Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: GDC server update/upgrade

This is topic GDC server update/upgrade in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Koroye Seitonkumo (Member # 10558) on 11-04-2019, 10:46 PM:

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?

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-04-2019, 11:28 PM:

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.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-10-2019, 10:22 AM:

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

Posted by Stephan Shelley (Member # 8587) on 11-13-2019, 05:18 PM:

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.