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Scala InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition User`s

1. InfoChannel Network machine allocation options I Putting ICDesigner the Publish Location and Network Manager all on the same machine is obviously the most economical approach and the simplest to set up However it is the least flexible and the computational and disk I O load placed on the machine by Network Manager and Publish Location operations would make ICDesigner response sluggish 53 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 54 II Keeping the Publish Location together with ICDesigner while dedicating a separate machine to Network Manager will allow for quick script publishing and improve certain aspects of network perfor mance but can still result in occasional sluggish authoring response III Placing the Publish Location together with Network Manager while ICDesigner has its own machine is operationally efficient It is also more practical when script authors will be working in ICDesigner frequently It can call for copious hard drive space as content may end up being stored in both the Publish Location and the Network Man ager workspace IV Dedicating separate machines for everything evenly distributes the processing and I O loads It is the most flexible approach but also requires the greatest investment in hardware Separating the Publish Location from Network Manager is actually less efficient than option III because an extra communication step is
2. Players not in this Group lt Broadcast gt LobbyPlayer Cate PETE 4 Merolobky Remove gt IE Local intranet The form has the following fields a Name Enter a name for the Group It can be anything as long as it is unique b Description Enter a brief description for the Group optional 103 7 Defining and working with Players Using Groups 104 Associating Players with Groups Under the heading Players Associated with this Group on the right hand side of the form is a list of the existing Players and Groups To add Players or Groups to the new Group a Select them in the Players Not in this Group list b Click the lt Add button The selected item s are moved to the Players in this Group list You can add as many Players or Groups to the new Group as you like 4 Click the OK button to close the New Group form You see the Group you just created listed in the Show pop up list at the top of the Players page Any listed Players that you added to the Group reflect this in their Group Associations column The new Group is now available in the New Player and Edit Player forms as well Any number of Groups can be defined enter as many new ones as you need When you have finished click SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new Group in the database Editing a Group If you decide you need to change the name description or associations of a Group 1 Make sure you a
3. o we The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s job folder via Direct FTP because there is a conflict between the Player Direct FTP servers FTP port number and the IS FTP port number The HS FTP server on the Player should be shut down if it is not needed or the US TCP Port setting in its FTP Site Properties should be changed to something other than 21 3 The Player is not actually targeted Check the job definitions on the Network Manager Jobs page to make sure that all desired Players have been added to the Players Targeted for this Job list for each 205 13 Troubleshooting tips Problem continued Player is not responding Reasons and possible solutions continued 206 4 Communications hardware failure A network card modem cable or other related hardware con necting the Player to the Network Manager machine is faulty Hardware problems must be diagnosed and fixed The Player is disabled Enable the Player on the Network Man ager Players page Communications infrastructure failure A phone company trunk line Internet router network server ISP or other intermediary device or service is down Try to diagnose the location of the failure and determine whether the expected downtime warrants finding a workaround Player lockup from Windows Event Log overflow It is possible for a PC to freeze if its Windows event logs fill up and no further events can be recorded To prevent this fr
4. 8 InfoChannel Player configuration 112 Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 112 Miscellaneous Player issues 126 9 Setting up jobs 130 Creating a job 130 Job commands 137 Editing a job 149 Running a job manually 150 Enabling and disabling jobs 151 Monitoring job activity 152 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager 156 Updating Player content 156 Performing Player maintenance 161 11 Using Health Monitoring 172 How it works 172 The Player Health pages 174 Problems and Errors 180 Health Monitoring configuration settings 182 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel 188 A broadcasting overview 188 Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager 194 Broadcast topologies 199 13 Troubleshooting tips 202 Appendix Setup of Custom connections 212 Using the information in this appendix 213 Deciding on FTP vs Shared Folder 215 Basic considerations for using FTP connections 215 Setup common to all Custom connections 216 Custom connection setup FTP access 223 Dial up FTP access configuration 235 Custom connection setup Shared Folder access 247 Glossary 256 Index 267 15 m aes InfoChannel alalaEaabafalSEmeE D loTel O N Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager The next generation multimedia networking tool from Scala is called InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition With Net work Manager you
5. Discard Out of Order Jobs Polling Interval seconds lt 4 30 OK Cancel Client Folder This setting corresponds to the Destination Client set ting found in the HNS Options dialog on the Broadcast Server It specifies the path to the folder on the Player where broadcast files are deposited by the HNS software when they are first received This folder is not the same as the Target Folder see the section on page 121 Files received in the HNS Client Folder have yet to be unpacked by the Network Manager pipe driver software Only after being processed through the pipe driver are the resulting files placed into the Target Folder The default location for Client Folder set up by the HNS VAR should not need to be changed Forwarding Folder Lets you specify the UNC path to an optional folder where the Player can forward incoming package and envelope files This feature can be used to get broadcast transmissions to more than one Player on a network when only one Player has a receiver card To use this feature the Players must be able to share files over a net work shared drive or UNC path If several Players need to share a transmission you can set the Forwarding Folder separately on each to forward the transmission multiple times The Player with the receiver card forwards to the second Player the second forwards to the third and so on 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configurat
6. Some Errors failure to successfully send a heartbeat message for example do not have a specific Problem that they are sure to result in The Problem interpretation is available only for Errors within the InfoChannel logs Errors in the Windows System or Application logs are presented without an attached Problem message Examining both the Problem and Error messages in a log event will often give you enough information to determine what happened and decide what to do Clearing and resetting Conditions The Health Monitoring system has the ability to Clear Conditions Problems as a way of letting you take Problems out of your way once they have been dealt with Clearing a Condition just changes the Health Monitoring system s interpretation of the Player s status A Condition that has been Cleared no longer causes a Player to show up as Sick or to email alerts for that Problem Clearing does not delete anything from the log or affect the Condition itself Resetting a Cleared Condition restores its normal alert causing status The display uses red to indicate normal uncleared Problems and green for Cleared problems The tooltip for an Error also indicates its state Using Clear Condition and Reset Condition The Overview and Log File Reader pages provide a checkbox for all cleared and uncleared Problem events When you select one or more Problems on these pages the Clear Condition and Reset Condition but ton
7. e In Player logs the terms upload and download are used from the Player s perspective content or other files coming to the Player are downloaded by the Player files returned by the Player to Network Manager are uploaded e In IC log messages server refers to Network Manager client refers to the Player Problems and Errors 180 In an effort to help you evaluate the feedback in log files Network Manager uses the terms Problem and Error Understanding the distinction is a helpful step in learning how to use Health Monitoring feedback to get your InfoChannel Network operating smoothly In Player log files a Problem is a result an Error is a cause An Error is the specific failure involved in the message something like File not Found or Connection Refused A Problem is the effect of the failure such as a script failing to play or playing incorrectly A Problem then is an interpretation of an Error that tries to tell you what you need to know to evaluate how important the Error is so that you can decide what to do about it 11 Using Health Monitoring Problems and Errors There is not a one to one correspondence between Problems and Errors For example here are many different kinds of failure Errors that can result in the single Problem Script did not play Problem messages are more general than Error messages in some cases they cannot describe a specific effect
8. http jlocalhost co Jinks E NMEE Log In url Publish Locations Access Mode View Modify 7 X Name URL Descript mi X PublishLoc1 ICNMserver Network Transmission Publish Main publish site Manage Locations Default E Rod PublishLoc2 ftp 192 168 10 66 pubContr Contractor publish site SelectAll Deselect All Delete Disable Enable New Publish Location a LE E loca intranet A When you have finished click SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new Publish Location s in the database Editing a Publish Location The names in the Name column of the Publish Locations page are links that open the Edit Publish Location form This form is identical to the New Publish Location form described in the preceding section To edit a Publish Location 1 Click its Name link on the Publish Locations page X Name URL Description oO i PublishLoci ICNMserver Network Transmission Publish Locations Default r 4 Publish ftp 192 168 10 66 pubContr Contractor publish site Main publish site 91 6 Defining Publish Locations Enabling and disabling Publish Locations 2 Make any changes necessary to the Publish Location settings on the Edit Publish Location form 3 Click OK 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Your changes are reflected in the listing Enabling and disabling Publish Locations 92 Occasionally you may need to temporarily prevent Publish Locations from being accessible to jobs For example you might use one Publis
9. 224 Network Manager Note If your InfoChannel Network will not be using the default Network Man location has been established Step 4 so that you can enter it Step 2 Disable Anonymous access For the security of your network it is crucial that you disable anony mous FTP access If this step is omitted an error message noting the fact is logged for the system at a regular interval until this vulnerability is corrected Step 3 Establish the FTP root For FTP communication with Players or Publish Locations the Net work Manager machine s FTP root FTP Home Directory under IIS needs to coincide with the Network Manager Workspace loca tion The recommended procedure to do this is to change the default Workspace location within Network Manager to match the existing FTP root If you will do so there is no need to change the FTP root and in this Step you only need to take note of what the FTP root loca tion is and to make sure that it can be written to Alternatively you can choose to make the two loca tions coincide by changing the FTP root location to match the Network Manager Workspace location Asai seal eatin ens This approach can work just as well as the reverse the root location will need to be The specifics of your InfoChannel Network layout cone einer e lel elas and or administrative concerns might make this approach preferable If so in this Step you actually change the FTP root location T
10. Items Page 10 7 1 10 of 13 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Getting help on features of Network Manager In the bottom right of the page link style controls let you page for ward and backward through multi page listings or choose any arbi trary page to view current page revious page next page gi gi first page last page I lt lt lt 12 a gt 21 _ fox Local intranet You can also enlarge the Network Manager window to let you see more information at a time Occasionally it is necessary to make the window wider so you can see all parts of some forms without scrolling Sorting items The listing of rows on most pages can be sorted based on the contents of any one of the columns Click any column heading that is displayed as a link to sort the items by that column Getting help on features of Network Manager Virtually everything in Network Manager has a tooltip associated with m Player3 ere T it for quick help Just hold the mouse pointer over almost any link label or button in Network Manager for a few seconds to see a brief E description of what to do with that item tooltip Configuration steps If this is the first time you have run Network Manager there is a cer tain amount of configuration that needs to be done before you can 47 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network start doing useful work with the program The
11. Templates H Default User B Inetpub Ftproot Inbox hd 4 6 object s Disk free space 12 5 GB 8 27 KB i My Computer start A 3 E E Content F 2420m In the Content folder are additional folders and a file The file is named for the script However the name has been versionated con taining a semicolon followed by a serial number lt scriptname gt scb In the preceding illustration the versionated name for the Price less scb script is Priceless 556 scb The versionation serial number is generated and applied when the Player receives a content file and is the means by which the Player dis tinguishes efficiently between updated versions of the same content during the update process At times you will also see the preceding version of a script with a lower versionation serial number still in the folder This is normal 107 7 Defining and working with Players How content is stored on a Player 108 The Priceless 556 scb file is not the actual script file but is a file that specifies the content required by the script The actual script and con tent files for the script are inside the Shared Files folder Within the Shared Files folder are a folder named Script and the actual script data file the name of which consists of a long alphanu meric string ending in script scb This string is MD5 encoding which is a way of uniquely tagging content ite
12. from Network Manager playback window without restoring it The Alert Network Manager if the Player Is Not Running option is on V by default You can turn it off to avoid unnecessary alerts if a Player machine needs to be used for some purpose other than script playback Typically the only reasons to turn this option off are if you intend to run only the Network Client and not the Player program or you wish to allow people to use the machine for other purposes than as a Player 115 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 116 some of the time Running only the Network Client can be used to set up a file server for a LAN cluster of Players it is also a way to update a Linked Content folder for a team of designers so that they have an up to date representation of files on the network that they can link to Broadcast options The Broadcast panel contains options that apply to Players that receive transmissions through a connection to an InfoChannel Broadcast Server The settings on this panel have no effect if the Player does not receive broadcast transmissions The initial basic configuration of a broadcast Player as with any other Player is done during installation of the ICPlayer software on the Player machine Ideally decisions about the type of connection s to be used by the Player should be done before installation so that options can be set accordingly InfoChan
13. lt yyyymmdd gt log and placed in a folder named logs that is within the Logs folder named above as illustrated here REE Ele Edt view Favorites Tools Help El Back gt 2 Qsearch PyFolders BPuistory M5 GE X wy E Address C C Documents and Settings All Users Applcation Data Scala Scala Infochannel Network Manager Logstlogs x eo Folders x Modified se type 4G My Computer af E 20020821 log 8 21 2002 11 52 PM 12KB LOG File ee 3 Floppy A E 20020822 log 8 22 2002 11 01PM 152KB LOG File H ROOT C E 20020823 loq 8 23 2002 11 54 PM 5KB LOG File 2 Documents and Settings 20020824 log 8 24 2002 11 20 PM 3KB LOG File H E Administrator E 20020825 log 8 25 2002 11 31 PM 15KB LOG File E Al Users 20020826109 8 26 2002 11 31 PM 20KB LOG File EC Application Data 2 20020827 l0g 8 27 2002 10 48 PM 33KB LOG File H O Microsoft Scala 4 2 Scala InfoChannel Broadcast Server B Scala InfoChannel Network Manager 2 Broadcast B Cache E Config C Data E Fonts Logs arm X Type LOG File Size 32 6 KB 32 6 KB IE My Computer A Then a new Ic log is begun A week of archived log files is retained in this folder Every day the oldest file is deleted after the newest one is added Reviewing Player log files Per Player log files are maintained on each Player If you are having problems with a particular Player and want to study ICPlayer Note Whe
14. Address E http localhost z Go Links E NMEE Log In url z InfoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 Please log in to access InfoChannel Network Manager User Name Password Access Mode View Only Copyright 1993 2002 Scala Inc BB Local intranet y Local login The Network Manager Start menu shortcut is simply a Web link to the URL http localhost 37 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Starting Network Manager 38 When you choose the shortcut Internet Explorer starts if it is not already running If it is running the IE window is brought to the front You can also enter the http localhost URL in Internet Explorer manually This URL when entered on the local machine on which Network Manager is running lets you log in to the system without the need to enter a username and password You therefore can leave the User Name and Password fields blank on this page when it has been opened using the http localhost URL Just click the Log Jn button to get to the Network Manager Home page Remote login Anyone on a remote machine must run Internet Explorer 5 5 SP2 or better and in the Address field enter the Network Manager server machine s HTTP URL This is the DNS name you entered in Win dows Step 1 of the installation process described on page 27 for example http netman scala com or http 192 168 0 10 Entering the Network Manager server machine s HTTP U
15. a Run Now job displayed in bold Manage 08 28 2002 21 59 48 08 28 2002 21 59 48 08 28 2002 21 59 48 08 28 2002 21 59 49 typical activity messages for 08 28 2002 21 59 49 a successful job to one Player 08 28 2002 21 59 49 08 28 2002 21 59 49 08 28 2002 21 59 54 08 28 2002 21 59 54 fe i E Local intranet Z All entries are timestamped and the Job Activity page uses different colors to help you distinguish different types of entries e Black Network Manager actions Purple Job received responses from Players e Green Job success responses from Players e Amber Job failure responses from Players Blue FTP related messages Direct FTP connections only e Red Errors in communication or other Network Manager errors If the messages on the Job Activity page indicate that a job is stuck for example continually retrying to send a job to a machine that is down you can stop the retries by clicking the Abort Activity button 153 9 Setting up jobs Monitoring job activity 154 Controlling the activity display Job activity can be displayed with varying degrees of detail The detail level can be changed using the Activity Logging Detail control on the System Settings page Lower levels of detail omit messages about less significant steps in the job process the Diagnostic level includes the most extensive and technical information To make the Job Activity page easier to read
16. independently downloading content files speci fied in the job file job file exchange z a A ye ap tin HU i destination downloads Network Manager job files content Player Actual InfoChannel Network data flow 19 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager Robustness and security features Although more complex this indirect scheme is more efficient than simply sending the content directly to the Players The sequential one Player at a time work that Network Manager needs to do ends with delivering the job files for pickup by the Players The Players respond to their job files independently at their own pace and the Network Manager server can in turn respond to their requests for updated content files more or less simultaneously in par allel The practical result is that solutions using the InfoChannel 3 Network Manager approach scale well to networks with many Players The underlying indirect data flow is important to understand only in the planning and configuration stages or when things are not operat ing correctly Diagnosing problems that can occur during configura tion and transmission does require the attention of an administrator who understands the actual indirect scheme used in Network Man ager Terminology Note that most discussions in this documentation and the terminol ogy within the Network Manager application still talk about commu
17. is the need to understand the implications of the many possible net work configuration choices This document cannot describe all of the innumerable potential sys tem configurations and the steps to set them up It can however tell you what you need to know to choose the optimum topology and to consider the relevant factors in setting up that type of InfoChannel Network It is assumed that anyone who opts to configure an InfoChannel Net work with Custom connections has a reasonable level of competence in the basic networking concepts involved and in working with the security issues in a modern Microsoft Windows based environment Getting detailed information Fortunately all connections in InfoChannel use standard networking protocols and Windows practices Any of the many standard sources of reference information on networking and using Windows can be consulted for step by step details on procedures such as creating user accounts setting permissions and sharing folders 213 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Using the information in this appendix 214 Using third party software Among the options afforded by Custom connections is the use of third party FTP server software If you will be using a third party FTP server you or an administrator in your organization must be familiar with that server s operation installing it enabling it and setting up the usernames and passwords that it requires For customers who do
18. mission is not set the application will not function The installation process should set this property automatically Player is not responding There are many potential reasons that a Player might not be responding to jobs targeted at it L The Player cannot reach its job folder There are several possible causes K2 we K ww K2 ww K2 ww A job folder with the specified name does not exist in the FTP or shared location in the Players definition A folder of the correct name must be created in the correct location The FTP or shared location for the job folder in the Player s definition in Network Manager does not match the location configured on the Player machine The locations must be made to match by either using the Player Configuration utility on the Player or editing the Player definition on the Network Manager Players page The Player cannot reach its shared job folder because the permissions set on the folder for the ICPlayer user are not sufficient The ICPlayer user account on the Network Man ager machine must have Change permission The Player cannot reach its job folder via Shared because the folder is not a share The folder must be made Shared 203 13 Troubleshooting tips Problem continued Player is not responding Reasons and possible solutions continued 204 1 Ww K2 we K2 ww K2 ww 0 ww The Network Manager cannot reach the
19. nications taking place using the simple conceptual model we say that Network Manager sends content to the Players This is mainly a matter of convenience and common practice In a properly set up and functioning installation the underlying indirect method diagrammed above is invisible to those using it and it appears that content is sim ply being sent from Network Manager to the Player Robustness and security features 20 Network Manager has been designed with the utmost in reliability and security in mind for stable round the clock use in a wide range of real world environments e Player health monitoring provides an overview of Player status warning of Players that are beginning to show errors About this guide 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager About this guide All activity is logged to logfiles in Network Manager and on each individual Player Players return log files on a daily basis and log files can be retrieved at any time for up to the minute status history Network Manager uses standard communications protocols TCP IP FTP UNC Almost all operations automatically retry when communications attempts fail so that temporary network difficulties do not bring the system to a halt Retry timeouts are configurable Communication is secured by using password protected FTP or access restricted accounts for local connections Transmissions are encrypted and digitally signed to prevent unau th
20. you can clear the display of previous messages so that new activity messages start appearing from the top down Click Clear Log to do this Clear Log only clears the display the activity log file is not affected Later messages appear below earlier messages When the page has filled with activity messages the display automatically scrolls the entire dis play upward so that the latest message is always visible at the bottom To disable this feature if you need to focus on the details of a particu lar message for some time turn off the Auto scroll option ces ZZ iz Working in InfoChannel Network Manager 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Chapter 9 of this User s Guide covered creating jobs detailing the setup of jobs using the individual job commands This chapter discusses how you work in InfoChannel Network Man ager from a task oriented perspective It will help you to understand how best to accomplish the various tasks that will take up the bulk of the time you spend in Network Manager In an operating InfoChannel Network the work you do in InfoChan nel Network Manager falls into two general categories e Content update tasks e Maintenance tasks Updating Player content 156 The most common Network Manager jobs are the Send Main Script and Send Content jobs covered starting on page 137 of chapter 9 The nature of InfoChannel Network applications is that content scripts and or thei
21. 178 82 sscommon SUPP Failed polling for incoming job directive files at S Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Outbox Player2 boo Last polling delay 300 seconds Nominal polling delay 30 seconds TECH The underlying MS Windows API returned the error 00000003 USER Listing contents of folder S Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Outbox Player2 boo failed with error code 3 The system cannot find the path specified The following event occurred 3 consecutive times Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played incorrectly Caused by error 10 4 nerneasnect N my tt i a be ee ee ee In addition you can choose which version of the log file you want to view the default is the most recent log file but previous days log files each of which is stored separately are also kept available 179 11 Using Health Monitoring Problems and Errors Reading log files Some hints for reading through log files e When events are sorted by the Date Time column the default the o dest events in the log are on page 1 the most recent events on the last page Use the Last page link gt to jump to the most recent messages e To avoid having to move through the log page by page choose AX from the tems Page pop up and use the scroll bar e The Event column expands as the browser window is widened Widen the window to make long paths easier to read
22. 25 40 Last Player Boot up 08 27 02 15 20 38 08 27 02 15 48 48 08 27 02 15 48 48 IC 08 27 02 15 48 55 IC 08 27 02 15 48 56 IC Date Time Log Name Type Event Other Application error Win32 CreateMutex failed with Win32 error code 3 This is Scala unexpected and must be investigated info Starting info Periodic output of time stamps begun info Started successfully MainScript is Content Crashtest scb error Error 178 82 sscommon 08 27 02 15 51 59 IC 08 27 02 15 52 58 IC 08 27 02 15 48 48 IC 08 27 02 15 48 55 IC 08 27 02 15 48 56 IC 08 27 02 15 51 59 IC 08 27 02 15 52 58 IC Select listed Problem conditions on this Player to Clear or Reset info info info error error V SUPP Failed polling for incoming job directive files at S Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Outbox Player2 boo Last polling delay 300 seconds Nominal polling delay 30 seconds TECH The underlying MS Windows API returned the error 00000003 USER Listing contents of folder S Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Outbox Player2 boo failed with error code 3 The system cannot find the path specified error V The following event occurred 3 consecutive times Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played incorrectly Caused by error 10 4 Starting Periodic output of time stamps begun Started successfully MainScript is Content Crashtest scb Error
23. Adjust connection options The Redial Attempts Seconds Between Attempts and Idle Time Hang Up options in the lower section of this panel have default values that should work well in most cases Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration If you have reason to expect that the Player will have problems con necting or remaining connected you may want to modify these values Step 4 Test the connection The last thing to do is to test the dial up connection 1 Click the Z st button 2 This should cause the Player to dial the ISP connect and display a success dialog If you see a dialog saying a connection could not be established instead review your settings to try to diagnose the problem You can adjust the settings of a phonebook connection by clicking the Edit button to open the Windows connection settings dialog Dial up practicality One factor to keep in mind if you are considering using FTP dial up is that the connections take much more time than through direct Inter net connection The process of modems dialing and establishing a connection is inher ently slow allow a minimum of roughly a minute to complete a job file transmission as opposed to a few seconds for a direct connection This makes the dial up approach less attractive for large networks The process of just delivering job files to all the Players in a 500 Player net work via dial up would take many hours Then there is the m
24. Annexes soient redig es en langue anglaise d e g h 0 k 0 Notices Any notice required or permitted to be given by Licensee hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed to have been duly given i upon hand delivery ii on the third day following delivery to the U S Postal Service as certified mail return receipt requested and postage prepaid or iii on the first day following delivery to a recognized overnight courier service fee prepaid and return receipt or other confirmation of delivery requested Any such notice shall be delivered or sent to Scala at the address as set forth below or to such other address as Scala may designate from time to time SCALA INC 1 EAST UWCHLAN AVENUE EXTON PENNSYLVANIA 19341 USA Governing Law This Agreement will be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without regard to its conflicts of law principles In the event that any legal proceedings are commenced with respect to any matter arising under this Agreement the parties specifically consent and agree that the courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and or the Federal Courts located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania will have exclusive jurisdiction over each of the parties and over the subject matter of any such proceedings Restricted Rights Software acquired with United States Government funds or intended for use within or for any United S
25. Broadcast Inbox Feedback Email Enter identifying information about the new Broadcast Server in the following fields a Name Enter a name for the Broadcast Server It can be any thing as long as it is unique b Description Enter a brief description for the Broadcast Server optional Using the Connection Type pop up choose how Network Man ager gets to the Broadcast Server s Broadcast Inbox folder either FTP or Local or Shared Folder Typically you would choose FTP if the Broadcast Server is remotely located or Local or Shared Folder if it is on the same LAN as the Network Manager machine Make settings specific to the connection type Depending on which type you choose a different set of options appears below in the form 195 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager FTP connection a URL Enter the FTP location that Network Manager would use to access the Broadcast Servers Broadcast Inbox folder For example ftp 192 168 0 12 Broadcast Inbox or ftp ICBserver com Broadcast Inbox This assumes that the Broadcast Server machine has been configured as an FTP server with accounts permissions and the FTP root set to allow this connection b User Name Enter the username to gain access to the FTP server c Password Enter the password needed for the username Only asterisks appear d Confirm Password Ent
26. ICPlayer user 220 IIS FTP port number conflicting with Direct FTP 78 204 205 209 FTP usernames linked to Windows user accounts 219 Installing 28 Using FTP service from 57 Incoming connection creating on Player 238 Indexing service need to disable 127 InfoChannel Network Avoiding reconfiguration with Shared Folders 215 Compatibility across releases 212 Diagram 20 Example layouts 62 Folder structure 63 Network architecture 18 Planning 48 Troubleshooting 202 Install File command 141 Install File job 165 Install Software Update command 148 Install Software Update job 166 Install System File command 144 Install System File job 166 Installation Default 26 Following instructions 202 InfoChannel Player software 32 Microsoft software 26 30 Network Manager 32 Order of operations critical 31 Service packs 28 XML parser 30 InstalledContent folder 107 108 Place for linked content 161 Unaffected by Delete Unused Content jobs 162 Installing files on Player 144 Installing ICPlayer software remotely 148 166 Instant messaging 82 Interface Network Manager 39 47 Internet Explorer Updating 29 Using for remote login 38 IP address Assigning to NM machine 27 In Player FTP URL 246 Network Manager required for Health Monitoring 182 Static address required for ICNM 70 Static address required for Players with Direct FTP 49 57 IP port Required by Health Monitoring 76 ISP use for FTP dial up 240 Index Items Page control 46 Jo
27. Job form 131 New Player form 97 Next Page 47 NTES 5 partition for OS installation 27 O Offsite FTP host 59 Options I II II IV diagram 53 Overdue Heartbeat Tolerance 183 Overview page Player Health 175 P Paging controls 47 Parallel port inserting Scala Key 36 Password 220 FTP ICPlayer user 228 FTP to job folder 230 234 Pattern matching 167 168 Permissions Cgi bin directory 203 Setting on Player folders 252 Setting on Player FTP accounts 232 Workspace folder 248 Phone number in Player FTP URL 236 Phonebook entry adding 241 Pipe Driver Broadcast 193 Configuring on Player 117 Playback Mode setting for Player 124 Playback options Player Config utility 123 Playback status icon 177 Player Aborting running jobs 148 Associating definition and machine 105 Configuration 112 127 228 235 251 254 Configuring access to job folder 113 232 252 Configuring FTP dial up to NM 240 Index Content storage location 106 Creating dial up connections 235 Creating job folder 216 Defining 96 Defining broadcast 197 Defining broadcast connection 194 Defining for Custom FTP access 228 Defining for Shared Folder access 251 Deleting files 145 Disabled 206 Editing Windows user accounts 252 Email alert when playback stops 115 Enabling FTP server 231 Engine 113 Hardware failure 206 Heartbeat messages 172 Installing files remotely 144 Installing software updates remotely 148 166 Job folders 63 Job folders
28. Mode to Standard 2 Turn off Play Back Full Screen 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility EX options The lower part of the Playback panel is devoted to EXes EXes used by scripts must be enabled and configured just as they were on the sys tems from which they were authored in order to play back correctly When EXes that have configuration options are turned on in the Optional EXes column buttons for them appear in the EX Settings col umn Click a button in this column to display an Options dialog for that EX How to configure the Timing and Launch EXes and remarks about the Scala EX system in general can be found in chapter 15 of the Info Channel Designer 3 Basic Authoring Users Guide Configuring the optional EXes that ship with InfoChannel Designer 3 is covered in chapter 7 of the InfoChannel Designer 3 Extended Authoring and Publishing Users Guide Separately available EXes come with their own documentation Version information You can view version information on the various software modules that make up the InfoChannel Player software by selecting the Jafo panel Resetting to defaults You can reset the settings in the Player Configuration dialog to their defaults by clicking Reset Settings Storing your changes When you have finished configuring this Player click OK to save the changes and exit the utility Engine restart required The changes you mak
29. Network Manager The diagram below illustrates the structure of an InfoChannel Net work similar to the one diagrammed on the preceding page but config ured with the Player job folders on the Player machines themselves In this type of installation Network Manager contacts the Players directly to deliver job files This is how an InfoChannel Network using Direct FTP is laid out Network Manager Network Manager Workspace Network P Transmission Workspace folder Transmission aR nrn for FTP use this folder is also Player2 defined as the FTP root _ Receive Player3 ee Content Data Flow Key Player1 SSS e Polling and job file pickup Files _ Player2 5 L_ Player3 Retrieved file uploads Health ayer Content downloads _____ Transmission io il Logs Job file delivery CELELLEK L_ Send Content all Players download Player their content files ae ay from this folder 1110 L Files awe gt gt ta t la at TTUCr nt epeeee eee eee Player job folder user definable The operation of such a network is really no different from one in which the job folders are on the Network Manager machine A 64 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Mapping the data flow Player s job folder is simply created in a place that is local to the Player and the path
30. Polling Interval Minutes 1 Minimum Trigger Interval Minutes 1 lt add a LI T Be tocatintanet b If desired change the default File Polling Interval Minutes setting This option determines how often the file is checked c Ifdesired change the default Minimum Trigger Interval Min utes setting This option determines how often a file hav ing been polled and found to have changed may be transmitted It lets you limit the maximum frequency that this job will be triggered even if the file changes more often When you are done click the lt Add button A description of the file trigger setting appears as a line in the Triggers for this Job list Create and add other file based triggers if desired 8 Click the OK button at the bottom of the form 9 Choose SUBMIT CHANGES to store your changes in the data base 136 Job commands 9 Setting up jobs Job commands The jobs you have created on the New Job form are listed on the Jobs page under the names you gave with summary information in the What Where and When columns A job s automatic trigger scheduling is activated as soon as it has been submitted to the database Any submitted jobs that were created with a schedule either time based or file based will automatically execute the next time the specified trigger occurs Sending a Main Script The Send Main Script command transfers scripts and their media files to the Content folder of
31. Problem to go to the Whole Network view to go to the All Players with Selected Problem view 175 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages The top line of this view shows the total number of Players in this InfoChannel Network then a breakdown into totals for healthy sick and dead Players using corresponding icons Below this each existing uncleared Problem on the network if any is listed in red with the number of Players suffering from the Problem given in the Players column Player Health Whole Network In the Player Health Whole Network view each Player is listed Dead Players are normally listed first healthy Players last Sick Players are shown with the most significant problem condition for each The most significant condition is the o dest Error level Prob lem that has not been cleared Eile Edit Yiew Favorites Tools Help eek gt A Qsearch Favorites CBristory y Sp Address http localhost Z 60 Links _ E NMEE Log In url Access Mode View Modify lnfoChan E ETWORK anne I Player Health Whole Network Player status icons D Player 3 This Player is not sending out heartbeat 00 00 00 Manage Configure MetroLobby information 00 00 00 vy CF Player 2 Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played 08 27 02 Window incorrectly Caused by error 10 4 21 51 51 co Player 1 This Play
32. System Settings page which displays the current set tings of its options d Click the Edit Settings button at the bottom of the page to open the following form Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Edit System Settings Microsoft Internet Explorer Fie Edt View Favorites Toos Help HBak gt OA A Seach Favorites Meda A B S A Address hte localhost Z Go Links 2 NMEE ut Edit System Settings Transmission Engine Options Network Manager s Host Address Send and Receive Data Via Server Direct FTP Password 8 or more characters P ees hee e a Confirm Password Ree errr Re Minimum Time to Keep Workspace Files Days Activity Logging Detail Normal H Delivery Timeout Hours 24 Player Response Timeout Hours 24 Download Retry Minimum Timeout Minutes 5 Download Retry Maximum Timeout Minutes E OO T BE Local intranet Z Enter the IP address you got from Computer Management in step 1 into the Network Managers Host Address box 3 Specify how Network Manager will communicate with Players Scala InfoChannel has FTP server software that is built in to both Network Manager and CPlayer Configuration and administra tion of your InfoChannel Network is greatly simplified by using 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager this built in Direct FTP server software U
33. Too short a timeout can prevent transmissions from resuming after brief but recoverable service interruptions Player ID Each Player requires a unique ID number to identify it so that trans missions can be properly targeted The ID number is set with the Player ID control The Player ID must match what was defined in the corresponding Player ID text box in the New Player Edit Player form for this Player in Network Manager see page 198 in chapter 12 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility Playback options The contents of the Playback panel mirror options available on the Playback and EXes panels of the Options dialog in InfoChannel Designer 3 InfoChannel Player Configuration Network Broadcast Playback Settings Playback Mode Standard Play Back Full Screen Adapt Resolution to Script EX Settings Optional EXes Timing EX Billing EX Launch EX MCI MPEG EX Optibase EX Queue EX Serial RS 232 EX Reset Settings The Playback panel lets you decide how you want scripts to play back on your system The primary questions are whether scripts should play back in a window or fill the screen and what display mode is used for playback You can choose one of two ways to make these decisions on the Play back Mode pop up by picking either Standard or Custom The options below change depending on which mode you choose 123 8 InfoChannel Player co
34. Windows operating procedures and only the basic requirements are specified here Appendix Setup of Custom connections Deciding on FTP vs Shared Folder Deciding on FTP vs Shared Folder InfoChannel offers two basic types of Custom connection F7P and Shared Folder These are equivalent to earlier releases FTP and UNC connections InfoChannel Networks most commonly use FTP for communication with Players because Players are typically far enough from Network Manager that connecting them all by the local LAN links that the Shared Folder approach requires would be impractical However with the current InfoChannel release using the Shared Folder approach is not necessarily preferable even on entirely LAN based InfoChannel Networks FTP can run over most LANs so an InfoChannel Network based on Direct FTP is simpler to set up even on a LAN than one based on shared folders Thus with current InfoChannel software using the Shared Folder approach is worthwhile only in certain situations e the InfoChannel Network is entirely LAN based but the LAN uses NetBEUI or some other non TCP IP networking protocol that does not support FTP Note that on a non TCP IP network the Health Monitoring feature is not available e the InfoChannel Network was set up using UNC connections shared folders under an earlier InfoChannel release and recon figuring to use Direct FTP is deemed not worthwhile If your installation does not
35. Workspace Location setting choosing FTP also specifies that Network Manager com municates between its Workspace and the Transmission Work space via FTP The diagram on page 59 in chapter 3 shows this graphically Enter the FTP login information for access to the Transmission Workspace Network Manager includes the FTP login informa tion encrypted in its job files to tell the Players where to retrieve content send log files etc via FTP a URL Enter the FTP URL of the Transmission Workspace folder Normally the Transmission Workspace location is the same as the Network Manager Workspace location The only rea son it would need to be different is if you plan to use remote FTP hosting to communicate with your Players If you are not using remote FTP hosting enter the FTP address of the Network Manager machine Assuming you plan to follow the instructions in Step 3 Establish the FTP root on page 224 the FTP root of this machine is identical 227 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access with the Network Manager location and entering the FTP site address alone is sufficient ftp 192 168 0 10 OR ftp ICNMserver com If remote FTP hosting is being used enter the site address and any further path needed to reach the folder For example ftp 0ffsiteServerCo com Customerftp YourCo Network Transmission b User Name Enter the username to gain access to the FTP se
36. a networking protocol designed for flexible high speed communications used for LANs and the Internet timeout a time limit for an operation If the timeout period expires before an expected event some default or alternative action is taken topology the physical and logical layout of a networked system such as an InfoChannel Network Possible topologies for InfoChannel use FTP or shared folder connections between different network compo nents Transmission Workspace folder the folder within which the other folders directly used during Player communications are located This is the same folder as the Network Manager Workspace folder except when offsite FTP hosting is used See also Network Manager Workspace folder Glossary trigger an event that causes a Network Manager job to run A trigger event can be either a scheduled time the detection of a change in a particular file or a button click UNC Universal Naming Convention a type of path that identifies a location by using the computer name and share name as the begin ning of the path preceded by double backslashes For example mycomputer myshare workfi les work txt URL Universal Resource Locator a type of path that identifies a location accessible via TCP IP such as a web page or FTP site A URL may include an IP address as the root For example FTP URLs ftp 127 0 0 10 Workspace ftp ICNMserver com Workspace Web URL http ww
