant. In this case, MediaCentral Cloud
UX must locally generate a web client copy of the source media asset. This asset is then served
to the requesting application. The asset is also cached in anticipation of a subsequence
playback request. In the case of multi-server deployments (a cluster), the cached assets are
replicated across the servers to reduce future transcoding of the same asset on a different
playback server.
As a result, additional drives are required on MediaCentral Cloud UX servers for this cached
media.
Media Cache Drive Configuration
When a media cache is required, the following options are supported for the cache volume:
Drives Volume Configuration and Notes
1 A single hard drive configured as a separate volume. This configuration provides no redundancy in case of
a hard drive failure.
2 2 drives configured as a RAID1 volume. This configuration provides redundancy in case one of the hard
drives fails.
6 or 8 Drives configured as a RAID5 volume. This configuration provides redundancy in the event of a hard drive
failure. It also provides increased I/O for a higher volume of proxy generation and serving.
Group Clips Supported* (Group clips composed of subclips, and subclips created from group clips are not currently
supported)
Important: In all cases, the media cache is distinct from, and in addition to, the 2
HDD RAID1 volume configured for the operating system.
Antivirus
Antivirus is not required on the MediaCentral Cloud UX servers due to the nature of the Linux
operating system and the data that is passed from the Cloud UX client to the Cloud UX server.
Avid recommends that no other application be loaded on the Cloud UX server to ensure optimal
performance.
Security Updates
MediaCentral Cloud UX is supported on a community-driven operating system called CentOS
(Community Enterprise Operating System)-derived from the sources of Red Hat Enterprise Linux
(RHEL). The operating system is supplied by Avid as part of the MediaCentral UX installation
media. This distribution of CentOS includes operating system security updates that have been
qualified by Avid.
Avid does not support installing any operating system updates or patches on the
MediaCentral Cloud UX server. Do not install OS updates unless you are
specifically directed to do so by Avid
For more information on system security, see the following link on the Avid Knowledge Base:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/troubleshooting/en239659
MediaCentral | Newsroom Management-only Deployment Hardware

Requirements
If you configure MediaCentral Cloud UX with only the MediaCentral Newsroom Management
module, video playback is not invoked by this configuration. In this case, the CPU and memory
requirements are reduced. Hardware for this configuration need only meet the following
minimum requirements.
 Minimum 4x quad-core Intel Xeon CPU @ 1.8 GHz or higher

 24 GB of RAM
Your MediaCentral Cloud UX server can be obtained from any vendor. Qualified HP or Dell
servers are not required.
Trusted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL Certificates)

When a user attempts to access MediaCentral Cloud UX, the browser might alert the user that
the connection cannot be validated. These warnings can be eliminated through the use of a
trusted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.
You can generate a self-signed certificate directly on the MediaCentral Cloud UX server or you
can obtain a certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA group). For more information on
configuring a self-signed certificate and importing self-signed certificates reference the Avid
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
Port Usage
MediaCentral Cloud UX requires users to sign into a web or mobile client in order to gain access
to the underlying functionality. All data (user credentials, session information, user
configuration, settings, media images and files, text, and machine instructions) transferred
between the client and the server is transported in a secure manner to MediaCentral Cloud UX
server using HTTPS protocol.
The following table lists the ports leveraged by MediaCentral Cloud UX.
Additional Notes Regarding the Firewall Column
 YES: You must allow this port through your network to enable either external connections,
or internal but geographically dispersed locations in your organization.
 NO: Does not require any special access through network firewalls.
 Optional: Only required if you want to remotely access functionality associated with this
component.
Component Port(s) Protocol and Description Firewall

Direction
MediaCentral Cloud UX 443 HTTPS, Client Connections YES

Inbound
Active Directory 389 (default) or LDAP(S), These are the default ports suggested in the YES
Outbound installer for connection to Active Directory.
(avid-iam, avid-login) 636 (secure) Alternatively, this could be an admin-
specified custom port number.
MediaCentral 8443 (default) HTTPS, This is the standard port number used to YES
Outbound connect to MCDS. Alternatively, this could be
Distribution Service Can be customized an admin-specified custom port number
HTTP (custom
possible)
Kubernetes 30143 HTTPS Used to access the Kubernetes Dashboard NO
Docker Registry and 30135 HTTPS, Used internally by the cluster to download NO
Chart Repository Inbound/Out Docker images to other cluster nodes.
bound
Helm/Tiller 30134 HTTP, Used internally to deploy applications NO

Inbound/Out
bound
ACS Monitor 30800 HTTP, Used to access the Avid ACS Monitor NO
Inbound
RMQ Management 15672 HTTP, Port 15672 is specified when connecting to Optional
Inbound the RabbitMQ management web portal
(<hostname>:15672). Firewall rule required if
accessing a management port from a remote
subnet.
Playback 5000 TCP, Inbound Playback service (loading assets, serving YES
JPEG images and audio, etc.). Outbound
flow to client-serving inbound requests
Playback 843 TCP, Inbound Flash Policy editor. Flash Player is used in YES
Asset Management workflows that include
the MAM Desktop or the MAM Cataloger.
Playback 9080 HTTP(S), Used by icps-manager. This service manages YES

Inbound player connections and load-balancing.
Gateway 9900 HTTPS. Used by the ACS Gateway service. This port Optional
Inbound might be required to connect a service from
another host, outside of Kubernetes.
Advisor 4194 HTTP, Docker/Kubernetes metrics NO

Inbound
MediaCentral Asset 9901 and 9911 (on HTTPS, Used by services on the MediaCentral Cloud YES
Management MAM servers) Inbound UX server and by Asset Management services
to talk to other Asset Management services.
These ports must be open between any
MediaCentral Cloud UX servers and the Asset
Management servers, but client access is not
required.
MediaCentral Asset 9920 (on MAM FTP, Inbound Used to install and update packages. These YES
Management servers) ports must be open between any
required.
MediaCentral Asset 1433 (on MAM DB HTTP, TCP port of Microsoft SQL Server. These YES
Management server) Inbound ports must be open between any
required.
MediaCentral Production HTTP, Used to connect from Kubernetes to some YES

Management Outbound components of MediaCentral Production
80 Management
- Engine TCP,
61717 Outbound
- Media Indexer
80;8080 TCP,
- Media Services Outbound
NFS or CIFS TCP and UDP MediaCentral Asset Management NO

configurations might require additional
- NFS: TCP and 111, 2049 Network File System (NFS) or Common
UDP Internet File System (CIFS) ports.
137, 138
- CIFS: UDP
137, 139
- CIFS: TCP
Publish: Social Media and 80 HTTP, Used when sending requests to services like Optional
User Settings Outbound Facebook, Twitter, and others.
443
HTTPS, HTTPS might also be required on client
Outbound workstations to complete authorizations for
Social Media API
Publish: CMS 21 or higher Port 21 might be used when uploading Optional

content to external CMS systems. If your
CMS system uses Passive FTP, you might
need to open additional ports. Consult your
CMS system’s documentation for more
information.
MediaCentral | Cloud UX MCDS Overview

MediaCentral Distribution Service (MCDS) is a service that resides on a Windows server that
coordinates jobs with Avid Production Management Services for send-to-playback operations for
sending content to AirSpeed 55000 servers and MediaCentral | Transfer Engines.
The MCDS analyzes the STP request and determines if additional actions are required before
sending the media to the playback device. MediaCentral | Transcode is required for STP
operations requiring audio mixdowns (stereo audio tracks) or video mixdowns (sequences with
dissolves). Production STP Encode is required when using Long GOP media.
MCDS is not used when you are sending an asset directly to MediaCentral | Transcode or
MediaCentral | Delivery. MCDS is not used in MediaCentral Newsroom Management or
MediaCentral Asset Management workflows.
The location where the MCDS is installed may vary based on the components in the environment
and how many MCDS services are installed.
Guidelines for where the MCDS Service can be installed.
 The MCDS is supported on Windows Server 2018 R2 and Windows Server 2016.
This requires that the Windows Desktop Experience is installed on the box prior to installing
the MCDS software.
 A minimum of 512 MB of RAM and approximately 280 MB of hard drive space is required on
the host server.
 It can be installed on a server hosting other services or components, such as the
MediaCentral | Production Services Engine, MediaCentral | Transcode, MediaCentral |
Transfer, etc.
 It must be installed on a system that has the Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS Client Manager
software installed.
 It must not be installed on a MediaCentral | Production Management Engine or a
MediaCentral | Archive Production Engine.
 It must not be installed on a MediaCentral Media Indexer server as the systems risk sharing
network port 8443.
For redundancy purposes, MCDS can be installed on two systems. Installing a second instance
of MCDS does not provide load-balancing functionality. You will need details of varying the
configuration of the MCDS in Module 3-Managing MediaCentral Cloud UX Settings and
troubleshooting the MCDS in Module 6-MediaCentral Cloud UX Maintenance and General
Troubleshooting.
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Workstation

The MediaCentral Cloud UX Workstation communicates with the MediaCentral | Newsroom
Management server and the MediaCentral | Production Management database through the
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform. It can be on a computer or a laptop running a Windows or
Mac based Operating System located within a site’s firewall or securely connected to the
network through a VPN. Clients can use a browser to access Cloud UX (Google Chrome on either
operating system) and there is no client software to install.
Supported Browsers (as of MediaCentral Cloud UX 2018.11):
 Google Chrome (Windows-32 and -64 bit and Mac)

Tested version with 2018.11 is 71.0.3578.80 of Google Chrome.
The minimum screen resolution for MediaCentral | Cloud UX is 1280 x 1024 pixels. If
the size of your browser window is smaller than 1280 x 1024, some UI elements
might not be displayed.
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Mobile Application Devices

The MediaCentral Cloud UX mobile app is supported on multiple iOS devices, and more than
4800 Android compatible devices.
Device Support
While not all devices have been thoroughly vetted, Avid has performed full testing on the
following mobile phones and tablets:
Mobile Phones:
 iPhone 7
 Samsung Galaxy S5
Tablets:
 iPad Pro 10.5

 Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
To sign in to your MediaCentral Cloud UX server from a remote location, you might be required
to use a virtual private network (VPN) app on your iOS or Android device. Avid tested the
MediaCentral Cloud UX mobile apps using the Cisco AnyConnect VPN client.
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Device Compatibility

The following table lists which devices (tablets and phones) and operating systems are
compatible with which versions of the MediaCentral Cloud UX application. Devices that cannot
install these operating systems are not supported.
The following table lists which MediaCentral | Cloud UX servers are compatible with which
version of the MediaCentral Cloud UX application.
MediaCentral | Production Management Data Model

Object Types
The following table details the playback compatibility of certain MediaCentral Production
Management data model object types with MediaCentral Cloud UX.
Object Type Status
Audio Tracks with unrendered Audio Suite Plugins Unsupported
Effects All rendered and checked-in effects are supported for playback
Freeze-frame clips Supported
Group Clips Supported* (Group clips composed of subclips, and subclips

created from group clips are not currently supported)
Master Clips Supported
Matte Clips (assets with alpha channel) Unsupported
Motion Effects Unsupported
Multi-Channel audio clips Unsupported
Multigroup clips Unsupported
Nested timelines Unsupported
Sequences (dissolves only) Supported
Sequences (no effects) Supported
Sequences (precomputes present for unsupported Supported

effects)
Sequences (without precomputes for unsupported Unsupported

effects)
Stereo tracks Unsupported
Stereoscopic Clips Unsupported
Subclips Supported
Subclips created in Media Composer through Unsupported

Autosync
Media Formats Supported for Playback

The following tables list which media formats are supported for playback through MediaCentral
Cloud UX.
23.97 and 24 fps frame rates are supported in 1080p formats. They are unsupported in 720p and
standard definition (SD) formats.
DNxHD Format Support
Media Format Support for Playback
DNxHD 1080 36-45 All frame rates
DNxHD 1080 80-85-100 All frame rates
DNxHD 115-120-145 All frame rates
DNxHD 175-185-220 All frame rates
DNxHD 175X-185X-220X All frame rates
DNxHD 720p 40 Not Supported
DNxHD 720p 45-50 25, 29.97
DNxHD 720p 60-75 25, 29.97
DNxHD 720p 90-110 25, 29.97
DNxHD 720p 90X-110X 25, 29.97
DNxHD 720p 85-100 50, 59.94
DNxHD 720p 120-145 50, 59.94
DNxHD 720p 185-220 50, 59.94
DNxHD 720p 185X-220X 50, 59.94
DNxHD 1080p 75-90 50, 59.94
DNxHD 1080p 165-200 50, 59.94
DNxHD 1080p 240-290 50, 59.94
DNxHD 1080p 365-440 50, 59.94
DNxHD 1080p 365X-440X 50, 59.94
DNxHR LB, SQ, HQ, and HQX Although supported, Avid does not recommend using this media
format without having associated proxy media available. Full
resolution frame rate not guaranteed. Frame rate might temporarily
be reduced during playback.
Other Format Support
Media Format Support for Playback
Apple ProRes Unsupported
AVC-Intra 50, 1080i All frame rates
AVC-Intra 50, 720p 50, 59.94
AVC-Intra 100, 1080i All frame rates
AVC-Intra 100, 720p 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 12, 720p 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 12, 1080i 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 25, 720p 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 25, 1080i 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 50, 720p 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 50, 1080i 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 12, 1080p 25, 29.97
AVC Long GOP 25, 1080p 25, 29.97
AVC Long GOP 50, 1080p 25, 29.97
XAVC Intra 50, 1080i 50, 60, 23.98
XAVC Intra 100, 1080i 50, 60, 23.98
XAVC Long GOP 25, 1080i 50, 59.94

Frame Rate not guaranteed-may temporarily be reduced during
playback
XAVC Long GOP 35, 1080i 50, 59.94

playback
XAVC Long GOP 50, 1080i 50, 59.94

playback
XAVC Long GOP 50, 720p 50, 59.94

playback
Avid JFIF 2:1, 3:1, 10:1, 20:1 25, 29.97
DV 25 411 25, 29.97
DV 25 420 25
DV 50 25, 29.97
DV 100 HD 1080o (DVCPro HD) All Frame Rates
DV 100 HD 720p (DVCPro HD) 50, 59.94
H.263 (MPEG-1 Layer 2 proxy) 25, 29.97
H.264 (MPEG-1 Layer 2 proxy) 800 Kbps, 2 Mbps, 3 25, 29.97

Mbps
HDV 1080i All frame rates
HDV 720p 50, 59.94

JPEG 2000 No Support
MPEG (IMX) 30 25, 29.97
MPEG (IMX) 40 25, 29.97
MPEG (IMX) 50 25, 29.97
MPEG-2 Long GOP 25, 29.97
RGB No support
XDCAM-HD 17.5/35/50 Mbps 1080i All frame rates
XDCAM-HD 50 Mbps 1080p All frame rates
XDCAM-HD 17.5/35/50 Mbps 720p 50, 59.94
XDCAM-EX 35 Mbps 1080i All frame rates
XDCAM-EX 35 Mbps 720p 50, 59.94

Media Formats Supported for Send to Playback

Unless otherwise noted, the following table lists media formats supported for Send to Playback
(STP) operations for MediaCentral Cloud UX.
Media Format Frame Rate Notes
AVC-Intra 50 1080i 50, 59.94
AVC-Intra 50 720p 50, 59.94
AVC-Intra 100 1080i 50, 59.94
AVC-Intra 100 720p 50, 59.94
AVC Long GOP 12, 720p 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode
AVC Long GOP 12, 1080i 25, 29.97 Requires STP Encode
XAVC-Intra 50 1080i 50, 60 Not supported
XAVC-Intra 100 1080i 50, 60
DNxHD 1080 115-120-145 25, 29.97
DNxHD 1080 175-185-220 25, 29.97
DNxHD 1080 175X-185X-220X 25, 29.97
DNxHD 720 60-75-145 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94
DNxHD 720 90-110-220 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94
DNxHD 720 90X-110X-220X 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94
DV 25 411 25, 29.97
DV 25 420 25
DV50 25, 29.97
DV 100 HD 1080i (DVCPro HD) 50, 59.94
DV 100 HD 720p (DVCPro HD) 50, 59.94
MPEG 30 (IMX)-MPEG 40 (IMX)-MPEG 50 25, 29.97

(IMX)
XDCAM-HD 35 Mbps 1080i 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode
XDCAM-HD 50 Mbps 1080i 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode
XDCAM-HD 50 Mbps 720p 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode
XDCAM-EX 35 Mbps 1080i 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode
XDCAM-EX 35 Mbps 720p 50, 59.94 Requires STP Encode

Bandwidth Requirements
Media Central | Cloud UX supports playback of a variety of video formats registered by
MediaCentral Production Management and residing on Avid shared storage. MCUX decodes the
source format and streams images and sounds to the MediaCentral Cloud UX client.
MediaCentral playback capacity is limited by one of two factors:
 CPU Bound: after a certain number of playback streams, the server has no more CPU
cycles left.
 I/O Bound: after a certain number of streams the server’s network bandwidth becomes
saturated.
Different source formats have different CPU-decode profiles and different I/O footprints.
Typically: low bit rate source formats are CPU bound; high-bit rate formats are I/O bound.
The other factor that determines whether a source format is CPU or I/O bound is the network
connection, which could be 1 Gb or greater.
Media Format and Stream Count Assessment

To determine the number of users you can support, you need to know which media formats are
in use, as the server can support a certain number of concurrent playback streams per format.
Some nodes about the following two tables:
 The HP DL360p Gen8 server is used as an example in both tables. For comparison, the first
table provides values for this server when populated with the Intel Xeon E5-2650 v1 (Sandy
Bridge) CPUs. The second table provides information on many of the same formats
populated with the Intel Xeon E5-260 v2 (Ivy Bridge) CPUs.
 Stream counts with green shading indicate a CPU bound limit (the server is using its full
compute capacity).
 Stream counts with orange shading indicate an I/O bound limit (the server can process
more streams, but is limited by the 1 Gb network connection).
 100 + Mbps formats are not supported over a 1 Gb connection to avid shared storage, as
not enough streams can be processed to be cost-effective.
Intel Xeon Sandy Bridge (v1) CPU
Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge (v2) CPU

Intel Xeon Haswell (v3) and Broadwell (v4) CPU
For stream counts on supported MediaCentral Cloud UX servers equipped with Intel Xeon
Haswell and Broadwell CPUs, reference the Intel Xeon Ivy Bridge table. The stream count tests
conducted for XAVC and AVC-Ultra resolutions below used servers equipped with Haswell and
Broadwell CPUs. See the table below for details.
Intel Skylake CPU
The following performance results were collected using MediaCentral Cloud UX v2018.11 with a
10 Gb network connection to Avid NEXIS shared storage.
Sony
XAVC and Panasonic AVC-ULTRA Support
The following tables detail XAVC and AVC-ULTRA playback support for MCUX users. Each row
lists the server, processor type, and network connections speed to complete the testing.
*Frame rate not guaranteed. Frame rate might temporarily be reduced during
playback.
DNxHR Support
The following tables list the number of playback streams for a single server using DNxHR
resolutions. The following numbers were collected using a single HP DL360 Gen 8 with a 2.5 GHz
V2 processor connected to Avid NEXIS through a 10 Gb connection.
As these resolutions are system-intensive, Avid recommends using proxy versions of each of the
following formats instead of the high-resolution media to optimize the user experience.
*Frame rate not guaranteed. Frame rate might temporarily be reduced during
playback.
Client-Side Bandwidth Requirements for MediaCentral Cloud UX

The following table presents single-user bandwidth guidelines for MediaCentral Cloud UX
playback. The table is provided for guidance and is not an indication of performance
guarantees.
The following table explains the contents in detail.
Item Description
Width 348 pixels is the minimum player width; 960 pixels is the max. Height depends on the aspect
ratio. The table assumes an aspect ratio of 16 x 9
Quality Refers to the quality setting in the Player set via the user interface
Value Each quality setting has a numeric value. The value corresponds to the level of compression used
to encode the JPEG.
Peak Video with high color variation (e.g. wide shot of a crowd)
Valley Video with low color variation (e.g. half of frame consists of a clear blue sky)
Typical A wide range of footage (e.g. interiors, exteriors, interviews). The typical shot tends closer to
valley values than peak values.
Audio All bandwidth figures include audio consisting of 44.1 kHz sample rate x 16-bit/sample x 2 tracks
– 1.4 Mbps
Multi Resolution Workflows

The MediaCentral | Cloud UX server(s) streams content from the Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS shared
storage solutions and generates a low-resolution proxy on the fly which is then streamed to the
client.
In a multi-resolution workflow, with Dynamic Relink enabled, the Cloud UX player links to the
lowest resolution associated with the asset. This allows for a higher stream count per node for
each Media Central Cloud UX server.
Summary
In this module, we looked at the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform Architecture, the various
deployment options, the supported MediaCentral Production Management asset types and the
media formats supported for playback and send to playback.
Review Questions
•
1. What is the minimum supported number of nodes in a MediaCentral | Cloud UX cluster?
2. Which of the statements below is correct?
a. It is recommended to use a proxy format with DNxHR resolutions

b. A single server supports at least 20 streams of DNxHR HQ
c. Multiple servers provide an infinite stream of DNxHR SQ
d. DNxHR is not supported at all for playback with Cloud UX
3. What browser is MediaCentral | Cloud UX supported with?
4. Which of the following is not a supported resolution for playback?
a. DNxHD 145 1080i

b. AVC-Intra 50 1080i
c. XDCAM EX 35 720p
d. Apple ProRes
5. Which of the following are reasons for deploying a cluster of Cloud UX servers?
a. Stream Count
b. Number of Users
c. Resiliency
d. All of the Above
EXERCISE 1
Confirming the Configuration

Duration: 5 min
1. Verify the number of MediaCentral | Cloud UX Servers.

