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Best method to update IP address on a BrightSign?

Alan Price

December 21, 2012 15:58

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I've tried to find a clear answer to a simple question, but when I used some of the methods I found in the forums I somehow put my BrightSigns into a reboot loop.

How do I change the IP and DNS settings on a BrightSign?  We have HD210s, HD210Ws, and HD220s.  I tried using a new setup.xml file, but the settings in it were ignored.  I tried using an autorun.brs script, but that put them into an unending reboot loop.  I can manually retrieve the SD cards from our units, but I don't think I need to do that.

This is a feature that would be very good to put in the web interface, too.  I'm surprised it's not already there.

 

Thanks!

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39 comments

• 0
  
  Romeo December 21, 2012 18:17

  Unless you’re using the BrightSign Network. You have to re-create a setup card via BA (Tools > Setup BrightSign Unit) to configure/change your network settings.

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  Alan Price December 21, 2012 18:22

  Thanks for the information.  I'd like to request that a non-destructive configuration of IP settings be added to the development cycle for exploration.  This, to me, is a significant features that almost all other web-managed devices offer.  At the very least there should be a way to send a new IP configuration via BrightAuthor and not just BSN.

  Thanks!

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  Alex K. December 21, 2012 22:09

  What option do you use to publish presentations to the player (local storage, brightsign network, simple file network or local network)?

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  Alan Price December 21, 2012 22:12

  We use Local Network to deliver presentations and firmware updates.

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  Alex K. December 21, 2012 22:41

  You need to check if a diagnostic web server is enabled on your unit. If it is, then you can log into a unit from your computer by entering the unit's IP address in a web browser.

  If you have Bonjour installed or you are using a Mac or Linux box you should be able to find your BrightSign by its host name. The default hostname is brightsign-serial-number.local. I.e. something like http://brightsign-a0f9c1001600.local/

  Once logged into it, you would need to create new setup files in BrightAuthor, save them to a folder (don't forget to enable a diagnostic web server in setup files), and then upload all those setup files to the player using the diagnostic server, then restart the player so it could use the newly copied setup files. You have to delete the autorun and other config files on the SD card first, before uploading the new ones. You don't have to touch the content.

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  Alan Price December 21, 2012 22:50

  That's a method I tried, actually, but managed to put the devices into an reboot loop.  Which files do I need to make sure to delete and upload?

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  Alex K. December 21, 2012 23:35

  In BrightAuthor create setup files for local file networking, save them to an empty folder on your computer, and send us a screenshot of what is in this folder. I will tell you what you need to delete from SD card and what to upload.

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  Alan Price December 21, 2012 23:43

  Attached.

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  Alex K. December 24, 2012 10:34

  Delete these files from the unit's SD card: autoschedule.xml, resources.txt, local-sync.xml, autorun.brs, setup.xml

  Upload new setup files from a folder on your computer to the unit's SD card in the following order: setup.xml, resources.txt, pending-autorun.brs, local-sync.xml, autoschedule.xml, autorun.brs

  Then click on Control tab, click Reboot. The unit's IP settings are updated. Now you can add the unit in BrightAuthor's publish tab under a new IP, and publish a presentation to the unit.

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  Alan Price January 02, 2013 17:22

  That process worked flawlessly.  Thank you for the information.  I still think it would be great to include a web-based IP configuration tool, if possible, in the future.

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  JRB Technical January 03, 2013 05:47

  I agree, if this could be added to the diagnostic web server for remote changes, that would be a good thing.

  John

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  Lyndon January 03, 2013 19:03

  This has been logged as a development request, 16255.

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  Alan Price January 03, 2013 19:51

  Excellent, thank you.

  As a follow up, my signs are now stuck in a reboot loop again.  They took the IP address update but entered the loop when I tried to send them their playlist.  Not sure why, but I guess it's time to break out the ladder and wipe out the SD cards.

  Looking forward to that feature!

• 0
  
  Lyndon January 05, 2013 16:23

  is this with content that was working before, that it's now rebooting? Check the sd card, for the brightsign-dumps folder, to see if there are any files there. This would help with why it's rebooting. 

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  Chris Davis May 15, 2015 18:54

  +1

  This is a basic feature that should be there. I just tried following the above steps and the unit is caught in a boot loop. I'll need to ship out a pre-configured SD card to the site using it.

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  Lyndon May 19, 2015 16:17

  The steps above are from 2012, so not likely to work with a version of brightauthor that's current. Older versions of brightauthor didn't put files into the pool folder for setup. Newer versions of brightauthor do. 

