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Windows Media Services

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Table of ContentsWindows Media Services......................................................................................1

Comparing versions of Windows Media Services..............................................2

Documentation conventions................................................................................4

Getting started.......................................................................................................5Understanding Windows Media 9 Series.....................................................................................6Understanding terminology..........................................................................................................7Changes to Windows Media Services.......................................................................................16Upgrading Windows Media Services.........................................................................................20

Migration overview...............................................................................................................21How migration works............................................................................................................23

Publishing points that point to directories........................................................................23Publishing points that point to publishing points..............................................................23Publishing points and stations with the same name........................................................24Stations and programs not associated............................................................................24Publishing points that point to local stations....................................................................25Publishing points that point to remote sources................................................................26Stations with no publishing points...................................................................................27Publishing point security.................................................................................................28

Configuration elements that are not migrated.......................................................................30Using the upgrade log..........................................................................................................32

New features in Windows Media Services.................................................................................33Platform components............................................................................................................34Plug-in architecture..............................................................................................................36Advertising support...............................................................................................................38Server-side playlists.............................................................................................................39Wrapper playlists.................................................................................................................. 40Wireless delivery.................................................................................................................. 41IPTV support........................................................................................................................42

System requirements.................................................................................................................44Windows Media Services service and Windows Media Services snap-in.............................45Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web............................................................46Multicast and advertisement logging agent..........................................................................48

Deploying Windows Media Services..........................................................................................49Administering Windows Media Services....................................................................................50

Scenarios.............................................................................................................51Streaming entertainment programming and advertising............................................................52

Broadcasting programmed content......................................................................................53Supporting personalized on-demand content.......................................................................55Creating syndicated programming........................................................................................56Providing live broadcasts......................................................................................................57

Displaying banner ads..........................................................................................................58Displaying interstitial ads......................................................................................................59Working with wrapper ads....................................................................................................60Replacing ads.......................................................................................................................61

Distributing corporate communications......................................................................................62Broadcasting executive speeches........................................................................................63Presenting training seminars................................................................................................64Holding financial briefings.....................................................................................................65

Streaming programming to subscribers.....................................................................................66Providing video on demand..................................................................................................67Providing a subscription service...........................................................................................68Creating a client activity report.............................................................................................69Wireless streaming...............................................................................................................70Delivering IPTV....................................................................................................................71

Concepts..............................................................................................................72Understanding streaming media................................................................................................73

Streaming vs. downloading content......................................................................................74Streaming media system overview.......................................................................................76

Streaming from a Windows Media server vs. a Web server............................................77Ensuring the stability of your streaming media system...................................................78

Obtaining content.................................................................................................................80Setting up Windows Media Services....................................................................................82

Delivering content as a unicast stream...........................................................................83Delivering content as a multicast stream.........................................................................83Announcing your content to users...................................................................................84

Networking and content delivery................................................................................................86Understanding protocols.......................................................................................................87

Protocol overview............................................................................................................87Using the MMS protocol..................................................................................................89Using the RTSP protocol.................................................................................................90Using the HTTP protocol.................................................................................................91How protocol rollover works............................................................................................93How unicast works..........................................................................................................94How multicast works.......................................................................................................95

Understanding Fast Streaming.............................................................................................98Understanding Fast Cache.............................................................................................98Understanding Fast Start................................................................................................99Understanding Fast Recovery.......................................................................................100Understanding Fast Reconnect.....................................................................................100Understanding Advanced Fast Start.............................................................................101

Understanding content delivery..........................................................................................105Working with data sources............................................................................................105Using distribution servers..............................................................................................106Understanding variable-bit-rate content delivery...........................................................108Understanding intelligent streaming..............................................................................109

Understanding Advanced FF/RW..................................................................................110Managing your Windows Media server....................................................................................115

Administering servers.........................................................................................................116Allowing or denying unicast client connections.............................................................116Setting server limits.......................................................................................................117Using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web..........................................117

Using groups...................................................................................................................... 119Monitoring performance......................................................................................................120

Using Windows Media performance counters...............................................................120About the Windows Media SNMP objects.....................................................................125Subscribing to Windows Media WMI events.................................................................129

Understanding publishing points..............................................................................................131About publishing point types...............................................................................................132

Using on-demand publishing points..............................................................................132Using broadcast publishing points.................................................................................133