37. and agrees that the Software Maintenance Agreement fee is non refundable 12 Table of Contents Table of Contents 13 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager 18 Communication scheme and network architecture 18 Robustness and security features 20 About this guide 21 Network Manager resources on the Web 22 2 Installation 26 Installation of Microsoft software 26 Security notes 31 Installation of InfoChannel Network Manager 3 32 Installation of InfoChannel Player 3 software 32 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager 36 Starting Network Manager 36 The Network Manager interface 39 Getting help on features of Network Manager 47 Configuration steps 47 Planning your InfoChannel Network 48 Mapping Network Manager 63 Mapping the data flow 65 Closing InfoChannel Network Manager 66 Shutting down InfoChannel Network Manager 66 4 Network Manager configuration 70 Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 70 5 Defining accounts 80 Access levels 80 Creating an account 82 Editing an account 84 Enabling and disabling accounts 85 13 6 Defining Publish Locations 88 The Publish Location machine 88 Adding a Publish Location 89 Editing a Publish Location 91 Enabling and disabling Publish Locations 92 7 Defining and working with Players 96 Creating a Player 96 Editing a Player 100 Enabling and disabling Players 101 Using Groups 102 Associating a Player definition with an actual Player 105 How content is stored on a Player 106
38. approaches to FTP dial up See below for details The simplest approach uses the following format ftp phonenumber lt path gt In the place of the IP address or server name in a normal URL you substitute the Player s dial up phone number in parentheses Follow 235 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 236 this with a forward slash and the path from the FTP root of the Player to the job folder A typical dial up FTP URL entry of this type would be ftp 6105556666 Jobs When Network Manager begins to transmit a job and sees a phone number in parentheses in the FTP URL instead of an IP address or domain this is a signal that FTP dial up is to be used Network Man ager extracts the phone number looks for the dial up connection named InfoChannel Network Manager and passes the number to that connection to dial Dial up FTP with job folders on the Player Follow the steps in this section if your InfoChannel Network is con figured with job folders on the Players themselves If Player job folders are located on the Network Manager machine skip to Dial up FTP with job folders on Network Manager on page 240 Step 1 Create a connection on Network Manager If Network Manager will be delivering job files to a job folder on the Player through a dial up connection RASdial rather than through a direct Internet connection you need to create a specially named con nectio
39. be updated more frequently or less frequently than the full script e Smooth file replacement even files that are locked in use can be transparently and efficiently replaced while the Player runs e Worry free updating serial versionation means the latest version of a linked file is guaranteed to be used the next time it is dis played e Flexibility in the source of the content files do not necessarily have to be transmitted through Network Manager A linked script is stored on the Player alongside the Main Script in the same layout All linked individual media files sent through Network Manager are placed in the Content folder at the same level as the Shared Files folder and have their filenames versionated From Network Manager Sending linked content using Network Manager is basically the same as sending any other content just select it from the Fi e pop up in the Send Content section of the Edit Job form If it is a script make sure you use a Send Content command not Send Main Script Scripts sent as linked content are by definition sub scripts and thus cannot be Main Scripts To be available from the File pop up individual files must be manu ally placed on a Publish Location machine in the same folder as the scb files of published scripts From external sources Sending or obtaining linked content from external sources takes more doing than using Network Manager but it can be a very powerful way 10 Working i
40. can ignore the four networks in Classes I L Note that these are just variations of Classes B D F and H Conversely if you do need to use remote FTP hosting you do not have to consider Classes A H See Using a remote work space on page 59 for information on when to use remote FTP hosting If you cannot connect Network Manager to your Players through a local folder that is if the Players cannot be on a LAN with the Network Manager machine you can ignore the Class A C E and G networks If you can connect to the Players through a LAN you still might prefer Class B D F and H networks if you can use Direct FTP for its ease of setup At this point it is likely that you have only four remaining options to consider P Recommendation Use Direct FTP and local connections wher ever you can Communicating through either Direct FTP or local connections is simpler to configure than Custom FTP and can be more secure as well Avoid unnecessary configuration by using the topologies that minimize FTP links such as Class A B and I Of these Class B is the only one that lets you use Direct FTP and local connections exclusively making that topology ideal Just these two steps may have allowed you to narrow the list to a single choice However you still need to consider how the components of an Info Channel Network ICDesigner Publish Locations Network Man ager and Players are distributed among physical
41. commands but it is not necessary to specify a destination path The ICPlayer Software Update file must have previously been copied from the Scala Service Plan Software Release CD to a Publish Location Also you must have the username and password of an Administrator level account on the Player a Choose a Publish Location from the Source pop up Network Manager scans the Publish Location file server for CAB files in its content folder and provides a list of what it found in the File pop up b Choose the ICPlayer update CAB file from the listed files or choose lt Enter Filename Manually gt and type the filename in the File Name field that appears If you type in a filename that is not currently listed in the File pop up that file must exist in the content folder on the selec ted Publish Location at the time the job is run or the job will fail Editing a job 9 Setting up jobs Editing a job c Software installation requires Administrator level access to the destination machine If the Player is already running under such an account no further input is needed and you can skip to step e However if the Player is not running under an Administra tor level account you must invoke one Enter the username of an Administrator level account on the Player in the Optional User Name box d Enter the password for the Administrator level account in the Optional Password and Confirm Password boxes e Click the lt
42. content folder just as for Send Content and pro vides a list of what it found in the File pop up b Choose one of the listed files or choose lt Enter Filename Manually gt and type a filename in the File Name field that appears If you type in a filename that is not currently listed in the File pop up that file must exist in the folder on the selected Pub lish Location at the time the job is run or the job will fail c Type the path to the location where the file should be installed on the Player in the Full Path to Destination File on Player field For example C Otherfiles Batchfi les Tasks Command Install File X Source Central gt File Getupdate bat z Rescan Full Path to Destination File on Player C Otherfiles Batchfiles d Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list e Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Retrieve Content The Retrieve Content command gets a particular content file from a Player and returns it to the Network Manager server This can be use ful as a way of restoring a script or other content file that was acciden tally deleted or corrupted at the authoring end or to check what is 142 9 Setting up jobs Job commands actually being shown on a Player when questionable content playback has been reported from t
43. crucial factor in making linked content work The name of the linked file on the Player must match the name that was used as the link in authoring the script The versionation number in the name is ignored for matching purposes For example Filename seen in authoring Headlines mpg Filename as received on Player Headlines 3 mpg 159 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Updating Player content 160 As long as a file by this base name exists in the Content or Installed Content folders on the Player then any script that was authored using linked content named Headlines mpg would link to this file If there is more than one Headlines lt version gt mpg file in the Player s Content or InstalledContent folders the one with the latest version number in the filename is the one linked to If while a linked file is in the process of playback a newer version of that linked file arrives at the Player the script is not interrupted The next time the script needs to play back that file the newest one is used Files become links during script authoring by being loaded into the script from the Linked Content folder a special location defined on the InfoChannel Designer 3 authoring station Files loaded from the Linked Content folder look and feel no different from ordinary files to script authors However the files that the authors see function only as placeholders for preview positioning and timing purposes When a
44. defamation or intellectual property infringement TITLE CONFIDENTIALITY a Title Licensee acknowledges that the Scala Software documentation and any and all upgrades enhancements modifications additions or new releases of or to the Scala Software contain confidential information of are trade secrets of and are proprietary to Scala and its licensors and that title to such materials is and shall remain in Scala and its licensors as the case may be All applicable rights to patents copyrights trademarks and trade secrets in the Scala Software and other proprietary materials are and shall remain in Scala and its licensors Licensee shall not assert any right title or interest in the Scala Software or other materials provided to Licensee under this Agreement except for the rights expressly granted to Licensee hereunder Licensee shall not obscure or remove any copyright or other proprietary notice or legend contained on or included in the Scala Software and shall reproduce all such information on all copies made hereunder Licensee shall not directly or indirectly disclose or distribute any technical information of Scala provided with or in the Scala Software without the prior written consent of Scala which consent may be withheld at Scala s sole discretion WARRANTIES a b Conformity to Specifications Scala warrants that the Scala Software will for a period of ninety 90 days after the date of receipt of the Scala Software b
45. define Publish Loca tions and Players Defining Publish Locations is covered in chapter 6 starting on page 88 Defining Players is covered in chapter 7 starting on page 96 InfoChannel N MANAGER 3 a Dal glz9 N Defining accounts 5 Defining accounts Access levels 80 To be able to access InfoChannel Network Manager 3 over the Inter net or from any machine other than the local machine on which the Network Manager software is installed login to a Network Manager user account is required As with any network system you need to set up accounts that distrib ute access privileges appropriately to prevent unauthorized or inad vertent alteration of critical information In Network Manager an account definition consists of a username a password an email address and an access level Note that there is no direct connection between Network Manager user accounts and Windows user accounts They are independent To prevent confusion we recommend that you do not duplicate user names and passwords between Network Manager and Windows user accounts Network Manager provides three access levels e Administrator Someone with an Administrator account in Network Manager can view and modify any Network Manager database informa tion All Network Manager pages are available and the access mode can be switched between View Modify and View Only at any time e Manager Someone with a Manager accou
46. ensure you didn t type it wrong Access Choose Administrator Manager or Observer Only from the pop up to set the access level that this user will have when logging into Network Manager Email Enter the email address for this user 4 Click OK to close the form 83 5 Defining accounts Editing an account You see the User Accounts page again with the information you just entered listed The Name column gives what you entered for Full Name as a link which allows the editing of the users account infor mation The Email column gives the email address as a mailto link You might use it to send email to inform the account user that the account has been enabled or disabled Enter as many new accounts as you need When you ve finished click SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new accounts in the database Editing an account 84 The names in the Full Name column of the User Accounts page are links that open the Edit Account form This form is identical to the New Account form described in the preceding section To edit an account 1 Click its Full Name link on the User Accounts page Full Name User Name Email Access mj gt Helen Koester hkoester hk393 uciti net Manager a gt Leonard Carsten Icarsten lenc scala com Manager m X Pat Peltier ppeltier pat1239 uciti net Observer a fF Sarita fiesal sdesai saritad scala com Administrator 2 Make any changes necessary to the Account settings on the Edit A
47. entering it after the phonebook entry as in MyPhoneBookEntry 192 168 0 1 When an IP address is specified this way the Player attempts to connect via RAS but uses the specified IP address for communi cation with the Broadcast Server Server Port Specifies the IP port number on which the Broadcast Server listens for incoming connections This field is used only for confirmed IP multicasting You should not need to change this value unless the port number is being used by another application If you do change this value the same change must be made on the Broadcast Server and all Players You must also reset the Broadcast Server and Players before the new setting will take effect Number of Redial Attempts Sets the number of times to automatically redial This setting applies only for confirmed IP multicasting and only if this Player contacts the Broadcast Server via a dial up RAS connection Seconds Between Redial Attempts Sets the number of seconds the Player waits between redial attempts This setting applies only for con 119 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 120 firmed IP multicasting and only if this Player contacts the Broadcast Server via a dial up RAS connection HNS Pipe Configuration Four options are available in the HNS Pipe Configuration dialog HNS Pipe Configuration 21x Client Folder C Program Files Dire Eorwarding Folder
48. files and media files See also task job file a relatively small file that is created by Network Manager and placed in the job folder of each Player targeted by that job The job file instructs the Player on job tasks it should execute such as download ing an updated script deleting a file installing a software update etc Job files contain references to content files but do not themselves con tain content job folder a folder unique to each Player in an InfoChannel Net work into which Network Manager deposits job files for a Player to retrieve Job folders can be located on the Network Manager machine on the Player machines or any other location that is accessible to both Key See Scala Key kiosk a small freestanding often interactive presentation station in a public place for displaying information on products events loca tions etc LAN local area network a network of computers sharing a single server or servers in a single location typically in an office or building See also WAN Glossary linked content in InfoChannel Network publishing content that is referenced by a script but is not sent as part of the script when that script is sent to Players Linked content can be updated at a separate time from normal script content or from an independent source log file a text file consisting of timestamped status and error mes sages detailing the operational history of a given
49. has no editing privileges and cannot be switched to View Modify mode the Access Mode pop up is not available A Manager account can not edit account or configuration settings so the Accounts and System Settings icons are not in the control frame Log in under an account with sufficient privileges if possible SD a eT OS Se ee et PLP OP LILI S LOL AS A ba IP ET BOE OEE EO EL OLS ae oe BC k nfoChannel al ORK MANAGER 3 q l 0 N T A E Pf f fob aif fof ff Appendix Setup of Custom connections Appendix Setup of Custom connections 212 With Release 6 and beyond of the InfoChannel software the preferred method of setting up an InfoChannel Network is to use Direct FTP for point to point connections The Direct FTP scheme takes advan tage of FTP servers that are now built into the Network Manager and ICPlayer software The use of Direct FTP has great advantages in ease of setup and main tenance of an InfoChannel Network It is not necessarily suitable for every situation however You might need to use an alternative connec tion scheme if your installation has special requirements e It uses remote FTP hosting e It is an existing InfoChannel Network and you do not wish to reconfigure its current communication setup e It must use particular FTP server software for administrative rea sons e It must use FTP but the Players cannot be given static IP addresses e It must use FTP
50. in the Tasks in this Job list c Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Reboot A Player that is not responding or not operating normally can some times be revived by rebooting it Regular reboots of Players generally weekly at the least conspicuous time are recommended as general maintenance practice to keep the machines functioning smoothly a The Reboot command has no options Just choose it from the Command pop up b Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job The com mand appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list C 9 Setting up jobs Job commands Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Run Command Using the Run Command maintenance command you can run almost any program on the Player that can be executed from a command line provided that it is not something that interferes with normal Player operation It is similar to using a Launch EX event within a script Typically this command would be used to do something like run a batch file that fetches content from some source external to Network Manager Publish Locations However the range of possible applica tions for this command is limitless a Type the command in the Command Line field just as you would in a Windows Command Prompt window with what ever paths and switches are appropriate For example C Otherfiles Batchfiles GetHead ines bat
51. interval so that there is less traffic This also lengthens the average time it takes for Players to respond to delivered jobs Job folders on the Player When job folders are on the individual Players each folder must be created and set up for accessibility to Network Manager separately on each physical machine If the Players are connected by FTP this requires that each Player also be set up as an FTP server Once the Players are in their remote locations the arrival and pickup of job files in the job folders cannot be observed directly from the Net work Manager machine that part of the InfoChannel communication chain must be verified by indirect means Nevertheless the additional effort in initial setup can be worthwhile When the job folders are on the Players the only network traffic related to job delivery occurs when Network Manager actually delivers jobs telatively infrequently compared to how often Players would poll over the network to check for jobs Polling still does occur in this situation but is internal to each Player With no network overhead to consider polling is fast and can be fre quent while incurring no additional cost so the polling interval is fixed internally at 10 seconds This allows Players to respond to jobs almost the moment Network Manager sends them P gt Recommendation Use Direct FTP connections if possible Direct FTP locates job folders on the Players With the FTP serv ers built in to b
52. know exactly So for example you could use Vidx dll to retrieve Vidx03 dll Vidx05 dll Vidx9b dll and so on or bat to retrieve all bat files in the folder 167 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance 168 Deleting files Files on a Player other than those in Content occasionally need to be deleted Use a Delete Files job for this You need to know the exact path to the file Because the Delete File command can be particularly hazardous it has options that allow you to decide whether to exclude sub folder con tents and read only files from its action Delete Files allows the use of standard wildcards 2 in the name in the Full Path box This lets you delete multiple files with one com mand or delete a file having a name you do not know exactly Running commands A Run Command job lets you execute an arbitrary command line on the Player Thus you can run any program or batch file that does not require interactive input Among many potential uses some likely ones would be e running a batch file that downloaded linked content from an external site e running a disk defragmenting utility e unpacking and running a software installer 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance Stopping jobs There might be occasions when you want to stop a Player from run ning jobs it is currently running e a malfunction of some kind has caused th
53. large numbers of Players much simpler The procedures for creating and associating Groups is no different for broadcast Player than for point to point Players See page 102 in chapter 7 for details on using Groups The illustration below shows how a broadcast Player listed on the Players page looks This example Player has both a broadcast connec tion and a point to point FTP back channel indicated by the icons in the Connections column The Player has its Player ID of 5 anda Custom ID of 001 shown after the Broadcast Server name and it is a member of a Group called Broadcast Show Broadcast gt Edit Group Delete Group New Group 1 1 of1 Name Connections Group Associations Description 6 X Tokyo 2 Satserver1 Id 5 Broadcast Player in Store 5 Tokyo z 001 branch exe ftp 192 168 10 66 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Broadcast topologies Broadcast topologies There are various possible broadcast topologies The five topologies illustrated in the diagrams on the next page omit the CDesigner and Publish Location components for which the same possibilities exist as in point to point networks see the diagrams on page 49 in chapter 3 The topologies shown include both Shared Folder and FTP links to the Broadcast Server and both broadcast only Players and those with an FTP back channel Finally Class Q illustrates one way that the same network can use both broadcast and point to point Players Still o
54. letter share name or file name Don t type the angle brackets Be sure to consult the Glossary when you come across unfamiliar terms and the Index when you need to find specific information quickly Network Manager resources on the Web Scala s Web site http www scala com is an important resource for Network Manager customers dealers and VARs For answers to questions you cant find in the User s Guide as well as downloads and additional information relevant to Network Manager users the Scala Web site should be your first stop 22 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager Network Manager resources on the Web Pages you will find at the Scala Web site provide General product information press releases contact data Technical support Registration Tutorials Troubleshooting FAQs Problem report submission Discussion groups Recommended hardware configurations Downloads Software updates and demos K Additional documentation on EXes and ScalaScript VAR resources K2 Sales and marketing information 0 Service packs Technical support and training Customer case studies Third party support links 23 aR a aa J nfoChannel EN a AS MANAGER 3 j of Installation 2 Installation If your InfoChannel Network installation does not consist of precon figured machines with the software already installed use the i
55. located on Player machine 64 232 252 Lockup by Event Log 206 Not responding 203 204 Poor performance 207 Rebooting 146 Setting folder permissions 252 Setting FTP permissions 232 Setting FTP root 231 Software failure 206 Software installation 32 Starting Configuration utility 33 Status icons 176 Updating software 207 Windows dialogs disrupting playback 126 Player Configuration utility 112 125 Custom FTP Player setup 232 Custom Shared Folder Player setup 252 Player Engine starting 33 Player Health icon appearance 173 Player Health Monitoring 172 185 273 Index Player Health pages 162 174 All Players with Selected Problem 177 Checking to diagnose problems 202 Log File Reader 178 Overview 175 Player ID Configuration on Player 122 Setting on Network Manager 198 Players 96 108 Adding 60 Defining 96 102 228 231 251 254 Defining connection to workspace 226 Deleting 102 Driving multiple displays 52 Editing 100 Enabling and disabling 101 License limit 100 Listed in red 133 Log files 164 Maintenance 161 Rebooting 162 Removing from job 133 Responsiveness related to polling interval 55 Reviewing status 162 Shared Folder connection to Transmission Workspace 249 Static IP address required for Direct FTP 49 Status affected by Clearing Problems 181 Targeting for job 133 Updating content 156 Players page 96 100 Players with Selected Problem page 177 Point to point communication 188 Point to point connection
56. m v40 Tasks Command Run Command bd commana Line Batchfiles GetHeadlines bat m w40 To prevent the possibility of script playback being disrupted the command you enter will automatically be forced to run minimized The Player software is designed to block attempts by any other software to switch out the InfoChannel Player application Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 147 9 Setting up jobs Job commands 148 Abort Jobs in Progress A Player that is executing a Network Manager job can have its job exe cution stopped by receiving the Abort Jobs in Progress command This can be useful for a Player that is malfunctioning and is stuck or when you simply want to interrupt a problem job for some reason a The Abort Jobs in Progress command has no options Just choose it from the Command pop up b Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job The com mand appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list c Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Install Software Update The Jnstall Software Update command lets you send an ICPlayer soft ware update to the Player and have it automatically installed Using the command is similar to the other nstall
57. machines 51 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 52 Your requirements in this next step the Machine allocation section below may help you settle on a topology if you still have more than one choice Or you may have to reconsider your topology choice InfoChannel Network machine allocation Players are by definition separate machines dedicated to running Info Channel Player software The only allocation related decision you might need to make with relation to Players is whether it would be practical for a given Player machine to drive more than one display device This leaves you to consider how ICDesigner Network Manager and Publish Locations should be arranged For simplicity assuming a single 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network ICDesigner installation a single Publish Location and a single Player these are the possible arrangements I ICDesigner Network Manager and Publish Location on one machine I I ICDesigner and Publish Location on same machine A N ICDesigner Publish Location Network Manager I Il Network Manager and Publish Location on same machine I Each on its own separate machine
58. most logical order of the configuration tasks is 1 Configure Network Manager itself Define Accounts Define Publish Locations 2 3 4 Define Players 5 Configure Player machines 6 Define Jobs Planning your InfoChannel Network 48 Before you can configure Network Manager and the Players it will be communicating with you need to make certain decisions about the layout of your InfoChannel Network The main topics you need to consider are e How these different parts of the Network will communicate with each other via FTP or via direct folder access e How the various functions required in an InfoChannel Network ICDesigner authoring Publish Location storage Network Man ager Players are to be allocated among physical machines e Whether Players will contact Network Manager to poll for job instructions or Network Manager will deliver job instructions directly to the Players e Ifusing a custom FTP link to communicate with Players whether the FTP host is better located on Network Manager or remotely located Direct FTP With Release 6 and beyond of InfoChannel Scala provides Direct FTP a way to dramatically simplify the most time consuming Info Channel Network setup task linking Players to Network Manager 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network Direct FTP is the preferred method of setting up an InfoChannel Net work for point to point connections The Direct FTP
59. network traffic from Manager monitoring constant Player polling on Player rapid Player response labor intensive setup for to jobs Custom schemes Choosing one job folder location or the other does not change the way the InfoChannel Network itself operates The data flow is exactly the same in either case and the same functions are accomplished The operational difference in only in what the Player has to do to monitor its job folder The practical differences between the two approaches however can have an effect on how you plan your network Job folders on Network Manager When job folders are on Network Manager the creation of new job folders for additional Players is easy because of their central location Also someone at the Network Manager machine can directly observe when job files appear in the job folder on delivery and see them disap pear as they are picked up by a polling Player Thus verifying whether job file delivery to any Player on the network is working or not is sim ple However to poll their job folders Players must reach them across the network at a regular interval This can result in heavy network traffic with larger numbers of Players The polling traffic can also be expen sive in situations such as a dial up installation in which each access costs something 55 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 56 A possible trade off is to specify a long polling
60. on Network Manager Then you would configure each Player s job folder with the desired permissions If using multiple Player accounts you may wish to wait to perform that process until after you have completed the setup on the Player machines where you will also be creating the account for each Setting folder privileges Setting the appropriate account privileges on the folders that Info Channel uses for communication is a crucial step in allowing the Info Channel Network to function Running with incorrectly set privileges is acommon source of operational problems and security risks Regardless of the type of connection you use make sure of the follow ing e the Network Manager Workspace folder grants read write modify access to the NetManager user and assuming no remote FTP hosting to the ICPlayer user e if remote FTP hosting is being used the Transmission Work space folder grants read write modify access to the NetManager and ICPlayer users e the Players job folders grant read write modify access to the Net Manager user and the ICPlayer user You typically set folder privileges for FTP connections by using the FTP server configuration software Under IIS user specific privileges are defined using Windows Explorer in the Security panel of the Prop erties sheet for a given folder Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access Account privileges for Shared Folder connections are
61. on Players Job folder must be a share Player Windows must allow user NetManager read write modify access to the job folder Players poll job Job folder must be a an ICPlayer Windows folders on Net share user account work Manager Windows must allow user ICPlayer read write modify access to the job folder Players retrieve or deposit files from NM Network Transmission folder must be a share Windows must allow user ICPlayer read write modify access to the Network Transmission folder an ICPlayer Windows user account matching user accounts must exist at both ends Choosing single or multiple Player accounts Both FTP and Shared or Local Folder installations can use a single generic ICPlayer account The above tables indicate the use of a generic ICPlayer account However with a Shared or Local Folder installation the per folder permission capability of Windows NTFS 5 lets you set up unique 221 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections 222 accounts for each Player This allows individualized access rules for each Player job folder for greater security and flexibility To do this you need to create multiple Windows user accounts on Network Man ager one for each Player each with its own username and password You would need to know the usernames and passwords to be used for each Player in order to create the accounts
62. one or more Players a Choose the Publish Location from which to get the script using the Source pop up It lists all the Publish Locations that you have already defined After you choose a Publish Location you see a File pop up Network Manager scans the selected Publish Location and lists in the pop up all scripts it finds in the defined Publish Location folder The Rescan button next to it lets you scan the Publish Loca tion again if you want to refresh the list to pick up the names of new scripts that have just arrived at the Publish Location Publish Locations listed in red are currently disabled and 137 9 Setting up jobs Job commands 138 will not be accessed by this job until they are re enabled on the Publish Locations page Tasks Command Send Main Script z Source PublishLoc1 z File lt choose a File gt z Rescan lt Choose a File gt M Restart Playback lt Enter Filename Manually gt Ic3 pl las scb From the File pop up list choose from the script files avail able on the Publish Location Or if the script does not currently exist on the Publish Loca tion but you expect it to at a later time and know its name you can enter a name by choosing lt Enter Filename Manu ally gt from the pop up Then type the name into the File Name field that appears If the change in content is urgent or if the script does not reg ularly loop back to the beginning
63. overflow 127 System Settings page 225 248 System Tray NM Engine icon 37 275 Index T Tasks Changing order 133 Defining for jobs 132 TCP IP Port used by Player Health messages 208 Required for FTP 57 Required for Health Monitoring 247 Technical support 23 Time based trigger incorrect 209 Timeouts configurable retry 21 Tooltips 47 Preventing flashing 208 Topologies Broadcast 199 IC Network 49 Transmission Workspace folder 58 247 249 Configuring for Custom FTP 226 Trigger File based 135 Incorrect 209 Time based 135 Triggering jobs methods 134 Troubleshooting 202 210 Bad FTP login on Player 204 Content updating 209 Databases not editable 210 Flashing Tooltips 208 Folder sharing 203 FTP login problems on NM machine 205 Hardware failure 206 Heartbeats not received 208 Job folder unreachable 203 Linked content 207 NM not working 203 Permissions FTP Shared 204 Player hardware failure 206 Player is disabled 206 Player lockup 206 Player not responding 203 204 Player software failure 206 Poor Player performance 207 276 Service failure 206 XML parser installation 208 Tutorial Default installation required 26 ICNM link 39 U UNC connections Equivalent to Local or Shared Folder 215 Updating Player content 156 Updating software on Player 207 Upload download meaning in log files 180 URL Format for FTP dial up definition 236 FTP to Player job folder 230 FTP to Transmission Workspace 227 Scala Web site 22 S
64. perform communication tasks to send scripts and multimedia content to InfoChannel Players Network Manager is a completely new piece of software designed to function with stability and long term reliability as the prime goals At the same time Network Manager is very simple and easy to use Communication scheme and network architecture 18 Network Manager is a separate application not a part of the Scala authoring software For optimum performance a working InfoChan nel installation would have Network Manager installed on its own dedicated server It is possible however for Network Manager and Scala s multimedia script authoring application InfoChannel Designer 3 to coexist on the same machine In the InfoChannel Designer 3 Network Manager 3 world scripts and content are published to the InfoChannel Network meaning to a file server defined through Network Manager Published files are then in a separate step transferred to Players using Network Manager The communications scheme in InfoChannel Networks supports large numbers of Players well When paired with Scala Broadcast Server 3 software both point to point and broadcast technologies are sup ported to cover installations ranging from small to global in scale In addition because the InfoChannel Network approach decouples communication storage and authoring you have greater flexibility in allocating resources for the different types of tasks and personnel involved
65. piece of software InfoChannel Players keep individual log files Windows also maintains its own log files login a name or account under which someone gains a certain level of access to a computer Main Script the script that an InfoChannel Player is currently run ning This script runs continuously in a loop 24 hours a day It can be updated or changed remotely from Network Manager modem modulator demodulator an electronic device that allows computers to communicate over ordinary telephone lines monitor the device on which an ICDesigner presentation is dis played for example a computer monitor television video wall etc MPEG Motion Picture Experts Group a standard used for the compression of digital video and audio sequences Also the file format used for MPEG compressed information or a file using this format MPG the file type extension for digital video files in the MPEG for mat multimedia the combination of various presentation media such as text sound graphics animation and video Network Manager InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Scalas appli cation for distributing scripts published from InfoChannel Designer 3 to remote InfoChannel Player 3 machines Available in standard and Enterprise Edition releases 261 Glossary 262 Network Manager Workspace folder the folder on the Network Manager machine within which the other local folders used by Net work Manager are
66. product s respectively i The Support Organization will diligently investigate problems reported by the Customer Subject to the exceptions set forth at Sections 4 C and 6 if the Support Organization determines that the problem is the result of a reproducible error defect or malfunction in the supported Software the Support Organization will make reasonable efforts to correct the problem A Support Organization representative will provide Customer with a correction a report determination that further research is required or confirmation that the system works per design specifications a Ifa reproducible error is not correctable a Software performance report will be generated and sent to SCALA engineering group The correction for the error would be incorporated in the next release or software updates if possible Customer is responsible for informing SCALA of the problem severity Customer is encouraged to call the Support Organization for clarification or uncertainty as regards to Software More severe problems will be given priority over general questions The Customer shall provide to the VAR or Support Organization the name and contact information of one 1 representative of Customer who with SCALA s acknowledgement shall have access to the Support Organization s telephone advice service The representative may be changed from time to time by Agreement between the parties The initial representative shall be as determined by Cust
67. receiving ends of an FTP transmission and the client initiator must have a username password and a valid target address on the server receiving computer FTP server a computer that can receive requests for an FTP link from a client machine or the software on that machine that allows it to do so IIS includes FTP server capability Also called an FTP host See also JIS Group a collection of Players defined in Network Manager Health Monitoring a facility in Network Manager that lets you con tinuously monitor Players on an InfoChannel Network Players report Glossary regularly on their operational status and log files can be retrieved from individual Players to help diagnose problems heartbeat a brief status message sent to the Network Manager machine at regular intervals by a running Player for Health Monitor ing purposes host FTP See FTP server ICDesigner InfoChannel Designer 3 ICPlayer software the InfoChannel Player 3 software which must be installed on InfoChannel Player machines to play back InfoChan nel Designer 3 scripts The ICPlayer software also handles communi cation with Network Manager IIS Internet Information Services Microsoft s suite of Internet related software included with the Windows 2000 and above operat ing system software IIS provides both FTP server and web server capability InfoChannel Designer 3 ICDesigner Scalas multimedia authoring so
68. server must allow user NetManager to log in and access the job folder Players poll job folders on Net work Manager Players retrieve or deposit files from NM FTP server must allow user ICPlayer to log in and access the job folder an ICPlayer user name in Network Manager s Edit Sys tem Settings Custom FTP page an ICPlayer username set up in Player Config utility FTP login dialog no setup on Players required the username password for Players to use is sent to them encrypted within job files Players retrieve or deposit files from remote FTP server a username specified by remote FTP service provider entered in Network Manager s Edit System Settings Custom FTP page also used by NM to log in to an offsite FTP server to transfer files to from Transmission Workspace no setup on Players required the username password for Players to use is sent to them encrypted within job files passwords that accompany matching usernames must match at both ends Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections Authentication needed using Custom Shared Folder The following table shows what needs to be set up for authentication on the Network Manager and Player ends of given types of Custom Shared Folder accesses Share Access NM deposits jobs in job folders on Needed on NM a NetManager Win dows user account Needed
69. solutions the Player Run a Send Content job to send the referenced con tent files or execute some external process that accomplishes the same purpose a batch file or custom program 2 Linked content referenced by a script may be on the Player but not have the correct name The base name of the linked content files on the Player must match the file names referenced in the script 3 Linked content referenced by a script may not be on the Player in the correct location All linked content files must be in either the Content or the InstalledContent folders and must not be in subfolders of either of these folders 4 Linked content files placed on a Player may not match in appearance or duration the placeholder files used to represent them during authoring Care must be taken to ensure that updates of linked content are consistent with their placeholders or that authoring techniques are adjusted to account for possi ble variations 207 13 Troubleshooting tips Problem Tooltips flashing Reason and possible solution Problem If you find that the tooltip help in Network Manager is difficult to read because the tooltip often flashes when the mouse pointer is over text the problem may be the pointer scheme you are using Some pointer schemes produce this effect In the Windows Mouse Control Panel applet try selecting a differ ent pointer scheme Difficulty with the XML parser installation Reason an
70. some of these settings for your network Health Monitoring IP Port Health Monitoring heartbeat messages must use a particular port to reach Network Manager There is not a specific port number that must be used the port specified in Health Monitoring IP Port must simply be one that no other application or service on the system uses Heartbeat Interval The Heartbeat Interval Minutes setting controls how often Players send their status messages back to Network Manager Thus it specifies a maximum time that can elapse before a change in Player status can be communicated You might decrease the interval time if you need to monitor Player status especially closely or increase it to reduce the network traffic of the heartbeat messages in a large network A more likely reason to adjust the interval would be to increase it to reduce the number of connections made by dial up FTP Players Overdue Heartbeat Tolerance Network Manager considers a Player to be Dead when it does not receive a heartbeat from the Player after the expected interval How ever the Player is not declared Dead the moment that the Heartbeat Interval has passed without a status message being received A certain grace period is allowed after the heartbeat interval has expired to account for network latency and other unforeseeable timing variances This grace period is specified by the Overdue Heartbeat Tolerance Minutes setting If you see Players being declar
71. stored on a Player e the data is linked content that must be downloaded from some external source by an application other than Network Manager e Network Manager is unavailable for some reason Just putting such files into the Content folder would not work how ever for these reasons e the file naming and folder structure for everything within Content is cryptic and can only be generated by Scala software the ICPlayer software requires this structure and could not find files that were simply copied there e a Delete Unused Content job would not recognize files that were manually copied to the Content folder as valid and would delete them regardless of whether they were in use The ICPlayer software does not manage what is placed in Installed Content in any manner It only uses InstalledContent as a secondary place to look for content files called for by a script if those files cannot be found within the Content folder Delete Unused Content jobs do not affect InstalledContent If you use InstalledContent you must remember to clean out old files yourself using Delete Files jobs so that the Player s hard drive does not become filled with stale data 109 a ey InfoChannel VIDOR MANAGER 3 alaSs Ewe E DaleTol O N InfoChannel Player configuration 8 InfoChannel Player configuration On each Player machine in your InfoChannel network the InfoChan nel Player 3 software must be installed and
72. the Player Health All Players with Selected Problem view all the Players that are listed share the same Problem Here the Show options include Details which when selected gives additional information about the Problem to help in diagnosing what went wrong Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Player Health All Players with Selected Proble Microsoft Internet Explorer i p lt l File Edit View Favorites Tools Help Heak gt OA A Qsearch aFavortes Gristory Fyr S Address hetp localhost z eco Jinks E NMEE Log In url Player Health All Players with Selected Problem Access Mode View Mc InfoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 d Name Description Date 1 Vv ae Player 2 1 Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played 05 05 0 Manage Window incorrectly Caused by error 101 10 17 41 23 Error 101 10 graphics The bitmap data was lost Player Health All Players with Selected Proble a Name Description v amp Player 2 1 Problem 6 Script lt untitl Window incorrectly Caused by e Error 101 10 graphics Ths lost click a Player s name to open the Log File Reader and view its log files 177 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages 178 Player Health Log File Reader The Player Health Log File Reader view is different from the other Player Health views It opens in a sepa
73. the configuration requirements of broadcasting are handled in the Scala Broadcast Server software The process of setting up the Broadcast Server is covered in the User s Guide for that product The broadcast related options within Network Manager are few All you need to do in Network Manager to use broadcasting is e Define a Broadcast Server connection e In Player definitions select a Broadcast Server connection and enter an identification number for the Player Defining a Broadcast Server Defining a Broadcast Server is quite similar to defining a Player 1 On the Configure control frame click the Broadcasting icon You see the Broadcast Servers page Normally all Broadcast Servers that have been created for this system are listed here Initially it is blank 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager Click the New Broadcast Server button You see the New Broad cast Server form Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Broadcast Server Microsoft Internet Explorer File Edt View Favorites Tools Help HBack gt amp A A QSeach Favorites Media A Eby EW Address http localhost v Go Links NMEE ul New Broadcast Server Name Description How To Connect to this Broadcast Server Connection Type Local or Shared Folder z C Documents and Settings All Users Application Folder Data Scala Shared Data
