ADDERLink INFINITY Manager Manual
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40 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX Presets > Add or Configure Presets page From the Presets page, you can add a new preset or configure an existing preset: • To create a new preset: Click the “Add Preset” option. • To configure an existing preset: Click for a preset. The Add and Configure pages are similar in content. Preset Name and Description The Preset Name is mandatory, whereas the Description is optional but recommended when numerous presets will be used. A consistent naming and description policy is particularly useful in large installations. Receiver - Channel Pairs Pair 1 From the two drop down lists, choose a receiver and a corresponding channel for it to connect with. This base pair can be altered but cannot be deleted from the preset. Add another pair Click this link to define another receiver/channel pairing. Note: While channels can be assigned to multiple receivers, each receiver may only appear once within a single preset. Allowed Connections Choose one of the following connection rules to be applied to the preset: • Inherit from global setting • View only • View/Shared only • Shared only • Exclusive only • View/Shared & Exclusive Note: If multicasting is present (e.g. two or more receivers connected to the same channel or two channels containing the same audio/video end point), it will not be possible to choose the ‘Exclusive only’ connection mode.
41 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX THE STATISTICS TAB The Statistics tab provides an opportunity to view a range of real-time data measurements related to any links within the A.I.M. network. This is particularly useful for optimization and troubleshooting purposes. Click the STATISTICS tab to view the page. To view statistics 1 To the right of the unit for which you wish to view statistics, click the dark graph icon () so that it gains a white background () . 2 Click on the device name to display the available statistics. A dynamic graph will be displayed showing the chosen data series for the selected ALIF units.
42 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX For non-admin users, the On-Screen Display provides a clear way to choose and access multiple channels. LOGGING IN 1 On the keyboard connected to your AdderLink Infinity receiver, press the hotkey combination Ctrl-Alt-C to display the On-Screen Display or OSD (this hotkey combination can be altered on the Dashboard > Settings > Receivers page). You will either see the list of channels for which you have permission or be presented with the following login: 2 Enter your Username and Password and click the Login button to display the Local OSD screen. Once logged in, you will remain logged in until either you click the Logout link in the top right of the OSD; or there is no activity for two days or until the AdderLink Infinity unit is rebooted. Operation Hotkey shortcuts The following standard shortcuts are available for use with the Local OSD (and Remote OSD). These default hotkey combinations can be altered within the Dashboard > Settings > Receivers page. Left Ctrl + Left Alt + C: Launch the OSD Left Ctrl + Left Alt + X: Disconnect the current receiver Left Ctrl + Left Alt + 3: Connect to the channel/preset saved in shortcut slot 3 Left Ctrl + Left Alt + A: Re-connect to the last channel Left Ctrl + Left Alt + V: Change the current connection to the view-only mode Left Ctrl + Left Alt + S: Change the current connection to the shared mode Left Ctrl + Left Alt + E: Change the current connection to the exclusive mode Creating/using favorites and shortcuts When the OSD contains many possible channels and presets, it can be useful to mark the most commonly visited ones as favorites. For those channels that you’d like to access by keyboard shortcut, there are also ten assignable hotkeys. To create a new favorite 1 Click the icon next to the required channel or preset. 2 Click the button at the top of the page. To display favorites The star shown at the top of the channel list has three appearances to represent the three display modes. Click the star to change the mode: Currently showing all channels/presets. Currently showing only favorites. Currently showing only numbered shortcuts. To create a new hotkey shortcut 1 Click the icon next to the required channel or preset. The screen will list the ten hotkey slots, with any available slots listed as EMPTY. Click the number prefix (from 1 to 0) of an available slot. Note: To remove a previous channel from a slot, click the icon on the right side of the slot. 2 You will now be asked to choose which mode should be used to access the channel when using this shortcut. Select View Only, Shared or Exclusive, as appropriate. 3 Click the button at the top of the page. As mentioned above, you will now be able to access the chosen channel by using the hotkeys (Left Ctrl + Left Alt, as standard) plus the number that you assigned to it. HT
43
INSTALLATION
CONFIGURATION
OPERATION
FURTHERINFORMATION
INDEX
THE LOCAL OSD SCREEN
Once logged in, the list of channels for which you
have permission are shown in the Local OSD (blue)
screen.
