Getting Seed Files

Upon request, Gracenote can provide seed data files via SFTP or S3. They can be used for:

• Initial seeding of the database (Cold Start)
• Fast rebuild of the database (Disaster Recovery)
• Periodic database refresh (Re-seeding)

Seed Files Delivery Batch

The seed files delivery batch includes:

For each endpoint:

• File ending in xml.gz: File containing all of the endpoint's entitled data in the same XML format as the API responses, gzipped for compression
• File ending in xml.gz.sig: Signature file (MD5 checksum of the gzipped file) to help ensure that you have the complete data file available
• Manifest XML file: Outlines the files that are delivered in one batch, with their names, their maxUpdateIds, and the count of records in each file

File Naming and Processing

All file names will contain a YYYYMMDD_NNNNNNNNNN formatted timestamp. There can be more than one batch on the SFTP server - choose the latest timestamp for ingestion. The batches are built at the requested frequency (typically weekly).

Processing Steps

1. Parse the manifest file first to automatically gather the file names and maxUpdateIds that are part of the current batch
2. Use the .sig files to ensure that you have the complete endpoint XML file before starting parsing
3. Load the seed files into your database
4. Use the On API endpoints to retrieve newer updates starting with the maxUpdateIds specified in the Manifest file

Important Notes

• Files ending in .tmp are in the process of being uploaded and will be renamed after the upload is complete
• If a file still has a .tmp extension, there may have been a connection issue while it was uploading - retry the download process if that happens
• After loading the seed files, use the On API endpoints to retrieve newer updates starting with the maxUpdateIds specified in the Manifest file