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Author Topic: GDC server update/upgrade
Koroye Seitonkumo
Film Handler

Posts: 57
From: Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Nigeria
Registered: Aug 2018


 - posted 11-04-2019 10:46 PM      Profile for Koroye Seitonkumo   Email Koroye Seitonkumo   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Hi all.. I purchased a GDC 2100A and this requires an update.. I have contacted GDC and they say I need to pay for a warranty before they can send me the update.. I have waited days already with several emails but they just dragging this..

The site is looking show times and they have become really worried.. The merchant says he has update with login and instructions. Ps: the server software is said to be quite old by GDC, and they think it will make this server unstable, and we can't get the right certificate information studios require to generate KDM for the site

Here are the questions.. Can I go ahead and update this without GDC? Any risks involved?

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Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000


 - posted 11-04-2019 11:28 PM      Profile for Leo Enticknap   Author's Homepage   Email Leo Enticknap   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Koroye Seitonkumo
The merchant says he has update with login and instructions.
You need a license file, which is unique to your server's serial number, to be loaded, which tells the server that it is under warranty. After the license file has expired, it will not let you install any software updates until you've ingested a new license that is still in date. So even if you have the password to install a software update file, the server won't let you do it if it does not have an unexpired warranty license loaded.

quote: Koroye Seitonkumo
Ps: the server software is said to be quite old by GDC, and they think it will make this server unstable...
You mean they think that you could make the server unstable by doing a big version jump to the current version? I don't have as much experience with GDCs (especially older GDCs) as with some others, but that is certainly possible. You may need to do an incremental jump through some intermediate versions to reach the current one. GDC could advise more.

quote: Koroye Seitonkumo
...and we can't get the right certificate information studios require to generate KDM for the site.
Email cert [at] gdc-tech.com asking for the media block certificate (.pem file), and giving them the serial number of your server (should be the letter A followed by five digits), and the name, address, and contact email and telephone number for your theater. They should reply with the certificate file attached. You can forward this file to any studio or distributor that asks for your certificates, and that should be all they need to create your KDMs.

GDC have given me certificates for media blocks that are out of warranty in the past, so that shouldn't be a problem. But you will need to bring your server under warranty in order to update the software. I believe that they now offer a software only option (i.e. you pay an annual fee that gives you software updates, but no warranty on the hardware), which is a lot cheaper than the full warranty.

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Mark Gulbrandsen
Resident Trollmaster

Posts: 16657
From: Music City
Registered: Jun 99


 - posted 11-10-2019 10:22 AM      Profile for Mark Gulbrandsen   Email Mark Gulbrandsen   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
quote: Leo Enticknap
You mean they think that you could make the server unstable by doing a big version jump to the current version?
I did that at one 6-Plex in Utah where we jumped from 7.8 final to Build 286 to get them on SMPTE, and lost all but two media blocks very shortly there after. They had gone for 6 years with zero breakdowns before we did that. All the other sites I did incremental 8.xx updates over the same number of years never lost any media blocks.

Just something to think about....

Mark

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Stephan Shelley
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 854
From: castro valley, CA, usa
Registered: Nov 2014


 - posted 11-13-2019 05:18 PM      Profile for Stephan Shelley   Email Stephan Shelley   Send New Private Message       Edit/Delete Post 
Something to think about as replacement IMBs are no longer available. If you brick one that is it.

Tech support can tell you what increments you need to do and provide the software once you get the warranty issues taken care of.

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