Configure the resiliency scenario - AWS Elemental Live
Scenario A: Supporting NMOS patchingScenario B: Supporting NMOS patching and failoverScenario C: Supporting NMOS patching and network failover

Configure the resiliency scenario

You can configure the receiver groups and inputs in an Elemental Live event or Conductor Live profile to support three scenarios. Note that all of the scenarios include NMOS patching, because you must always set up inputs for patching.

  • Scenario A: NMOS patching only. With this setup, the NMOS controller can send requests to Elemental Live that patch SDP files with new content. Elemental Live switches to processing the new content.

  • Scenario B: NMOS patching with hot backup. This scenario combines the patching from scenario A with support for Elemental Live hot backup. Hot backup lets Elemental Live automatically fail over from a failed input to another input.

  • Scenario C: NMOS patching with hot backup and network redundancy. This scenario combines scenario A with hot backup and the network redundancy that is set up between the upstream system (the content source) and Elemental Live.

Scenario A: Supporting NMOS patching

With this setup, the NMOS controller can send SDP content that provides patching instructions to Elemental Live. For example, in a curling match, it can send a patch that switches the source from the camera on the curling rink to the camera in the studio.

To support NMOS patching, you must attach the same Elemental Live receiver group to two Elemental Live inputs. Each pair of Elemental Live receiver group inputs is a patching pair. You can set up more than one patching pair in the Elemental Live event or Conductor Live profile.

To create each patching pair, follow this procedure.

  1. In the Elemental Live event or Conductor Live profile that you are creating, create one SMPTE 2110 NMOS input (input A), as described in Create a receiver group input. In the Advanced section, set NMOS patching pair to ON.

  2. After input A, create another input (input B) and select the same source item from the dropdown. In this way, you attach the same receiver group to both inputs. Set NMOS patching pair to ON.

Result of this setup

Elemental Live sets up a patching pair consisting of the first patching-pair-enabled input (input A in this example) and the next input in the list that is patching-pair-enabled (input B in this example). Whenever Elemental Live is ingesting this receiver group content, one of the inputs in the patching pair is active and the other input is in standby.

Diagram showing two inputs, A and B, with NMOS patch pair set to ON for both.

The two patching-pair inputs must be next to each other. If necessary, use the up and down arrows on the far right of the web interface to move an input up or down the list.

How it works at runtime

Assume that the NMOS controller sends a patching request by sending new SDP content for the receiver group that is attached to these two inputs. When Elemental Live receives the request, it sets up the standby input (input B, for example) with the new content, then switches from the active input (input A) to the standby input (input B). Input B becomes the active input. Each time Elemental Live receives a patching request that references this receiver group, it switches from the currently active input to the standby input.

Scenario B: Supporting NMOS patching and failover

This scenario adds failover to the patching capabilities of scenario A. First read the information about scenario A.

Elemental Live can automatically fail over to a third input when the active input (from the A/B patching pair) fails. Elemental Live fails over to a hot backup input that you define (input X). You define failure conditions for the first input in the patching pair, which is input A in our example. When these conditions are present, Elemental Live will fail over to input X when there is a problem with either input in the A/B patching pair. You must also define failback conditions in input X to trigger fail back to the A/B patching pair.

Follow this procedure:

  1. In the Elemental Live event or Conductor Live profile that you are creating, create one SMPTE 2110 NMOS input (input A), as described in Create a receiver group input. In the Advanced section, set NMOS patching pair to ON.

  2. After input A, create a backup input (input X). There is no requirement for input X to be a SMPTE 2110 input. For example, it might be a file input that displays a slate. A file input is particularly useful if the cause of the input failure is a network failure, because Elemental Live can switch to a file that is stored locally on the node.

    Make sure input X is the first input immediately after input A. To move input X up or down the list of inputs, use the up and down arrows on the far right of the web interface.

  3. After input X, create another input (input B) and select the same source item that you already attached to input A. Set NMOS patching pair to ON.

  4. Make these changes in input A:

    • Set Hot Backup to ON. Ignore the Error Clear Time and Failback Rule fields.

    • Click Add Failover Condition to create as many failover conditions as you want. To create one condition, click Add Failover Condition. In Description, choose the type of condition, for example Input Loss. In Duration, enter the length of time the condition must continue before the condition triggers a failover to input X.

  5. Make these changes in input X:

    • Set Hot Backup to ON.

    • Enter a time in Error Clear Time. After all the failover conditions are no longer applicable Elemental Live waits for the specified time before it fails back to input A.

    • Choose a Failback Rule to specify how Elemental Live fails back to input A.