74. themselves See Special URL format on page 235 User Name Enter the username to gain access to the FTP server Assuming you follow the account setup instructions gt given previously see page 220 this would be NetManager Password Enter the password needed for the NetManager username Only asterisks appear Passwords are case sensi tive Confirm Password Enter the password again to ensure you didn t type it wrong 7 Ifthe Player will be a member of a Group make the appropriate settings in the Group Associations section see page 99 for details 8 Click the OK button to close the New Player form 9 If necessary repeat the process to create additional Players Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access When you have finished click SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new Player s in the database FTP setup on each Player The steps in this section must be done on each Player machine you intend to use with a Custom FTP connection Step 1 Enable FTP Players that will poll remotely located job folders by FTP need not function as FTP servers If your installation is configured with the Player s job folder on the Player machine itself rather than located remotely and the Network Manager will access the folder by FTP then you do need to enable FTP on the Player and configure the machine as an FTP server Step 2 Disable Anonymous access For t
75. with broadcast Players 200 Polling Interval And network traffic Player responsiveness 55 Broadcast 121 Player job folder 234 274 Polling Interval file change trigger 136 Port IP Multicast 118 Used for Player Health messages 208 Previous Page 47 Problem Notification Email Address 184 Problems Clearing 181 Color indication 181 Distinguished from Errors 180 Selecting to Clear or Reset 179 Showing details 177 Programs running on Player using job 147 Publish Location Connection to CDesigner ICNM 49 Defining within Workspace folder 89 Publish Locations 88 91 Adding 61 Adding in Network Manager 89 Defining 88 93 Deleting 93 Disabled 209 Disabling 44 Editing 91 Enabling and disabling 92 Incorrect 209 Listed in red 137 139 Machine allocation diagram 53 Machine setup 88 Publish Locations page 89 91 Publishing linked content 160 R RASdial 235 Reboot command 146 Reboot job scheduled 162 Rebooting Player 144 Scheduling more frequent 207 Recommendations configuration 51 54 56 Refresh rate custom playback setting 124 Release 4 Default Player folder created 216 Reload Databases 42 45 Rescan button 137 139 Resolution setting custom playback mode 124 Restart Playback option 138 157 Retries Automatic 21 Ending for stuck job 153 Retrieve Content command 142 Retrieve Content job 167 Retrieve File job Getting Player log files 165 Retrieve Files command 143 Retrieve Files job 167 Retri
76. workspace folder a folder within which files for all Players reside and through which all transmissions between Network Manager and Players pass See also Network Manager Workspace folder Transmission Workspace folder Index A Abort Activity 153 Abort Jobs in Progress command 148 Abort Jobs in Progress job 169 Access levels 41 80 Access Mode 81 210 Accounts page 84 Accounts Network Manager Defining 80 86 Deleting 86 Editing 84 Enabling and disabling 85 Accounts Windows user 221 Admin privileges needed for NetManager ICPlayer 219 Creating 219 Creating ICPlayer account on Player 231 252 Creating NetManager account on Player 231 252 Editing 70 Editing on Player 231 252 IIS FTP usernames associated 219 Network Manager operation 36 Activity Logging Detail 154 Activity page 152 Checking to diagnose problems 202 Message colors 153 Alerter service need to disable 127 Alerts email Address 184 Controlling frequency 184 When Players stop playback 115 Always Play Back Full Screen 124 Anonymous access Disabling on NM machine 224 Disabling on Player 231 Application log Windows In Log File Reader 178 Preventing overflow 127 Authentication Custom FTP 220 Authentication Custom Shared Folder 221 Auto dial turning off on Player 240 B Back channel 191 For broadcast Players 199 Required for Health Monitoring 173 Bandwidth conserving using linked content 158 Broadcast connection Configuring on Player
77. you just created listed on the Players page with any other Players Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Players Microsoft Internet Explorer Ele Edit View Favorites Tools Help sack gt 2 A Asearch Favorites CHristory Be Sp Address E hitp jlocathost Z 60 Links NMEE Log Inu gt Players Access Mode View Modify All Players _NewGroup_ 4 InfoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 Home Log Out Eta Name Connections Group Associations Description o Roa Player 1 exe F Documents and Settings All Player in the Configure LobbyPlayer Users Documents Scala Network lobby Transmission Outbox Player1 B R d Player 2 eeeF Documents and Settings All Player in the Cafe Users Documents Scala Network cafeteria Transmission Outbox Player2 o Eog Player 3 exe ftp 192 168 10 66 Inbox East Player in the MetroLobby Metro metro lobby r cea Tokvo 3 MWiservert Id 3 Broadcast Store 3 A Player 192 168 10 66 Inbox Tokyo branch System Settings SelectAll Deselect All Sone Enable New Player tal L E E tocal intranet a 7 Defining and working with Players Editing a Player Editing a Player 100 Icons in the Connections column identify whether a Player has a point to point connection a broadcast connection 2 or both Any number of Players can be defined up to your license limit When you have finished clic
78. 116 Defining 194 With back channel 191 200 With point to point 226 249 Broadcast Inbox folder connection 195 Broadcast Server 189 193 Defining 194 Broadcast Servers page 194 267 Index Broadcasting 188 200 Confirmed 192 Ensuring reliability 192 Overview 188 Topologies 199 C Class designations topology 49 200 Clear Log 154 Cleared Problems color 181 Clearing Problems 181 Client server meaning in log files 180 Color depth custom playback setting 124 Columns sorting by 47 Command lines running on Player 147 168 Commands job 137 149 Maintenance 141 Send Content 139 Send Main Script 137 Communication Links used in IC Network 48 Protocols used by ICNM 21 Scheme used in IC Network 18 Sequence of events 65 Compatibility current and earlier releases 212 Conditions Clearing and Resetting 181 Configuration Custom connection 212 254 FTP dial up to NM 240 Health Monitoring 182 Network Manager 70 78 Player 112 127 228 235 251 254 Task order 47 Configure panel 40 Confirmed broadcasting 192 Connection Creating for FTP dial up to NM 241 Creating for FTP dial up to Player 236 Incoming for FTP dial up to Player 238 Mixed approach 244 Testing dial up FTP 243 268 Connections Broadcast and point to point together 191 200 226 249 Individual FTP dial up per Player 246 Mixed 61 Setting up Custom 212 Content Accumulating on Player 157 Deleting unused 146 162 Not being updated 209 Publishing linked 160 R
79. 68 10 66 Send and Receive Data Via Custom 7 n C Documents and Settings All Network Manager Workspace Location Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Transmission Workspace Location Shared Folder z Folder Minimum Time to Keep Workspace Files E Days Gi Activity Logging Detail Normal x Delivery Timeout Hours 24 Player Response Timeout Hours 24 Download Retry Minimum Timeout fs 5 Minutes Download Retry Maximum Timeout foo Minutes cE Health Monitoring Antians f BE Local intranet Z In Network Manager Workspace Location you should see the path that was set up during installation This defaults to lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Docu ments Scala Network Transmission where lt systemroot gt is the letter of the drive on which Windows is installed 225 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access 226 Ste 1 The preferred approach is to change this location to match the FTP root directory of your FTP server You also might wish to change this location if you have special considerations Your network uses a separate file server machine external to the Network Manager machine You must use a machine that is running 24 hours a day every day and the Network Manager machine is not always running You need to use a machine that has a different version of Win dows one with a higher number of licensed conne
80. A NETWORK INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY CLAIMS OF DEFAMATION INVASION OF PRIVACY OR MISAPPROPRIATION OR VIOLATION OF ANY LICENSEE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS 10 b SCALA S MAXIMUM LIABILITY TO LICENSEE HEREUNDER SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNTS ACTUALLY PAID BY LICENSEE FOR THE SCALA SOFTWARE TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW IN NO EVENT SHALL SCALA OR ITS SUPPLIERS OR LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS BUSINESS INTERRUPTION LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION OR ANY OTHER PECUNIARY LOSS ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SCALA SOFTWARE EVEN IF SCALA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES BECAUSE SOME STATES JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU c U S Government Restricted Rights THE SOFTWARE HARDWARE AND DOCUMENTATION PROVIDED WITH THIS PRODUCT BEAR RESTRICTED RIGHTS USE DUPLICATION OR DISCLOSURE BY THE GOVERNMENT IS SUBJECT TO RESTRICTIONS AS SET FORTH IN SUBPARAGRAPH c 1 ii OF THE RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA AND COMPUTER SOFTWARE CLAUSE AT DFARS 252 227 7013 OR SUBPARAGRAPHS c 1 AND 2 OF THE COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE RESTRICTED RIGHTS AT 48 CFR 52 277 19 AS APPLICABLE MANUFACTURER IS SCALA INC 1 EAST UWCHLAN AVENUE EXTON PENNSYLVANIA 19341 USA I
81. ATED PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION AS IS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE LIMITED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE Some states do not allow disclaimer or express or implied warranties in certain transactions therefore this statement may not apply to you This publication could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors Changes are periodically made to the information herein these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication Scala may make improvements and or changes in the product s and or the program s described in this publication at any time It is possible that this publication may contain reference to or information about Scala products or services that are not announced in your country Such references or information must not be construed to mean that Scala intends to announce such Scala products or services in your country Requests for technical information about Scala products should be made to your Scala Authorized Distributor Dealer or your Scala Marketing Representative Scala may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this document The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents Send license inquiries in writing to Scala Incorporated One East Uwchlan Ave Suite 300 Exton Pennsylvania 19341 USA This manual was produced by Ross Hi
82. Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list When the job runs the update file is transferred to the Player and an install process is run under the specified account user name if you gave one installing the update Then the Player is rebooted After the reboot the Player is running with updated ICPlayer software f Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 The job names in the Name column of the Jobs page are links that open the Edit Job form This form is identical to the New Job form described in the preceding section To edit a job 1 Click its link in the Name column on the Jobs page ed Q Name what Where When Description m X Send e Send Main Script from e Player 1 Send the Automall sutga PublishLoc1 Automall scb and LobbyPlayer script to Lobby restart playback e Player 2 Cafe and Cafe 149 9 Setting up jobs Running a job manually 2 Make any changes necessary to the job settings on the Edit Job form 3 Click OK 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Your changes are reflected in the listing Running a job manually In addition to automatically triggered execution jobs can be run man ually by the Network Manager operator whenever necessary Some jobs by their nature are not suited to be run on a scheduled basis and would normally be run manually only when needed Even jo
83. Agreement shall be read and construed subject to such statutory provisions SCALA S MAXIMUM LIABILITY TO CUSTOMER HEREUNDER SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE AMOUNTS ACTUALLY PAID BY CUSTOMER FOR THE MAINTENANCE SERVICES SUBJECT TO THIS CLAUSE UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL SCALA OR ITS RELATED PERSONS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL INDIRECT SPECIAL PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES WHETHER FORESEEABLE OR UNFORESEEABLE BASED ON CLAIMS OF CUSTOMER OR ITS CUSTOMERS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO CLAIMS FOR LOSS OF DATA GOODWILL PROFITS USE OF MONEY OR USE OF THE SOFTWARE INTERRUPTION IN USE OR AVAILABILITY OF DATA STOPPAGE OF OTHER WORK OR IMPAIRMENT OF OTHER ASSETS ARISING OUT OF BREACH OF EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY BREACH OF CONTRACT MISREPRESENTATION NEGLIGENCE STRICT LIABILITY IN TORT OR OTHERWISE EXCEPT ONLY IN THE CASE OF PERSONAL INJURY WHERE AND TO THE EXTENT THAT APPLICABLE LAW PROHIBITS EXCLUSION OF SUCH LIABILITY IN NO EVENT WILL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY WHICH SCALA AND ITS RELATED PERSONS MAY INCUR IN ANY ACTION OR PROCEEDING ARISING OUT OF PERFORMANCE OR NON PERFORMANCE OF THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT ACTUALLY PAID TO SCALA BY CUSTOMER FOR THE SPECIFIC PRODUCT OR SERVICE THAT DIRECTLY CAUSED THE DAMAGE 16 Applicable Law This Agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without regard to its conflict of laws provisions 17 Entire Agreement This Agreement const
84. Connections select the Do not allow option and click Next 7 For Allowed Users select the accounts to which you wish to give incoming connection access on the Player One of these should be the NetManager account you created in step 3 on page 232 You may also wish to enable an Administrator account for maintenance purposes Generally the number of allowed users should be as few as needed to reduce security vul nerability Click Next 8 Under Networking Components be sure that at least Internet Proto col TCP IP is turned on File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks is a security risk and should be left off 239 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 240 If your Player is connected to a LAN you should disallow incom ing caller access to the network for security reasons a Select Internet Protocol and click Properties b In the Incoming TCP IP Properties sheet turn off Allow call ers to access by local area network The DHCP address assign ment option should be selected c Click OK d Click Next 9 Click Finish You see Incoming Connections listed as a connection in the Net work and Dial up Connections window Dial up FTP with job folders on Network Manager Use these steps if Player job folders are located on the Network Man ager machine and Players access them via dial up to an ISP Step 1 Turn off auto dial You need to configure the Player
85. E OF THE SOFTWARE RESULTS FROM OR IS RELATED TO THE IMPROPER INSTALLATION OR OPERATION OF THE SCALA SOFTWARE BY OR ON BEHALF OF LICENSEE THE FAILURE OF LICENSEE S HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE SYSTEMS OTHER THAN THE SCALA SOFTWARE OR INCOMPATIBILITY OF SUCH SYSTEMS WITH THE SCALA SOFTWARE THE ALTERATION MODIFICATION OR UNAUTHORIZED INTEGRATION OF THE SCALA SOFTWARE BY OR ON BEHALF OF LICENSEE OR FROM ACCIDENT ABUSE OR MISAPPLICATION ANY REPLACEMENT SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE WILL BE WARRANTED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE ORIGINAL WARRANTY AGREEMENT PERIOD OR FOR THIRTY 30 DAYS WHICHEVER IS LONGER OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA NEITHER OF THESE REMEDIES NOR ANY PRODUCT SUPPORT SERVICES OFFERED BY SCALA ARE AVAILABLE WITHOUT PROOF OF PURCHASE FROM AN AUTHORIZED RESELLER LIMITATION OF LIABILITY a THE SCALA NETWORK AND ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED THEREIN WHETHER BY SCALA OR BY ANY THIRD PARTY IS PROVIDED ON AN AS IS WHERE IS AS AVAILABLE BASIS SCALA DISCLAIMS ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE LICENSEE FOR ITSELF ITS SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS HEREBY DISCHARGES AND RELEASES SCALA ITS DIRECTORS OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES FROM ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE SCALA NETWORK ANY RELIANCE BY LICENSEE ON SUCH INFORMATION AND ANY INFORMATION OR MATERIALS POSTED BY THIRD PARTIES TO THE SCAL
86. Files Install Files Delete Files and Run Command job commands should be used with care as they are potentially hazardous A Delete Files command that uses pattern matching the and wildcards is especially high risk If you overwrite delete or run a file on a remote computer you can not directly and immediately observe the results Unexpected results could include freezing or crashing the machine Beyond that point Network Manager would not be of any use until the Player could be rebooted manually Installing files To send files to a Player that are something other than script content use an Install File job The Install File command allows you to specify a full path so you can put the file anywhere on the Player 165 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance 166 Use this kind of job to send batch files software archives to be installed and other types of files If a file by the same name already exists in the location given in the command that file is overwritten by the file you send so be careful Installing system files At times you may need to install a new driver restore a corrupted DLL or replace some other system level file on a Player Since such files are normally in constant use just overwriting the file is not enough The Player must be rebooted for the new file to be activated An Install System File job is what you should use in such cases This command is essenti
87. ICDesigner Network Manager and ICPlayer machines A machine will not run Scala software without an appropriate Key installed ScalaNet the name of the networking and maintenance application that was roughly equivalent to Network Manager in the IC200 level of Scala s InfoChannel software 263 Glossary 264 scheduling the capability to specify a time or set of times at which an ICDesigner event or a Network Manager job runs Scheduling of events and jobs are separate and independent script the page by page definition of a presentation which specifies image files text sound files and all other elements of a page as well as settings that control the way in which it is displayed select to mark or highlight an item so that it will be affected by the next action This is different from choose in that selecting does not actually perform an action it identifies items you intend to work with shared folder a folder that has been made Shared in Windows so that it is accessible over a network by other machines Shared Folder is a type of Custom connection available in InfoChannel networking that uses exchanges through shared folders via standard LAN protocols for its communication tasks See also Custom connection task a single component of a Network Manager job consisting of a command and target set of Players and optionally a set of automatic triggers Jobs consist of one or more tasks TCP IP
88. ING ERRORS OR MALFUNCTIONS OF THE SOFTWARE OR SOFTWARE UPGRADES RELATED TO OR ARISING AS A RESULT OF CUSTOMER S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN COMPUTER SYSTEMS ADEQUATE TO OPERATE THE SOFTWARE OR CUSTOMER S USE OR OPERATION OF HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE SYSTEMS THAT ARE INCOMPATIBLE WITH OR DEGRADE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE 5 6 10 Software Support A The Support Organization will provide telephone and or modem and or facsimile and or electronic mail support for problems associated with the routine use and operation of the software This service is intended for users who have been trained in the Software and is not to be used as a substitute for basic training The Scala Value Added Reseller VAR shall be the Support Organization for first level Software Support SCALA shall provide second level support and shall also provide first level Software Support in the event the VAR Support Organization fails or refuses to provide first level support If the Software Support staff feels a customer is abusing the Software Support services SCALA will notify the Customer in writing and suggest appropriate training on site assistance or other alternatives to meet the Customer s needs SCALA reserves the right to qualify all customer sites before accepting an Agreement and to refuse to provide Software Maintenance Services or to adjust the fee based on the environment hardware or operating systems and or age of the product s and current status of the
89. InfoChannel JETWORK MANAGER 3 Manage Configure Player Health Job Activity w E RELOAD DATABASES jubmits all database changes you have made Network Manager provides three access levels e Administrator can view and modify any Network Manager data base information e Manager can view and modify Network Manager database information other than configuration and accounts e Observer can only view information An access level is part of a user account definition Accounts and access levels are discussed more thoroughly in chapter 5 Access locking and contacting other users To prevent confusion and conflicting changes only one person at a time can be logged in to Network Manager in its View Modify edit ing mode Other users can be logged in at the same time but only in the View Only mode which does not allow any changes to be made When someone is logged in to Network Manager in View Modify mode that person is said to be locking Network Manager no one else can enter View Modify mode and make changes Any other users who log in are put in View Only mode and cannot change the mode They see the legend Locked By in the upper right corner of the page followed by the full name of the user who is currently editing the Net work Manager databases The full name flashes and is actually a link Clicking on the flashing link opens a small dialog that a
90. Licensee or y Licensee s use of third party software or works of authorship in conjunction with the Scala Software THE FOREGOING STATES SCALA S ENTIRE LIABILITY AND LICENSEE S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR INFRINGEMENT OR CLAIMS OF INFRINGEMENT OF ANY COPYRIGHT PATENT AND OTHER PROPRIETARY RIGHTS BY THE SOFTWARE b Licensee Obligation Except for the infringement claims set forth in Section 8 a Licensee shall indemnify and hold Scala its directors officers agents and employees harmless from any claims demands or causes of action whatsoever arising on account of Licensee s modification or enhancement of the Software Licensee further agrees to indemnify and hold Scala its directors officers agents and employees harmless from any claims demands or causes of action whatsoever arising from or related to the display broadcast reproduction performance or other use or distribution of audio visual graphical and textual information developed by or on behalf of Licensee and not included in the Scala Software TERMINATION a By Licensee Licensee may terminate this Agreement at any time without notice to Scala The license fee is not refundable and Scala will have no obligation to refund any amounts paid by Licensee under this Agreement upon its termination except for any right of refund as set forth in Section 6 Licensee must cease any use of the Scala Software and return to Scala or certify to Scala s reasonable satisfaction the destru
91. Location at the time the job is run or the job will fail c Type the path to the location where the file should be installed on the Player in the Full Path to Destination File on Player field For example C Program Files Windows Media Player Mplayer2 exe 9 Setting up jobs Job commands When the job runs the system file is transferred to the Player then the Player is rebooted After the reboot the new system file runs from the destination location you specified Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Delete Files At times you may need to delete files on a Player The Delete Files command allows you to do so You can delete any non locked file or folder on a Player with this command provided that you know the full path to the item Note however that for the common Player maintenance task of delet ing old content that is no longer needed the Delete Unused Content command discussed in the following section is preferable as it is both simpler to use and safer In the Full Path to Folder or File on Player field type the path to the item you want to delete beginning with its drive letter For example C Temp Testfile mpg Tasks Command Delete Files X Full Path to Folder or File on Player C Temp Testfile mp
92. Manager tutorial It sets up Network Manager to access the Player software installed on the Network Manager machine itself a default provided for testing and demonstration purposes 97 7 Defining and working with Players Creating a Player Player Direct FTP This option is used for InfoChannel Net works that use Direct FTP the built in FTP servers in the Info Channel software When you choose Player Direct FTP you do not need to enter a site name or username those are established automatically All that is required are the Player s address and a password a Players Host Address Enter the IP number or DNS name that Network Manager should use to contact this Player b Password Enter a password of at least eight characters Only asterisks appear This would be the password you give for the Player in Player Configuration described on page 114 c Confirm Password Enter the password again for confirma tion Custom This option is used to expose the full configuration flex ibility of InfoChannel Networking necessary for special situations such as Offsite FTP hosting is used The InfoChannel Network was set up under a previous release of the InfoChannel software and changing over to Direct FTP is not desired Particular FTP server software must be used for customer spe cific administrative reasons All Players are accessible locally over a LAN so FTP access is not needed The o
93. NDEMNIFICATION a Scalas Obligation Subject to the Licensee indemnification set forth at Section 8 b and the Limitations of Liability set forth in Section 7 Scala will defend indemnify and hold Licensee harmless against any action brought against Licensee alleging that Licensee s use of the Scala Software as authorized hereunder infringes a United States copyright or patent However Scala will not be obligated to indemnify or hold Licensee harmless from any such action unless Licensee notifies Scala in writing of any claim within 10 days after it learns of such a claim gives Scala sole control of the defense and settlement thereof and provides all reasonable assistance in connection therewith If any Software is finally adjudged to infringe the intellectual property rights of a third party or in Scala s opinion is likely to become the subject of an injunction Scala shall at its option and expense either i procure for Licensee the right to continue using the Software ii modify or replace the Scala Software to make it noninfringing or iii refund the fee paid less reasonable depreciation upon return of the Scala Software Scala shall have no liability regarding any infringement claim arising out of w use of the Scala Software in combination with non Scala software data or equipment if the infringement was caused by such use or combination x any modification alteration or derivation of the Scala Software made by or on behalf of
94. Net work Manager machine to be able to use Custom Shared Folder con nections Step 1 Share Workspace folders Ensure that the folder s indicated in Transmission Workspace Location and Network Manager Workspace Location are Shared 247 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access 248 Step 2 Set Workspace folder permissions Ensure that the NetManager and ICPlayer accounts have Read Write and Modify access permissions to the Workspace folder s Step 3 Set the Network Manager Workspace folder 1 In Network Manager click the Configure tab to display the icons in that panel of the control frame Click the System Settings icon You see the System Settings page which displays the current set tings of its options Click the Edit Settings button at the bottom of the page to open the Edit System Settings form Verify that the Network Manager s IP address is correct See Step 4 Configure transmission options on page 73 of chapter 4 for instructions on checking and setting the address The Send and Receive Data Via pop up should be set to Custom In Network Manager Workspace Location you should see the path that was set up during installation This defaults to lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Docu ments Scala Network Transmission where lt systemroot gt is the letter of the drive on which Windows is installed You can change this location
95. Player s job folder via FTP because the username and or password configured on the job folder location do not match what the FTP account on the Network Manager machine specifies The Computer Management tool must be run on the machine hosting the folder location and the FTP login information corrected The Player can no longer reach a shared job folder when previously it could because an account password has expired A new password must be entered for the account by which the Player accesses its job folder The Password never expires option should be turned on for the account at the same time to prevent this problem from happening again The new password must also be entered in the Player Con figuration utility on each Player that uses that account The Player cannot reach its job folder via FTP because the username and or password configured on the Player do not match what the FTP account for Players on the Network Manager machine specifies The Player Configuration util ity must be run on the Player and the login information cor rected The Player cannot reach its job folder via FTP because the permissions set for the FTP account are not Read Write Modify The Player FTP account permissions on the Net work Manager machine must be made Read Write Modify The Player cannot reach its job folder on Network Manager via Direct FTP because there is a conflict between the Direct FTP servers FTP port number and the IIS FTP port number
96. RL opens the Network Manager Log In page There a valid username and pass word must be entered to get to the Network Manager Home page 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface Logging out Log out of Network Manager by clicking the Log Out option at the top of the control frame You are logged out You see the Logged Out page which has a Back to Log In icon in its control frame Automatic logout To help prevent unauthorized access Network Manager can automat ically log a user out if it detects no user activity The default inactivity timeout is fifteen minutes You can adjust this time on the Edit Sys tem Settings page There is no immediate evidence that automatic logout has taken place but after it has an attempt to manipulate any control on the visible page brings up the Logged Out page with a message indicating that the user was logged out due to inactivity The Network Manager interface InfoChannelI NETWORK MANAGER 3 Enteere ise forties click for the Network Manager tutorial site When you log in to Network Manager you see the program s Home page taking up most of the screen The Home page contains introduc tory text as well as links to Scala on the web The link to www scala com is for our main public web site The tutorial link takes you to a site dedicated specifically to helping you learn about Network Manager Scala strongly recommends using the Tutorial link to v
97. RO 100 VE Net the appropriate IP settings een Components ct B Client f C Obtain an IP address automatically Use the following IP address IP address Subnet mask Default gateway Install Desctiption Obtain DNS server address automatically Transmissiot wideareane C Use the folowing DNS server addresses aonad Preferred DNS server ne as El T Show icon Alternate DNS server 27 2 Installation Installation of Microsoft software To ensure correct connectivity to the Network Manager server the use of either static IP DNS association or DDNS DHCP DNS dynamic domain name server assignments with long 99 year leases is advised There are various other network related settings here Your system administrator will need to make sure all are set up appropriately for your particular network Windows Step 2 Install IIS After the basic Windows 2000 installation and before installing Net work Manager you need to add HS Internet Information Services 5 0 This may require your Windows 2000 CD so it s a good idea to keep it in the drive 1 From the Start menu choose Settings gt Control Panel 2 Choose Add Remove Programs 3 In the Add Remove Programs dialog click the Add Remove Win dows Components button on the left hand side of the dialog This opens the Windows Components Wizard 4 Using the Wizard add the following items K Internet Information Serv
98. Software Maintenance Agreement A During the term of the Agreement no changes and or waivers by either party of its rights shall be made to the term and conditions contained herein other than by variation agreed to by authorized representatives of both parties and set forth in a writing duly executed by the parties The non enforcement or waiver of any provision of this Agreement on any occasion shall not constitute a waiver of such provision on any other occasions unless expressly so agreed in writing It is agreed that no use of trade or other regular practice or method of dealing between the parties hereto shall be used to modify interpret supplement or alter in any manner the terms of the Agreement SCALA has the right to vary the charges made hereunder if the Customer wishes to extend the service hours beyond normal working hours referred to in Clause 5 If both parties agree in writing additional Software to be supported may be included on this Agreement at a later date The initial maintenance fee for the cost of supporting the additional Software will be prorated from the new Commencement Date to the original Initial Period or Renewal Term end date An addendum form attached will be used to convey the additional Software to be included under this Agreement The addendum form will be referred to as the Addendum Page 10 Non Payment The Support Organization reserves the right to decline to provide Software Maintenance if any amount
99. The HS FTP server on Network Manager should be shut down if it is not needed or the IIS TCP Port setting in its FTP Site Properties should be changed to something other than 21 Problem continued 13 Troubleshooting tips Player is not responding Reasons and possible solutions continued 2 The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s job folder K2 ww The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s shared job folder because the permissions set on the folder for the Net work Manager user are not sufficient The NetManager user account on the machine hosting the folder location must have Change permission K2 we The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s shared job folder because the folder is not a share The folder must be made Shared K ww The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s shared job folder when previously it could because an account pass word has expired A new password must be entered for the account by which Network Manager accesses the Player job folder The Password never expires option should be turned on for the account at the same time to prevent this problem from happening again K2 we The Network Manager cannot reach the Player s job folder via FTP because the permissions set for the FTP account are not Read Write Modify The Network Manager s FTP account permissions on the machine hosting the folder loca tion must be made Read Write Modify
100. Understanding the Network Manager approach The efficiency of communication with Network Manager comes pri marily from the indirect way content gets from the Network Manager 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager Communication scheme and network architecture server to the Players The way we usually talk about it data is sent to the Players in a simple linear movement of information from source to destination content is uploaded to its destination Network Manager Player How we think of network data flow This is how ScalaNet the networking component in Scala s earlier generations of InfoChannel software did work However although we continue to talk about it using similar terms and the outward appearance is that it works this way the actual operation of Network Manager in getting data from source to destination is quite different Network Manager does not typically send any content to Players Instead Network Manager simply tells the Players what needs to be done then the Players do all the work When you work in Network Manager you create a job a set of tasks that Players need to perform Network Manager generates a small job file that consists of just the instructions for these tasks and puts the job file in an intermediate exchange location Players regularly check the exchange location When a job file is found they perform the tasks for example
101. User s Guide 2 IntoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 ENTERPRISE EDITION Software Release 6 SCALA ll st multimedi Copyright 1993 2003 Scala Inc All rights reserved No part of this publication nor any parts of this package may be copied or distributed transmitted transcribed recorded photocopied stored in a retrieval system or translated into any human or computer language in any form or by any means electronic mechanical magnetic manual or otherwise or disclosed to third parties without the prior written permission of Scala Incorporated TRADEMARKS Scala the exclamation point logo and InfoChannel are registered trademarks of Scala Inc All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the sole property of their respective companies The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of the companies listed in the United States and or other countries Microsoft MS DOS Windows Windows NT DirectX DirectDraw DirectSound ActiveX ActiveMovie Outlook Verdana JScript Microsoft Corporation Pentium Intel Indeo Jntel Corporation Adobe the Adobe logo Adobe Type Manager Acrobat ATM PostScript Adobe Systems Incorporated UNIX The Open Group Some parts are derived from the RSA Data Security Inc MD5 Message Digest Algorithm WARRANTIES AND DISCLAIMERS The following paragraph does not apply to the United Kingdom or any country where such provisions are inconsistent with local Law SCALA INCORPOR
102. a Network including without limitation information posted during the Scala Software registration procedure is posted at Licensee s sole risk and Licensee hereby fully and irrevocably waives any claim cause of action or other allegation of liability assertable against Scala its directors officers or employees associated with the disclosure of such information 7 2 Scala shall not sell rent distribute or otherwise disclose individually identifiable personal information provided to Scala through the Scala Network or through the Scala Software registration process Notwithstanding the foregoing Scala may gather and disclose or distribute in its sole discretion statistics and other information concerning the Scala Software Scala end user licensees the Scala Network Scala s web sites their use or any information provided by any users thereof including without limitation software and configuration provided that any such publication or distribution will be done only in aggregated form 3 Scala may use grant license or disclose any aggregated information gathered by or disclosed to Scala as provided above for commercial purposes 4 Licensee shall indemnify and hold harmless Scala its officers directors employees subsidiaries suppliers and affiliates for any action taken or statement made by Licensee on or in connection with the Scala Network on or in connection with the Scala Network including without limitation any claims of
103. adcast Players in exactly the same way as other Players How the data actually gets from point A to point B and back can be ignored One way communication and back channels The current state of generally available broadcast communication is that connections are one way This means that in a pure broadcast environment there is no back channel by which a receiving Player can send data Health Monitoring messages etc back to the Network Manager With no back channel there is no way of confirming trans missions notifying Network Manager of errors in transmission or of receiving files or collected data from Players Broadcast connection one way Network Manager Player point to point back channel two way Because such communication from Player back to Network Manager can be needed many broadcast based installations are not purely broadcast Network Manager allows you to define a Player with a point to point connection alone a broadcast connection alone or both a broadcast connection and a point to point connection For Players with both types of connection the broadcast connection is primary for transmissions to the Player the point to point connection is used as the back channel for Health Monitoring and other two way communication with Players whenever it is necessary 191 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel A broadcasting overview 192 The point to
104. added to the process P Recommendation Most networks should use Option III Any of these arrangements can work well Which one you choose may be based largely on hardware availability and cost Generally speaking option I is appropriate for very small net works and option III is optimal for nearly all others Options II and IV offer few advantages over option II and should be con sidered only for networks that have some particular need for those configurations Job folder location A factor to consider with Custom connections is the location of the Player job folders Network Manager communicates with Players through an intermediate message exchange point known as the job folder Every Player has its own job folder which it monitors continu ally for instruction messages jobs from Network Manager The actual location of a Player s job folder can be either on the Net work Manager machine or on the Player itself When you use the Direct FTP scheme Player job folders are on the Players and their 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network creation and management is handled automatically If you decide to use Direct FTP you never need to concern yourself with them If you need to use a Custom scheme however you must decide where to locate the job folders These are the main factors to consider Job folders Main advantage Main disadvantage on Network ease of setup and heavy
105. all defined using Windows Explorer in the Security panel of the Properties sheet for a given folder Custom connection setup FTP access Important data you need to know before you start is the FTP login information the root or home directory address of the FTP server you will be using with its username and password The address is likely to be the FTP root address of the Network Man ager machine When you are using remote FTP hosting it is the address of the remote host Note that if you are using an offsite FTP hosting service you will need to get this login information from them and they may not allow you to choose custom usernames such as NetManager and ICPlayer InfoChannel Configuration Note If you are planning to have the Player use FIP dial up in either direction from Network Manager to Player or from Player to Network Manager you also need to consult the section Dial up FTP access configuration on page 235 FTP setup on Network Manager machine The following steps outline the basic process needed to set up the Net work Manager machine to be able to use Custom FTP connections Step 1 Enable FTP Follow your FTP server software manufacturer s instructions to enable the server Preferably the FTP server should be enabled automatically when the Network Manager machine boots so that it is guaranteed to be running 223 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access
106. all the critical and recommended patches at once 29 2 Installation Installation of Microsoft software 30 If you prefer to obtain the patches separately go to the following sites Windows 2000 patch locations ttp ww microsoft com windows2000 downloads critical default asp ttp ww microsoft com windows2000 down oads security default asp http www microsoft com windows2000 down oads recommended default asp Internet Explorer patch locations ttp ww microsoft com windows ie downloads critical default asp ttp ww microsoft com windows ie down oads recommended default asp Note that not all the downloads available at these locations will apply to the installed version of Windows 2000 or Internet Explorer 1 Install Windows 2000 security patches 2 Install Internet Explorer security patches 3 Reboot Windows again Windows Step 6 Install XML parser Because Network Manager s communication with Players involves XML files software to work with XML is required After the security patches are applied and the computer has rebooted install the XML parser from Microsoft MSXML version 3 0 SP 1 or better At the time of this writing the XML parser could be obtained from this location http msdn microsoft com downloads default asp ur downloads sample asp ur MSDN FILES 027 001 772 msdncompositedoc xm We suggest that you retain the inst
107. allation file for the XML parser because InfoChannel Network Manager 3 InfoChannel Designer 3 and InfoChannel Player 3 all require it Windows Step 7 Review device driver certification Scala strongly recommends that all InfoChannel related systems be configured with the most current WHQL certified device drivers This is necessary for stability of the FTP server and Network Manager Security notes 2 Installation Security notes In this time of rampant computer viruses the installation of a virus scanner on every machine on your network is becoming a necessity rather than an option Viruses can be spread to Web servers by exploit ing security flaws in Windows 2000 and by other means It is crucial to keep your Web server and all other machines in your installation up to date with e all security patches regarding Windows 2000 e virus scanning software Patches service packs and installation order Note that the order in which you perform installation steps is signifi cant Almost all security patches can be overwritten if you update something in the Windows 2000 installation For example suppose you took the following steps a Installed Windows 2000 and IIS without service packs from CD ROM b Applied all security patches for Windows 2000 and IIS c Applied Windows 2000 SP2 If you followed these steps you would remove the security patches applied in step b Keep in mind that security patches tend to be relea
108. ally the same as Jnstall File except that it reboots the Player after it installs the file You can include as many Jnstall Sys tem File tasks in a single job as you need to install multiple system files the Player is rebooted only once after all files have been installed If a file by the same name already exists in the location given in the command that file is overwritten by the file you send so be careful Installing Software Updates Scala periodically distributes update releases service packs of its soft ware that add performance enhancements bug fixes and new features to the InfoChannel software You should install new software releases as soon as possible after they are available to keep your InfoChannel Networks up to date The Jnstall Software Update command enables automated updating of the ICPlayer software on remote Players via a Network Manager job Note that this command was added as a new feature in Release 4 of the Network Manager ICPlayer software It can be used to install later releases of ICPlayer software on Players that already have Release 4 or above installed on them It cannot however be used to update Play ers to Release 4 or above that must be done through a normal install from the Scala Software Release CD ROM 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance Retrieving content Generally content flows from Network Manager to Players However it is sometimes useful to ge
