Remote Diagnostic Web Server

Owned by BrightSign TechDocs
Last updated: Sept 24, 2024 by Stephanie Mulqueen
8 min read

When a player has been provisioned with BSN.cloud, the bsn.Control service allows you to access to your players anywhere around the world through the remote Diagnostic Web Server (rDWS). The rDWS is maintained through a completely secure connection to BrightSign's WebSocket server (WSS). It lets you view information like player uptime, serial numbers, logs, and screenshots of what the player is displaying. You can also access diagnostic tools to troubleshoot connected players.

Accessing the rDWS

To open the rDWS for a player, go to the Network tab and select the gear icon next to that player:

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From there, you will have access to the player’s DWS where you can access various functions.

Info

The Info tab displays information about the player:

  • Time: The current time as it is configured on the player.

  • Name: The name of the player as entered by the user.

  • Description: An optional description of the player entered by the user.

  • Model: The model name for 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.

  • <Ethernet/WiFi>  IPv6: The IPv6 address of the player. 

  • Boot Version: The current version number of the BrightSign boot firmware.

  • BrightSignOS Version: The current OS version of the player.

  • Video Mode: The current video output resolution for each screen.

  • Uptime: The length of time that the player has been powered on and running correctly.

  • Power Source: The power source for the player (for example, AC or PoE).

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

Log

The Log tab 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

The Control tab lets you perform the following operations on the player: 

  • 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. See this page for more information on when devices should be reprovisioned rather than factory reset. 

  • 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.

  • Reprovision Player: A player must be explicitly reprovisioned in order for a newly applied Setup to take effect (more details here).

SD/MicroSD/MSATA/USB

The SD / MicroSD / MSATA / USB tab describes the storage device attached to the player. Use this tab to upload files to the currently selected directory in the player storage or to see a list of all files on the storage device.

  • To upload files, select Browse to choose the files, then select Upload Files. File uploads are limited to 10MB on the Remote DWS.

  • The list of files in the storage device is displayed in the center of the window. The options depend on the file type:

    • Open folder: Click a folder (indicated by the  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 when 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  icon to delete the file from the storage device.

Diagnostics

The Diagnostics tab provides network and system tools that are helpful for diagnosing problems and getting information about a BrightSign player. These are advanced tools, and should be used with care:

  • 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.

  • Chromium Debugging: This feature lets you enable the JavaScript console if you have also selected Enable JavaScript console in Presentation tab > State Properties > Options. If you want to disable the JavaScript console, you can do that by unselecting the checkbox. The console should only be enabled for presentations that are not in production, since it can cause memory and security issues.

  • 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 firmware 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: Selecting this option displays the Storage Formatting pop up, which allows you format storage devices attached to the player.

    • Storage: Select a storage device from the drop down menu (either sd, ssd, or usb). 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 and SSH Access: Enables Telnet and SSH on the player. This lets you access the BrightSign application console when serial port (the default I/O for the application console) is inaccessible. For security reasons, we do not recommend enabling either Telnet or SSH in a production environment. This is only available in BOS 9.0.110 or 8.5.46 and above.

    • Enable Telnet: Enter the Telnet port number (23 is the default)

    • Enable SSH (optional): Enter the SSH port number (22 is the default)

    • SSH Password (optional): Enter the SSH password

Snapshots

The Snapshots tab allows you to view remote snapshots of the player output.

Select the New Snapshot button to take a snapshot. Once the snapshot is taken, you can click the thumbnail to view a full-size image of the snapshot.

As of BrightSignOS 8.5.31, screenshots are captured at resolution with a maximum size of HD. Select Return the snapshot at its original resolution (do not downscale to HD) to get the snapshot at a higher resolution.

Video

The Video tab lets you diagnose 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 by the player 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 10-bit colorspace and/or HDR 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.

Advanced

The Advanced tab contains these options:

  • BrightSignOS Update: Select one of the Update Options (described below), and then select Update to download that version to your player, which will then reboot:

    • Latest release is the latest public BrightSignOS release for your player

    • Beta OS is the latest BrightSignOS Beta version for your player

    • Minimum OS is the lowest BrightSignOS version that can run on your player

    • Custom URL allows you to provide a URL to a specific OS version that you wish to load. This can be hosted by you or BrightSign, depending on circumstances. If the .bsfw version does not match your player, you will get an error. For example:
      https://brightsignnetwork.com/download/anon/firmware/cobra-9.0.110-update.bsfw

  • Storage Location: Enter the storage location and select View to temporarily access the player storage location. Note that you will get an error if you enter device that is already listed. 

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

  • Property Lock: Allows you to decide if your presentation settings should be overwritten or not.

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.

Next Steps

For more information about the Diagnostic Web Server, see this page.