Question:
How do I create a new Video Folder in SnapStream?
Answer:
- Go to the Admin > System Status page of the SnapStream WebUI, and look at the Drive Info section to determine what Drive letters you have available to save content to. You will use this when setting up the path for your new video folder.
- Then go to Admin > Folders (Under Settings on the left side of the page).
- Click the + icon next to Folders.
- Fill out the necessary fields for your new SnapStream Video Folder.
- Name: This is the name of the Video Folder as it appears in SnapStream. Note: Changing this name for an existing folder only changes the way the folder is displayed to users, and does not affect any settings.
- Managed: If On, SnapStream will automatically delete files from this folder when storage space is needed. See Understanding Expiration Policies for your SnapStream for more information. If there are recordings that you wish to protect from automatic expiration, place them in a folder that has this option turned off, or mark them as Keep Until I Delete manually in the Library.
- Path(s): These are the physical locations that comprise the Video Folder. To add a folder, select the Machine on which the path should go, then enter the Windows path, for example, "X:\Recorded TV" or X:\Fancy New Clip Folder" where X is the drive letter you made note of in Step 1. If you are unsure of what to put here, please contact support@snapstream.com.
NOTE for SnapStream Clusters: Only machines that are part of a SnapStream cluster will be available in the Machine drop-down. Select the machine you want this path to be on. After entering the path, you can then add another path by clicking New Path.
- Path Selection Algorithm: If this folder contains multiple Paths, this option determines how SnapStream chooses the destination path when it needs to save a file to the folder. Note: If the folder has a single path, this option does not appear.
Options here are:
- Round Robin: Enterprise TV will save files to each path successively in the order in which they appear, regardless of how much space is available in any path.
- Most Available Managed Space: Enterprise TV will save each file to the path which has the most available storage space, regardless of where previous files were saved.
- Load Balanced Across File Nodes: Enterprise TV will balance the recording load (as distinct from the storage load) across the different storage nodes in the SnapStream cluster. NOTE: If automatic file expiration is used, this option may result in expiration of shows that are not the oldest in the library.
- Expiration Predictive: Enterprise TV will always record to the drive with the oldest expirable media. This option is recommended for clusters with a single storage node, when automatic expiration is in use.
- Expiration Predictive with Node and Drive Session Limits: Enterprise TV will record to the drive with the oldest expirable media, subject to limits on the number of simultaneous recordings on a particular drive or cluster node. This option is recommended for clusters with multiple storage nodes, when automatic expiration is in use.
- Load Balanced Across Drives: Enterprise TV will balance the recording load across each drive path in the folder, regardless of the nodes on which the drives are located. NOTE: If automatic file expiration is used, this option may result in expiration of shows that are not the oldest in the library. This option is recommended for use in clusters with multiple nodes, when automatic expiration is NOT in use.
- Most Available Managed Space: Enterprise TV will save each file to the path which has the most available storage space, regardless of where previous files were saved, subject to limits on the number of simultaneous recordings on a particular drive or cluster node.
- Folder Roles: This setting determines the types of actions that can save files to this folder.
Options here are:
- Recording destination
- Task destination
- Clip destination
- GIF destination
One or more options can be selected. To select or deselect an option, click it. Selected options are highlighted in blue.
- Folder Permissions: This setting allows you to limit access to this folder. The default access setting is Everyone, meaning that anyone who logs into your SnapStream system can see the contents of this folder. Click the text box to see a list of the groups and users that can be granted access to the folder.
Groups are listed in grey, while users are listed in green. "Everyone" is listed in orange.
By default, folder permissions simply determine whether users have access to the folder at all, and all users who have access have full control over the folder.
If you would like to control user access in a more granular way, switch the Advanced Permissions toggle to On.
Each of these permission categories works in the same way as the simple permission option above. Any user or group listed in the box for a particular action will be able to take that action on files in this folder.
- To complete folder configuration, click Add or Save at the bottom of the page.
If you need assistance selecting one of these options, please contact support@snapstream.com.
Additional Notes:
About UNC Paths (not available on Cloud Instances)
A UNC path can be added as a video folder. When adding a UNC path, enter the path as you would browse to it through Windows Explorer from that machine.
SnapStream Clusters ONLY: By default, recordings made to a UNC path will be streamed first to the master node and then written to the UNC path. If you wish to have the files written to the UNC node directly, enable the Direct UNC Recording option in Admin > Recordings. Please note that recordings made to UNC paths travel across the LAN. Therefore, a network interruption between the SnapStream cluster and the UNC path during an active recording to a UNC path will cause the recording to fail.
In order for SnapStream to write to a UNC path, changes must be made to the configuration of the SnapStream Broker windows service. See Changing the Run As account for SnapStream Software for more information.