109. ame They can refer to different folders even on different machines and there are in fact certain situations in which this can be advantageous 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network Using a remote workspace In particular the relative costs for telecommunication service Internet storage and FTP hosting in certain regions notably in Europe can make hosting your own FTP site prohibitively expensive Or you may simply prefer not to have to deal with the other requirements of host ing an FTP site on the Network Manager machine especially if you must support a large InfoChannel Network In such cases it can be easier and or more cost effective to use Custom connections and a remote FTP host that is a host not located on the Network Manager machine This host could be a dedicated FTP server elsewhere on the Network Manager s LAN or one located off site provided by a commercial FTP service provider To use a remote FTP host the Transmission Workspace Location is configured to reside on the remote host Standard configuration Remote Transmission Workspace ICNM Remote FTP host Remote Transmission Network Manager Workspace folder Workspace folder Transmission Workspace folder Network Manager Workspace folder Although the remote transmission folder arrangement can be worth while from a cost perspective it has a significant downside the detour that data must take o
110. and the path to the job folder from the FTP root You need to have set the FTP root appropriately as described in Step 2 on page 224 For example ftp 192 168 0 10 Outbox LobbyP1 ayer OR ftp 1ICNMserver com OQutbox LobbyP1 ayer OR if using offsite FTP hosting ftp 0ffsiteServerCo com Customerftp YourCo Network Transmission Qutbox LobbyPlayer User Name Enter the username needed to gain access to the FTP server If you have followed the setup recommendations see page 220 this would be ICPlayer Password Enter the password needed for the username Only asterisks appear Passwords are case sensitive This must match the password entered for the ICPlayer account that was created on the FTP server Confirm Password Enter the password again for confirmation Click OK to exit the FTP login dialog The FTP address entered appears in the FTP Folder button with the user name embedded in it like this ftp ICPlayer ICNMserver com OQutbox LobbyP ayer Set the polling interval using the Job Polling Interval control The Player regularly polls checks its job folder for pending jobs The Job Polling Interval control lets you specify how many min utes the Player waits between each check You can adjust the interval value from the default if necessary to balance the timeliness of Players receiving their jobs against the Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration bandwid
111. any single or partial exercise by a party of any right preclude any other or future exercise thereof or the exercise of any other right Entire Agreement This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the transactions contemplated and supersedes any prior agreements or understandings among the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof Foreign Trade Restrictions The parties acknowledge that certain information software technology accompanying documentation and technical information may be subject to United States export control laws Licensee shall not directly or indirectly export or re export the Software in violation of the Export Administration Regulations EAR of the U S Department of Commerce and hereby expressly agrees to defend hold harmless and indemnify Scala its directors officers and employees from any claim suit or dispute alleging that Licensee has exported the Scala Software in violation of the EAR Construction The headings in this Agreement are for convenience only They do not constitute a portion of this Agreement and shall not be used in any construction of it Third Party Beneficiary Licensee hereby agrees that the licensors of third party software shall be considered third party beneficiaries of this Agreement and shall be entitled to bring a direct action against Licensee in the event of breach of any applicable provisions of this Agreement pursuant to the terms and co
112. ates means bug fixes documentation improvements and feature additions including all major and minor revisions Software Support means advice on operating the Software advice on problems with the Software given over the telephone or in writing and includes the provision of Software notes by SCALA Software Maintenance includes the provision of Software Support and Software Updates Support Organization means SCALA or at SCALA s option any person firm or corporation designated by SCALA in writing at any time during the term hereof to supply Software Maintenance to Customer 2 Services Subject to the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement and Customer s payment of the applicable Software Maintenance fees the Support Organization will provide Software Maintenance to Customer as further described hereunder 3 Term The Software Maintenance to be supplied under this Agreement will commence upon installation and delivery of the product and shall remain in force for the Initial Period The parties may renew this Agreement for additional one 1 year periods each a Renewal Term upon mutually agreeable terms provided that Customer indicates its desire to renew the Agreement at least thirty 30 days prior to the end of the Initial Period or a Renewal Term as applicable 4 Software Updates A Provided that Customer has paid for Software Maintenance SCALA will deliver to Customer new releases of So
113. ations Grouping your Players makes it easier to refer to many Players at once in a single job command In installations that comprise hundreds even thousands of Players this allows a dramatic saving in effort for InfoChannel Network administrators when specifying jobs Addition ally Groups give you a way to organize Players according to the factors that are meaningful to you Players can be associated with Groups in any manner you choose You might associate Players with Groups based on one or more of the fol lowing criteria e Players installation site or geographic region e Players connection type Direct FTP Custom broadcast e the nature or purpose of Players content e corporate division e client 7 Defining and working with Players Using Groups Players do not have to belong to a Group They can belong to any number of Groups and Groups themselves can be grouped To create a Group 1 Ifyou are not already on the Players page click the Players icon 2 Click the New Group button at the top of the page 3 Enter the indicated information in the New Group form Z infoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Group Microsoft Internet Explorer o x Ele Edit view Favorites Tools Help Heak gt OA A Asearch Favorites lt Bristory Ey G Address hetp jlocalhost Z co tinks NMEE Log Inu New Group Name Description Group Associations Players in this Group
114. atter of downloading content at modem speeds Updates that include multi gigabyte media files would be impractical in a modem based system Other FTP dial up approaches A number of alternative approaches to FTP dial up job transmission might be used depending on the needs of a given InfoChannel Net work The procedures given above cover the simplest approach which uses a single generic connection on the Network Manager server for all Players 243 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 244 FTP dial up alternatives supported in Network Manager are e mixing Direct FTP with Custom connections e individual connections for each Player e accessing the Players through a dial up router e specifying a custom FTP port number Mixed connection approach Direct FTP and Custom connections are not mutually exclusive In certain situations it is in fact possible to make use of all three connec tion types Direct FTP Custom FTP and Shared Folder in con tacting Players The prime scenario in which it is advantageous to use multiple con nection types involves Players that cannot be set up as FTP servers for example because they do not have static IP addresses Network Manager cannot deliver jobs to the Players so Players must poll job folders on Network Manager and download their files by dial up Cus tom FTP However you can streamline the setup job considerably compared to a completely Cust
115. b Activity page 162 Job commands 137 149 Job file 66 Job folder 63 64 107 Configuring access on Player 113 232 252 Created automatically for Direct FTP 216 Creating 216 Default 216 Dial up URL to in Player definition 235 Locating within FTP root 217 Location 54 On Player dial up FTP setup 236 Setting connection type 195 230 Setting Shared Folder connection to 251 Shared status necessary 253 Unreachable 203 Jobs Aborting stuck 153 Automatic triggering activation 137 Creating 130 Deleting 152 Disabled 209 Disabling 44 Editing 149 Enabling and disabling 151 Monitoring activity 152 Running manually 150 Scheduling 134 Send Content 139 Send Main Script 137 Setting up 130 152 Targeting Players 133 Jobs page 130 149 Lightbulb icon 44 Linked content Authoring 160 Filename timestamp 159 271 Index Location on Player 158 Not appearing on Player 207 Providing placeholder files to authors 160 Sending files to Player 160 Using 158 161 Linked Content folder 160 Local and Shared Folder connection Setup 247 254 Localhost URL 37 Locked By message 42 81 Log File Reader Opening 177 Log File Reader page 178 Log files Detail level 154 Enabling daily retrieval 77 184 How long to keep 185 Information shown on Activity page 152 Location when retrieved from Player 165 Player 164 Reading 180 Log Out option 41 Log status icons 177 Logging out 39 Login NM Local 37 Remote 38 Logs Windows Displaye
116. beginning of this chapter Once the installation of Microsoft software is complete on the Player machine it is possible to install the InfoChannel Player 3 software The InfoChannel Player 3 software is sold separately from Network Manager You install it using the installer on the CD ROM that comes in the InfoChannel Player 3 package The installation process for the InfoChannel Player 3 software is also extremely simple e The Player software installer prompts you for an installation folder which you may change from its default if desired 32 2 Installation Installation of InfoChannel Player 3 software It also asks whether you want to have the InfoChannel Player Engine run automatically when Windows starts which is recom mended if the machine you are installing to will be a dedicated Player machine When all software has been copied to the Player machine the installer asks whether you want to configure the Player If you leave the option on the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility runs when you click Finish If you have not already configured Network Manager and defined Players there however you may wish to run the Player Configuration utility later Completing the Player configuration requires knowing the Player s job folder location which is generally determined during the Network Manager configuration process Configuring an InfoChannel Player is covered in chapter 8 of this guide The same information is al
117. bs that are scheduled may need to be run manually in certain cir cumstances For example if a script gets a very important update you might manually run the scheduled Send Content job sooner than usual so that the update is received as soon as possible To run a job manually 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon Run Now 2 Click the Run Now button at the bottom of the Jobs page You see a confirmation dialog and if you click Yes you are auto matically switched to the Job Activity page so that you can observe the progress of the job There is no need to submit changes because running manually does not change anything in the Network Manager databases If unsubmit ted changes do exist you see a dialog asking if you want to save them Running a job manually does not affect when it will run by any auto matic triggers it may have 150 9 Setting up jobs Enabling and disabling jobs Enabling and disabling jobs Occasionally you may need to temporarily prevent scheduled jobs from running If you know that a Player is malfunctioning or other wise unable to communicate for example you can avoid repeated error messages in the activity logs by keeping its jobs from running Doing so is possible without having to delete and then re create the jobs when you later need them by disabling them When you disable a job its definition remains unchanged It only stops responding to time based or file chan
118. but the network administrator wants to keep Player job folders on the Network Manager machine e FTP access is not possible To accommodate such cases InfoChannel lets you create Custom point to point connections For those who need it Custom connec tions allow all the flexibility that the InfoChannel software has always provided The capabilities and basic procedures associated with Custom connec tions match those of the FTP and UNC connections in earlier releases of Scala InfoChannel InfoChannel Networks created under preceding InfoChannel releases are entirely compatible with the current release Only some terminology has changed Appendix Setup of Custom connections Using the information in this appendix For certain installation types it is even possible to mix the Custom and Direct FTP approaches to take advantage of the strengths of both An example of a mixed approach can be found on page 244 Using the information in this appendix This appendix describes the basic requirements in setting up the vari ous types of Custom connections that are available in an InfoChannel Network Using the information in this appendix presumes that you have read and understood the material in chapter 3 of this manual and per formed the relevant configuration steps in chapter 4 Expertise required Network communication is a complex subject The price of being able to make use of the complete flexibility offered by Custom connections
119. casting At the bottom of each page is a series of buttons for working with items including Delete Disable Enable and a New item button Cer tain other controls appear in the page when there are too many items to view all at once Working on any of these pages you use the same basic techniques for selection and editing Enabled and disabled items Any items can be either enabled or disabled The lightbulb icon to the right of the checkbox indicates an items current state A dark light bulb indicates a disabled item Disabled items can still be seen selected and worked with just as when they are enabled Disabling an item only affects what the Net work Manager Engine does with it A disabled job will not run auto matically from a time based or file change trigger It can still be run manually Disabled Publish Locations cannot have content or files 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface retrieved from them Disabled Players are not addressed by jobs that reference them Disabled accounts cannot be used to log in To disable an enabled item select the checkbox next to its yellow lightbulb icon then click Disable To enable a disabled item select the checkbox next to its dark light bulb icon then click Enable Selecting items To select an item you want to work with click in the checkbox to the left of the items name so that it is marked with a check v dark lightbulb i
120. ccount form 3 Click OK 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Your changes are reflected in the listing 5 Defining accounts Enabling and disabling accounts Enabling and disabling accounts Occasionally you may need to temporarily prevent accounts from being accessible For example you might have a Customer account with Observer access that allows a customer to keep track of how script updates are scheduled and executed For security purposes you would not want that account to be accessible at all times The Disable option achieves this without having to delete and then re create the account when you later need it When you disable an account its definition remains unchanged It can later be re enabled to allow access to the users that know its user name and password To disable an enabled account 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Disable button You see its lightbulb darken 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Login under the account username is no longer possible To enable a disabled account 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its darkened lightbulb icon 2 Click the Enable button You see its lightbulb light up 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Users with the correct access information can once again log in to Net work Manager using the account 85 5 Defining accounts Enabling and disabling accounts 86 Deleting an account If you are sure you will never need an existi
121. cept Network Manager s communication 1 From the Player s Start menu choose Settings gt Control Panel 2 Open Network and Dial up Connections 3 Double click Make New Connection to open the Make New Con nection Wizard and click Next Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 4 For Network Connection Type choose Accept incoming connections and click Next File Edit View Favorites Tools Advanced Help Back gt E Qsearch GFyrolders Bristory 5 GE X A Ey Address Network and Dial up Connections Network Connection Wizard U Local Area Con Network Connection Type You can choose the type of network connection you want to create based on your network configuration and your networking needs C Dial up to private network Connect using my phone line modem or ISDN Dial up to the Internet Connect to the Internet using my phone line modem or ISDN C Connect to a private network through the Internet Create a Virtual Private Network VPN connection or tunnel through the Intenet Accept incoming connections Let other computers connect to mine by phone line the Internet or direct cable C Connect directly to another computer Connect using my serial parallel or infrared port 1 object s selectec lt Back cones 5 Select the modem device that the Player uses for communication and click Next 6 Under Incoming Virtual Private
122. configured The configuration on the Player end is complementary to the Net work Manager Player definition identifying the folder that the Player refers to for its job files You make settings within the Player software governing how the Player physically accesses its folder on the Network Manager end as well as playback related settings Outside the Player software in Windows there are further configura tion tasks to enable the Player and Network Manager to communicate securely and reliably Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 112 The InfoChannel Player Configuration utility is the tool you use to set up the InfoChannel Player software on a Player machine Every Player in an InfoChannel Network must be individually configured using this utility Configuration of Player machines should be done after the definition of the Players in the Network Manager application This chapter discusses configuring Players for all types of connections Direct FTP Custom and Broadcast For Players that communicate via a Custom connection the factors to consider are more advanced Settings for Custom connections in the Point to Point Connection and Dial up Options sections of the utility are not covered here The appendix to this manual Setup of Custom connections discusses those aspects of Custom connections in detail However the other Player Configuration settings covered in this chap ter are relevant to all Players a
123. connections The preceding topology diagrams showed only one type of com munication link between any two units It is in fact possible to use mixed topologies so that each unit can use the type of communi cation best suited to it For example the default Publish Location set up on the Network Manager machine is a local folder but you could add other Pub lish Locations in remote sites that connect using FTP Similarly ICDesigner systems that are near a Publish Location would prob ably publish to them via local connections but could also publish to remote Publish Locations via FTP In the case of Players all Players must reach the Transmission Workspace to send and receive content using the same type of point to point connection However with Custom connections they may still have individual connection types to their job folders if necessary Broadcast Players also have the option of using broadcast connections Broadcasting is a special case and can be used in addition to or 61 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network ICDesigner Publish Location Network Manager Player Job folder I cOUO gt Local link eee FIP link Remote FIP host 62 instead of point to point connection to Network Manager Broadcasting is covered in detail in chapter 12 of this manual and in the User s Guide for the InfoChannel Broadcast Server soft ware which is sold separately but r
124. copied to the Player machine s hard drive manually e Placing the content files in the proper place If you are sending linked content files via a Network Manager Send Content job you do not need to worry about where files end up That is managed for you automatically Files placed on a Player by any means other than a Network Man ager job should go in the InstalledContent folder In order to be found by the Player software files placed in InstalledContent must not be in subfolders they must be at the top of the folder Performing Player maintenance Aside from updating content an InfoChannel Network administra tor s other primary work within Network Manager is Player mainte nance Keeping up with maintenance tasks help ensure that the Network continues to function smoothly and reliably Maintenance can be divided into regular and occasional categories Regular maintenance tasks There are three maintenance tasks that need to be done on a regular basis on any InfoChannel Network installation e Rebooting the Players e Deleting unused content e Reviewing Player status 161 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance 162 Delete Unused Content be deleted explicitly using Delete Files jobs Rebooting the Players Scala recommends that all Players be rebooted weekly In a world of bulletproof bug free device drivers and system software this would not be necessary but in the r
125. cription Yet another FTP Player Point To Point Connection to This Player s Jobs Folder Send Job Commands Via Custom hd Player s Jobs Folder FTP bal URL A User Name Password Confirm Password There is a situation in which it is possible and in fact preferable not to choose FTP here when Players are connecting through Custom FTP when the FTP host being used is onsite accessible via LAN to Network Manager AND the Player job folders are located on that host rather than on the Players In this case it is more efficient especially with large numbers of Players to deliver job files via Local or Shared Folder access directly to the job folders in the FTP server s root folder Delivering to local job folders by FTP also works but is much slower 229 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access 230 6 Make settings for the FTP connection to the Player s job folder The following options appear below in the form a URL Enter the FTP location that the Network Manager machine would use to access the Player s job folder Examples ftp 192 168 0 10 Outbox LobbyP1 ayer OR ftp ICNMserver com Qutbox LobbyP1 ayer OR if using offsite FTP hosting ftp 0ffsiteServerCo com Customerftp YourCo Network Transmission Qutbox LobbyPlayer There are special ways to enter the URL if you need to use dial up FTP to send jobs to job folders located on the Players
126. ction or permanent deletion of the Scala Software and all copies thereof b By Scala Scala may terminate this Agreement and all licenses granted hereunder upon thirty 30 days prior written notice if Licensee fails to comply with any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement or any Schedule to this Agreement and such noncompliance is not cured during within such thirty 30 day period c Return of Software Upon any termination of this Agreement Licensee shall return all copies of the Scala Software in whatever format together with the documentation and shall delete all copies of the Scala Software from its computer system s Licensee must promptly certify to Scala in writing that it has taken all such actions GENERAL a Audit Rights Scala shall have the right reasonably to audit the deployment and use of the Scala Software by Licensee including without limitation Licensee s conformance with the provisions of Section 4 a and 4 b herein Licensee agrees to cooperate with Scala s reasonable request for access to Licensee s computer systems to ensure Licensee s adherence with the license terms hereunder b Purchase in Canada If Licensee acquired this software in Canada Licensee agrees to the following The parties hereto have expressly required that the present Agreement and any exhibits hereto be drawn up in the English language Les parties aux pr sentes ont express ment exig que la pr sente convention et ses
127. ctions for example If you need to change the Network Manager Workspace Location setting use these steps a Make sure that the location you choose allows read write modify access to any user account b It is recommended but not required that you create a folder named Network Transmission in the desired location c Then enter the full path to the location here in Network Manager p 5 Set access to the Transmission Workspace Choose the Transmission Workspace Location setting This setting is what determines whether the Players communicate with Network Manager via the FTP or the Shared Folder approach Depending on which access method you choose a dif ferent set of options appears below on the page InfoChannel Network Manager Note All Players will use the Custom FIP point to point connection set here for sending and receiving data between themselves and Net work Manager A Player can have a broadcast connection as well as or instead of this point to point connection Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access Choose FTP from the Transmission Workspace Location pop up list to display the FTP login options LOCGLUON jysersywvocumentsyoCalayetwork Iransmission Transmission Workspace Location URL l User Name l Password Confirm Password FTP z Note that if the associated URL location that you give see next step is different from the Network Manager
128. ctly required all instructions in this manual assume that you will dedicate a machine to Network Manager use We recommend a clean installation of Windows 2000 Professional or 2 Installation Installation of Microsoft software Windows 2000 Server on an NTFS 5 partition NTFS 5 enables permissions to be set on files and folders which is an important capa bility for securing your installation So prepare an appropriate machine and create an NTFS 5 partition on it suitable for installation of the Windows operating system Windows Step 1 Install Windows 2000 1 Install Windows 2000 from the Microsoft Windows 2000 CD in its basic configuration Refer to your Windows documentation for specific instructions 2 After the installation is finished you need to assign an IP address to the machine a b enter Network Manager machine IP address Right click on My Network Places and choose Properties In the list right click on Local Area Connection and choose Properties In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog double click Internet Protocol TCP IP In the resulting Properties dialog enter the IP address for the machine in the ZP address box 2 zg General Sharir internet Protocol TCP IP Properties 2h xi General Connect using E Intel R F You can get IP settings assigned automatically if your network supports this capability Otherwise you need to ask your network administrator for R P
129. d possible solution Problem If you have trouble installing the XML parser bear in mind that the XML parser installer requires permissions to the WINNT Installer folder Player Health monitoring heartbeats not being received Reasons and possible solutions 208 1 System settings such as Network Managers Host Address Health Monitoring IP Port or Heartbeat Interval have been changed in Network Manager but one or more Players have not received a job to update them on these changes Thus they are attempting to send back status messages but failing If any changes have been made on the System Settings page a job any job must be sent to all Players so that they are aware of the changes 2 The Network Managers Host Address or Health Monitoring IP Port settings are incorrect preventing communication P Address must match the address of the Network Manager machine The TCP IP port number specified in Server Port must not be one used by any other network traffic such as FTP or HTTP 3 Communication is being blocked by a firewall The firewall must be configured to allow access through the port number specified in Health Monitoring IP Port Problem 13 Troubleshooting tips Content is not being updated Reasons and possible solutions 1 The Publish Location specified in Send Content jobs is disabled It must be re enabled before content on it will be sent The Publish Location from which Send Conten
130. d in Log File Reader 178 Preventing overflow 127 M Machine allocation IC Network 52 Mailto links 84 Main Script sending 156 Maintenance commands 141 Maintenance jobs for Players 161 Manage panel 40 Maximum Player Response 184 MD5 encoding 108 Messenger service need to disable 127 Minimum Trigger Interval 136 272 Mixed connection 244 Modem use for FTP dial up 240 Move Up Move Down 133 N NetBEUI FTP not available under 215 NetManager account 221 Admin privileges needed 219 Creating on Player 231 252 Using with dial up FTP 239 Workspace folder permission for Shared Folder access 248 NetManager user 220 Network layouts examples 62 Network Manager 74 Closing 66 Configuration 70 78 Connection to Publish Location Player 49 Editing Windows user accounts 70 Enabling FTP server 223 Folder diagram 63 FTP root 224 Hosting Publish Location 53 IP address static required 70 Not functioning 203 Overview 36 Problems reaching job folder 205 Remote workspace hosting 59 Securing machine 38 Shutting down 66 Starting 36 Tray icon for Engine 37 User interface 39 47 Using with Broadcast Server 193 Web Home Directory 72 Workspace location defining 225 248 Network Manager Workspace folder 58 224 225 247 248 Network Manager s Host address Changing requires Player update 208 Incorrect 208 Network options Player Config utility 113 Network topologies 49 200 New Broadcast Server form 195 New items creating 46 New
131. dial up access to the Internet that involves the computer using a modem to dial the phone number for another computer s modem or for an ISP that provides the Internet access See also SP digital video a video that has been digitized so that it can be con trolled from a PC and displayed directly on a computer monitor 257 Glossary 258 Direct FTP Scala s easy to configure point to point scheme for FTP communication between Network Manager and Players which uses FTP server software built into InfoChannel See also Custom connec tion DirectX Microsoft s universal graphics driver software for Windows PCs ICDesigner depends on DirectX for its graphics playback func tions thus DirectX must be present on any PC that plays back ICDe signer scripts event an action in a script virtually everything that happens in a script is an event including text sounds wipes animations etc EX extension module a software module which may be available separately to extend the functionality of CDesigner for example enabling control of a new hardware device If the function involves an activity that can be controlled by the ICDesigner user a column is added to the Main menu and a new menu specific to the EX can be opened by clicking on the corresponding button FTP File Transfer Protocol a standard protocol for transferring data over TCP IP To use FTP FTP software must be set up on both sending and
132. e Customer agrees to provide a safe and secure installation environment which meets the specified requirements of the computer system s on which the Software is running including without limitation environmental controls electric supply service clearances cable runs and in the event that the Support Organization agrees to send personnel to the Customer s premises safety of the Customer s and the Support Organization s personnel and vii The Customer agrees to limit use of the Software Maintenance Services that are the subject of this Agreement to occasions when the Software fails to work as set forth in the user manuals or occasions where the user manuals are unclear Service Charges A Annual Maintenance Services for the Initial Period shall be provided without charge to Customer Thereafter Customer may elect to renew Maintenance Services for additional annual periods at SCALA s then current standard annual fee for Maintenance Services Annual fees may be invoiced thirty 30 days prior to the expiration of the previous period On site service shall be provided at the reasonable discretion of the Support Organization If on site service is designated by SCALA as required or customer requested of which the Software is located at a distance beyond fifty miles 50 miles from the Support Organization s office a travel charge may be assessed by the Support Organization upon notice to and approval of Customer Changes or Waivers to
133. e Player to become stuck e you realize that a job that the Player is running is the wrong job or an incorrectly specified job which could be lengthy or danger ous to allow to run to completion e you need to send a job to fix a problem but the Player is caught in a series of retries that would be unnecessary and time consuming to wait for An Abort Jobs in Progress job is called for in such cases 169 Bf am E nfoChannel ron K SESE DILO N Using Health Monitoring 11 Using Health Monitoring How it works The Health Monitoring system in InfoChannel Network Manager gives you an easy way to keep track of the status of all the Players in your InfoChannel Network It is your first line of defense against unscheduled Player outages and network malfunctions Player Health Monitoring allows you to e see the status of all Players at once e see the status details of individual Players e see problem Players grouped by errors that they have in common e retrieve and read log files from particular Players including Win dows logs to help you diagnose problems e have automatic alert emails sent to a system administrator when a new problem occurs on a Player e clear errors so that they no longer produce alerts or affect status Health Monitoring works by having all Players send out a heartbeat at a regular interval The heartbeat is a very brief status message that simply identifies
134. e Scala Software product s with which the EX is to be used or ii immediately cease all use of the Scala Software and return the software in accordance with the provisions of Section 9 hereunder Any installation customization or maintenance services by Scala will be provided under a separate agreement between the parties Software updates are free of charge in the first year only Any fees referred to in this or any separate agreement do not include any duties taxes or handling fees Whenever imposed all duties taxes and handling fees are payable by Licensee Income or other taxes that are required to be paid or withheld by Licensee or Scala under the laws of jurisdictions other than the United States in connection with the license and other fees paid by Licensee hereunder are the sole obligation of Licensee and shall be exclusive of the license and other fees paid by Licensee Other Scala Services and Information i As a convenience to its Licensees Scala provides certain services materials and information related to the Scala Software to Licensees through Scala s Internet web site the Scala Network Scala expressly reserves the right to modify terminate limit or alter the Scala Network the contents thereof any materials related thereto or Licensee s access thereto at any time without notice to Licensee ii Scala and Licensee expressly agree and acknowledge that 1 Any information posted by Licensee on or to the Scal
135. e do not actually take effect until the next time the InfoChannel Player Engine is restarted 125 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Miscellaneous Player issues Miscellaneous Player issues 126 Virus scanning on Players Although the use of virus scanning software is strongly recommended for security maintenance in an InfoChannel Network installation Scala does not recommend that such software be installed on Players Testing by Scala has shown that even virus scanning products by the most reputable companies are a stability hazard on computers for which 24 hour 7 day a week reliability is crucial The first line of defense in preventing virus infection of Players is sim P g y ply not allowing them to become compromised e Players should remain dedicated systems never used for email Web surfing or other high risk activities Software other than Windows and InfoChannel Player software should be installed on a Player only if absolutely necessary and should be scanned before installation e The Network Manager workspace folder should be frequently virus scanned so that all files transmitted to Players are verified as clean Scala does recommend that Player machines be scanned for viruses periodically Ideally the scan should be done from a virus scanner run ning on a remote machine with a network connection to the Player If remote scanning is not possible virus checking software should be temporarily installed on t
136. e job file determining required content and con tent location Player connects with Network Manager downloads the content from workspace New content is seamlessly swapped in Player generates log entries for the job uploads them to Network Manager Network Manager displays logged messages on its Job Activity Player Health pages For jobs other than Send Content the fundamental communication operations in steps 4 11 are the same Steps 8 and 9 would not be present in jobs that do not involve downloading Closing InfoChannel Network Manager When Network Manager is running you can close the interface por tion of the application at any time if you do not need to work with it actively The Network Manager Engine continues to run unless explicitly stopped monitoring Publish Locations running scheduled jobs and handling communication with Players Shutting down InfoChannel Network Manager If you need to shut down Network Manager completely it is a two step process like starting the program Both Network Manager and the underlying network engine must be stopped 66 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Shutting down InfoChannel Network Manager To shut down the Network Manager application 1 Exit Network Manager if it is running by clicking the close button in its window s upper right corner 2 Right click on the Network Manager icon in the System Tray This produces a pop up menu with just one choice Stop Inf
137. e length of time that may elapse before a Player checks for a certain condition such as whether a job has been deliv ered to its job folder or whether its script has been updated port IP a numerically designated access point for messages of a par ticular type in TCP IP network communications Glossary publish to prepare an ICDesigner script for distribution Scripts must be published to InfoChannel Network in order to be available for distribution to Players via Network Manager Publish Location a folder to which ICDesigner scripts are pub lished where content and other files that may be sent to Players are stored Publish Locations are defined within Network Manager and need only be accessible to both the ICDesigner and Network Manager machines query a request for status information from the Broadcast Server software to Players RAS remote access service a service provided by Windows Dial Up Networking to establish a network connection with another computer via modem root a particular folder chosen as the base reference point relative to which all other paths within a web server or FTP server are defined SCA the file type extension used by ICDesigner to identify script files SCB the file type extension used by ICDesigner to identify script files that have been published Scala Key a small hardware device or dongle that is inserted in the parallel or USB port of licensed
138. eal world it is only prudent Planned reboots are far less disruptive than crashes due to memory leaks or cor rupted files Set up a Reboot job with a time based trigger for the least noticeable time for example Every Sunday at 10 minutes past 4 am Deleting unused content As noted in chapter 7 unused content is not automatically deleted from a Player Old content that is no longer used can build up even tually filling the Player s hard drive and preventing it from working The solution to this problem is to schedule regular Delete Unused Con tent jobs for all Players This command examines the InstalledContent folder InfoChannel Note Content folder on the Player Any scripts or linked content that is not referenced directly or indirectly by does not affect the the Main Script is deleted by this command Unused content files that How often you need to run a Delete Unused Content eeoumuiaie Uirae Mmusi job will depend on the frequency of content updates the degree of script changes in the updates and the amount of free space on the Players hard drive Reviewing Player status Part of an InfoChannel Network administrator s daily routine should be a review of both the Network Manager Player Health pages and the Job Activity page They tell you what you need to know about what is currently going on in your InfoChannel Network and how well your Players are operating Job Activity gives a real time view of what Network Ma
139. eating a Player Click the New Player button You see the New Player form InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Player Microsoft Internet Explorer Ele Edt View Favorites Tools Help o xj Heak gt OA Aseatch Favorites BPMedia hr S I Address hitp localhost Z Go Links NMEE un New Player Description Send Job Commands Via Player s Host Address Password 8 or more characters Confirm Password Broadcast Connection to this Player Send Job Commands and Files Via Player ID Custom ID Group Associations Groups Associated with this Player Name LOOS E Point To Point Connection to This Player s Job Folder Player Direct FTP Local Computer Tutorial ls Player Direct FTP custom o m x lt No Broadcast Server Selected gt Groups Not Associated with this Player lt Add lt Broadcast gt lt East gt Remove gt lt Metro gt L Ee loaie Z Enter identifying information about the new Player in the follow ing fields a long as it is unique b Description Enter a Name Enter a name for the Player It can be anything as description for the Player optional Using the Send Job Commands Via pop up choose how Network Manager gets to the Player s job folder Local Computer Tutorial This option is for use only with a Network
140. ection of this panel apply only to FTP connections See the section on FTP dial up connections starting on page 241 in the appendix for details The Logging section of the panel has options related to how the Player reports its activity back to Network Manager Changing the amount of log information Players write messages describing their activities to daily log files You can specify the level of detail you want included in ICPlayer Note the Player log files depending on whether you want When Direct FTP is in use the to make them easier to read through or gather fur Player logs include FTP opera ther information to help you troubleshoot a problem tion messages Choose a level of detail from the Activity Logging Detail pop up The four choices in increasing level of detail are e Errors and Problems Only e Low e Normal e Diagnostic Keeping track of the Player s playback status Because Players are generally assumed to be playing back scripts at all times it is important to know if anything has hap ICPlayer Note pened to interrupt playback The Player can be set to Turning on this option doesnot notice if its playback window has been closed and automatically restore playback if it is interrupted The best way to restart p automatically send an alert to Network Manager layback is for a when this happens This precaution is designed to Reboot command to be issued catch instances when someone accidentally closes the
141. ed Dead when you know that they are working the tolerance may be too low to cover the delays in your sys tem Try increasing the value of this setting 183 11 Using Health Monitoring Health Monitoring configuration settings 184 Minimum Alert Interval When a new unique error occurs on a Player the Player sends an alert email message see Problem Notification Email Address below Since the same basic malfunction can in some cases cause a rapid series of identical errors the Minimum Alert Interval Minutes setting pro vides a way to control the frequency that alerts can be sent A given Player can send alert messages no closer together than the time set here The default is 15 minutes If you are receiving too many redun dant alerts increase this value Maximum Player Log Retrieval on Same Error When Network Manager receives an error alert from a Player it auto matically retrieves the log file from the Player Because some condi tions cause the identical error to show up in many or all Players this could result in excessive traffic in returned log files when only a few are needed to ascertain the problem s cause Maximum Player Log Retrieval on Same Error sets a limit on the num ber of different Players whose logs will be retrieved in response to the same error If the default of 3 does not provide enough information to allow you to reliably diagnose errors you can raise the number Problem Notification Ema
142. ed to adjust them unless and until you need to do some system tuning 75 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 76 Step 5 Configure Player Health Monitoring settings Network Manager s Health Monitoring feature is not enabled by default it requires certain machine specific configuration steps before it can begin to operate Although using Health Monitoring is not required it makes maintain ing an InfoChannel Network much easier so it is strongly recom mended that you enable and configure it 1 If it is not already on turn on the Health Monitoring Enabled option so that the other Health Monitoring options are visible J InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Edit System Settings Microsoft Internet Explorer _ ol x File Edt View Favorites Tools Help Back gt O A A GSeach Favorites EMedia lt 4 Fr S Ef Address http localhost Z Go Links 2 NMEE un Edit System Settings Health Monitoring Options Health Monitoring Enabled M Health Monitoring IP Port sono Heartbeat Interval Minutes 3 Overdue Heartbeat Tolerance Minutes 1 Minimum Alert Interval Minutes 15 Maximum Player Log Retrieval on Same Error 3 Problem Notification Email Address Enable Daily Log File Retrieval M Keep Log Files for this Many Days 7 User Options Inactivity Timeout Minutes 0 Cancel E OO i E Local
143. eft as is for now You should not need to adjust them until and unless you need to do some system tuning See page 182 in chapter 11 for more on Health Monitoring options 6 Click OK to accept your changes on the Edit System Settings form 77 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 78 rg Finally click the SUBMIT CHANGES choice that appears in the control frame This is what actually stores your changes in the database Step 6 Eliminate possible FTP port conflicts If you intend to use InfoChannel s Direct FTP servers as well as use the FTP server provided by Microsoft s IIS you need to eliminate a possible conflict with their FTP port numbers Direct FTP requires exclusive use of TCP IP port number 21 This is the default port number for the IIS FTP server You need to change the IIS FTP port number on any machines that will be using Direct FTP Network Manager and Players 1 2 3 4 Open IIS Manager Open the Properties sheet for the Default FTP Site On the FTP Site panel of the Properties sheet change the TCP Port setting to some value other than 21 Click OK and close IIS Manager If you do not require the IIS FTP server it is recommended that you disable it on any machine that will use Direct FTP Step 7 Set up Publish Locations and Players Before you can configure individual Player machines you need to do further setup work within Network Manager to
144. ell or otherwise distribute the Scala Software Licensee may not offer the use of the software to third parties as an application service provider service bureau or remote hosted service Licensee may internally transfer the Scala Software to a different single user computer provided that the Scala Software and any copies thereof are permanently uninstalled and or deleted from the computer from which the Scala Software is transferred a Transferred Installation i Limitations In connection with the development of content files using the Scala Software Licensee may publish files for use or viewing via CD ROM web page or other file protocol which publication shall involve the integration of Scala s iplay software either within the content file or through download from the Scala Network Use of the iplay software is limited solely to the review or display of the developed content file by Licensee through the single user computer on which the Scala Software is loaded Licensee expressly acknowledges and agrees that a separate paid Scala Player end user license is required to display perform or otherwise deliver content files created using Scala Software Licensee shall not directly or indirectly distribute or cause to be distributed Scala Software content files in a manner calculated to circumvent the license limitation set forth in this Section 3 a i Notwithstanding the foregoing Licensee may distribute content files with integrated iplay
