Diagnostic Web Server

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Last updated: Aug 12, 2024Version comment
10 min read

The Diagnostic Web Server (DWS) allows you to view and modify various settings on a networked BrightSign player. This page will walk you through setting up and using the Diagnostic Web Server.

There are two types of DWS:

  • Remote DWS (RDWS): accessible over the Internet with BrightAuthor:connected or a web browser.

  • Local DWS (LDWS): accessible over the local network with a web browser or the BrightSign Shell.

The Remote and Local DWS variants provide nearly the same functionality with a few exceptions noted below.

DWS Versions

This document describes the DWS as of OS 8. See the attached document for documentation on the DWS before OS 8.

Setting up the DWS

The DWS is enabled out of the box. If you'd like to access the DWS before performing the player setup process, skip down to the Accessing the DWS section. Otherwise, follow the below steps to configure the DWS during the player setup process.

BrightAuthor:connected Setup

Follow these steps to enable and configure the DWS during the player setup process in BrightAuthor:connected:

  1. In BrightAuthor:connected, go the the Admin tab and select Setup.

  2. Under Player Settings > Player Configuration, click the box to enable the Local Diagnostic Web Server.

  3. (Optional) Enter a Password for the DWS for additional network security. The Username will always be “admin”.

  4. (Optional) Under Player Settings > Remote Screenshot, click the box to Enable remote screenshots box if you would like the player to take screenshots of the display area. These screenshots are accessible from the Screenshots tab on the DWS.

  5. Specify other player settings as desired and either save the Setup to a file location or add the Setup to the Setup Library.

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BrightAuthor:connected Network tab (Properties Section)

For players that are already setup and connected to a BSN.cloud Network, the Diagnostic Web Server can be turned on or off in the Properties section of the Network tab (see Network | Network-DeviceConfiguration ).

Advanced Setup

You can also configure the Diagnostic Web Server using the BrightSign serial command prompt or a custom script. 

Serial Prompt

Input the following commands in the serial prompt to run the DWS on the standard port:

>>registry write networking http_server 80 >>registry flush

A registry flush is necessary if you plan to power cycle the unit after executing the registry command. Registry writes will buffer for a few seconds because the EEPROM and NAND have a limited number of writes (and thus need to protect against carrying out too many writes too quickly).

BrightScript

The DWS can also be enabled in a custom script using the roNetworkConfiguration object. Include the following lines in a autorun.brs script to enable the DWS on Ethernet port 80:

nc = CreateObject("roNetworkConfiguration", 0) rebootRequired = nc.SetupDWS() if rebootRequired RebootSystem()

Setting the Password

By default, the DWS is enabled with the player serial number as password. To set a custom password with digest authentication, use the roNetworkConfiguration object:

nc = CreateObject("roNetworkConfiguration", 0) rebootRequired = nc.SetupDWS({open:"password"}) if rebootRequired RebootSystem()

Use the username “admin” and your chosen password when connecting to the DWS.

Accessing the DWS

Remote DWS

In BrightAuthor:connected, go to the Network tab and locate the player you wish to access. Click the  icon to access the DWS of that player.

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Local DWS

DWS Access must be turned on in the Control tab of the remote DWS to access the local DWS.

Follow these steps to access the Diagnostic Web Server using a web browser on the local network:

  1. If you don't know the IP address of the player, do the following:

    1. Power off the player by unplugging the power supply.

    2. Remove the SD card (as well as any internal storage devices, if applicable).

    3. Power on the BrightSign player by reconnecting the power supply.

    4. Wait for the player to boot up: The IP address of the player will be displayed on the screen.

  2. Enter the IP address of the networked player into the address bar of a web browser:

    1. If you've set up the DWS with a password, enter the password. The username is always "admin".

    2. If you haven't previously configured the DWS, use the serial number of the player as the password.

IP Address Variants

  • If the player is still set to factory defaults (i.e. the IP address returns the Device Setup screen), append /index.html to the end of the IP address (for example, 10.1.0.99/index.html).

  • If the player is configured to use Appspace, append port 8080 to the end of the IP address (for example, 10.1.0.99:8080).

  • If the player is running the Streaming Server module, append port 80 to the end of the IP address (for example, 10.1.0.99:80).

Alternatively, you can access the Local DWS via the player’s serial number by typing brightsign-<serialNumber>.local into the browser where <serialNumber> is the serial number of the player (for example, brightsign-M2E33P002148.local). Bonjour must be installed to use this on Windows (it will work out of the box on Mac and desktop Linux unless the configuration has been changed).

Using the DWS

The Diagnostic Web Server user interface consists of several tabs. This section details the information and settings offered by each tab.

Info

This page provides general information about the player and its current status:

  • Time: The current time as it is configured on the player. On the local DWS, you can select the  icon to configure the time on the player:

    • Automatically: Click Use Client to set the time of the player using the current time of the browser/application.

    • Manually: Enter a Time and Date to set on the player. These values will go into effect the moment you click the Set Time button. If you would like to interpret the date/time using the time zone of the player, check the Apply Timezone box. Otherwise, the date/time will be applied as a UTC value.

You cannot edit the time zone of the player from the DWS. To change the time zone, you will need to perform the player setup process again.

  • Name: The user-supplied name of the player

  • Description: An optional user-supplied description for the player

  • Model: The model number of the player

  • Unique ID: The serial number of the player

  • <Ethernet/WiFi> IP: The IP address of the player

  • <Ethernet/WiFi> MAC: The media access control (MAC) address of the player

  • Boot Version: The current version of the primary boot loader

  • BrightSignOS Version: The current OS version installed on the player

  • Video Mode: The current video output resolution. You can change the video resolution in the Video tab.

