AdderLink Infinity Manager User Guide AIM
Connections..................................................................................6 Network connections...............................................................6 Power supply connection........................................................6 Front panel indicators..................................................................7 Installation requirements.............................................................7 Swapping out an AIM server................................................
The AIM server is supplied pre-loaded and is straightforward to deploy, requiring only a network connection and a power input to begin operation. All configuration of your AdderLink Infinity transmitters (channels), receivers and users are performed using the intuitive AIM browser interface via a network connected computer. AdderLink ADM USR UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR ADM USR UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR MANAGEMENT SERVER www.adder.
AIM basics Security considerations form a major part of AIM operation, ensuring that users have rapid access only to the systems for which they have permission. At its core, AIM manages an important three-way relationship between the users, the AdderLink Infinity receiver(s) and the channels from the host computers. The diagram shows a representation of the three-way relationship which exists between users, receivers and channels.
stallation AIM appears in two main ways depending on whether you are an administrator or a regular user. • For administrators, full access to the AdderLink Infinity Manager Suite is granted. This comprehensive application shows six main tabbed areas: Dashboard, Channels, Receivers, Transmitters, Users and Presets each of which contains numerous related pages of settings and options.
Supplied items ADM USR UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR ADM USR UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR MANAGEMENT SERVER stallation AdderLink www.adder.
Network connections The AIM server has two network connections on the rear panel, labelled 1 and 2. These allow the unit to be connected to internal and external network connections as required. The external network connection allows admin users located away from the internal network to be able to login. To connect the internal IP network port 1 Run a category 5, 5e or 6 link cable from the appropriate hub or router to the AIM server unit.
UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR ADM USR UNC ETH1 ETH2 PWR www.adder.com • ADM • USR • UNC • ETH1 • ETH2 • PWR On when an administrator is logged in. Flashes when an administrator is accessing the system. On if there are any connections between channels/receivers. Flashes when a user is accessing the system.
Transfer configuration to the new AIM server 1 Before connecting the new AIM server to the main network, connect the new AIM server to a network switch that is isolated from the main network. 2 Use a computer connected to the same switch to login to the new AIM server management suite. 3 Ensure that the new AIM server is running the same firmware version as the one being replaced (upgrade if necessary).
Configuration IMPORTANT The first time you log in as an admin user to a new AIM unit, you will be presented with the Settings page where you will need to change AIM’s default IP address to one that suits your existing network configuration. You will NOT be able to perform any other actions or navigate to any other pages within the AIM admin interface until you have changed AIM’s IP address.
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Note: Where necessary, click the icon for a particular ALIF unit to flash the unit’s front panel indicators to confirm its location. • Click the Save button. The new ALIF units will be restarted and will be changed to use their new IP addresses. 7 The new ALIF units will be added to the relevant Transmitter and Receiver pages within the AIM admin view.
The Dashboard tab stallation The Dashboard is your main point of contact for checking and changing the general status of all AIM operations. Click the DASHBOARD tab to view its initial home page. The various other Dashboard pages (e.g. Settings, Backups, Updates, etc.) are selectable within the blue section located just below the tabs. * The Home page is auto-refreshed every ten seconds to ensure that the latest information is always available.
Grant All Users Exclusive Access Determines whether a user can connect to a channel exclusively and thus prevent any other users from also connecting to that channel. If not set, users can only connect in view-only mode or shared mode. Settings that are applied specifically to a user will override settings applied to user groups they’re in, which in turn override this global setting.
Gateway IP Address Defines the network gateway IP address for the AIM server. Netmask Defines the netmask for the AIM server. DNS Server IP Address Defines the IP address for a suitable DNS server to use within the AIM network. Syslog IP Address Defines the IP address for a suitable syslog server to use within the AIM network. Multicast IP Base Defines the base IP address for use in multicast configurations (where multiple receivers use the output from a single channel).
Restore from Server All backups (whether initiated manually or by schedule) are saved on the server together with a time-stamp of when the backup was run. If required, you can select a previous backup and restore its contents. Alternatively, you can download the backup file to another location. IMPORTANT: It is advisable to make a backup of the current state of the AIM system before restoring a previous backup.
• Click to end a connection between a receiver and a channel. Shows all connections that have occurred within the AIM network. The most recent connections are shown at the top, and the log is paginated (the number of rows per page can be set from the Dashboard > Settings page). The log can be filtered to show all connections, or only currently active connections. Current connections have no “end time” and a disconnect icon ( ).
You can archive Event Log data to a CSV file via the “Archive log data” link, which jumps to the relevant section within the Dashboard > Backups page. This page lists events that have occurred within the AIM system.