2. Verify the number of hardware drives installed.
3. Verify the network connections from the servers to the network.
4. Confirm the codec and estimated stream count.
MODULE 2
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User

Management
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX requires and uses Active Directory for user management and
authentication.
In this module, you will learn how to import groups, verify the administrator's group, and assign
licenses to groups.
Duration: 20 min
GOALS
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management Overview
 Signing in to MediaCentral Cloud UX Admin Portal
 User Management Overview
 Adding or Removing User Groups
 Adding Client License Types

30 MediaCentral | Cloud UX System Administration
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management

Overview
MediaCentral Cloud UX requires access to Windows Active Directory for user management and
authentication.
MediaCentral Cloud UX licenses are assigned to AD groups and not to individual users.
One Active Directory group will act as the Administrators group for MediaCentral Cloud UX and
any user included in this group has access to the MediaCentral Cloud UX Administrator apps.
This group does not require any additional rights on the domain. The users included in this group
do not need to be domain admins---standard domain users are acceptable.
Service Accounts
The following service accounts are used for integrating with other products such as
MediaCentral Production Management, NEXIS or ISIS.
 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

One user account is used from the Production Management database to integrate with
MediaCentral Production Management that requires a minimum level of read access to the
top level of the Production Database.
 AVID NEXIS OR AVID ISIS

One user account is used to integrate with Avid shared storage which must have
read/write access to all workspaces that include media that you plan to access through
MediaCentral Cloud UX.
Signing in to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Admin Portal

MediaCentral Cloud UX allows you to sign in to the user interface as one of two user types:
 STANDARD USER
Standard users have access to User apps such as Browse, Search, and others. Any user
that has been imported into MediaCentral UX through Active Directory has access to the
User apps. Your level of access to the apps is based on the client license associated with
your Active Directory user group.
 ADMINISTRATOR
In addition to User apps, Administrators have access to a set of Administrator apps that
are available through a specialized URL. These administrator-only apps allow you to
manage user groups, import licenses, and configure additional settings that are related to
your organization’s custom workflow. During the installation process, a single user group is
identified as the MediaCentral Cloud UX administrators group (this is further detailed in
Module 5: MediaCentral Cloud UX Server in the auth.yaml file). Any user that is added to
this group is granted access to the administrator apps.
If you sign into the administrator portal and subsequently need to access the user apps, you
must sign out of MediaCentral Cloud UX and sign back in using the standard (non-admin) URL.
Module 2  Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management 31
To sign in to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Admin Page:
1. Launch a supported web browser on your Mac or Windows client.

For the 2018.11 release, this is only Google Chrome on either Mac or Windows. Safari is not
yet supported.
2. Enter the URL of the MediaCentral Cloud UX server in the address bar:
https://<hostname>/admin
Where <hostname> is the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the server or cluster.
The MediaCentral Cloud UX sign-in page appears:
When you access the Administrator page, the word Administrator appears above the User
Name field.
In place of the sign-in screen, you might receive a warning indicating that the connection
is not private. The warning relates to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. You can
ignore this message by clicking on the Advanced link and then click on Proceed to <URL>
(unsafe) link. You can eliminate this message by purchasing a certificate from a trusted
Certificate Authority or importing a self-signed certificate to your local workstation. For
more details on this topic, consult the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation guide.
3. Enter your user name and password to access the MediaCentral Cloud UX user interface.
4. The first time any user signs in, the Avid Software License Agreement is presented.
If you are presented with this screen, click the ACCEPT LICENSE AGREEMENT BUTTON to proceed.
Administrator App Overview

When you sign in to the MediaCentral Cloud UX Administrator page, the Fast Bar displays a set
of apps that allow you to add licenses, configure system settings, manage users and more. The
following illustration displays the Administrator Fast Bar.
The following table briefly describes each of the Administrator apps:

Table 2.1 Administrator Apps
App Icon Details
Configuration This app includes the General Settings, Module settings and Distribute Settings.
Settings
This is covered in Module 3-Managing MediaCentral Cloud UX Settings, and Module 7-
Publish to Social Media and CMS.
License Allows you to import licenses into MediaCentral Cloud UX.

This is covered in Module 4-MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing
Workflow Settings This app allows you to configure settings related to Publish workflows, including the
ability to create Send To Playback Profiles.
This is covered in Module 3-Managing MediaCentral Cloud UX Settings, and Module 7-
Publish to Social Media and CMS.
User Management Allows you to import users from LDAP and assign client licenses to LDAP User Groups
When you access the Administrator apps, the User Profile button in the upper-right
hand corner of the Fast Bar appears with a gear icon. This is an indicator that you are
accessing the Cloud UX Administrators apps.
It is important to note that all Administrators apps are Focused apps. Focus apps fill the user
interface and they cannot be docked like some User apps such as Browse and Search. If you
click the X button in the upper-right corner of any Administrator app, the user interface reverts
to the Workflow Settings app.
User Management Overview

The User Management app allows system administrators to define a set of Windows Active
Directory user groups that can be used to authenticate user access to MediaCentral Cloud UX.
After you identify and add the groups through the User Management app, you can enable
access to MediaCentral Cloud UX features by assigning a client license type to each imported
user group.
The app is divided into four primary areas, as described in the following illustration and table:
Table 2.2 User Management Overview
Area Description
1 Header (Blue- The app header identifies the currently loaded app and provides access to the Help menu.
Top)
2 Sidebar The sidebar displays the groups imported from Active Directory.
(Green-Left)
3 Results (Red- The Results area displays lists of users that have been imported from Active Directory.
Middle)
4 Details This section of the app provides more information about individual users and groups. This area
(Purple-Right) also allows the Administrator to assign a Client License to each user group.
User Management: Sidebar

The sidebar displays all user groups that have been added to MediaCentral Cloud UX in an
alpha-numerically sorted list. You can click on any of the groups to obtain more information
about the group and the users contained in the group.
The User Management sidebar provides controls to add Active Directory user groups to
MediaCentral Cloud UX. You can also filter the group's list—allowing you to quickly and easily
identify a specific group for organizations with multiple user groups.
Sidebar Toolbar
The toolbar at the top of the User Management sidebar includes controls that allow you to
execute certain actions that relate to the Groups directory. The following table lists the actions
available through the toolbar:
Table 2.3 Sidebar Toolbar
Section Icon Details
Filter The filter option allows you to enter a custom value to limit the Group's directory tree to show only
Group those groups that include your filter text.
Add The Add Group button allows you to add Windows Active Directory user groups to MediaCentral
Group Cloud UX.
Reload This button refreshes the list of groups imported from the Windows Active Directory.
To filter the Groups Directory:
1. Enter a custom value in the Filter Group field.

The list of groups is filtered to include only those whose names include your filter text.
If the following example and administrator have filtered the list to include only the user
groups that include “web” in the name.
2. (optional) Delete the filter text by pressing the X on the right side of the Filter Group field.
To filter the Groups Directory:
MediaCentral Cloud UX automatically updates its Active Directory group information once every
60 seconds by default. If you already have the User Management app open and a change is
made to an Active Directory Group, the change is not automatically displayed in the user
interface. You must click on the Reload button to see the change in the User Management app.
Click the RELOAD button to update the displayed Active Directory group information.
User Management: Results

The Results area displays information on all users added to MediaCentral Cloud UX by default. If
you click on a group in the User Management sidebar, the Results area displays information
about the user contained in the selected group. If you click in an area of empty space under the
group's list in the sidebar, the Results area reverts to its default view—displaying information on
all users.
The upper-left-hand corner of this area displays the total number of users that have been added
to MediaCentral Cloud UX. If you select an individual user group, the value reflects the number
of users in that group.
The Results panel includes the following columns that provide additional detail about the user
accounts:
 USER NAME: This is the name of the user account as created.
 LAST LOG-IN DATE: Displays the last time that the user accessed MediaCentral Cloud UX.
 CREATION DATE: Displays the date when the user was added to Active Directory.
 MODIFIED DATE: Displays the last modification date for the user in Active Directory.
You can resize each of these columns to accommodate your available screen space.
Filtering and Sorting the Results Panel

After you have added your Active Directory user groups to MediaCentral Cloud UX, you can use
the Filter and Sort controls to refine the list of users in the Results area. The following illustration
and table highlight the Filter and Sort options in the user interface.
Table 2.4 Filtering and Sorting the Results Area
Section Details
Sort This option allows you to reorder the list of users based on the column header. Users are organized in
(red) alphabetical order (0-9, Aa-Az) according to the User Name column by default. You can sort the results by
User Name, Last Log-In Date, Created Date, or Modified Date—one column at a time.
Filter This option works almost like a search in that you can enter text in the filter field and only those users whose
(blue) name includes the filter text are displayed.
To sort the Results list:
1. Select the User Management App from the Administrator Settings Fast Bar.
2. (optional) Select a group from the list in the app’s sidebar.
All users contained in the selected group are displayed in the Results area.
3. Click on a column header to reorder the results list. An up arrow appears to the right of the
column name to indicate that the column is used to sort the results in ascending order.
4. (optional) When you click on a column header, the column is sorted in ascending order. If
you need to sort the list in descending order, simply click on the column header again to
reverse the order of the list.
A down arrow appears to the right of the column name to indicate that this column is used
to sort the results in descending order.
To filter the Results list:
1. Select the User Management app from the Administrator settings.

2. (optional) Select a group from the list in the app’s sidebar. All users contained in the
selected group are displayed in the Results area.
3. Use the FILTER USERNAME field in the Results toolbar to enter the full or partial name of a user
account that has been added to MediaCentral Cloud UX.
As you enter text, the results list is immediately updated with the available results. The
following two examples provide more information on filter functionality.
• You know that user “Bob Smith” (username: bsmith) has been imported into
MediaCentral Cloud UX. You enter “smith” as a filter to quickly find all accounts that
include that text in the username.
• You enter “bob” as a new filter. In this case, the results list does not include Bob Smith
because “bob” is not part of the actual user name (bsmith).
4. (optional) Clear the filter text to reset the Results area to show all users.
User Management: Details

When you click on a user or user group, information about the selection is displayed in the
Details panel on the right side of the User Management app. The upper half of the panel displays
information about a selected user group and the lower half of the panel displays information
about an individual user that is selected in the Results panel.
Group Details
The group's area of the Details panel displays the Default Languages and the Client License
type associated with the group.
 DEFAULT LANGUAGE: In this release, MediaCentral Cloud UX sets the Default Language to
English. This cannot be changed.
 CLIENT LICENSE: Assigned by an administrator, the client licenses define the default level of
user access to MediaCentral Cloud UX for all users in the group. License types are further
detailed in Module 4: MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing.
The area also displays the MediaCentral Cloud UX features that are available to the group.
These entitlements are initially based on the client's license assigned to the user group.
Administrators can alter the set of default entitlements on a group by group basis by selecting or
deselecting the checkboxes in the enabled column. However, not all entitlements can be toggled.
For example, the Browse app (entitlement) is enabled for all groups and administrators cannot
disable this basic functionality.
User Details
If you select a user in the Results area, the lower half of the Details panel displays additional
information about the user such as the user’s full name and e-mail address. These fields are
defined in Active Directory and cannot be altered through MediaCentral Cloud UX. The user
details area also provides a list of entitlements that are associated with the user:
You can use the “show entitlements” toggle in this view to alter the list of displayed
entitlements:
 SHOW ALL: All entitlements are listed in the user details area. If an entitlement is associated
with a checkmark, it means that the selected user has access to the feature or app.
 SHOW ENABLED: Only the entitlements that are enabled for the selected user are displayed.
The FROM GROUPS column displays the group or groups from which the entitlement is inherited. If a
user is included in more than one group, that user might have multiple levels of access to
For example, consider a user that is added to both a “Producers” group and a “Web” group in
Active Directory. If you assign a Full License to the Producers group and a Browse license to the
Web group, the user would have multiple levels of access. For more details on how licenses are
consumed this is detailed in Module 4-MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing.
Adding or Removing User Groups

The following process details the steps required to add or remove Windows Active Directory
users within MediaCentral Cloud UX.
After you add a group to MediaCentral Cloud UX, the list of users remains synchronized with
Active Directory. If you add a new user to an AD group that has been added to MediaCentral
Cloud UX, you are not required to take any action within the User Management app. The user is
automatically included and can sign into Cloud UX using the license type assigned to the group.
Similarly, if a user is removed from an AD group, the change is reflected in MediaCentral Cloud
UX.
If you remove a group from Active Directory, the group is automatically removed from the User
Management app. If any users that are included in that group belong to another AD group that
has been added to the User Management app, the users retain access to MediaCentral Cloud
Ux. However, it is possible that the level of access is affected.
If you completely remove a user or group of users from MediaCentral Cloud UX, any custom
settings associated with the users are deleted. Examples of custom settings include saved
searches, Research columns, or settings associated with user settings such as Publish settings.
To add a user group:

2. Click the ADD GROUP button in the sidebar’s toolbar.
The ADD OR REMOVE GROUPS window appears.
The Active Directory user groups that can be added are listed on the left side of the
window. This list is populated using the Base DN value specified during the installation. If
you do not see your desired user group, you might need to specify a different Base DN or
the group is not in the right place.
The YOUR GROUPS area on the right side of the window displays all user groups that have
been added to MediaCentral UX. This automatically includes the MediaCentral Cloud UX
administrators group (LOCAL ADMINS in the example below):
As in other areas of the User Management app, you can use the Filter in either the
Available or the Your Groups areas to quickly find the name of a specific group or groups.
3. Add a group to the Your Groups area by clicking and dragging a group from the left side
of the window to the right.
This process adds the group to the Your Groups list, but the group is not imported until you
save your changes using the SAVE button.
4. (optional) Continue to add groups to the Your Groups list.
5. Click the SAVE button to submit any changes and close the window. There is a CANCEL
button if you want to exit the process without importing any new groups.
You can return to the Add or Remove Groups area any time to add additional groups.
To remove a user group:

2. Click the ADD GROUP button in the sidebar’s toolbar.
3. Click the X to the right of any group in the Your Groups area of the window to remove the
user group from MediaCentral Cloud UX.
4. After you have finished removing groups, click the SAVE button to submit the changes and
close the window.
Adding Client License Types

Before users can access MediaCentral Cloud UX, you must assign a Client License type to the
user group. The client license defines the level of access that each of the groups will have to
Cloud UX.
The User Management app allows you to change the client license type associated with a group,
but you cannot remove the client's license. If you need to disassociate a client's license from a
group, you must remove the group from MediaCentral Cloud UX (detailed in the previous
section).
If you import a new license through the License app, you might need to reapply the client's
license to the group. For instance, if a new feature such as Connector for YouTube is added to
the client’s set of entitlements, the feature might not be available until you reapply the license.
As an alternate example, if your system is already licensed for a set of Full Client licenses and
you simply add more seats, you would not need to reapply the license.
To add a client license to a user group:

2. Select a group from the User Management sidebar.
Detailed information about the group is added to both the Results area and the Details
area of the User Management app.
3. In the Details area on the right, click the CLIENT LICENSE menu.
A list of available license types appears as shown in the following illustration.
This list is populated by the licenses that have been imported into MediaCentral Cloud UX
through the Licensing app. If for instance, you import only a set of View licenses in Cloud
UX, then that is the only license type available on the menu.
4. Select a license type from the menu that you want to associate with the selected group.
Whenever assigning a license to a user group the changes are saved automatically.
The license types and what they allow a user group to do in Cloud UX are further
detailed in Module 4: MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing.
Summary
In this module, we signed into the MediaCentral Cloud UX Admin Portal, provided an overview of
the Fast Bar apps, looked at Adding and Removing Groups from Active Directory, and detailed
how-to assign client license types to groups.
Review Questions
•
1. True or False: You have to manually import a new user in Cloud UX if the domain group has
already been added as a Cloud UX group?
a. You can manually create non-Active Directory in Cloud UX.

b. Client License Types are assigned to individual users.
c. When a group is created in Active Directory in the proper location, it will become
available to be added in Cloud UX.
d. You can import any group from your Active Directory regardless of the Cloud UX
configuration.
3. What must be assigned to a group in order for users to be able to login to Cloud UX?
4. Which of the following is not an Admin portal app?
a. User Management
b. Workflow Settings
c. License
d. Process
5. What may you need to do if you add a new feature to Cloud UX?
a. Re-import the user from Active Directory.

b. Delete the group from Cloud UX.
c. Re-apply the Client License Type.
d. All of the Above.
EXERCISE 2
Opening and Closing Apps

Duration: 5 min
1. Sign in to the MediaCentral Cloud UX Admin Portal.

