Client responsibility for Flow Production Tracking Enterprise Docker
Local installations of Flow Production Tracking are no longer offered. This documentation is intended only for those with existing instances of Flow Production Tracking Enterprise Docker. Click here for a list of our current offerings.
Contents
We want to make sure your team has a positive experience with Flow Production Tracking. When Flow Production Tracking is installed locally, your IT team will be responsible for a lot of things that will impact the Flow Production Tracking experience. This document outlines all those responsibilities ahead of time so you can prepare for a successful local install.
First off, your Flow Production Tracking Instance is the application and all of its components, e.g., “flow production tracking.yourstudio.com”. A licensed Flow Production Tracking local install comes with one Production Instance and one Staging Instance. Additional instances will require additional license fees.
The Flow Production Tracking team will set up and provide technical support for your Flow Production Tracking Instance. However most everything else will be the responsibility of your IT team: the server hardware and network environment, including configuration, security, maintenance, storage, monitoring, performance, backups, failover solutions, etc. It is highly recommended to have a Flow Production Tracking Administrator who knows everything about how to administer Flow Production Tracking, and what to do in emergency situations. Remember that Flow Production Tracking is a critical part of your studio, and that issues with Flow Production Tracking will result in downtime.
Definitions
Application Server. The Flow Production Tracking server where the web component of Flow Production Tracking is installed.
Client. Refers to the Studio, including its employees, and any other authorized Flow Production Tracking users, under which Flow Production Tracking is in contractual agreement with.
Cluster. Refers to a set of servers composing a Flow Production Tracking instance.
Database Server. The Flow Production Tracking server where the PostgreSQL database component is installed. In some cases it can be the same server as the Application Server.
Failover. Additional servers that are used for high availability purposes, in case of a server failure.
Flow Production Tracking Operations Team. Refers to the team responsible for executing operations on the client’s servers.
Staging Instance. Instance used for testing. Flow Production Tracking highly recommends that any changes or upgrades be first tested in the Staging Instance.
Server responsibilities
Servers are the sole responsibility of the client. Configuration, security, maintenance, and monitoring of the servers remains the client’s responsibility. Below is a chart with more details of those responsibilities.
| Type | Description / Agreement | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware | Purchase, set up, integrity | Client |
| Hardware Maintenance | Upkeep | Client |
| Networking | Servers are correctly configured and following networking best practices. Authentication, firewalls, IP restrictions, etc. |
Client |
| Load balancing | Load balancing traffic between multiple application servers, if applicable. | Client |
| Monitoring | Load, memory usage, disk usage, and disk I/O is commensurate with expected use, such that Flow Production Tracking can scale properly. | Client |
| Security | HTTP proxies, firewall, user management, etc. | Client |
| External Access to Flow Production Tracking | The client is solely responsible for and assumes all risk upon making their Flow Production Tracking site publicly available. We very strongly recommend using the HTTPS protocol. HTTPS may be enabled by clients themselves, following these instructions. Please note that the integrity of your data will be at risk without enabling HTTPS. |
Client |
Operation system and packages responsibilities
As for the servers, the client is fully responsible for keeping the OS up to date with the latest security patches. The client is also responsible for making sure that the OS and the packages are compatible with the Flow Production Tracking Enterprise requirements.
| Type | Description / Agreement | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Kept up to date as specified by Flow Production Tracking. | Client |
| Packages — Patch versions | The client is responsible for making sure that all packages have the latest fix and that security patches are applied (yum update). | Client |
| Packages — Major and Minor versions | Flow Production Tracking comes with a limited set of dependencies, so updating libraries is fairly similar. Still, before making updates to any packages outside the regular repositories, please reach out to Flow Production Tracking Support. |
Client |
| PostgreSQL — Patch versions | The client is responsible for making sure that all packages have the latest fix and that security patches are applied (yum update). | Client |
| PostgreSQL — Major and Minor versions | UPGRADE with care. Always test in staging first and make sure you have a failover procedure. Please see Flow Production Tracking Support for the recommended upgrade procedure.
|
Client |
Flow Production Tracking source code responsibilities
Flow Production Tracking source code is proprietary of Flow Production Tracking and under copyright protection. More specifically:
| Type | Description / Agreement | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Flow Production Tracking source code | Flow Production Tracking source code is the intellectual property of Flow Production Tracking and under copyright protection. | Flow Production Tracking |
| Flow Production Tracking Docker containers | Flow Production Tracking containers are the intellectual property of Flow Production Tracking and under copyright protection. | Flow Production Tracking |
| Flow Production Tracking source code alterations by clients | Patches applied locally, that are not part of Flow Production Tracking official sources, including transcoding and email notifier, are to be maintained by the clients. The client must be aware that such local changes will be overridden at each upgrade |
Client |
| Container environment variables | Flow Production Tracking Enterprise Docker’s default orchestration method is Docker Compose. The Docker Compose files can be modified by the client. Before making changes, make sure to back up the original and proceed during maintenance periods. Please see Flow Production Tracking Support for more details. |
Client |
Operations: Setup responsibilities
The Flow Production Tracking topology deployed at your studio is subject to contractual agreements, and must be discussed prior to the set up.
In general, the client is responsible for everything that is server- and Flow Production Tracking-related.
| Type | Description / Agreement | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Initial server setup (for each server of the topology) |
|
Client |
| Web and transcoding server(s) setup |
|
Client |
| Database server setup |
|
Client |
| Staging environment setup | Same as Production Environment. | N/A |
| Database server backup | Periodic backups of the database. | Client |
| Media backup | Periodic backups of the media files. | Client |
| HTTPS | Enabling HTTPS for Flow Production Tracking. | Client |
| Providing SSL certificates. | Client | |
| Failover setup | Excluded for standard contracts. See the failover section. | N/A |
Operations: Flow Production Tracking upgrade responsibilities
| Type | Description / Agreement | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Staging upgrade | Deploying a new version of Flow Production Tracking to your staging servers. | Client |
| Production upgrade | Deploying a new version of Flow Production Tracking to your production servers. | Client |
| Staging testing | It is the client’s responsibility to make sure that proper testing has been executed on the staging server prior to the production upgrade. Testing should cover all your critical workflows, including:
Flow Production Tracking enforces staging upgrades before production ones. |
Client |
Operations: Failover responsibilities
The Flow Production Tracking Local Install does not include the set up of failover servers. If you are considering that option, Flow Production Tracking may offer consultation and advice about the failover architecture and how we think it should be set up.