The key fields (Name, Description and Location) all provide a search filter to locate particular items within long lists. Enter a full or partial search string into the appropriate filter box and then click to start the search. Optionally use the buttons to invert the order of the listing. The page will reload with the same pagination/sort order, but with the added search filter. It’s possible to filter by several columns at once (e.g.
Channels > Add or Configure a Channel Allowed Connections This section allows you to define the types of connection that you wish to permit users to make. You can define particular individual or combined connection types to suit requirements. Note: This setting for each channel acts as the final arbiter of whether exclusive access can actually be achieved.
Channels > Add or Configure Channel Group Channel Group Membership Allows you to determine which channels should be members of the group. By making a channel part of the group, each channel automatically inherits the key settings of the group. To add a channel to the group: Highlight one or more (use the CTRL key if selecting more than one) channel names in the left list and then click to add the name(s) to the right list.
The key fields (Name, Description and Location) all provide a search filter to locate particular items within long lists. Enter a full or partial search string into the appropriate filter box and then click to start the search. Optionally use the buttons to invert the order of the listing. The page will reload with the same pagination/sort order, but with the added search filter. It’s possible to filter by several columns at once (e.g.
Group Membership To facilitate collective permission-granting for numerous receivers, a receiver can belong to one or more receiver groups. Any permissions applied to the receiver group are inherited by all receivers that are included within the receiver group. For example, multiple receivers can be made available to a user by placing them all in a receiver group and then granting the user permission to use that receiver group.
Identify unit: Causes the LED lights to flash on the front of the selected unit. An alert will be shown if the unit cannot be contacted (e.g. if it is offline) Reboot device: Allows you to reboot or reset a unit to its factory settings. A popup will ask which task you wish to carry out. A reboot is useful if a device enters an unknown state. A reset will return the unit to its factory default state and reset its IP address (the unit will retain any firmware updates that have been applied).
Transmitters > Configure Transmitter page Background Refresh The transmitter sends portions of the video image only when they change. In order to give the best user experience, the transmitter also sends the whole video image, at a lower frame rate, in the background. The Background Refresh parameter controls the rate at which this background image is sent. The default value is ‘every 32 frames’, meaning that a full frame is sent in the background every 32 frames.
The key fields (Name, Description and Location) all provide a search filter to locate particular items within long lists. Enter a full or partial search string into the appropriate filter box and then click to start the search. Optionally use the buttons to invert the order of the listing. The page will reload with the same pagination/sort order, but with the added search filter. It’s possible to filter by several columns at once (e.g.
Users > Add User or Configure User page Password The password is required for logging into a channel and/or for logging into the AIM admin system, if the user is to be granted admin privileges. Admin? When set to Yes, the user is granted privileges to login to the AIM admin system and make changes. Account Suspended? Allows the admin user to temporarily prevent the user from logging in without the need to delete the whole account.
Users > Add User Group or Configure Group page Permissions This section defines to which channels and/or channel groups the user within this group should have access. Note: Only the channels/channel groups for which a user is given permission to access will appear within their channel list. See Including and excluding a user... right for details about including and excluding channels and/or channel groups.
Choosing users and groups Once scanned, the “Import Users from Active Directory” page shows all folders that are available on the AD server. 1 Use the “Include Users” and “Include Groups” checkbox columns on the right hand side of the folder lists to select which items to import (with optional additional LDAP filters where necessary). • If an AD user was not in the AIM user database, they will be imported. • If an AD user is already in the AIM user database, they are kept.
The Presets tab INFINITY TX INFINITY TX A INFINITY TX INFINITY TX B According to how a preset is configured, it is possible to have one or more receivers connected to separate channels (i.e. unicast) or multiple receivers connected to a single channel (i.e. multicast). continued stallation The preset allows multiple AdderLink Infinity receivers to be switched between transmitters using a single action. INFINITY RX The nature of each preset, i.e.
Presets > Add or Configure Presets page Allowed Connections Choose one of the following connection rules to be applied to the preset: • Inherit from global setting • View only • View/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.
Operation AdderLink 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 (your administrator may have changed the hotkey combination).
Further information • 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. • Adder Forum – forum.adder.com Use our forum to access FAQs and discussions. • Online solutions and updates – www.adder.com/support Check the Support section of the adder.com website for the latest solutions and firmware updates.
Appendix A 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.
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.
Appendix B Remedies: As per blinding discussed previously. continued Problem: The audio output of the ALIF receiver sounds like a scratched record. 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: • Ensure that IGMP snooping is enabled on all switches within the subnet.
stallation 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.
Appendix C IGMP Fast-Leave (aka Immediate Leave) When a device/host no longer wishes to receive a multicast transmission, it can issue an IGMP Leave Group message as mentioned above. This causes the switch to issue an IGMP Group-Specific Query message on the port (that the Leave Group was received on) to check no other receivers exist on that connection that wish to remain a part of the multicast. This process has a cost in terms of switch processor activity and time.
