Provision

Overview

As covered in the Start Here section, setting up a player for use involves applying a Setup to the player, and applying a Setup to a player using BSN.cloud is known as provisioning.

When powering up a new or factory reset player that has previously been provisioned, the player will automatically retrieve and apply the Setup that was previously applied to it.

In many cases, it is best to provision the player prior to powering up the player. Players can be provisioned using the methods described below, and once provisioned, the player will configure itself per the applied Setup upon bootup.

Prerequisites

You must be logged in to a BSN.cloud account.
Note the player serial number, which can be found on the bottom of the player or on the side of the packaging box.
Connect the player(s) to an active network connection and to a display screen through HDMI^®.
The player(s) must have a blank, properly formatted storage device.
You must have a Setup (see here for instructions):
1. Note the Setup name.
2. Make sure that the Setup file is in the library (when creating the Setup, choose Add Setup to Library).

Provisioning Individual Players

Add Player

Go to Admin > Provision.
Select Add Player to add a player to the Provisioning list. You will be prompted to enter the following information:
1. Serial Number: The serial number of the player.
2. Player Name and Player Description: An optional name and description for the player. If these are not specified, the values in the Setup will be used.

Apply Setup

From Admin > Provision:

Select the checkbox next to the player(s) you want to provision.
Select Apply Setup:
1. If the players have not been previously provisioned, they will download the appropriate Setup from the BSN.cloud servers when they boot up.
2. If the players have had a Setup previously applied, the new Setup will take effect only when that player has been explicitly reprovisioned.

It is important to note that Apply Setup strictly establishes what should be applied to the player when the player is reprovisioned. If a previously provisioned player reboots or even if it is factory reset, it will not adopt the new Setup until the player has been explicitly reprovisioned. Reprovisioning is covered below.

The Apply App URL option lets you assign an application, via a player-accessible URL, to selected players in the list. Upon boot up, the players will download the application package from the specified App URL and set up the player for that application.

You can also Delete Player(s) from the Provisioning list. If you delete a player's provisioning record, it will be disassociated from its BSN.Cloud network and will no longer automatically retrieve a Setup package from BSN.Cloud. When a player is booted up without an associated provisioning record, it will display an activation code, which you can use to create a provisioning record for the player. Other methods of provisioning the player are the BrightAuthor:connected Provision tab or the B-Deploy API.

Provisioning Multiple Players (Bulk Provisioning)

Go to Admin > Provision.
Select the download icon to download the Provisioning Template as a CSV file. Enter the:
1. Serial Number (required)
2. Player Name
3. Setup name (required)
4. App URL
5. Description
Save the CSV file.
Select Upload Provisioning File to upload the saved CSV file. Once the file has been uploaded, players listed in the file will be automatically provisioned per the file.
Review the player list for bulk provisioning and select Submit. The players will automatically download and apply the new Setups from the cloud.

Note that the CSV template includes a column for Setup as well as App URL. If a player is desired to be provisioned for App URL, it can be done with a Setup where the Setup includes the App URL information. Alternatively, the App URL can be directly entered in the CSV file, negating the need for a Setup.

If a Setup that includes an App URL is specified and an App URL is entered in the CSV column, the App URL in the Setup will take precedence.

Default Provisioning

If a Setup is not explicitly applied to a player, the Default Setup will be applied to the player when it is provisioned.

Reprovisioning

As mentioned above, Apply Setup strictly establishes what should be applied to the player when the player is reprovisioned. If a previously provisioned player reboots or even if it is factory reset, it will not adopt the new Setup until the player has been explicitly reprovisioned.

The reprovisioning process performs the following actions:

Clears the storage device (typically a microSD card).
Clears the registry settings used by BSN.cloud but retains some register settings, specifically the player’s networking settings (e.g., WiFi configuration).
Reboots the player
1. Upon reboot, the player will download and apply the Setup associated with its provisioning record.
2. If no Setup has been applied to the player, the player will boot to the Activate screen.

Reprovisioning a player consists of the following steps:

Apply a new Setup to the player.
1. When a player is added (either via Provision > Add Player or via a Provisioning File using the Provisioning template) with no Setup explicitly applied, the Default Setup will be applied.
Explicitly “Reprovision” the player so that the new Setup takes effect.

Apply a New Setup

To reprovision the player, first go to Admin > Provision where you should see your player(s) listed. From here, follow the steps below.

Select the player from the list. Multiple players can be selected to apply the same Setup to.
Click Apply Setup.

A pop-up will appear with a drop-down list of all the Setups in the Setup Library. Choose the desired Setup from the drop-down list and click Apply Setup.

Reprovision the Player

When a new Setup is applied to a player, the new Setup does not automatically go into effect on the player. After applying the Setup, the player must be explicitly reprovisioned (after which the player will reboot) in order for the new Setup to be active on the player.

Find the player in the Network tab and select the settings (gear) icon:

From there, navigate to the Control tab, Reprovision Player. Note the actions that will occur and select Reprovision.

There may be a message asking to confirm that there is indeed a Setup that has been applied to the player. If a Setup has not been first applied to the player, the player will connect to BSN.cloud to download and apply the Default Setup.

Deleting a Provision Record

Go to Admin > Provision and delete the player from the Provision table by clicking the delete (trash can) icon.
Go to the Network tab and find the player. Click the gear icon to access the player's RDWS.
Navigate to the Control tab of the player’s RDWS and click the Reprovision button which will cause the player to reboot.
1. Since no Setup has been applied to the player, the player will boot to the Activate screen.

After the player has rebooted, go the Network tab and click the delete (trashcan) icon to delete the player from the network.
1. This is more of a housecleaning step and while recommended, is not strictly necessary. If not done, the player will continue appearing in the Network tab but show an Inactive status.

Reprovisioning vs. Factory Reset

Users should understand some key differences between reprovisioning and a Factory Reset.

Reprovision	Factory Reset

Reprovision	Factory Reset
Clears the storage device (e.g., microSD card)	Does not clear the storage device.
Clears most registry settings but importantly does not clear the player’s network settings (e.g., WiFi configuration)	Clears all registry settings including the player’s network settings.
If a new Setup has been applied, the new Setup will take effect upon bootup. If a new Setup has not been applied, the player will boot to the Activation screen.	Does not affect the player’s provisioning record on BSN.cloud. The player’s Setup on record will be applied again after the player boots back up. Changing the player’s Setup requires reprovisioning the player.

Additional Info

See this video for more information about provisioning players and creating player groups to display different Setups in different groups.