2. Open the User Management App.
3. Identify which group is the administrator's group.
4. Verify the Client License Types assigned to your groups.
MODULE 3
Managing MediaCentral | Cloud

UX Settings
Settings for MediaCentral are controlled and configured in either the Configuration Settings app
or the Workflow Settings app of the Administrator app. The settings include Send to Playback
profiles, Session Timeouts, and the save location for News-Script Sequences.
In this module, you will learn about the Configuration and Workflow settings apps, Send to
Playback, and MediaCentral Production Management settings that are applicable to
Duration: 30 min
GOALS
 Using the Configuration Settings App
 Using the Workflow Settings App
 Publish-Configuring for Send to Playback
 Configuring MediaCentral Production Management

Settings
Using the Configuration Settings App

The Configuration Settings app is one of the apps available in the Administrator app which
allows Administrators to configure settings that relate to the overall operation of the system.
When you log into the Administrator app as detailed in the previous module, you will find the
Configuration Settings using the first icon on the Administrator app Fast Bar.
The Configuration Settings app’s sidebar includes a tree that allows you to configure GENERAL,
MODULE, and DISTRIBUTE settings.
Certain settings will not be covered in this module. The Distribute Settings are
covered in Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS since these settings do not
apply to all environments.
Module 3  Managing MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings 47
Configuring the General Settings
The General settings apply to the overall MediaCentral Cloud UX system and not to any specific
app or area of the user interface.
Table 3.1 Configuration Settings-General Settings
Setting Description
Session The Enable checkbox enables or disables the session timeout. If the box is selected, the user is
Timeout automatically signed out of MediaCentral Cloud UX after the specified period of inactivity. If the checkbox
is unchecked, the session timeout feature is disabled. The session timeout feature is enabled by default.
Minutes is where you enter a numerical value to define the period of inactivity before a user is
automatically signed out of MediaCentral Cloud UX. The default value of this field is 30 minutes and
acceptable values are 1 to 1000 minutes.
Language This menu allows you to select a language for the user interface. In this version (2018.11), English is the
default and only available language.
Time Zone This field allows you to configure a local time zone for the MediaCentral Cloud UX interface. This field
defaults to “Use System Timezone” which configures the user interface to use the same zone as the one
configured in the server’s operating system.
After you click in the field a menu appears with a list of possible selections. The format of each time zone
can vary based on your region and selection.
Date This field defines how date fields appear in the user interface.
Format
Each settings window in the Configuration Settings app has Save and Cancel
buttons in the lower right. If you make modifications, do not forget to save your
changes.
Configuring the Modules-Asset Management Settings

If you are integrating with a MediaCentral Asset Management system or MediaCentral Shared
Library, the Asset Management item in the modules area displays information regarding any
configured Asset Management system.
As shown in the above illustration, the Configuration Settings app provides a link to the MAM
Control Center. If you click on this link, a connection is made to the Control Center in a new tab
in your browser.
Configuring the Modules-Production Management Settings

If you are integrating with MediaCentral Production Management, many of the settings listed in
this section were configured during the installation process when the Production Management
connection script was run.
These settings cannot be adjusted through the Configuration Settings app. This section details
additional settings that are not included in the script.
Table 3.2 Configuration Settings-Modules-Production Management
Setting Description
MCDS URL If you plan to use the Publish app to enable a Send to Playback workflow, you must enter the URL of a
server hosting the MediaCentral Distribution Service. You can enter the server’s hostname, IP address, or
FQDN (Full Qualified Domain Name) in this field. The standard port number used by this service is 8443.
Note: you can only enter one MCFS URL in this release of MediaCentral Cloud UX (2018.11)
Location This setting determines the folder in the Production Management database where Script Sequences
Script (sequences attached to Newsroom Management stories) will be stored. The correct path format does not
Sequence include a leading slash.
Example: /Projects/00 CENTRAL SEQUENCES
Queue, Date, and Story determine the sub folder structure under the Location Script Sequence location.
- Queue-The Folder Path is subdivided by the Newsroom Management Directory path in which
the story was edited with all of the saved content residing in one folder that represents the
queue. For example, a sequence edited in the 5 pm rundown would be saved under <script
sequence location>/SHOW/5PM/RUNDOWN.
- Date-The Folder Path is subdivided by date where the saved story is held on a calendar date.
In this case, all stories are saved into the same folder for that date. Example: <script sequence
location>/2019-01-29.
- Story-The Folder Path is subdivided by the Newsroom Management Directory path under the
queue in which the story was edited. The behavior is the same as the Queue behavior but then
the Queue is subdivided further with a folder for each individual story (derived from the
Newsroom Management slug name.
Configuring the Distribute Setting

This settings area is detailed in Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS. It is only applicable
for facilities utilizing those feature sets.
Using the Workflow Settings App

The Workflow Settings app is one of the apps available in the Administrator app which allows
Administrators to adjust settings related to use workflows and create profiles for use with apps
such as Publish and Research.
When you log into the Administrator app as detailed in the previous module, you will find the
Workflow Settings using the third icon on the Administrator app Fast Bar.
The Workflow Settings app’s sidebar includes a tree that allows you to configure PLAYBACK,
MEDIACENTRAL ANALYTICS, ARCHIVE/RESTORE and PUBLISH settings.
Certain settings will not be covered in this module. Most of the Publish Settings are
covered in Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS since these settings do not
apply to all environments.
Configuring the Playback Settings

The Playback settings allow administrators to adjust settings related to the playback of media
through the Asset Editor.
Table 3.3 Configuring Playback Settings
Setting Description
Server This setting specifies the Playback server’s hostname. If not specifically configured this setting defaults
to the hostname or IP address that you entered into your web browser to connect to MediaCentral |
Cloud UX. In most cases, you are not required to adjust this setting.
If your environment requires you to manually specify a value, enter the FQDN of the MediaCentral
Cloud UX single-server or cluster.
Variable This setting allows you to adjust the variable speed playback values if you want to alter the default
Speed functionality of the J and L keys. You enter a new value in any column or use the up and down arrows in
Playback each column to alter the functionality of the keys. Acceptable values are whole number (1) and decimal
numbers rounded to the tenth place (1.5).
-
Configuring MediaCentral | Analytics

MediaCentral | Analytics is an optional feature that provides a framework for automated content
indexing, such as facial detection, scene recognition, and speech-to-text conversion, by using
third-party capabilities. This feature is not covered in this course. For more information on
installing and configuring this feature see the MediaCentral | Analytics Read Me on the Avid
Knowledge Base.
Configuring Archive/Restore
Archive /Restore profiles are for use with Avid Media Central | Shared Library. For more
information, see the Avid MediaCentral | Shared Library Installation and Configuration Guide.
Publish-Configuring for Send to Playback

The PUBLISH setting in the Workflow Settings app allows you to configure both Distribute (for
Social Media and CMS workflows) and Send to Playback Profiles (for AirSpeed 5500 and
MediaCentral | Transfer workflows). This section will focus on the Send to Playback profiles for
both AirSpeed and MediaCentral Transfer.
Configuring the Publish Settings

The Publish area of the Workflow Settings allows you to create the Send to Playback profiles.
 Filtering Profiles
The Publish Workflow Settings includes an area to filter the list of profiles. If you have
created many profiles, the Filter field makes it easy to find profiles quickly:
To use the Filter:
1. Enter text in the Filter field to locate your desired data.
You can filter by profile name as well as many of the configuration fields included in
the profiles. If found, your filter text is highlighted in the list of Authorization profiles.
2. After you have filtered the list, you can clear the filter by either deleting the text or
clicking the X button to the right of the filter.
 Editing Profiles
If you have already created a profile and you want to make a change to the configuration
settings, you can alter and save the profile at any time. If you need to undo your changes
before saving this profile, you can click the REVERT button that appears to the right of the
profile to return it to its original state.
 Deleting Profiles
If you create a profile and later need to remove it, you can click the DELETE button to the
right of the profile to delete it. The system prompts you to confirm the delete request. After
you click YES, the profile is deleted.
Creating a Send to Playback Profile-AirSpeed 5500

If you require a Send to Playback (STP) workflow, you must configure one or more Send to
Playback profiles. Depending on your workflow, one or more of the following systems are
required:
 MediaCentral Distribution Service is a service that resides on a Windows PC that

coordinates jobs with Product Management services for send-to-playback operations.
 MediaCentral Production Transcode-Required for STP profiles using stereo audio tracks
(audio mixdown) or for sequences with dissolves (video mixdown).
 MediaCentral STP Encode-Required for workflows that include Long GOP Media (XDCAM
HD, XDCAM EX, AVC LongG, etc.).
To configure a Send to Playback Profile for AirSpeed 5500:
1. Click on the Publish option in the Workflow Settings Sidebar.

2. In the Publish panel on the right, click on the ADD PROFILE button to the right of the
PROFILE NAME column under the Send to Playback Profiles area.
3. Use the table on the next page for fulfillment details of each of the fields pictured below:
Table 3.4 Configuring AirSpeed Send to Playback Profile
Setting Description
Name Enter text in the Name field to add a name for the profile. Profile names should be descriptive, but
concise. Examples of good profile names include “To AirSpeed” or “XDCAM-HD Studio”, while a poor
profile name would be “Use this one to send to the AirSpeed. Special characters and spaces are
allowed in this field.
Individual Specify if the profile should be created as an Individual Device or a Studio.

Device or
Studio A “Studio” is a group of AirSpeed servers configured with a similar naming convention. The Studio is
presented to the user as a single device. When a sequence is sent to the AirSpeed studio, the media is
sent to all AirSpeed servers in the Studio simultaneously. This provides redundancy for on-air
operations.
Servers - If you selected an Individual Device, you get a Servers drop-down menu where you can
select an individual Avid AirSpeed.
- If you selected a studio, a Studio field appears and allows you to select an AirSpeed studio
from the menu.
The Server/Studio menu is populated through the Interplay Transfer settings in the Interplay
Administrator Tool. If these have not been configured, you will not be able to select any servers from
this menu. This configuration is detailed later in this module.
Playback The Playback device menu shows AirSpeed and AirSpeed-HD options based on whether you selected
Device an individual AirSpeed or AirSpeed studio. The -HD options are required if working with Long GOP
media.
Video Options - Long GOP: Select Long GOP if this profile will be used to transfer Long GOP media.
- AirSpeed: Select this option if transferring to an AirSpeed server.
- Accelerated STP: If you select both Long GOP and AirSpeed, the Accelerated STP option is
activated. This option enables Play While Transfer on the AirSpeed.
Video Target Select a target resolution from the menu. The target device must match this setting. You must make
Resolution sure to match the settings specified on the target device.
Video Frame Select a frame rate from the menu. You must make sure to match the settings specified on the target
Rate device.
Audio Target This is always configured for 48 kHz

Sample Rate
Audio Target Select the bit depth (16 or 24) for your target device. You must make sure to match the settings
Bit Depth specified on the target device.
Audio Target Select the type of audio output you want. Options are Stereo or Direct Out
Mixdown Mode
Workspace Enter the path to an Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS workspace that can be used to store media resulting from
an audio mixdown or an STP encode operation.
The path must be entered in the following format \\<host>\<workspace_name>
Where <host> is the Shared Storage System Name of your Avid NEXIS system or the Virtual System
Directory your you Avid ISIS system, and <workspace_name> is the name of your desired Avid Shared
Storage workspace.
4. Do one of the following to save your profile:
 Click the SAVE button to the right of the profile.
The system prompts you to confirm that you want to accept the changes.
Click YES to save the profile or NO to return to the profile and make additional
changes.
 Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the list of profiles.
If you have created or edited multiple profiles, this button saves changes to all
profiles. This button does not prompt you to confirm the action
Creating a Send to Playback Profile-MediaCentral | Transfer

MediaCentral | Transfer allows for MediaCentral | Cloud UX users to edit and send content to
either a 3rd party playback server (Grass Valley K2 or Harmonic Omneon) or to a 3rd party
encoding software like Telestream Vantage for converting content to different file formats. To
use MediaCentral | Transfer Engine, depending on your workflow, the following systems are
required.
 MediaCentral Distribution Service is a service that resides on a Windows PC that

coordinates jobs with Product Management services for send-to-playback operations.
 MediaCentral Production Transcode-Required for STP profiles using stereo audio tracks
(audio mixdown) or for sequences with dissolves (video mixdown).
 MediaCentral STP Encode-Required for workflows that include Long GOP Media (XDCAM
HD, XDCAM EX, AVC LongG, etc.).
To configure a Send to Playback Profile for MediaCentral Transfer:
1. Click on the Publish option in the Workflow Settings Sidebar.

2. In the Publish panel on the right, click on the ADD PROFILE button to the right of the
PROFILE NAME column under the Send to Playback Profiles area.
3. Use the table on the next page for fulfillment details of each of the fields pictured below:
Table 3.5 Configuring MediaCentral Transfer Send to Playback Profile
Setting Description
Name Enter text in the Name field to add a name for the profile. Profile names should be descriptive, but
concise. Examples of good profile names include “Send to Promos” or “Send to Web”, while a poor
profile name would be “Use this one to send to the Vantage. Special characters and spaces are
allowed in this field.
Individual Specify if the profile should be created as an Individual Device or a Studio.

Device or
Studio For MediaCentral | Transfer this is always configured as an Individual Device.
Servers Select the MediaCentral | Transfer Engine server name.

The Server menu is populated through the Interplay Transfer settings in the Interplay Administrator
Tool. If these have not been configured, you will not be able to select any servers from this menu. This
configuration is detailed later in this module.
Playback Select the desired MediaCentral | Transfer Engine profile from the menu. This menu is populated by
Device the profiles created directly on the MediaCentral Transfer Engine.
Video Options - Long GOP: Select Long GOP if this profile will be used to transfer Long GOP media.
- AirSpeed: Select this option if transferring to an AirSpeed server.
- Accelerated STP: If you select both Long GOP and AirSpeed, the Accelerated STP option is
activated. This option enables Play While Transfer on the AirSpeed.
Video Target Select a target resolution from the menu. The target device must match this setting. You must make
Resolution sure to match the settings specified on the target device.
Video Frame Select a frame rate from the menu. You must make sure to match the settings specified on the target
Rate device.
Audio Target This is always configured for 48 kHz

Sample Rate
Audio Target Select the bit depth (16 or 24) for your target device. You must make sure to match the settings
Bit Depth specified on the target device.
Audio Target Select the type of audio output you want. Options are Stereo or Direct Out
Mixdown Mode
Workspace Enter the path to an Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS workspace that can be used to store media resulting from
an audio mixdown or an STP encode operation.
The path must be entered in the following format \\<host>\<workspace_name>
Where <host> is the Shared Storage System Name of your Avid NEXIS system or the Virtual System
Directory your you Avid ISIS system, and <workspace_name> is the name of your desired Avid Shared
Storage workspace.
4. Do one of the following to save your profile:

 Click the SAVE button to the right of the profile.
The system prompts you to confirm that you want to accept the changes.
Click YES to save the profile or NO to return to the profile and make additional
changes.
 Click the SAVE button at the bottom of the list of profiles.
If you have created or edited multiple profiles, this button saves changes to all
profiles. This button does not prompt you to confirm the action
Configuring MediaCentral Production Management

Settings
When integrating with a MediaCentral Production Management system, Media Central | Cloud
UX obtains many settings directly from the database of the Production module. System
Administrators use the Interplay Administrator tool to configure these settings.
This section includes information on the configuration of numerous areas of the Interplay
Administrator tool and requires prior knowledge of the tool (logging in, where the software is
installed, and a user and password of an administrator account). For more details consult the
Interplay Engine and Interplay Archive Engine and Administration Guide. The purpose of this
section is to detail the settings applicable to MediaCentral Cloud UX in the Interplay
Administration tool to provide a better understanding of how the two systems work together.
Server Settings-Update Tracking

When you make a change to an asset in the Production module’s database, you want to make
sure that the change is picked up by the MediaCentral Cloud UX search engine. The UPDATE
TRACKING option in the SERVER SETTINGS allows changes in the search properties specified in the
Production modules database to be pushed to the MediaCentral Cloud UX search engine. This
option should be enabled in all Cloud UX-Production Management environments.
User Authentication Providers-MediaCentral Platform Authentication

When configuring a Production module with MediaCentral Cloud UX, you must enable
MediaCentral Platform Authentication as a User Authentication Provider.
After you enable MediaCentral Platform Authentication, users that sign into MediaCentral Cloud
UX are automatically added as a user in the Production Management database. As with
MediaCentral Cloud UX, the Production Management database stores users but not passwords.
Production Management 2018.11 and later includes an IMPORT USERS button that allows
administrators to import all MediaCentral users or a selected group of users. After a
MediaCentral Cloud UX user or group is added to the Production database, a Production
administrator must enable the appropriate roles and permissions (folder access, group access,
and other options) for each user/group.
In 2018.11 users created through MediaCentral Platform authentication are added to the
Production module’s database under: Imported Users-MEDIACENTRAL-[server]. All user groups
imported through this process appear in this directory. This suffix ensures no two user groups
appear with the same name in User Management.
MediaCentral Platform Settings
The MediaCentral Platform Settings options apply to both Production Management and
Production Archive systems. If you have both modules, the setting below must be configured.
 The MEDIACENTRAL CONNECTION - option allows you to find assets through the MediaCentral
Cloud UX Search app. The GATEWAY HOST section contains the short name of the FQDN of
the MediaCentral Cloud UX server or cluster.
 The MEDIACENTRAL PLAYBACK SERVICE - option is configured if your workflow includes Media
Composer Cloud Remote. Without it, the Cloud Remote client is unable to play any video.
The HOSTNAME contains the FQDN of the MediaCentral UX server or cluster. The USERNAME
and PASSWORD are a user and password that will be used to connect Media Composer
Cloud Remote users to the MediaCentral Cloud UX system. That just needs to be an Active
Directory user that is part of a user group that has been imported into MediaCentral
Cloud UX.
Application Database Settings

The following settings under Application Database Settings apply to MediaCentral Cloud UX
 FORMAT-VIDEO FORMAT: This setting determines the default video format for sequences
created in Cloud UX. You must select a specific video format from the menu or leave the
default selection of ANY. If Any is selected, Cloud UX determines the video format of the
sequence by using the format of the first clip that the user adds to the sequence timeline.
 AUDIO-MEDIA CREATION WORKSPACE: This specifies which Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS workspace
voice-over recordings are created to. This function will not work without a workspace
specified.
 AUDIO TRACK LABELS: This specifies how the audio track labels appear on a News sequence
timeline in MediaCentral Cloud UX.
 AUDIO DUCKING: This setting automatically adjusts the Audio Gain Levels when NAT overlaps
with SOT and ducks the NAT audio by the amount specified in this setting.
 AUDIO-DISSOLVE DURATION-FRAMES: This setting determines the number of frames used for audio
dissolves added to each clip in a Cloud UX News Sequence.
 AUDIO PATCHING: If set to Natural Sound 1 channel and Sound on Tape 1 allows you to use 3
audio channels maximum in a News Sequence. Setting each to 2 channels allows for 5
channels of audio.
Interplay Transfer Settings

