Skip to main content

Distribution Groups

LTN Global
Updated

About: Distribution Groups in the LTN Portal help you manage channel distribution from a group of potential sources to a group of destinations with ease.  Sources can be pre-defined on the group while allowing the user to switch the source that is getting distributed for disaster recover or blackout switching purposes. Destinations on the group can be individually authorized or deauthorized for conditional access (CA). Finally, a distribution group can be booked on a fulltime or occasional (OU) basis.

Not sure how to start?

→ Learn about Distribution Groups – Switch Policies

In this article:

Overview

A Distribution Group represents a single source feed and its authorized destination leaves. It is designed to simplify day-to-day operations (adding/removing destinations, monitoring sync status) and to support DR workflows where a backup source can be set active for many destinations at once (Manual switching).

 

Details view

Distribution Groups - details modal.png
  1. Name & Description: Shows the distribution group name and description.
  2. Account: Shows the customer the distribution group is linked to.
  3. Sources: Shows available sources that can be switched to by clicking on the card. The blue frame marks the currently active one.
  4. Destinations: Lists destinations connected to the distribution group and their authorization status.
  5. Group Bookings: Shows group bookings associated with this distribution group.
  6. Bookings: Displays individual bookings and their current status. See Monitoring.
  7. Authorization: Displays any authorization requirements.
  8. Video Preview: Multi-view preview player of the sources. Learn more: Video Preview Player

Create the initial group booking (new Distribution Group)

Before adding the first destination, create a group booking that destinations will inherit.

  1. Select the Distribution Group.
  2. Click the "Group Bookings" tab.
  3. Click "New Group Booking".
  4. Fill out the form with the required information.
  5. Click "Add".

Make Group Booking 01.png

Make Group Booking 02.png
Make Group Booking 03.png
Make Group Booking 04.png

Add a destination (existing Distribution Group)

To add a new destination leaf to a group:

  1. Select the Distribution Group.
  2. Click "New Destination".
  3. Select the destination leaf to be added.
  4. Set "Authorized".
  5. Click "Add".
Make Group Booking 01.png
Add destination 2.png
Add destination 3.png

 

Deauthorize (remove) a destination from a group

When removing a destination from receiving the source feed:

  1. Select the Distribution Group.
  2. Modify the destination leaf that needs to be removed.
  3. Uncheck "Authorized".
  4. Click "Modify".
Make Group Booking 01.png
Deauthorize destination 2.png
Deauthorize destination 3.png
Hint: It is best practice to deauthorize destinations rather than deleting them so records can remain intact.

Monitoring

The "Bookings" tab shows all bookings currently active for a Distribution Group and highlights potential problems:

  • Out of Sync
    • Out of Sync doesn’t necessarily denote a problem; a site may be out of sync because it was purposefully deauthorized.
  • Missing/Extra
    • A booking doesn’t exist for an authorized decoder. This may indicate an issue with the endpoint. Please contact LTN TOC.
Distribution Groups - Bookings Tab.png

Manual source switching (Disaster Recovery)

Distribution Groups support DR by allowing a designated backup endpoint/encoder to become the active source for the group, enabling mass updates so all bookings receive from the DR site.

Manually set the active source

Table view

  1. Click the "More" button for the Distribution Group.
  2. Select "Set Active Source".
  3. Select the new active source.
  4. Click "Set".

The Distribution Group will shortly switch over to the new source.

Distribution Groups table-v 01.png
Distribution Groups table-v 02.png
Distribution Groups table-v 03.png

 

Hint: Alternatively, you can switch sources by clicking the radio button next to the source, just like in the details view below.
Distribution Groups 7.png

 

Details view

  1. Click on the card of one of the available sources.
  2. Click "Switch to ...".

The Distribution Group will shortly switch over to the new source.

Distribution Groups modal-v 01.png
Distribution Groups modal-v 02.png

If you want to set the current active source as not active you can

  1. Click on the x on the active source and
  2. confirm by clicking "Make source inactive"

to remove it as active source.

Distribution Groups modal-v 03.png
Distribution Groups modal-v 4.png
Hint: It is possible to switch to a source that is currently not configured however the signal will then stop immediately on the output.

Technical Details

  • Distribution Groups are organized on an OU basis.
  • Bookings are automatically created and managed by the Portal once the group booking and authorized destinations are configured.
  • You can use the Portal API to automate DR failover, or trigger it manually in the Portal.

 

 

How to continue?

→ Learn about more Portal features

Related articles