Simple File Network

15 min

This page / section pertains to BrightAuthor Classic, our legacy app. BrightSign Author is our latest app for managing content and players.

Development of BrightAuthor Classic has largely ceased and the app will eventually be deprecated and replaced with BrightSign Author.

A player set up for Simple File Networking will retrieve content and schedule updates from your server at regular intervals. The setup files generated here provide settings for your network and point the player to the web server that it will use for updates. To set up a player for Simple File Networking in BrightAuthor Classic, navigate to File > Setup BrightSign Unit.

This video tutorial outlines basic steps for setting up a player for Simple File Networking.

Name

Name: Enter a name for the player

Description:(Optional) Enter a description for the player.

Customization: Select one of the following:

Append unit ID: Appends the serial number of the player to the end of the player name.

Use name only: Does not append anything to the player name.

Network Properties

Enable Wireless: Check this box to connect the player to the local network using a wireless connection. In order to use a wireless connection, you must purchase a Wireless Module for your BrightSign player. If the player is connecting to a secured network, enter the following:

SSID: Enter the SSID of the wireless network.

Security key: Enter the password for the wireless network

Network Connection Priority: Use the up and down arrows to prioritize either the Wired or Wireless connection. The BrightSign player will always attempt to download and upload using the first option, and will only use the second option if the first is unavailable.

Time zone: Select the time zone where the player is located.

Time server:(Optional) Specify the server (using a supported protocol) that the player should use to synchronize its clock. Players use the BrightSign Network time server by default.

Advanced Network Setup

Click the Advanced Network Setup button to customize advanced settings for your networked player.

Unit Configuration

Use the Unit Configuration tab to specify the following:

Specify hostname: Check this box to specify a custom hostname for the player on the network. By default, the player serial number is used to generate a unique hostname (i.e. "brightsign-<serial_number>").

Use Proxy: Check this box if you want the player to use a proxy server.

Address: Enter the address of the proxy. If you need to provide a user name and password for the proxy, use this format: :@ (e.g. “admin:[email protected]”).

Port: Enter the port number of the proxy. If you do not specify a port number, the player will default to using port 1080.

Proxy Bypass: Use the Add Host button to add host names to the proxy bypass list. Host names that are checked will be accessed directly, rather than using the specified proxy server. Entering a host name such as "example.com" will exempt "example.com", "example.com:80", and "www.example.com" from the proxy setting. This feature includes bypass options for the BrightSign Network (content downloads, log uploads) and BrightSign Network Feeds (Dynamic Playlists, Live Media Feeds, Live Text Feeds) by default.

If the user name or password for the proxy contains the special character @, you will need to use the ASCII equivalent to avoid breaking the string (e.g. “%40dmin:[email protected]” ”admin:p%[email protected]”).

Limit content downloads: Check this box to restrict player content downloads to a certain time of day. This is helpful if you want to limit network traffic during peak hours.

Start of Range: The beginning of the time frame during which content downloads can occur.

End of Range: The end of the time frame during which content downloads can occur.

Wired / Wireless

Use the Wired and Wireless tabs to specify the following:

Data Types Enabled: Use these checkboxes to determine the data types that can be transferred using the connection. You can enable/disable downloads (Content, Text Feeds, Media Feeds), as well as uploads (Health, Log Updates).

Connection Settings: Indicate whether the IP address is auto-generated (via DHCP) or static. If you’re using a static IP address, enter the parameters in the fields.

Rate Limit Network Download Traffic: Set rate limitations for downloading content. The options are divided into three categories: Outside content download window, During content download window, and During initial downloads. The "content download window" described by the first two options corresponds to the Limit content downloads interval set in the Unit Configuration tab.

Unlimited download rate: Sets no limit on downloads.

Default limit: Sets the default limit (2000 Kibit/s) on downloads.

Specify limit: Sets a customized limit. Enter a limit in the text field (in Kbit/s).

Network Authentication: Use this section to configure the player for WPA Enterprise authentication.

Enable 802.1X Authentication / Enable WPA Enterprise Authentication: Check this box to enable authentication via 802.1x (for wired) or WPA Enterprise Authentication (for wireless).

