To use BrightAuthor with the BrightSign Network (BSN), you must configure BrightAuthor to communicate with BSN servers. Then you can deliver content to your networked players by opening BrightAuthor, logging into BSN, uploading presentations, and publishing to Groups. For more details on publishing with BSN, see the latest BrightAuthor User Guide.
Player Access Requirements
Domain | Ports & Protocols | Required? |
|---|---|---|
www.brightsignnetwork.com brightsignnetwork.com | 443: HTTPS | Required |
api.brightsignnetwork.com | 80: HTTP 443: HTTPS | Required |
services.brightsignnetwork.com | 443: HTTPS | Required |
time.brightsignnetwork.com | 80: HTTP 123: NTP | Required |
crashes.brightsignnetwork.com | 443: HTTPS | Required |
bsnm.s3.amazonaws.com | 80: HTTP 443: HTTPS | Required |
sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com | 443: HTTPS | Optional |
NTP Port Configuration
By default, BrightSign players are configured to use the HTTP Time Protocol (HTP) to synchronize their clocks with the BSN time server. However, they can also be configured to use NTP, in which case UDP port 123 is used to set the date and time. This is a standard port used for setting time, though it is occasionally blocked on some networks.
IP Addresses
ICMP should be allowed for the following IP addresses (ports 80/TCP, 443/TCP, 123/UDP) for BSN communication to work:
184.72.42.7
184.72.220.33
50.17.250.31
184.72.41.254
Because BrightSign players should be able to connect to Amazon S3 services, and there is no official list of Amazon S3 networks, players should be able to connect to any IP address on port 80.
BrightAuthor Access Requirements
To log in to BSN and upload files, BrightAuthor must be able to communicate with:
Server and Ports | Usage |
|---|---|
https://services.brightsignnetwork.com:443 | General BrightAuthor operations (primary) |
http://services.brightsignnetwork.com:80 | General BrightAuthor operations (secondary) |
http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9990 | File uploads |
http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9991 | File uploads |
http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9992 | File uploads |
http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9993 | File uploads |
http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9994 | File uploads |
http://bsnm.s3.amazonaws.com:80 | Main repository for user-generated content and some system directories for BrightAuthor |
https://api.brightsignnetwork.com:443 |
Avast antivirus may cause problems with BSN uploads. To workaround, right click on Avast icon in the toolbar > Avast shields control > Disable for some time, then repeat the presentation upload.
Using Port 80
Some customers have firewalls or other security policies that do not allow them to use non-standard ports 9990-9994 for file uploads. In these cases, things can be working then spontaneously stop working due to an upstream change to firewall or network security policies (modern networking equipment often auto-updates without user intervention). To fix this, we have implemented server-side support for uploading files with multiple threads on port 80. To use this, you need to change the configuration file. Note that applying new settings may result in slightly slower upload speeds.
To point to our servers using port 80:
Close BrightAuthor.
Find the BrightAuthor.exe.config file.
Open the BrightAuthor.exe.config file in Notepad and search for this line: add key="UploadFileService1" and change its value from the "http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com:9990/UploadFileService.svc" to "http://fileservices.brightsignnetwork.com/UploadFileService.svc".
Delete 4 strings below this line, which correspond to the "UploadFileService2-5".
Save the changes and close Notepad. If you can't save the changes, then copy the BrightAuthor.exe.config file to your desktop, modify the file, save it, and place it back to the BrightAuthor folder. Now BrightAuthor will upload presentations through the 80 port.
Attached is an example of the 1-port upload config file for BrightAuthor version 3.2.0.12: