FAQ

Not at all. LightSail easily fits into both 1:1 and shared device models, and we have numerous schools using LightSail in a shared-device scenario. Because every student has a unique login, many students can access LightSail sharing the same device over the course of a school day. We would be glad to share advice about how schools can integrate LightSail into any hardware scenario.

1. What device are you using (Windows desktop, Windows laptop, MacBook, iPad, Android Tablet)?
2. Confirm your browser version with the steps below:
   • Please note that we do not support Mozilla Firefox.
     • What is the version of the browser?
       • Chrome
         1. Click on the Menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
         2. Click on About Google Chrome.
         3. Your Chrome browser version number can be found here.
       • Safari
         1. Open your Safari browser by clicking on the Safari icon in the dock of the Mac desktop or laptop computer.
         2. Click on Safari in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
         3. Choose the option labeled About Safari in the drop-down menu that appears.
         4. A small dialog box appears with the browser's version number
3. Describe the error and how it occurred
4. When you receive an error message, please note the following:
   • What the error message stated
   • Please provide a screenshot (if possible)
   • When did this occur.  
5. What is the username(s) of the teacher(s) or student(s) getting this error?
6. Did the error or problem happen to 1 or more students / teacher accounts?
7. Were there any red checkpoints when running the HealthCheck? Please list them or provide a screenshot

The health check is a very useful tool when using LightSail HTML. Instead of testing your internet speed locally, it checks your connections and speeds with our NY server. It will tell you the internet download speed and if you are successfully connecting to all ports required for HTML to work.

Use the Health Check Now

We recommend that each student has over 5 mb download speed on their device. If the speed is lower than 5 mb download, LightSail will not work properly.

For an iPad or iPhone, you must use Safari.  For all other devices, you must use Chrome.

For Chrome or iPad please make sure that you always upgrade to the newest version. For iPad the minimum version should be 12.2 and for Chrome the minimum should be 70. Confirm your browser version with the steps below:

• • Please note that we do not support Mozilla Firefox.
    • What is the version of the browser?
      • Chrome
        1. Click on the Menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
        2. Click on About Google Chrome.
        3. Your Chrome browser version number can be found here.
      • Safari
        1. Open your Safari browser by clicking on the Safari icon in the dock of the Mac desktop or laptop computer.
        2. Click on Safari in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
        3. Choose the option labeled About Safari in the drop-down menu that appears.
        4. A small dialog box appears with the browser's version number

Chromebook, iPad, or Android Tablet/Phone.

We recommend that each classroom should have their own internet access point to enhance the internet connection. If you can hardwire your devices you will have the best internet connection. However, for Wi-Fi you need the router to be relatively close to the students preferably, in the classroom. If you have any questions, please have your IT representative reach out to LS support via email, chat or phone.

Please speak with your IT department to control the number of connections allowed to each access point. This will ensure that each student can have at least 5 mb download speed.

You will need to whitelist (to allow the user to access LightSail) the required URLs and ports for LightSail to work properly.

Your device may have Ad Blockers turned on. This can cause issues for LightSail to work properly because it blocks certain ports and URLs that LightSail needs. Many Ad Blockers allow you to enable specific sites through their system. To test whether your Ad Blocker is causing the OFFLINE error, turn off the Ad Blocker and try to log into LightSail. To see which ports and URLs are needed for LightSail, go to the question above - What is the Health Check? – and click Use the Health Check Now from a device that needs to work with LightSail.

We don’t recommend using a firewall that is also a proxy (A proxy firewall is a network security system that protects network resources by filtering messages at the application layer. A proxy firewall may also be called an application firewall or gateway firewall) as this can cause issues when LightSail upgrades to newer versions.

This is ok and LightSail will work with a VPN.

We don’t recommend using guest mode on a ChromeBook. The guest mode uses limited hard drive storage which would affect your use on LightSail. The memory gets erased each time the user logs out and any data gets lost (i.e. if you checked out a book).

Yes, clearing cache can help solve many browser issues. Please click on the following links on how to clear cache for your device. Please note that if you clear cache, LightSail will take a bit longer to load the first time.

1. How to clear cache on Chrome, click here
2. How to clear cache on Safari iPad or iPhone, click here
3. How to clear cache on Android browser, click here

You can also test using incognito (incognito does not save cache)

1. How to open incognito (private) on chromebook or chrome browser on a PC, click here
2. How to open incognito on safari (Ipad or Iphone), click here
3. How to open incognito on Android, click here

Yes, Ad blockers and filters can affect LightSail from working properly. You need to make sure that if you have a filter setup, to whitelist (to allow the user to access the URLs and ports) the required ports and if you have ad blockers to enable LightSail. Most ad blockers allow you to click enable for specific websites. If you have any specific questions, please reach out to your IT representative.

1. LightSail requires at least 20 mb available storage. To confirm how much storage your Chrome browser has allocated, please reach out to your IT representative or contact LightSail support
2. Confirm your Chrome Version. You should have the latest version installed. To find your Chrome version do the following:

1) Click on the Menu icon in the upper right corner of the screen.

2) Click on About Google Chrome.

3) Your Chrome browser version number can be found here.

1. With an IT representative assistance, check the user profile in the google admin console. Compare a working user vs the non working user. Ensure that you do not select “keep cookies for the duration of the session”.

Host and Ports

Please contact your IT representative to ensure that you can properly connect to the below Host and Ports

1. 1. https://api.boclips.com NEW
      This URL will enable videos and action clips and ensure that you can stream media content.
   2. Session Storage Access Test, Session Storage Over 20 MB
      For LightSail to work properly the browser you are using must have enough storage space of over 20 MB. The browser always checks if you have enough Hard drive memory to work properly. If you fail this, please make sure you have enough memory space.
   3. https://content.ls-api.com/, https://prod.ls-api.com/, https://environments.ls-api.com/, elastic-prod-dc.ls-api.com
      The content api is used to manage and generate reports to use LightSail properly.
   4. accounts.google.com
      Without this port, users may be blocked or denied access from using LightSail.
   5. ssl.gstatic.com:443
      This SonicWALL signature identifies legitimate SSL traffic over any port including HTTPS/443 and Secure-IMAP/993 using the gstatic.com SSL Certificate.
   6. apis.google.com:443
      Without this port, users may be blocked or denied access from these services. For the following hosts, [N] means any single decimal digit and * means any string not containing a period.
   7. btol.com, images.btol.com
      These are is a required port to properly connect to Baker & Taylor"
   8. Lightsailed.com:443
      This is a required port to use LightSail properly
   9. clever.com:443
      If you use Clever Sync, then this is a required port to sync properly
   10. btimages.cloudapp.net
       This is required to allow small images including check marks etc. to show on LightSail
   11. www.google.com
       The Web's largest and most authoritative acronyms and abbreviations resource.
   12. Servicebus.windows.net - https://ls-eventhub.servicebus.windows.net/prod-linux/messages
       servicebus is required to collect LightSail data
   13. https://js-agent.newrelic.com:443
       This is required for the LightSail certificate to be active
   14. https://bam.nr-data.net
       A script tag is injected by the New Relic agent (or pasted into the webpage for standalone apps) that references the JavaScript on the CDN, which is then loaded by the browser. The loaded JavaScript collects and reports the metrics dynamically to the domain bam.nr-data.net

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