Upgrading Cisco Vision Director Software, Language Packs, and Fonts
This module describes using the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Software Manager to:
■Upgrade an existing server already running Cisco Vision Director (Release 5.0 or later) to a later release in the supported upgrade path.
■Install language packs and fonts.
This module includes the following topics:
■Best Practices
■Prerequisites
■Using the Software Manager to Update Existing Software
■Upgrade Tasks
■Installing Language Packs
■Installing Fonts
■What to Do Next
Best Practices
Caution: Do not alter the RAID configuration prior to upgrade.
Before you begin upgrading an existing Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server, consider the following best practices:
■Choose an appropriate down time to perform the upgrade on the server when there is adequate time to complete and verify the upgrade before any scheduled events and to allow time to resolve any unexpected issues.
■See Release Notes for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.2 for the latest information about hardware and software requirements, changes, important notes, and caveats for your software release.
■Know the required hardware and software versions for other devices supporting your Cisco Vision Director solution. Upgrade those devices as needed. For example, generally only certain firmware versions are supported for the DMP hardware, or a new firmware version is needed to provide additional functionality supported by the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director software.
■Perform a backup and restore of the primary and secondary servers:
–Perform a backup of the currently active primary server.
–Restore the backup data onto the standby secondary server.
Note: To do the restore, run the config service on the secondary server.
For more information about performing a backup and restore on a Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Server, see the “Backing Up and Restoring Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Servers” module of the Cisco Vision Administration Guide: Dynamic Signage Director.
■Promote the secondary server to primary.
For more information about promoting a secondary server to primary, see the “Configuring Failover Between Redundant Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Servers module of the Cisco Vision Administration Guide: Dynamic Signage Director.
■Access the promoted secondary server to perform the upgrade.
■It is difficult to recover from an interrupted installation process if the Linux shell is accidentally closed or the network drops. We highly recommended that you use a server console connection method that does not pose a risk to the success of upgrade completion, if the session breaks during upgrade. You also can use a monitor and keyboard that are directly connected to the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server into the web browser interface.
Prerequisites
Be sure that the following requirements are met before you upgrade your server:
■Your server is running a minimum of Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.1.0-608 (SP3).
■Your system is ready for an upgrade from Release 6.1. See Preparing a Release 6.1 System for Upgrade to Release 6.2.
■You have the IP address for the server where you want to upload the ISO upgrade image. Use this information as part of the URL to access the ISO upload utility.
■You have a supported browser version for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director. For more information about the latest supported browsers, see Rendered Versions and Support in the Cisco Vision Content Planning and Specifications Guide, Release 6.2.
Preparing a Release 6.1 System for Upgrade to Release 6.2
Note : See the previous release of this manual ( Cisco Vision Software and Installation Upgrade Guide: Dynamic Signage Director, Release 6.1) for these upgrading steps.
What To Do Next
■Upgrade your system to Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Release 6.2.
■Using the BAT, associate the replacement DMPs to the original DMP 4310G Locations.
Using the Software Manager to Update Existing Software
The ISO upgrade procedure for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director includes the following tasks:
1. Downloading an ISO service pack or upgrade file from the software download site on Cisco.com.
2. Uploading the ISO file from your laptop to the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server using the Software Manager.
3. Installing the ISO image using the install function in the Software Manager.
ISO Upgrade Files
You can store multiple ISO upgrade files on a Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server. The files will be displayed with a version number and the ISO filename in the Software Manager web browser interface for you to select which file to install.
Disk Maintenance
There is no automatic aging of ISO upgrade files, but you can delete files directly in the Software Manager. Delete ISO files via the TUI: Troubleshooting > Disk Monitoring > Delete Files > Clean upgrade ISO files.
The Management Dashboard has a gauge for % Disk Utilization or you can use the TUI to get file system usage.
Note: To conserve disk space if you have installed language packs in your current system, use the Software Manager prior to upgrade to remove the language files. There is no harm to the system if you do not remove them. However, the language files will not appear in the Software Manager for removal after you upgrade; they will remain in storage.
Upgrade Tasks
IMPORTANT: The installation (full ISO) image of 6.2 is not posted on cisco.com. To obtain the Release 6.2 installation image, please send an email to cvupgrades@cisco.com and include your cisco.com userID and the site being upgraded.
IMPORTANT: Stop and go to Mandatory: Migrate Data from Release 6.1 to Release 6.2 for complete instructions on how to proceed. That process supersedes the below processes for installation and upgrading for the Cisco Vision Director Release 6.2 software.
IMPORTANT: For the 6.2 release, after completing the mandatory migration steps listed, proceed to Rebooting the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Server.
To upgrade your Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server, complete the following tasks:
■Downloading ISO Upgrade Files from Cisco.com (required)
■Uploading and Installing an ISO Upgrade File on Cisco Vision Director Server (required)
■Rebooting the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Server (required)
■Installing Language Packs (as required)
■Installing Fonts (as required)
Downloading ISO Upgrade Files from Cisco.com
IMPORTANT: For Release 6.2, there is no upgrade. You must perform a full ISO installation. Return to Mandatory: Migrate Data from Release 6.1 to Release 6.2 for the installation process.
Download the upgrade files to a location, such as a laptop computer, where you can access them for installation onto the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server.
To download an ISO upgrade file:
1. Go to the Cisco Vision Director software download site.
Note: This site page is available from the Cisco StadiumVision Director product support page by clicking Download Software > Cisco StadiumVision Director.
