Telestream Vantage Installation Guide

Windows installation

Vantage is a transcoding engine produced by Telestream. This engine is most commonly used for transcoding various types of video assets in NetX due to its support for a large number of codecs. Below are the steps and requirements to install and configure Vantage for use with NetX.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you possess the following:

1. Familiarity with Windows Server operating systems and administration. Specifically, configuring shared folders and file system permissions.
2. An operational instance of Windows 2012 R2 or newer and full administrator credentials for that system. This server must be unique to Vantage and not used for running additional applications, including NetX.
3. A valid Vantage license, copied onto the server you want to install Vantage onto.
4. An operational NetX instance, on a separate server
5. Administrative credentials and experience administering the NetX application. Specifically, configuring system properties.
   
   

Migrating from FlipFactory

FlipFactory was a predecessor to Vantage that is no longer supported by Telestream. There is no in-place migration or upgrade to FlipFactory. To move to Vantage, we recommend deprecating the server that FlipFactory was installed on and deploying on a fresh instance of Windows Server for use with Vantage. Make sure to remove any NetX properties that begin with the word 'telestream' so that NetX no longer tries to use FlipFactory as a viable engine. These properties are not compatible with Vantage. 

Enable Desktop Experience

1. Launch Server Manager
2. Select Add roles and features
3. Within the Add Roles and Features Wizard, select Features from the left hand menu
4. Within the Add Roles and Features Wizard, expand the option User Interfaces and Infrastructure (Installed)
5. Select Desktop Experience
6. Click Add Features (on the next dialog window)
7. Click Next
8. Click Install
9. Click Close (When complete) Note: A restart will be required to complete install
    

Enable .NET 3.5 Framework

1. In Server Manager, click Manage and then select Add Roles and Features to start the Add Roles and Features Wizard. 
2. On the Select installation type screen, select Role-based or feature-based installation. 
3. Select the target server. 
4. On the Select features screen, check the box next to .Net Framework 3.5 Features.
5.  On the Confirm installation selections screen, a warning will be displayed asking, "Do you need to specify an alternate source path?" If the target computer does not have access to Windows Update, click the Specify an alternate source path link to specify the path to the \sources\sxs folder on the installation media and then click OK. After you have specified the alternate source, or if the target computer has access to Windows Update, click the X next to the warning, and then click Install. If you are using Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 to add a role or feature to a remote server, the remote server’s computer account (DOMAIN\ComputerName$) requires access to the alternate source file path because the deployment operation runs in the SYSTEM context on the target server.
    

Install Vantage

1. Log on as an Administrator to the Windows Server you wish to install Vantage on. 
2. If you haven't done so already, enable Desktop Experience and the .NET Framework by following the steps listed above.
3. Download Vantage to your Windows Server (current good link: http://dynamic.telestream.net/downloads/download-vantage.asp?prodid=vantage)
4. Unzip the Vantage download.
5. Initiate the install by executing: Vantage-X.X-Setup (Where X.X is the current version of Vantage)
   
   
6. The Vantage installation wizard will appear. Click Next.
   
   
7. Accept the license terms and click Next.
   
   
8. Choose Single Node Installation.
   
   
9. Choose Install Products to install all features of Vantage. This will ensure that the Analysis module is installed, which is critical to the NetX integration.
   
   
10. Choose the installation path and store path if desired. We recommend leaving the defaults. Make sure the Download and Install QuickTime 7.6.9 box is checked.
    
    
11. Click the Install button to begin installation. 
12. If you are prompted to allow Vantage Setup to make changes to the computer, click Yes.
13. The installation will begin and a progress window will appear.
14. During the installation process, the Vantage 6.3 Domain Database Setup Wizard will appear. Click Next to start the wizard.
    
    
15. Choose Install new database, and click Next.
    
    
16. Choose the path that the database will be installed in. We recommend taking the default. Click Next.
    
    
17. The installation process will continue, then you will be prompted with the QuickTime 7 installation wizard. Click Next.
    
    
18. Click Install to begin the QuickTime installation.
19. When the Vantage installation completes successfully, you will see the screen below. Click Next.
    
    
20. After completing the install, execute any and all updates and service packs that were included with the download (As of this writing that would be: Vantage-6.3-Update-Pack-5)
    
    
21. After installation of the runtimes and updates is complete, open the Vantage Management Console.
    
    
22. While in the Vantage Management Console navigate to the Licenses module from the right side panel list.
    
    
23. Once you're in the Licenses module of Vantage Management Console, in the upper right corner just below the Licenses tab there is an icon that appears as a Key and Lock. Clicking this will allow you to add a license file to Vantage.
    
    
24. Browse to where your license file is located, select it, and click Open.
    
    
25. If the license is installed correctly, you should see the details displayed in the Licenses pane.
    
    
26. After you've accepted the license terms and installed the key the system will prompt you to restart the services, it's usually easiest to just restart the service. However, if that's not an option you can go to the Services module and select all the modules and restart them.

