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Simple File Networking DOesn't work!?

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Neal Layton
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I have a few HD1024 and HS144's that I can't figure out how to get SFN working to be successful.

Yes, I have spent about 20 hours looking at brightsign docs, video, guides and troubleshooting. I can almost recite them by heart.

So far.....

I have booted with a Blank microSD card.

All the units have connect to the internet and pulled down v8.0.119

Activation screen shows the 6 digit code.

I fire up BrightAuthor Connected and use the activate units feature successfully.

Units are activated. Using BA Connected I upgrade the software to version 8.0.146. No issues, units reboot showing Local File networking setup is complete.

All units are online(green check mark)

Using BA Connected I can publish my presentation to any or all of the local units, they reboot just fine and start to play my content. I can then change and publish different presentations to them with no issues.

I want to move them to offsite locations, but CANNOT get SFN to work properly.

They all just hang up on the "Simple File Networking Setup is in progress..."
screen. 2 hours, 12hours, 24 hours, 48 hours goes by and no change. 

So I can only guess 3 issues.....one or more of these maybe?

1) configured wrong (strong possibility)

2) Webserver not configured properly for mime-types (I can't change this) or it is somehow inaccessible.

3) Local network (using eero's) is blocking downloads (it's happened before with other embedded systems like Tivo)

I have a few/many questions that the old outdated docs don't seem to address properly(the answer seems to be, if one thing doesn't work try the other thing???)

1) In the SFN config do we need the trailing slash or not?

      ex: http://www.layton.org/bs/

     or http://www.layton.org/bs

2) Can anyone that now knows this link above see if you can pull down my presentation and tell me do we need the trailing slash or not and is my server serving the files correctly. (Don't worry, I'll kill the link after this is resolved)(it's a Covid-19 demo from brightsign downloads)

3) Why doesn't dropbox work for this? Seems simple enough with a shared folder. Once again the outdated docs give answers both ways. Either it will or it won't, in my case it doesn't but having such lame docs doesn't inspire confidence in my setup files either. Too many multiple possibilities for errors, when I continually see contradictions.

4) Why doesn't a simple FTP download initiated by the player work? (ftp://www.layton.org/bs) (with name and password properly setup in those fields

I can logon via browser with the ftp url above and the proper credentials...why not the player?

  I can publish my presentation to my webserver via FTP with BA connected just fine, so the whole binary/auto/ascii issues shouldn't be the problem. 

5) Is the player when it eventually connects looking for the file, "current-sync.xml" like all the docs say it is?  In my case all I see is a file called "current-sync.json"

I can not try the straight IP address of the server as it is a windows server serving multiple domains. (network solutions hosting)

6) To defeat the issue above, Can I use the "specify Hostname" feature under network options and if so, what's the syntax for that? (docs only mention google) (and again claims that it both works and doesn't work it other posts)

7) does anyone have a WORKING demo hosted on a webserver someplace that I can try to get my players to run as a test for my config?

 

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me.

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6 comments

  • 0
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    Neal Layton

    PS, I tested the server trouble shooting steps. 

    I can view the current-sync.json file, the .brs fils are a no go...just says file not found, even though I can clearly see they are uploaded using my ftp crendtials.

    Ithink this is the issue, but surely as big as netsol is someone else is using them to serve player presentations..

     

    Also tired a quick and dirty internal webserver...still no luck

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Neal Layton

    One more stupid question........

    How do I change the names of the players in my network device list

    Right now they are all named "Activated". (stupid)

  • 0
    Avatar
    Brandon

    You don't need to use the default LFN setup.  Create a Device Setup for SFN, then create Device Provisioning records for the players that should be set for SFN.

    current-sync.json is used for BrightAuthor:connected SFN.  current-sync.xml is used for BrightAuthor SFN.
    They serve the same function but are not interchangeable.

    If you cannot set/change the MIME types it is very unlikely to work.  The server will encounter a file extension it doesn't recognize and return a 404.3 (MIME type restrction, unrecognized/undefined MIME type) error to the player.  Same for the files in the pool folder with no file extension.

    ALL file links in the current-sync.json must be accessible to the player and must match the filesize.

    Setup/publish will not complete until all files in the current-sync.json have been successfully downloaded by the player.

