WatchDog Software

Synergy Broadcast Systems is pleased to announce the availability of new software designed to monitor your broadcast system’s primary applications and take corrective action when interruptions occur.   

Our newest software application—WatchDog—is now available for VLM, Digital Server, InfoTV and Encoder applications.  Download pdf

WatchDog operates as a service in the tool tray and monitors the primary application on a particular computer.  If the application on that computer experiences any problems WatchDog will intervene to shutdown and restart the program so normal operations can continue.  

WatchDog can also be used to manage dual Master Control computers so that if the primary MC experiences problems the back-up unit can be started automatically and assume playback management to ensure your programming continues. 

WatchDog has two operating modes: Primary and Back-Up.

In Primary mode, WatchDog is loaded onto a single computer and monitors the primary application loaded on that specific computer.  This mode of operation can be used on VLM, Digital Server, InfoTV and Encoder.  As an example…if WatchDog is loaded on the Server it will monitor the SBS Digital Server application.  If it detects a problem with the SBS Digital Server application, it can stop and restart it.  This is also true for VLM in that a copy of WatchDog can run on the Master Control computer and if it senses a problem with VLM it will restart the program. 

In Back-Up mode the WatchDog application is only available for VLM and serves as the communication pipe between the primary “on-air” Master Control computer and a separate “back-up” Master Control computer.  The WatchDog software runs on both computers.  WatchDog monitors itself on the primary Master Control computer and if a problem is detected it will attempt to restart the application.  The back-up Master Control computer also runs a copy of WatchDog but it is configured to communicate with the WatchDog software running on the primary computer.  In this mode, the backup computer is on but the VLM application is not running.  If WatchDog detects a problem with the primary on-air application or if it cannot communicate with the primary WatchDog, it will attempt to stop the primary computer and start the VLM application on the backup Master Control so operations can continue.  

The “back-up” mode should only be used for Master Control computers running VLM and requires additional hardware. 

WatchDog is available as an option on VLM version 2.74.03 and later.  License fees vary depending on single or site license usage so please contact your Region Manager or Customer Service for pricing and installation information.