Don't enable hot backup on input B. Don't enable NMOS patching pair on input X.

Result of this setup

You now have three inputs in the order A, X, B.

  • Patching pair: Inputs A and B each have NMOS patching pair enabled, therefore they are a patching pair, even though they are not next to each other.

  • Hot-backup pair: Input A and input X both have hot backup enabled. Input A is set up with failover conditions. Input X is set up with failback rules. Therefore, inputs A and X are a hot-backup pair.

Diagram showing inputs A, X, and B with NMOS patch pair and Hot Backup settings.

Scenario C: Supporting NMOS patching and network failover

You can set up inputs in a configuration that combines NMOS patching with hot backup and network redundancy. In this scenario, the hot backup configuration allows failover between the redundant networks that are set up between the upstream system (the content source) and Elemental Live. Network redundancy lets Elemental Live fail over to sources that are being delivered over a different network, if the main network fails. Network redundancy lets you fail over to a different live source, instead of failing over to a slate (as shown in scenario B).

Assume that the event is a curling game with two cameras, one on the curling rink and one in the studio. You have set up your upstream system with the following sources:

  • Source 1: Content from the camera on the curling rink, routed over network 1.

  • Source 2: Content from the camera on the curling rink, routed over network 2.

  • Source 3: Content from the studio, routed over network 1.

  • Source 4: Content from the studio, routed over network 2.

Setup steps

To set up SMPTE 2110 sources in this way, follow this procedure.

  1. Create four receiver groups, one for each source. To create a receiver group, see Create the receiver group.

  2. In the Elemental Live event or Conductor Live profile that you are creating, create four inputs. Set up each input with the receiver groups, in the following order:

    • Input A uses the receiver group for source 1.

    • Input B uses the receiver group for source 2.

    • Input C uses the receiver group for source 3.

    • Input D uses the receiver group for source 4.

  3. Turn on NMOS patching pair in all these inputs.

  4. Turn on Hot Backup in all these inputs.

    You have now set up the four inputs as shown in the diagram after these steps.

  5. Make these changes in input A:

    • Create as many failover conditions as you want. To create one condition, click Add Failover Condition. In Description, choose the type of condition, for example Input Loss. In Duration, enter the length of time the condition must continue before the condition triggers a failover to input C.

    • Ignore the Error Clear Time and Failback Rule fields.

  6. Make these changes in input B:

    • Error Clear Time: Enter a time. After all the failover conditions are no longer applicable Elemental Live waits for the specified time before it fails back to input A.

    • Failback Rule: Choose a rule to specify how Elemental Live fails back to input A.

  7. On inputs C and D, don't set up failover conditions, error clear times or failback rules.

Result of the setup

You now have four inputs in the order A, B, C, D. All inputs have hot backup enabled and all have patching enabled.

Network diagram showing four inputs with network assignments, NMOS patch pairs, and hot backup settings.

Elemental Live proceeds as follows:

  • Elemental Live sets up a hot-backup pair.

    Inputs A and B have failover conditions and failover rules set, so Elemental Live considers them to be a hot-backup pair.

  • Elemental Live next identifies sets up the patching pairs. It sets up input A with input C, and sets up input B with input D. Inputs C and D have hot backup enabled. But they aren't standard backups. Instead, they shadow the A/B input patching pair. The failover conditions for input A apply to input C, and the failback conditions of input B apply to D.

To summarize:

  • Input A. Its hot backup is input B. Its patching pair is input C.

  • Input B. Its hot backup is input A. Its patching pair is input D.

  • Input C. Its hot backup is input D. Its patching pair in input A.

  • Input D. Its hot backup is input C. Its patching pair is input B.

How failover and patching work at runtime

The following table describes how Elemental Live handles input failures and patching requests, depending on which input is currently active. Read across each row.

Current active input If the active input failure occurs If a patching request is received
Input A If input A fails, Elemental Live fails over to input B (so it switches to the other network). Elemental Live stops ingesting input A and starts to ingest input C.
Input B If input B fails before the failback rules come into effect, Elemental Live follows the standard input failure behavior, which means it will repeat frames and so on, then finally display a slate. Elemental Live stops ingesting input B and starts to ingest input D.
Input C Elemental Live fails over to input B or input D, depending on which upstream source is currently flowing into Live. Elemental Live stops ingesting input C and starts to ingest input A.
Input D If input D fails before the failback rules come into effect, Elemental Live follows the standard input failure behavior, which means it will repeat frames and so on, then finally display a slate. Elemental Live stops ingesting input D and starts to ingest input B.