    Dropbox and Google Drive don't work because they no longer provide a predetermined path structure.  You can't programmatically create a link that directly accesses a file based on where it lives in the folder tree.  They did this partially due to abuse by malware distributors.

    Changing hostname won't do anything.

    _________________________________________________________________________

    Friendly reminder, the community forum is intended for user-to-user discussion.  It is not regularly monitored. For troubleshooting problems and to ensure a timely answer from a BrightSign representative, please submit a support ticket.

  • 0
    Avatar
    Neal Layton

    Thanks for the response, I appreciate it very much.

    >>You don't need to use the default LFN setup.  Create a Device Setup for SFN, then create Device Provisioning records for the players that >>should be set for SFN.

    Thank you, Yes, I understand I don't have to use the default LFN, I just included that info so anyone helping would understand that the units are online, functioning, etc. Not a hardware issue as far as I can tell.

    I have created multiple Device Provisioning records and can push them to any of the players, or save them to a microSD and boot the players up with them. I don't think is my issue.

    >>current-sync.json is used for BrightAuthor:connected SFN.  current-sync.xml is used for BrightAuthor SFN.
    >>They serve the same function but are not interchangeable.

    Thank you, so I have to pick one BrightAuthor or the other, can't go back and forth.

    >>If you cannot set/change the MIME types it is very unlikely to work.  The server will encounter a file extension it doesn't recognize and >>return a 404.3 (MIME type restrction, unrecognized/undefined MIME type) error to the player.  Same for the files in the pool folder with no >>file extension.

    This is most likely my issue then. Has any thought been given to using standard file types/extensions that would download correctly? Especially for those using 3rd party windows hosting?

    >>ALL file links in the current-sync.json must be accessible to the player and must match the filesize. Setup/publish will not complete >>until all files in the current-sync.json have been successfully downloaded by the player.

    >>Dropbox and Google Drive don't work because they no longer provide a predetermined path structure.  You can't programmatically create >>a link that directly accesses a file based on where it lives in the folder tree.  They did this partially due to abuse by malware distributors.

    Thank you for clarifying this!

    >>Changing hostname won't do anything.

    If it does nothing why is it there?

     

    Any recommendations on hosting services that will work with the requirements needed?

    Any test sites up that I can point to and test my SFN setup?

    Trailing slash or no slash?

  • 0
    Avatar
    Brandon

    > Thank you, so I have to pick one BrightAuthor or the other, can't go back and forth.

    Correct.

     

    > This is most likely my issue then. Has any thought been given to using standard file types/extensions that would download correctly? Especially for those using 3rd party windows hosting?

    Changing file extensions would require a deep change to everything including core BrightScript components.  It would be a huge undertaking.

    MIME type definitions is standard web server functionality and Windows web hosts most certainly can have the proper definitions set.  If you don't have control of them you probably just have to request the definitions to be added, unless you're using a limited-function web host - many of those hosts have restrictions on the file types and extensions they will support.

     

    > If it does nothing why is it there?

    Changing hostname won't change anything about your SFN behavior.  It does change the registered host, but that won't have any effect on your SFN setup.

     

    > Any recommendations on hosting services that will work with the requirements needed?

    I don't have any recommendations on any particular service provider.

     

    > Any test sites up that I can point to and test my SFN setup?

    You can enable the IIS component (aka Personal Web Server) on desktop Windows, add the proper MIME definitions and it'll work.  Just be aware that non-server Windows has a limit of 10 incoming connections which would make it unsuitable for more than 2 players since players will make up to 4 simultaneous download requests.  With more players some will have the connection refused and they would retry later.  It would eventually work, but response time to changes would be extended.

     

    > Trailing slash or no slash?

    Most sites don't care, but some are picky, so no trailing slash if you want to be safe, as request paths are added with a leading slash.

    _________________________________________________________________________

    Friendly reminder, the community forum is intended for user-to-user discussion.  It is not regularly monitored. For troubleshooting problems and to ensure a timely answer from a BrightSign representative, please submit a support ticket.

     

  • 0
    Avatar
    Neal Layton

    @Brandon, thanks for your help. After about 10 hours of trial and error I finally got this working.

    I switched to a linux hosting platform, set the mime types and was finally successful.

     

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