145. ent for Customer to implement the newest version D Supervision of repairs on associated equipment Customer Responsibilities A The Customer must have a valid license to use the Software from SCALA and be in material compliance with the terms and conditions of such license The Customer must be current in its payment obligations under this Agreement The Customer shall notify the Support Organization of any Software problem together with complete information concerning the failure as soon as possible after the problem has occurred i The Customer shall provide as accurate and complete a description as possible to the Support Representative The customer shall assist in problem resolution by providing copies of reports and or files deemed necessary by the Support Services group The Customer will provide the Support Organization with the following i Name of nominated personnel and their location who are competent to use the Software ii Access to the Software and computer s on which it resides iii Adequate working facilities such as communication devices modems iv Access to and use of all information reasonably necessary to service the Software v The Customer shall be responsible for security of its confidential proprietary and classified information as well as for the maintenance of adequate backup procedures for files as SCALA will not be responsible for loss of or altered files data or programs vi Th
146. equired for broadcast use o O o o O Z N Class B I Class A I a O00 OOO Class K IV Some example InfoChannel Network layouts see page 49 and page 53 for class designations 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Mapping Network Manager Mapping Network Manager The following diagram illustrates the folder structure of the Network Manager machine on a typically configured three Player InfoChannel Network and how a Player named Playerl interacts with those fold ers Network Manager Workspace Transmission Workspace folder for FTP use this folder is also defined as the FTP root Data Flow Key Polling and job file pickup lt n anne Retrieved file uploads Content downloads Player job folders user definable all Players download their content files from this folder Network Manager Network Transmission lt gt Player1 m _ Player2 o am me Content Player3 N nN Files Player1 m __ Player2 Health _ Player3 Transmission _F Logs Playerl OO SORS N b 8 s s Player2 Sa sn e A gt Player3 Content Player4 o Files 63 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Mapping
147. er because administrators must occasionally perform mainte nance and diagnostic tasks on Players in the field and because the fil ing scheme used for script content on Players is somewhat arcane it can be valuable to understand how things are arranged The Content folder All content files sent to a Player from Network Manager are stored in the Content folder located in lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala where lt systemroot gt is the system root drive letter typically C path to Player Content folder versionated ile name Main Script Priceless scb InstalledContent folder job folder 7 Defining and working with Players How content is stored on a Player This illustration shows the layout of files and folders within Content for a Player that has been sent a script named Priceless X Content BE EI File Edt View Favorites Tools Help a Al Users m File Folder 7 8 2002 2 20 PM Application Data shared Files File Folder 748 2002 2 20 PM Desktop fa Priceless 556 scb SKB ScalaScript Published 6 25 2002 2 40 AM B Documents Sp Orts B Scala B Shared Files EG script 50541f7b188eab4c59ee46de2f8fZ E 884dbdbb3fd908eba0848516a4c7 bo38df94494355d8c189ecb3c36et 48206d15e15156038df944943553 Gy b831e34a7b87e48206d15e151561 aE wipes E installedContent Network Transmission S orm E Favorites Start Menu
148. er a phone number The number you enter here is only a placeholder so it can be anything such as 555 5555 You do not need to enter a real Player phone number in this con nection because the real phone number is specified in the Player definition see page 235 Network Manager ensures that the real phone number is passed to the connection and automatically sub stituted for the placeholder number when the call is made Click Next 7 Under Connection Availability select For all users and click Next 8 Finally you must give the connection a name In order for the phone number substitution to work you must name the connec tion InfoChannel Network Manager without quotes 9 Click Finish 237 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 238 Testing the connection When you click Finish you see a connection dialog that allows you to test the connection you have just created You will not be able to suc cessfully complete the connection test until you have completed all the necessary FTP account and connection configuration steps on a Player machine Once you have done so you should test the InfoChannel Network Manager connection Pick a Player to connect to then use the Net Manager user name and the password you configured on that Player plus its real phone number Step 2 Create an Incoming connection on Player Now you need to create an Incoming connection on the Player to ac
149. er is healthy 08 27 02 LobbyPlayer 21 50 42 No retrieved log blank alr Log retrieved ET New log requested pE Log file status ACCeSs a blank screen icon indicates that this Player has stopped playback O L Player 3 This Player is not sending out heartb MetroLobby information Iv g Playerz Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt ple Window ly Caused by error 10 4 select a Player and click r g Player 1 This Play healthy the Retrieve Log button LobbyPlayer to request its latest log file click a Player s name to open the Log File Reader and view its log files 176 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages The Show options at the top of this page allow you to decide which of the three Player status levels are visible the number of Players at each level is shown next to its icon The column headed by the InfoChannel Player 3 logo icon is there to Problem details hidden when Details is off select a Player and click the Retrieve Log button to request its latest log file draw attention to the playback status of the Players which is indepen dent of their communication status When the icon appears in the col umn the Player s playback engine is operating indicating that the Player is playing its script normally A blank screen icon in this col umn indicates that the Player is not playing back Player Health All Players with Selected Problem In
150. er the password again to ensure you didn t type it wrong OR Local or Shared Folder connection a Folder Enter the drive letter or UNC path that Network Manager would use to access the Broadcast Server s Broadcast Inbox folder For example ICBserver Network Broadcast Inbox 6 Optionally enter a feedback email address In the Email text box you can enter an email address to which status emails will be sent 196 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager 7 Click the OK button at the bottom of the form 8 Choose SUBMIT CHANGES to store your changes in the data base You see the Broadcast Server listed on the Broadcast Servers page Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Broadcast Servers Microsoft Internet Explorer 01 x File Edt view Favorites Tools Help eBack gt A A Reach GaFavortes History Fh Address http lacalhost x G0 Links In Broadcast Servers Access Mode View Modify v lnfoChan anne I Home Logout Configure f Name URL Email Description o kog Satserverl Bserver Broadcast admin scala com Broadcast Server for Inbox satellite Players Accounts System Settings SelectAll Deselect All Delete Disable Enable New Broadcast Server E i E Local intranet Z Defining a broadcast Player When a Br
151. ers in the Inetpub folder Step 3 Establish the Web Home Directory The default home directory for the Web is located at lt systemroot gt InetPub wwwroot where lt systemroot gt is the letter of the drive where Windows is installed If you will retain the default skip to Step 4 Configure transmission options However if for example you want to have the Web Home Directory on a drive different from the Windows drive you need to change this 1 From the Start menu choose Programs gt Administrative Tools gt Internet Services Manager 2 Expand the tree on the left hand side of the Internet Information Services tool so that the Default Web Site tree is visible 3 Right click on Default Web Site and choose Properties You should see the Default Web Site Properties dialog 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 4 Select the Home Directory tab ol x aston vow e gt amele n Wea Computer local Connection Type _ Status Internet Information Services B icnmserver Yes TCP IP B E icnmserver EEES Derou web site properties UUTE H Def H 4 Def Documents Directory Security HTTP Headers CustomEnors WebSite Perfomance ISAPI Filters Home Directory When connecting to this resource the content should come from A directory located on this computer A share located on another computer A redirection to a URL Browse IT Scri
152. es a file other than a content file on the Player Retrieve Content returns a specified content file from the Player to Network Manager Retrieve Files returns specified non content files from the Player to Network Manager Install System File places a system file on the Player and reboots to ensure that the file is used by the system Delete Files deletes specified files on the Player Delete Unused Content deletes content files that are no longer being used by the Player s scripts Run Command runs a command line on the Player such as a batch file to accomplish miscellaneous work Reboot reboots the Player Abort Jobs in Progress stops the execution of all jobs that are cur rently running on the Player Install Software Update places a Scala Software Update file on the Player and automatically installs the software The maintenance commands are discussed individually below The way you make the Where and When settings for any of these com mands is given in the Creating a job section on page 132 Install File The Jnstall File command works much the same as Send Content The primary difference is that Install File is for files other than content 141 9 Setting up jobs Job commands and therefore requires you to specify the destination path on the Player a Choose a Publish Location from the Source pop up Network Manager scans the Publish Location file server for files in its
153. etrieving from Player 142 167 Updating from external sources 158 Updating on Players 156 Content files Choosing for Send Content job 138 140 Copying to Player manually 108 Storage for script 108 Content folder 106 Contents xml file 108 Control frame NM icons 40 Custom connection FTP setup 223 247 FTP vs Shared Folder 215 Setup 212 Shared Folder setup 247 254 Used with Direct FTP 244 Custom ID 198 Custom Playback Mode 124 D Data flow 19 63 Broadcast connections 190 Sequence diagram 65 Databases Changing and restoring 42 45 Editing not possible 210 Dead status Icon 176 Possibly deceptive 173 Default installation 26 Delete Files command 145 Delete Files job 168 Using to clear out InstalledContent folder 162 Delete Unused Content command 146 Delete Unused Content job 162 207 InstalledContent folder unaffected 109 Deleting database items 46 Deselect All link 45 Details option 177 Device drivers problem 207 Dial up connections on Player 235 Dial up router accessing Players 246 Direct FTP 48 51 57 65 Activity messages 153 Capable topologies 50 Job folder location 54 56 Job folders created automatically 216 Preferable on LAN 215 Simpler setup 51 Static IP address required for Players 49 57 Used with Custom connection 244 When not suitable 212 Disabling and enabling items 44 Dongle inserting 36 Drivers Installing on Player 144 Using certified 30 E Edit Account form 84 Edit Job form 149 Edit Player f
154. eving log files 177 Run Command command 147 Run Command job 168 Run Now 150 Automatic jump to Job Activity page 153 S Scala Key inserting 36 Scala Web site 22 ScalaNet data flow 19 Scheduling Flexibility using linked content 158 Job when effective 137 Jobs 135 Script folder on Player 108 Scripts Deleting unused 146 Restarting 157 Sub scripts when sent as linked content 158 Working with retrieved 167 Security Additional risks with offsite workspace 60 Patches applying 29 Securing NM machine 38 Unique accounts per Player 222 Unique passwords per Player 246 Security notes 31 Index Selecting items 45 Send Content job 139 156 Automatic management of destination 161 Disabled 209 Triggering automatically 135 Send Main Script job 137 Sequence of communication 65 Server Address Broadcast Server 118 Server Port Health Monitoring 76 Server client meaning in log files 180 Service packs Installation 28 Order of installation 31 Services Disabling on Player 126 ICNM Engine not a Windows service 37 Shared Folder connection Setup 247 254 When to use 215 229 Sharing Job folder 203 Workspace folders 247 Show Details option 177 Sick status icon 176 Sorting items 47 Source pop up names in red 92 Status Player Affected by Clearing Problems 181 Submit Changes 42 45 Sub scripts Scripts sent as linked content 158 System files installing on Player 144 System log Windows In Log File Reader 178 Preventing
155. f the Player will be a member of a Group make the appropriate settings in the Group Associations section see page 99 for details Click the OK button to close the New Player form If necessary repeat the process to create additional Players When you have finished click SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new Player s in the database 251 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access 252 Shared Folder setup on each Player The tasks in this section must be done on each Player machine you intend to use with a Custom Shared Folder connection Step 1 Edit accounts and permissions 1 In order for the system to be secure you need to disable the Guest user account in Windows This is necessary to prevent ignorant or malicious users from gaining access to the Player Create and configure the CPlayer user account on the Player For all job functions to be available this should be an administrator level account The ICPlayer account is what the Player uses when it contacts Network Manager The Player needs to be running under the IC Player account for access to the share on Network Manager If the Player job folder is located on the Player you must also cre ate a NetManager account to allow Network Manager to access the Player Network Manager needs to be running under the Net Manager account for access to the share on the Player Add the ICPlayer user to the Network Transmission folder o
156. fit either of these scenarios Scala recom mends using Direct FTP if possible Basic considerations for using FTP connections If you need to use FTP connections in your InfoChannel Network but choose not to use Scala s Direct FTP any third party FTP server soft ware can be used for a Custom FTP connection 215 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections InfoChannel software has been tested extensively with Microsoft s IIS FTP service Other vendors FTP servers configured appropriately can be expected to work correctly and may offer certain advantages However they have not been tested by Scala The most critical tasks you must attend to regardless of FTP server manufacturer are e Disabling Anonymous access to all FTP servers e Creating password protected accounts for access on the FTP server machines e Making sure that accounts and folders have the necessary permis sions the folders used for FTP must be read write modify for the appropriate users Setup common to all Custom connections 216 Certain tasks must be performed regardless of whether the Custom connections you use are of the FTP or Shared Folder type Chief among these tasks are e Creating job folders e Assigning Network Manager s workspace locations e Creating accounts and assigning account privileges Creating Player job folders Every Player needs its own unique job folder In InfoChannel Networks tha
157. fore a connection is estab The accounts discussed lished FTP authentication is handled through user here are not related to the name password identities for Shared Folder access level accounts defined on Network Man a ager s User Accounts page accounts with appropriate privileges In IIS FTP usernames are also linked to Windows user accounts authentication by the creation of Windows user The descriptions given here use NetManager as the username or account name to identify Network Manager and ICPlayer as the username or account name to identify any Player You do not need to use these particular names The important thing is that they be descriptive and that they match on both ends of the connection Network Manager should be running under its NetManager user account at all times Players should be running under their ICPlayer user account at all times These should be Administrator level accounts for full InfoChannel functionality to be available 219 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections Authentication needed using Custom FTP The following table shows what needs to be set up for authentication on the Network Manager and Player ends of given types of Custom FTP accesses FTP Access NM deposits jobs in job folders on Player Needed on NM a NetManager user name in Network Manager s Player defi nition Needed on Players FTP
158. ftware Updates on appropriate computer media or electronically if and when they become available for general commercial release during the maintenance period for the modules purchased by and being supported for the Customer A single copy of the Software Updates and pertinent documentation will be sent to the Customer for each affected Software product covered by this Agreement Customer agrees that unless otherwise agreed to in writing by SCALA and Customer the installation and use of any Software Updates shall be governed by the underlying end user license agreement entered into by Customer and SCALA B SCALA or a Support Organization may defer postpone or withhold Software Maintenance pursuant to this Agreement in the event Customer unreasonably delays installation of any new Software release or upgrade delivered to Customer pursuant to the terms hereunder C Customer acknowledges and agrees that Customer is solely responsible for the acquisition and maintenance of the computer hardware firmware telecommunications and information technology systems necessary to use and operate the Software The Software documentation includes information regarding recommended Customer hardware and software configurations for operation of the Software and SCALA and or the Support Organization may provide advice regarding appropriate operating system s configuration for use of the Software NEITHER SCALA NOR ANY SUPPORT ORGANIZATION SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR CORRECT
159. ftware for InfoChannel Networks Scripts are created in ICDesigner then published to a location accessible to Network Manager for distri bution to Player machines Should not be confused with the original Release 1 version of InfoChannel Designer still available which cannot publish to InfoChannel Networks InfoChannel Network a network for multimedia content distribu tion and display comprising an InfoChannel Network Manager 3 machine and at least one Player InstalledContent folder a folder on the Player for content files that have been placed on the machine by some method other than being sent by Network Manager being copied from a CD ROM or down loaded by a separate application for example See also Content folder interactive script a script in which the viewer controls the direction of the production 259 Glossary 260 IP address an address in four part numerical format that uniquely identifies a computer accessible over a TCP IP based LAN or the Internet For example 127 0 0 10 IP Multicast a method for broadcasting that uses common IP proto cols and transmission technologies ISP Internet service provider a company that provides web host ing FTP hosting email and other Internet services job a task or series of tasks generated in InfoChannel Network Man ager to perform maintenance tasks on one or more Players Jobs typi cally involve uploading and downloading scripts log
160. ge triggers that would cause it to run A disabled job can still be run manually using the Run Now button To disable an enabled job 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Disable button You see its lightbulb darken 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The job will no longer run when scheduled It still can be run manu ally To enable a disabled job 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its darkened lightbulb icon 2 Click the Enable button You see its lightbulb light up 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The job will resume its run schedule 151 9 Setting up jobs Monitoring job activity Deleting a job If you are sure that you will never need an existing job again you can delete it To delete a job 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Delete button You see a confirmation dialog 3 Click OK in the dialog 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The job is deleted and no longer listed Monitoring job activity 152 The Job Activity page accessible by clicking the Job Activity icon in the Manage panel of the control frame lets you view messages that Network Manager outputs as it is performing job related activity This is the same information that is recorded in the log files and can be useful in tracking down problems with your installation as well as helping Scala Technical Support identify and eliminate any problems in the software 9 Se
161. ger activity chapter 9 40 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface e Jobs lists defined Network Manager jobs and lets you create schedule and run jobs chapter 9 Clicking the Configure tab displays a panel see page 44 for an illustra tion with icons for the following pages e Players lists defined Players and lets you define new ones chap ter 7 Publish Locations lists defined Publish Locations and lets you define new ones chapter 6 e Broadcasting lists defined Broadcast Servers and lets you define new ones chapter 12 e Accounts lists defined user accounts and lets you define new ones chapter 5 e System Settings lists configuration settings and lets you adjust them chapter 4 A single click on any of these choices opens its page General remarks about working on these pages can be found in the remainder of this chapter For more specific information on each sub ject see the listed chapters The Home and Log Out options are always available at the top of the control frame Access levels in Network Manager For an application that is accessible via the Internet it is crucial for security reasons to be able to control who has access to the system Network Manager has a multi leveled access scheme to offer security within a flexible framework 41 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface 42
162. gl F Delete File s in Subfolders I Delete Read Only Files If the item is a folder and you want to also delete the contents of any subfolders select the Delete File s in Subfolders option If you want the deletion to include files with the Read Only attribute set select the Delete Read Only Files option 145 9 Setting up jobs Job commands 146 d Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list e Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Delete Unused Content As scripts on the Player are continually updated scripts and their files that are no longer in use will accumulate Unneeded files can fill the Player s hard drive leaving insufficient room for further updates and general operation This can happen quickly when much content is in the form of large digital video files The Delete Unused Content command provides a simple way to reclaim drive space from outdated files It identifies any content in the Con tent folder that is no longer in use and deletes it from the Player Scripts and media files are deleted only if the Main Script and its sub scripts if any make no use of them a The Delete Unused Content command has no options Just choose it from the Command pop up b Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job The com mand appears as a line
163. h Location for new experimental scripts and enable it only for testing purposes Doing so is possible without having to delete and then re create the Publish Locations when you later need them by disabling them When you disable a Publish Location its definition remains unchanged It can still be selected in the creation and editing of jobs However when a job that uses a disabled Publish Location runs con tent from that location is not actually sent To disable an enabled Publish Location 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Disable button You see its lightbulb darken 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Content on the Publish Location will no longer be available to run ning jobs The name of a disabled Publish Location shows up in red on the Create Job Edit Job forms Source pop up 6 Defining Publish Locations Enabling and disabling Publish Locations To enable a disabled Publish Location 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its darkened lightbulb icon 2 Click the Enable button You see its lightbulb light up 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Content on the Publish Location is again available to jobs Deleting a Publish Location If you are sure you will never need an existing Publish Location again you can delete it To delete a Publish Location 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Delete button You see a confirmation dialog 3 C
164. h Locations Players Broadcast Servers Player Health and Accounts pages all list items defined in them in a similar table like format Each item job location Player log message or account appears as a single row on its page with col umns that display information about the item Alternate rows are 43 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface 44 four items in four columns shaded to help separate the rows The rows can be sorted by different columns ZJ InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Players Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 x Ele Edt view Favorites Tools Help Back gt A A Reach Favorites Bristory v Address http localhost InfoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 Log Out Br Name Connections Group Associations Description o Ba Player 1 eeeF Documents and Settings All Player in Manage Configure LobbyPlayer Users Documents Scala Network the lobby Transmission Outbox Player1 Players e B Es Player 2 eeeF Documents and Settings All Player in Cafe Users Documents Scala Network the ission Outbox Pl 2 i Publish Locations E Transmission Outbox Player cafeteria mj y Player 3 eve ftp 192 168 10 66 Inbox East Player in MetroLobby Metro the lobby metro location Accounts Uy r i Tokyo 3 J Satserver1 Id 3 Broadcast Player in exe ftp 192 168 10 68 Inbox Sie i 7 Tokyo System Settings branch Broad
165. he Player After being used to perform a thor ough scan the virus software should then be uninstalled from the Player Player software and Windows services You should be aware that the message dialog boxes that can be put up by certain standard Windows services can disrupt Player operation For example the Messenger service puts up dialogs for certain events 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Miscellaneous Player issues When the Player is running a script in full screen mode as it normally is it must be switched out to allow the dialog box to appear inter rupting normal playback The InfoChannel Player software attempts to intercept as many sys tem dialogs as possible but not every situation can be anticipated A system administrator knowledgeable in Windows should disable ser vices that may cause disruptive dialogs For operation as a Player many standard services are not necessary The following services at a minimum should be disabled on dedi cated Player machines e Alerter service e Indexing service e Messenger service If a problem service cannot be disabled achieving non interruptible playback requires finding a way to prevent the dialog boxes from hav ing to appear Windows event log overflow It is possible for a PC to freeze if its Windows event logs fill up and no further events can be recorded To prevent this from happening the Windows System Application and Security logs on all Players shou
166. he connection e on Network Manager entering identifiers in the Player definition Player Direct FTP an IP address and password Custom FTP a job folder URL FTP username and pass word Custom Local or Shared Folder a path to a shared job folder with appropriate account privileges 105 7 Defining and working with Players How content is stored on a Player e on the Player running the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility and entering matching identifiers Player Direct FTP a password Custom FTP a job folder URL FTP username and pass word Custom Local or Shared Folder a path to a shared job folder with appropriate account privileges See page 112 in chapter 8 for details on this configuration task For Custom connections it is vital that whoever performs the configu ration on the Player machines knows the folder name that corresponds to each physical Player so that folder names and Players can be cor rectly matched up See the section Creating Player job folders on page 216 in the appen dix for details How content is stored on a Player 106 In normal operation it is not necessary to be concerned about what happens to content once it is sent to a Player The InfoChannel Player software unpacks the transmitted file package and places it where it needs to be on the Player s hard drive automatically the process is invisible from the Network Manager end Howev
167. he default home directory for FTP under Windows 2000 is estab lished by IIS at lt systemroot gt Inetpub Ftproot where lt systemroot gt is the letter of the drive in which Windows is installed If you are using a dif ferent FTP server its root location would be different Follow the pro cedures laid out in its documentation for viewing changing its FTP root or home directory Step 4 Set the Network Manager Workspace folder 1 In Network Manager click the Configure tab to display the icons in that panel of the control frame 2 Click the System Settings icon Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access You see the System Settings page which displays the current set tings of its options Click the Edit Settings button at the bottom of the page to open the Edit System Settings form Verify that the Network Manager s host address is correct See Step 4 Configure transmission options on page 73 of chapter 4 for instructions on checking and setting the address Set the Send and Receive Data Via pop up to Custom Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Edit System Settings Microsoft Internet Explorer File Edit View Favorites Tools Help HBack gt A A QSearch Favorites PMedia hy S Sf Address http localhost Go Links 2 NMEE un Edit System Settings Transmission Engine Options Network Manager s Host Address 192 1
168. he field a In the Content Name field type the name of the content file that you wish to be returned to the Network Manager server You must know the name of the file The command looks in the Content folder on the Player so only the name is required not a full path Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Retrieved content files are placed in the following location within the Network Manager workspace folder Receive Content lt playername gt Retrieve Files The Retrieve Files command is similar to Retrieve Content but it can get any file from a Player to return it to the Network Manager server not just a content file This command can be useful in verifying proper Player configuration checking device driver versions for example Retrieve Files supports the use of pattern matching the and wild cards to retrieve files a In the Full Path to Folder or File on Player field type the path to the file that you wish to be returned to the Network Man ager server You must know the file s location and name Entering a path to just a folder retrieves the contents of the folder If you have specified path to a folder you can also retrieve the contents of the folders within it by turning on W the Retrieve File s in Subf
169. he root of its own partition Wherever it is there needs to be plenty of empty space on the drive to hold all the published content that it will receive from ICDesigner stations Adding a Publish Location To add a Publish Location 1 In Network Manager click the Publish Locations icon on the Con figure panel of the control frame You see the Publish Locations page Normally all Publish Locations that have been created for this system are listed here Initially it is blank 2 Click the New Publish Location button Enter the indicated infor mation in the resulting form InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Publish Location Microsoft Internet Explorer File Edt View Favorites Tools Help S Back gt O A Seach Favorites Meda lt G S Sf Address E tite localhost Z Go Links_ 2 NMEE uri New Publish Location Name Description How to Connect to this Publish Location Connection Type Local or Shared Folder Local or Shared Folder i Folder Cancel fa BE Local intranet Z 89 6 Defining Publish Locations Adding a Publish Location The New Publish Location form has the following fields a Name Enter a name for the Publish Location It can be any thing as long as it is unique Description Enter a brief description for the Publish Loca tion optional Connection Type Choose the means by which you acces
170. he security of your network it is crucial that you disable anony mous FTP access to the Player If this step is omitted an error message noting the fact is logged for the system at a regular interval until this vulnerability is corrected Step 3 Establish the FTP root Setup tasks and general administration are simpler if you leave the FTP root at its default and Scala recommends that you do so if you have no compelling reason to change it If you will retain the default just verify that the root folder can be written to However if for example you want to have the FTP root on a drive dif ferent from the Windows drive you need to change the root location Step 4 Edit accounts and permissions 1 Disable the Guest user account in Windows This is necessary to prevent ignorant or malicious users from gaining access to the Player FTP server 2 Create and configure the Player s user account on the Player If you have followed the account setup suggestions given previously see page 220 this would be ICPlayer For all job functions to be available this should be an Administrator level account The 231 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access 232 ICPlayer account is what the Player uses when it contacts Net work Manager If the Player job folder is located on the Player you must also cre ate an account to allow Network Manager to log in to the Player If you have followed the acco
171. ices the HTTP service is required to run Network Manager enable FTP only if you intend to use the IIS FTP server Management and Monitoring Tools Networking Services Script Debugger 0 K2 K2 we ue ww 5 To finish the installation you need to reboot Windows Windows Step 3 Install service packs After Windows has rebooted you need to apply Windows 2000 Ser vice Pack 2 or higher SP 2 can be installed either using the Windows 28 2 Installation Installation of Microsoft software Update shortcut available from the Start menu or by downloading it directly from Microsoft http www microsoft com windows2000 downloads servicepacks sp2 default asp 1 Apply the service pack 2 Reboot Windows again Windows Step 4 Update Internet Explorer After installing Windows 2000 and the service packs it s time to update Internet Explorer to 5 5 Service Pack 2 or better Again you can update IE either by using the Windows Update short cut from the Start menu or by downloading SP2 directly from Microsoft http ww microsoft com windows ie downloads recommended ie55sp2 default asp 1 Apply IE 5 5 Service Pack 2 2 Reboot Windows again Windows Step 5 Apply security patches After you have updated Internet Explorer 5 5 to SP2 or better you need to apply the security patches It is recommended that you obtain them using the Windows Update shortcut in your Start menu as it lets you install most if not
172. iew the Net work Manager tutorial Valuable for first time users and anyone else who needs a better understanding of Network Manager the tutorial gives an overview of the program and a step by step guide to setting up a simple working InfoChannel Network This material is continu ally being updated and expanded with additional resources so it is worth checking on a regular basis The Network Manager logo in the upper left corner of every page is also a link to the tutorial site so you can get to it from any place in Network Manager 39 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface How you work in Network Manager In Network Manager there are two general modes of work e Management everyday monitoring and update of your Players e Configuration tasks required for initial setup and any subsequent changes in your InfoChannel Network Accordingly the control frame that runs along the left hand side of the page has two tab panels Manage and Configure They organize the various functions available in Network Manager Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Home Microsoft Internet Explorer file Edt View Favorites Tools Help Back gt A A Bsearch Hjravorites Hristory Ey Address hetp jlocalhost z 60 Links Access Mode View Madify z InfoChannel Different pages relating to your InfoChannel Network Manager installation are available
173. if you have special requirements Your network uses a separate file server machine external to the Network Manager machine You must use a machine that is always running and the Net work Manager machine is not running 24 hours a day every day You need to use a machine that has a different version of Win dows one with a higher number of licensed connections for example Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access In choosing a location that is different from the default Scala rec ommends that you still locate the folder somewhere within the Documents and Settings All Users hierarchy shown above if possible If you need to change the Network Manager Workspace Location setting use these steps a Make sure that the location you choose allows read write modify access to any user account b Itis recommended but not required that you create a folder named Network Transmission in the desired location c Then enter the full path to the location here in Network Manager Step 4 Set access to the Transmission Workspace 1 Choose the Transmission Workspace Location setting This setting is what determines whether the Players communicate with Network Manager via the FTP or the Shared Folder approach Depending on which access method you choose a dif ferent set of options appears below on the page 249 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom co
174. il Address As noted in chapter 4 the Problem Notification Email Address box allows you to specify an email address to which automatic alert mes sages are sent An alert email is sent to this address whenever a Prob lem appears on a Player in a previously all healthy network Entering an address here is optional If no address is given notification emails are not sent Enable Daily Log File Retrieval Standard practice is for every Player s log file to be retrieved and stored on Network Manager once a day at approximately midnight The content of the log file is cumulative but separate files are maintained for each day 11 Using Health Monitoring Health Monitoring configuration settings It is recommended that you leave Enable Daily Log File Retrieval on VW so that you are assured a constant record of your Players opera tion Keep Log Files for this Many Days The separate log files retrieved each day are not kept indefinitely After a set number of days the oldest file is deleted Set the number of days worth of log files to keep on hand with Keep Log Files for this Many Days If you have a large network you might decrease the number of days to reduce disk space usage on Network Manager provided you leave enough of a history to allow you to diagnose any problems that occur 185 Broadcasting in InfoChannel 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel In small to medium sized InfoChannel Netwo
175. ing are also identified Click Send to send your message An instant message window opens on the other user s screen showing your message You can message back and forth as long as you like When you are finished messaging click Exit Chat To create an account 1 Click the Accounts icon in the control frame You see the User Accounts page Normally all user accounts that have been created for this system are listed here Initially it is blank 5 Defining accounts Creating an account 2 Click the New Account button You see the New Account form InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Account Microsoft Internet Explorer file Edt view Favorites Tools Help Back gt A A Bsearch Favorites CHristory ye amp Address http localhost ec Jinks E User Verification Privileges of this User How to Contact this User New Account Full Name User Name Password Confirm Access Observer Only Email Cancel BB tocal intranet Z 3 Enter the indicated information in the form which has the fol lowing fields a f Full Name Enter the user s full name The name you enter must be unique User Name Enter the username that the person would enter on the Login page The name you enter must be unique Password Enter the password for this user Confirm Enter the password again to
176. ing the Network Manager Engine and starting the Network Manager application itself which provides the user interface The Network Manager installer offers to automatically start the Engine when Windows boots so it may already be running If it is not you can run it from the Start menu 1 From the Start menu choose Programs gt Scala InfoChannel Net work Manager 3 Enterprise Edition gt Start InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition Engine The Network Manager 36 gS py RUSIE 10 24PM l 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Starting Network Manager Engine runs continuously in the background handling communi cations with the Players It it thus generally left running at all times The Engine is not a Windows service it must be run from a logged in User account When the Engine is running you see its icon in the System Tray Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Log In Microsoft Internet Explorer O xj Eile Edit view Favorites Tools Help Start Network Manager itself by choosing Programs gt Scala Info Channel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition gt InfoChannel Net work Manager 3 Enterprise Edition from the Start menu It provides your user interface for the Engine allowing you to con figure the program define Players create jobs and so on Network Manager is now running You see the Log In page HBak gt Q A Asearch Favorites Hristory Gyr
177. ing web sites HTML files and related content such as Microsoft Internet Explorer Glossary choose to put a menu option into effect usually by clicking on a button This is different from selecting which highlights an object file etc to work with but does not actually perform the work confirmed broadcasting broadcasting in which there is a back chan nel through which Players can respond to transmissions with confir mation or error messages See also back channel connection the type of networking technology used to communicate one computer to another content any files that are played back as part of an InfoChannel script including graphics files sound files video files and Scala script files themselves Content folder a folder on the Player machine in which all content files sent to the Player are stored See also Installed Content folder control frame the frame on the left side of the Network Manager window from which you choose which Network Manager screen to work in Custom connection a type of highly flexible point to point connec tion between Network Manager and InfoChannel Players that does not use Direct FTP Custom connections can use third party FTP servers or shared folders See also Direct FTP shared folder database in Network Manager the collection of data on accounts Players jobs etc that collectively define an InfoChannel Network installation and its settings
178. intranet Z The Health Monitoring IP Port setting specifies the TCP IP port at the Network Manager s Host Address through which Health Monitoring messages flow Leave this setting at its default of 9000 unless you know that this port is being used by another applica tion Any open port number will do 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 3 To receive automatic emails whenever a new problem occurs on a previously healthy network enter an email address in Problem Notification Email Address Leaving this field blank disables the automatic email feature 4 Make sure that Enable Daily Log File Retrieval is turned on so that log files are automatically sent by each Player to Network Man ager each night at around midnight 5 The default setting for Heartbeat Interval of three minutes can be used for general operation of most networks However during initial InfoChannel Network setup when you are trying to verify communication with your Players and see examples of Health Monitoring feedback a shorter interval is use ful You might wish to set the interval to one minute so that you can get quicker feedback on configuration changes Be sure to restore the interval setting for daily network operation once you have finished setting up the system The remaining items in the Health Monitoring Options section of the form have default settings that work well for most systems and can be l
179. ion utility Discard Out of Order Jobs When turned on V this option prevents later content from being overwritten by earlier content The HNS broadcast transmission system does not guarantee that jobs are delivered to Players in the order the jobs were queued This can result in jobs being delayed possibly delivered hours later and out of order The delivery system presumes that jobs will be spaced far enough apart typically 24 hours that the packages will be delivered in their queued order For systems in which smaller content is being delivered more often it is preferable that jobs that arrive out of order be discarded so that earlier jobs and content will not be received after later jobs With this option on jobs and content that arrive out of order are dis carded preventing later content from being overwritten by earlier con tent The negative consequence is that some jobs that are sent are never run This feature should be used only when all jobs are essentially the same delivering all content with every job Polling Interval This setting specifies the number of seconds the Player waits between each check for the arrival of new broadcast files in the Client Folder The default of 30 seconds is not likely to need to be adjusted Target Folder Target Folder specifies the location of the folder on the Player into which files from the Broadcast Server are deposited after being pro cessed by the selected pipe d
180. ions Custom connection setup FTP access You see the Folder button below the pop up Important Don t confuse this connection with other con nections in the Custom FIP scheme Choosing Local or Shared Folder here does not affect or need to match how the Player con tacts the Transmission Workspace That is set to be FIP on Network Manager s System Set tings page Nor does it need to match how Network Man ager reaches the job folder that is specified in Network Manager s Player definition In this Step only FTP job folder access is covered See the descrip tion for Shared Folder access starting on page 252 if the job folder is local 4 Click the FTP Folder button to open a dialog that lets you enter the FTP login information that this machine would use to access its job folder FTP login dialog InfoChannel Player Configuration Point to Point Connection Receive Job Commands Yia Custom Player s Job Folder FTP FTP Folder Job Polling Interval minutes x Dial y Pntiane En i Please enter the FTP address and login info kaka URL User Name Password Confirm Password Loggii 3 OK Log n Darail I aual Marmal Alert Network Manager if the Player is Not Running Reset Settings OK Cancel 233 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access 234 URL Enter the FTP address where the job folder is located The address should include the FTP server address
181. ire a visit from a field technician Sick Players however stand a good chance of being cured of software related problems through appropriate Network Manager maintenance jobs The Player Health pages also have an icon column to draw attention to the playback status of your Players It is possible for otherwise healthy Players to not be performing their main function of script playback for example if someone closed or minimized the playback window on the Player machine Using Player Health Monitoring is covered in detail in chapter 11 Reviewing the IC log file If you want to examine the activity record in more detail than simply scrolling through a list of messages you can open the file Ic log which is a text file version of what appears in the Job Activity page By open ing Ic log in a text editor for example you could use a text search to quick scan through all messages pertaining to a specific Player 163 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance 164 The Ic log file for the Network Manager machine is typically located in lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Scala Scala InfoChannel Network Manager Logs where lt systemroot gt is the drive letter where Windows is installed Ic log contains the activity messages for the current day At midnight each day assuming the Network Manager Engine is running the Ic log file is renamed with a datestamp to
