Why CMS server?
CAYIN SMP players are high-performance multimedia players with extremely
useful remote management functions. As a standalone device, SMP is already a
powerful
digital signage player. You might ask why you need to use a CMS server? Here are
three reasons to set up a client-server network.
- You need to manage a large number of media players and divide them into
groups. Using a CMS server allows you to update contents, edit playback
schedules
and modify configurations centrally and more efficiently.
- You cannot access SMP’s web manager directly over the network. For example, the
SMP player is behind a firewall or doesn’t have a static IP address.
- You need to create more than one user accounts and each account is authorized to
different user rights.
Before getting started
In this article, we will show you the way to connect a SMP player to a CMS server.
Once the connection is established, the SMP player can get media files from the CMS
server. However, content distribution (from CMS to SMP) does not mean content
playback. To receive scheduled playlists from the server and start the playback,
please follow steps in the document : Use
Central Scheduling to
synchronize playlists.
IMPORTANT!
- If you have files copied in the player and then enable content update from a
server, your files will be wiped out on the player side as the contents in
the folder on the server will synchronize with the hard drive of the player.
Therefore, if you want to edit SMP player's media folder manually, please DO
NOT enable the function, content synchronization.
- To prevent some media files from deleting by the server while you update the
content of SMP automatically from CMS or a web server, you can create a
folder named protected and keep your files in that folder.
- Please open Port 80, 20000 (TCP) if you are using a firewall.
Basic connection setup: CMS server
You need to create an account, a group, and a
folder in the CMS server. The account
should be authorized to access the group. The system will verify the username and
password when SMP and CMS synchronize contents.
STEP 1 :
Log in CMS Web Manager. Enter your username and password and
select the language display for your user interface. Then, click
Login.
If you don’t plan to log in as the default administrator, please make
sure the user account you use to log in is authorized
to access the function: Access Control. (Refer to STEP 6)
STEP 2 :
Go to ACCESS > Folder. Click
Add a folder, enter a folder name, and click
Save. Then, this folder will be created in the hard disk of the
server.
STEP 3 :
Go to ACCESS > Group. Click
Add a group, and you will see a pop-up window.
Enter a group name in the Group Name box and link the group to the
folder you just
created in STEP 2. Then, click Save to complete the procedure. Once
linked, SMP will
synchronize the content in the folder associated with the group.
NOTE : You must enter
the exact group
name as the one you configure in SMP player’s Web Manager. Be aware that the system
is case sensitive.
STEP 4 :
If you don’t want to use the account “administrator” to manage SMP,
you can create an
account to do different managerial jobs. Go to ACCESS >
Account. Click Add account and
you will see a pop-up window. Enter an account name and a password. Enter the
password again to confirm it.
STEP 5 :
In the Access to groups area, you can assign the management
authority of groups to
this account. If you authorize this account to manage all folders in this CMS
server, please select All groups.
If you want this account to manage only selected folders, please enable
Select groups and click on 
or 
to add groups. Make
sure you include the group you just created in STEP
3. This account can only manage those folders which are in the
Selected Groups.
STEP 6 :
In the Function Access area, you can authorize
management activities for
this account. You can select any function you might need depending on the actual
usage
conditions. However, we suggest you create two kinds of accounts for safety:
-
Account to synchronize content:
You can create an account without enabling any function. Then, users with
this
account will not be able to log in the Web Manager. However, SMP players
with
this account can still synchronize content with the CMS server. Please fill
in the exact username and password of this account on SMP’s configuration
page. Please refer to STEP 3 in the next paragraph: Basic connection setup: SMP
player.
-
Account to access Web Manager:
You can create another account and use it to log in CMS Web Manager to handle
daily operations. Just enable those functions this account is authorized to
access. Those items listed in Function Access are in accordance with the
main
and sub-management modules in CMS Web Manager.
The interface of CMS-SE main management modules
The interface of CMS-SE sub-management modules
There are two additional modules:
- Trigger Emergency Schedule is an advanced function for
you to
broadcast emergency messages.
- SuperMonitor is the older version of CMS-PRO. Please
enable Allow
SuperMonitor access if you ever bought the software and
want to use it
to manage multiple CMS servers and SMP players simultaneously.
Click Save and a new account will be created.
Now, you complete the basic connection setup of the CMS server. Please
move on to configure SMP players.
Basic connection setup: SMP player
STEP 1 :
Log in SMP Web Manager. Enter your username and password and select the language
display for your user interface. Then, click Login.
STEP 2 :
Go to CMS > CMS Connection. Select
Enable to enable content
synchronization.
STEP 3 :
You can set HTTP or HTTPS as the communication protocol between CMS and
SMP. You can also set Auto; then, the system will apply HTTPS (port 443) first and
try HTTP (port 80) later if it fails to connect via HTTPS. Please note that you have
to make sure to enable HTTPS on CMS server (SYSTEM > Service > Port and Security)
before you can select HTTPS as the protocol here, or the SMP player will not be able
to update content and sync schedules with the CMS server.
Please enter the FQDN domain name or IP
address of the CMS server to which
this SMP player will connect. Then, select the communication
protocol and port number and enter the exact
Username, Password and Group name
of the account, which you created earlier in the Basic connection setup: CMS
server. Be aware that the system is case sensitive.
NOTE : To add more SMP
players into any
given group, you just need to give the same group name to those players. We strongly
suggest that players should have different hostnames, or it would be hard for you to
tell one from another.
STEP 4 :
After completing all settings, please click Test to
check the validity
of the Username, Password, Group, and IP address.
STEP 5 :
Adjust the frequency parameters for several SMP/CMS services. The
frequency value is from 5 (Frequent) to 1 (Infrequent). If you don't need to check
configuration updates from CMS to SMP frequently, you can lower the frequency and
reduce network traffic.
Value
Check CMS Configuration
(period per area)
CMS-PRO Communication
(period every heartbeat)
5
10 seconds
20 seconds
4
30 seconds
30 seconds
3
60 seconds
60 seconds
2
180 seconds
180 seconds
1
600 seconds
600 seconds
STEP 6 :
Click Save to save and apply the settings.
Recheck your connection
There are two ways for you to see if the connection between CMS and SMP has been
established successfully.
Check SMP’s network connection status
Log in SMP Web Manager and go to System >
Overview. In this page, you can see network topology, indicating
the network structure and IP address of each device, as well as the status of your
network connection. There will be a CMS icon in the network diagram
if this SMP player has established a connection successfully with a CMS server.
Check CMS’s player list
Log in CMS Web Manager and go to Player >
Player Management. In this page, all SMP players that connect to
this CMS server will be listed here. Click on a group to check all players in the
group.
In the IP address column, you will see the IP address and Web Manager
port number of each SMP player. If the SMP is deployed behind a firewall, the first
IP will be the physical IP and the second one will be the virtual IP (the IP that
SMP really owns). Other than the above situation, the first and second IP addresses
are usually the same.
NOTE : Please make sure
the CMS account which you use to log in has the right to access
Player.
The maximum number of SMP players you can see here depends on the
license you purchase. Go to System > Overview and
check the License Manager section. In this figure, it shows the CMS
canconnect and manage 250 SMP players.
Content
synchronization setup: SMP player
If you wish to update SMP players' content automatically with a CAYIN CMS server,
please proceed with the following steps after you finish the basic connection setup
of SMP.
STEP 1 :
Log in SMP Web Manager. Go to CMS > Content
Synchronization.
STEP 2 :
Please set Content update frequency to decide how often
you want to check content updates.
STEP 3 :
Then, you must decide what kinds of new files you want to download. SMP
will only download new contents during the synchronization. You can choose to
compare the file size or the file modified time of
the server and player. You are obliged to choose at least one method to continue. We
suggest you enable both.
STEP 4 :
If you would like to download files to the hidden disk space, please
enable Hidden disk buffer. After the downloading process completes,
the system will copy all files to Media Folder immediately. The advantage of this
function is to make sure that SMP will not play contents until all files are
completely downloaded. We suggest you enable this option.
STEP 5 :
You may want to synchronize contents only when your network traffic is
low. Then, you can enable Suspend synchronization, and specify the
day (s) and time when you want to stop updating content between the server and the
player, so that you can control the usage of network bandwidth.
NOTE : If the SMP player
is downloading files while the specified time occurs, the procedure will not stop
until the downloading file is completely downloaded. For the rest ofthe files, the
SMP player will keep downloading them during the next period of content
synchronization.
STEP 6 :
Click Save to save and apply the settings.
, to specify the date and time when this
campaign will be run. You
can play the contents once, daily, weekly, or monthly.
and set an area where this schedule will be
played when
the SMP player is located within this designated zone. Select a country and you will
see Google Maps showing below.
(start point) and 
(endpoint) directly on
the map.
.
to 
) to enable the scheduled task.
.
to check the
connection. If it shows
No 3G/4G modem present, it means the USB modem doesn't physically
connect to the player.
. Then, you can start to log in
and change the settings of
that player.
, and you will be able to see the SMP player
moving on the map, if the SMP player is installed in a mobile vehicle. The map will
be refreshed every 5 seconds.
on the map.
; then you will see
Google Maps in the pop-up window. You can also set how often the page automatically
refreshes.
.
in the upper right corner of the
browser.
. If no existing skin is available, click
"Add" to enter the skin editor and create a new skin. For instructions on using
the skin editor, please refer to the SMP player's online help.