If you plan to use the Publish app to send Production Management assets to distribution outlets
such as Facebook, Twitter, playback servers such as AirSpeed 5500, or to MediaCentral
Transfer Engines for sending on to third party devices, you must configure the Interplay Transfer
settings. MediaCentral Cloud UX uses these settings to populate the SERVERS option in profiles
created in the Cloud UX Configuration Settings App and Workflow app.
This window lets you create “Transfer Engines” for either a single AirSpeed, MediaCentral
Transfer Engines or AirSpeed studios. For more details, consult the Interplay Administrator
Guide.
MediaCentral Search Connector

Communication between each MediaCentral module and the Cloud UX search engine is enabled
through a search agent. This agent must be manually configured on each MediaCentral Module.
The MediaCentral Search Connector setting in this section enabled the search agent on the
Production modules.
The concepts detailed apply to both MediaCentral Production Management and MediaCentral
Production Archive systems.
 MANAGE STATUS TAB: This tab allows you to assign an instance of the search agent to your
Production Module using the Instance, Engine Username, and Engine Password section.
You also have buttons to Start, Stop, and Resync the indexing process. In the upper left,
you get information about the status of the instance.
 PROPERTY SELECTION: The Property Selection tab allows you to select Properties used in the
Search indexing process. These properties can be selected by users when working in the
Cloud UX search app. After you index your Production Module’s database you can return
to this area to enable or disable the indexed process. If you enable a new property on a
database that has been indexed, existing assets are not updated to include this property.
If you disable a property, new assets are not associated with this metadata value,
however, existing assets are still associated.
To remedy either scenario, you must perform a resync of the database. If you want to
remove a property from the index, you must complete the “resetting the MediaCentral
Search Index” process detailed in the Avid MediaCentral Cloud UX Installation Guide. This
can take a long time to complete for larger databases, so make changes carefully.
Summary
In this module, we looked at the Configuration Settings app and Workflow Settings app in the
Cloud UX Administrator app for such configuration as Session Timeout, Location Script
Sequence and Send to Playback profiles for AirSpeed and MediaCentral | Transfer. We also
looked at the applicable Cloud UX settings in the MediaCentral Production Management system
in the Interplay Administrator Tool.
Review Questions
•
1. Where can you configure the session timeout value for Cloud UX?
a. Users that sign into Cloud UX are automatically added as a user in the Production
Database.
b. There is no way to Import Users from Cloud UX in the Interplay Administration tool.
c. Group permissions are assigned automatically to imported groups in Interplay.
d. MediaCentral Platform Authentication is not required in a Cloud UX environment.
3. Where does a Send to Playback Profile in Cloud UX get its server options from?
4. Which of the following is not a Send to Playback Profile option?
a. Audio Bit Depth

b. Video Frame Rate
c. Ancillary Data
d. Audio Target Mixdown Mode
5. Which of the following are Location Script Sequence Configuration options?
a. Story
b. Date
c. Queue
d. All of the Above
EXERCISE 3
Create an AirSpeed Send to

Playback Profile
Duration: 5 min
1. Log in to the Cloud UX Administrator app.

2. Open the Workflow Settings App.
3. Select Publish.
4. Create a new Send to Playback Profile for AirSpeed 5500.
5. Enter all the desired settings.
6. Perform a Send to Playback.
MODULE 4
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing

Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing determines each user’s capabilities in the Cloud UX user
interface, the Platform options available to users, and any additional App or Feature options.
In this module, you will learn about the License app, how to find the Cloud UX SystemID, and
what license types Cloud UX users take up in MediaCentral | Newsroom Management.
Duration: 30 min
GOALS
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing Overview
 Importing a License
 Reviewing the Licensing Results Panel
 MediaCentral | Newsroom Management Licensing

64 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform for Administrators
Licensing Overview
MediaCentral Cloud UX includes a set of apps and features (such as the Browse app) that are
common to every installation. Avid allows organizations to add new options to MediaCentral
Cloud UX through an “a la carte” approach—allowing you to customize the user experience by
eliminating the need to purchase features that might not apply to your workflow. After you have
purchased a new feature, you use the Licensing app to add the features to MediaCentral Cloud
UX.
The app is divided into three primary areas, as shown in the following illustration.
The following table describes each area:

Table 4.1 License App Overview
Color Section Description
Top (Blue) Header The app header identifies the currently loaded app and provides access to the Help
menu.
Left (Red) License The Configuration area allows you to import new licenses into MediaCentral Cloud
Configuration UX. It also displays the SystemID which is needed to contact Avid Support.
Right License Results The Results area shows the licenses that have been imported to MediaCentral Cloud
(Green) UX.
You can access the Licensing app through the administrator settings.
Module 4  MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing 65
Understanding the License Types

This section describes the types of licenses that can be applied to MediaCentral Cloud UX. The
licenses are divided into the following categories: User Licenses, Platform Licenses, App and
Feature Licenses.
User Licenses
After importing user groups through the User Management app, system administrators must
associate a user license type with each Active Directory group that contains users who plan to
access MediaCentral Cloud UX. Four different license types are available---each of which offers
different levels of access to apps and features for maximum flexibility of both workflows and
cost structures.
The following four license types are available:
 VIEW
This license allows users to view media and utilize services (such as the Search App) but
does not provide the ability to edit content. Access to the Asset Editor is limited to viewing
low-resolution, but not editing, altering metadata, modifying Newsroom Management
stories, using Publish, or using the Research App.
 BROWSE
This license is similar to a View license type but enables access to additional apps. You
cannot edit content (sequences or metadata changes) but you do have access to the
Research App, Publish, and changing Newsroom Management stories.
 EDIT
This license allows users to view and edit media and metadata and use services. This
includes all licensed Platform and Feature and App Licensed features.
 FULL
This license is generally found in Enterprise-level organizations that want maximum

flexibility, this license enables access to the full range of options for each app.
In this release, the Edit and Full user licenses include identical functionality.
However, this is expected to change in future releases where new functionality
might be enabled for the Full license exclusively.
Platform Licenses
Platform licenses generally affect the entire system, crossing both user and feature licensing.
For instance, MediaCentral Support licenses affect all aspects of the Cloud UX system.
The following table describes each license type.

Table 4.2 Platform Licenses
Name Description
MediaCentral | Platform Every user consumes on Platform license regardless of the client type (web, mobile,
editor panel) or license type (Full, View, or other).
MediaCentral | Production Enables integration with the MediaCentral Production Management module.
Management
MediaCentral | Asset Enables integration with MediaCentral Asset Management module or MediaCentral |
Management Shared Library.
MediaCentral | Newsroom Enables integration with the MediaCentral Newsroom Management Module.
Management
MediaCentral ExpertPlus If you are under an Avid support contract, the license shows the current support license
Support type and expiration date.
MediaCentral Elite Support If you are under an Avid support contract, this license shows the current support license
type and expiration date.
App and Feature Licenses

These licenses enable new features in the MediaCentral Cloud UX user interface—such as the
ability to use the Publish app to send assets to Facebook. Alternatively, feature licenses might
enable additional connections to MediaCentral Cloud UX---such as the Panel for Media
Composer or 3rd party apps developed through Avid’s API connector.
The following table describes each license type.

Table 4.3 App and Feature Licenses
Name Description
Media Composer | Cloud Enables Media Composer Cloud Remote clients to connect to the Platform
Remote
MediaCentral | Analytics This license enables party cognitive services vendors to integrate with the MediaCentral
platform—Microsoft Azure Media Indexer, for example.
MediaCentral | API The MediaCentral | API Connector enables integrations of Avid partner or custom-built
Connector components of the MediaCentral Platform.
MediaCentral | Archive This license enables a connection to a MediaCentral | Archive Production and associated
Production workflows such as restore from the archive.
MediaCentral | Enables the Brightcove endpoint for the Publish app.

Connector for Brightcove
MediaCentral | Enables the Facebook endpoint for the Publish and Research apps.
Connector for Facebook
MediaCentral | Enables the CMS endpoint for the Publish app.

Connector for Generic
CMS
MediaCentral | Enables the Root6 Transcoder for integration with the Publish app.
Connector for Root6
MediaCentral | Enables the Vantage transcoder for integration with the Publish app.
Connector for Telestream
Vantage
MediaCentral | Enables the Twitter endpoint for the Publish and Research apps.
Connector for Twitter
MediaCentral | Enables the accelerated transfer of media and metadata within MediaCentral Cloud UX
Connector for WAN through FileCatalyst.
FileCatalyst
MediaCentral | Enables the WordPress endpoint for the Publish app.

Connector for WordPress
WCMS
MediaCentral | Enables the YouTube endpoint for the Publish app.

Connector for YouTube
MediaCentral | Deliver Enables workflows for the MediaCentral Production Management Delivery service.
MediaCentral | Distribute This license is required if using the Publish App.
MediaCentral | Document Service for managing documents, including import, export, indexing, thumbnail and proxy
Management creation, and more. Requires MediaCentral | Asset Management module.
MediaCentral | Enterprise Enables mixed sequence editing, allowing Asset Management and Production Management
Editing assets to coexist in the same sequence.
MediaCentral | Gateway Enables Microsoft Azure Media Services as a transcoder for integration with the Publish app.
for Microsoft Azure This item does not include any licensing required by Microsoft.
Encoding
MediaCentral | This license authorizes your system for a number of MediaCentral Hoverscrub seats.
Hoverscrub
MediaCentral | Ingest This license enables the MediaCentral Ingest app.
MediaCentral | This license allows organizations to run custom MediaCentral Asset Management processes.
Orchestrate This requires the MediaCentral | Asset Management module.
MediaCentral | Panel for Enables Adobe Premier Pro CC clients to connect to MediaCentral Cloud UX through a
Adobe Premiere Pro CC panel native to the application. Each connection is included in the maximum number of
concurrent MediaCentral Platform seats and each consumer user’s entitlements for enabled
apps.
MediaCentral | Panel for Enables Media Composer clients to connect to MediaCentral Cloud UX through a panel
Media Composer native to the application. Each connection is included in the maximum number of concurrent
MediaCentral Platform seats and each consumer user’s entitlements for enabled apps.
MediaCentral | Phonetic When activated, this license activates the phonetic search option and displays the number
Index of hours of audio media that can be indexed by the search engine. This is a Beta feature.
MediaCentral | Social This license is required if using the Research app.
MediaCentral | Transcode This license enables the ability to send Avid media through the MediaCentral Production
Transcode
Although apps might not be specifically tied to licenses, the functionality for an app might not
be available without a particular license. For example, the Rundown app is available to all
users—it is present in the user interface regardless of your user license type or any purchasable
license. However, functionality in the Rundown app depends on a connection to MediaCentral
Newsroom Management. If you do not have a license for the Newsroom Management module,
the app Rundown app is available, but it provides no functionality.
License Distribution
Every user that signs in to MediaCentral Cloud UX consume a MediaCentral Platform license.
This is true if you are accessing the user interface through a web browser, mobile phone,
MediaCentral Panel for Media Composer, or another method. In addition to a Platform license,
each user also consumes a User license (Full, Edit, Browse, or View).
When considering how to distribute the licenses, you need to decide: Should you employ a 1:1
distribution method, or should you over-allocate the licenses.
In the examples below consider an organization that has purchased 50 Platform licenses, 25 Full
User licenses, and 25 Browse licenses.
 ONE TO ONE DISTRIBUTION
In a 1:1 distribution method, the system administrator must pay careful attention to
manage the number of users assigned to each Active Directory user group and the number
of licenses that are available in MediaCentral Cloud UX.
In the example above, the organization purchase 25 Full licenses and 25 Browse licenses.
In this case, the system administrator could create two Active Directory user groups
consisting of not more than 25 users each. The administrator would use the User
Management group to assign the Full User licenses to the first group and the Browse User
licenses to the second group.
This method provides a high level of consistency as all 50 users are guaranteed to be
allowed access to MediaCentral Cloud UX. Additional, each user knows exactly what kind
of license they will receive at sign-in.
 OVER-ALLOCATING CONNECTION LICENSES
As an alternative to the 1:1 distribution method, administrators can elect to over-allocate

MediaCentral Cloud UX licenses. This method provides a great deal of flexibility, but it
does not allow for the “always-connect” peace of mind available through the 1:1 licensing
method.
Again, using the example above, if the organization has 100+ users separated into a
number of different AD groups, and that each group is assigned either a Full or Browse
User license. Since the site purchased only 50 platform licenses, the 51st person to attempt
to sing into MediaCentral Cloud UX is denied access as there are no more available
licenses.
This method might work well for a site that has a twelve-hour shift rotation where only 50
concurrent users are possible.
 OVER-ALLOCATING USER LICENSES
The administrator might choose to over-allocate the User licenses that are assigned to an
Active Directory group. Let’s assume the administrator has assigned the Full User license
(25 seats in the example) to an Active Directory group called “Editor” that consists of 30
users. The first 25 “Editor” users that sign in to MediaCentral Cloud UX users are assigned
the Full User license. The 26th user that attempts to sign-in might be denied access to
Although this user has been assigned a Full license through the Active Directory group in
the User Management app, no Full licenses remain. However, if a lower-tiered license (such
as Browse) is still available, MediaCentral Cloud UX allows the user to sign in with the
lower-tiered license. If all licenses are consumed, the user is denied access to
MediaCentral UX and will receive a “Your Platform licenses are all in use. Please contact
your administrator” warning message on the login screen.
License availability is verified when a user signs into MediaCentral Cloud UX. If the original
license type assigned to the user becomes available during the session, the user is not
alerted to the availability of the more feature-rich license. To release the existing license
and consume a new license, the user must sign out, and sign back into MediaCentral UX.
If a user belongs to multiple Active Directory groups—each assigned with different license
types, the user receives the highest license available at the time of sign-in. For example, if
a user is a member of three AD groups and the three groups are assigned Full, Edit, and
Browse licenses respectively, when the user signs in, MediaCentral Cloud UX assigns the
user with the most feature-rich license available—the Full license in this case. If the Full
license is not available, the user is provided with the next highest available (Edit). If all Full,
Edit, and Browse licenses have been consumed and there are still View licenses available,
the user is assigned the View license, even though they are not part of an Active Directory
user group associated with this license type. This assumes the system is licensed for at
least one View license.
 ALLOCATING ENTITLEMENTS
You can enable specific entitlements for each user group. The distribution of licenses
related to entitlements works similarly to User licenses. If an entitlement is enabled for a
group and the license is available, the user is granted access to that entitlement. However,
just as User licenses, it is possible to oversubscribe entitlements.
If for example you purchase 20 Hoverscrub licenses, and you enable that entitlement for a
user group that includes 40 users----only the first 20 users that sign in to MediaCentral UX
will have access to the Hoverscrub feature.
Manually enabled entitlements, such as Hoverscrub, remain available to the user,
regardless of the User license. For example, consider that a user belongs to two groups---
one associated with a Full license and the Hoverscrub entitlement and one associated with
a Browse license with the default entitlements. If the user signs into MediaCentral Cloud
UX and is assigned a View license (because all of the Full licenses are used), that user still
has access to Hoverscrub functionality (as long as there are Hoverscrub seats still
available.
Importing a License
The Configuration area of the Licensing app guides you through the process of importing a new
license into MediaCentral UX. The following process expands on the steps outlined in the
Licensing app’s interface.
After the licensing process is completed during the installation, your organization might decide
to purchase additional user seats at some point in the future. The process of upgrading an
existing license is similar to the process of installing a new licensing (except you are not required
to enter your SystemID or create a new Device ID (that has already been done for you).
Unlike some other Avid products, you are not required to deactivate a license
before importing a new license.
To import a license:
1. Select the Licensing app from the Administrator Settings Fast Bar.
2. The SystemID and the DeviceID already should appear on the left-hand side in the License
Configuration section.
3. Next, you must activate your product and generate a license file using the Avid Software
License Activation website.
a. Use one of the following methods to access the page:
- Click the Activation page link in the MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing app.
The Activation page appears as a new tab in your browser.
- Manually enter the following link into your browser’s address bar:
https://my.avid.com/products/indirectactivation
b. Enter your Activation ID, Device ID, and e-mail address on the Software Activation
page.
Your Activation ID is provided by Avid along with your system ID. The Activation ID is
sent as an electronic file delivered to you from your Avid Sales or Service
representative, or via your My Avid Account, or paperwork included in the packaging of
your product.
c. Click the SUBMIT button.
d. Click the DOWNLOAD button and save the license file to your local workstation.
4. Click the BROWSE button in the Licensing app, navigate to the LICENSE.JSON file, and click the
OPEN button to import the license into MediaCentral Cloud UX.
5. Click the ACTIVATE button to complete the process.

