Ooyala Flex Media Platform 7.4.0 Release Notes 2019-04-05

Ooyala is excited to present the release of Ooyala Flex Media Platform 7.4.0. This release of Ooyala Flex Media Platform provides the new features, quality enhancements, fixes, and other changes listed below.

General / Operational

  • Encoded credentials in transcode request

    Transcode requests credentials are now encoded. Any transcode job that is not completed or cancelled will fail post upgrade.

  • Flex Enterprise: Change to Token-Related Properties

    Youtube and Facebook token-related properties have been moved from System Properties to Action Configuration.

  • Host name of masteraccount standardised as master

    We are deprecating the use of the following KV from this release: flex/shared/flex-enterprise/masteraccount

    We now use the default name of master for the master account name. To change the name to something other than master:

    1. Use the command UPDATE MIO_GROUP SET HOSTNAME_ = 'custom_name' WHERE HOSTNAME_ = 'master' AND CLASS_ = 'MasterAccount';
    2. Update the Flex Enterprise URL in the Consul to http://custom_name.local.nativ.tv:30044/
    and change to the following KV: flex/shared/urls/flex-enterprise
    
  • Configurable start date for DB Pruner

    We have introduced the capability to override the default start date for the DB Pruner. The default time to start data pruning is from 10 years ago.

  • Redis authentication

    We have introduced password authentication for all Flex components utilising Redis.

  • Consul ACL

    We have introduced and enabled secured token-based access to the Consul API / UI, controlled with ACLs.

New Features and Enhancements

  • Flex Query Language Library, Flex Search Elastic Service: Support for exact substring matching within a partial search against filenames.

Job Execution Framework (JEF)

These JEF changes will be documented further in JEF documentation.

  • JEF resource

    We have the ability to define new dynamic resource plugins under the existing Resource Type. You can define the JEF resource in Flex Enterprise. A JEF Action with a FlexObject executionResource defined in configuration receives at job execution time the resource configuration with configuration instance values from the JEF resource.

  • JobContext variable for JEF job

    We have made JobContext string variables available in JEF jobs at execution time, for example, accessible from the JEF Groovy script plugin.

  • Flex Registry Service API to de-register plugin definition

    We have introduced a new DELETE endpoint, /api/actionDefinitions/<UUID>, to remove types and plugins from the Flex Registry service, and notify Flex Enterprise.

  • Multiple object locking support in JEF plugins

    We have introduced an asset context variable in JEF Action configuration. If the asset context variable is defined in job configuration, then it will be resolved to multiple assets. A list of Flex Object References, limited to 1000 assets, is sent to JEF. The JEF asset context variable contains the original asset context given in the job configuration, and so can reference multiple objects, rather than just one.

  • JEF plugins with source code example

    We have introduced new JEF plugins that show examples of source code - both simple cases, and more complex ones.

External Lock

  • Default external lock

    We have completed the extraction of external lock from Enterprise, and made it the default lock system in 7.4.0.

IMF Package

  • Multiple instances of the same IMP

    We have introduced the ability to import, or create, multiple instances of the same IMP in the same account. Users can incorporate new IMP imports into existing IMP Complete packages, or create new instances.

  • IMP CPL Repeat count field

    We have introduced a repeat count field, which allows IMP to repeat the same media asset or clip multiple times in the same sequence, concatenating one after another, with no gaps.

  • Export supplemental: Typeahead and expression support for assets

    We have made asset selection easier by introducing “typeahead” fields instead of the drop-down menus used in previous versions. We have also added support for the use of expressions in asset search.

Subtitle

  • Subtitle Encode from TTML to WebVTT

    We have introduced the ability to convert STYLE and LAYOUT information into playable WebVTT format, and to support inline styles from span and paragraph tags.

Flex Stream Processor (FSP)

  • Ability to extract keyframes from local and non-local assets

    We have introduced the ability to extract keyframes remotely, using FSP command.

Flex Enterprise

  • Flexible configuration options with disabled Process and Storage Resources

    We have introduced the capability for disabled storage and process resources, for example, Transcode Resources, to be referenced from configurations.