Adding publishing points.....................................................................................................135About the Default publishing point.................................................................................136Protecting the Default publishing point..........................................................................137

Configuring publishing points.............................................................................................138Controlling unicast connections to a publishing point....................................................139Starting broadcast publishing points automatically........................................................140Setting publishing point limits........................................................................................140

Streaming from publishing points.......................................................................................142Archiving content................................................................................................................143

Understanding Play While Archiving.............................................................................144Archive wildcard characters reference..........................................................................145

Sourcing from playlists, files, and encoders.............................................................................148Understanding playlists......................................................................................................149

About on-demand and broadcast playlists....................................................................150About wrapper playlists.................................................................................................151About creating and editing playlists...............................................................................152About playlist elements.................................................................................................154

Sourcing from files..............................................................................................................156Sourcing from a directory...................................................................................................157Sourcing from an encoder..................................................................................................159Sourcing from a remote publishing point............................................................................161Sourcing from a multicast broadcast..................................................................................162Sourcing from an encrypted directory.................................................................................163Using dynamic sources......................................................................................................164Reference for content sources...........................................................................................165Controlling streaming behavior with URL modifiers............................................................166

Controlling Fast Streaming behavior with URL modifiers..............................................166Controlling Advanced Fast Start behavior with URL modifiers......................................169Controlling multicast client buffer behavior with URL modifiers.....................................171

Controlling encoder failover with URL modifiers.................................................................172Announcing content.................................................................................................................174

About announcements........................................................................................................175Sample announcement file............................................................................................176Customizing announcement files..................................................................................176Embedding the Player in a Web page...........................................................................177Understanding MIME types...........................................................................................178

About multicast information files.........................................................................................179About stream formats....................................................................................................179

Client URL reference..........................................................................................................181Player URLs for broadcast publishing points................................................................181Player URLs for on-demand publishing points..............................................................181Player URLs for default publishing points.....................................................................182Distribution server URLs...............................................................................................183

Understanding advertising.......................................................................................................184Choosing an advertising infrastructure...............................................................................185

Hosting advertising on your Windows Media server......................................................185Using an advertising service vendor.............................................................................185

Choosing an advertising type.............................................................................................187Creating advertisement policies.........................................................................................188Logging advertising data....................................................................................................189Personalizing advertising content.......................................................................................190

Logging data and events..........................................................................................................191Understanding logging........................................................................................................192

Reading log files............................................................................................................192About GUID types.........................................................................................................193Comparing log features.................................................................................................193Simulating logs..............................................................................................................194

Logging data about unicast streams...................................................................................196Using client logs............................................................................................................196Using server logs..........................................................................................................198

Logging data about multicast streams................................................................................200Distributing log files to customers.......................................................................................202Log file reference information.............................................................................................204

Log file header reference..............................................................................................204Log file entries reference...............................................................................................205Wildcard characters reference......................................................................................218ISAPI properties reference............................................................................................219

Understanding event handler plug-ins................................................................................221WMS WMI Event Handler plug-in..................................................................................221WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-in.....................................................................221

Configuring security options.....................................................................................................223Understanding authentication.............................................................................................224

Using the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in.............................................225Using the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in.........................................................225Using the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in...............................................................226

Understanding authorization...............................................................................................228Using the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in.........................................................228

Using the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in.........................................................229Using the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in.......................................230

Understanding rights..........................................................................................................231Limiting user rights.............................................................................................................233Understanding Windows Media Rights Manager................................................................234Enabling system-wide security...........................................................................................236

Transferring data securely............................................................................................236Using the NTFS file system...........................................................................................236About Web server permissions.....................................................................................237Protecting custom plug-ins............................................................................................237

Using firewalls....................................................................................................................238Understanding firewalls and protocols..........................................................................238Configuring firewalls for unicast streaming....................................................................239Configuring firewalls for multicast streaming.................................................................240Enabling access to an encoder outside a firewall.........................................................240

Securing the Windows Media Administration site....................................................................241Using Secure Sockets Layer..............................................................................................242Using integrated Windows authentication...........................................................................243Using basic authentication..................................................................................................244

Caching and proxying content.................................................................................................245Caching and streaming on-demand content.................................................................245Proxying a live stream...................................................................................................247Understanding reverse proxy........................................................................................247

How to….............................................................................................................249Quick starts.............................................................................................................................. 250

