Install and license Wiretap Gateway on a dedicated system

Installation

A link to the installer is in the release announcement. On Linux, as root, run the INSTALL_WIRETAPGATEWAY script from the installation directory.

Install on OS X by running the DMG file linked from the link in the release announcement.

License dedicated Wiretap Gateway Linux products

Wiretap Gateway cannot be used on a dedicated system until it is licensed. Although they still appear in the network tree in applications, unlicensed Wiretap Gateways block all media I/O. To license Wiretap Gateway through a remote (network) license server (Linux or OS X): On the machine running Wiretap Gateway create /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/DL_licenseNetwork.dat, and add the lines: 
SERVER <license_server_machine_name> 0
VENDOR discreet_l
USE_SERVER

To license (node locked) Wiretap Gateway on Linux or OS X:

  1. On the Wiretap Gateway system in a terminal, get the Discreet host ID of the system with /usr/local/bin/dlhostid.
  2. Send the Discreet host ID line (e.g. everything in quotations marks, above) to Autodesk M&E Licensing:me.licensing@autodesk.com. A 4-day license code can be had via the emergency license generator at http://melicensing.autodesk.com/templicensing/.
  3. Add the code to the license file /usr/local/flexlm/licenses/DL_license.dat.
  4. Save the license file and restart Wiretap Gateway with /etc/init.d/wiretapgateway restart.

Installing and licensing the Wiretap Gateway included with OS X products

  1. Register and set up the network license server for OS X before installing Wiretap Gateway.
  2. Run Install Wiretap Gateway Server from the installation package.
  3. Click through to the Network License Configuration dialog and enter the license server hostname in the Server hostname field.
  4. Depending on the OS configuration, the Select a Destination window may appear. Click “Install for all users of this computer”, then click Continue.
  5. Click Install to begin the installation process.

To change the license server after installing the OS X edition of Wiretap Gateway:

  1. Open the License Server Selector:
    • If the product is installed on the same workstation: /Applications/[product]/Utilities
    • If the product is not installed on the workstation: /Applications/Autodesk/Adlm
  2. Enter the name of the license server in the Hostname field and click OK.
Parent topic: WiretapCentral and Wiretap Gateway

After changing the configuration file /usr/discreet/wiretapgateway/cfg/wiretapgateway.cfg, restart Wiretap Gateway:

Define an additional IP address

By default, the primary network interface of Wiretap Gateway is the GigE network adapter. If an additional network, such as InfiniBand is present, uncomment the IP0 parameter, and set its value to the InfiniBand IP address of the host. For example: IP0=10.10.11.10. To define more network interfaces, use the IP1, IP2, parameters etc.

Filtering the file system

Hide directories and file types from Wiretap Gateway with the ExcludeDirs, ExcludeExts, and LimitDirs parameters. The first two exclude a comma-delimited list of objects. LimitDirs excludes everything on the filesystem except a comma-delimited list of objects. LimitDirs overrides ExcludeDirs in the event of a conflict. Examples:

  • ExcludeDirs=/dev,/lib,/usr/lib,/bin,/usr/bin,/sbin
  • ExcludeExts=jpg,tiff,mov
  • LimitDirs=/mnt.

Proxy quality for RED footage

The LowresDebayerMode parameter sets the proxy quality level for viewing RED (R3D) media. Legal values: Full, Half Premium, Half Good, Quarter (default), Eighth.

Slave processes

To improve real-time playback of RED media, Wiretap Gateway can spawn multiple slave processes that increase performance without requiring additional licenses. This is set with NumLocalSlaves. The default setting is 4. Do not use slaves in conjunction with a RED ROCKET. Set NumLocalSlaves=0.

On a dedicated system, enable as many slave processes as the number of CPU cores on the system.

On a Creative Finishing workstation set aside at least four CPU cores for a Creative Finishing application, or two cores for Lustre. For example, on a 16-core HP Z800 running Lustre, enable 12 slave processes, so that two CPU cores remain available for Lustre, and two other CPU cores are available for background processes like Backburner.

Read-ahead threads

If using a RED ROCKET slaves cannot be made available. The Wiretap server can handle concurrent reading from multiple clients and the number of threads to create is set with NumReadAheadThreads. The default value, 7, is tuned for two clients each reading (in parallel) two streams, each with three read-ahead requests.

Set NumReadAheadThreads=12 and NumReadThreads=6.

NumReadThreads=6 is the number of read-ahead requests sent by clients when no slaves are available. This number should not be set higher than NumReadAheadThreads above. When slaves are available, this number is ignored and the number of read-aheads will equal the number of slaves available.

Test the setup

  1. Access the file browser in Lustre, the Network panel in a Creative Finishing application, or open WiretapCentral in a Web browser: http://<hostname>/WiretapCentral
  2. Locate the Wiretap Gateway system in the list, and make sure the label “Gateway” or “Autodesk Wiretap Gateway Server” appears next to the system name.
  3. In WiretapCentral, locate the Wiretap Gateway system to be verified in the Servers panel on the left-hand side, and ensure the label “Gateway” appears next to the system name.
  4. Click the Wiretap Gateway system name, and verify that Wiretap Gateway was successfully licensed:
    • In WiretapCentral, the Description row in the Server Details panel should no longer contain the mention “Unlicensed”.
    • In Creative Finishing applications, Wiretap Gateway should no longer contain the mention “Unlicensed”.
  5. Ensure the storage device connected to the Wiretap Gateway system can be browsed.