This article summarizes what partners can expect during the deployment process for embedded OCAs.
Note: With the exception of Partner Portal invitations, all of the email correspondence related to OCA deployments comes from the following email alias: info@partner.netflix.com. You can also see these emails in the Partner Portal. For more information, see: Viewing email communication in the portal
The deployment workflow starts after you and one of our Open Connect team members have agreed that one or more OCAs will be sent to you. This workflow fits into our overall engagement workflow as described on the website in Step 5 (site survey) : https://openconnect.netflix.com/en/#how-to-get-started
- Site Survey (new or RMA)
- Partner Portal invitations
- Shipping Details
- Allocation, pre-fill, and network configuration
- Shipping / Receiving / Installing OCAs
- Turn-up / Burn-in
- Live / Monitoring
Site Survey (new or RMA)
A site survey is a form that Netflix Open Connect uses to collect the information that we need in order to configure and ship OCAs to our partners. For new OCAs, your PEM or Service Manager will initiate a site survey. For RMAs, our Operations team will typically initiate a site survey. In either case, your identified contact will receive an email with a link to our Partner Forms application, where your team will fill out shipping, contacts, and network configuration details.
For existing partners with Partner Portal access, you can also see and link to open or completed forms from the Inbox menu in the Partner Portal.
For more details on the site survey process, view the following video:
Partner Portal invitations and information
After you complete and submit the site survey form, any new Engineering or NOC contacts that you identified in the form are invited to the Open Connect Partner Portal. An invite email is sent out with a link and instructions for how to active your portal account.
Note: Portal invitations come from a different alias. For information about the Partner Portal invitation process, see: I am a brand new partner, how do I get portal access?
If you are a brand new partner, this is a good opportunity to add additional portal users as needed.
For more information about what you can do in the Partner Portal, see the related articles in this help center.
From the home page on the Partner Portal, you can view Open Deployments and their high level status from the home page. Click Show More Deployments to see additional details and links.
You can also discover OCAs that are in the process of being shipped and deployed, or OCAs that are flagged for RMA, from the Embedded Sites grid. For example:
Shipping Details
After you submit the site survey form, shipping details are finalized by the Open Connect logistics team in coordination with the shipping (and optionally, customs) contact that you identified in the site survey. After shipping details are agreed on and any necessary customs and import paperwork has been generated and approved, the shipping preparation process begins.
For more information about the logistics process, view the following video:
Preparing for Shipping
Contacts identified in the site survey receive an email when the shipping preparation process starts. Based on the hardware requirements for the deployment, we allocate specific hardware to your deployment and begin the process of pre-filling the OCAs with the appropriate catalog for your region. When the OCAs are done filling with content, we ship them to you.
Shipping / Receiving
Contacts in the site survey receive an email when OCAs have shipped. A tracking number is provided in the email. During the shipping process, your OCAs are displayed in the Partner Portal on the home page or the site details page in an In Transit state.
On the OCA details page, a tracking diagram also reflects the current state of the shipment.
After OCAs are delivered to you, site survey contacts will receive another email letting you know. The Partner Portal homepage and the OCA details page will indicate that the OCAs are delivered and Awaiting Installation.
Important: You should physically install OCAs as soon as possible after delivery. This avoids having the pre-filled content become stale, requiring a lengthy on-site fill cycle before OCAs can begin to serve client traffic. This fill cycle can be costly if a large amount of content must be downloaded to the OCAs from distant sources.
For more details about the shipping and receiving process, see the Shipping and Receiving section in the Deployment Guide.
Installing OCAs and establishing BGP session(s)
After OCAs are installed, connected to the internet, and a BGP session has been established with the appliance, they will begin to report health metrics and received routes to our control plane services. At this point, our systems are triggered to automatically begin the burn-in process.
For more information about the installation process, see Racking and Physical Installation of OCAs.
Burn-in and Turn-up checks
You will receive an email when the burn-in process starts. During this process, the OCA will begin to receive fill traffic to bring the content catalog up to date. Assuming that the appliance was installed within a reasonable amount of time after receipt, the fill process generally takes about two days. If installation was delayed, the fill process can take longer.
In parallel, multiple status and health turn-up checks are periodically run on the appliance. You will receive emails with the results of each check and information about how to fix any failed checks.
The Partner Portal homepage and the Overview section of the OCA details page will indicate that the OCA is in turn-up. If any checks are failing, the OCA details page will indicate the errors and the Partner Portal homepage will indicate an Action Required state.
Reminder: You can also view details about passing/failing turn-up checks and other emails on the Emails page in the Partner Portal. For more information about turn-up checks and how to troubleshoot and fix them, see this related article.
Appliances will not start serving client traffic until all checks pass and acceptable offload can be achieved. When the system is ready, the appliance is automatically enabled to serve clients and you will receive an email indicating that the OCA is live. At this point, the status for the OCA in Partner Portal will also switch to "Live". The Open Connect Operations team will then continue to monitor its performance.
For more information about the burn-in and turn-up process, view the following video:
Live / Monitoring
The Open Connect Operations team constantly monitors OCA status and performance via our internal alerting and monitoring tools. Periodic software upgrades will automatically occur. These upgrades are timed to avoid peak traffic hours and typically do not require any action on your part. Engineering and NOC contacts in your organization will be notified via email when they start, and again when they finish. If any issues ever occur that require partner assistance, a ticket will be opened and your Engineering and NOC contacts will be notified about the ticket via email.
For more information about the checks that we run on Live OCAs, see this article: OCA Live checks
Reminder: If you need to power down an OCA in order to perform maintenance, you should disable it beforehand to gracefully drain it of any live traffic using the Partner Portal. Following this process will minimize any customer impact.
If you require assistance of any kind throughout this process or afterwards, open a ticket.