Moving from one Terra server to another (or multiple servers)

[jfh]

Trying to understand how a system with multiple compact servers works. I currently have a Strato/Terra compact 6 and want to either replace or add a server.

1) is there an easy way to move all of the contents from old to new?
2) if I keep both, is there a way to see which movies are on which server?
3) if I have two servers but one is powered off will the system detect an error or just display what’s only in the active server?
4) Other than having more storage and a working server if one has to be repaired, are there any benefits to having two servers?
5) if I disconnect a server from the system does K delete the contents or will it be available if I add the server back in?

 

[Substance]

3- the player will show the movies on the active server. The mobile app, in downloads view, it will say one of your servers is inactive.
4- More servers help warm up your room in cold winters.

 

[andy]

Trying to understand how a system with multiple compact servers works. I currently have a Strato/Terra compact 6 and want to either replace or add a server.

1) is there an easy way to move all of the contents from old to new?
2) if I keep both, is there a way to see which movies are on which server?
3) if I have two servers but one is powered off will the system detect an error or just display what’s only in the active server?
4) Other than having more storage and a working server if one has to be repaired, are there any benefits to having two servers?
5) if I disconnect a server from the system does K delete the contents or will it be available if I add the server back in?

Hey jfh,

Hope this provides some insight.

1) you can get K support to enable replication and use this tool to copy content between servers (or get your dealer to do it)
2) not elegant, but you can power off one server to see what movies appear in the UI… those will be the titles stored on the other server
3) no error… as mentioned in #2, you will simply see the content on the server that remains part of the system
4) aside from what you mentioned of not losing use of your system (if you had one sever down), having multiple servers does increase the number of concurrent zones that can play simultaneously. It may not be a big deal depending on your system (I believe one server can play 8-9 movies… maybe more??).
5) nothing is deleted and it will be available when the missing server rejoins the system (although it may take a couple minutes for all players to “sync” the whole library)

Overall, the system will require little (if any) effort from you as components are added/removed.

Happy new year!
Andy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jaystar2121]

Hi

I have a Strato player which I am moving on, if I buy another player is it easy to get your purchased content onto the new one?
I am guessing when i sign in it will pick up all my purchases?

 

[MikeKobb]

5) if I disconnect a server from the system does K delete the contents or will it be available if I add the server back in?

If you remove the server from the system, your remaining storage component(s) will automatically download the content that was on the removed component.

I have a Strato player which I am moving on, if I buy another player is it easy to get your purchased content onto the new one?
I am guessing when i sign in it will pick up all my purchases?

I'm not sure I understand your question. If you're buying a player with storage to use as a second, independent system, then during the registration of your new system (which is done on the web site), it will ask if you want to populate it with the same content as your existing system.

If you mean that you're selling your existing system, but plan to buy a new system in the future, I'm not sure if the automatic process to restore the same content to your new system will be offered during registration. However, you can certainly go to the My Movies section of the web store and then choose "Download All".

 

[jfh]

@MikeKobb Thanks. My #5 was more - “what should be done to prep the server for sale?” Does disconnecting it from the system flag any existing content for deletion or should I delete it first?

Here’s my plan:
- add new server to system
- replicate old server to new (presume this transfers over LAN and does not download)
- disconnect old server from system (does anything need to be deleted?)
- download remaining titles to new server

 

[MikeKobb]

My #5 was more - “what should be done to prep the server for sale?” Does disconnecting it from the system flag any existing content for deletion or should I delete it first?

Once the server is removed from your system it will become a separate system that is not yet activated. No content stored on it will be playable. You could go to the browser interface of the server and delete all the content, but there's also really no harm in leaving it. If the new owner happens to want some of the same movies, then they can purchase them after registering the server to their account, and instead of downloading to the server, the copies already there will just be re-authorized with the new owner's account.

Here’s my plan:
- add new server to system
- replicate old server to new (presume this transfers over LAN and does not download)
- disconnect old server from system (does anything need to be deleted?)
- download remaining titles to new server

Replication is indeed a LAN transfer. Be aware, however, that it can actually be slower than re-downloading the same content if you have gigabit Internet. This is because the download code is highly optimized on the new systems, and the replication code is derived from the disc-based import code from the Premiere family. If you have gigabit Internet and no data cap, I would actually suggest these steps as a possible approach:

• Add the new server to your system.
• Remove the old server from your system (browser interface -> Settings -> Components -> "Remove from System" button)
• Sit back and wait for the missing content to download again.
• Optionally, use the browser interface for the old server to remove the content, but that's not strictly necessary.

