Changes for page Toolbox Basics

Last modified by Alexander Mott on 2024/03/19 21:00

From 29.1 to 28.1 From 45.3 to 45.2

From version 45.2

edited by Alexander Mott
on 2023/12/12 22:23

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To version 29.1

edited by Alexander Mott
on 2023/02/08 22:10

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- device discovery tool numbered.png

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@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
  = Connecting to Devices =
--In order to connect to any lighting devices, your computer must be physically connected to the lighting device or the lighting network. Typically, this is achieved via TCP (i.e. Ethernet or WiFi) or USB (usually a USB-A to USB-B cable), though some older devices may require an RS-232 serial connection or a different USB cable.
++In order to connect to any lighting devices, your computer must be physically connected to the lighting device or the lighting network. Typically, this is achieved via TCP (i.e. Ethernet or WiFi) or USB (usually a USB-A to USB-B cable), though some older devices may require an RS-232 serial connection.
  Any Toolbox tool which requires connecting to a device has several buttons and fields at the lower left which relate to device connection:
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@
 *. If the lighting network is on the building LAN, then you may need to reach out to the building's IT department for instructions on how to access the lighting network or VLAN.
 . Use a Cat 5a or Cat 6 cable to connect your laptop to the lighting network at an open port
 *. Most newer laptops will require some sort of adapter in order to connect to a Cat 5a/6 cable
--1. Configure your laptop's network settings ([[FAQ page>>https://wiki.chiefintegrations.com/FAQ/How%20do%20I%20change%20my%20computer%27s%20network%20settings]]) to be compatible with the lighting network:
++1. Configure your laptop's network settings to be compatible with the lighting network:
 . Navigate to Control Panel>Network and Internet>Network Connections
 . Locate the network adapter that is connected to the lighting network
 . Right click the network adapter and click "Properties"
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
 *1*. You can verify this by opening the Windows Command Line tool and running "ipconfig" command to view your current adapter settings
 . Open Toolbox and then open the desired tool
 . Connect to the device:
--1*. If you have created an address book (see [[Troubleshooting a Failed Connection>>doc:SHOWRUNNER™ Setup Guide.SHOWRUNNER™ Installation Guide.Preparation.Toolbox Basics.WebHome||anchor="HExporttoAddressBook"]] below), then select the device from the drop down menu
++1*. If you have created an address book, then select the device from the drop down menu
 *. If you have not created an address book, then you should click the Pencil Icon to open the Manual Connection Menu:
 *1. Leave the connection type as "TCP"
 *1. Type in the IP address of the device you wish to connect to
@@ -120,104 +120,31 @@
 *. If the device has just recently powered up, it may take a few minutes to completely wake up before it can be connected to
 *. If you have issues connecting, see [[Troubleshooting a Failed Connection>>doc:SHOWRUNNER™ Setup Guide.SHOWRUNNER™ Installation Guide.Preparation.Toolbox Basics.WebHome||anchor="HTroubleshootingaFailedConnection"]] below
--== Device Discovery Tool ==
++== Device Discovery Tool and Address Book ==
--Crestron's Device Discovery Tool is used to "discover" any Crestron devices which are connected to your laptop. The most useful feature of the Device Discovery Tool is the ability to export all discovered devices to either a "Device Summary" text file or an Address Book. Discovered devices are listed in a scrollable list on the left side of the menu, and double clicking a discovered device will bring up additional configuration options on the right side. Below is an overview of the Device Discovery Tool UI:
--
--[[image:device discovery tool numbered.png]]
--
--1. Device Model - gives the specific model of the device type
--1. Device Type - gives an idea of what function the device serves ("Control System", "AV", "Lighting", etc.)
--1. Connection and Firmware Information
--1*. Ethernet connected devices give their hostname, IP address, and firmware version
--1*. USB connected devices give their hostname, serial number, and firmware version
--1. Discovery Summary - gives a summary of how long it took to discover devices and how many devices were discovered at each connection type
--1. Discover Devices button - press this to restart the discovery process