2. Select the ISO upgrade or service pack file (as available), and optionally the companion sha512checksum file, and download them.
Table 1 shows the filename conventions used for ISO upgrades.
Note: Choose the ISO for SV-DIRECTOR.
IMPORTANT : For Release 6.2.0-579, there are no ISO upgrade files available here
Table 1 ISO Upgrade Filename Conventions
|
■SV-DIRECTOR-UPGRADE-6.2.0- 579. x86_64.iso ■SV-DIRECTOR-UPGRADE-6.2.0- 579. x86_64.iso.filenamesum ■SV-DIRECTOR-UPGRADE-6.2.0- 579.x86_64.iso.filenameSHAsum |
Download the files using one of the following methods:
–Download both files at one time—Select each file and click Add to Cart. Then at the top of the download page, click the “Download Cart (2 items)” link.
–Download each file independently—Click the Download Now button in the file selection box for each file.
3. (Optional) To verify the integrity of your upgrade file from the download, use the Software Manager UI to verify the checksum on the.iso file.
The SHA512 checksum is calculated by the system and is shown on the Software Manager UI. Compare what is shown on the UI and the downloaded SHA512 checksum. The values should match. If they do not, retry the download.
Uploading and Installing an ISO Upgrade File on Cisco Vision Director Server
After you download the ISO upgrade file from Cisco.com, use the Software Manager to upload the file to the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server and to install the upgrade image.
Prerequisites
Know the IP address of the server where you want to upload the file. Use a supported browser version for Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director.
Task
To upload and install an ISO upgrade file on the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server:
1. Log into Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director as an Administrator.
2. From your browser, go to the following URL:
http://x.x.x.x
where x.x.x.x is replaced by the IP address of the server where you want to upload the upgrade software.
3. Click More > Manage Software.
4. From the Upgrade tab, click Upload (Figure 1).
Figure 1 ISO File Selection and Upload
5. Navigate to the location of the ISO upgrade file that you downloaded from Cisco.com. Select the file that you want to upload and click Open. The file is sent to the server.
When the ISO upload completes, one of the following occurs:
–When the image is validated and uploaded successfully, a message displays stating that the ISO image has been uploaded.
–The image upload failed. Retry the upload.
Caution: The upload might take several minutes. Do not refresh or reload the Software Manager page while the upload process is running. Any interruption will corrupt the ISO image being uploaded.
6. Click Install.
Note : Upon successful upload, you will see an entry with the newly uploaded upgraded ISO file. Verify that the displayed checksum matches the checksum from the Cisco download site.
7. The installation process begins and status messages display.
8. After the installation completes, Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director services restart.
Rebooting the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director Server
To reboot the Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server:
1. Log into the TUI as installer. The TUI Main Menu displays.
2. Go to the Cisco Vision Server Administration menu.
3. Select Reboot.
4. At the confirmation prompt, press Y to start the reboot process.
Installing Language Packs
Note: Language packs are release-specific. When the language packs for 6.2 become available, upload the relevant language pack and install it. Install language packs for Release 6.2, after you install or upgrade to the required 6.2 release.
Upload and install only the specific language(s) that you want to support through the independent installation of Language Packs. Perform the upload and installation of the language packs using Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director.
To install language packs:
1. Download the desired language pack from Cisco.com.
2. Log into Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director as an Administrator.
3. Go to More > Manage Software.
4. From the Software Manager screen, click Language Packs (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Language Packs Tab
5. Click Upload.
6. In the File Upload dialog box, navigate to the downloaded Language Pack RPM file, and click Open. The language pack is sent to the server.
7. Click Install/Upgrade to install the language pack.
Note: If you are using a secondary Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director server, install the language pack on both the primary and secondary servers.
8. To transfer the locales to the digital media players, do the following:
a. From More > Management Dashboard > DMP and TV Controls > DMP Install > Restore Default Settings
b. In the Select Devices panel, select the digital media player.
c. To execute the command, click the play (>) button located at bottom left of the panel.
9. Stage content to the digital media players.
For more information, see the “Staging Content to the Media Player” topic in the Cisco Vision Director Operations Guide.
Installing Fonts
Note: Follow these guidelines to install new fonts on your system for use in the Widgets tool. These fonts are not used for external HTML pages. This section includes the following topics:
■Guidelines for Installing Fonts
■Procedure
Guidelines for Installing Fonts
Note: In Cisco StadiumVision Director Release 4.1 and later releases, the unifont.ttf font is embedded in the media player firmware. This means that the font is available as a fallback font to external HTML pages that might not explicitly reference fonts in their CSS.
Consider the following guidelines before installing fonts:
■To save system memory on the media player, install fonts that have the minimal set of required characters.
■Asian languages like Chinese (which contain more glyphs) require more memory.
■The fallback font is Arial; it is the default font in cases where the widget is referencing a font that is not available.
■Only True Type fonts (.ttf) and OpenType fonts (.otf) are supported.
Procedure
To install fonts:
1. Obtain the desired fonts.
Note: Fonts must be TrueType (.ttf) or OpenType (.otf).
2. Log into Cisco Vision Dynamic Signage Director as an Administrator.
3. Go to More > Manage Software.
4. From the Software Manager screen, click Fonts (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Fonts Tab
5. Click Upload.
6. In the Font Upload dialog box, do the following:
a. Click Browse.
b. Navigate to the location of your font file and click Open.
c. Click Upload.
7. Stage content to the media player.
For more information, see the “Staging Content to the Media Player” topic in the Cisco Vision Director Operations Guide.