Folder Resource

  • Edit of storage resources without stopping the folder resource

    We have removed the requirement to stop a folder resource before a storage resource is added to it, edited, or removed from it.

  • Account level keyframe folder resource configuration

    Account level configuration for keyframe has been changed from a storage resource to a folder resource.

Publish

  • Search by external IDs

    We have introduced the functionality to search external IDs by FQL, or by filtering by external IDs on the API.

    • For FQL search, the syntax remains the same. The search query need only include the key and the value to be searched.
    • For a Get Assets call to the API, a new parameter is needed: externalId=keyExternalId=valueExternalId
  • FQL - SORT BY script for different fields with the same name

    We have implemented script sorting when a search returns matches for more than one field with the same name (that may exist across different definitions).

  • Flex Publish Indexer Service: Prevention of concurrent write information

    We have introduced a distributed lock, which prevents different users from updating the publish information for an asset at the same time, which could lead to overwriting of data.

Resolved Issues

  • Flex Package Service: Fixed an issue where IMP assets imported into a storage resource had the same file path as the resource.
  • Flex Package Service: Fixed an issue where import jobs were completing, although a CPL asset had not been imported.
  • Flex Stream Processor Service: Fixed an issue where FSP displayed a region error when accessing a package from a non-default region. Note: From this release, in hostname configuration for the s3 VFS location, . should be used instead of - to append a region name.
  • Flex Workflow Designer Application: Fixed an issue where the workflow graph did not display for a user without reference permission on the action used in the workflow definition.
  • Flex Workflow Designer Application: Fixed an issue where workflow graphs incorrectly showed nodes as having been visited during the workflow.
  • Flex Enterprise, Flex REST API: Fixed an issue where multiple API calls to Enterprise did not return a consistent result.
  • Flex Enterprise, Flex Reviewer Application: Fixed an issue where Reviewer comments could not be deleted.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where a failed publish was retried with correct configuration, but failed for assets over 4MB in size.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where an API call returned all assets instead of filtering. FLEX-52084 Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where an asset with a keyframe of timecode not equal to 0 was not published.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where the incorrect error message was displayed on a POST or a PUT to Enterprise API.
  • Flex Enterprise, Flex Metadata Service: Fixed an issue where a UDO search did not work when using a Boolean value for metadata.
  • Flex Metadata Service: Fixed an issue where the old metadata instance was not deleted when an object’s metadata definition was changed.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where quality control action jobs failed.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where deleted attachment files remained in storage.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where keyframes could be uploaded although the storage resource had been stopped.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where event handlers stopped working.
  • Flex Enterprise: Fixed an issue where incorrect data was displayed for sharded storage in the Resource Summary table.
  • Flex Enterprise, Job Execution Framework: Fixed an issue where use of expression language caused an error in Extract Audio Waveform. You must create a new action and select expression as disabled in the VfsLocation configuration parameter.
  • Flex Search Elastic Service: Fixed an issue in Flex MAM where searching with specific characters caused an error.
  • Flex Search Elastic Service: Fixed an issue where search did not work for metadata fields with multiple values.
  • Flex Enterprise, Flex Metadata Service: Fixed an issue where a change in date and time formatting caused an error.
  • Web Transfer Service: Fixed an issue where the word “Object” was erroneously displayed above the metadata form.
  • Flex Enterprise, Flex Package service: Fixed an issue where Import IMP actions did not set assets on workflow contexts after import.
  • Fixed an issue where the Flex Execution Configuration service did not start if the logstash was not available.
  • Flex CM (Configuration Manager) application: Fixed an issue where the REST API, when fetching a list of objects, skipped some items, giving an internal error: for example, old data in the database, not supported in REST mapping.
  • Flex Metadata Merge Service: Fixed an issue where separate merges on the same metadata definition could happen concurrently.

Known Issues

  • Flex Authentication Service

    A user whose account is configured to use LDAP credentials cannot log in with Flex credentials.

Please contact your Ooyala representative for the full upgrade notes, further information about this release, and the complete list of resolved issues.