Your license is imported into MediaCentral Cloud UX and the Results panel is updated to
reflect the new license. This process can take a few minutes to complete so be patient. If
the activation process fails, the system alerts you with an error message.
Reviewing the Licensing Results Panel

The Results panel provides additional information on each license that is successfully imported
into MediaCentral Cloud UX.
The upper-left corner of this section displays the total number of licenses that have been
imported into MediaCentral Cloud UX.
The Results panel includes the following columns:
 LICENSE NAME: Each license that is imported into MediaCentral Cloud UX appears as a
separate line item in the Results panel.
 TYPE: Each license is associated with one of the following categories:
• CORE: These licenses apply to the MediaCentral | Platform, rather than to an individual
feature of MediaCentral Cloud UX.
• MODULE: These licenses authorize MediaCentral modules on the platform such as
MediaCentral Production Management, Newsroom Management, or Asset
Management.
• ON/OFF: These licenses enable a new feature for the Platform or enable access to the
Platform. The number of users that can access the feature is limited by other user or
seat licenses. Example: The Media Connector for Facebook is included in this category.
Once enabled, any user associated with a Browse, Edit, or Full user can connect to
Facebook using either Publish or Research apps.
• QUOTA: Currently the quota category of licenses includes the Phonetic Index license
only. Quote licenses appear in the Quantity column with a total number of hours of
media that can be indexed by the system.
• SEAT: These licenses refer to the number of “seats” or users that access a certain feature.
Examples include MediaCentral Distribute, MediaCentral Hoverscrub, Media Composer
Cloud Remote, and others.
• SUPPORT: These licenses grant access to Customer Care.
• USER: These licenses refer to the four client types (View, Browse, Edit, Full)
 QUANTITY
Each license is associated with a number. In some cases, the number represents a license
count and in other cases, it could represent a value such as the number of hours licensed
for the Phonetic Index. In the case of an On/Off license. A value of 1 means the license is
enabled.
In some cases, the quantity is listed as a fraction—10/40 for example. The number on the
right indicates the total number of licenses available and the number on the left indicates
how many licenses are currently in use.
 EXPIRATION DATE:
Many of the MediaCentral Cloud UX license options are not associated with an expiration
date. In this case, the Expiration Date column lists the license as permanent. However,
some licenses such as the Media Central Support offerings are only valid for a certain
period of time. The expiration date column indicates how long the license is valid.
- WHITE: Indicates that the license is active and has 30 days or more before the
expiration date.
- YELLOW: Indicates that the license will expire in less than 30 days.
- RED: The license has expired.
You can increase or decrease the size of any column by clicking and dragging the
separator bars in the column header. However, you cannot reorder the list of columns.
You can use the Filter and Sort controls to refine the list of licenses in the Results area as
well, as detailed in Module 2: MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management.
MediaCentral | Newsroom Management Licensing

With the release of MediaCentral Newsroom Management 2018.6, the licensing for the system
changed dramatically. This section details verifying the Newsroom Management license count
shows how Cloud UX logged in users appear in the Newsroom Management and provides some
details around the iNEWS Connectivity Toolkit Connector (CTC).
In order to run the commands in this section, you must connect to a MediaCentral
Newsroom Management Server either through Putty or a Connection Session. You
will also need to know the Newsroom Management so account password to log in.
Verifying the Newsroom Management Licensing

Once you are connected to the MediaCentral Newsroom Management server, you can verify the
license count by running the following command:
status l (l as in license)
The command outputs the current status of the system along with the SITE KEY, the number of
licensed CPUS, the SESSIONS COUNT, and the number of COM RESOURCES (which are used by MOS
Gateway servers).
When a user logs in from either a Newsroom Management workstation or via MediaCentral
Cloud UX they will take up a session license.
Verifying What or Who are Taking Up Session Licenses
When a client logs in they will take up a resource configured in the /site/config file of the
Newsroom Management system. These resources are associated with a number and each
system may vary. If you run the command below you will see the configured session licenses.
grep session /site/config
In this example, we see they are configured from 1001:1050.
You can run the following command to verify who or what is currently connected to the
MediaCentral Newsroom Management system taking up a session license:
list s
In the example above the T601 and T602 sessions are inewsctc sessions (detailed in the next
section).
G1003 is a session license and that is a user that is logged into the Newsroom Management full
client software (iNEWS client).
T1004 is also a session license but this user is connected to MediaCentral Newsroom
Management through a MediaCentral Cloud UX license.
Both clients are actively taking up a license.
iNEWS Connectivity Toolkit Connector (CTC)

The iNEWS CTC is the connector between MediaCentral Newsroom Management and the
MediaCentral Cloud UX Platform. This is also a licensed option but does not appear in this
release (2018.11) when you run the status l command. This CTC resource is further detailed
Module 6-MediaCentral | Cloud UX Maintenance and General Troubleshooting.
Summary
In this module, we looked at the different licensing options of MediaCentral | Cloud UX from User
Licenses, to Platform Licenses, to App and Feature Licenses. We covered the License Distribution
options and detailed importing a new license, along with MediaCentral | Newsroom Management
licensing.
Review Questions
•
1. What are four different Platform License options of MediaCentral | Cloud UX (besides any
support contract?
a. If a Browse user does not have a Browse license available, it grabs a Full license.
b. You can have an unlimited number of MediaCentral | Panels for Media Composer.
c. You can run out of MediaCentral | Hoverscrub features.
d. A user can log in without belonging to a group with a User license assigned.
3. What are two reasons why it is important to know your SystemID?
4. Which of the following is not an App or Feature License type?
a. MediaCentral | Hoverscrub
b. MediaCentral | Social
c. MediaCentral | Transcode
d. MediaCentral | STP Encode
5. Which of the following is not an App or Feature License?
a. MediaCentral | Connector for Facebook

b. MediaCentral | Connector for Instagram
c. MediaCentral | Connector for Telestream Vantage
d. MediaCentral | Connector for Twitter
EXERCISE 4
Verifying the Configured

Licensing
Duration: 5 min
1. Sign in to the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Admin portal.

2. Open the License app.
3. Confirm the SystemID (this is useful when contacting Avid Customer support).
4. Verify the Platform Licenses.
5. Verify the User Licenses.
6. Verify the App and Feature Licenses.
MODULE 5
MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server

The Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX provides the backend software and services that provide the
Cloud UX user interface.
In this module, you will learn about clustering, failover, monitoring and troubleshooting, and
using the Kubernetes dashboard.
Duration: 60 min
GOALS
 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview
 Kubernetes-Monitoring and Troubleshooting
 Connecting to the MediaCentral Cloud UX Server
 Power Cycling and Maintenance Mode

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview

MediaCentral Cloud UX clusters consist of three or mode nodes. The first three nodes in a cluster
serve as both master and worker nodes. Any additional nodes (4+) operate as worker nodes only.
Master nodes run services and databases that are critical to the operation of the system. These
nodes also run services found on worker nodes. Worker nodes run services such as playback for
increased performance and system load, but do not host databases and core system services. If
a non-master worker goes offline, system performance might be affected, but not system
availability.
Each MediaCentral Cloud UX node is associated with a dedicated IP address. However, cluster
configurations also include a cluster IP address that is used internally by the cluster and
externally by users connecting to the system. The cluster IP address is managed by the
keepalived service which runs on all master nodes. Although running on multiple nodes, the IP
address is managed only by one node in the cluster (at any one time). If you stop this service on
the node currently managing the resource, the management of the IP address is migrated to a
different node.
High Availability vs Failover

Since MediaCentral Cloud UX runs with three master nodes, you should not associate the term
“failover” with the system. The first three nodes are all master nodes. If a node is lost, there is no
failover of services to another node. The other two master nodes are already running at least one
copy of each service that was running on the lost node.
If Kubernetes detects that a master node is lost, it reviews the services to verify that at least two
copies of each critical service are running. If Kubernetes detects a single instance of any service,
it schedules another instance of the service on whichever node is not already running the service.
You can lose any one master node and continue to operate normally. If you can lose more than
one master node, the system will be offline until the situation is resolved. Some services—such as
Hoversrub—are only ever configured on one node. If the node that is hosting the non-redundant
service goes offline, that service remains offline until the node is restored—regardless of the
status of the cluster.
Module 5  MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server 79
MediaCentral Cloud UX Services

MediaCentral Cloud UX is built on CentOS and depends on many of the core services included
in that operating system. However, Avid’s software deployment adds several additional services
that work together to create MediaCentral Cloud UX.
Table 5.1 MediaCentral Cloud UX Services
Service Name Node Role Description
kube-apiserver Masters only Validates and configures data for the API objects which includes pods, services,
replication controllers and others. The API services REST operations and provides the
frontend to the cluster’s shared state through which all components interact.
kube- Masters only It is a daemon set that embeds the core control loops that watch the shared state of
controller- the cluster through apiserver and makes changes attempting to move the current
manager state towards the desired state.
kube- Masters only A policy -rich, topology-aware, workload-specific function.

scheduler
kubelet Masters/Workers The primary “node-agent” that works in terms of a PodSpec. Kubelet takes a set of
PodSpecs and ensures that the containers described in those PodSpecs are running
and healthy.
docker Masters/Workers Provides container software for working with container-based applications.
glusterd Masters/Workers Glusterfs is used to enable shared storage repository for cached assets, docker
registry, and helm chart repos. Glusterfs is installed and enabled in both single-server
and clustered environments
keepalived Masters only In clustered environments, this service manages the cluster IP address. This service is
stopped and disabled on single-node installations.
etcd Masters only ETCD is a database that is used by Kubernetes to store all configuration and cluster
states. The database is replicated (active/active) and runs on all master nodes in the
cluster.
avid-nexis- Masters/Workers The Avid NEXIS client is managed by the NEXIS Agent service. The NEXIS agent is
agent responsible for monitoring the NEXIS configuration in Kubernetes and for mounting
the NEXIS workspaces.
Rebooting a MediaCentral Cloud UX Cluster Overview

In most cases, you should not need to reboot or shut down the MediaCentral Cloud UX servers.
However, there are circumstances such as a planned power outage or other scenarios that
might require you to reboot or shut down the system.
The general rule of thumb for completing these actions is that you follow a first-up/last-down
approach. If you have a four-node cluster, power-up the nodes in ascending order: 1 (master), 2
(master), 3 (master), 4 (worker). When shutting the system down, power-down the servers in the
reverse order (4, 3, 2, and finally 1).
If you need to reboot a node, note the following:
 Worker nodes can be rebooted at any time. You can reboot multiple worker nodes
simultaneously. Be aware that system playback performance could be affected while the
node or nodes are offline.
 Master nodes should be rebooted only one at a time. You must make sure that the first
master node is fully operational before rebooting a second master node. If you do not, you
could create a situation where MediaCentral Cloud UX is inaccessible for a period of time.
You must have at least two master nodes up and fully functional at any one time.
 When rebooting or taking a master node offline, users might encounter a very brief
interruption as the cluster’s “keepalive” service is migrated to a new node. This service
messages the cluster IP address. Users are not disconnected from the system and they
should not lose any work during this period. If a user encounters a problem when
performing a certain action, the system generally displays an error or warning message. If
this occurs, the user must repeat the previous action.
The full shutdown and reboot procedure is covered later in this module in the Power
Cycling and Maintenance Mode section.
Adding or Removing Nodes

In the MediaCentral Cloud UX 2018.11 release, you cannot permanently add or remove nodes
from the system after the initial system configuration. If you need to alter the configuration, you
must reimage the servers and recreate the cluster.
Kubernetes-Monitoring and Troubleshooting

This section details utilizing the Kubernetes Dashboard for monitoring the health of the system,
pods, gathering logs, and deleting a pod if troubleshooting.
To sign in to the Kubernetes Dashboard:
1. Open a web browser and enter the following address:

https://<hostname>:30143
Where hostname is the host name of your single server or any cluster node.
If you have not imported an SSL certificate your web browser might show a warning to
indicate that the connection is not private.
If you see a similar window, continue through the warning screens to access the
Kubernetes Dashboard as shown in the illustration below:
2. Select the TOKEN button and enter the Kubernetes Admin token that was specified during
the installation process.
3. Click the SIGN IN button to access the Kubernetes Dashboard.
The dashboard appears and defaults to the Overview page as illustrated below:
The WORKLOADS STATUS section on the OVERVIEW tab shows the current status of the DAEMON
SETS, DEPLOYMENTS, JOBS, PODS, REPLICA SETS, and STATEFUL SETS. This is useful to see the status of
a Feature Pack deployment during the installation of after re-running and installation
script. When all services are running, the dashboard should report a green status for all
deployments.
The Kubernetes dashboard does not refresh automatically. You must reload or
refresh your browser to see dashboard updates.
Pods of Note
A Pod is the smallest unit in Kubernetes. A pod is scheduled by Kubernetes and can run in
multiple instances and can failover to other nodes in the cluster. A Pod is, for example, the avid-
iam but it can also be a database like RabbitMQ or Mongo.
The following table details some of the most important pods and their functions.
Table 5.2 MediaCentral Cloud UX Pods of Note
Pod Name Description
avid-playback Pod runs services surrounding MediaCentral Cloud UX playback of the video.
avid-ui-core-app Prod runs services that provide the User Interface for MediaCentral Cloud UX
avid-pam-sequence-pam Pod runs services in relation to creating sequences in MediaCentral Production Management
avid-pam-ctc-pam Pod runs service allowing connection to the MediaCentral Production Management system.
To collect Kubernetes pod logs:
1. Sign in to the Kubernetes Dashboard.

2. Click on the PODS link in the menu on the left side of the dashboard.
The dashboard displays a list of pods.
3. (optional) When you first access Pods, the list of pods is sorted by the Age column by
default. If this is not the best view for your situation, you can change the default view by
clicking on the name of any other column.
If you are looking for a specific pod and you do not see it on the first page of the list of
pods do one of the following:
 Click the NEXT PAGE button in the bottom right corner of the Pods view to display the
next set of pods.
 Enter the full or partial name of the pod in the SEARCH field at the top of the
dashboard to search for your pod.
The search returns the following pod (single server system in this example).
 Click on the FILTER button at the top right of the Pods panel and enter the full
or partial name of the pod in the Search field to filter the list of pods by your
custom value.
4. After you have located your desired pod, click the LOGS button to the right of the pod
name.
The Dashboard opens a new browser tab and displays the selected log. You can use the
controls at the top of the log panel to change the view or download a local copy of the log.
Deleting a Pod
Kubernetes should restart a pod automatically if the Pod is stopped. If you are troubleshooting a
pod, like playback, the mechanism for restarting the pod, is to delete the pod. This will force
Kubernetes to restart the pod.
Follow the steps in the previous section to find the desired pod and then do the following to
delete the pod.
5. Click on the ACTIONS button next to the desired pod:
6. Select the DELETE option.

7. You are prompted with a confirmation regarding the requested action:
8. Press the DELETE button. The pod is deleted, and the page is refreshed. If the pod does not
look like it finished restarting, make sure to hit the F5 to refresh the page.
Connecting to the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server

Working with the MediaCentral Cloud UX server can be done at the server itself on a KVM or
done remotely.
Once a MediaCentral Cloud UX is configured for connection to the network, you can connect to
the server using an SSH client such as Putty. This can be used for verifying configuration, editing
files, shutting down the server(s) and other tasks.
This section will detail using Putty to connect to the MediaCentral Cloud UX
server. Subsequent sections will detail the use of Putty frequently. Working with
Putty or working on the server directly requires that you know the server name,
user account used, and the root password assigned to that user along with
CentOS commands.
Putty is typically installed on a Windows box, so you can connect remotely to the Cloud UX
server without having to go to the server room KVM. The icon looks as pictured to the right.
When you launch Putty you need to enter the server name of the MediaCentral Cloud UX server
which your client must be able to resolve (or you can use an IP address). An example of this
configuration window is pictured below:
You can type in your host name in the HOST NAME field (the default port is 22) or you can enter the
server name in the SAVED SESSIONS field and click SAVE to permanently save this configuration. Once
you type in a host name or select a saved session press the OPEN button.
When the connection window opens, you are prompted for a user account:
The login account used is ROOT (sometimes called the super user) which is the CentOS user with
the highest privileges. The password is determined when the ROOT PASSWORD is assigned during
the installation in the CentOS User Settings.
Files and Directories

In CentOS, everything is a file or a directory. Each directory is reserved for a particular purpose.
This section details a few of the commonly used directories in the MediaCentral Cloud UX
environment. For more information on other directories, you can consult the MediaCentral |
Cloud UX Installation Guide.
DIRECTORY DESCRIPTION
/ The root of the file system.
/dev Contains device files including hard drive partitions, USB and CD drives.
/etc Contains CentOS system configuration files which includes the HOSTS files
which is important to the Cloud UX environment as well as the NTP.CONF
file.
/opt Contains add-on application packages that are not a native part of
CentOS including the Cloud UX components like the certificate.
/tmp The directory for temporary files.
/var Contains data files that change in size (variable data) including the Cloud
UX server log files.
Listing the Contents of Directories and Changing Directories

One of the most useful commands in CentOS is the list command which is a way to list the
directories of the folder that you are currently in. For example, if you are in the /ETC directory
type the following:
ls
For more details on the files you can use the following command which will list the files one after
the other (as opposed to the view above):
ls -l
To change directories, you use the command cd followed by the desired directory path. So
cd/etc takes you into the /etc directory. To go multiple levels simply type in the whole folder
path such as cd /var/log which will take you to where many of the MediaCentral Cloud UX log
files are located. If you type in ls or ls -l you can then see the file names in the directory like the
ones in the picture above.
The command pwd will show you the present working directory.
Viewing Files
There are many CentOS command for viewing files. Which command you use really depends on
the size of the file (the amount of data in it) and what you are looking for.
The cat command outputs the contents of the name file to the screen which makes it a nice way
to view small files. The host's file is used by the operating system to map hostnames to IP
addresses assists in quickly resolving names to IPs. When the Cloud UX Setup Script was run
during the installation the server’s hostname and IP address were added automatically to the
host's file.
To view the host's file using the cat command, type in the following:
cat /etc/hosts
Here you can see a single server system with the host specified. This allows you to verify that the
configuration is correct.
The more command allows you to view the output of a command one screen at a time or line by
line and is useful for looking at larger files like log files. You can press the enter key to go line by
line, or the space key to go page by page. You can quit out using the q key.
In this example, we will use the more command to view the resolv.conf file which lives in the
/etc directory. This file contains the DNS and domain information that was entered during the
installation process and is useful to look at when troubleshooting if you are having trouble
connecting to other systems by host name.
To view the resolv.conf file using the more command type in the following:
more /etc/resolv.conf
Verifying the Primary Node of the Cluster

The primary node is the only node in the cluster that includes the configuration files in the
/etc/avid/config directory. Select a node in your cluster and enter the following command to
determine if the system configuration files are present on this node:
ls /etc/avid/config
If you are accessing your primary master node, the command might report one or more of the
following files: auth.yaml, cert.yaml, pam.yaml, or ingest.yaml.
If the system reports that none of these files exist on your current server, repeat the command
on each cluster node until you identify the primary master node. This is useful for performing
upgrades and troubleshooting.
Viewing the .yaml Files

