Isolation Mode

Isolation Mode in PlayoutONE Pro takes away all the stresses and strains of restarting your automation server, allowing you to remain on the air whilst the restart happens.

When the time comes to restart the main server, the on-air studio can be put into Isolation Mode by following the instructions below.

This tells the on-air machine to run from its own local SQL server and use twelve hours of cached audio from its local audio store.

Whilst in Isolation Mode, you’ll see a yellow triangle on the on-air machine, which indicates you that you are now in Isolation Mode. A red triangle on all other client machines indicates the on-air machine is in Isolation Mode.

Once Isolation Mode is enabled, no audio or log changes can be made to the main database. This is because the on-air machine is now in charge and is constantly syncing back to the on-air database to ensure no changes or data is lost.

Isolation mode is only designed for short periods and removes the need for an alternative audio source while performing maintenance.

Once the server has restarted, the on-air machine can be taken out of Isolation Mode once all changes have been synced back to the main database. 

Prerequisites

Before you can run in Isolation Mode, make sure you have considered the following:

  • Isolation Mode only works when the on-air machine(s) is separate from the server. 
  • On the on-air machine(s), make sure you have installed a copy of SQL Server Express.
  • Ensure the C:\PlayoutONE or D:\PlayoutONE folder is shared with everyone on your network, and permissions have been set appropriately so the server can read and write to this share. Once shared, make sure the following folders exist in the share:
\\MACHINE\PlayoutONE\Data
\\MACHINE\PlayoutONE\Data\Audio 
  • Make sure you have Audio Engine or Monitor installed and configured as below:

Enabling/disabling Isolation Mode

  • Open Audio Engine on your server (it should be minimised to the system tray).
  • Open the Settings window by pressing the cog button in the bottom right corner.
  • Go to the 'Other' tab then 'Isolation & Plugins'.
  • Enable or disable Isolation Mode, and decide whether it should kick in automatically if needed (we recommend both these toggles are enabled).
  • If your station is in Isolation Mode, you will see a button to 'Leave Isolation Mode' and return to normal operation.

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