182. isintegrate the Redistributable Code from the Scala Software 4 LICENSE AND OTHER FEES a b d Upgrade Pricing Upgrade Edition pricing is only available to licensee s eligible previous versions of specified Scala Software Products as specified in this Section 4 a i IC Player 3 Upgrade pricing is only available to licensees of InfoChannel IC100 Player for Microsoft Windows and InfoChannel IC200 Player for Microsoft Windows products ii IC Network Manager 3 Upgrade pricing is only available to licensees of InfoChannel IC100 Master for Microsoft Windows and InfoChannel IC200 Master for Microsoft Windows products iii IC Designer 3 Upgrade pricing is only available to licensees of InfoChannel Designer InfoChannel IC100 Master for Microsoft Windows and InfoChannel IC200 Master for Microsoft Windows products iv If Licensee has acquired the Scala Software as an Upgrade Edition Licensee must within sixty 60 days of installation of the Upgrade Edition of the Scala Software return to Scala at the address set forth below the copy protect dongle provided with the Eligible Previous Software along with the product warranty registration card provided with the Scala Software Failure to return the dongle to Scala as provided in this Section 4 a shall void the licenses granted and any warranty provided hereunder In the event that Licensee is found to have installed and or used an Upgrade Edition in violation of the
183. ith Minute values of 00 Past 15 Past 30 Past and 45 Past When you are done click the lt Add button A description of the time trigger setting appears as a line in the Triggers for this Job list Create and add other time based triggers if desired To create a file based trigger In the Trigger When File Changes section you can select a file and specify how often Network Manager automatically checks it on its Publish Location for changes For example you could check every five minutes to see if the script has changed if it has been re published Network Manager would notice and could automatically trigger a Send Content job to update the Players 135 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job a Select the name of the file to check from those listed Typi cally this is a content file but it could also be a file sent with Install File or Install System File To be listed here the file must exist on a Publish Location and be named in a Send Main Script Send Content Install File or Install System File task in this job foChannel Network Manager Enterprise Fle Edt View Favoites Tools Help back gt OA ch seach Gaaravotes BPNeda hy Sp EA Adsies E ht ocahox Z Go Links _ NMEE w Trigger At Time file change job trigger Hour Minute _ Month Day Year Every 00 Past J every Slevery Blevery lt Add Trigger When File Changes Remove File
184. itutes the entire agreement between the parties in respect of the Maintenance Services and supersede all proposals or prior agreements whether oral or written and all other communications between the parties relating to the subject matter hereof 18 Notices Any notice permitted or required under this Agreement shall be deemed given if in writing and personally served or sent by pre paid registered or certified air mail or by confirmed telex or facsimile addressed or as either Party may direct otherwise in writing to the parties at the addresses provided during the Software registration process marked for the attention of the Managing Director in the event the Customer is a company Any notice given in accordance with this clause shall be deemed to be received by and served upon the other party on the date such airmail letter would in the ordinary course of post have reached such address or on the date such notice is served or left at the relevant address as appropriate and in the case of telex or facsimile shall be deemed to have been served on the day following the date of successful transmission 19 Severability If any term provision covenant or condition of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid void or unenforceable it shall be severed herefrom and the remaining provisions of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect and will not be affected impaired or invalidated Customer understands
185. k Connection Wizard ITTE Type of Connection Select a Phoneboo Select the type of the connection Phonebook lt Manj Phone Number User Name Password Confirm Passwor Test OK Alert Network N Reset Settings 241 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 242 f For Type of Connection choose Dial up to private network and click Next For Phone Number to Dial enter your Internet service pro vider s dial up access number Click Next For Connection Availability select Only for myselfand click Next In the final dialog give the connection a name and click Fin ish Skip to Step 3 Adjust connection options Simple dialing connection To use a simple dialing connection a d Choose lt Manual gt in the Phonebook pop up This enables the text boxes below Enter the number to dial for the Internet in the Phone Num ber box Enter the Internet service provider s required login informa tion in the User Name and Password boxes Passwords are case sensitive Enter the password again in the Confirm Password box The Player should now be set up to dial the ISP that provides the Internet service for this Player The information entered in the FTP Folder button dialog in the Player Config utility is used to connect to an account at the FTP host from which the FTP connection to the Network Manager machine can be established Step 3
186. k SUBMIT CHANGES to store the new Player s in the database The names in the Name column of the Players page are links that open the Edit Player form This form is identical to the New Player form described in the preceding section To edit a Player 1 Click its Name link on the Players page kog Name Connections Group Associations Description o X Player 1 exe F Documents and Settings All Player in the L LobbyPlayer Users Documents Scala Network lobby Transmission Outbox Player1 B 4 Player2 ere F Documents and Settings All Player in the Cafe Users Documents Scala Net work cafeteria Transmission Outbox Player2 o X Player 3 exe ftp 192 168 10 66 Inbox East Player in the MetroLobby Metro metro lobby C 4 Too 3 yx Satserverl Id 3 Broadcast Store 3 2 Player exe ftp 192 169 10 66 Inbox Tokyo branch 2 Make any changes necessary to the Player settings on the Edit Player form 3 Click OK 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Your changes are reflected in the listing 7 Defining and working with Players Enabling and disabling Players Enabling and disabling Players Occasionally you may need to temporarily prevent Players from being accessible to jobs For example you might use one Player for new experimental scripts and enable it only for testing purposes Doing so is possible without having to delete and then re create the Players when you later need them by disabling them When you disable a Player its defi
187. l job folder a simple default provided for testing and demonstration purposes Player Direct FTP This option is used for InfoChannel Networks that use Direct FTP the standard InfoChannel connection scheme that takes advantage of the built in FTP servers in the InfoChannel software When you choose Player Direct FTP you do not need to enter a site name or username those are established automatically All that is required is a password 1 Password Enter a password of at least eight characters Only asterisks appear This must match the password that you gave for Player Direct FTP in the Network Manager Player definition as described on page 98 2 Confirm Password Enter the password again for confirmation Custom This option is used for InfoChannel Networks that have spe cial communications needs e You are using offsite FTP hosting e You have an existing InfoChannel Network and wish to retain its current communication setup e You must use particular FTP server software for administrative reasons e Players are accessed locally over a non TCP IP LAN so using FTP is not possible The other options you see when Custom has been selected involve a variety of additional factors related to more specialized InfoChannel Network configurations They are discussed in the appendix 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility The settings in the Dial up Options s
188. layers to the Broadcast Server In confirmed broadcasting individual Players report the success or failure of each transmission If there is a failure just the needed data can be re sent to the appropriate destination or technical personnel can be dispatched to the Player site if the problem is hardware related Choosing confirmed broadcasting offers a way to increase reliability while managing transmission bandwidth more efficiently than the non confirmed approach Without confirmation capability redun dant transmissions are made to attempt to ensure that all Players have received all elements that were sent Although this can be highly reli able it still does not guarantee success and failures may not be imme 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel A broadcasting overview diately apparent In addition network bandwidth can be strained by the continual redundant transmission When confirmed broadcasting is enabled data does not need to be re sent unless there has been a failure and failures are reported immedi ately Because individual Players can communicate back to a central location the nature and location of whatever problems do occur is known and can be dealt with quickly Confirmed broadcasting does not tie in to the Player Health Monitor ing system at this time Pipe drivers Scala s broadcast technology uses a pipe model for the actual trans mission medium The pipe can be any kind of hardware software combinati
189. ld be set so that the oldest events are overwritten when the log becomes full 1 Open the Event Viewer 2 Right click on the System log and choose Properties 3 Inthe Properties sheet make sure that Overwrite events as needed is selected 4 Click OK 5 Repeat steps 2 4 for the Application and Security logs 6 Close Event Viewer 127 a ep infoChannel a AS MANAGERI 3 Setting up jobs 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job 130 A job in InfoChannel Network Manager 3 is a definable action that the program takes regarding one or more Players A job consists of one or more tasks A task consists of one of the basic commands usually with certain options which specify the actual action to be taken Jobs can be run by running them manually or triggering them automati cally according to a regular schedule The most typical job is one that updates a Player s main script by sending new content to the Player Another example would be a job that sends a Player a new MPEG file of a radar weather map every hour Or you could tell a set of Players to return a particular file to the Network Manager server These are just a few examples of the many things that Network Manager can do 1 Click the Jobs icon on the control frame You see the Jobs page Normally all jobs that have been created for this system are listed here Initially it is blank 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job 2 Click
190. le to independently update constituent content files of a script unless those files were authored as linked content see Send ing linked content on page 158 Storage of content on the Player When new updated content is sent to the Player older versions of the same files with the same file names are automatically deleted How ever some content files that outlive their usefulness are not replaced scripts simply no longer reference them When this happens the unused content files are not automatically deleted they remain on the Player If scripts change frequently and or they contain large media files such as MPEG digital video the Player hard drive can start to fill with files that are no longer used If the hard drive becomes too full with such accumulated files system performance is impaired and further script updates may not succeed This is the reason for the Network Manager Delete Unused Content command see Deleting unused content on page 162 157 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Updating Player content 158 Sending linked content Linked content is the InfoChannel Network approach to allowing content files sub scripts or media files to be independently updated The benefits of using linked content are considerable e Transmission bandwidth savings linked files can be updated without having to re send the entire script e Flexibility in scheduling updates linked content can
191. lick OK in the dialog 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The Publish Location is deleted from the Network Manager databases and no longer listed Nothing on the Publish Location itself is affected 93 Sa A Do Channel N MANAGERI ESS Defining and working with Players 7 Defining and working with Players Creating a Player 96 Every Player in your installation needs to be defined within the Info Channel Network Manager 3 database A Player definition is a path to a unique folder associated with that Player It may be local or remote This folder is where Network Manager deposits job files that contain instructions for the Player You also associate this folder with a Player when you configure the Player as described in the next chapter The Player polls looks in this folder at regular intervals checking for pending jobs Player definitions let you refer to your Players by name when defining Network Manager jobs There are two basic steps to creating a Player e Defining the Player in Network Manager covered in this chapter e Setting up the individual Player machine in the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility covered in the next chapter Defining a Player in Network Manager 1 On the Configure control frame click the Players icon You see the Players page Normally all Players that have been created for this system are listed here Initially it is blank 7 Defining and working with Players Cr
192. llows a brief instant message requesting access to be sent to the locking user The locking user can then either log out or switch to View Only mode allowing the message sender to then switch to View Modify mode and start working Submitting changes to the databases At times you also see SUBMIT CHANGES and RELOAD DATA BASES choices in the control frame They appear whenever you have made any changes to information you see on Network Manager pages Those changes are considered tentative until you choose SUBMIT CHANGES which stores and activates them 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface It is not necessary to submit your changes after each individual data base change You can continue to make other changes while the SUB MIT CHANGES choice is visible and submit them all at once when you have finished When you submit changes and click Yes in the confirmation dialog the body of the page you are currently in clears and the message Working appears for several seconds as the databases are updated Then the current page is redisplayed If you have made changes and decide you don t want to keep them you can choose RELOAD DATABASES to reset the displayed infor mation to its last submitted state When you have used either of these two choices they disappear until the next time any database informa tion has been modified Working on Network Manager pages The Network Manager Jobs Publis
193. located Content and log files are also stored here See also Transmission Workspace folder path the sequence of folders leading from a drive to a target file or folder such as C Tmp Tempfile txt pattern matching use of wildcards and as part of a filename spec ification to select multiple files with similar names For example ext matches all files ending with txt Car_0 jpg matches any of a series of JPEG image files starting with Car_0 See also wildcard permissions Attributes that may be associated with a folder to restrict the types of access that different users have to it pipe a software hardware construct that moves data from one loca tion to another Player a computer that runs InfoChannel Player 3 software which allows it to receive and respond to communication from InfoChannel Network Manager 3 and play InfoChannel Designer 3 scripts A Player is usually at a site remote from Network Manager connected to it over the Internet or a LAN The Player is always running an ICDe signer script which generates the final display that viewers see Player ID a number that uniquely identifies a Player for targeting of broadcast transmissions from Network Manager point to point a type of network connection in which Network Manager sends and receives information one Player at a time as dis tinguished from a broadcast connection See also broadcast polling interval th
194. machine name of the target Player For example ftp MetroRASserver 12 38 104 57 Jobs ftp MetroRASserver Lobby1 Jobs Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access Using custom FTP port numbers If you need to use an FTP port number other than the default 21 you can do so for any of the dial up FTP approaches Precede the for ward slash that begins the job folder path with a colon and an alterna tive port number For example ftp 6105556666 12345 Jobs ftp LobbyPlayer 12345 Jobs ftp MetroRASserver 12 38 104 57 12345 Jobs ftp MetroRASserver Lobbyl 12345 Jobs Custom connection setup Shared Folder access The setup process for Local and Shared Folder access is less complex than for FTP access Many of the same basic steps still need to be per formed however For the steps that are the same in both FTP and Shared Folder setup consult the FTP setup section of this appendix The procedures and incidental remarks that are no different are not repeated Note that if the LAN on which you are setting up this InfoChannel Network does not support TCP IP style addressing through IP num ber or DNS hostname then the Health Monitoring feature will not be available for the Network Health Monitoring requires that type of addressing for its communication tasks Shared Folder setup on Network Manager machine The following steps outline the basic process needed to set up the
195. make sure the Restart Play back option is on VW This causes the Main Script that is currently running on the Player to exit and the new script to start playback as soon as it is received Leaving Restart Playback off allows the current Main Script to continue playing The new Main Script is not swapped in until the old one has ended and is about to restart 9 Setting up jobs Job commands d Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum Send Main Script task summary e mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Joo list What Tasks in this Job Send Main Script PublishLoc1 Priceless scb and restart playback Hola Move Up Move Down Remove Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Sending Content The Send Content command transfers content media files and or script files that are not intended as Main Scripts to the Content folder of one or more Players a Choose the Publish Location from which to get the content using the Source pop up It lists all the Publish Locations that you have already defined After you choose a Publish Location you see a File pop up Network Manager scans the selected Publish Location for files and lists in the pop up everything it finds in the defined Publish Location folder The Rescan button next to it lets you scan the Publish Loca tion again if you want to refresh the li
196. mber must be unique within your system to avoid interfering with port numbers used by other applica tions The default of 8910 is suitable for testing purposes and may be satis factory for actual use Server Address Specifies the host name or number of the Broadcast Server This field is used only for confirmed IP multicasting The number you enter here can be include an IP address a phonebook entry or both e Ifentering an IP address the address should be entered in stan dard numerical IP address format nnn nnn nnn nnn As an alternative you can enter a host name assuming your net work is set up to map the name to the IP number 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility e If entering a Windows phonebook entry the phonebook entry name must be entered within parentheses as in MyPhoneBookEn try RAS Remote Access Service must be installed on this system to use a dial up connection and a phonebook entry must be created using the RAS phonebook You may use whatever name you like for a phonebook entry so long as the same name is entered here The phonebook entry is also the place where you fill in the phone number to dial a user name a password etc The network interface IP address is obtained automatically after a connection is established with a remote access server e If entering a both a phonebook entry and an IP address specify the IP address to be used by
197. mers who choose not to use Direct FTP Custom connec tions are possible Custom connections require you to manage the installation and configuration of the FTP server but allow the use of any desired FTP server software 57 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 58 The FTP service that comes as part of IIS in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems can be used Alternatively other third party FTP server products can also be used Managing the workspace As part of Network Manager configuration for Custom connections there are settings to be made for specifying the locations of the Net work Manager Workspace folder and the Transmission Workspace folder The Workspace folders are managed automatically and invisi bly for Direct FTP connections which use the internal FTP server software and appropriate configuration defaults The Network Manager Workspace folder is a place locally accessible to the Network Manager server where Network Manager stores and manipulates all the files it deals with The Transmission Workspace folder is the place from which Players retrieve content and other files It is also where Players send log files and any other data to be returned to Network Manager The recommended setup is with these two settings referring to the same location a folder local to the Network Manager machine How ever it is not required that the two settings be the s
198. move gt lt Add fe TTT Bi tocatintanet 7 Click the lt Add button The Player s you selected are moved to the Players Targeted for this Job list To remove Player names from the job select them and click the Remove gt button The selected items return to the Players not Targeted for this Job list 133 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job time based job trigger Trigger At Time 134 7 Optionally choose a way to trigger the execution of the job auto matically under the When heading E InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Job Microsoft Internet Explorer Ele Edt View Favores Tools Heb Back gt 2 A QSeach Favorites Meda A Ay 3 Addiess E ttp localhost Z eGo Links NMEE ut New Job When Triggers for this Job Hour Minute _ Month Day Year 3am Z 30 Past z Evey Satuday _ Every Trigger When File Changes Remove File Polling Interval Minutes 1 Minimum Trigger Interval Minutes 1 lt Add OK Cancel Eal E Local intranet A There are three ways to trigger a job triggering manually scheduling a regular time detecting a change in a particular file If you intend to trigger this job manually only you can skip to step 8 on page 136 leaving the Triggers for this Job list empty For details on manual triggering see Running a job manually o
199. ms to ensure that newer content can be smoothly and reliably swapped for older content of the same base name The Script folder in turn contains a series of MD5 named folders one for each content file in the script The actual content files are in the folders one file per folder If any linked content scripts are sent to the Player they are placed in the Content folder at the same level as the Shared Files folder The filenames of linked content are also versionated The InstalledContent folder Another folder in the same location as Content visible in the illustra tion on the preceding page is InstalledContent This folder can also hold script content files The difference between this folder and Content is that InstalledContent is never used for con tent files that are sent through Network Manager jobs It is used only for storage of files put on the Player by some other means typically by being copied from a CD ROM DVD ROM or other removable storage device There are various reasons that it might be more practical to put infor mation onto a Player manually rather than by sending it with Net work Manager e to eliminate the download time for very large amounts of data e to avoid the network traffic for very large amounts of data e the data is generated local to the Player where physically going to the machine is easier than going through Network Manager 7 Defining and working with Players How content is
200. n Job commands on page 137 for information on individual commands Follow the steps described there for each command after which you can resume this job setup procedure with the following step 5 You can include more than one task in a job If desired return to step 4 Players that this job will be sent to 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job If you have more than one task in the Tasks in this Job list you can change their order by selecting them and using the Move Up and Move Down buttons You can remove a task by selecting it and clicking the Remove but ton Select the Players this command should affect under the Where heading a The Players not Targeted for this Job list shows all available Players and Groups Group names are green and enclosed in angle brackets lt gt Select Players and Groups to send the content to You can select several at once Players listed in red are currently disabled and will not be affected by this job until they are re enabled on the Players page InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Job Microsoft Internet Explorer File Edt View Favorites Tools Help HBak gt O A A QSeach Favorites PMeda A r Sl Adddiess E http localhost Z Go Links NMEE u Move Up Move Down Remove Where Players not Targeted for this Job lt Broadcast gt lt East gt lt Metro gt Player 3 MetroLobby Re
201. n page 150 However it can be very useful to have Network Manager auto matically issue a job trigger event Scheduling jobs this way increases the consistency and reliability of operations especially in large installations Plus it provides the flexibility of performing updates at any time of day or night without a human needing to be present to trigger them 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job You can create complex schedules by adding multiple triggers for each job and can combine the time based and file based types of trigger Any job scheduled or not can still be manually triggered at any time To create a time based trigger In the Trigger At Time section you use the pop ups for Hour Month Day and Year essentially as filters Choosing anything from these controls limits the job trigger to occur only within the time span that they collectively specify Choosing Every for any of these removes its limiting function The Minute pop up does not have an Every choice It specifies the number of minutes past the specified hour s that the job runs It is not possible to specify in a single trigger an interval shorter than one hour Multiple triggers with different Minute values set are required to do that For example you could choose to trigger a job on the fifteenth of every month and or 5 minutes past 3 am every weekday in Febru ary 2003 To trigger a job every 15 minutes you would need to add four triggers w
202. n InfoChannel Network Manager Updating Player content to expand the range of content in your scripts Some typical examples of how this approach could be used e a news headline MPEG file is uploaded hourly from a national news service Web site e Financial data is parsed from a database uploaded as text and streamed into a cued Text Crawl e Local traffic information is downloaded by the Player Doing this requires a third party utility and or custom programming that can access the desired data and perform the communication tasks involved A detailed description of how to accomplish this is beyond the scope of this guide but these tasks are not fundamentally difficult for someone with technical expertise The key to success is that at the Player end the linked file must end up in the right place with the right name How linked content works To manage and work with linked content it is important to under stand what it is and isn t Linked content is not a special type of content Files designated as linked are ordinary script or media files no different from what they were before they were linked with one exception when they reach the Player through Network Manager their filenames have a semicolon and a serial number inserted before the extension to versionate them The number is a simple increasing serial number that represents the order in which files with the same name have been received The filename is the
203. n its way to the Players increases com munication bandwidth requirements To use a remote Transmission folder everything that is in the Work space folder on the Network Manager machine which includes all scripts and content going to or coming from all Players must be 59 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 60 transferred between that Network Manager Workspace folder and the Transmission Workspace folder on the remote FTP site an extra com munication step that is unnecessary when the two folders are the same location Moreover the extra step introduces additional points of vul nerability to network security For these reasons using a remote transmission folder oftsite FTP host ing is discouraged unless you find an overriding advantage to doing so More complex networks The preceding diagrams of course illustrate only the most basic possi ble version of each topology with one of each component for simplic ity s sake InfoChannel 3 has been designed to be easily expanded and readily adapted to the needs of diverse applications Almost any InfoChannel Network will have numerous Players Multi ple ICDesigner systems and Publish Locations in a single network are also supported Moreover in most areas you have the flexibility to use mixed topologies that allow you to create quite complex installations This manual cannot lay out all the possible combinations but we can y P pre
204. n on the Network Manager to dial the Player 1 From the Network Manager machine s Start menu choose Set tings gt Control Panel 2 Open Network and Dial up Connections 3 Double click Make New Connection to open the Make New Con nection Wizard and click Next Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 4 For Network Connection Type choose Dial up to private network and click Next File Edit View Favorites Tools Advanced Help Back gt E Qsearch GFyrolders Bristory 5 GE X A Ey Address Network and Dial up Connections Network Connection Wizard Local AreaCon Network Connection Type You can choose the type of network connection you want to create based on your network configuration and your networking needs Dial up to private network Connect using my phone line modem or ISDN C Dial up to the Internet Connect to the Internet using my phone line modem or ISDN C Connect to a private network through the Internet Create a Virtual Private Network VPN connection or tunnel through the Intenet C Accept incoming connections Let other computers connect to mine by phone line the Internet or direct cable C Connect directly to another computer Connect using my serial parallel or infrared port 1 object s selectec lt Back Conc 5 Select the modem that Network Manager will use to call the Player and click Next 6 Ent
205. n the corresponding dialog seen on the Broadcast Server IP Pipe Configuration Group IP 2345 6 7 Port 4 8910 Server Address scalaserver Server Port 440000 Number of Redial Attempts qA 0 Seconds Between Redial Attempts 915 J OK Cancel 117 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 118 Group IP The Group IP setting is the multicast group IP address in the standard four part nnn nnn nnn nnn form used Broadcast Note by broadcast applications The valid range is The Group IP Port and 224 0 1 0 through 239 255 255 255 inclusive The Server Port settings for the Player available in this dia log must match those set must supply the proper value on the Broadcast Server system administrator for your TCP IP installation The Group IP default of 234 5 6 7 is suitable for testing purposes but should be changed for actual use The specification for Group IP is not Player specific but is common to the entire IP Multicast system It is not related to Groups in Net work Manager Port Specifies the IP multicast port number that the Broadcast Server sends on which the Players must therefore be configured to lis ten on Like the Group IP address the Port number setting must be supplied by your system administrator The system may require a particular port number specific to your application or you may be able to choose randomly In any case the port nu
206. n this machine so that it has Read Write and Modify access If the Player job folder is located on the Player add the NetMan ager user to the Network Transmission folder on this machine so that it has Read Write and Modify access Step 2 Point the Player to a shared job folder You need to use the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility to tell the Player how to reach its job folder There is no need to explicitly tell the Player how to reach the Trans mission Workspace Network Manager includes that information within the job files as mentioned on page 227 li Run the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility on the Player machine you are setting up In the Network panel of the utility choose Custom from the Receive Job Commands Via popup Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access 3 From the Player s Job Folder popup choose Local or Shared Folder With this setting the Player polls its job folder directly over the network using a path that you specify This works with the job folder on the Network Manager machine if that folder is a network share a Shared folder or if the job folder is located on the Player itself a Local folder When you choose Local or Shared Folder you see the Folder but ton below the pop up 4 Click Folder to open the File dialog and navigate to the location that you defined in Network Manager for the Player job folder 5 Click OK
207. n you install the ICPlayer software the installer creates a shortcut on the Windows Start menu to the Logs folder its activity record in detail you need to examine its log file The usual way to do this is through the Player Health Log File Reader page But if for some reason you are unable to retrieve the log via that method you can do so manually 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance On a Player log files are normally stored in the following location lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Application Data Scala Scala InfoChannel Player Logs The log generation and archiving scheme on the Players is the same as on the Network Manager machine an Ic log file for the current day and the previous week s datestamped log files stored in the Logs logs folder Use a Retrieve Files job to return a log file from a specific Player or from several Players at once Use the above path substituting the cor rect drive letter for lt systemroot gt and appending Ic log or logs log Retrieved files are placed in the following location within the Network Manager workspace folder which also has a Start menu shortcut Receive Files lt playername gt Occasional maintenance tasks Various other tasks that are periodically necessary to keep Players run ning smoothly can be performed remotely using Network Manager jobs Bear in mind that the Jnstall System
208. nager is doing at the moment It also retains all the displayed messages about jobs that have run and their results so that you have a cumulative history Errors listed in red indicate problems that must be investigated Cumulative Player status 4 Dead 3 Sick 140 Healthy l show V 4 3 VO140 Playback status icon column stopped dead Player playing sick Player oei m eow 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance The view offered by this page is good for getting immediate feedback on manually run jobs and for quickly looking through the history to determine when problems occurred When you want to see at a glance which Players are functioning well and which are not the Job Activity view is not ideal Health monitor ing is available for this purpose Player Health graphically shows you the status of all your Players and allows you to examine the activity record in a per Player format that lets you retrieve log files from those that are reporting errors This makes it possible to determine the cause of the problems so you can decide how to fix them Players that have reported errors in communication and or script play back but are still sending heartbeats show up in the Player Health list ing as sick Players from which no heartbeats are being received are declared dead Dead Players may not respond to any communication attempts and thus can requ
209. nd should be considered when setting up Custom connections 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility Run the Player Configuration utility from the Start menu by choosing Programs gt Scala InfoChannel Player 3 gt Configure InfoChannel Player 3 You see the InfoChannel Player Configuration dialog InfoChannel Player Configuration Broadcast Playback Point to Point Connection Receive Job Commands Yia Player Direct FTP Password 8 or more characters Confirm Password oaeeo Dial up Options Connect Using Dial up Logging Logging Detail Level Normal Alert Network Manager if the Player is Not Running Reset Settings Network options The Network panel of the dialog contains options related to how the Player Engine the Players networking and data management back ground task communicates with Network Manager The Point to Point Connection section is where you set up the Player s job folder location on the Player side 113 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 114 Receive Job Commands Via The Receive Job Commands Via pop up lets you specify the type of access the Player has to its job folder Local Computer Tutorial This option is for use only with the Net work Manager tutorial It sets up the Player software that is installed on the Network Manager machine itself to access a loca
210. ndicates disabled item NG Name Connections Group Associations Description D Player 1 eeeF Documents and Settings All Player in the LobbyPlayer Users Documents Scala Network lobby Transmission Outbox PlayerL C 4 Player 2 exe F Documents and Settings All Player in the Cafe Users Documents Scala Network cafeteria Transmission Outbox Player2 m X Player 3 exe ftp 192 168 10 66 Inbox East Player in the an MetroLobb Metro checkmark indicates eee metro lobby selected item Y Tokyo 3 SY Satserver1 Id 3 Broadcast Store 3 a Player exe ftp 192 168 10 68 Inbox Toye branch To select all the items on the current page of the list click the Select All link in the bottom left corner of the page To clear any selected checkboxes on the page click the Deselect All link Editing items The leftmost column is the Name column and the name for each item is a link blue underlined Clicking the name link opens an edit form for that item that allows you to modify its definition Make any changes necessary on the form then click OK to return to the main page Whenever you have made a change on an edit form you see the SUB MIT CHANGES and RELOAD DATABASES choices appear in the 45 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager The Network Manager interface 46 controls number of control frame The edits you made are visible on the page but are still tentative Click SUBMIT CHANGES to store your edits in the data base O
211. nditions of this Agreement INFOCHANNEL 3 Technical Support Options Scala is committed to providing our clients with excellence in support services We understand that every customer s support requirements are different and have tailored our support options to accommodate a variety of requirements The following options pertain to all InfoChannel 3 products including InfoChannel Designer 3 Network Manager 3 InfoChannel Player 3 InfoChannel Reporter 3 and all add on EXes Scala Service Plan maintenance agreement First Year SUPPORT OPTION DESCRIPTION PRICE Scala Service Plan e Covered for 1 Year from date of purchase No charge maintenance e Unlimited access to Technical Support agreement Major and minor software upgrades e Priority response to phone and email e Electronic access to www scala com and Web Discussion message boards Scala Service Plan maintenance agreement Renewal SUPPORT OPTION DESCRIPTION PRICE Standard e Electronic access to www scala com and Web Discussion message boards No charge Per Incident e Unlimited access to Technical Support 99 Scala Service Plan Covered for 1 Year Call for pricing maintenance e Unlimited access to Technical Support agreement e Major and minor software upgrades e Priority response to phone and email e Prorate multiple InfoChannel products to one blanket Maintenance Agreement Incident is defined as anything pertaining
212. negotiate the alternate technology of a broadcast transport layer However the data flow in a broadcast connection is in fact more straightforward than the indirect approach Network Manager uses for point to point connections In a broadcast transmission Network Manager actually does send the data not just a job file The Players do not download their content from Network Manager Network Man ager delivers it directly to them The data packaged as a single large data file and an accompanying envelope file is sent from Network Manager to the Broadcast Server The Broadcast Server processes the data into a format appro priate for the particular type of broadcast transport being used a sat ellite system for example and then actually manages its transmission to the Players The following diagram illustrates the more direct data flow in broad casting data and envelope files broadcast transmission m m HAUL _ Broadcast Server Players InfoChannel Network broadcast data flow 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel A broadcasting overview The fact that different approaches to actually transporting data to the Players are used in point to point and broadcast connections is entirely transparent from the point of view of a Network Manager operator You can think about and work with bro
213. nel Player Configuration 2 _ O x Network Playback Info Broadcast Connection Enable Broadcast Reception Pipe Driver ScalaProgram system pipes IPpipe b Configure Target Folder Broadcast Receive Outbox Transmission Timeout minutes A 60 Player ID ip Reset Settings 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility Enable Broadcast Reception Turn the Enable Broadcast Reception option on V if this Player is to have a broadcast connection to Network Manager Pipe Driver The Player end must be configured for a particular pipe driver just as it must at the Broadcast Server end The pipe driver configured on a Player must match the one specified on the Broadcast Server for trans missions to that Player Click the Pipe Driver button to open the File dialog allowing you to choose a pipe driver BOK file The following pipe drivers are shipped with the current release of InfoChannel Player 3 e IPpipe IP multicast support e HNSpipe Hughes satellite network support e Filepipe a simple default pipe useful only for testing purposes Pipe drivers usually have their own configuration settings When the chosen driver has configuration settings the Configure button is enabled Click this button to open a dialog where you can make set tings for that pipe IP Pipe Configuration Some options in the IP Pipe Configuration dialog duplicate ones that are found i
214. nfiguration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 124 Playback Mode Players normally use full screen playback P To ensure that scripts fill the screen 1 Set Playback Mode to Standard if it is not already 2 Make sure the Play Back Full Screen option is on WV 3 To keep the display mode from changing from the standard Win dows setting make sure Adapt Resolution to Script is off Using Standard mode does not let you choose a specific resolution for all your scripts to play back or a particular color depth number of colors or monitor refresh rate It may be preferable to use Custom mode to make sure to specify a particular resolution color depth and refresh rate This setting is implicitly full screen and prevents display mode switching It has the additional advantage of letting you choose a display mode that is inde pendent of the normal Windows display mode P To choose an independent display mode for full screen script playback 1 Set Playback Mode to Custom 2 Click the Full Screen Display button to open a display mode dia log 3 When switching to Custom mode the dialog initially shows the current Windows display settings Choose the size color depth and refresh rate you prefer for script playback Windowed playback Running the Player in a window is occasionally useful for testing pur poses during setup and troubleshooting P To have the Player run in a window 1 Set Playback
215. ng account again you can delete it To delete an account 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Delete button You see a confirmation dialog 3 Click OK in the dialog 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The account is deleted from the Network Manager databases and is no longer listed No jobs or other Network Manager database contents created by the account user s are affected gt eZ er InfoChannel _ NE ORK EN EAS 3 Defining Publish Locations 6 Defining Publish Locations Publish Locations are definable central locations accessible to Network Manager A Publish Location is really just a path to a directory folder on a particular machine Script content is published to Publish Loca tions from InfoChannel Designer 3 authoring stations Network Man ager in turn retrieves the content from Publish Locations and stores it locally ready to be sent to Players under control of a job The path you provide in defining a Publish Location is where content published scripts and their media files intended for transmission to Players must be placed Content is published directly to this location from ICDesigner during a Publish to InfoChannel Network opera tion Network Manager refers to this path to retrieve content when you run Send Content Send Files jobs The Publish Location machine 88 There is no special software installation to be done on a Publish Loca tion A Publi
216. nition remains unchanged It can still be selected in the creation and editing of jobs However when a job that uses a disabled Player runs no job file is placed in that Player s folder so the Player is not affected To disable an enabled Player 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Disable button You see its lightbulb darken 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The Player will no longer be affected by running jobs that include it as a target The name of a disabled Player shows up in red in the Where section of the Create Job Edit Job forms To enable a disabled Player 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its darkened lightbulb icon 2 Click the Enable button You see its lightbulb light up 3 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The Player once again responds to jobs that target it 101 7 Defining and working with Players Using Groups Using Groups 102 Deleting a Player If you are sure you will never need an existing Player again you can delete it To delete a Player 1 Select it by clicking the checkbox next to its lightbulb icon 2 Click the Delete button You see a confirmation dialog 3 Click OK in the dialog 4 Click SUBMIT CHANGES The Player is deleted from the Network Manager databases and no longer listed Nothing on the Player machine itself is affected Groups in Network Manager are a way to make it easier to manage your Players particularly in large install
217. nitoring Health Monitoring should be disabled in such cases so that Players do not attempt to send heartbeats e If network connections for heartbeat messages are costly A network in which Players connect to Network Manager via dial up would require a separate phone call for each heartbeat If each phone call to an ISP incurs a charge this could quickly become expensive for all but the smallest networks One way to avoid the cost is simply to disable Health Monitoring An alternate approach to this problem would be to set a very long heartbeat interval This would minimize the connection charges while still allowing you to take advantage of Health Monitoring The trade off in that case would be in reducing how quickly you could notice and respond to network problems The Player Health pages The Player Health pages are accessible from the Manage panel of the control frame when Health Monitoring has been enabled Several views of the Network are available from this location to allow you to get the most useful picture of the state of Player Health e Player Health Overview e Player Health Whole Network e Player Health All Players with Selected Problem e Player Health Log File Reader 174 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages All of these views share the same basic rows and columns layout of other list pages in Network Manager They can be set to automatically refresh their contents to reflect up to the mome