You can use the view commands from the previous section to view some of the configuration
scripts run during the installation process such as the auth.yaml, pam.yaml, and ingest.yaml
which all reside in the /etc/avid/config directory. These configurations are not made in the
Cloud UX User Interface so if you are troubleshooting, this is the only way to view them.
For more details on running these scripts and the feature pack deployment script
(avidctl platform deploy -i) that follows, please consult the Avid MediaCentral |
Cloud UX Installation Guide.
 PAM.YAML
The connection settings for a MediaCentral Production Management system are stored in
the pam.yaml file. The following data points were entered when the Product Management
connection script was run during the install.
• The fully qualified domain name of the Production Management Engine or cluster
(virtual name) (host)
• The name of a user that exists in the Production Management database with R/W
permissions to the entire database (it can be a local user or a user imported from an
external authentication provider) (username)
• The password of the Production Management user in the previous section (password)
• The short host name of the server hosting the Production Management Lookup Service.
If there are multiple servers hosting this service multiple values, separated by a comma
can be entered. Do not use an FQDN (full qualified domain name) in this field.
(lookup_server)
• The name of the Interplay Production Framework Workgroup. This value is case
sensitive and should be entered exactly as it appears in the Interplay Framework.
(workgroup)
• Dynamic Relink. This is where Dynamic Relink is enabled or disabled for all
MediaCentral Cloud UX users. The default value for this is yes. You should general
enable this if you are working in a multi-resolution environment, use MediaCentral |
Capture, use MediaCentral | Deliver with partial delivery, or use Partial Restore from
MediaCentral | Archive Production.
In a multi-resolution environment, with Dynamic Relink set to true the Cloud UX player
links to the lowest resolution associated with the asset. If this option is disabled, the
player links to the media associated with the asset at the most recent check-in. If you
need to send high-resolution media to a playback device through the Publish app, you
must enable the Dynamic Relink setting. (dynamic_relink)
 AUTH.YAML
Authentication providers are used to verifying user access to the Cloud UX user interface.
MediaCentral Cloud UX requires a connection to Windows Active Directory (AD) to act as
the authentication provider.
The following data points were entered when the Authentication provider script was run
during the install.
• The short host name, FQDN, or IP address of the authentication provider or providers
(Windows Active Directory server or servers). (ad_host)
• The port number used to connect to the provider. The default port is 389. If you are
connecting to the server using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) the standard port is 636.
(ad_port)
• Communication with the Active Directory server is often transmitted over an unsecured
connection. The script prompts the installer to verify if they want to enable a secure
connection by enabling Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). (ad_ssl_enabled)
• Bind User Name. This is the distinguished name of a user who has the right to query
Active Directory. (ad_bind_name)
• Bind Password: This is the password for the above user (ad_bind_password)
• Base DN. This value represents the level of the tree available through the User
Management app. This DN typically points to the branch of the AD tree where the user
objects are located. Any users or groups outside of this tree will not be available in the
User Management app. Avid recommends that you do not specify the top of the tree as
it may result in timeouts when it attempts to read AD structures that include a large
number of users, groups, or containers. (You may receive “Error while accessing the
back-end server” message when attempting to sing in. Avid recommends a lower
branch that includes all users and groups that need to access MediaCentral Cloud UX
and the Bind User Name and Admin (ad_base_dn)
• Admin Group DN. This user group is used to access the MediaCentral Cloud UX
Administrator apps. This group does not require any additional rights on the domain
and the users included in this group do not need to be domain admins. The Admin
Group must be within the Base DN. (ad_admin_group_dn)
• Admin Username: The MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing app requires an AD user to
start the licensing service. This user must be a member of the Cloud UX Admin Group.
Avid suggests creating a new service user in Active Directory that can be dedicated to
this task. This user requires no special privileges and must be configured to never
change its password. (admin_user)
• Connection Timeout: When polling the Active Directory server through the User
Management app, this value determines the number of milliseconds to wait for a
response from AD before the connection attempt is aborted.
(ldap_connection_timeout). The default is 9000 (9 seconds)
• Search Query Page Size. When polling Active Directory, this value determines how
many entries are gathered at one time. After the first page is returned, additional pages
are delivered until the end of the search is reached. The page size that you enter in the
script must be less than or equal to the MaxPageSize value defined on the Active
Directory Server. The default is 1000 (1 second)
• Cloud UX Active Directory Import interval. After synchronizing with Active Directory, this
value represents the number of seconds before you can resynchronize with the server.
The default for this setting is 60. (ldap_sync_delay)
• Cloud UX Active Directory Pool Connection age. This value defines how long
MediaCentral Cloud UX maintains a single connection to Active Directory. If you specify
multiple servers directly or through AD failover, this value also determines the amount of
time before the connection is switched to the next available server.
The default value for this option is 15000 (15 seconds, but that can be lowered. Be
aware that if this value is set too low, Active Directory could identify the connections as
an attack and block access after a period of time.
 INGEST.YAML
If you are integrating MediaCentral Cloud UX with Avid MediaCentral Ingest (a licensed
feature) the ingest.yaml script contains the MediaCentral connection settings.
The following data points were entered when the MediaCentral Ingest connection script
was run during the install.
• The IP address or Fully Qualified Domain Name of the MediaCentral Ingest system
(mci_host)
• The Avid NEXIS Storage System name or your Avid ISIS Virtual System Director Name.
This value is not the host name of the server, but rather a name assigned to the system
during the shared storage installation and configuration process
(nexis_system_name)
• The name of an Avid Shared storage workspace.
This should not just be the workspace name, as there is a companion service that
handles file uploads for the Ingest app that may cause issues. This service will
periodically delete files older than a certain time, so it is recommended to
create/specify a subfolder so your media does not get deleted.
The MediaCentral Ingest workflow allows you to upload media from your local
workstation to Avid Shared Storage. This requires a connection to an Avid NEXIS or Avid
ISIS shared storage system. This workspace must be accessible by the user account
that runs the MediaRewrapping Services on the MediaCentral Ingest server.
There are additional scripts for MediaCentral Archive Production (pam-

archive.yaml) and the NEXIS configuration which are not covered in this document.
For more information consult the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
Editing Files
CentOS features a powerful text editor called vi. To invoke vi, type the vi command followed by
the target file name at the command prompt:
vi <file name>
Vi operates in one of two modes, insert mode and command mode. Insert mode lets you perform
text edits-insert, deletion, etc. Command mode acts upon the file as a while (like saving or
quitting the file without saving).
 Press the I (as in Indigo) to switch to insert mode.

 Press the Esc key to get out of insert mode.
 Press the colon (:) to switch command mode.
USEFUL VI COMMANDS
COMMAND MODE
: Prefix to commands in command mode

:wq Write file and quit vi
: q! Quit without writing
INSERT MODE
If you edit .yaml or re-run a script to make modifications, you must re-run the
Feature Pack Deployment script (avidctl platform deploy -i) detailed in the
Installation Guide.
Status Commands
Check the status of the single server or cluster using the following Kubernetes commands and
tools.
Working with Services

In CentOS you can start, stop, and get the status of services using the following commands:
 SYSTEMCTL START <SERVICE-NAME>
 SYSTEMCTL STOP <SERVICE-NAME>
 SYSTEMCTL STATUS <SERVICE-NAME>
Working with Kubernetes

Avid uses Kubernetes with Docker as a container platform and manages pods-a construct that
wraps around one or more Docker containers (although usually just one).
This section describes a set of commands that can be issued from the CentOS command line.
However, many of these same functions can be completed using the Kubernetes web interface
as shown in a previous section of this module. They are detailed here if they are ever needed.
 KUBECTL GET NODES
You can enter the above command to obtain the status of the Kubernetes nodes.
Each server in your MediaCentral Cloud UX configuration should be listed under the name
column and the status of each node should report as Ready.
 KUBECTL --NAMESPACE KUBE-SYSTEM GET PODS
You can enter the above command to verify that the Kubernetes pods are running.
The command should report that each pod is Ready and Running
 KUBECTL GET PODS -O WIDE
You can use the following command to obtain a list and a status of all pods (running or
not):
kubectl get pods -o wide
Restarting a Pod
In most cases Kubernetes automatically restarts a stopped pod to minimize the amount of down-
time. Pods are usually managed by a deployment, statefullset, or daemonset. If you need to
manually restart a pod, you do not actually restart it---you delete if. When you delete pod,
Kuberenetes sees this as a stop and it automatically starts a new pod to take its place.
You can enter the following command to delete a pod:
kubectl delete pod <pod name>

When specifying the name of the pod, you need to enter the full name with the -suffix. This
means that the pod name with end with a large alphanumeric string that you can find using the
pods -o wide command from the previous section.
For example:
kubectl delete pod avid-hoverscrub-7786b946d5-nmp8p
After deleting the pod, a new pod should be created. If you run the “get pods” command, you
should notice that a new pod has been created with a different suffix than the previous pod.
Displaying Pod Logs

Each pod creates a log that can be used to investigate the pod’s recent activity and
troubleshoot problems. You can enter the following command to display the log:
kubectl logs <pod name>
If a pod has stopped, you can still recover the log with the following command:
kubectl logs -p <pod name>
Power Cycling and Maintenance Mode

The Kubernetes software installed on a MediaCentral Cloud UX server manages resources to
ensure continual operation of the system. If a service goes down for any reason, Kubernetes
identifies the missing service and restarts it.
In most cases, you should not have to reboot or shut down a MediaCentral Cloud UX server. Avid
does not recommend performing a full shutdown of the system---especially in clusters where a
full shutdown or reboot is often unnecessary as services are distributed across multiple nodes.
Instead of rebooting or shutting down the server, you can put the node into maintenance mode.
This process drains the Kubernetes managed resources from the node so that you can perform
any required maintenance tasks. After the maintenance is complete you add the node back as a
managed resource.
If you must shut down or reboot a node, you must put the Kubernetes controlled resources into
maintenance mode first. This is required for both single-server and cluster configurations, but it
is especially important in cluster configurations. This avoids the possibility of Kubernetes
attempting to restart a service that was intentionally shut down.
This section details how to put a server into maintenance mode and how to reboot or shut down
a MediaCentral Cloud UX server. These processes apply to both single-server and cluster
configurations.
After bringing a node back online with the uncordon command, you must wait
several minutes before attempting to access MediaCentral Cloud UX to allow time
for Kubernetes to restart all the pods and services.
Putting a Node in Maintenance Mode

This section details putting a node in maintenance mode to prevent Kubernetes from restarting
services that were shut down intentionally.
To Put a Node into Maintenance Mode:
1. Enter the following command to put a node into maintenance mode:

kubetcl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsets --delete-local-data
Where <node-name> is the host name of your MediaCentral Cloud UX server.
The command drains all services from the node and prevents Kubernetes from scheduling
new services on it. This command also deletes local data (e.g. caches) on the node, but it
does not delete Database data.
2. Perform any maintenance tasks on the node as needed.
3. Bring the node back online using the following command:
kubectl uncordon <node-name>
Where <node-name> is the host name of your MediaCentral Cloud UX Server.
4. Enter the following command to obtain the status of the Kubernetes nodes.
kubctl get nodes
Each server in your MediaCentral Cloud UX configuration should under the name column
and the status of each node should report as READY.
Rebooting or Shutting Down a Single MediaCentral Cloud UX Server or

Node
This section details how to reboot or shutdown a single MediaCentral Cloud UX server or node.
To Reboot or Shutdown a Single MediaCentral Cloud UX Server or Node:

kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore daemonsets --delete-local-data
Where <node-name> is the host name of your MediaCentral Cloud UX server.
2. Enter the following command directly on the node that you want to reboot to stop
additional services on the server.
systemctl stop kubelet kube-controller-manager kube-scheduler kube-apiserver
docker keepalived
3. Enter one of the following commands to reboot or shutdown the node. Enter the following
command to reboot the node.
 To reboot a node, type the following:
reboot
 To shut down a node, type the following:
shutdown -h now
4. After you reboot or power on the system, you must bring the node back with the following
command:
Where <node-name> is the host name of your MediaCentral Cloud UX server
5. Enter the following command to obtain the status of the Kubernetes nodes:
kube ctl get nodes
of the column and the status of each node should report as READY.
To Power-Cycle an Entire MediaCentral Cloud UX Cluster

If you have four or more nodes, you can shut down nodes 4 and later first. After these nodes are
shut down, you can repeat the following process on master nodes 1-3 (in any order).
To Power-Cycle an Entire MediaCentral Cloud UX Cluster:

kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsets --delete-local-data
Where <node-name> is the host of your MediaCentral Cloud UX server
2. Enter the following command directly on the node that you want to reboot to stop
additional services on the server:
systemctl stop kubelet kube-controller-manager kube-scheduler kube-apiserver
docker keepalived
3. Shutdown the server with the following command:
shutdown -h now
4. Repeat the above steps on the next node---shutting down only one node at a time.
As a reminder, shut down all worker nodes (4+) before shutting down any master nodes
After all nodes are shut down, you can begin bringing the cluster back online.
5. Power-on the first master node.

6. Bring the first master node back online using the following command.
Where <node-name> is the host name of your MediaCentral Cloud UX server
7. Enter the following command to obtain the status of the Kubernetes nodes:
kubectl get nodes
column as READY.
8. Use the steps above to bring each master node back online (one at a time), followed by
any worker nodes.
Since all master nodes are capable of running redundant services, it should not matter
which master node you bring up first. After each of the three master nodes are online, you
can bring up the worker nodes in any order.
Summary
In this module, we learned about high availability, failover, and power cycling and maintenance
mode of the MediaCentral Cloud UX server. We looked at the Kubernetes dashboard for
monitoring status, the health of pods, gathering log files, and restarting pods. We also looked at
connecting to the servers through an SSH client to look at configuration file, edit files, or
restarting processes.
Review Questions
•
1. How many master nodes can you lose in a cluster and remain functional?
a. You should reboot the Cloud UX system once a week.

b. Putting a server in maintenance mode is not recommended before rebooting.
c. Always start by shutting down a master node when shutting down a four-node
system.
d. In most cases, you should not have to shut down or reboot your Cloud UX servers.
3. What is the easiest way to restart a pod in MediaCentral Cloud UX?
4. Which of the following is not a configuration script run during the installation process?
a. Newsroom Management
b. Production Management
c. MediaCentral Ingest
d. Authentication Provider
EXERCISE 5
Using the Kubernetes

Dashboard
Duration: 5 min
1. Sign in to MediaCentral | UX.

2. Click on the Pods link.
3. Search for the playback service.
4. View the playback service logs.
5. Restart the playback service (if no one is actively using the system).
MODULE 6
MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Maintenance and General
Troubleshooting
Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX utilizes a wide array of tools and programs for troubleshooting
and maintaining the overall health of the environment. This module focuses on general
troubleshooting techniques and topics outside of the Kubernetes web page such as Time Sync,
Newsroom Management connectivity, and System Health Check.
Duration: 30 min
GOALS
 Verifying the Cloud UX software versions
 General Troubleshooting
 Working with MongoDB
 Troubleshooting Real-Time Playback
 Troubleshooting Sync Server Clocks
 Troubleshooting MediaCentral | Newsroom

Management Connectivity Issues
 Troubleshooting MCDS
 MediaCentral Cloud UX and System Logs

Verifying the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Software

Versions
It is important to know the version of MediaCentral | Cloud UX you are running on, which
software package versions are installed, and which version of NEXIS client you are running. This
is beneficial when working with support and for planning ahead if you are upgrading your NEXIS
system.
Verifying the version of MediaCentral Cloud UX Feature Packs

Use the following commands to verify which feature packs have been installed. You can then use
the Chart column to check the versions: of each package.
helm ls
Alternatively, the following command provides additional information on the feature packs
installed on your system:
cat /etc/service-host-version
Module 6  MediaCentral | Cloud UX Maintenance and General Troubleshooting 103
Verifying the version of CentOS

To check the version of CentOS installed type the following command:
cat /etc/centos-release
Verifying the NEXIS Client Version on Cloud UX

MediaCentral Cloud UX automatically installs a version of the NEXIS client software. If you are
connecting to an Avid NEXIS system and your client software is earlier/older than the server
software version, the server might reject your client connection. To resolve this issue, you must
update the version of the Avid NEXIS client on the MediaCentral Cloud UX server.
To verify the version of the NEXIS client installed on your Cloud UX server run the following
command:
rpm -qa | grep NEXIS
Here you can see that the 2018.11 version of NEXIS client is installed which allows the Cloud UX to
connect to a NEXIS server version 2018.11 or earlier.
For the Installation Procedure of a CentOS NEXIS client consult the NEXIS Client
Manager Installation and User’s Guide.
This section contains some common commands and troubleshooting techniques for verifying the
configuration and dealing with other variables.
Verifying Hostname, Network, and DNS Connectivity

If you are having network issues that you think may be caused by misconfiguration you can
verify the configuration and do some basic testing using the following commands.
To verify the hostname:
1. Verify the short hostname by entering the following command:

hostname
The short hostname should be printed to the screen.
2. Verify the FQDN by entering the following command:
hostname -f
The fully qualified hostname must be printed to the screen. If the command replies with the
short hostname, there is a configuration error.
To verify network connectivity:
1. Use the ping command to verify connectivity to your network gateway address.
ping -c 4 <gateway IP address>
2. Use the ping command to test the connection to other host servers in your network such as
the MediaCentral Production Management Engine or the MediaCentral Newsroom
Management server.
ping -c 4 <hostname>
To verify network configuration:
Use the following command to verify the IP configuration of the Cloud UX server
ifconfig
This will show the IP address assigned and the subnet mask.
Active Directory-Users Working in Disconnected Mode

MediaCentral Cloud UX requires a connection to the Windows Active Directory to validate user
access to the Cloud UX system. If your Active Directory connection is severed, users that are
already signed into MediaCentral Cloud UX can continue working. However as Avid does not
store passwords on the Cloud UX server, users that are not already signed-in are denied access
to MediaCentral Cloud UX until the connection to Active Directory is restored.
Notes for Active Directory User Accounts

As an administrator, be aware of the following rules related to Active Directory users.
 Password must be changed after the next login

If you have this option enabled in Active Directory for any user and the user is attempting
to access the domain for the first time using MediaCentral Cloud UX, the user will not be
able to sign-in. MediaCentral Cloud UX does not prompt the user to change their
password. In this case, the user must sign in to a Windows client to change their password
before attempting to access MediaCentral Cloud UX.
 Locked accounts
If your Active Directory system is configured to lock an account after a certain number of
failed login attempts, MediaCentral Cloud UX respects this configuration and provides the
user a message on login after the specified number of failed attempts: “your account has
been locked or disabled. To access your account, please contact your administrator”.
If your Active Directory system is configured to automatically unlock the account after a
certain period of time, the user might still see this message if attempting to sign into
MediaCentral Cloud UX with an invalid password after the unlock period has expired. This
is an unexpected response as the user should normally receive a “wrong credentials” error
message.
If the user enters a correct password after the lockout period has expired, the user is
granted access to MediaCentral Cloud UX as expected.
This scenario does not occur if a domain administrator unlocks the account manually.
Working with MongoDB

MongoDB (Mongo database) is a distributed database where copies of “shards” of the database
can exist on multiple servers for increased efficiency and redundancy. On a single server
configuration, MongoDB works in a “sharded” configuration where the database consists of a
single shard. In a cluster configuration, MongoDB runs on three master nodes. The configuration
of MongoDB is completed automatically during the MediaCentral Cloud UX installation process.
MongoDB is used by multiple Avid services to store critical system information such as license
data, imported user data, system settings, Publish profiles, and more. Due to the nature of this
data, administrators might want to back up the database information in the event of a major
system failure. To assist in this effort, MediaCentral Cloud UX includes a script that can be used
to backup and restore MongoDB.
When you complete a backup, the files are saved to the sda volume at /var/lib/backup. If you
are running a clustered configuration, this volume is replicated across the three master nodes by
GlusterFS. This replication system allows you to perform backups and restores from any master
node.
The following sections detail reviewing the database files, backing up the Mongo database,
restoring the Mongo Database and automating the backups.
The MongoDB script (avidctl db) includes a help feature. If you need assistance with the script,
you can type the following for more information:
avidctl db --help
Reviewing the Database Files

The MediaCentral Cloud UX Mongo database consists of multiple files. The Avid provided script
allows you to back up all the files in a single command or to back up individual database files.
You use the Avid database backup script to list each of the database files.
To list the MongoDB files:
1. Log in to the MediaCentral Cloud UX server as the root user.