  So, if you log into the unit once it boots, and go to the diagnostics tab, there's a reboot button you can press near the bottom of that page that will make the unit boot, and not run the autorun on the card, so it gets out of the loop. Once that's done, you'll need to upload any files in the setup pool folder to the unit as well, into the same subfolder that it's in in the setup files.

  If you need to change ip addresses in the field, we recommend using dhcp, and setting ip address reservations on the dhcp server/router. Otherwise, we recommend redoing setup on the player. The problem with changing the ip address of the unit manually is that if you make an error, the unit is offline if it doesn't have a valid ip address.

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  Brandon May 19, 2015 17:18

  To expand on what my colleague said, when you upload the setup files to the player, the DWS doesn't overwrite, so if a file already exists, you need to delete it first.

  Since you can't create folders in the DWS, you can use this script to generate all possible pool folders.

  Utmost care should be taken in the process, otherwise you can end up having the player no longer playing and requiring physical access to its storage.

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  Shane Vaughan June 22, 2015 06:52

  Is there any update to this considering it was added as a development request over two years ago?

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  Lyndon June 23, 2015 18:01

   

  This feature has not been implemented yet. It's still on our list of features to add.

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  lightbulb October 22, 2015 18:29

  Any update on this feature request?

   

  Being able to switch from DHCP to static IP, and/or change the static IP address is extremely important to me as well (and is seriously hampering my deployment plans).

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  Lyndon October 23, 2015 23:34

   

  You can do this via plugin. I'm testing one now so that you can attach 4 setup files to a project, with this plugin, and it'll rerun the setup after you publish to the player. I've used it to move from one bsn account to another, and from lfn to bsn. I need to make a few changes so it'll work just redoing the lfn setup. 

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  lightbulb October 26, 2015 13:16

  Would it be possible to just make IP configuration part of the networking/diagnostics web interface?

   

  It should be relatively easy to implement, and would be a lot more reliable than having to deal with plugins, which have the potential of causing major issues.  Since many of us deal with remote locations, it's the only way IMO.

   

  Either way, thank you for considering this, and coming up with an interim solution!

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  Lyndon October 26, 2015 16:09

   

  Adding it to the diag server has already been logged as a feature request. 

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  moshiko cohen October 29, 2015 12:00

  hi, 

  can someone help with a script to change the Proxybypass ?

   

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  Romeo November 03, 2015 12:56

  Hi,

  As this is not currently available on BA, we'll need to customise your setup files for this.

  Please generate a new setup card that uses the Publishing method that you want to use with your player. Zip and upload the content of the setup card and send us a link to download this.

  Please note that if you're using Simple File Networking or BSN you may want to submit a ticket instead as the setup files will contain sensitive information about your account login.

  Also provide a list of the hostname(s) you would like to exclude from the proxy list.

  Regards,

  Romeo

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  Lyndon November 09, 2015 21:16

  See this post if you're trying to use the new feature, available in firmware, to setup a proxy bypass list.

  http://support.brightsign.biz/entries/97375918-help-with-script-bypass-proxy-

   

  If that's not it, are you just trying to change the proxy server settings?

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  Jason September 22, 2017 02:50

  Agree.  I use Local Network for 90% of the Brightsigns we install.

  Regularly use the Web interface.  There needs to be an easier way to config network settings.

  Not all Brightsign units are in easy to get to locations to remove the SD card for changing settings.

  Looking forward to any improvements

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  Brandon September 26, 2017 03:29

  See http://docs.brightsign.biz/display/DOC/Editing+Network+Settings+on+a+Player

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  George Backer November 23, 2017 15:37

  This page above fails to note that you'll need to change two lines to reflect the memory type/slot where it's a type ofther than SD.  

  Below is the USB type lines.  

  path$="USB1:/" 'USB1, SSD2, SD2, SD   

  package.Unpack("USB1:/") 'USB1, SSD2, SD2, SD

  Not sure why one line provided the comment for other memory types and second one didn't but changing both to match the proper memory type/slot enables the script to complete successfully..  

• 1
  
  Al Ragone January 30, 2018 16:08

  Are these setup steps still relevant? Trying to update an IP address on a unit, and the following files are NOT shown on the SD card and therefore cannot be deleted:

  autoschedule.xml
  resources.txt

  Then for part 2, when uploading the new files, the following are NOT in the new setup files folder that was just created with BrightAuthor:

  resources.txt

  autoschedule.xml

  Deleting the setup files brought the unit back to a default state. The device needed to be re-configured via the web GUI after the setup files were deleted. We also lost the content on the device which the instructions said would not be impacted.

  Would really love if the diagnostic web server or device GUI had an option to simply update the IP, or have the ability to do this via BrightAuthor. This is extremely time consuming and difficult to do, especially on a working system.