Stream Windows Media files on demand...........................................................................251Use your server to publish live content from Windows Media Encoder..............................252Use your server to broadcast a stream published by Windows Media Encoder.................254Use a playlist with on-demand Windows Media files..........................................................256Alternate between live and prerecorded content in your broadcast....................................258Include interstitial advertising in your on-demand playlist...................................................261Use wrappers to provide advertising with your live broadcast............................................263

Manage servers....................................................................................................................... 265Work with groups of servers....................................................................................................275Work with plug-ins................................................................................................................... 278Work with publishing points.....................................................................................................288

Setting up a publishing point..............................................................................................289Managing connections to a publishing point.......................................................................294Testing a stream.................................................................................................................297Configuring publishing point properties..............................................................................299

Set up content to stream..........................................................................................................303Creating and editing offline playlists...................................................................................304Editing online playlists........................................................................................................312Setting up files to stream....................................................................................................316Setting up a broadcast........................................................................................................318

Monitor and set limits...............................................................................................................327Log data about clients..............................................................................................................329Control access to content........................................................................................................335Secure the Windows Media Administration site.......................................................................342Implement streaming scenarios...............................................................................................344

Administration...................................................................................................354Working with the administrative interfaces...............................................................................355

Viewing group details.........................................................................................................358About groups.................................................................................................................358

Viewing server details.........................................................................................................361About the Monitor tab for a server.................................................................................361About the Advertising tab for a server...........................................................................363About the Properties tab for a server............................................................................363

About troubleshooting.........................................................................................................366Viewing publishing point details..........................................................................................368

About publishing points.................................................................................................368About the Monitor tab for a publishing point..................................................................372About the Source tab for a publishing point..................................................................374About the Advertising tab for a publishing point............................................................376About the Announce tab for a publishing point..............................................................377About the Properties tab for a publishing point.............................................................378

About properties and plug-ins.............................................................................................380Archiving category.........................................................................................................381Authentication category.................................................................................................383Authorization category..................................................................................................385Cache/Proxy category...................................................................................................388Cache/Proxy Management category.............................................................................389Control protocol category..............................................................................................390Credentials category.....................................................................................................393Data source category....................................................................................................394Event notification category............................................................................................396General category...........................................................................................................399Limits category..............................................................................................................401Logging category...........................................................................................................404Media parser category..................................................................................................408Multicast streaming category........................................................................................409Networking category.....................................................................................................411Playlist parser category.................................................................................................412Playlist transform category............................................................................................413Unicast streaming category...........................................................................................413Wireless category..........................................................................................................414

Working with the Add Publishing Point Wizard........................................................................416Naming the publishing point...............................................................................................417Determining the content type..............................................................................................418Selecting the publishing point type.....................................................................................419

Choosing delivery options for broadcast publishing points............................................419Using an existing publishing point......................................................................................421Identifying the content location...........................................................................................422

Creating a new playlist file............................................................................................423Adding media elements to the playlist file.....................................................................423Adding interstitial advertisements to the playlist file......................................................424Saving the playlist file....................................................................................................425

Selecting content playback options....................................................................................426Enabling logging.................................................................................................................427Verifying your publishing point options...............................................................................428Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard.....................................................................429

Working with the Create Wrapper Wizard................................................................................430Creating a new wrapper playlist file....................................................................................431Saving the wrapper playlist file...........................................................................................432Completing the Create Wrapper Wizard.............................................................................433

Working with the announcement wizards.................................................................................434Working with the Unicast Announcement Wizard...............................................................435

Announcing an on-demand directory............................................................................435Specifying the access to the content.............................................................................435Modifying the server name............................................................................................436Selecting the announcement options............................................................................436Editing announcement metadata..................................................................................436Completing the Unicast Announcement Wizard............................................................437

Working with the Multicast Announcement Wizard.............................................................438Specifying the files to create.........................................................................................438Retrieving stream format information............................................................................439Identifying stream formats.............................................................................................439Enabling multicast logging............................................................................................440Saving the multicast announcement files......................................................................440Specifying the URL to the multicast information file......................................................441Specifying an archive location.......................................................................................442Completing the Multicast Announcement Wizard..........................................................442

Testing the announcement files..........................................................................................444

Troubleshooting................................................................................................445Frequently asked questions.....................................................................................................446