If you are running a clustered configuration, you must log in to one of the cluster master
nodes.
2. Enter the following command to display the Mongo database files:
avidctl db mongo-ls
The system displays a list of databases, similar to the following:
If you want to backup, a single database file, you must note the name of that file as it will
be required when you complete the process for backing up the Mongo database.
Backing up the Mongo Database

Complete the following process to back up the Mongo database.
To Back Up the Database:

If you are running a clustered configuration, you must log in to one of the cluster master
nodes.
2. The Avid backup script allows you to back up the entire database or individual database
files.
Enter one of the following commands to initiate a backup of the Mongo database.
 If you want to create a backup of all database files, enter the following command:
avidctl db mongo-backup --full
The output will display as below:
 If you want to create a backup of a single database file, enter the following
command:
avidctl db mongo-backup --name <db cluster name>
In this case, the <db cluster name> variable is the name of a Mongo database file.
You can obtain a list of these files through the avidctl db mongo-ls command.
3. (optional) If you want to check on the status of your backup job, you can enter the
following command to obtain a list of jobs and their status.
avidctl db mongo-tasks --token <token>
Where <token> is the Kubernetes token that was created during the installation process.
Pictured below is an example:
4. (optional) Copy the backup files from /var/lib/backup to a secure location.
Restoring the Mongo Database

You can restore a backup copy of the Mongo Database if needed. The process disconnects
services from the Mongo database so Avid recommends that you schedule a short maintenance
window (1 hour) where the users are not active on the system before starting this process.
The mongo-backup-ls command can be used to provide additional information on prior

backups such as succeeded, active or failed.
You can find the details of this procedure in the Avid MediaCentral Cloud UX Installation Guide.
It is not covered in this coursebook as you may want to investigate with customer support as to
why this would be a requirement first.
Scheduling Automatic Backup

The Avid MongoDB backup/restore script can also be scheduled to create automatic backups of
your database. This section includes processes for scheduling a backup as well as processes to
view or alter your backup job.
You can use the first step below to see if the Avid installer enabled a scheduled backup.
To view your scheduled backup jobs
 Enter the following command:

avidctl db mongo-backup-schedule
After you press Enter, the script displays information about your backup jobs.
In the example above, no scheduled backup exists. You can then follow the steps in the
next section to create one.
To schedule a MongoDB backup:

avidctl db mongo-backup-schedule-create –-schedule “<format>”
In this command, the <format> variable must follow that of a Linux cron job. For example:
This example instructs the CentOS to run the job once every day at 2 am. The following
table provides additional information on Linux cron values.
Table 6.1 Schedule MongoDB backup Linux cron values
Minutes Hour Day of Month Month Day of Week
Variable (0-59) (0-23) (1-31) (1-12 or Jan-Dec) (0-6 or Sun-Sat)
Example Command 0 2 * * .*
The “*” is a special character that indicates every value in the list (i.e. every hour, every
day of the month, every month, every day, or the week.
When creating a scheduled job, you must not create a schedule that would impact
system operations. For example, do not create a job that creates a backup every
30 min or every hour as this level of activity could impact system performance.
Avid recommends limiting the backup to once per day or once per week.
After you press Enter, the script reports that the job is created.
To update an existing schedule backup job:

avidctl db mongo-backup-schedule-update --schedule “<format>”
In this command, the <format> variable must follow that of a Linux cron job. After you press
enter, the script reports that your backup job has been updated.
To delete an existing scheduled backup job:

avidctl db mongo-backup-schedule-delete
After you press Enter, the script reports that your backup job has been deleted.
Troubleshooting Playback
If you are having problems playing back media in the MediaCentral Cloud UX Asset Editor, you
can attempt to use the following processes to troubleshoot and resolve the problem.
The following list provides some general troubleshooting techniques:
 The Asset Editor includes a RELOAD ASSET button. If you have a problem with a particular
asset, try reloading it before doing anything else.
 Load a different asset, preferably one that was not created in the same time frame as
your first asset. It’s possible that you might not be experiencing a problem with a single
asset or a group of assets created around the same period of time.
 If you are having problems playing or loading an asset, you should verify that the asset is
online in the source MediaCentral module. For instance, before taking any action in
MediaCentral Cloud UX for a MediaCentral Production Management asset, you should
use Interplay Access to verify that the asset is fully online.
Verifying Access to Shared Storage

If you are having a problem playing back all media assets, you should determine where the
asset is located and verify that MediaCentral Cloud UX has access to that NEXIS workspace.
You can enter the following command to verify the Avid NEXIS or Avid ISIS system is mounted
successfully:
systemctl status avid-nexis-agent -l (that is l as in leopard)
The system should respond with an outlook at the bottom of the screen that it is connected
successfully.
A variation of this command which will show which workspaces are mounted is the command
df -h | grep media
If the Avid ISIS or Avid NEXIS storage is not mounted, you can enter the following commands to
restart the Avid NEXIS Client services:
systemctl restart avidfos
systemctl restart avid-nexis-agent

Troubleshooting Sync Server Clocks

Maintaining precise time synchronization between MediaCentral Cloud UX servers and
connected systems (Avid NEXIS, MediaCentral Production Management, MediaCentral |
Newsroom Management is critical to the operation of the system.
For a cluster to behave as expected it is important that the clocks of each node are
synchronized. Each server uses the Network Time Protocol (NTP daemon) to automatically
synchronize the system clock with an NTP time server. This is typically setup as a cron job to
make this synchronization every 30 minutes.
If the times are different between the servers it has been known to cause issues with playback
and domain authentication (if the times of the Newsroom Management server are different than
that of Cloud UX cluster by a few hours).
This section details a couple of commands to verify that the time is correct, that the NTP server is
reachable, and how to verify the configuration that was made during the installation process.
Verifying the Server Date and Time

To verify the server date and time simply type in the DATE command and the system will return
the below:
Running the command simultaneously on multiple Putty sessions or using Putty CS will show you
how accurate the times are between the servers in a cluster.
Viewing the NTP.CONF File

To view the NTP configuration (ntp.conf file) type the following command:
more /etc/ntp.conf
Pictured below you see the output of the command and the two servers this sample system is
pointing at. The file can be edited with VI if needed.
Making sure the Configured NTP server is reachable

To verify that the NTP server configured in the ntp.conf file is reachable, query the server with
the following command:
ntpdate -q <server name or IP address>
Syncing the System to the Configured NTP server without waiting

To sync the MediaCentral server to the NTP server without waiting, use the following command:
ntpdate -s <server name or IP address>
Troubleshooting MediaCentral | Newsroom Management

Connectivity Issues
The Newsroom Management adapter, named iNEWS CTC is the connector between
MediaCentral Newsroom Management and the Platform. CTC stands for Connectivity Toolkit
Connector.
This inewsctc device is configured and runs on the Newsroom Management server and it is
important to know which inewsctc resource is configured to talk to MediaCentral Cloud UX as if
the connection is severed between the two products you typically must restart this service on the
Newsroom Management server.
If the iNEWS database disappears from the Browse App in the MediaCentral Cloud UX interface
(which can happen if you delete the wrong pods in Kubernetes) follow the steps below to identify
the inewsctc resource assigned to Cloud UX, view the configuration, and restart the inewsctc
service if needed.
All of the steps below require connection to the MediaCentral Newsroom

Management Servers and knowing (bare minimum) the login credentials of the so
account. You can use Putty to connect to the Newsroom Management server(s)
and some of the same commands from Module 5-MediaCentral Cloud UX Server
for viewing files and changing directories. Certain commands (like restarting a
service) are Newsroom Management specific.
Identifying the INEWSCTC Resources

Each of the inewsctc resources is associated with a number that is determined through the
configuration in the MediaCentral Newsroom Management /site/confg file. You can view this
file with the following command (it is a larger file, so it is recommended to use more instead of
cat).
more /site/config
You will find the inewsctc resource configured in the top Hosts section which is used for resiliency
purposes. Depending on how many servers are in the Newsroom Management environment, the
resources may appear in multiple sections.
You will also see the resources later in the file in the INEWSCTC section. In this example, there
are two inewsctc resources configured at numbers 601 and 602.
If there is no comment listed to identify which inewsctc resource is used for MediaCentral Cloud
UX then you will need to look at the configuration of each resource (as detailed in the next
section) to find out which one is being used to connect to the MediaCentral Cloud UX platform.
Another command that can be used for this is:
list c inewsctc
This will list the configured inewsctc devices.
Viewing the INEWSCTC Configuration

Each inewsctc resource has a connection environment file stored and configured in the
/site/env directory.
To view the /site/env environment file for the inewsctc 601 resource in this example, type the
following command:
cat /site/env/inewsctc.601
The ACS_GATEWAY_HOST is the configuration for the MediaCentral Cloud UX server.
The SERVICE_REALM is the MediaCentral Newsroom Management system name.
In this example, 601 is the configured inewsctc resource for connecting with MediaCentral Cloud
UX.
Restarting the INEWSCTC Service

If communication is severed between MediaCentral Cloud UX and the MediaCentral Newsroom
Management inewsctc resource, you can restart the service using the following command (601 in
this example). This is typically evident if the Newsroom Management database no longer
appears in the MediaCentral Cloud UX Browse app.
restart -f 601
You can then log out and log back into the MediaCentral Cloud UX user interface to see if the
database has returned to the Brows app. If it does not, then further troubleshooting is required.
Viewing the INEWSCTC Log Files

You can examine the log file for the inewsctc resource stored in the /var/log/iNEWS directory
using the following command (resource 601 in this example)
more /var/log/iNEWS/inewsctc.601.log
There may be a lot of information in this log file. You could use an application like WinSCP if you
wish to retrieve the log file from the MediaCentral Newsroom Management server and pass it on
to Avid Customer Support.
Troubleshooting MCDS
The MediaCentral Distribution Service (MCDS) is a Windows service required for Send to
Playback (STP) operations in MediaCentral Cloud UX. Since this service does not run on the
MediaCentral | Cloud UX server, troubleshooting this component is covered separately (this
service is not used in non-Cloud UX environments.).
There are multiple services/providers used in the STP workflow so if you are having issues
sending content to playback, follow the guidelines below to troubleshoot to rule out MCDS
service so as the problem service.
Using MediaCentral Production Services Status

When a Send to Playback operation is started the first service in the process chain is the MCDS
service. While MCDS is not considered a MediaCentral | Production Services Provider you can
monitor STP operations through MediaCentral Production Services Status to make sure that jobs
are successfully making it to the MCDS service.
In Interplay Access, you can right-click on any folder in the Database structure and select
MEDIACENTRAL PRODUCTION SERVICES STATUS and look at the JOBS tab. This is a feature also available in
the Interplay Administrator tool.
When a job is sent you will see the MCDS service pop up in the jobs tab when it sees the job.
Once it is finished with its portion of the work and hands the job to MediaCentral Transcode. If
you do not see the MCDS service ever pop up and receive the job, it is an indication that there is
something wrong with the service., and you can continue troubleshooting using the sections
below.
You should also narrow down if this issue is occurring with specific asset features on what you
are sending such as video-only or audio-only sequences (neither are supported for send to
playback), or certain codes, certain effects, data track, etc. Deducing these traits is one of the
key steps to reproducing the issue.
Verifying the Location of the MCDS Service

Where the MCDS service is installed depends on the environment and how many different boxes
a customer has. While you can install multiple instances of the MCDS service, you can only
configure one of them in this release.
You can find which box is currently running the active service using the MediaCentral Cloud UX
Admin Portal. Once you are logged in click on the CONFIGURATION SETTINGS app and open up
MODULES-PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT and you will see the configuration as pictured below.
The MCDS URK shows which box is running the active MCDS service (in the example above it is an
IP address). You can then Remote Desktop to that box or go to the KVM to continue
troubleshooting.
Restarting the MediaCentral Distribution Service

The service can be found on the Windows box running it through START-CONTROL PANEL-ADMINISTRATIVE
TOOLS-SERVICES. You can verify that the AVID INTERPLAY CENTRAL DISTRIBUTION SERVICE is RUNNING or right-
click on the service to stop or restart the service.
Finding the MCDS Log Files

Log files for the MediaCentral Distribution Service are located in the following folder on the
server where you installed the MediaCentral Distribution Service (the Windows box, not the
MediaCentral | Cloud UX server).
C:\ProgramData\Avid\MediaCentral Distribution Service

Table 6.2 MediaCentral Distribution Service (MCDS) Logs
Name Description
STPservice_nn.log Contains log messages from the MediaCentral Distribution Service.
STPTimeTask_nn.log.log Contains log messages from the MediaCentral Distribution Service’s automatic cleanup of
jobs.
Reconfiguring MCDS to point to a Different Instance of MCDS

For redundancy purposes, MCDS can be installed on two systems. Installing a second instance
of MCDS does not provide load-balancing functionality. In the MCDS URL setting, you are only
allowed to enter one MCDS URL in this release.
If you need to point to a different MCDS service this entry would need to be reconfigured in the
Configuration Settings-Modules-Production Management and if you are publishing to social
media, it would also need to be reconfigured under Configuration Settings-Distribute-Production
Management.
You can then test sending another sequence to playback to ensure that the reconfiguration is a
success.
MediaCentral Cloud UX and System Logs

If you encounter a problem with your system, you might need to contact Avid Customer Care for
assistance in troubleshooting the root cause of the issue. These troubleshooting efforts are often
expedited by collecting and reviewing the system log files. This section details the location of
various MediaCentral Cloud UX logs and describes the process of gathering them for offline
review.
Log Locations
Review the following table for information on log files that are available on the MediaCentral
Cloud UX server.
Table 6.3 MediaCentral Cloud UX Log Locations
Log Location Description
/var/log This directory includes system setup and upgrade logs:

- Service-host-setup<value>.log
- service-host-upgrade<value>.log
/var/log/messages This is a general system log file. Most services write data to this file.
/var/log/containers This directory indicates logs for each docker container
/var/logs/pods This directory includes a set of subdirectories—one for each Kubernetes pod. Unfortunately, the
folders are not written with user-friendly names
/var/log/glusterfs This directory includes logs related to GlusterFS
Viewing Log Files

CentOS includes multiple commands that allow you to view logs directly on the MediaCentral
Cloud UX server. The following list details a few of these commands:
 LESS: Outputs the contents of a file to the screen in a shell; permitting forward and
backward movement through the file. Example command:
less /<path>/<filename>
Press “q” to exit the shell.
 MORE: Similar to “less” but does not allow you to move up and down through the file.
“more” is also not presented in a shell. Example command:
more /<path>/<filename>
Press “q” to exit the shell.
 TAIL: By default, this command displays the last ten lines of a log file. Alternatively, you can
add a numbered value to specify additional lines:
tail /<path>/<filename>
tail -50 /<path>/<filename>
Adding the -f switch to the command allows you to view the growing log file in real-time
(press CTRL-C to exit the real-time view):
tail -f /<path>/<file-name>
The same command can be used to simultaneously view multiple log files in real-time.
tail -f /<path>/<file-name>/<path>/<file-name>
 GREP: Use the grep command to search for regular expressions with a log file from the
command line. For example, the following command searches all the log files in the current
directory for the term “fail-count”:
grep fail-count *.log
In addition to the commands above, CentOS includes the journalctl command which can be
used to monitor the direct output of a service.
For example, the following command displays the output of the kubelet service:
journalctl -u kubelet
Alternatively, you can add a -f switch to the command to view the live output of the service log:
journalctl -u kubelet -f
Collecting Logs
Avid provides two scripts that can assist you in gathering information about your MediaCentral
Cloud UX server:
 AVIDCTL TOOLS SYSTEM-REPORT:
This tool gathers the local host's file, status information on services, Kubernetes
information, a minimal number of log files, and more.
 AVIDCTL TOOLS COLLECT-LOGS
This tool gathers log information only, including log information on all Kubernetes pods,
and many more logs than collected by the system-report tool. Because of the number of
logs collected, the file created by this script can be very large.
Alternatively, if you need to collect a single log file, you can use an SFTP client such as WinSCP
to access the MediaCentral Cloud UX server and copy the file.
After you have collected the logs, you can review them from an external location such as a
Windows machine. There are multiple tools that can be used to review the logs. One application
is called: Notepad++. This free source code editor displays logs file through an organized line-
item display and enables users to search RHEL logs to quickly find the data they need.
To Run the system-report script
1. Log into the MediaCentral Cloud UX server as the root user.

2. Enter the following command to execute the script:
avidctl tools system-report
The script contains a <localhost>.health.txt file in the current working directory.
The default system report is limited to collecting only the information that is most
commonly requested by Avid Customer Care. In most cases, this is the best option to use
when running the script. However, the script includes a “complete” option that provides
much greater detail. If Avid Customer Car requires additional information, you can run the
script again with the -c option as shown here.
avidctl tools system-report -c
3. (optional) If you have multiple servers configured in a cluster, you must execute the
command on each node to collect the logs from each server.
4. After you have created the system-report files, you can collect the files for review.
To Run the Log Collection Script

2. Enter one of the following commands:
 avidctl tools collect-logs
The script collects logs from your MediaCentral Cloud UX server and creates a new
<localhost>.tar.bz file in the current working directory.
 avidctl tools collect -logs -o /path
The -o /path option allows you to specify a location to save the compressed log
files. Since some logs file can be large (multiple GB), you need to make sure you
select a destination that has enough space for the file.
If you need help with this script you can enter avidctl tools collect-logs --help to
see a list of options that can be used with the script.
3. (optional) If you have multiple servers configured in a cluster, you must execute the
command on each node to collect the logs from each server.
4. After you have created the compressed log files, you can collect the files for review.
Summary
In this module, we looked at some general troubleshooting techniques, many CentOS
commands, working with the MongoDB, troubleshooting non-Cloud UX services like the MCDS
and the iNEWS CTC along with important concepts like time sync, log gathering, and system
reports.
Review Questions
•
1. How frequently does Avid recommend backing up the MongoDB?
a. The MCDS service runs on the MediaCentral Cloud UX server.

b. There is no way to stop and start the MCDS service.
c. The MCDS service does not generate any log files.
d. The location of the MCDS service may vary depending on the deployment.
3. What process may require a restart if the MediaCentral Newsroom Management system is
no longer present in the Browse app?
4. Which of the following processes may negatively impact Send to Playback operations?
a. MCDS Service
b. STP Encode
c. MediaCentral Transcode
d. All of the above
5. Avid provides scripts for doing which of the following?
a. Creating a system report

b. Gathering logs
c. Backing up the MongoDB
d. All of the Above
EXERCISE 6
Duration: 5 min
1. Verify what NTP source your servers are set to.