ALIF transmitter video settings Colour Depth This parameter determines the number of bits required to define the colour of every pixel. The maximum (and default) value is ‘24 bit’. By reducing the value you can significantly reduce bandwidth consumption, at the cost of video colour reproduction. Frame Skipping Frame Skipping involves ‘missing out’ video frames between those captured by the transmitter.
LAYER 7 Application LAYER 7 LAYER 6 Presentation LAYER 6 LAYER 5 Session LAYER 5 LAYER 4 Transport LAYER 4 LAYER 3 Network LAYER 3 LAYER 2 Data Link LAYER 2 LAYER 1 Physical LAYER 1 Network connection onto the transmission medium (the cable, optical fibre, radio wave, etc.) that carries the data to another user; to complete the picture, consider the transmission medium is Layer 0.
Appendix D Methods login logout get_devices get_channels get_presets connect_channel connect_preset disconnect_channel disconnect_preset login (http:///api/#login) (http:///api/#logout) (http:///api/#get_devices) (http:///api/#get_channels) (http:///api/#get_presets) (http:///api/#connect_channel) (http:///api/#connect_preset) (http:///api/#disconnect_channel) (http://
Examples Input: /api/?method=logout&token=xxxxx&v=1 Output: 1 2011-02-04 15:24:15 1 or 1 2012-12-12 12:12:12 0 3 Error logging out (you may already have logged out) Output values: - version - the current API version nu
Examples Input: /api/?v=2&method=get_devices&token=xxxxx /api/?v=2&method=get_devices&device_type=tx&page=2&results_per_ page=3&token=xxxxx stallation Output: 2 2012-09-12 14:56:11 1 2 3 12 3 170
stallation Input parameters: - token - v (the AIM API version this request is designed for) - page (page number to start showing results for, default = 1) - results_per_page (number of results per page, default = 1000) - device_id (ID of the receiver that this channel will be connected to. Recommended to ensure full checks for connection mode availability.
Input: /api/?v=2&method=get_channels&token=xxxxx Output: 2 2012-12-14 12:12:12 1 1 10 2 stallation Examples 3 Channel 1 Description for Channel 1 Location of Channel 1
stallation Output: 1 2012-12-14 12:12:12 1 1 10 2 2 3 Preset 1 Description for Preset 1 1
connect_channel connect_preset Input parameters: - token - v (the AIM API version this request is designed for) - c_id - the ID of the channel (acquired from get_channels) - rx_id - the ID of the receiver (acquired from get_receivers) - view_only (optional, 0/1 - defaults to 0) - exclusive (optional, 0/1 - defaults to 0) Input parameters: - token - v (the AIM API version this request is designed for) - id - the ID of the preset (acquired from get_presets) - view_only (optional, 0/1 - defaults to 0) - exc
disconnect_channel disconnect_preset Input parameters: - token - v (the AIM API version this request is designed for) - rx_id (ID(s) of the receiver, as an integer, or comma-separated set of integers. Optional. If not supplied, all connections will be ended) - force - whether to disconnect existing connections by other users, or for offline receivers Input parameters: - token - v (the AIM API version this request is designed for) - id (optional.
• • • stallation • • Adder Technology Ltd warrants that this product shall be free from defects in workmanship and materials for a period of two years from the date of original purchase. If the product should fail to operate correctly in normal use during the warranty period, Adder will replace or repair it free of charge. No liability can be accepted for damage due to misuse or circumstances outside Adder’s control.
Radio Frequency Energy This equipment does not exceed the class A limits for radio noise emissions from digital apparatus set out in the radio interference regulations of the Canadian Department of Communications. Le présent appareil numérique n’émet pas de bruits radioélectriques dépassant les limites applicables aux appareils numériques de la classe A prescrites dans le règlement sur le brouillage radioélectriques publié par le ministère des Communications du Canada.
stallation Contact: www.adder.com/contact-details Support: forum.adder.com www.adder.com Web: Documentation by: www.ctxd.com © 2013 Adder Technology Limited All trademarks are acknowledged. Part No. MAN-AIM • Release 1.
Active Directory 4,28 Dashboard active connections page 16 backups page 15 connection log page 16 event log page 17 home page 12 settings page 13 updates page 16 Dashboard tab 12 Logging in administrators 9 normal users 31 Safety information 48 Search filters 18 Security 3 Swapping an AIM server 8 F Peak Bandwidth Limiter 24 Permissions 4 Presets 29 add presets page 30 configure presets page 30 Presets tab 29 B Browsers supported 9 C Cable spec null modem 34 Channel add channel group 20 configure cha
