Registrations

The “Registering a Player” training video is part of the “Network Setup” playlist:

• 1 of 5: Loop Policies
• 2 of 5: Criteria
• 3 of 5: Display Types
• 4 of 5: Registering a Player (below)
• 5 of 5: Display Units

Registering a Player: Describes how to register a player both manually within Broadsign Administrator, and automatically within the player software. Also, we provide troubleshooting techniques, if needed.

Registering a new player or edge server is a three-step process. The status of your registration can be consulted at any time by viewing the General Tab in the Registration Properties dialog. The registration process proceeds as follows:

1. Create a Registration resource for the new unit. See Network Setup tutorial – Register a Player.
2. Connect the unit to the Internet and verify that it can contact the Broadsign Server.
3. The Registration is processed by Broadsign.

Steps 2 and 3 are conducted in parallel, but both steps are required in order to promote a registration into a full-fledged, functioning Player or Edge Server.

In Windows, by clicking on Start/ Run and typing “cmd”, you can access the DOS prompt. At the DOS prompt you can enter “getmac” or “ipconfig /all” to see all the physical addresses listed on the PC.

In Linux, issue the “ifconfig” command. The MAC addresses appear in the HWaddr fields.

The MAC addresses provided must be globally unique. If you are using a virtual machine, make sure the system is reporting the real physical MAC of the NIC. Likewise, third party adapters like tunnels and VPN clients will report a MAC address that is not at all unique and you may get a MAC address conflict error. In these cases, simply omit the fake MACs, and register the system using the real physical NIC’s MAC address.

In both cases, the Registration wizard will also allow you to select an existing Player or Edge Server that this new registration will be replacing, thereby allowing you to re-use the license of the retired machine. Typically this action is performed when there is a hardware failure and a unit needs to be replaced with a new one.The wizard then prompts you to select either a Player or Edge Server type of registration and also to select a Display Unit, Player folder and remote configuration to assign to the unit once it is fully registered and promoted to a Player Resource. When registering an Edge Server, you will be prompted to select the folder the Edge Server will be placed in and its remote configuration.

Lastly, the Registration wizard allows you to enter notes about this registration. These notes typically contain pertinent information about who registered the Player, where is located and what components it contains. These notes are carried over into the Player or Edge Server’s service panel notes once the registration is promoted.

To register a player using the Add Registration Wizard, use one of the following methods:

• Go to the Network Setup ribbon, and then select the “Player or Edge Server” icon.

• From the resource tabs on the left, select “Registrations”. Then, right-click anywhere in the work area. From the contextual menu, select Add Registration.

For a step-by-step process of registering a player, see Network Setup Tutorial – Register a Player.

To register an edge server using the Add Registration Wizard, use one of the following methods:

• Go to the Network Setup ribbon, and then select the “Player or Edge Server” icon.

• From the resource tabs on the left, select “Registrations”. Then, right-click anywhere in the work area. From the contextual menu, select Add Registration.

By default, when registering an edge server, the Add Registration Wizard contains the following pages:

• Registration Type: Specify Edge Server, and enter the IP address. This should be the active network interface. In our example, we will use the IPv4 address in Windows:

• Registration Name: Enter any name you want, but we recommend that you name the edge server resource for its IP address. See Configuring Broadsign Edge Server.

• MAC Addresses: Specify the MAC hardware addresses that you would like to register.

• Edge Server Folder: Select the folder into which the edge server will sit once promoted. This folder will be under the Edge Servers resource tab. If you do not select a folder, the edge server will go into the default (root) folder.

• Configuration: Select a configuration that you want to assign to the edge server once Broadsign validates it.

• Edge Server Replacement: If you want, this edge server can replace an existing edge server on your domain, once Broadsign validates it. Note: If you select “This registration will replace an existing edge server”, you will not be able to advance in the wizard until you make a selection. Otherwise, this page is optional.

• Notes: Use this page to enter notes about the registration, e.g., the name and contact information of the installer, the edge server’s physical address, etc.

To open the Import Client Registration Wizard, from the resource tabs on the left, select “Registrations”. Then, right-click anywhere in the work area. From the contextual menu, select Import Registrations from CSV.

By default, the Import Client Registration Wizard contains the following page:

• CSV File Path: Select a CSV (comma-separated value) spreadsheet file on your hard drive.



The CSV specifications are as follows:

	[PRIMARY_MAC_ADRESS], [TYPE ("player" or "edge") ], [NAME], [SECONDARY_MAC_ADDRESS (Can be empty)], [TARGET_CONTAINER_ID (player or edge server's container id to be used once promoted. Can be 0.)], [REPLACEMENT_RESOURCE_ID (should be 0 unless this player or edge will replace another one)], [DISPLAY_UNIT_ID (for players. Can be 0)], [PUBLIC_KEY_FINGERPRINT (Can be empty)], [CONFIGURATION_ID (Can be 0)], [NOTES (Can be empty)], [HOSTNAME (For edge servers. Can be empty.)]

For a player, the term “player” must be used in the second field. If no term is specified in the second field, the registration will default to a player registration.

For an edge server, the term “edge” must be used in the second field. If no term is specified in the second field, the registration will default to a player registration.

