BCIU Mini-ConferenceSAFARI Montage

Tech Tips

Dale Roades

Access Fiber Solutions

Basic Tech Help

• Accessing SAFARI Montage

• Online Help

• Admin Guide

• Troubleshooting Guide

• User Guide

• Tech Support Escalation Process

Accessing SAFARI Montage

• URL

• Shortcuts, desktop icon, web portal

• User name and password

• Changing your password

• User types: student, teacher, teacher with upload, administrator, approver

Online Help

• Tutorial

• Context sensitive help

• Searchable index

Admin Manual

• Available through Safari Montage Help

• 29 page PDF

• Recommend district tech support copy to the desktop for quick reference

• Print only pages relating to common issues

Troubleshooting Guide

• Available through Safari Montage Help

• 10 page PDF

• Designed for tech support team

User Guide

• Available through Safari Montage Help

• 48 page PDF

• Recommend teachers save a copy locally, but only print specific pages as necessary

• Quick Start Guide also available

Tech Support Escalation Process

– Generally contact your district IT support staff first

– District IT staff will contact IU support– IU support will contact Safari Montage tech

support when necessary– Access Fiber Solutions available to help when

contacted by BCIU

Tech Support Escalation Process

Common Tech Support Questions

• Basic features and functionality

• Preferences

• Macintosh helper application

• Windows Media Player

• Administrative preferences

• Playlists

• Software updates

Basic Features and Functionality

• Most content may not be downloaded- security is key to making top-quality resources available

• Videos can not be accessed outside of the network- possible future feature

Preferences

• Each user sets their own preferences

• Check your name and email address

• Closed captioning default

• Enable whiteboard support

• Set grade range for search defaults

Set your default preference, but the setting can be changed at any time for any particular video.

Whiteboard support is primarily for using Safari on a “smart board”.

Set the default grade range to make searching quicker.

Macintosh Helper Application

• Needs to be installed on each MAC workstation

• When SM first opens, the alert and directions display below the video preview window

• District tech support may need to install if security profile interferes with install

Windows Media Player

• Needs to be configured on each workstation to display closed captioning

• Open WMP, R-click on icon, select Play – Captions and Subtitles – On If Available

• Possible problems with WMP 11

• To check version, R-click on WMP icon, select Help - About

Windows Media Player must be configured on each workstation to display closed captioning in full screen view.

Administrative Decisions

• Student access?

• Share playlists and original content across the district? Approval?

• Use LDAP to manage logins?

• Assigning upload privileges

• Assigning approver privileges

Administrative Preferences

• Enable permanent links

• Enable whiteboard support

Permanent links must be enabled by the district’s Safari administrator.

Playlists

• Recommend common naming conventions

• To share or not to share

• Be aware of “active playlist”

• Moving clips from one playlist to another

• Copy playlists- why and how

• Merge playlists

• Export / Import playlists

Each user can see his/her own playlists as well as those shared by others.

Always be aware of the active playlist, or you will add new clips to the wrong playlist.

Software Updates

• Current and future updates delivered via CD rather than download

• Release notes available from safarimontage.com

Hardware Issues

• Backup, backup, backup• Reboot and shut down• WAN-1000 has distributed power supplies and

redundant OS drives• RM-800 and T-400 have single power supply

and OS drive• Allow remote access• SM tech support is driven by server serial

number, located on a label on the front of the server, also on the back of a rack server and inside the door of the tower server

Each district’s Safari administrator must set up a backup system to backup playlists, searches, user accounts and locally-created content.

If it’s necessary for Safari tech support to access the server remotely, access must be enabled by district tech support.

Server can be shut down and rebooted from any workstation on the network.