• To choose a channel/preset, click on one of the
blue connection icons ( ) shown to
the right of the required channel/preset name
(see the Connection buttons box below right).
• Where many channels/presets are listed, use the
Channel Name and Description search boxes
and list arrows to filter the choices.
• To use the Remote OSD feature, click the
icon in the top right corner.
Click to Logout
Click to change to other list pages
Top corner icons
Enter ‘Remote OSD’ mode
Exit ‘Remote OSD’ mode
Display the help pages
Exit from the help pages
Refresh the current page
Close the OSD
Favorites icons
Currently showing all channels/presets
Currently showing only favorites
Currently showing only numbered shortcuts
Click to add this channel as a favorite
This channel is a numbered shortcut
Sorting icons
Currently showing channels and presets. Click to change
Currently showing only channels. Click to change
Currently showing only presets. Click to change
Filter this column using the specified term
Remove the search filter
Click to sort the list in ascending order via this column
The list is sorted in ascending order via this column
Connection buttons
View only Shared Exclusive mode mode mode
Click to connect to the channel/preset
You are currently connected to the channel/preset
Another user is connected to the channel/preset
You are unable to connect to the channel/preset
Blank Connection mode not permitted by admin (e.g. a channel doesn’t allow
exclusive connections or a user doesn’t have exclusive rights)
End this connection
< There are three connection modes
44 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX 5 The Remote OSD for the chosen ALIF receiver will be displayed. Remote OSDs always have a yellow background to differentiate them from the standard local OSD: Using the Remote OSD feature The Remote OSD feature allows authorized users to access and take control of AdderLink Infinity receivers other than the one to which they are connected. Once linked in, users can then determine which channels the remote receivers should link with. Remote OSD requires the following: • The A.I.M. server(s) and all ALIF units must have firmware version 3.0 or greater. • A user must have been given specific authorization to access one or more remote receivers. To access the Remote OSD 1 On the keyboard connected to your AdderLink Infinity receiver, press the hotkey combination Ctrl-Alt-C to display the Local OSD login screen. 2 If required, enter your Username and Password and click the Login button. 3 In the top right corner, click the icon. 4 The screen will list all of the receivers to which you have access rights. Click on the required receiver from the list: 6 The behavior of the controls is generally the same as for the Local OSD screen with the following exceptions: • To avoid confusion, you cannot login or logout while in Remote OSD mode. Click the icon to first return to the Local OSD. • Hotkeys will only affect the current receiver to which you are connected, not the remotely-controlled receiver. 7 To exit from the Remote OSD, click the icon in the top right corner.
45 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX This chapter contains a variety of information, including the following: • Getting assistance - see right • Appendix A - Tips for success when networking ALIF and A.I.M. units • Appendix B - Troubleshooting • Appendix C - Redundant servers: Setting up and swapping out • Appendix D - Glossary • Appendix E - A.I.M. API • Safety information • Warranty • Radio frequency energy statements GETTING ASSISTANCE If you are still experiencing problems after checking the information contained within this guide, then we provide a number of other solutions: • Online solutions and updates – www.adder.com/support Check the Support section of the adder.com website for the latest solutions and firmware updates. • Adder Forum – forum.adder.com Use our forum to access FAQs and discussions. • Technical support – www.adder.com/contact-support-form For technical support, use the contact form in the Support section of the adder.com website - your regional office will then get in contact with you. Further information HT