  • Uptime: The amount of time the player has been powered on and working correctly

  • Power Source: Displays the power source (for example, AC)

  • PoE: The status of the PoE interface (applicable to PoE capable models only)

Log

This page provides a log of system processes and events on the player. The output is similar to the information generated through a serial, Telnet, or SSH connection.

  • Refresh: Retrieve new log information from the player.

  • Download log: Download the current log.

  • Download crash dump: Retrieve information about the most recent crash on the player (if one has occurred); you can then send it to BrightSign Support for analysis.

Control

This page allows general control of the system processes of the player:

  • Set Password (Local DWS only): Set a new password for DWS authentication on the local network.

  • Reboot Player: Reboot the player remotely.

  • Reboot with Crash Report: Reboot the player and save a crash-report file to the "brightsign-dumps" folder. BrightSign support may request the crash report when helping you troubleshoot the player.

  • Factory Reset: Reset the player to factory defaults, erasing all persistent registry settings for networking, security, and other applications.

  • Recovery URL: Set a new recovery URL, which is used by the player to retrieve setup information if there is an autorun-related failure.

  • DWS Access: Enable/disable DWS access on the local network.

SD / microSD / MSATA / USB

This page provides information related to the storage device attached to the player.

File Uploads

You can use this page to upload files to the player storage. Files are uploaded to the currently selected directory. To upload files, click the Browse button to select one or more files, then click Upload Files. File uploads are limited to 10MB on the Remote DWS.

File Listing

This page also provides a listing of all files on the storage device. Depending on the type of file, there will be several options:

  • Open folder: Click a folder (indicated by the folder icon) to view its contents.

  • Download: Click the  icon to download a file to your computer. File downloads are limited to 10MB on the Remote DWS.

  • File options: Click the  icon to view more options associated with the file:

    • About <filename>: Provides the file size and last modified date.

    • Rename: Provides various options for renaming the file. You can specify a custom name or choose from among a list of common filenames. Use caution if renaming a file to "autorun.brs". The system does not check the integrity of the new autorun file.

    • Analyze Media File: Performs media analysis of a video or audio file.

  • Delete: Click the trashcan icon to delete the file from the storage device.

Diagnostics

This page provides various network and system tools that are helpful for diagnosing problems and getting information about a BrightSign player:

  • Network Configuration: View extensive information about network interface settings.

  • Network Diagnostics: Run network diagnostics. This process may take some time to complete, especially when certain tests fail.

  • DNS Lookup: Test the specified DNS address to check whether name resolution is working.

  • Ping: Ping a device with the specified IP address or DNS name.

  • Trace Route: Perform a standard traceroute diagnostic on the specified IP/DNS address. Check the Resolve IP Addresses box to resolve the specified DNS name.

  • Network Neighborhood: Display information on the current network neighborhood.

  • Network Packet Capture: Allows the capture and collection of live network packet data from the network interfaces connected to the BrightSign player.

  • Disable Autorun: Force the player to reboot and disable the autorun script when the device restarts. This allows the unit to display the OS version and IP address on screen (if the unit is connected to a local network). If the player has a serial port, you will be able to access the system shell over a null-modem serial cable.

  • Storage Formatting: Takes you to the Format Storage page, which allows you format storage devices attached to the player.

    • Storage: Select a storage device. You can only format storage devices that are currently unformatted; storage that already contains content files or autorun scripts cannot be reformatted.

    • File system: Select a supported file system to use when formatting the storage device.

  • Telnet/SSH: Allows you to enable Telnet and SSH for your player. This lets you access the BrightSign application console when serial port (the default I/O for the application console) is inaccessible. Not that we do not recommend enabling either Telnet or SSH in a production environment for security reasons. A Port Number can be set for Telnet, and a Port Number and SSH Password can be set for SSH as shown in the image below:

Screenshots

This page allows you to view Remote Screenshots of the visual output of the player.

Click the New Screenshot button to take a screenshot. Once the screenshot has been taken, you can click the thumbnail to view a full-size image of the screenshot.

Video

This page provides several diagnostic tools related to the video settings of the player:

  • HDMI Status: Whether each player HDMI® connection (indicated as HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.) is “Active” or “Inactive”

  • Current Video Mode: The video resolution currently being output on each HDMI connection (indicated as HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.). If the player is set to a 4K video mode, this field will also indicate whether the10-bit colorspace and/or HDR (high dynamic range) is currently being output.

  • Power Save: Disables HDMI output, the syncs for VGA output, and/or the DAC output for component video for each HDMI connection (indicated as HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.). The absence of a signal will cause some monitors to go into standby mode.

  • EDID Information: Displays the EDID data returned from one or more monitors attached to the player’s HDMI ports (indicated as HDMI-1, HDMI-2, etc.). This information can be copied and pasted into a text editor.

  • Change Video Mode: Changes the display mode/resolution of the player on all video outputs (HDMI®, VGA, and Component). The device will reboot and disable the current autorun script (similar to the Disable Autorun button in the Diagnostics tab). Otherwise, the autorun script will reset the video mode of the player by default.

  • EDID Information: Returns the EDID information from a compatible monitor.

Advanced

  • BrightSignOS Update: Instruct the player to download a .bsfw OS-update file from the specified URL. After the file has been downloaded, the player will reboot and update its BrightSignOS version.

  • Storage Location: Enter the storage location and select View to temporarily access the player storage location.

  • BrightSign OS Logs: Select the level of detail you prefer in the BrightSignOS logs and then select Set to apply that setting.

Registry

The Registry tab allows you to view and edit the registry:

  • Select View Registry Dump to view the player registry. You can copy the output to the clipboard or download it to a text file.

  • To submit registry commands, add registry entries, or delete registry entries, enter that information in the empty field under Command and then select Submit. You must reboot the player to see changes to the registry.