Choose Network Authentication Variant: Choose one of the following:

EAP-TLS: This authentication variant requires a client certificate and private key, which can be provided with one of the following certificate types. If you are using PKCS#12 or X.509, you can protect the client certificate using an optional passphrase in the Enter passphrase field.

PKCS#12: The client certificate and private key are both provided in a single PKCS#12 formatted file (usually with a .p12 file extension). Click the first Browse button to locate the certificate file.

X.509 PEM/DER: The client certificate is provided as a X.509 certificate (using PEM or DER encoding), and the key is encoded separately. Use the first Browse button to locate the X.509 certificate and the second Browse button to locate the PEM/DER key.

PEAP/MSCHAPv2: This authentication variant requires a Username (i.e. identity) and Passphrase. For this method to work, the server must be configured to accept a username/password scheme in lieu of a client certificate.

Press Browse to locate additional CA Certificate: If the authentication scheme requires additional PEM/DER CA certificates (for example, if the CA hierarchy requires intermediate certificates and the server does not supply them), click the Browse button to locate the certificate file.

If additional CA certificates are specified, the player will use these certificates instead of checking the CA certificate sent by the server. This action allows the player to connect to a potentially insecure network using WPA Enterprise.

Diagnostics

Use the Diagnostics tab to specify the following:

Enable network diagnostics: Check this box to have the player display the network diagnostics screen during setup.

Test Ethernet: The player will indicate whether or not it was able to attain an IP address over Ethernet.

Test Wireless: The player will indicate whether or not it was able to attain an IP address over wireless.

Test Internet Connection: The player will indicate whether or not it was able to communicate with a remote server.

Firmware

Click the Specify Firmware Update button to include a firmware update with the setup files. The firmware update will be performed after you insert the storage device containing the setup files into the player and power it up. Locate the section corresponding to your BrightSign model and select one of the following:

Production Release: The current official release of BrightSign firmware

Beta Release: The current beta release of BrightSign firmware

Minimum Compatible Release: The minimum firmware version that supports presentations created by your version of BrightAuthor Classic. The minimum compatible firmware will likely not support all features provided by a more recent version of BrightAuthor Classic.

Select specific file: Use the Browse button to select a .bsfw firmware update file from your hard drive. The other options will download the update file from BrightSign when the setup files are created.

Splash Screen

Standard Splash Screen: The player will display the BrightSign logo when booting up.

Custom Splash Screen: The player will display a custom logo when booting up. Click Browse to locate and select the image you wish to use. See this FAQ for image size and format restrictions.

Unit Configuration

Select the Networked with Simple File Networking option. Then configure the following:

Enable diagnostic web server:(Optional) Check this box to enable the Diagnostic Web Server (DWS) (note that only local access of the DWS is available - see DWS: Local Access). You can include a username and password in the text fields below for added security.

Enable local web server:(Optional) Check this box to enable the Local Web ServerLocal Web Server. You can include a username and password in the text fields below for added security.

Enable Update Notifications:(Optional) Check this box to have the player automatically refresh the User Variables webpageUser Variables webpage whenever variable values change on the player.

URL for the web folder: Specify the location from which the player will download content updates. Do not use trailing slashes in your URL; some web servers do not support trailing slashes.

The URL for the web folder must be identical to the URL you use when publishing presentations. See the Simple File Network publishing pageSimple File Network publishing page for details. If you're having trouble getting players to communicate with your web server, see this How-to for troubleshooting tips.

Content Check Frequency: Set how often you want the player to check your server for updates.

Simple File Networking Authentication:(Optional) Enter a User name and password to enable digest authentication between the BrightSign player and the server.

Enable basic authentication: Check this box to have the player pass credentials to the web server in unsecured packets. Use this option only if it is absolutely required by the configuration of your web server.

Beacons

This section allows you to configure persistent BLE beaconing. Beacons can also be paired with presentations.

Name: Enter a name for the beacon.

Type: Use the drop down list to select the beaconing mode/format:

iBeacon: A simple beaconing format

UUID: A string representation of a UUID, which can be in 16-bit, 32-bit, or 128-bit format. A 16-bit UUID must be exactly four hex digits with no punctuation; a 32-bit UUID must be exactly eight hex digits with no punctuation; and a 128-bit UUID must be punctuated exactly as follows: "cd7b6f81-f738-4cad-aebf-d2a2ea36d996".