46 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX APPENDIX A - Tips for success when networking ALIF units ALIF units use multiple strategies to minimize the amount of data that they send across networks. However, data overheads can be quite high, particularly when very high resolution video is being transferred, so it is important to take steps to maximize network efficiency and help minimize data output. The tips given in this section have been proven to produce very beneficial results. Summary of steps • Choose the right kind of switch. • Create an efficient network layout. • Configure the switches and devices correctly. Choosing the right switch Layer 2 switches are what bind all of the hosts together in the subnet. However, they are all not created equally, so choose carefully. In particular look for the following: • Gigabit (1000Mbps) or faster Ethernet ports, • Support for IGMP v2 (or v3) snooping, • Support for Jumbo frames up to 9216-byte size, • High bandwidth connections between switches, preferably Fibre Channel. • Look for switches that perform their most onerous tasks (e.g. IGMP snooping) using multiple dedicated processors (ASICS). • Ensure the maximum number of concurrent ‘snoopable groups’ the switch can handle meets or exceeds the number of ALIF transmitters that will be used to create multicast groups. • Check the throughput of the switch: Full duplex, 1Gbps up- and down- stream speeds per port. • Use the same switch make and model throughout a single subnet. • You also need a Layer 3 switch. Ensure that it can operate efficiently as an IGMP Querier. Layer 2 (and 3) switches known to work • Cisco 2960 • Cisco 3750 • Cisco 4500 • Cisco 6500 • Extreme Networks X480 • HP Procurve 2810 • HP Procurve 2910 • H3C 5120 Creating an efficient network layout Network layout is vital. The use of IGMP snooping also introduces certain constraints, so take heed: • Keep it flat. Use a basic line-cascade structure rather than a pyramid or tree arrangement. • Keep the distances between the switches as short as possible. • Ensure sufficient bandwidth between switches to eliminate bottlenecks. • Where the A.I.M. server is used to administer multiple ALIF transceivers, ensure the A.I.M. server and all ALIF units reside in the same subnet. • Do not use VGA to DVI converters, instead replace VGA video cards in older systems with suitable DVI replacements. Converters cause ALIF TX units to massively increase data output. • Stackable switches will allow you to create more ports at each cascade level. • Wherever possible, create a private network. The recommended layout The layout shown below has been found to provide the most efficient network layout for rapid throughput when using IGMP snooping: Note: From firmware version 3.0, tree and hierarchical structures of network switches are also supported. The Transmitter now joins its own multicast group so there is always a route from the querier to the transmitter which was previously missing in firmware versions 2.9 and below. • Use no more than two cascade levels. • Ensure high bandwidth between the two L2 switches and very high bandwidth between the top L2 and the L3. Typically 10GB and 20GB, respectively for 48 port L2 switches. continued For the latest list of switches known to work with ALIF and setup instructions for them, please go to www.adder.com • HuaWei Quidway s5328c-EI (Layer 3 switch)
47 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX Configuring the switches and devices The layout is vital but so too is the configuration: • Enable IGMP Snooping on all L2 switches. • Ensure that IGMP Fast-Leave is enabled on all switches with ALIF units connected directly to them. • Enable the L3 switch as an IGMP Querier. • Enable Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) on all switches and importantly also enable portfast (only) on all switch ports that have ALIF units connected. • If any hosts will use any video resolutions using 2048 horizontal pixels (e.g. 2048 x 1152), ensure that Jumbo Frames are enabled on all switches. • Choose an appropriate forwarding mode on all switches. Use Cut-through if available, otherwise Store and forward. • Optimize the settings on the ALIF transmitters: • If color quality is important, then leave Colour Depth at 24 bits and adjust other controls, • If moving video images are being shown frequently, then leave Frame Skipping at a low percentage and instead reduce the Peak bandwidth limiter and Colour Depth. • Where screens are quite static, try increasing the Background Refresh interval and/ or increasing the Frame skipping percentage setting. Make changes to the ALIF transmitters one at a time, in small steps, and view typical video images so that you can attribute positive or negative results to the appropriate control. • Ensure that all ALIF units are fully updated to the latest firmware version (at least v2.1).