--1. Export... button - use this button to export discovered devices to either a Device Summary or Address Book (covered in more detail below)
--
--=== Export to Device Summary ===
--
--The Device Summary is an important documentation tool provided by Crestron. It is a .txt file containing a comma-separated-values of all networked devices, and is useful to capture which devices are online, what their current IP and hostname settings are, what version of firmware they are on, and their MAC address and serial number.
--
--To generate a Device Summary in Toolbox:
--
--1. Connect to the lighting network and open Device Discovery Tool in Toolbox
--1. The Device Discovery tool will automatically report how many Ethernet devices have been discovered
--1. Verify that the expected number of Ethernet devices have been discovered, including any TSWs, GLPACs, DIN-CENCN-2s, etc.
--1*. Note that only Crestron devices will appear in Device Discovery; non-Crestron devices (such as Pharos or Enttec DMX controllers) will not appear in Device Discovery Tool
--1*. If no devices are discovered, verify that your computer is connected to the network and your IP address is compatible with the network
--1*. If some devices are missing, there may be an issue with your DHCP server settings or the network wiring
--1. Click the "Export..." button below the list of discovered devices
--1*. If this button says "Address Book", then Toolbox needs to be updated
--1. Click the Write Device Summary button and save the Device Summary to your computer
--1*. Though saved as a text file, the Device Summary is actually a table of comma separated values
--1*. Renaming DeviceSummary.txt to DeviceSummary.csv will allow it to be opened and manipulated in common spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel or LibreOffice Calc
--1**. Note that this .csv will have whitespace, so it may be beneficial to "clean" it using Excel's "=TRIM()" function
--
--Below is an example of a Device Summary for a fully-configured Zūm Wired job:
--
--* DeviceSummary.txt:
--[[image:https://wiki.chiefintegrations.com/download/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Setup%20Guide/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Installation%20Guide/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Installation%20and%20Network%20Setup/ZUMNET-JBOX%20Setup/WebHome/1655487020590-542.png?rev=1.1||alt="1655487020590-542.png"]]
--* DeviceSummary.csv:
--[[image:https://wiki.chiefintegrations.com/download/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Setup%20Guide/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Installation%20Guide/SHOWRUNNER%E2%84%A2%20Installation%20and%20Network%20Setup/ZUMNET-JBOX%20Setup/WebHome/1655487132138-904.png?rev=1.1||alt="1655487132138-904.png"]]
--
--=== Export to Address Book ===
--
--(% class="box warningmessage" %)
--(((
--This section is under construction: please check back at a later date for more information on using the Address Book
--)))
--
  Address Books are useful ways of managing multiple jobs that each have many devices.
--Note that when exporting devices to the Address Book, it is possible to add devices by either Hostname or by IP Address. On systems with a DHCP server, it is recommended to add devices by Hostname, but only after the final hostnames have been set for all devices.
--
  == Troubleshooting a Failed Connection ==
--"Device refused to identify"
++"Device refused to identify" (also happens if too many login attempts are made with the wrong username/password)
--* This message typically means that the device is not online or could not be connected to
--* This message may also occur when a device has blocked your username or IP address due to making too many incorrect login attempts
--** IP addresses are blocked for 24 hours by default, but you can attempt to circumvent this block by changing your IP address and trying again
--** Users are blocked for 30 minutes by default, and it is only possible to circumvent this if another user has already been created, otherwise you must wait for the block to expire before connecting again
--** The below commands are useful if you are able to connect to the processor through some other means (specific commands may vary depending on the device):
--*** ##listblockedip## and ##remblockedip## commands can be used to view/unblock an IP address
--*** ##listlockeduser## and ##remlockeduser## commands can be used to view/unblock specific users
--*** ##setloginattempts## and ##setlockouttime## commands can be used to modify how many login attempts are allowed before blocking an IP address and how long an address will be blocked