Deploy NetX workflows to Vantage

1. After installation, you are ready to begin configuring Vantage for use with NetX. First, you will need to copy the NetX workflows from the NetX application folder to the Vantage server. You can find these workflows in the NetX application directory on the NetX server: C:\Program Files\NetXposure\webapps\ROOT\WEB-INF\bin. Copy the "vantage" folder inside that path and paste it into your Documents folder (or any location that you prefer) on the Vantage server.
   
   
2. Open the Vantage Workflow Designer. This is accessible in Programs or a shortcut on the Desktop.
   
   
3. In Vantage Workflow Designer go to File > Import Workflows by Category.
   
   
4. Navigate to Documents, or whatever location you pasted the Vantage folder in step 1. Make sure you select the vantage folder. Click Select Folder.
   
   
5. You will then see the netx workflows subfolder selected. Click OK to continue.
6. Once the workflows are imported, the netx workflows group will appear on the workflows pane on the left. Expand the pane to see all of the workflows listed below it.
7. Activate the workflows contained by right-clicking each workflow and selecting Activate.
   
   
8. The workflows will have a green arrow icon next to them when activated and will be marked Active when clicking the Monitor Status tab.
   
   

Installing updated workflows

1. To implement improvements or bugfixes, we will occasionally release updated NetX workflows for Vantage. The easiest way to install this updated workflow set is to start the Vantage WorkflowDesigner, then deactivate each of the existing workflows.
   
   

2. Once all workflows have been Deactivated, right-click the workflow category name (e.g. "netx workflows"), and click Delete.

   
3. Next, follow the steps outlined in "Deploy NetX Workflows to Vantage" (above) to import the updated workflows.
   
   

Configure Vantage network share

1. You will need to configure a shared folder on the Vantage Server so that NetX can connect to it and transfer files back and forth.
2. Choose a drive that contains enough space to be able to hold several large movies at a time. We recommend that the drive have at least 200GB free space. Avoid using the system drive if possible. 
3. Once you have identified the drive, create a folder on it called AssetUploads. Make note of the path of this folder, e.g. "C:\AssetUploads". You will need the Configure NetX Environment step below.
   
4. Share this folder, and ensure that you have a user account with appropriate share and NTFS permissions to read, write, and delete for the AssetUploads folder. This account will be used to connect to the share from the NetX server, so it is ideal that you grant permission to the same user account that the NetX service runs under. If you aren't familiar with how to properly share a folder and configure both Share and NTFS permissions, please consult the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 documentation or contact your Windows Administrator.
   
   
5. Vantage is now configured and ready to start receiving files
    

Configure NetX environment 

1. This guide assumes that you have a working NetX installation on a separate server.
2. Add the properties listed below. Be sure to enter the information that is specific to your environment; the examples provided in the description column will help you determine the correct formats. 
3. Restart NetX to ensure that it will activate the Vantage Plugin in the Engines.
4. NetX should now be configured to work with Vantage.
    

Properties

Important: If you were previously using FlipFactory for video processing, please ensure that the telestream.enabled property is false (or not set). If you were previously using FFMpeg, please make sure that ffmpeg.enabled is false (or not set).

Testing and troubleshooting

Using NetX, and the NetX server:

1. To test that Vantage is working, import or resync any video. 
2. You should see a preview and keyframes generated. This may take a few minutes, or even an hour or more, depending on the size and format of the video.
3. Check the phoenix.log on your NetX server (located in {NetX application folder}\logs).

4. You should see something like the following entries, showing the progress (and success of) the Metadata workflow (logged as "getvideometadata").

   2016-08-15 17:05:29,707    2016-08-15 17:05:29    SUCCESS    13    dwtuqj5bESKXj5p    Hello.mp4    ProcessThread    Stop (getvideometadata):(com.netxposure.exogen.media.phoenix2.plugin.VantagePlugin)
   2016-08-15 17:05:29,708    2016-08-15 17:05:29    SUCCESS    13    dwtuqj5bESKXj5p    -    ProcessTracker    ProcessBean: [13-VantagePlugin-mp4-vmf-getvideometadata--Hello.mp4-_AnBRDb7Wuc_1471305923543.vmf-1471305923607] in (6 seconds) ms
   2016-08-15 17:05:30,612    2016-08-15 17:05:30    SUCCESS    13    dwtuqj5bESKXj5p    -    ProcessTracker    Complete.
   2016-08-15 17:05:30,613    2016-08-15 17:05:30    SUCCESS    13    dwtuqj5bESKXj5p    Hello.mp4    TransformRouter    Done (com.netxposure.exogen.media.phoenix2.plugin.VantagePlugin):(getvideometadata):(13) (mp4) -> (vmf)

5. You can also find relevant logging (and progress reporting) in the vantage.log file, located in the same directory in which phoenix.log was found.

On the Vantage Server:

1. On the Vantage Server, you can monitor the state of the Vantage service via the Vantage Management Console (Status -> Active Workflows in Domain).

2. More detailed information on jobs sent to Vantage for processing via the Vantage Workflow Designer. Select the desired workflow, then click the "Job Status" tab. Problematic jobs can be stopped from this view, however, please don't try "Submit" or restart any jobs via this application. Once a job has been stopped, NetX will give up on that process, and will not receive any subsequent results (unless the job is restarted via NetX).