48 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX APPENDIX B - Troubleshooting Problem: The video image of the ALIF receiver shows horizontal lines across the screen. This issue is known as Blinding because the resulting video image looks as though you’re viewing it through a venetian blind. When video is transmitted by ALIF units, the various lines of each screen are divided up and transmitted as separate data packets. If the reception of those packets is disturbed, then blinding is caused. The lines are displayed in place of the missing video data packets. There are several possible causes for the loss of data packets: • Incorrect switch configuration. The problem could be caused by multicast flooding, which causes unnecessary network traffic. This is what IGMP snooping is designed to combat, however, there can be numerous causes of the flooding. • Speed/memory bandwidth issues within one or more switches. The speed and capabilities of different switch models varies greatly. If a switch cannot maintain pace with the quantity of data being sent through it, then it will inevitably start dropping packets. • One or more ALIF units may be outputting Jumbo frames due to the video resolution (2048 horizontal pixels) being used. If jumbo frames are output by an ALIF unit, but the network switches have not been configured to use jumbo frames, the switches will attempt to break the large packets down into standard packets. This process introduces a certain latency and could be a cause for dropped packets. • One or more ALIF units may be using an old firmware version. Firmware versions prior to v2.1 exhibited an issue with the timing of IGMP join and lea ve commands that caused multicast flooding in certain configurations. Remedies: • Ensure that IGMP snooping is enabled on all switches within the subnet. • Where each ALIF unit is connected as the sole device on a port connection to a switch, enable IGMP Fast-Leave (aka Immediate Leave) to reduce unnecessary processing on each switch. • Check the video resolution(s) being fed into the ALIF transmitters. If resolutions using 2048 horizontal pixels are unavoidable then ensure that Jumbo frames are enabled on all switches. • Check the forwarding mode on the switches. If Store and forward is being used, try selecting Cut-through as this mode causes reduced latency on lesser switch designs. • Ensure that one device within the subnet is correctly configured as an IGMP Querier, usually a multicast router. • Ensure that the firmware in every ALIF unit is version 2.1 or greater. • Try adjusting the transmitter settings on each ALIF to make the output data stream as efficient as possible. Problem: The audio output of the ALIF receiver sounds like a scratched re- cord. This issue is called Audio crackle and is a symptom of the same problem that produces blinding (see left). The issue is related to missing data packets. Remedies: As per blinding discussed previously. continued
49 INSTALLATION CONFIGURATION OPERATION FURTHERINFORMATION INDEX Problem: A.I.M. cannot locate working ALIF units. There are a few possible causes: • The ALIF units must be reset back to their zero config IP addresses for A.I.M. discovery. If you have a working network of ALIF’s without A.I.M. and then add A.I.M. to the network A.I.M. will not discover the ALIFs until they are reset to the zero config IP addresses. • This could be caused by Layer 2 Cisco switches that have Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) enabled but do not also have portfast enabled on the ports to which ALIF units are connected. Without portfast enabled, ALIF units will all be assigned the same zero config IP address at reboot and A.I.M. will only acquire them one at a time on a random basis. You can easily tell whether portfast is enabled on a switch that is running STP: When you plug the link cable from a working ALIF unit into the switch port, check how long it takes for the port indicator to change from orange to green. If it takes roughly one second, portfast is on; if it takes roughly thirty seconds then portfast is disabled. Remedies: • Ensure that the ALIF units and the A.I.M. server are located within the same subnet. A.I.M. cannot cross subnet boundaries. • Manually reset the ALIF units to their zero config IP addresses. Please refer to the ALIF user guide for details. • Enable portfast on all switch ports that have ALIF units attached to them or try temporarily disabling STP on the switches while A.I.M. is attempting to locate ALIF units. Problem: The mouse pointer of the ALIF receiver is slow or sluggish when moved across the screen. This issue is often related to either using dithering on the video output of one or more transmitting computers or using VGA-to-DVI video converters. Dithering is used to improve the perceived quality and color depth of images by diffusing or altering the color of pixels between video frames. This practice is commonly used on Apple Mac computers using ATI or Nvidia graphics cards. VGA-to-DVI converters unwittingly produce a similar issue by creating high levels of pixel background noise. ALIF units attempt to considerably reduce network traffic by transmitting only the pixels that change between successive video frames. When dithering is enabled and/or VGA-to- DVI converters are used, this can have the effect of changing almost every pixel between each frame, thus forcing the ALIF transmitter to send the whole of every frame: resulting in greatly increased network traffic and what’s perceived as sluggish performance. Remedies: • Linux PCs - Check the video settings on the PC. If the Dither video box option is enabled, disable it. • Apple Mac with Nvidia graphics - Use the Adder utility for Macs (contact technical support). • Apple Mac with ATI graphics - Use the ALIF 2000 series unit with Magic Eye dither removal feature. • Windows PCs - If you suspect these issues with PCs, contact technical support for assistance.