If you prefer to replicate, then what you'd want to do is:

• Do not add the new server to the existing system
• Instead, register the new server as a new system on your account.
• During registration, when the system asks if you want to restore content from your existing system, say no.
• Ensure that Kaleidescape Support has enabled replication on both servers
• Move your player over to the new server (New server's browser interface -> Settings -> Components -> Add component)
• On the original server, click the "Replicate from this server" item on the components page, and choose your new system as the destination.
• During the replication process, the original server will be in a special mode that does not allow movie playback. The new server will be able to support playback, so any movies that have replicated across will be playable. (This is why we moved the player before starting.)
• Once replication finishes, optionally delete all the content on your old server
• Deactivate your old server

Obviously neither of these processes is relevant if you choose to just add a second server to your system. In that case, just add the server and be happy.

 

[jfh]

Thanks Mike. I have good gigabit service. Not sure if I have a cap but will find out I guess.

Looks like the “just download everything“ is the better and easier approach. Never even considered that replication would be slower/less efficient.

 

[mootang]

If you remove the server from the system, your remaining storage component(s) will automatically download the content that was on the removed component.


I'm not sure I understand your question. If you're buying a player with storage to use as a second, independent system, then during the registration of your new system (which is done on the web site), it will ask if you want to populate it with the same content as your existing system.

If you mean that you're selling your existing system, but plan to buy a new system in the future, I'm not sure if the automatic process to restore the same content to your new system will be offered during registration. However, you can certainly go to the My Movies section of the web store and then choose "Download All".

Here’s an interesting item that I’m running up against. I recently updated my servers, removing the 40‘s and implementing the 88‘s, hooked them up yesterday upon receipt and went to ”My Movies”, selected “download All”, and then qualified to only download the “best” resolution and/or version. I assumed that would be HDR for the vast majority of the offerings. The download queue filled up with Blu-Ray quality and/or UHD versions that are earmarked as HDR. Is it possible that the “download all” button (even with qualifying best) negates that and that I will have to go back through and download the HDR versions of the movies separately after all the downloading stops?

 

[David23]

Wouldn't it save K on lot on bandwidth costs to do the local replication? Not sure how the infrastructure at K is setup. If they use a CDN, it's not cheap.

 

[MikeKobb]

Here’s an interesting item that I’m running up against. I recently updated my servers, removing the 40‘s and implementing the 88‘s, hooked them up yesterday upon receipt and went to ”My Movies”, selected “download All”, and then qualified to only download the “best” resolution and/or version. I assumed that would be HDR for the vast majority of the offerings. The download queue filled up with Blu-Ray quality and/or UHD versions that are earmarked as HDR. Is it possible that the “download all” button (even with qualifying best) negates that and that I will have to go back through and download the HDR versions of the movies separately after all the downloading stops?

Hmm. Depending upon how you set up your new system, if you haven’t connected a player yet and played something, the system may not have gotten EDID information from your display(s) yet, and therefore may not know that you have HDR-capable displays. You might want to cancel the downloads and try again after playing something.

 

[mootang]

Hmm. Depending upon how you set up your new system, if you haven’t connected a player yet and played something, the system may not have gotten EDID information from your display(s) yet, and therefore may not know that you have HDR-capable displays. You might want to cancel the downloads and try again after playing something.

Thanks Mike. I suspect that not playing an actual HDR movie on the new component, prior to initiating the downloads of the movies to the servers was the culprit. When swapping out the hardware, I had not yet physically sent the prompt to watch a portion of one of the preloaded HDR movies through the new Player, to allow everything to sync up and reflect the ability to download HDR as the “best“ resolution Option.

 

[jfh]

Forgot to ask - how do I move cataloged titles from the old server to the new one?

 

[jfh]

Thanks to those that offered help and special thanks to Mike. Everything went super easy and I was worried about a lot of stuff for no reason.

Didn’t use replication; downloaded stuff to the new drive and then removed the old drive from the system at which point the system restored the files that were on the original server. All my catalog/history info was retained and I got 22 TB loaded in two days (significantly faster than using replication)

Only mistake I made was not buying the bigger server to start though I still don’t have enough storage for my library. (I decided to sell the Compact 6 rather then keep it; hope I don’t regret that but I’d still be out of room if I kept it so that actually made the decision to sell easier).