218. nnection setup Shared Folder access Choose Shared Folder from the Transmission Workspace Location pop up You see the Folder box below the pop up A InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Edit System Settings Microsoft Internet Explorer Bile Edt View Favorites Tools Help SBack gt O A A GSeach Favorites Meda lt Fr S Sf Address tttp locathost Z Go Links 2 NMEE ul Edit System Settings Transmission Engine Options Network Manager s Host Address 192 168 10 66 Send and Receive Data Via Custom z F Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Network Manager Workspace Location Transmission Z Shared Folder related settings Transmission Workspace Location BEccia ta 7 Folder E Minimum Time to Keep Workspace Files E Days p Activity Logging Detail Noma Delivery Timeout Hours pa Player Response Timeout Hours B Download Retry Minimum Timeout E Minutes Download Retry Maximum Timeout fo Minutes 60 Health Mnnitnrinn Nntinns m i L I BE tocalintranet Z 2 Compare the paths in the Network Manager Workspace Location and Folder boxes and determine whether the Folder setting needs to be changed Normally for best system performance you should ensure that the two paths indicate the same location If you need the Players to communicate using a Transmission Workspace location that is different from
219. not have the expertise in Windows and net working necessary to navigate the various choices Scala recommends finding a way to use Direct FTP rather than Custom connections Training available from Scala On the aspects of InfoChannel Network configuration that are spe cific to its software Scala offers regular training classes Anyone responsible for planning and setting up an InfoChannel solution especially one using Custom connections is strongly advised to take the relevant Scala training courses They provide invaluable help in negotiating the many possible approaches to installation setup that are possible with InfoChannel You can request information on attending Scala s InfoChannel train ing courses by visiting our web site at http www scala com Information included here This appendix gives step by step instructions on the settings you need to make within Network Manager and the Player Configuration util ity that are related to configuring Custom connections The setup of dial up FTP connections in Windows which requires some InfoChannel specific knowledge to complete is also covered in detail in this appendix Making settings and related procedures for enabling and configuring FTP server software is covered only in terms of general requirements the server manufacturer s documentation must be consulted for server specific details Similarly setting up Windows user accounts and their permissions is part of basic
220. nstalla tion instructions in this chapter It covers installing both Microsoft Windows operating system components and Scala InfoChannel 3 components Network Manager InfoChannel Designer and InfoChannel Player software have a set of built in defaults that allow you to set up a sim ple working InfoChannel Network with a minimum of effort For these defaults to work correctly you need to have performed your initial installation according to the instructions in this guide These direct you to install all three software items Network Manager ICDesigner and ICPlayer software on the same physical machine Even though you will ultimately be installing the ICPlayer software on at least one separate machine and possibly installing ICDesigner on still another machine starting out this way is recommended It will allow you to go through the setup process with a virtual guarantee that a working starter network will result Once you have gone through the process of setting up the default sys tem and seeing it work you will be in an ideal position to then expand and customize it into the InfoChannel Network you are planning Installation of Microsoft software 26 Scala InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition requires Microsoft Windows 2000 or better You should install Network Man ager on a machine running Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server SP2 or higher Preliminary steps Although it is not stri
221. nt Player status or have this capability disabled All have Show options to allow you to filter the information displayed in different ways So that you can see and compare the histories of several Players at a time the Log File Reader opens in a separate window one per Player Player Health Overview When you click the Player Health icon you first see the Player Health Overview screen It provides the most concise and general view of net work health Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Player Health Overview Microsoft Internet Explorer Ele Edt View Favorites Tools Help eBak gt A Qsearch Favorites CBristory Gye Sp Address http localhost InfoChannel NETWORK MANAGER 3 Manage Configure Wy z c Links E NMEE Log Inu Access Mode View Modity v Player Health Overview number of Players in network status totals 3 There are 1 healthy 1 sick and 1 dead Players E Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played incorrectly Caused by error 10 4 Problem listing for Player that is sick Player Health Overview AC Players Description There are 1 healthy 1 sick and 1 dead 6 Script lt untitled gt played incorrect l Iw Select listed Problem conditions on all Players to Clear or Reset click the total number of Players click the number of Players for a particular
222. nt in Network Manager can view and modify most Network Manager information but cannot edit or view configuration settings or accounts The icons for the Sys tem Settings and User Accounts pages do not appear in the con Access Mode View Modify gt View Onl View Modify 5 Defining accounts Access levels trol frame for Managers The access mode can be switched between View Modify and View Only at any time e Observer Someone with an Observer account in Network Manager can only view information The icons for the System Settings and User Accounts pages do not appear in the control frame for Observers The Access Mode control also does not appear All pages are implicitly in View Only mode there are no action but tons or links to editing pages Using the Access Mode control The Access Mode pop up on Log In page and in the header bar of most other pages provides the choices View Modify and View Only This control is necessary to allow several users to be logged in to Net work Manager at once Because only one user may edit information at a time there must be a way for other logged in users to adjust their access levels so that only one can actually be able to edit the databases at a given moment The Access Mode pop up makes it possible for a Manager or Adminis trator who is working in Network Manager to relinquish control to another user who needs to edit the databases by switching to View Only mode In View Onl
223. nt labels for discussing certain cases All of these topologies when properly configured can work well and function in essentially the same way The most meaningful differ ences among them are how you set them up and how well they suit the physical needs limitations of your planned installation To decide which topology is right for your InfoChannel Network examine your needs and narrow down the list by eliminating what you don t need or can t use 49 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network 50 ICDesigner D Network Manager FTP host Publish Location Local link q Player CP FIP link eo Class A Class B Class C Class D Class E Class F Class G Class H gt gt a coo gt gt sasap addan LLIE Direct MP capable topologies _ Geccccccep Sr CA _ P A SP FA lt gt F PA 22 gt FA lt gt PA lt gt a z amp x gt F mg mg P S r O FTP host Class I A gt eee Tp HP class J D ee PA lt gt wA Tp HP Class K A CA gt AA Tp HP Class L D gt OQ eno aee EF InfoChannel Network basic topologies 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network P Recommendation Ignore topologies that you don t need If you do not need to use a remote FTP host for your Players you
224. ntially the same time is clearly far more expedient than sending the identical message multiple times to individual recipients The time saved by the broadcast method increases with the total number of Players that must be reached Players Broadcast Server Broadcast communication Players are contacted simultaneously The Broadcast Server Using the InfoChannel broadcast approach requires an additional application developed specifically to manage the broadcast transmis sion process the InfoChannel Broadcast Server 3 The Broadcast Server software runs on a separate machine intermedi ate between Network Manager and broadcast Players This machine is dedicated to broadcasting and the term Broadcast Server may be used to refer either to the software or to the machine running it The Broadcast Server handles the processing overhead of converting the data stream normally produced by Network Manager into a for mat adapted for broadcast using a particular transmission technology IP Multicast for example 189 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel A broadcasting overview Network Manager 190 Data flow in broadcast connections Broadcasting technology is quite different from point to point com munication technology The transmissions sent through a Broadcast connection go through processing steps that point to point transmis sions do not in order to safely
225. nty SCALA shall perform its services hereunder in a workmanlike manner In the event that it is established to SCALA satisfaction that any Software Maintenance or other service carried out by SCALA or a third party Support Organization under this Agreement was defective Customer s sole remedy shall be the re performance of such services without cost to the Customer Notwithstanding the functionality or performance of any addition or release of error corrections enhancements or new releases to the Software program s in connection with the Maintenance Services SCALA s obligation to correct errors in such additional releases shall be limited to the maintenance terms of this Agreement EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS PARAGRAPH SCALA SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR THE SOFTWARE OR ANY SERVICES PROVIDED INCLUDING ANY LIABILITY FOR NEGLIGENCE SCALA MAKES AND CUSTOMER RECEIVES NO WARRANTIES EXPRESS IMPLIED OR STATUTORY EXCEPT AS EXPLICITLY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT SCALA SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 15 Limitation of Liability Laws from time to time in force in the jurisdiction where any services are to be performed hereunder may imply warranties or liabilities which cannot be excluded or which can only be excluded to a limited extent In which case SCALA hereby limits its liability to the extent permitted by law If SCALA cannot exclude or limit any warranty implied by law this
226. o Stop Infochannel Network Manager Engine fs p Channel Network Manager Engine Choose this to shut down the network engine Any in progress jobs are aborted by a shutdown 67 me aes e nanne N MANAGERI Network Manager configuration 4 Network Manager configuration Correct configuration is the key to a smoothly functioning InfoChan nel Network Thorough planning of the layout and communication pathways of your InfoChannel Network is in turn the key to a smooth configura tion process It will help greatly if you have mapped out the system before you start to configure the Network Manager Publish Location and Player machines that make up your network Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 70 Since InfoChannel Network Manager is Web based the machine run ning it needs to be configured as a Web server using Microsoft s Inter net Information Services IIS If you are not familiar with configuring a Web server then you may need the assistance of a Webmaster or IT manager system administrator The IIS Web server configuration is not inherently difficult but it is time consuming and requires atten tion to certain critical details The Network Manager machine must have a static IP address Step 1 Disable Guest account In order for the system to be secure you need to disable the Guest user account This is necessary to prevent ignorant or malicious users from gaining access to your FTP o
227. oadcast Server connection has been defined you can set up Players with broadcast connections Creating a broadcast Player is essentially the same as for creating a point to point Player as described in chapter 7 Use the procedure starting on page 96 adding the broadcast related settings described in here 1 On the New Player or Edit Player form choose a Broadcast Server from the Use Broadcast Server pop up 197 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager 198 2 Enter an identification number for the Player in the Player ID box This can be any number as long as it is unique on your system The Broadcast Server uses this number to find the Player Note the number you use for this Player because it will also need to be entered during configuration of the Player itself page 122 in chapter 8 3 Some broadcast systems also require the use of a secondary identi fication number If your system requires it enter the number in the Custom ID box Otherwise leave the box empty Grouping for broadcast Players The preceding steps are the only additional tasks required within Net work Manager related to defining a broadcast Player However because broadcast Players are generally used in very large installations it is very likely that you will also want to define broad cast specific Groups and associate your broadcast Players with these Groups Grouping makes the management of
228. olders option 143 9 Setting up jobs Job commands 144 c Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Job list d Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 Retrieved files are placed in the following location within the Network Manager workspace folder Receive Files lt playername gt Install System File The Jnstall System File command lets you send a file to the Player and then reboot the Player in single operation The intended use is for updating files such as device drivers or other system files that might be in continual use on the Player Files that are in use locked can not be updated seamlessly a reboot is required to stop and expunge the locked file so that the newer file can be installed in its place and activated Using the command is identical to Jnstall File a Choose a Publish Location from the Source pop up Network Manager scans the Publish Location file server for files in its content folder just as for Send Content and pro vides a list of what it found in the File pop up b Choose one of the listed files or choose lt Enter Filename Manually gt and type a filename in the File Name field that appears If you type in a filename that is not currently listed in the File pop up that file must exist in the content folder on the selec ted Publish
229. om happening the Windows System Application and Security logs on all Players should be set so that the oldest events are overwritten when the log becomes full Player software failure If the Player has crashed you may be able to revive it by sending a Reboot job If the crash was so severe that the Player Engine is no longer functioning rebooting the Player manually will be necessary The cause of the crash full hard disk corrupted driver virus infection etc must be diagnosed and fixed Player hardware failure The Player machine itself may have had a hardware failure or had its power or communications inadvertently disconnected A visit from a field technician will be necessary 13 Troubleshooting tips Problem Poor Player performance Reasons and 1 The Player hard disk may be full Run a Delete Unused Content possible solutions job 2 Shoddy device drivers or other third party software may be fill ing up free memory Update the software with an Jnstall System File job If the problem software cannot be replaced scheduling more frequent Reboot jobs may help 3 The file system may be fragmented Defragment the Player hard drive Consider moving the FTP root location to a location other than the one on which Windows is installed to reduce the rate of fragmentation Problem Linked content not appearing as expected on Player Reasons and 1 Linked content referenced by a script may not have been sent to possible
230. om FTP installation by using Server Direct FTP at the Network Manager end You set it up like this refer to the indicated sections for relevant pro cedures 1 On the Network Manager Edit System Settings page choose Send and Receive Data Via Server Direct FTP Create a password and remember it see page 73 2 Create job folders for the Players in Network Manager s Network Transmission Outbox folder see page 216 3 In each Player definition choose Local or Shared Folder as the con nection type and give the path to the folder you created for it in step 2 see page 251 4 On the Player create a dial up connection to the Internet called Dial Internet to Direct FTP see page 240 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration In Player Config set the Player s job folder to be accessed by Cus tom FTP see page 232 Turn on Connect Using Dial up and choose the Dial Internet to Direct FTP connection see page 241 In the Player Config FTP login dialog enter the Dial Internet to Direct FTP connection s phone number for the URL Include the path to the Player s job folder as you gave it in step 3 see page 233 For the FTP username you must enter InfoChannel Player case sensitive and use the password you gave with Server Direct FTP in step 1 above see page 234 Set an appropriately long Job Polling Interval value since the Play ers will be polling f
231. omer and communicated to the VAR or Support Organization during the Software registration process C All services to be provided under this Agreement shall be provided Monday through Friday excluding public holidays between the hours of In the U S 9 00 a m to 6 00 p m EST In Europe 9 00 to 17 00 CET Service coverage required outside of these hours may be arranged by agreement with the Support Organization Services Not Covered The following services are not covered by this Agreement A Maintenance of facilities external to the Software hardware support questions regarding hardware installation support or maintenance telecommunications systems Repair or damage resulting from malfunction of electrical power or heating ventilation and air conditioning water damage fire damage theft integration of the Software with non compatible systems or software misuse or improper use of the Software including without limitation any use not specifically authorized in the Software license agreement documentation or manuals vandalism civil commotion or war or any combination thereof Support or Maintenance Services for altered or modified Software other than that altered or modified by SCALA and or authorized agents of SCALA or support versions of Software that have been superseded by a new release provided that SCALA will continue to support superseded versions for a reasonable period not to exceed forty five 45 days suffici
232. on for which a pipe driver exists Scala supplies an IP multicast pipe and a satellite pipe and can also supply custom pipe drivers for system specific solutions Working with the Broadcast Server The Scala Broadcast Server is a stand alone application It runs on a machine physically separate from the one used for Network Manager The Broadcast Server runs at all times With a machine dedicated exclusively to transmitting broadcast data the high processing and I O load of broadcasting does not hinder your other applications This machine is typically set up to run the Broad cast Server automatically when it boots The Broadcast Server works in concert with Network Manager Once the broadcast installation has been fully configured and is working properly there is little need to work directly with the Broadcast Server software The only occasions would be if the network configuration changes significantly or hardware troubleshooting must be done When the Broadcast Server is functioning normally it is invisible to the Network Manager operator working with broadcast Players appears to be no different from working with point to point Players 193 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager The installation and operation of the Broadcast Server software is cov ered in the Scala Broadcast Server Users Guide Defining a Broadcast Player connection in Network Manager 194 Most of
233. ons on the Network Manager server for each Player in essentially the same way as described in creating the InfoChannel Network Manager connec tion Step 1 on page 236 However instead of a placeholder phone number enter the actual Player phone number and give the connec tion a unique name Then in the FTP URL field of the Player definition form put the Player s unique connection name in the parentheses instead of its phone number ftp LobbyPlayer Jobs To have a unique username and password for the Player enter them in the Edit Player form and change the NetManager account on that Player giving it the name and password that you entered in the form Do this for each Player for which you want an individual connection It is possible to have individual connections for some Players and to let other Players use the generic connection Any Players that have their phone number rather than a connection name between the parenthe ses in the FTP URL fall through and get the InfoChannel Network Manager connection Using a dial up router If Network Manager needs to go through a dial up router to get to one of several Players at a site that is easily accommodated Create a con nection to the dial up router as you would for an individual Player see preceding section Put the connection name between the parentheses in the URL field Then immediately following the close parenthesis put the IP address or
234. or their jobs via dial up see page 234 You should end up with something like this in Player Config path to job folder username to access Direct FTP server on Network Manager machine long polling interval dial up connection to NM InfoChannel Player Configuration _ O x Broadcast f Playback Info Paint ta Paint Cannectian Receive Job Commands Yia Custom ftp InfoChannel Player ICNMser ver com Outbox LobbyPlayer Job Polling Interval minutes 4 60r Dial up Options Connect Using Dial up Dial up Connection Dial Internet to Direct FTP Redial Attempts Seconds Between Attempts Idle Time Hang Up minutes Logging Logging Detail Level Normal Alert Network Manager if the Player is Not Running Reset Settings This approach is more complex than an all Direct FTP solution However where that is not an option the mixed approach still involves much less labor than setting up every Player as an FTP server which would otherwise be necessary 245 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 246 Using individual Player connections Creating an individual connection for each Player is very labor inten sive if the system has many Players However it offers the advantages of allowing custom connection parameters per Player and the addi tional security of a unique username password for each Player To use this approach you need to create dial up connecti
235. orized access Transmissions use error checking Multiple Network Manager user accounts with configurable access privileges Back channel allows retrieval of log files content from Players Players can be rebooted remotely on schedule Player software can be updated remotely Separate playback and network processes on Players allow contin uous playback even during content update The nfoChannel Network Manager 3 Enterprise Edition Users Guide is designed to serve both first time networked multimedia users and more advanced users in learning how to distribute multimedia produc tions with Network Manager It contains a Troubleshooting section Appendix Glossary and an Index 21 1 Introduction to InfoChannel Network Manager Network Manager resources on the Web Conventions Below are some of the conventions used in this guide Convention italic text Usage Aside from general emphasis we use italics in the text to highlight option names columns and other text that appears as labels in the Network Man ager menus Use of italics also indicates terms that are defined in the Glossary bold text Bold text is used for the names of Net work Manager menus wherever they need to be emphasized lt angle brackets gt The Glossary and Index Text shown in angle brackets is not to be used literally but rather indicates places where you must substitute the indicated information such as a drive
236. orm 100 Edit Publish Location form 91 Edit System Settings form 225 248 Editing items 45 Email Health Monitoring address 77 ICNM User address 84 Email Address Problem Notification 184 Enabling and disabling items 44 Encryption used in ICNM 21 Index Engine Network Manager Continuous operation 66 Starting 36 Stopping 66 Tray icon 37 Engine Player Configuring 113 Restart required after configuration 125 Errors Distinguished from Problems 180 Setting Maximum Player Log Retrieval 184 Event logs preventing Player lockup 127 EX options Player Config utility 125 F File change triggering job on 135 File Polling Interval 136 Filenames versionation 107 159 Files retrieving from Player 143 Firewall configuring port for Health Monitoring 77 208 Folders Creating for Player jobs 216 Structure in IC Network 63 FTP Activity messages 153 Configuring Player dial up to NM 240 Connection limit in Windows 2000 58 Creating incoming dial up connection on Player 238 Custom connection setup 223 247 Dial up approaches 243 Dial up configuration 235 247 Dial up URL in Player definition 235 Enabling server on NM 223 Enabling server on Player 231 Individual dial up connections to Players 246 Not available on NetBEUI LAN 215 Offsite hosting of workspace 227 230 Port numbers conflicting 78 204 205 209 269 Index Port numbers custom 247 Remote hosting of workspace 59 Root location establishing 224 Server software
237. oth Network Manager and ICPlayer software it is possible to create FTP connections to Players with minimal con figuration overhead Job folder creation plus the related account creation and security modification tasks are done automatically for Direct FTP connections Even for networks that could use local shared connections for Player communication Class A C E G using Direct FTP is sim pler than Custom connections with Shared folders 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network In networks that require FTP links but cannot use Direct FTP however the choice of job folder location is less clear cut The number of Players involved and whether each polling connection through the FTP link incurs a separate telecommunication cost are likely to be the deciding factors Using FTP Any machine that will be on the receiving end of an FIP communica tion link must have FTP server software installed and configured on it The machines must be connected via TCP IP links either directly or over the Internet Direct FTP connections The InfoChannel software includes built in FTP server software for both the Network Manager and the Player ends of a Direct FTP con nection Using Direct FTP connections automates almost all the con figuration tasks associated with FTP communication Direct FTP does require static IP addresses for all Players that connect by that method Custom FTP connections For custo
238. pecial format for dial up FTP 235 USB port inserting Scala Key 36 User Accounts page 84 User accounts Windows Creating 219 V Versionated files using in authoring 160 Versionation of filenames 107 Versionation linked content files 158 159 View Only vs View Modify modes 81 210 View Modify View Only modes 42 Virus scanning Player hazards 126 Ww Web site Scala 22 Web Home Directory 72 WHAL certified device drivers using 30 Wildcards 167 168 Windows Event log overflow prevention 127 Installation 27 Installation on Player 32 Service dialogs disrupting playback 126 Windows 2000 Server Using to avoid FTP connection limit 58 Windows 2000 required for ICNM installation 26 Workspace Changing location to FTP root 224 Default location 225 248 Defining NM Workspace location 225 248 Locating Player job folders in 217 Location of retrieved content 143 Location of retrieved files 144 Remote 59 Workspace folder 63 64 Diagram 63 Workspace folders 58 218 Configuring for Custom FTP 224 Configuring for Shared Folder access 248 Making Shared 247 X XML parser installation 30 208 Index 277
239. point connection might be a modem or other lower bandwidth channel than the broadcast connection on the assumption that the back channel communication will be of lower volume and less frequent than on the broadcast connection A broadcast Player that has no back channel connection can still oper ate however Health Monitoring file retrieval and other operations that require a back channel are not available Such networks ultimately require some sort of direct human observation as a form of monitor ing to report Players that are not operating correctly Ensuring reliable broadcast communication Data transmission errors are a fact of life Network Manager s broad cast architecture has therefore been designed to be as robust as possi ble in order to minimize the need for use of a back channel The simplest way to deal with transmission errors without constant use of a back channel is through redundancy the data is broadcast multiple times Doing so can fix random problems introduced by line noise and intermittent equipment failures without requiring Players to actually notify Network Manager of missed files The Scala Broadcast Server software provides an option to choose how many times the broadcast information is automatically retransmitted Confirmed broadcasting Confirmed broadcasting is a method of monitoring broadcast perfor mance available in InfoChannel Network broadcast installations that provide a back channel from the P
240. ppely and Erik Mattsson 2 IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR PURCHASERS OF UPGRADE OR EXTENSION VERSIONS IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED AN UPGRADE LICENSE OR EXTENSION LICENSE TO SCALA SOFTWARE YOU MUST READ AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY SECTIONS 4 a AND 4 b OF THIS AGREEMENT END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT This Software License Agreement Agreement is entered into between Scala Inc Scala and the users and or purchasers of Scala software products the Licensee READ THIS LICENSE CAREFULLY BY OPENING THE SCALA SOFTWARE PRODUCT PACKAGING AND OR USING THE SCALA SOFTWARE LICENSEE AGREES TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT If Licensee does not agree to the terms in this Agreement Licensee must promptly cease using the Scala Software uninstall and or permanently delete the Scala Software documentation and any copies thereof from the computer system s on which the Scala Software has been loaded or stored and return the Scala Software all media on which it is stored all product packaging and proof of payment to the Scala reseller pursuant to such reseller s return policy If Licensee does not agree to the terms in this Agreement and has acquired the Scala Software as part of a pre configured computer system on which the Scala Software has been installed Licensee must either promptly cease using the Scala Software uninstall and or permanently delete the Scala Software documentation and any copies thereof from the compu
241. ps as closely as possible If your particular system happened to require some special custom steps chances are good that the problems are in some way related to them Assuming your software was installed and configured sufficiently cor rectly that you can run jobs the next place to look is the Job Activity page in Network Manager Running any job produces descriptive out put on this page If you are having problems running jobs make sure that the Activity Logging Detail option is set to Diagnostic on the System Settings page Then run a problem job and look at the output on the Job Activity page Every step of the job execution process is described Errors are highlighted in red and describe the nature of the failure The error messages should serve to point out the where the problem is occurring Also look at the Player log files in the Player Health pages If the prob lem is on the Player end it is likely that the messages there indicate the source of the difficulty Problem 13 Troubleshooting tips Network Manager does not appear to function Reason and possible solutions Problem Reasons and possible solutions Cgi bin permissions may not be set correctly Ls 2 3 Right click on the cgi bin directory and choose Properties Choose the Security tab Make sure that for the listed users that Read and Execute per missions are set This is necessary for the Network Manager application If this per
242. pt source access I Log visits Read I Index this resource I Write T Directory browsing Application Settings Application name Defaut Application Remove Starting point lt Default Web Site gt Configuration Execute Permissions Scripts and Executables x Application Protection Medium Pooled x Unload 5 Change the path in Local Path to your desired location The defaults on the remaining tabs do not need to be changed 6 Click OK 7 Close the Internet Information Services window Step 4 Configure transmission options 1 You need to know the Network Manager machine s static IP host address or DNS name if you have DNS service on your network You can retrieve the IP address with these steps a Open the Computer Management tool from Start gt Programs gt Administrative Tools b In Computer Management open System Tools gt System Infor mation gt Components gt Network gt Adapter 73 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 74 C Write down what is listed for ZP Address in the dialog s right hand pane d Close Computer Management 2 Enter the IP address within Network Manager using these steps enter Network Managers IP address or DNS name a b C Run InfoChannel Network Manager Click the Configure tab to display the icons in that panel of the control frame Click the System Settings icon You see the
243. r if you have second thoughts about changes you made click RELOAD DATABASES to clear the changes and return to the last stored database values In either case the SUBMIT CHANGES and RELOAD DATABASES choices disappear from the control frame until the next time you make any edits Creating new items Most of the pages have a button to allow to create a new item New Job New Publish Location New Broadcast Server New Player or New Account Clicking a New button opens an empty form for you to fill in with the appropriate information Deleting items you no longer need If you are sure you will not need an item again you can delete it Select it then click the Delete button When you submit the change the item is permanently removed from the database Note that only the Network Manager database is affected by deletions Deleting a Player or Publish Location definition has no effect on Player machines or Publish file servers Viewing large amounts of data When there are too many items to view at once Network Manager presents items in paged format A legend in the right hand side of the page header shows the total number of items and the range of items currently visible for example 11 20 of 27 When there are more items than can be seen at once an tems Page pop up control appears next to the legend allowing you to choose how many items should be displayed per page NETWORK MANAGER 3 items shown per page ntoChannel Z
244. r Web server Later you will create a new user account that doesn t have Administrator privileges 1 From the Start menu choose Programs gt Administrative Tools gt Computer Management 2 On the left hand side of the Computer Management dialog expand the Local users and Groups tree 3 Select the Users folder 4 Select the Guest account in the right hand pane 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 5 Choose Properties from the Action menu 6 Inthe Guest Properties dialog turn on the Account is disabled option Computer Management Local System Tools Event Viewer System Information Performance Loos and Alerts Device Manag l Local Users ar Logical Drives g Removable St Built in account for quest access to the computer de fe Services and Appl lange password at 7 Click OK It is assumed that accounts and appropriate permissions have been set to allow Network Manager and Players to access each other Step 2 Delete unnecessary files Some of the files left by the default IIS installation are unnecessary and could pose a security risk They should be deleted 1 Navigate via My Computer or Windows Explorer to the location of your Web site s root directory 2 Delete the files located in the root directory 71 4 Network Manager configuration Configuring InfoChannel Network Manager 72 3 Delete the lissamples and Adminscripts fold
245. r constituent media files constantly need to be updated You update content on Players by sending newer content files using a Send Content job There are three ways to update content e Sending a new script as the Main Script e Sending a content file for use as linked content e By acustom programmed process external to Network Manager Sending Main Scripts When you send a script as a Main Script it completely replaces the Main Script currently playing on the Player 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Updating Player content Restarting One decision for you to make is whether the updated script replaces the current one immediately interrupting the current script s play back or waits until the current script comes to its natural end before being swapped in Turn on the Restart Playback option if the update is urgent for exam ple late breaking news or a fix for an embarrassing script mistake Another reason for using the Restart option is if the script contains an internal loop such that it never normally restarts from the beginning Atomic scripts An ICDesigner script is published and transmitted atomically as a single file containing the script itself and all its media files When a published script is received by a Player it is unpacked into separate folders and files according to a special naming scheme and structure see How content is stored on a Player on page 106 in chapter 7 It is not possib
246. rate window for a particular Player It offers an easy and versatile way to view a Players logs for a truly detailed account of its operational history Each log entry is timestamped and identified according to the type of message information warning or error Errors are shown in red cleared errors in green Repeated error display To prevent clutter in the log from repeated errors when the same error occurs several times consecutively there is a single listing for the error under the timestamp of its first occurrence Such entries have a prominent notation of how many times the error has happened Windows logs The reader shows not just InfoChannel IC logs but messages in the Windows System and Application logs as well to give a more com plete picture Filtering the log file display There are several Show options to filter what appears in the Reader window As with the other views these options let you focus on what you need to find you can limit the display to Warnings and Errors or 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages just Errors and you can choose which of the three logs InfoChannel Windows System Windows Application displays its messages Z Player Health Log File Reader Microsoft Internet Explorer lO x Player 2 Window Mosi Recan Sha JA Evene z POPE P Status Summary Problem 6 Script lt untitled gt played incorrectly Caused by error 10 4 Report Generated on 08 27 02 22
247. re because there are system specific configu ration steps that you must complete before it can operate properly The basic Health Monitoring configuration steps are described in chapter 4 starting on page 76 When you have completed these steps you can enable Health Moni toring When you do so the Player Health icon becomes available on the Manage panel of the control frame When to disable Health Monitoring Scala strongly recommends that you enable Health Monitoring in view of how much more easily you can notice and address problems in your network using the feedback it provides However there are reasons you might want to disable the Health Monitoring system e If your Players do not have a back channel The operation of Health Monitoring depends on messages being sent back to Network Manager This requires a back channel from the Players Some network implementations such as broadcast only networks with no point to point connection have no back channel and thus cannot use Health Monitoring 173 11 Using Health Monitoring The Player Health pages Health Monitoring should be disabled in such cases so that Play ers do not attempt to send heartbeats e Ifyou are using a Shared Folder based InfoChannel Network that uses an unsuitable type of LAN Health Monitoring depends on IP or domain name style machine addressing in order to work Non TCP IP LANs that do not sup port such addressing cannot use Health Mo
248. re on the Players page 2 Select the Group name in the Show pop up Just the Players and Groups in the selected Group are listed Players Access Mode View Modify Show Metro Edit Group Delete Group New Group 1 1 of 1 9 Name Connections Group Associations Description B X Player 3 exe ftp 192 168 10 66 Inbox East Player in the MetroLobby Metro metro lobby 3 Click Edit Group to open the Edit Group form 7 Defining and working with Players Associating a Player definition with an actual Player The form is the same as the New Groups form Make any neces sary changes 4 Click the OK button to close the form 5 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Deleting a Group If you decide you need to delete a Group 1 Make sure you are on the Players page 2 Select the Group name in the Show pop up Just the Players and Groups in the selected Group are listed 3 Click Delete Group You see a confirmation dialog 4 Click the OK button to confirm the deletion 5 Click SUBMIT CHANGES Deleting a Group only deletes the Group definition from the database dissolving its associations Any Players or Groups that were part of the deleted Group are unaffected Associating a Player definition with an actual Player The Player definition in Network Manager is nothing more than a path to its job folder location Whatever the connection type associat ing this definition with a physical Player requires action at both ends of t
249. required 57 Setting root on Player 231 Third party servers 215 Usernames linked to Windows user accounts in IIS 219 Using in IC Network 57 Wrong login on Player 204 FTP host offsite 59 Full screen playback 124 G Groups Associating Player with 99 Using 102 105 Using with broadcast Players 198 Guest account Disabling on NM machine 70 H Hard drive filling with old content 157 Health Monitoring 172 185 Basic configuration 76 Configuration 182 Enabling and disabling 173 Not available without back channel 192 Not available without IP addressing 247 Health Monitoring IP Port 183 Blocked by firewall 208 Changing requires Player update 208 Incorrect 208 Healthy status icon 176 Heartbeat Interval 183 Changing requires Player update 208 Setting 77 Heartbeat messages 172 Possibly expensive under dial up 174 Timing tolerance 183 Help in Network Manager 47 Home option 41 270 Home page ICNM 39 Host Address entering 74 I Ic log Location on Network Manager 164 Location on Player 164 ICDesigner Adding machines 61 Allocation to machine 53 Connection to Publish Location 49 Loading retrieved scripts into 167 Icons Lightbulb 44 Log status 177 NM control frame 40 NM Engine System Tray 37 Playback status 177 Player status 176 ICPlayer account 221 Admin privileges needed 219 Creating on Player 231 252 Entering as User Name 228 234 Generic vs multiple 221 Workspace folder permission for Shared Folder access 248
250. river The default location is Broadcast Receive Outbox To change the default click this button to open the File dialog where you can choose a different folder on the Player Transmission Timeout Sometimes broadcast transmissions are interrupted An interrupted transmission might be resumed and ultimately completed or if the connection is lost completely the transmission might be aborted When a transmission is aborted the temporary files containing data 121 8 InfoChannel Player configuration Using the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility 122 already transmitted are abandoned and remain in the Target Folder on the Player To prevent an accumulation of abandoned transmission files from cluttering the Player s hard drive the ICPlayer software regularly deletes transmission files that have shown no activity for a certain period of time That period of time is specified by the Transmission Timeout minutes control Using the default of 60 minutes incomplete transmission files that have not been updated in more than an hour are deleted and the transmission is considered to have failed Adjustment of the timeout value used should rarely be necessary If the setting is changed it must take into account the length of typical transmission interruptions for the particular installation Too long a timeout might allow large amounts of abandoned files to accumulate clogging the hard disk and blocking new transmissions
251. rks those with up to a hundred or so Players the standard point to point communication model works well However as installations grow larger sending jobs to each Player individually becomes less and less practical In a system with a thousand Players for example contacting each of them one after the other each time an update was required would obviously take far too much time Players Network Manager La a gi Point to point communication Players are contacted sequentially A broadcasting overview 188 To provide an efficient solution for larger InfoChannel Networks Scala developed broadcast technology for Player communication Using the broadcast approach Network Manager can send out com mands and update information to numerous Players at the same time Players have unique identifying addresses such that although informa tion sent out reaches all Players physically accessible to the Network Manager machine that is transmitting only those Players for which the information is intended actually accept it 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel A broadcasting overview Thus it is still possible for Network Manager to target certain Players and Groups for updating without needing to make an individual con nection with each Sending a message once to many recipients such that they all receive it at esse
252. rogram at that time account in Network Manager Enterprise Edition in Windows or on an FTP server a set of privileges associated with a particular user alert in the Network Manager health monitoring system a status message that is sent to report an error or some other unexpected con dition See also heartbeat authoring station a machine running Scala CDesigner software used for authoring and publishing the scripts that are sent to Players back channel a data pathway through which a Player can send infor mation back to Network Manager broadcast a type of ICDesigner connection in which Network Man ager sends information to many Players all at once rather than making a separate connection to each Player one at a time Data that is broad cast reaches each Player but only those Players to which it is addressed accept the data Broadcasting can run over a LAN WAN or the Inter net often using satellite technology Used when large numbers of Players must be controlled See also point to point Broadcast Server a machine that prepares and transmits broadcast files received from a Network Manager machine Also may refer to the Scala broadcasting software that runs on this machine or the Network Manager definition of the machine s location broadcast folder a folder on the Broadcast Server machine in which published files are received for subsequent broadcast transmission browser software for view
253. rver If you have set up the workspace on the Network Manager server and followed the account setup suggestions given previously see page 220 this would be ICPlayer c Password Enter the password needed for the username Only asterisks appear Passwords are case sensitive This is the password for the CPlayer FTP account d Confirm Password Enter the password again to ensure you didn t type it wrong 3 Click OK to accept your changes on the Edit System Settings form 4 Finally click SUBMIT CHANGES to store your changes in the database Step 6 Define the Player 1 Click the Players icon in the Network Manager control frame to open the Players page 2 Click the New Player button to open the New Player form 3 Enter a Name and Description for the Player 228 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup FTP access Choose Custom from the Send Job Commands Via pop up Specify how Network Manager delivers its job files In most Cus tom FTP based installations this is via FTP Choose FTP from the Player Job Folder pop up nfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition New Player Microsoft Internet Explorer oy x File Edt View Favorites Tools Help Back gt amp A QSeach iFavorites Meda D S Sf Address htp ocathost Z Go Links A NMEE ui e wsfsu Windows u New Player Name Player 4 Des
254. s Internet properties to not use sys tem wide auto dialing since the Player handles the dialing 1 Right click on the Internet Explorer icon on the Player desktop or choose Tools gt Internet Options in Internet Explorer itself 2 In the Internet Properties sheet go to the Connections panel Appendix Setup of Custom connections Dial up FTP access configuration 3 Select Never dial a connection 4 Click OK exit the Internet Properties sheet Step 2 Create the dial up connection on the Player 1 From the Start menu go to Programs gt Scala InfoChannel Player 3 and choose Configure InfoChannel Player On the Network panel turn on v the Connect Using Dial up option Click the Dial up Connection button to open the Select a Phone book entry dialog If a Windows Phonebook entry has already been set up to dial the Internet select its name from the Phonebook pop up and skip to Step 3 Adjust connection options Assuming you have not already created a Windows Phonebook entry to dial the Internet you have two choices you can create a phonebook entry now using the Windows Wizard or you can cre ate a simple dialing connection right in this dialog Phonebook entry To create a phonebook entry click Add This opens the Windows Network Connection Wizard 2 10 x Doma Playback Info i Point to Point Connection Receive Job Commands Via Custom Player s Jobs Folder FIP FTP Folder _ Networ
255. s are enabled 181 11 Using Health Monitoring Health Monitoring configuration settings You should Clear an Error only when you know it to be harmless or when you have taken action to fix it If your fix did not work the Error will recur If the Error does recur or if you otherwise realize that a fix did not or will not work as expected you should Reset the Condi tion so that it is not ignored Health Monitoring configuration settings The Health Monitoring system in Network Manager has several options on the System Settings page that allow you to tune its perfor mance to suit your installation Health Monitoring Options Health Monitoring Enabled M Health Monitoring IP Port ooo Heartbeat Interval Minutes B Overdue Heartbeat Tolerance i Minutes i Minimum Alert Interval Minutes fis Maximum Player Log Retrieval on Same B Error 2 customer specific option Problem Notification Email Address l default setting not possible Enable Daily Log File Retrieval V Keep Log Files for this Many Days F As described in chapter 4 starting on page 76 you must set Network Managers Host Address to the Network Manager machine s IP address in order for Health Monitoring to function 182 11 Using Health Monitoring Health Monitoring configuration settings The other Health Monitoring settings do not need to be changed for Health Monitoring to work However you may find you want or need to make changes to
256. s invoiced by the Support Organization have not been paid by the Customer as set forth in the customers approved credit terms 11 Extraordinary Expenses The Support Organization reserves the right to charge for unusual or excessive telephone shipping handling media or user manual expenses in connection with the Software Support to be provided hereunder In all cases the Support Organization will notify the Customer of these costs in advance 11 12 Assignment Customer may not assign this Agreement to a third party without the prior written consent of SCALA which consent may be withheld in SCALA S sole discretion SCALA may assign or delegate its rights and responsibilities hereunder to a third party Support Organization upon notice to Customer and may freely assign its rights and obligations hereunder in connection with the merger acquisition or sale of all or substantially all of the assets of SCALA 13 Force Majeure SCALA shall not be responsible or liable for failure to perform or observe or for delay in performing or observing any obligation under this Agreement where such failure or delay arises from any cause beyond the control of SCALA or the Support Organization as applicable including but not limited to strikes lockouts industrial action acts of God insurrection terrorism or civil commotion or any other cause beyond the reasonable control of SCALA or the Support Organization as applicable 14 Limited Warra
257. s that define the Player are configured accordingly This architecture is extremely easy to set up with Direct FTP Even when used with an installation based on third party FTP servers it can still be preferable for installations in which the network bandwidth and or dial up phone line charges incurred by Players polling remote job folders would make operation costs prohibitive When job folders are located on the Player the polling is internal to the Player so that source of communication traffic is eliminated The Players response to new jobs can also be faster they can poll for job files much more often every 10 seconds since there is no bandwidth penalty Mapping the data flow The following sequence of events for a Send Content job illustrates the typical communication flow among the various components of an InfoChannel Network 1 Author publishes to InfoChannel Network from ICDesigner 2 Published script is deposited in Publish Location 3 Network Manager monitoring Publish Location copies pub lished script to its workspace KOOP ST a Chtepeoaneaaee 65 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Closing InfoChannel Network Manager 4 10 11 A Network Manager Send Content job is run creating a job file specifying the published script Job file is placed in the job folder of Player named in the job Player polling its job folder sees the job file and downloads it Player reads th
258. s the Publish Location from the Network Manager machine either FTP or Local or Shared Folder Make settings specific to the connection type Depending on which type you choose a different set of options appears below in the form FTP a URL Enter the FTP location that this machine would use to get data from the Publish Location For example ftp 192 168 0 10 PubContent or ftp Pub lishServer com PubContent b User Name Enter the username to gain access to the FTP server c Password Enter the password needed for the username Only asterisks appear d Confirm Password Enter the password again to ensure you didn t type it wrong OR Local or Shared Folder a Folder Enter the path to the Publish Location from this machine in either local drive letter or UNC format For example if F is a share on publishserver the UNC path might be publishserver f pubcontent 4 Click the OK button to close the form 90 6 Defining Publish Locations Editing a Publish Location The new Publish Location is listed on the Publish Locations page Any number of Publish Locations can be defined enter as many new ones as you need 3 InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Publish Locations Microsoft Internet Explorer Ele Edit View Favorites Tools Help wack gt A A Gsearch GgFavorites History B Sp Address
259. scheme takes advantage of FTP servers that are now built into the Network Man ager and CPlayer software When you use Direct FTP many of the decisions discussed in the remainder of this chapter regarding topol ogy job folder location etc are taken care of automatically by the software This reduces your labor and the associated chances for error The only prerequisite for using Direct FTP is that Players must have static IP addresses Direct FTP cannot be used in every situation however For those cases in which it is not applicable all the same Player connection options that InfoChannel has offered in the past are still available as Cus tom connections Having these choices gives you great flexibility in network architec ture It also gives you a large set of possible configurations and thus many decisions to make This section covers what you need to know to quickly narrow down the possibilities to just those that will apply to your InfoChannel Network InfoChannel Network topologies The diagrams on the next page classify the possible combinations of connection types among the components of a simple point to point InfoChannel Network Topologies that include broadcasting are dis cussed in chapter 12 This produces a list of topologies that have been given arbitrary Class designations of A through L This classification is merely a way to illustrate the options involved in the topologies and to provide convenie
260. script with linked content is published to the InfoChannel Network the linked content files the authors saw are not included with the script only references to their names Making sure linked content works The InfoChannel Network administrator s responsibilities to ensure that linked content works properly include e Giving script authors appropriate files to use as placeholders Files placed in the Linked Content folder for authoring purposes should be representative in size running time etc of the actual content files that will be linked to so that the scripts will appear as expected on playback The ICDesigner Start menu has a shortcut to the Linked Content folder to make it easy to drop files there e Making sure script authors know where to use the Linked Con tent files e Placing in a separate step the actual content files on the Players The names of the content files sent must match the names of the files used in authoring exactly The one exception files that have 10 Working in InfoChannel Network Manager Performing Player maintenance been previously published then retrieved from a Player and are thus already versionated can be re used as linked content like any file The version characters are ignored for purposes of matching the file name and are updated when the file is received on a Player Linked content files can be sent with a Network Manager Send Content job downloaded by a separate application or
261. sed more often than service packs Therefore it is not safe to assume that a given service pack contains all current patches a patch may have been released after the most recent service pack So be careful when changing the Windows 2000 configuration and diligent when applying security patches and virus scanner updates 31 2 Installation Installation of InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Installation of InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Make sure that the above steps have been completed before installing Network Manager When they have been completed you can then run the installer for Network Manager The installation process is extremely simple e It prompts you for an installation folder which you may change from its default if desired e It asks whether you want to have the Network Manager Engine run automatically when Windows starts which is recommended It asks whether you want to install the Network Manager web at the root of the system s web server This is recommended If you prefer a different location you are prompted for a folder name e It recommends the Internet Explorer updates and security patches discussed above so if you followed those steps you can ignore the installer s recommendation to use Windows Update Installation of InfoChannel Player 3 software An InfoChannel Player machine requires the same installation of Win dows 2000 and service packs as described for the Network Manager machine at the
262. sent guidelines for you to use in arriving at a definite layout for your InfoChannel Network concept e More units Once you understand how an InfoChannel Network functions and have succeeded in getting the simplest case of your preferred topology working adding additional Players ICDesigner systems and Publish Locations should be very straightforward It is prima rily a matter of repeating steps that you have already taken To add Players you need to set up the Player in Network Manager and on the Player itself so that both are linked to the job folder When not using Direct FTP you need to create a job folder for each Player Any number of Players is supported up to your license limit With large numbers of Players use Groups to organize them 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Planning your InfoChannel Network To add Publish Locations you need to define them in Net work Manager which simply means providing a network path to a folder that is accessible to both Network Manager and an ICDesigner machine Any number of Publish Locations is supported You can decide whether to locate them on the Network Manager machine or in other locations connected by FTP on an indi vidual basis To add ICDesigner machines make it possible for them to access a Publish Location Any number of ICDesigner stations is supported Any ICDe signer station can publish to any Publish Locations that it can connect to Mixed
263. sh Location is simply a file server and only needs to be a computer accessible through a network or FTP connection to the Net work Manager machine It does not even have to run Windows a UNIX file server would function just as well The only configuration steps necessary on the Publish Location server are possibly to create a folder and then whatever is needed to enable access to it For FTP access running FTP server software and setup of an appropriate FTP user account and password See the section starting on page 223 of the appendix regarding FTP setup on the Network Manager machine for information on FTP server configuration e For Local Shared Folder access making sure the Publish Location folder is set to be Shared and that accounts and permissions are set appropriately to allow Network Manager to access the folder 6 Defining Publish Locations Adding a Publish Location One or more Publish Locations might be located on the same physical machine as Network Manager itself Using a Publish Location that is defined to be within the Network Manager Workspace like the Default Publish Location that is automatically set up during installa tion is in fact very advantageous as it avoids an additional data trans fer that would otherwise be necessary However Publish Locations can be located on any machines that are accessible to Network Manager The folder you define as the actual Publish destination can be any where even t
264. sing Direct FTP requires that each Player have a static IP address Alternatively if you need to use a particular third party FTP server or have other special requirements you can opt for a cus tom approach 0 Ww To use the built in FTP servers choose Server Direct FTP from the Send and Receive Data Via pop up The only option you need to set within Network Manager with respect to Server Direct FTP connection to Players is a password A randomized default password is provided which if you leave it will work in your installation however it is rec ommended that your choose your own password This is the only place this password is entered It is not nec essary to know it to enter on individual Players a In the Password box enter a password that is at least eight characters long Only asterisks appear Passwords are case sensitive b Re enter the password in the Confirm Password box To use an external FTP server or access other special configu ration settings choose Custom from the Send and Receive Data Via pop up The other options you see when Custom has been selected involve a variety of additional factors related to more special ized InfoChannel Network configurations and are discussed in the appendix starting on page 247 The remaining items in the Transmission Engine Options section of the form have default settings that work well for most systems and can be left as is for now You should not ne
265. so contained in the Jnfo Channel Player 3 Setup Guide booklet included in each Player box You can re run the Player Configuration utility at any time by choos ing InfoChannel Player 3 gt Configure InfoChannel Player 3 from the Player machine s Start menu 33 a ey InfoChannel A Ea ORK MANAGERS RalaSs Ez EzDzlaTzl 0_N p i Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager 3 Overview of InfoChannel Network Manager Scala InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition is an applica tion that makes it possible for you to set up and maintain an Info Channel Network of any size and complexity This chapter introduces the basic operation of the Network Manager user interface and offers guidance on choosing a network topology and layout that will be appropriate for your uses Starting Network Manager Once the installation process is complete you should log out of the Administrator account under which you installed the software and log back in to Windows 2000 using the account under which you will be operating Network Manager If you have not inserted the Scala Key for Network Manager in the machine s parallel or USB port do so Without the Key inserted Net work Manager will not run pe e T Scala Key Parallel port Scala Key USB port Then you can start Network Manager There are two steps to this start
266. software in connection with uses that are non commercial or limited to educational purposes for use in universities primary or secondary schools b Copies Licensee may not copy or otherwise reproduce the Scala Software or documentation except for one back up copy of the Software for archival testing or back up purposes provided that Licensee complies with the obligations of confidentiality set forth herein Except as expressly permitted under applicable law Licensee may not decompile reverse engineer or disassemble the Scala Software in an attempt to derive or use the source code therefrom 0 Third Party Software The Scala Software includes third party software Redistributable Code that is licensed to Scala for redistribution with the Scala Software The Redistributable Code is the property of Scala s licensors and protected under United States and international copyright trade secret or other proprietary rights laws as well as international treaties Licensee is hereby granted a limited non exclusive non sublicensable and nontransferable right and license to use and display the Redistributable Code solely in connection with the authorized operation and use of the Scala Software by Licensee and in conformance with the terms and conditions of this Agreement Except as expressly permitted under applicable law Licensee may not reproduce redistribute decompile reverse engineer or disassemble the Redistributable Code and may not d
267. st to pick up the names of new files that have just arrived at the Publish Location Publish Locations listed in red are currently disabled and will not be accessed by this job until they are re enabled on the Publish Locations page 139 9 Setting up jobs Job commands 140 Command Send Content z Source PublishLoc1 z File lt choose a File gt z Rescan lt Choose a File gt lt Enter Filename Manually gt Emergency jpg Priceless scb Sale BMP Saleheader JPG Salemusic mp3 Specialheader BMP Specialmusic mp3 b From the File pop up list choose from the content files avail able on the Publish Location Or if the content file does not currently exist on the Publish Location but you expect it to at a later time and know its name you can enter a name into the File Name field c Click the lt Add button to add this task to the job A sum mary of the task information appears as a line in the Tasks in this Joo list What Tasks in this Job Send Content task summary Send content PublishLoc1 Specialmusic mp3 Move Up Move Down Remove d Resume the procedure with step 5 in the Creating a job sec tion on page 132 9 Setting up jobs Job commands Maintenance commands Additional maintenance oriented commands are available from the Command pop up after you choose lt More Commands gt The addi tional commands you see are Install File plac
268. sure that Network Manager Workspace and Trans mission Workspace folders are defined to point to the right places InfoChannel Network Manager Note The Network Manager Workspace folder is where all content and other data related to all con nected Players will reside For this reason you must be sure that the folder is located on a large capacity drive with plenty of empty space You may need to change one or both locations if you are using FTP The Transmission Workspace location in most cases should be the same folder as the Network Manager Workspace folder AND should coincide with its machine s FTP root Achieving this if you are using a third party FTP server and must use its already established FTP root folder requires adjusting the default folder locations Using remote FTP hosting requires that you alter the Transmission Workspace loca Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections tion to coincide with the remote FTP host s root folder Additional detail is available in chapter 3 starting on page 59 For Shared Folder use the default locations are generally acceptable Detailed instructions for setting the Workspace folder locations are found in the setup procedures for FTP and Shared Folder that follow Creating accounts In order for communication through the InfoChannel Network to be secure the participants at either end must have their Network Manager Note identities authenticated be
269. t content from Players The most typical reasons e to get back a script or other media files mistakenly deleted from the Network Manager machine or authoring machine e to check linked content that was sent to Players from an outside source to be sure that the content is what it is supposed to be Use a Retrieve Content job for this task You only need to know the name of the script or linked file not a full path since all content files reside in a single folder on the Player A retrieved script remains in its published form a relatively small lt scriptname gt sch file accompanied by specially named folders in Shared Files containing all the content The retrieved script can be loaded back into ICDesigner by loading the scb file and can be edited played back and republished like any script However the script will no longer reference the original content files on the author ing station as the published script now references the content in the Shared Files folder Retrieving files A Retrieve Files job can have various uses e checking file versions e getting a Player specific batch file or Windows script file back for editing If for any reason you need to get a file other than a content file from a Player use a Retrieve Files job Retrieve Files allows the use of standard wildcards in the name in the Full Path box This lets you retrieve multiple files with one command or retrieve a file having a name you do not
270. t jobs are draw ing is not the Publish Location to which updated scripts are being published Either script authors must adjust the location to which they are publishing or the defined path to the Publish Location in Network Manager must be changed to reflect the actual location where updated scripts are being published Send Content job is disabled Re enable the job on the Jobs page A time based trigger for the Send Content job was not set up correctly Review the scheduling on the Jobs page to be sure that it is triggering at the intended times The Player cannot retrieve content from Network Manager via Direct FTP because there is a conflict between the Direct FTP servers FTP port number and the HS FTP port number The IIS FTP server on Network Manager should be shut down if it is not needed or the IIS TCP Port setting in its FTP Site Prop erties should be changed to something other than 21 209 13 Troubleshooting tips Problem Can t edit databases Reason and possible solution 210 If you do not see icons for certain Network Manager pages or the controls that allow you to edit Network Manager items seem to be missing the problem is that you do not currently have editing access There are two possible reasons 1 You are in View Only mode With the Access Mode pop up switch to View Modify mode 2 The Network Manager account you are logged in under does not have editing privileges An Observer account
271. t use Direct FTP connections job fold ers are created automatically When you are using Custom connec tions you need to create job folders for Players manually For Release 4 and beyond of InfoChannel Network Manager 3 one default Player folder is created for you on the Network Manager system during installation Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections To add any additional Players to a system that uses Custom connec tions you must create their job folders yourself in Windows Job folder location The job folders can be located anywhere that is accessible both to Net work Manager and to the Players on the Network Manager machine on a separate file server or on the Players themselves For simplicity and ease of administration it is best to stay consistent in locating the job folders Create all your Player job folders in the same location on the Network Manager side or create each individual job folder in the same location on all Players It is recommended that for job folders on Network Manager you cre ate additional job folders in the same location in which the default Player job folder is placed during installation namely lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Docu ments Scala Network Transmission OQutbox For a job folder accessed by FTP it is recommended that you put the job folder within the folder that is the FTP root for the Player machine This location will
272. tates federal agency are provided with Restricted Rights as defined in DFARS 252 227 7013 Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software and FAR 52 227 14 Rights in Data General including Alternate III as applicable Scala must be notified in advance of any license grants to United States federal governmental entities Licensee acknowledges that none of the Software is licensed for use in any nuclear aviation mass transit or medical application or in any other inherently dangerous applications Assignment Licensee may not assign this Agreement without the prior written consent of Scala For all purposes under this Agreement any merger consolidation spin off acquisition of or change in control involving Licensee will be deemed an assignment Any attempted assignment by Licensee will be invalid Partial Invalidity If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid or unenforceable by competent authority that provision will be construed so as to be limited or reduced to be enforceable to the maximum extent compatible with the law as it shall then appear The total invalidity or unenforceability of any particular provision of this Agreement will not affect its other provisions and this Agreement will be construed in all respects as if the invalid or unenforceable provision were omitted Waiver No failure on the part of Scala to exercise and no delay in exercising any of Scala s rights hereunder will operate as a waiver thereof nor will
273. ter system s on which the Scala Software has been preloaded or return the pre configured system pursuant to the system vendor s return policy In the mutual obligations described in this Agreement and for other good and valuable consideration the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged the parties agree as follows 1 LICENSE Pursuant to the terms herein Scala hereby grants Licensee a nonexclusive nontransferable non sublicensable right and license to use the object code version of Scala s proprietary software any software provided by third parties and incorporated into or delivered with the Scala product s and any graphical textual pictorial audio or visual works or materials incorporated into or delivered with the Scala products collectively referred to as Scala Software along with any written documentation including any Scala user guides tutorials reference manuals or other explanatory materials that accompany or are stored on or in the Software This license will terminate immediately upon any termination of this Agreement 2 TERM This Agreement is effective as of the date at which Licensee opens the Scala Software product packaging and will continue unless terminated as provided in Section 9 3 SCOPE OF LICENSE AND USE a Internal Use Licensee may use the Scala Software and the documentation only for its own internal use on one single user computer Licensee may not sublicense lease rent s
274. terms of this Section 4 a such use shall be deemed a material breach hereof and Licensee shall immediately either i pay the difference between the Upgrade Edition fee and the applicable non upgrade fee for the Scala Software or ii immediately cease all use of the Scala Software and return the software in accordance with the provisions of Section 9 c hereunder v Scala reserves the right to modify the list of eligible previous versions of the Scala Software and or the Upgrade Editions associated with such eligible previous versions of the Scala Software Stickers affixed to the Scala Software product packaging shall set forth the applicable Upgrade Edition restrictions In the event of a conflict between this Agreement and a valid sticker affixed to the appropriate Scala Software packaging the Upgrade Edition restrictions set forth in the product packaging sticker shall prevail provided the stickers are affixed to the applicable and most recent version of the relevant Scala Software product Scala Plug In EX EX pricing is only available to licensees of a Scala Software product or Scala Software products with which such extension will be combined integrated or otherwise used In the event that Licensee is found to have installed and or used an EX edition of the Scala Software in violation of the terms of this Section 4 b such use shall be deemed a material breach hereof and Licensee shall immediately either i acquire a license for the bas
275. th cost constraints of the network s FTP connection An interval of 1 5 minutes is appropriate when the FTP connection is made via a direct connection to the Internet For a dial up con nection an interval of 30 minutes or more is recommended Note that using FTP dial up requires important additional configura tion tasks in Windows See the following section for details Dial up FTP access configuration FTP communications in an InfoChannel Network can use modems rather than Ethernet cards by taking advantage of the dial up net working RASdial capabilities in the Windows operating system Using dial up FTP requires the same basic setup steps as FTP via LAN Internet enabling the FTP server on the receiving end creat ing user accounts and setting appropriate permissions plus some additional steps The additional steps required to configure FTP dial up are mainly a matter of creating connections in Windows Dial up Networking The steps you need to follow are different depending on whether the Info Channel Network is configured with job folders on the Players them selves or on the Network Manager machine Special URL format If the Player s job folder is located on the Player itself and Network Manager will use FTP dial up to access it there is a special format to use for the FTP URL when defining the Player in the Network Man ager New Player form Network Manager uses variations in this for mat to allow for alternative
276. the Network Manager Workspace enter the path to that location in the Folder box The path entered in the Folder box needs to be a UNC path starting with lt computer name gt lt share name gt which requires that a share be set up Depending on exactly how you defined the share your Transmission Workspace Folder setting would be something like this ICNMserver Network Transmission 250 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access Click OK to accept your changes on the Edit System Settings form Finally click SUBMIT CHANGES to store your changes in the database Step 5 Define the Player l noe e oE i 8 J Click the Players icon in the control frame to open the Players page Click the New Player button to open the New Player form Enter a Name and Description for the Player Choose Custom from the Send Job Commands Via pop up Choose Local or Shared Folder from the Player Job Folder pop up In the Folder box enter the path that this machine would use to access the Player s job folder created previously see Creating Player job folders on page 216 For example C Documents and Settings Al1 Users Documents Scala Net work Transmission Outbox Playerl A local drive letter path works without requiring a share to be set up The path would need to be a UNC path only if the folder is a share that is not on the Network Manager machine I
277. the New Job button You see the New Job form New Job name Description 3 J what Tasks in this Job Tasks Command lt Select a Command Where Players Targeted for this Job Players not Targeted for this Job lt Broadcast gt lt East gt lt Metros i 3 On this form identify the job using the following fields a Name Enter a name for the job It can be anything as long as it is unique b Description Enter a brief description for the job optional 131 9 Setting up jobs Creating a job 132 The Jobs page below is divided into three sections e What specifies the action s that the job should perform e Where specifies the Player s affected by the job e When lets you optionally specify a means of triggering the job automatically 4 Define the job s Task s under the What heading a Choose a command This area of the page has a Tasks section with a Command pop up that lets you choose from a list of job commands The Command pop up prompts you with lt Select a Com mand gt When you first enter the New Job form you see only the two most used commands in the pop up list Send Main Script and Send Content plus the choice lt More Commands gt If you don t see the command you need choose lt More Com mands gt The Command pop up then displays the full list of available job commands for you to choose from See the sectio
278. the Player that sent it and notes whether there are any outstanding problems that have been logged for that Player Players that have outstanding problems are designated as sick A sick Player might still be functioning correctly but logged InfoChannel Note a problem event that threatens its future operation Heartbeat status messages are Even an error that results in disrupted or stopped independent of the messages playback is likely to leave the Player Engine running inert Pleyer nomelly senei and capable of reporting its status and responding to back to Network Manager in the course of running jobs 172 communication Network Manager expects to receive a heartbeat from every Player at the specified interval If Network Manager hasn t 11 Using Health Monitoring How it works received a heartbeat from a given Player for too long that Player is considered dead Keep in mind that dead status is based on a lack of communication and thus is a presumption not a confirmed fact A Player that is listed as dead might in fact still be functioning correctly as there are various possible causes for the lack of a heartbeat other than a failed Player a bad network connection or misconfiguration for example Enabling and disabling Health Monitoring Health Monitoring can be enabled or disabled on the System Settings page By default Health Monitoring is disabled when you first install the Network Manager softwa
279. ther options you see in this section when Custom has been selected involve a variety of additional factors related to more specialized InfoChannel Network configurations and are discussed in the appendix Typically you would choose Player Direct FTP which establishes the job folder on the Player 98 icons show Player connection types 7 Defining and working with Players Creating a Player 4 If this Player is to have a broadcast connection choose a Broadcast Server from the Send Job Commands and Files Via pop up in the Broadcast Connection section of the page Please see chapter 12 for more detail on using broadcast connections 5 If desired associate the Player with one or more Groups In the Groups Not Associated with this Player list are the names of any Groups you have created The names are enclosed in angle brackets lt gt and displayed in green Click on as many as you wish to associate with this Player to select them then click lt Add The Groups you selected move to the left hand list Associating a Player with a Group is optional Group associations can be changed at any time If you are creating your first Player there are no Groups yet You can associate Players with Groups either during the Group cre ation process described in the section Using Groups on page 102 or during the Player creation process as described here 6 Click the OK button to close the New Player form You see the Player
280. ther variations using the same components and linking approaches are possible in this part of the connection chain Any of these topologies can in turn be deployed with any of the four combi 199 12 Broadcasting in InfoChannel Broadcast topologies nations of ICDesigner Publish Location connection in determining the final topology of the entire network Broadcast link J i Network Manager Broadcast Server FIP link eo PI C FTP host ayer ost local shared link lt 4 Class M a Bg I Class N mea yp GELL e Class 0 KE oe pao back channel Class P 4 A N Z 4e y T back channel InfoChannel Network basic broadcast topologies Class Q Goce a i Ve seccececseee OP pont to point InfoChannel Network mixed broadcast topology 200 Troubleshooting tips 13 Troubleshooting tips 202 General tips If you are having trouble with Network Manager the first thing to do is to double check your installation of the software starting with the Windows pieces e Did you deviate in some way from the instructions here e Or if you followed the installation instructions faithfully did you later modify the system in some way install reinstall a patch driver or update of some kind e Did you change your system configuration from what is specified here The surest way to begin with a working system is to follow the installa tion and configuration ste
281. through this interface Choose icons from the control frame on the left to view the corresponding pages Your level of access on each page is controlled by the Access Mode setting When Access Mode is set to View Only you may view information about the installation but may not make any changes When you are in View Modify mode additional buttons and links appear on the pages allowing you to edit the displayed information Note that no edits you make in InfoChannel Network Manager take effect until Control frame you explicitly submit them to the database using SUBMIT CHANGES You may make various changes and submit them once if you like Manage panel i See the tutorial on Scala s web site for a simple hands on guide to getting your InfoChannel Network up and running quickly You will find an overview of how InfoChannel works and how to set up Network Manager there as well as other helpful resource material The Network Manager logo in the upper left corner is also a link to this site Check back to the site often it will be updated and expanded regularly E loca intranet You first see the Manage panel It has icons for the following pages e Player Health displays the status of all the Players in your net work letting you view per Player operational history and retrieve log files from problem Players chapter 11 e Job Activity a continually updated listing of messages noting Network Mana
282. to a particular problem question or request Any subsequent emails phone calls onsite actions pertaining to that incident will be covered under the agreement Please have credit card information available at time of call Please contact your VAR for renewal information Scala Support USA Hours 8 00 am to 6 00 pm Eastern Standard Time Phone 888 444 5867 Scala Support Europe Hours 9 00 to 17 00 Central European Time Phone 31 45 546 6690 Scala Training Hours 9 00 am to 6 00 pm Eastern Standard Time Phone 1 888 SCALA 96 722 5296 Scala VAR Support Hours 9 00 am to 6 00 pm Eastern Standard Time Phone 888 SCALA 25 722 5225 Software Maintenance Agreement THIS SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT is made between Scala Inc of 1 East Uwchlan Ave Suite 300 Exton PA 19341 SCALA and the Customer SCALA and Customer agree as follows 1 Definitions Commencement Date means the date referred to in Clause 3 Customer means the end user of the SCALA Software Initial Period means the twelve 12 calendar months next ensuing after the Commencement Date Related Persons means and includes any related body corporate of SCALA as defined in section 50 of the Corporations Law or any director secretary officer or employee agent or contractor of any of SCALA or its related bodies corporate Software means the SCALA software licensed to Customer pursuant to a license agreement Software Upd
283. to close the File dialog You should see the path to the folder in either local or UNC for mat The Player Configuration window can be widened if neces sary so that you can see all of a long path at once InfoChannel Player Configuration Ne Broadcast Playback Point to Point Connection Receive Job Commands Yia Custom Player s Job Folder Local or Shared Folder local job folder path Eolder C Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Network Transmission Outbox Player 1 Logging Logging Detail Level Normal Alert Network Manager if the Player is Not Running Reset Settings 253 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Custom connection setup Shared Folder access For example for a local job folder you created on the Player itself C Documents and Settings All Users Documents Scala Net work Transmission Inbox or a shared job folder you created on Network Manager in its Outbox folder ICNMserver Network Transmission Outbox LobbyP ayer Dial up settings are used only with FTP connections so the Dial Up Options settings are disabled when Local or Shared Folder is selected 254 DDA aA A P D A ae io infoChannel VIORE MANAGER 3 S p E s 1 0 Nz sami PAA d Glossary Glossary 256 access mode in Network Manager Enterprise Edition a setting that allows users to determine which of several logged in users is the one permitted to modify settings within the p
284. tting up jobs Monitoring job activity You are automatically jumped to this page when you trigger a job manually using the Run Now button Z InfoChannel Network Manager Enterprise Edition Job Activity Microsoft Internet Explorer file Edt View Favorites Tools Help SBack gt O A a Asearch GFavortes Hristory Fy Address http localhost 7 co Links e NMeE url Job Activity Ohf hand E 08 28 2002 21 53 53 Finished loading database a Job Cleanup manually triggered Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 queued for transmission Preparing Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 for delivery to 2 Player s Finished preparing Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 for delivery to 2 Player s Transmitting job file for Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 to Player Player 2 Cafe Transmitting job file for Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 to Player Player 1 LobbyPlayer Succeeded at transmitting job file for Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 to Player Player 2 Cafe Succeeded at transmitting job file for Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 to Player Player 1 LobbyPlayer Response from Player Player 1 LobbyPlayer Status Received Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 2002 21 59 48 Queued behind 0 job s Response from Player Player 1 LobbyPl Completed Job Cleanup queued at 08 28 20
285. unt setup suggestions given previ ously see page 220 this would be NetManager Add the ICPlayer user to the FTP root on this machine so that it has Read Write and Modify access If the Player job folder is located on the Player add the NetMan ager user to the FTP root on this machine so that it has Read Write and Modify access Step 5 Point the Player to an FTP job folder You need to use the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility to tell the Player how to reach its job folder There is no need to explicitly tell the Player how to reach the Trans mission Workspace Network Manager includes that information within the job files as mentioned on page 227 1 Run the InfoChannel Player Configuration utility on the Player machine you are setting up In the Network panel of the utility choose Custom from the Receive Job Commands Via popup Choose how the Player gets to its job folder The choice you make depends on whether the job folder is local or remote gt If the Player s job folder is remote located on Network Man ager or on a remote FTP host choose FTP from the Players Job Folder pop up list You see the FTP Folder button and the Job Polling Interval control below the pop up gt If the Player s job folder is local located on the Player or on another machine local to the Player choose Local or Shared Folder from the Players Job Folder pop up list Appendix Setup of Custom connect
286. vary depending on the FTP server you are using For an IIS FTP system configured according to the default installation recommendations that location is lt systemroot gt Inetpub Ftproot A Player that will not use FTP does not need to have its job folder within the FTP root The location of the job folder in this case is not as critical but a good place is the Player s equivalent of the Network Manager default location shown above lt systemroot gt Documents and Settings All Users Docu ments Scala Network Transmission Outbox 217 Appendix Setup of Custom connections Setup common to all Custom connections 218 In either case follow these steps 1 In Windows Explorer select the folder within which you wish to create the new job folder s Outbox or Ftproot if you are using the above examples 2 From the Explorer File menu choose New gt Folder 3 Give the new folder a meaningful name For a job folder on Network Manager use a name that clearly and uniquely identifies the particular Player such as Player1 If you are creating the job folder on the Player machine itself a name like Inbox is sufficient because there is only one job folder in that location A Player job folder created like this can be seen in the folder structure illustration on page 107 4 Repeat steps 1 3 for each Player machine in your InfoChannel Network giving each a name Assigning workspace locations You need to make
287. w scala com user name an assigned name that someone must enter along with a password in order to connect to an FTP server or to log in to Net work Manager Enterprise Edition VAR value added reseller a person or company that sells services configures and or trains clients to use an advanced product Info Channel installations are often set up and maintained for their cus tomers by VARs versionation the process of inserting a serial number into a file name or folder name to indicate the order in which successively newer ver sions of a file with the same base name have been received on the Player The ICPlayer software automatically versionates script content files as they are received from Network Manager For example succes sive updates of News mpg would become News 2 mpg News 3 mpg and so on 265 Glossary W 266 WAN wide area network a network of computers sharing servers in multiple locations such as the different offices of a large company See also LAN web server software that responds to HTTP requests for web pages URLs Also can refer to a machine running such software wildcard a special character that can be used for pattern matching in specifying the names of files to work with The most common wild cards are the asterisk to match any number of occurrences of any character and the question mark to match exactly one occurrence of any character
288. y Licensee operate substantially in accordance with the documentation and specifications set forth in the written materials provided by Scala with the Scala Software In the event that during this warranty period the Scala Software fails to operate in substantial conformity with the documentation and specifications Licensee may return the Scala Software to Scala or the Scala Reseller from which the Scala Software was obtained in accordance with the Scala or Scala reseller return policy as applicable If the Scala Software is provided as a trial or evaluation version the grant of the license to use the Software shall be on an AS IS basis and subject to the express limitations of the trial Unless Licensee shall have entered into a written license agreement prior to the expiration or termination of the trial period Licensee agrees to cease all use of the Scala Software and to return the Scala Software or to destroy or permanently delete the Scala Software Scala Software documentation and all copies thereof SOLE REMEDY SCALA AND ITS SUPPLIERS AND LICENSORS ENTIRE LIABILITY AND LICENSEE S EXCLUSIVE REMEDY FOR THE FAILURE OF THE SCALA SOFTWARE TO CONFORM WITH ITS DOCUMENTATION AND SPECIFICATIONS SHALL BE AT SCALA S SOLE OPTION A RETURN OF THE PRICE PAID BY LICENSEE OR B REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT OF SCALA SOFTWARE WHICH IS RETURNED TO SCALA OR A SCALA RESELLER WITH A COPY OF THE INVOICE OR RECEIPT THIS LIMITED WARRANTY IS VOID IF FAILUR
289. y mode the Delete Enable Disable and New item buttons disappear and the links in the Name column that open an item s Edit form become plain text All database information can still be viewed but the only controls that remain are those that have no potential to affect the databases When the other user finishes editing and either logs out or switches to View Only mode another user can switch to View Modify mode While someone is using Network Manager in View Modify mode any other Manager or Administrator who logs in is automatically put in View Only mode even if he or she specified View Modify on the Log In page The message Locked By lt username gt appears in the page header to inform anyone else of the reason that edit access is currently denied 81 5 Defining accounts Creating an account Creating an account 82 Using the instant messaging feature Network Manager provides an instant messaging feature to make it easier for users who are locked out to contact the locking user and request access To request access or send any other message to another logged in Net work Manager user 1 Click the locking user s username shown after Locked By to open an instant message window Type your message in the window The prompts in the window identify your messages and the other user s responses by their full name Any other Network Manager users who may be currently logged in or who log in while you are messag

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