Further tips:

• None of the columns are case-sensitive.
• CSV Examples: None of the columns are case-sensitive.
• Only the first column is mandatory, the MAC Address.
• The primary MAC Address must be in column 1. Any row that does not have five colons in column 1 is skipped.
• Column 2 is the registration type. Can be either “player” or “edge”. If not specified, the type “player” is assumed.
• Column 3 is the name. If not specified, we auto-generate a name (e.g.,“Player with MAC 11:11:11:11:11:11”). The registration name is carried over and used as the Player or Edge Server name once it is promoted.
• Columns 4 through 7 are all optional: secondary MAC Address, target folder id, replacement id, and target Display Unit id, respectively.

Specifying primary MAC Address, registration type and target folder id:

af:22:de:cd:11:99, player, , , 2955729

Specifying primary MAC Address and target Display Unit id (the Player will be added to the targeted Display Unit once it has completed its registration):

dd:ea:ff:cd:77:53, , , , , , 332321

Specifying primary MAC Address and type:

dd:ea:ff:cd:77:53, edge

If your registration is not being promoted to a Player or Edge Server in a timely manner, you can troubleshoot the issue easily by checking the registration’s status in the Registration Properties. The current status of the registration and the next steps to take are described there.

The different statuses are:

• Registered: You have completed step 1 of the process by registering your unit’s information. You should now start connecting the unit to the Internet, using the Player’s Diagnostics Report to ensure that the unit can communicate with the Broadsign Server on ports 10799 and 10805.
• Online: By far the most common difficulty encountered when registering a Player is that it appears to be “online” because a web browser can access the Internet but the Player is not actually connecting to the Broadsign Server. Typically, this indicates that the firewall or router is allowing outbound access on port 80, but blocking outbound access on ports 10799 and 10805. Check the Player’s Diagnostics Report to ensure the correct ports have been opened.
• Connected: You have successfully registered and connected your unit if you see this status. The only thing left to do is to wait up to two hours during Broadsign’s regular opening hours for the registration to be approved and licensed. Once that occurs, the registration will be promoted into a Player or Edge Server and begin functioning.Licensed: Two of three steps have been completed as this status indicates that Broadsign Support has licensed your registration and as soon as the unit successfully connects to the Broadsign Server, it will be promoted into a Player or Edge Server and begin functioning.

To edit a registration, use one of the following methods:

• From the list panel, select a player or edge server registration. Then, from the view bar, select Edit.

• From the list panel, right-click on a player or edge server registration. Then, from the contextual menu, select Edit Registration.

• From the list panel, double-click on a registration.

These are the tabs of a registration’s properties:

General

The General tab contains a “Cancel” button which will delete the registration. It also contains a Current Status description.

Info

The Info tab contains the following parameters:

• Identification
• Primary MAC Address, Secondary MAC Address (if applicable), and Public Key Fingerprint (used as a cryptographic identifier on the Player).
• Info
• Discovered on (date and time the Player connected to the Server.)
• Promoted to Resource Id (id on the Server)
• Registration type (Player or Edge Server.)
• Destination Folder Id (id of the folder the Player or Edge Server is located in.)
• Destination Display Unit Id (id of the Display Unit associated to the Player) [optional]
• Replacing Resource Id (id of the Player or Edge Server the selected registration is replacing.

Settings

The Settings tab allows you to change the registration’s associations before it is promoted to an edge server or player. For example, after the registration is created, you may wish to assign it to a different display unit. You can change the associations for the player or edge server’s destination folder, configuration and, for players only, its display unit.

In the list panel of explorer view, each resource has a column selector menu. With this menu, you can configure the list panel to display information you want.

To access a resource’s column selector menu:

1. From the view bar, select Explorer view.
2. In the list panel, hover your pointer over the panel header.
3. Right-click, and the column selector menu will appear.
4. Select as many column options as you want.

• Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the resource. See Resources – Overview.
• Active: Indicates whether the resource is in an “active” or “inactive” state. See Resources – Overview.
• Folder Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the resource folder.
• Domain Id: Indicates the unique ID number of the domain. See Domain Properties – The General Section.
• Primary MAC Address: The primary MAC address of the player or edge server. See Broadsign Player – Product Activation or Broadsign Edge Server – System Registration.
• Secondary MAC Address: The secondary MAC address of the player or edge server. See Broadsign Player – Product Activation or Broadsign Edge Server – System Registration.
• Public Key Fingerprint: Indicates the public key fingerprint that each player or edge server receives upon registration.
• Replacement Resource Id: The unique ID of the player or edge server that you have designated to replace this resource.
• Registration Method: Indicates whether you registered the player or edge server manually or via CSV (comma-separated values):
  • 0=Broadsign Administrator (manually)
  • 1=CSV (comma-separated values)
• Discovery Timestamp UTC: Indicates the date/time at which the player or edge server polled Broadsign Server.
• Claimed Resource Id: Indicates the unique ID# that the player or edge server will receive upon registration.
• Target Resource Type: Indicates the target resource type:
  • Host=player
  • Location=edge player
• Target Container Id: The unique ID of the folder in which you have targeted the player or edge server.
• Target Display Unit Id: The unique ID number of the display unit associated with this player, if applicable. See Display Units.
• Target Configuration Id: The unique ID number of the configuration profile associated with this player or edge server, if applicable. See Configuration Profiles – Players or Configuration Profiles – Edge Servers.
• Licensed: Indicates whether or not Broadsign has licensed the player or edge server.
• Number of Screens: The number of screens associated with this player.
• Edge Server Hostname: The hostname of the edge server.

After you have registered a player or edge server on your network, you can then move on to other basic steps:

• Players
• Edge Servers
• Display Units
• Display Types
• Quick Start tutorial – Add a Display Type
• Network Setup tutorial – Add Display Units