Blackboard Integrator Resources

Network issues are the most common.

• Use the Test Connection button in the building block’s settings page. It’s the first place to check if Blackboard and Connect can talk to each other.
• Check the route between the Blackboard application server and Adobe Connect. Are there firewall/load balancer rules that could be blocking connections?
• Are all the Adobe Connect ports open?

LDAP issues are very common. Before reporting issues, see the section on integrating with a directory service in the Migrating, Installing, and Configuring Adobe Connect 9.

• If Adobe Connect is authenticating against LDAP, your Blackboard installation should be as well.
• Make sure Connect and Blackboard are using the same LDAP server. Some customers have experienced issues because they used different servers that were not properly synchronized.
• Check that the LDAP username attribute in the building block is configured to the same one set in Adobe Connect (commonly set to cn, sAMAccountName, uid).
• If Connect is configured to automatically create accounts on a successful LDAP login, make sure the automatic account creation option in the building block is disabled.

Watch out for self-signed certificates and certificates from newer signing authorities. The Blackboard server JVM’s keystore often does not recognize them. If that’s the case, you will need to install the Certificate Authority certs in the Blackboard server’s JVM keystore.

• Make sure the same shared secret value is configured in Adobe Connect (SHARED_SECRET_TRUSTED_LOGIN setting in the custom.ini file) and in the building block’s settings.
• Make sure the Connect service was restarted after the shared secret was added or modified to custom.ini. Note that the SHARED_SECRET_TRUSTED_LOGIN setting value in Connect’s custom.ini may be hashed after restarting. Do not put the hashed value in the building block’s shared secret setting. You must enter it as plain text.

For deployments that don’t use LDAP, a Connect administrator username and password must be set in the building block if you want the building block to automatically create Connect accounts when Blackboard users access it for the first time.

• This value should be the same in the building block and in Connect.
• Make sure all Blackboard users have email, and that no two users have the same email address.

The building block can automatically create users but it does not automatically grant them host permissions. Host and presenter permissions can be assigned either adding the user to a meeting or in Connect, by adding the user to the meeting host group.

Check the course’s Tool Availability page. Make sure the Adobe Connect tool is enabled.

Your Blackboard system administrator needs to make it available. They can control it globally or they can allow instructors to enable it locally within individual courses. Consult your Blackboard system administrator to find out your institution’s policy with regards to who can control Adobe Connect course tool availability.

Contact your Blackboard system administrator. (Sys admins: Are your shared secrets set correctly in Connect and Blackboard?)

You need to be granted meeting host permission in Adobe Connect first. Instructors don’t get that permission automatically. Contact your Connect system administrator. Once you have permission, click the Connect course tool link again. You should now see a ‘New Meeting’ button in the meeting list page.

The Connect course tool only shows your meetings that are mapped to that course. The My Adobe Connect Meetings module shows all your upcoming meetings in all your courses.

Yes, your Blackboard system administrator must disable the ‘Show start date and duration settings when creating meetings’ setting in the building block.

Your Blackboard system administrator must enable the ‘Edit meetings in Adobe Connect instead of in the Building Block’ setting in the building block. When this setting is enabled, users will be redirected to the Adobe Connect edit meetings page when they edit existing meetings in the building block.

Yes. Hover the mouse cursor over the meeting in the list of meetings and click ‘View Information’. Then click ‘Recordings’. You can view both forced and normal meeting recordings.

Yes. Hover the mouse cursor over the meeting in the list of meetings and click ‘View Information’. Then click ‘Reports’. You can view the summary, the attendee report, and the session report.