Overview

AgentZ is a telemetry and statistics collection solution for ZEN Master and Zixi Software Defined Video Platform (SDVP).  It is designed to further improve the reliability, frequency, and quality of telemetric data that is collected throughout the deployment. It provides ZEN Master with access to performance and infrastructure insights and enhanced support for large scale, high-volume Broadcaster streaming deployments.

The AgentZ client is a standalone service that is installed alongside the Zixi Broadcaster and runs in parallel.  It collects both Broadcaster metrics and system information locally and independently, pushing the collected data directly to ZEN Master.

Main Features

• AgentZ runs in its own process separate from the Broadcaster process.
• It can be easily installed either via ZEN master, or manually on existing and future Broadcasters.
• Using the agent will not require upgrading the Broadcaster.
• Once installed, AgentZ is configured automatically.
• AgentZ supports Intel and ARM based Broadcasters.

Background

ZEN Master’s original approach to telemetry data collection involved polling the various Broadcasters throughout the deployment. Broadcasters were polled every 30 seconds over the API tunnel between the ZEN Master IO server and the Broadcaster, providing statistics that included system health, streaming metrics, and transcoding statistics. The Broadcaster cached the key values at shorter intervals and exposed them to ZEN Master during the following poll. The main drawback of this approach was that the I/O server tunnel provided a singular route for gathering telemetry. As the deployment grew, adding systems, streams, and workflows, increased traffic inside the API Tunnel, which potentially inhibited its performance.

AgentZ realizes a new, updated approach that further improves efficiency and redundancy, meeting the increased demands of expanding or large-scale deployments. The new approach removes reliance upon the I/O server tunnel as path of data collection, by deploying a standalone agent, which runs on the Broadcaster machine, gathers statistics locally, and then pushes the data directly to ZEN Master via an outbound connection via HTTP to the redundant ZEN Master application servers.

Deployment Options

There are two options for deploying AgentZ:

• Installation on new cluster instances – in this option ZEN Master will automatically install AgentZ on any future Broadcasters launched and connected to an existing Cluster.
• Installation on existing cluster instances or manual Broadcasters – installation on pre-existing Broadcaster instances or manual broadcasters can be performed in two ways:
  • Automated installation – although this option is initiated by the user, the process itself is automated. However, this option will require a restart of the machine, which will cause momentary disruption.
  • Manual installation – this option is available on Linux only and DOES NOT require a restart of the machine.