VEMS Mystro® (pronounced
my-stroh) delivers a fundamentally different IP video user experience that promises to change the way people use video to accomplish their day-to-day work and to reach their academic goals. By incorporating video into all applications, VEMS Mystro serves as the intersection point for video broadcasting, video conferencing, collaboration tools and social media, unlocking the power of video to amplify important messages throughout an organization and beyond. VEMS Mystro is the core of the VBrick Enterprise Video Architecture which spans video capture, distribution, play out and video content management.
The minimum server requirements are shown in
Table 1:
See the Portal Server Getting Started Guide for software installation and update instructions.
1 Requires Android OS version 2.1 or higher excluding Android OS versions 2.3.0–2.3.3.
1 Hinting required for mp4 and mov files for RTP delivery. Hinting is added during Mystro 6.2 ingestion for mp4 with H.264/AAC.
2 File is always transmuxed from mov to mp4 if it’s H.264/AAC.
3 Some progressive download servers require additional software to support HDS download.
1 Requires Android OS version 2.1 or higher.
2 Not supported in Android OS versions 2.3.0–2.3.3.
3 Not supported for progressive download
The VEMS Mystro solution is highly redundant and scalable. A standard configuration (see Figure 2) consists of a master server with an internal database. The standard configuration can be expanded to include one or more redundant servers, all of which communicate in realtime with an external database server. The master server runs all VEMS services; the redundant servers are identical but run a subset of VEMS services. Each server can support numerous, simultaneous client users. To support more users, you simply add optional redundant servers and implement a load balancer (not provided by VBrick). When using a load balancer all client requests are routed to the master (or redundant server) via the load balancer.
VEMS servers can be LAN-based and/or Internet-based depending on how the range of Internet addresses is defined (see Define LAN/Internet). VOD servers accessible to Internet users are called Internet-zone servers; VOD servers assessable to LAN users only (within a secured corporate network and behind a firewall) are called LAN-zone servers.
Content added by users in the LAN zone will be ingested to all VOD servers (that support the content) if they have permissions (roles and permissions are described in Access Control.) Content added by LAN users is added to all configured servers that can support that content type (for example you cannot add MPEG content to a Windows Media server) and for which you have permission. Internet users will only see content on Internet servers; LAN users will see content on both the Internet and on the LAN.
VEMS Portal Server supports the installation of LAN-based servers and Internet-based servers. As part of an VEMS Server installation, you can configure a VOD server to run in the "zones" (LAN or Internet) specified in Table 8. Before server configuration, you assign a range of IP addresses that define the LAN domain, or vice versa, that define the Internet domain. Any IP address outside that range will assumed to be from an Internet source, or vice versa, from a LAN source. (See "Assign LAN/Internet Address Range" in
Define LAN/Internet.)
VBrick's Distributed Media Engine is a versatile video processing and distribution platform. As part of the VBrick ecosystem, VEMS can manage the DME for numerous operations. In addition to acting as a VOD server, it can transcode (change the video compression method),
transmux (change the video transmission method/protocol), and
transrate (change the video transmission bit rate (e.g. for lower quality networks) with out sacrificing resolution. The DME can also cache content for local serving to significantly reduce bandwidth requirements and host VBrick's Video Conferencing Gateway.
If you purchased VBrick's Digital Signage application, a Digital Signage button will display on the navigation bar when a Digital Signage server is configured on the System Settings > Global Settings page in Mystro.
This button simply launches the Digital Signage application. Digital Signage is a standalone VBrick application that lets you use VBrick video appliances and VOD servers to configure and display dynamic video content on digital signage displays like LCDs, plasma screens, and other devices. In order to integrate video into a Digital Signage display, content creators simply add the URL of the live video from a VBrick appliance or the video on-demand URL from a VOD server. The VBrick Digital Signage player receives the video and displays it on a plasma or LCD screen. Output from the Digital Signage player can also be input to a VBrick encoder and delivered as one video stream over the network, allowing it to work with VEMS, VBrick reflectors, and VBOSS (VBrick's Online Streaming Services). For more information see the
Digital Signage Quick Start Guide.
A successful migration requires a technical professional who is familiar with architectural differences between 5.4.2 and 6.3.1. For these reasons a migration can only be performed by VBrick Professional Services or a certified reseller. For a detailed overview that explains how it works, see the VEMS Mystro
Getting Started Guide in the Portal Server
online help. To schedule a migration, contact your reseller or VBrick Support Services via the On-Line Support page:
www.vbrick.com/support/online_support.asp
Complete installation instructions for the Portal Server are provided in the VEMS Portal Getting Started Guide. Once the Portal Server is installed, end users on Windows or Macintosh machines may be prompted for additional download components as explained below. This only happens the first time they play the content. The Portal Server supports a wide variety of clients and video formats.
In certain circumstances however, the use of downloaded components is either not allowed or not feasible. In these cases, VBrick provides an .msi installer called
VBrickComponents.msi. This installer installs the same components and allows end-users who cannot download component .cab files to have full Portal Server functionality. Contact VBrick Support Services about obtaining this file or if you have limited download functionality and cannot access the VBrick Download site.
With Firefox, users will also be prompted to install additional components the first time they launch a stream. Links for the appropriate stream types WM or H.264) will be displayed in the area where the embedded player is normally displayed. These additional plugins must be installed. Also be aware that there is no automatic downloading of Firefox components during a VEMS upgrade. To be sure you have the latest VBrick components for Firefox, you will need to manually uninstall
VBPlayerMoz and
VBWMPlayerMoz using in Windows Server 2008—
on each client desktop. The latest VEMS components for Firefox will be installed the next time the Firefox client launches a stream.
If configured with the appropriate components, Macintosh PCs (with Safari or Firefox) can play Windows Media, H.264, and Flash streams. In a Macintosh environment, when you click on a video for the first time, the Home page (see
Figure 1) displays a link prompting you to download components that are appropriate for your computer. If you agree, these components are automatically installed and no additional download is necessary for subsequent access. On Macintosh PCs, Portal Server functionality is the same as in Windows.
Table 11 shows the stream types supported for each environment;
Table 12 shows the operating systems that are tested and supported. Note that there are certain performance limitations in Macintosh environments; see the
VEMS Portal Server Release Notes for information and recommendations. Note that the Macintosh StreamPlayer application supports both 32 and 64‑bit environments.
1 Closed captions are not currently supported on H.264 or Flash streams.
Table 16 shows the required port configuration for various Portal Server functions.
All ports are TCP except as noted
VBrick periodically releases upgrade to the VEMS Mystro software. You can visit our website or contact your certified reseller to see if an upgrade is available. For detailed upgrade instructions, see the
Portal Server Release Notes.
You are prompted to install serial numbers and license files(.lic) as part of the Portal Server installation process. Different Portal Server functionality is available depending on the type of license you purchase and install. (For example if you do not install a Scheduler license, you will not see a option in the Portal Server client application.) After initial installation you can install a different license as necessary using functionality in Windows Web Server 2008. All of the different license files are explained in
Table 18. To see what licenses are currently installed, go to the
About page on the VEMS admin interface.
The "Dashboard" page is automatically displayed when you login with a valid and . All VEMS Portal Server functionality and commands are available from this page but you may not have access to all features and functions depending on your user privileges. For example, you may not be able to access certain VOD servers.
Note that after a configurable number of unsuccessful login attempts, you will need to close the window and start again. Contact an administrator if you have trouble logging in.
The command logs you out of the application and lets you log back in as a different user. This may be necessary to gain access to certain functionality. For example, some users may not be allowed to create thumbnails and you may want to login as a user who has the permissions to do this.