Major: An integer specifying the 2-byte Major value (0 to 65535)

Minor: An integer specifying the 2-byte Minor value (0 to 65535)

TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.

Eddystone URL: The Eddystone-URL format

URL: The URL to encapsulate in the advertisement packet.

TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.

Eddystone UID: The Eddystone-UID format

Namespace: A 10-byte value expressed as 20 hexadecimal digits

Instance: A 6-byte value expressed as 12 hexadecimal digits

TxPower: An integer value that corresponds to the measurement of the Tx power level (in dBm) at 0 meters. The default value is -19, which corresponds to a level of -60dBm at 1 meter. The recommended calibration practice is to measure the RSSI in a circle at 1 meter from the beacon, then add 41 to the average measured signal strength to get the TxPower value: For example, measuring a -65dBm RSSI at 1 meter yields a TxPower value of -24.

The TxPower value does not modify the power level of the Bluetooth transmitter (this requires physical attenuation). Rather, the TxPower value is transmitted to Bluetooth clients in the BLE advertisement. Clients can then compare this value to the current RSSI of the signal to determine their approximate distance from the beacon.

Logging

Use the check boxes to enable/disable logs and specify log upload settings. You can view logs in the currentLog folder on the player storage. See this How-to to learn how to read player logs.

Enable playback logging: Records playback start and end times, zone names, media types, and file names.

Enable event logging: Records timestamps, state names, zone names, event types, and event data.

Enable state logging: Records current and last state names, timestamps, and media types.

Enable diagnostic logging: Records timestamps, firmware and script versions, and the current presentation.

Enable Variable logging: Records the current and default values of all Variables in the presentation. This log is only generated when logs are uploaded to a custom log handler URL.

Upload logs: Check either of the following:

On startup: Uploads log files each time the player is powered on.

At specific time each day: Uploads log files daily at the specified time. Use the dropdown lists to pick a time.

Relative URL for log handler: Specify the location on the server where you want logs to be uploaded and parsed.

Remote Snapshot

Check the Enable remote snapshot box to enable the Remote Snapshot feature, which allows you to remotely monitor the contents of the presentation display.

The Remote Snapshot feature is not available for the LS422, HD220, or HD1020.

Remote snapshot every [ ] minutes: Specify how often the player should take a snapshot of the presentation display.

Save up to [ ] images (1 - 100) on local storage: Specify how many JPEG snapshot images can be stored on the local storage of the player.

JPEG quality level [ ] (0 - 100): Specify the quality level (and thus the file size) of each image file.

Display snapshots in portrait mode: Check this box to have the player rotate the snapshots to portrait mode before saving and uploading them.

RF Channel Scan Data (optional)

Use this field to publish RF channel scan settings to an XD1230 player. This option is useful if you need to publish identical channel scan settings to multiple XD1230 players. See this page for more details.

Screen Color

Click Choose to specify what screen color the player should display after it has successfully completed the setup process. When the player displays this color, it is ready to receive content.

Creating and Installing the Setup Files

Now that you've configured the setup files, you need to publish them to your player:

Click Create Setup Files.

Browse to and select an SD card (recommended) or USB flash drive. Ensure the setup files are written to the root folder of the storage device.

Click OK.

Turn off the BrightSign player by unplugging the power adapter (or Ethernet cable if the player is being powered by PoE).

Insert the SD card or USB flash drive into the player. Note that the storage device must remain in the player at all times while playing presentations.

Reconnect the power to turn on the player. The player will run a network configuration script and then attempt to download the presentation from the specified HTTP web server. Depending on the size of your published presentation and the quality of the Internet connection, this step could take some time to complete. Once completed, the player should begin playback of the published presentation.

We recommend formatting your SD/microSD card using FAT32 or exFAT. The exFAT format allows you to store files larger than 4GB, but it is only supported on Series 4 (XTx44, XDx34, HDx24, LS424) or Series 3 (XTx43, XDx33, HDx23, LS423) players using firmware 6.2.94 or later. The NTFS format also allows for files larger than 4GB, but the player will not be able to receive network updates or generate logs.

A video tutorial is available at https://vimeo.com/showcase/9023542/video/378904765