Explanation of a fail-safe configuration for automatic operation

FAB Subtitler MPEG can run in automatic operation mode for insertion of subtitles into video files and other automatic tasks which are controlled by RESTful API or XML command files stored in a watch folder. To create an environment where a failure of one FAB Subtitler MPEG or one computer will not affect the complete process of automatic operation please respect these guidelines:

  • At least two or more computers with FAB Subtitler MPEG must be present so that a failure of one computer with FAB Subtitler MPEG will not affect other computers with FAB Subtitler MPEG which will continue processing files.

  • A fail-safe file server must be present with a shared folder which will be used as a common watch folder for all FAB Subtitler MPEG. A fail-safe file server can be for example a windows cluster based file serer or a VMWARE fail-safe infrastructure based file server. We recommend using Windows as a file server. If the file server will not be available for a short time, FAB Subtitler MPEG will retry using the shared folder until it is available again. Therefore if physical hardware of the file server fails and the file server is restarted with the same IP address and network name on a different physical hardware, FAB Subtitler MPEG will continue processing files as soon as the file server is available again.

In case of failure of one computer with FAB Subtitler MPEG other computers with FAB Subtitler MPEG will continue processing automatic tasks because tasks are always stored as XML files in the watch folder on the fail-safe file server. The first instance of FAB Subtitler MPEG with free capacity will starting processing the next scheduled XML command file and other instances will not process the same XML command file.

When using the RESTful API to generate tasks/commands for FAB Subtitler MPEG and multiple FAB Subtitler MPEG are present then the RESTful API shall send commands to the first FAB Subtitler MPEG only. In case that this one is not available, the RESTful command shall be sent to the second or third FAB Subtitler MPEG. Upon receiving a new job via the RESTful API FAB Subtitler MPEG will store the job as an XML command file in the watch folder on the fail-safe file server. The first FAB Subtitler MPEG with free capacity will process the XML file.

This page was last updated on 2021-05-06