Ooyala Flex Media Platform 2020.7.0 Release Notes

Ooyala is excited to present the July 2020 release of Ooyala Flex Media Platform, 2020.7.0.

This release of Ooyala Flex Media Platform provides the new features, quality and security enhancements, bug fixes, and other changes listed below.

Flex 2020.7 is an interim release track, allowing customers to make use of the latest functionality and bug fixes in Flex before the next LTS (Long Term Supported) release track becomes available. 

As an interim release track, it should be noted that this release: 

• will only receive security updates once the next track (2020.8) is available. 
• will no longer receive any updates once the next LTS track (2020.12) is available. 

Flex DB Pruner

Running Flex generates lots of historical data in both MariaDB (MySQL) and MongoDB. Much of this does not need to be retained long-term and, keeping everything in the DB:

• gradually worsens Flex performance
• makes upgrades take longer
• has the potential to eventually exhaust file system resources

The Flex DB Pruner helps to keep on top of this by pruning old historical data out of the live databases. As of this release, the Flex DB Pruner is a core component, and as such will be installed and regularly run in all environments.

The default settings will cause all historical data (workflows, jobs, and events) older than 90 days to be pruned on an ongoing basis. These settings can be tuned through configuration if, for example, different retention periods are needed, or some specific workflows or jobs should be excluded.

If certain data needs to be retained for longer (e.g. for legal reasons) then, rather than extending the configuration of the DB pruner, we recommend making use of regular database backups and/or adopting the Business Intelligence Event Handler, so that the live DB can be kept as slim and efficient as possible.

Interoperable Mastering Format Package (IMP) Import

Following previous releases of IMP features, this release includes improved support on importing and exporting Complete and Supplemental IMF packages. For example, Flex now supports reconciliation of MXF referenced on imported Supplemental IMP with existing MXF component already imported in Flex. Exporting Supplemental IMP with CPLs referencing MXF but the essence component not provided on the exported package.

IMP now supports multiple CPL, ASSETMAP, PKL schema version (e.g. 2007 and 2016 PKL, 2013 and 2016 CPL). Additionally, Flex Enterprise REST asset API returns PKL metadata (Flex IMP asset), ASSETMAP and CPL metadata (Flex CPL asset) documents stored in ArangoDB.

AS02 Package Import

Flex Enterprise has new object types to support AS02 packages as genuine Flex Package Assets. The AS02 MXF version files in AS02 packages are represented as a new Flex AS02 Version asset, which holds a composition of Flex Sequences. These new object types support standard Flex features and baseline actions (e.g. metadata handling).

Flex AS02 Import is a new JEF plugin to import “in place” (no copy) packages from configured FILE and S3 locations. The plugin creates Flex AS02, Flex AS02 Version (MXF version file), Flex Media assets (MXF, images...) and Extract Technical Metadata including the EssenceDescriptor data.

DPX Package Import

Support for new asset type Image Sequence Asset is added to Flex Enterprise, Image Sequence Asset is a type of Package Asset. The package containing DPX/EXR/TIF files can be imported in Flex as an Image Sequence Asset. This new asset type supports standard Flex features and baseline actions (e.g. metadata handling).

Image Sequence Import is a new JEF plugin to import packages from FILE and S3 locations. The newly created Image Sequence asset references the directory which contains DPX/EXR/TIF files and these individual files are not tracked. However, if package contains any other Flex supported media files then Flex Assets are created for such media files and those are set as a member of Image Sequence Asset. The import plugin also extracts Technical Metadata (using the Flex Stream Processor) of Image Sequence Assets to persist in ArangoDB.

Resolved Issues

• Flex Enterprise – Events have been introduced for "Workspace Move" action, which now correctly results in search indices being updated.
• Flex Enterprise – Resolved an issue where resources Stopped AND Disabled are not shown when selecting the dropdown resource filter, and only the Stopped AND Enabled would be shown.
• Flex Enterprise - Resolved an issue where batch uploads would report as completed, but not all the images selected would have been uploaded.
• Flex Metadata Merge Service – Resolved two issues within the Metadata Merge service, which resulted in failing to merge the queue.
• Flex Stream Processor Service – Introduced support for extractImageAssetInfo.
• Flex Enterprise – Resolved an issue which resulted in an error when attempting to update an asset context when set "colorModeDescription" to "RGB".
• Flex Enterprise - Fixed an UI mistake for the validation error for Ratings primitive metadata fields, where it mistaken noted only digits and commas are supported, but this should be digital and dots only.
• Flex Enterprise - Resolved an issue where Auto Retry did not work.
• Flex Stream Processor Service – Introduced additional checks to aid detection of network outages, and checking the resulting outputs have the expected duration.
• Flex Enterprise – Introduced the removeChildObject function in the SDK, so can be used for Scripting in the UdoService
• Flex Enterprise – Fixed an issue which resulted in errors when saving metadata when a complex variable is in multiplicity.
• Flex Search Elastic Service – Resolved an issue whereby assets within a workspace which a user has access to via Members/Group, were not returned, or listed in the OoyalaMAM application.
• Flex Image Proxy Service – Introduced the capability to produce image proxies for source images that adopt a CMYK colour space.
• Flex Media Processing Engine – Improved frame accurate seeking for GOP based source streams.
• Flex Tag Service – Introduced support for tag collections with the same name to exist on different accounts.
• Flex Taxonomy Service - Introduced support for Taxonomies with the same name to exist on different accounts.
• Flex Library - Introduced support for Timelines with the same name to exist on different accounts.
• Flex Authentication Service – Resolved an issue whereby the REST endpoint used for registering login success events, would become unresponsive when database row is locked by other process, resulting in a User's Last Logged In time and failed login counters not being updated correctly.

Known Issues

• If the "Auto refresh interval" property value is configured smaller than the below properties in the Account Metadata, the Auto Logout on Session Timeout will not work (Auto refresh interval keeps refreshing the token). If the Auto refresh interval property is configured with a value higher than the same properties, it will work correctly.
• Login Token Minutes To Expire
• Session Inactivity Threshold

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