Userful™: Control Center

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(Updated 2021.02.09)

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Introduction

The Control Center is a browser-based central management interface for administering Userful™ software appliance. It can be accessed over a Local Area Network (LAN) without an Internet connection. However, some features such as licensing and system updates requires Internet access. The Control Center can be accessed from any web browser on any system within the same network or over the Internet, provided you have proper port forwarding in place.

Administrators can manage, map and perform essential system operations from the Control Center.

Following are some key features of the Control Center:

1. Mapping
2. Video Wall
3. Managing Displays
4. Network interface management
5. Storage management
6. License management
7. Creating Events
8. Role-Based Access Control
9. System updates
10. Access to support

Accessing the Control Center

There are several ways to access Control Center:

• Using the Desktop shortcut

Login to the Linux Desktop from any session and click on the desktop shortcut to open the Control Center. You can also use the native administration tool available under System > Administration > Userful Control Center.

• Using the IP Address

Enter the IP Address of the Userful host that you want to manage into your browser's address bar. The IP address is displayed at the bottom of the screen at the default startup screen after the first installation. If no welcome screen is present, the IP address should still be visible if a monitor is connected to the VGA port on the Userful host.

• Using Server Name

If your local network has been set up to route server names, you can use the Userful server's name (which may be easier to remember than IP address). For networks configured this way, simply open a web browser and enter the hostname in the address bar.

• Using localhost

If you are accessing Control Center from one of the displays attached to the Userful server, you can simply enter http://localhost in the browser address bar.

Note: Control Center can be accessed via most popular web browsers except IE8, IE9, and IE10.

Features

The major sections of the Control Center are listed here:

• Mapping
• Events
• Displays
• Monitoring
• Settings
• Users
• Support

(Each of these will be discussed in detail below).

A drop-down on the top of the left navigation panel lists down the Userful hosts available within the same subnet along with their IP Addresses.

Mapping

This section represents a snapshot of current system status, displays that are online or offline, sources and video walls created. Mapping provides the ability to "map" displays or video walls to "Sources" such as video playback or URL kiosks via an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Please refer to Mapping for more information.

Events

This section allows users to create various events and execute them in designated order at specified time. Please refer to the Events for more information.

Displays

This section lists all the receiver devices (i.e., displays) that are connected to the Userful server, the administrator can give user-friendly names and location tags to displays thus making managing large numbers of displays easier. It also highlights zero-client device's model, firmware version, and speed. Please refer to Managing Displays for more information.

Monitoring

This section, new in Userful 10.6, allows you to monitor system resources and identify performance bottlenecks if you are experiencing issues with content.

Settings

This section lists down all the functions that affect the entire system (i.e., the Userful server and all the connected displays) including:

• Managing Licensing
• Changing Server Name
• Peer List
• Failover Group Settings
• Remote Control Settings
• Performance Settings
• Broadcast Alert
• Receiver Device Configuration
• Screen Capture Configuration
• Browser Source Certificate
• Analytics & Cloud-based Logging
• Local Logging Configuration
• HTTPS Support Configuration
• Storage Management
• LDAP Configuration
• SAML Configuration
• User Management
• Power Management
• Reboot/Shutdown System
• Network Settings
• Managing Updates
• Changing System Date/Time, Location, and Language

Please refer to Settings for more information.

Users

This section allows the administrators to control system access based on roles assigned to users within an organization. This is achieved via Role-Based Access Control. Please refer to Users for more information.

Support

This section highlights general troubleshooting guidelines for Userful software. Please refer to Support for more information.

Related Links

• Setup Guide
• Hardware Guide
• Frequently Asked Questions