--*** ##setuserloginattempts## and ##setuserlockouttime## commands are used to modify how many login attempts are allowed before blocking a user and how long that user will be blocked
--*** ##setlogoffidletime## command can be used to modify how long you can be inactive before the processor automatically logs you out
--
  "Device not found in database"
--* This message typically means that the version of your device database is out of date and the device being connected to is not in it. Use Crestron's MasterInstaller tool to ensure that Toolbox and all installed Crestron components are up-to-date
--
--See our FAQ for additional tips:
--
--* [[I can't connect to my processor via Ethernet?>>https://wiki.chiefintegrations.com/FAQ/I%20can%27t%20connect%20to%20my%20processor%20via%20Ethernet]]
--* [[I can't connect to a 4-Series processor via USB?>>https://wiki.chiefintegrations.com/FAQ/I%20can%27t%20connect%20to%204-Series%20processor%20via%20USB]]
--
  = Basic Tool Usage =
--(% class="box warningmessage" %)
--(((
--This section is under construction: please check back at alater date for more information on using tools in Toolbox
--)))
--
  == Text Console ==
--== File Manager ==
--
--== Script Manager ==
--
  == Network Device Tree View ==
--= Miscellaneous =
++= Toolbox Quirks =
++Toolbox has some unique quirks that can sometimes cause issues.
++
  == VPT COM Server ==
  Whenever Toolbox is open, Toolbox also starts a separate process called the Crestron Toolbox VPT COM server. This process appears in the system tray with the following icon when active: [[image:1663630447432-699.png]]
--Occasionally, something might go wrong with the VPT COM Server process which will prevent Toolbox from functioning correctly. To solve this problem, take the following steps:
++Occasionally, something goes wrong with the VPT COM Server process which will prevent Toolbox from functioning correctly. To solve this problem, take the following steps:
 . Close Crestron Toolbox
 . Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Windows Task Manager
@@ -227,10 +227,16 @@
 *. If the VptCOMServer process is still running after Toolbox has closed, select it in Task Manager and press End Process to stop it
 . Once VptCOMServer is stopped, open Toolbox and see if your issues have been resolved
--== Alternatives to Specific Toolbox Tools ==
++== Text Console Alternatives ==
--Sometimes it is necessary to connect to a Crestron device for troubleshooting using a computer that either does not or cannot have Toolbox installed on it. In these instances, third-party software can be used to replace some of the Tools in Toolbox in order to allow immediate troubleshooting of the lighting control system.
++[[PuTTY>>https://www.putty.org/]] is a free and open-source Telnet and SSH client/terminal emulator which is capable of connecting to Crestron devices over TCP/IP.
--The Text Console tool can be substituted with [[PuTTY>>https://www.putty.org/]], a free and open-source Telnet and SSH client/terminal emulator. [[SecureCRT>>https://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/]] is another option with some more capability than PuTTY, but note that it is a paid software which requires a license to use. The File Management tool can be substituted with [[WinSCP>>https://winscp.net/eng/index.php]], [[FileZilla>>https://filezilla-project.org/]], or [[CyberDuck>>https://cyberduck.io/]]. These are all free FTP/SFTP clients that do not require any license to use.
++[[SecureCRT>>https://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/]] is a paid terminal emulator that is also a good alternative to Text Console.
--Note that any Text Console or File Management alternatives are only suitable when connecting to Crestron devices over TCP/IP (Ethernet). When connecting to a Crestron device using these third-party programs, use port 22. Connecting to Crestron devices over USB is only possible using Toolbox because these devices do not use a standard communications protocol for USB communications.
++Note that any Text Console alternatives are only suitable when connecting to Crestron devices over TCP/IP (Ethernet). Connecting to Crestron devices over USB is only possible using Toolbox because these devices do not use a standard communications protocol for USB communications.
++
++== File Management Alternatives ==
++
++[[WinSCP>>https://winscp.net/eng/index.php]], [[FileZilla>>https://filezilla-project.org/]], and [[CyberDuck>>https://cyberduck.io/]] are all free FTP/SFTP clients that can be used in place of Crestron's File Management tool. When using these programs to connect to a Crestron device for file transfer, connect to port 22.
++
++== Package Update Tool Alternatives ==

device discovery tool numbered.png

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