2. Verify the location of the MCDS service.
3. Verify the MediaCentral Newsroom Management CTC resource number.
4. Run a system-report.
MODULE 7
Publish to Social Media and CMS

The Publish app enables you to send media assets and associated text to distribution platforms
such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and others.
In this module, you will learn about the Publish workflow, the Configuration Settings, and the
Workflow Settings.
Duration: Situational
GOALS
 Reviewing the Publish Workflow
 Configuration Settings
 Workflow Settings
126 Publish to Social Media and CMS
Reviewing the Publish Workflow

When publishing to online video platforms, MediaCentral Cloud UX delivers assets using the
following workflow. An understanding of this workflow might help you to configure or
troubleshoot the required components and identify the source of a problem in the event of a
failed job.
The following sample workflow assumes that the user is accessing a MediaCentral Production
Management System to send a video asset and a related text message to a destination such as
Facebook or Twitter.
The orchestration engine on the MediaCentral UX server monitors/orchestrates the process from
start to finish.
1. The user accesses the Publish app and configures the desired endpoints with video and
text. Once the configuration is complete, the user presses the Publish button.
2. MediaCentral Cloud UX contacts the MediaCentral Distribution Services (as configured in
the Configuration Settings) to determine if the video asset needs additional treatment.
a. If the assets are encoded in a Long GOP media format, the service contacts the
MediaCentral STP Encode service to re-encode the media.
b. If the assets include dissolves or require an audio mixdown, the service contacts
MediaCentral Transcode to render the video or create an audio mixdown.
MediaCentral Cloud UX monitors and displays a “mixing down” status in the Cloud UX
Process app during this period.
3. The orchestration engine contacts the MediaCentral Transfer Engine and initiates a
transfer of the MXF media to the FTP server configured in the Publish STP Profile. The
destination path is configured in the Publish STP profile as the “Mixing Down FTP Path”.
4. The orchestration engine monitors the FTP location. Once the MXF media arrives at the FTP
location, MediaCentral Cloud UX delivers it to the appropriate “In Path”, as defined in the
Publish app’s transcode profile (example: Telestream Vantage).
Module 7  Publish to Social Media and CMS Publish to Social Media and CMS 127
5. MediaCentral Cloud UX submits the job to a transcoding service or application such as

Vantage.
After the transcoding process is complete, the file is delivered to the “Out Path” as defined
in the Publish app’s transcoder profile.
The orchestration engine obtains the completed file from the “out” folder and delivers it to
the final destination (Facebook, Twitter). Publish Component Workflow Setup and
Configuration
There are many components outside of MediaCentral | Cloud UX that need to be set up for these
workflows to function. This includes the FTP Server, File Shares, Filezilla or another FTP server
program, and transcoding profiles in either Root6 Content Agent, Telestream Vantage, or
Microsoft Azure.
This setup and configuration are detailed in the Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
Configuration Settings
The Configuration Settings app includes the Distribute settings which contain profiles associated
with the Publish workflow that allows the Publish app to send assets to endpoints other than
Playback.
If you plan to publish audio/video assets to social media endpoints such as Facebook, Twitter,
or others, you must create a transcode profile in the Configuration Settings app. MediaCentral
Cloud UX integrates with the following transcoders: Root6 Technology Content Agent,
Telestream Vantage, and Microsoft Azure Media Services.
If you intend to use the Publish app for Send to Playback workflow or for publishing static
graphic images or text only, you are not required to configure a transcode profile.
The following table shows the icons used for adding, saving, reverting, and deleting profiles.
Table 7.1 Distribute -Publish Window Icons
Button Icon Function
Add Using the Add Profile icon in the Publish panel to the right of the Publication Type columns will create
Profile a new profile.
Revert If you need to undo any changes before saving a profile, you can use the Revert button that appears
Profile to the right of the profile to return the profile to its original state.
Save If you modify a profile you can use the Save button to the right of the profile. This will prompt you
Profile with a confirmation to accept the changes. If you say Yes it will save the profile You can also use the
Save button at the bottom of the window.
Delete If you create a profile and later need to remove it, you can click the Delete button to the right of the
Profile profile to delete it. The system prompts you to confirm the delete request. After you click Yes, the
profile is deleted.
The following sections detail the configuration example of each type of Distribute profile.
Telestream Vantage is the transcoding profile example included. For more details on Root6 or
Microsoft Azure, consult the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
IPC Profile
The IPC profile allows you to define an administrator-level account that is used internally by the
Publish app to process jobs. You must create an IPC Profile if you plan to use the Publish app for
any workflow beyond send to playback. Only one IPC Profile can be created per MediaCentral
Cloud UX system.
Table 7.2 Distribute -IPC Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. Although this does not appear in any other area of the user
interface, Avid suggests you enter a meaningful name, such as Publish Administrator.
Administrator Enter the user name for the account to be used by the Publish app. This account must be a member
Username of the Cloud UX Administrators group as defined when the Authentication provider script was run
during the installation process.
Administrator Enter the password of the account specified in the Administrator Username field above.
Password
Production Management Profile

The Production Management profile defines certain parameters that are required to connect to
the MediaCentral Production Management system. You must create a Production Management
profile if you plan to use the Publish app for any workflow beyond Send to Playback. One on
Production Management profile can be created per MediaCentral Cloud UX system.
When sending assets to non-Playback endpoints, the Publish app uses the credentials that you
enter in the profile and not the currently logged in user.
Table 7.3 Distribute -Production Management Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. Although this does not appear in any other area of the
user interface, Avid suggests you enter a meaningful name, such as <Location> Production
Management.
Interplay Hostname Enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the MediaCentral Production Management
Engine. Do not enter the server’s short name or IP address in this field.
If you are running a Production Management cluster configuration, you must enter the FQDN of
the cluster and not an individual Production Management Engine.
Username/Password Enter the username and password of an account that exists in the Production Management
database with R/W permission (at a minimum) to the entire database. This can be a local user in
the Production Management database or a user imported to Production Management from an
external authentication provider.
MCDS URL Enter the URL of the server hosting the MediaCentral Distribution Service. You can enter the
server’s hostname, IP address or FQDN in this field. The standard port number used by this device
is 8443.
Example: https://wsoc-ws01:8443
STP Profile
The STP profile is required if you wish to publish assets to social media endpoints such as
Facebook, Twitter, or others. If you intend to use the Publish app to publish static graphic
images or text only, you are not required to configure an STP Profile. Only one STP Profile can be
created per MediaCentral Cloud UX system in the Distribute section.
Table 7.4 Distribute -STP Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. Although this does not appear in any other area of the user
interface, Avid suggests you enter a meaningful name, such as STP.
Resolution This setting determines the video codec, project format, and frame rate you are sending to Publish.
Audio Options are Direct Out or Stereo. When you use Direct Out to publish an asset, the channel order reflects
the channel order used when you captured the audio. For example, if you used: 5:1 multichannel audio,
you should use Direct to preserve the channel mappings. If you select Stereo, your audio is published as a
stereo mix.
Audio Bit Depth Select a bit depth from the menu. The options are 16 or 24 bit.
Audio Target Select a sample rate from the menu. The options are 32, 44.1, 48, and 96 kHz.
Sample Rate
Shared Enter the path to an Avid NEXIS or ISIS workspace that can be used to store media resulting from an audio
Workspace mixdown or STP Encode operation. Enter the path in following format \\<nexisvsd>\<workspace_ name>>
Transfer Select a Transfer Engine from the menu. This is populated from the Transfer Settings in the Interplay
Manager Host Administrator Tool.
Transfer Select the Destination Profile created for Publish. After you select a Transfer Manager Host, this list is
Manager populated with the profiles available on the selected Transfer Engine.
Destination
Profile
TM Profile Type Select a profile from the following options: iFrame or LongGoP depending on your media format
Mixing Down FTP Enter the host name or IP address of your FTP server. This value overrides the Hostname value in the
Host selected Transfer Engine FTP Profile.
Mixing Down FTP Type the path to the FTP destination where MXF output is staged for Transcode. This value overrides the
Path default Directory value in the selected Transfer Engine Profile. This must be independent of the Transcoder
In folder.
Mixing Down FTP Type the user name and passwords for your FTP service credentials.
Username/
Password
Vantage Profile
The following section details the Telestream Vantage profile. You can configure one or more
Vantage profiles per MediaCentral Cloud UX system.
Table 7.5 Distribute -Vantage Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. This name appears in the list of Transcoding Profiles
when configuring other profiles such as Facebook, Twitter or others. Avid suggests that you
enter a meaningful name. Example <location> Vantage.
Workflow ID The workflow ID is a unique identifier for the profile that you're created in the Telestream
Vantage software.
Hostname This is the host name or IP address of the Telestream Vantage server.
FTP Hostname If the server used in your FTP Transcode in/out value is different than the server used in your File
Share path, you must specify the host name of the FTP server. If the transcode in/out and File
Share are both on the same server, you can leave this setting blank.
FTP Enter the name of the user and password you created during the FTP Server setup.
Username/Password
FTP Transcode/In Enter the path for incoming files to your video host transcoding configuration. If you use the
Path example provided in the documentation, this would be transcoding/in
FTP Transcode/Out Enter the path for outgoing files to your video host transcoding configuration. If you use the
Path example provided in the documentation, this would be transcoding/out
File Share in Path You must specify the path to the Network Share path. If you use the examples provided in the
documentation it would be \\<hostname>\avid\transcoding\in
Setup details for Root6 ContentAgent Profiles and for Microsoft Azure Media
Services (AMS) are detailed in the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
Workflow Settings
The Workflow Setting apps allows system administrators to adjust settings related to user
workflows and to create profiles for use with apps such as Publish.
The Publish area of the Workflow Settings allows you to create both Distribute and Send to
Playback profiles. This section will focus on the details surrounding the Distribute profiles.
Creating, reverting, saving and deleting profiles work just as they do in the Configuration
Settings.
Twitter Application Profile

Twitter profiles are configured by the system administrators to allow users to connect to Twitter
and post to Twitter through the Publish app. After the application profiles are created, end-users
must authorize any applications that apply to their workflow before they can publish to the
endpoint (as detailed in the MediaCentral Cloud UX Users Guide).
Before you can publish a package to Twitter from MediaCentral Cloud UX you must create a
Twitter user account. If you have not created an account, you can create one at
https://twitter.com.
After you have created the Twitter account, you must obtain the following information to
successfully configure the MediaCentral Cloud UX YouTube profile.
 Access Token
 Access Secret
 Consumer Key
 Consumer Secret
For more information, see the YouTube developers page at https://developer.twitter.com.
Table 7.6 Publish-Twitter Application Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. Enter text to add a custom name to the profile.
Access Token The Access Token comes from the developer app and is required.
Access Secret The Access Secret comes from the developer app and is required.
Consumer Key The Consumer Key comes from the developer app and is required.
Consumer The Consumer Secret comes from the developer app and is required.
Secret
Transcoding Click on the Transcoding Profile menu and select a transcoder from the list. The menu is populated by
Profile the transcoder profile(s) that you created through the Configuration Settings app.
Verify Profile After you have completed all the required fields, click the Verify Profile settings button. If the values
Settings are successfully entered, the system reports “Profile is Valid”. If the system reports “Profile is Invalid”
there is a configuration error.
Facebook Application Profile

Facebook profiles are configured by the system administrator to allow users to connect to
Facebook and post to Facebook through the Publish app. After the application profiles are
created, end-users must authorize any applications that apply to their workflow before they can
publish to the endpoint. For more information on Authorization settings, see the Avid
MediaCentral Cloud UX Users Guide.
Before you can publish a package to Facebook from MediaCentral Cloud UX, you must first
create a Facebook user account. If you have not yet created an account, you can create one at
https://www.facebook.com.
Only personal Facebook accounts can be configured through Publish. Facebook

Page accounts for businesses are not supported at this time.
After you have created the Facebook account, you must obtain the following information to
 FB Profile ID
 Application ID
 Application Secret
 Access Token
For more information, see the Facebook developers page at https://developers.facebook.com.
Table 7.7 Publish-Facebook Application Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name This determines the name of the profile. Add a custom name for the profile.
FB Profile ID The FB Profile ID comes from the developer app and is required.
Application ID The Application ID comes from the developer app and is required.
Application The Application Secret comes from the developer app and is required.
Secret
Access Token The Access Token comes from the developer app and is required.
Album ID
Transcoding Click on the Transcoding Profile menu and select a transcoder from the list. The menu is populated by
Profile the transcoder profile(s) that you created through the Configuration Settings app.
Verify Profile After you have completed all the required fields, click the Verify Profile settings button. If the values
Settings are successfully entered, the system reports “Profile is Valid”. If the system reports “Profile is Invalid”
there is a configuration error.
YouTube Application Profile

YouTube profiles are configured by the system administrators to allow users to connect and
publish to specific YouTube accounts. After you have created a YouTube profile in the Workflow
Settings, the profile is available to all users with the appropriate entitlements.
Before you can publish a package to YouTube from MediaCentral Cloud UX you must first
create a Google user account. If you have not already, you can create one at
https://accounts.google.com.
After you have created the Google account, you must obtain the following information to
 Client ID
 Client Secret
 Scopes
 Redirect URL
For more information, see the YouTube developers page at
https://developers.google.com/youtube/
Table 7.8 Publish-YouTube Application Profile Settings
Setting Details
Name Enter text in the Name field to add a custom name for this Profile.
Privacy Settings Click the Privacy Settings menu and select one of the following options
- Public (Everyone can view your published videos)
- Unlisted (only those with whom you share a URL link can view your published video.
- Private (Videos cannot be viewed by the public.
Client ID The Client ID comes from the developer app and is required.
Client Secret The Client Secret comes from the developer app and is required.
Access Token This will be populated once you use the Get Tokens function.
Refresh Token This will be populated once you use the Get Tokens function.
Scopes The Scopes address comes from the developer app and is required.
Redirect URL The Redirect URL address comes from the developer app and is required.
Transcoding Click on this to select a Transcoding profile from the menu. This is populated by the Transcoding
Profiles profile through the Configuration settings app.
Get Tokens This will prompt you to log in to Google on your local workstation and you can associate the account
with the MediaCentral Cloud UX YouTube profile.
Verify Profile Use this to verify the values entered. If the system reports “Profile is valid” then it has successfully
Settings validated. If “Profile is invalid” is returned there is a configuration error.
Generic CMS Application Profile

The Generic CMS profile allows you to integrate a content management system with
MediaCentral Cloud UX for use with the Publish app. Depending on how you configure your
profile, you can deliver media files to your FTP location using one of two methods:
 If you select Archive in the settings, the profile creates a compressed (ZIP) file containing
an XML file with the profile information and metadata, as well as an image file (PNG) and
a video file (MP4) if images and video are included in the media package. The Publish app
delivers the file to your FTP location.
 If you deselect the Archive option, additional configuration options appear. These settings
allow you to deliver the XML, PNG, and MP4 files to the server separately
You must select a transcoding profile in order to create the MP4 video file.
Table 7.9 Publish-Generic CMS Application Profile Settings
Setting Details
Profile Name Custom Name for the Generic CMs Profile.
Provider ID The provider ID identifies your CMS and is included in the XML file created by the profile. If
your CMS does not require a specific provider ID, you can type any name in this field.
FTP Host Name Your CMS server hostname.
FTP Path For incoming files, from your video host transcoding configuration.
FTP From your video host transcoding configuration.

Username/Password
Transcoding Profile (Optional) Click Transcoding Profile and select one of the available profiles. This menu is
populated by the transcoder profile(s) that you created through the Configuration Settings
app.
Archive If you want to send both images and video to the FTP hosts in a single compressed zip file, use
the archive option. If you want to send image and video metadata to the FTP host separately,
de-select the Archive settings and configure the additional information manually
Verify Profile Settings IF you click the button and the settings are successfully validated the system reports a “Profile
is Valid” message. Any error messages and it will report that the profile is invalid.
Note: Additional Profiles such as Brightcove and WordPress profile configuration is

detailed in the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Installation Guide.
Summary
In this module, we looked at the Publish workflow, the Configuration Settings Distribute profiles
for MediaCentral Production Management, STP Profiles, and Transcoding profiles. We looked at
sample configuration for Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and the Generic CMS.
Review Questions
•
1. What Distribute profiles do you need to be configured for publishing static graphic images
or text-only content?
2. Which of the following are supported Transcoder types for MediaCentral | Cloud UX
Publish?
a. Telestream Vantage
b. Root6 ContentAgent
c. Microsoft Azure. Media Services (AMS)
d. Harmonic’s ProMedia Carbon Coder
3. What are some of the tokens required for publishing to a Twitter account?
4. You can publish to Instagram using MediaCentral | Cloud UX.
a. True
b. False
5. Which of the following is true about copying Newsroom Management text for Publish?
a. You can use a Copy Text function to pull text from a Newsroom Management story
automatically.
b. You can manually copy and paste text from a Newsroom Management story.
c. You cannot copy and paste text from a Newsroom Management story to social
media.
d. All of the Above.
EXERCISE 7
Viewing Configuration and

Workflow Settings
Duration: 5 min
1. Sign in to the MediaCentral | Cloud UX Admin App.

2. Open the Configuration Settings and verify the Distribute Profiles.
3. Open the Workflow Settings and view a Publish Profile.
4. Look at the Process app for any failed or completed jobs.

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Avid Technology, Inc.

Module 1: Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform ........................................................ 1

Exercise 1: Confirming the Configuration ............................................................................................. 28

Module 2: Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX User Management ............................................................... 29

Exercise 2: Opening and Closing Apps .................................................................................................. 43

Module 3: Managing MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings ...................................................................... 45

Exercise 3: Create an AirSpeed Send to Playback Profile ................................................................... 62

Module 4: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing ..................................................................................... 63

Exercise 4: Verifying the Configured Licensing.................................................................................... 76

Module 5: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server ............................................................................................ 77

Exercise 5: Using the Kubernetes Dashboard ..................................................................................... 100

Module 6: MediaCentral | Cloud UX Maintenance and General Troubleshooting ............................ 101

Exercise 6: General Troubleshooting ....................................................................................................123

Exercise 7: Viewing Configuration and Workflow Settings ................................................................ 140

 Manage MediaCentral | Cloud UX users and groups

 View and modify MediaCentral | Cloud UX Settings

 Configure Publish for AirSpeed and MediaCentral |

 Understand MediaCentral | Cloud UX Licensing

 Troubleshoot real-time playback

 View log files

 Understand Publish to Twitter, Facebook, and CMS

Who Should Take This Course

• Avid MediaCentral | Production Management

Avid Learning Services

To offer feedback on this or any other education offering, send e-mail to

Avid Knowledge Center

Avid Product Documentation

Module 1: Introduction to Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX 60

Module 2: Managing Users 30

Module 3: Managing MediaCentral Cloud UX Settings 30

Module 4: MediaCentral Cloud UX Licensing 30

Module 5: MediaCentral Cloud UX Server 60

Module 6: MediaCentral Cloud UX Maintenance and 30

Module 7: Publish to Social Media and CMS Situational

 Cloud UX Server Overview

 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Workstation

 MediaCentral | Cloud UX Mobile Application Devices

 MediaCentral Production Management Data Model

 Media Formats Supported for Playback

 Media Formats Supported for Send to Playback

 Multi Resolutions Workflows

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Platform Overview

A container is generally composed of a single service or application as well as any dependent

Kubernetes is a cluster manager/container orchestration engine. Kubernetes does not manage

For more information on Kubernetes, see https://kubernetes.io

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options

Avid MediaCentral | Cloud UX Deployment Options

 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

The Avid MediaCentral | Production Management system provides a database for

The Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom Management system provides journalists, producers,

 AVID MEDIACENTRAL | SHARED LIBRARY OR AVID MEDIACENTRAL | ASSET MANAGEMENT

MediaCentral | Cloud UX Server Overview

 Deployment Scale: The type of deployment is the primary influence on server

 HP ProLiant DL 360 Gen 8, Gen 9, and Gen 10

Caching and HDD Requirements

 Working with multi-cam assets from a MediaCentral Production Management system

Drives Volume Configuration and Notes

MediaCentral | Newsroom Management-only Deployment Hardware

 Minimum 4x quad-core Intel Xeon CPU @ 1.8 GHz or higher

Trusted Secure Sockets Layer (SSL Certificates)

Additional Notes Regarding the Firewall Column

Component Port(s) Protocol and Description Firewall

MediaCentral Cloud UX 443 HTTPS, Client Connections YES

Kubernetes 30143 HTTPS Used to access the Kubernetes Dashboard NO