What is the server list file and do I need to maintain it?......................................................447Why do I get an error when I try to use a .wav file?............................................................448Why do I get an error when I try to connect my server to the Windows Media components that came with Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 4?..........................................................449Why can't I get artist or track information for my .mp3 file?................................................450How can I add artist or track information to my content?....................................................451Why don't some of my .mp3 files play?..............................................................................452Why are some of the playback controls unavailable on the Player?...................................453What is the difference between .asf, .wma, and .wmv files?..............................................454Can I use Windows Media Services on a domain controller?.............................................455Why isn't there a server list in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web?........456

Why are unicast clients experiencing excessive buffering?................................................457How can I find out if clients are having difficulty accessing my content?............................458What is the difference between encoder push and encoder pull?......................................459Why do ISA clients have trouble connecting to my server using the MMS protocol?.........460Can I use a playlist as an element in another playlist?.......................................................461How can I tell if packet loss has occurred?.........................................................................462Can I archive my broadcast to a compressed folder?.........................................................464Will I lose my server settings if I need to reinstall my server?............................................465Is there a way to enhance performance when sourcing from an encoder?........................466Why am I having trouble opening Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web?...467Why can’t I see my Windows Media Services counters in performance monitor after I do an upgrade?............................................................................................................................ 468Why do I get an error when I click Test stream?................................................................469

Getting help from other resources...........................................................................................470

Playlist reference...............................................................................................472Using the Windows Media Playlist Editor.................................................................................473Understanding playlist syntax..................................................................................................474Constructing a playlist..............................................................................................................476Playlist elements...................................................................................................................... 478

smil element.......................................................................................................................479media element.................................................................................................................... 481seq element........................................................................................................................484switch element....................................................................................................................486excl element.......................................................................................................................489priorityClass element..........................................................................................................491clientData element..............................................................................................................494

Playlist attributes......................................................................................................................496Media definition attributes...................................................................................................498

id attribute..................................................................................................................... 498mediaName attribute.....................................................................................................499noRecede attribute........................................................................................................500noSkip attribute.............................................................................................................501role attribute..................................................................................................................502src attribute...................................................................................................................503

Metadata information attributes..........................................................................................506album attribute..............................................................................................................506artist attribute................................................................................................................507author attribute..............................................................................................................508bannerURL attribute......................................................................................................508bannerAbstract attribute................................................................................................509bannerInfoURL attribute................................................................................................510copyright attribute..........................................................................................................511genre attribute...............................................................................................................512logURL attribute............................................................................................................513title attribute..................................................................................................................514

Synchronization attributes..................................................................................................515

higher attribute..............................................................................................................515lower attribute...............................................................................................................516peers attribute...............................................................................................................518

Timing attributes................................................................................................................. 521Timing values................................................................................................................521begin attribute...............................................................................................................525clipBegin attribute..........................................................................................................526clipEnd attribute............................................................................................................527dur attribute...................................................................................................................528end attribute..................................................................................................................529endSync attribute..........................................................................................................530repeatCount attribute....................................................................................................532repeatDur attribute........................................................................................................533syncEvent attribute........................................................................................................535

Time formats............................................................................................................................ 538

Deployment guide.............................................................................................540Deployment considerations......................................................................................................543

Streaming live vs. prerecorded content..............................................................................544Selecting unicast vs. multicast distribution.........................................................................545

Content management and production......................................................................................546Prerecorded content...........................................................................................................547

Supporting different file types........................................................................................547Planning prerecorded content.......................................................................................548Storing content..............................................................................................................550

Live content........................................................................................................................ 551Preparing live content...................................................................................................551

Advertising content.............................................................................................................554Planning advertising......................................................................................................554

Content distribution............................................................................................................556Capacity planning.................................................................................................................... 558

Evaluating the streaming content.......................................................................................559Estimating the audience volume.........................................................................................560Calculating required server capacity..................................................................................561Evaluating growth potential................................................................................................562Assembling required capacity.............................................................................................563Testing capacity.................................................................................................................564

Follow-up considerations.........................................................................................................565Performing load balancing and clustering...........................................................................566Understanding encoding.....................................................................................................569Monitoring server performance...........................................................................................571Understanding fault tolerance.............................................................................................573

Software faults..............................................................................................................575Hardware faults.............................................................................................................575Network faults...............................................................................................................576Operational faults..........................................................................................................576

Environmental faults......................................................................................................577Security faults...............................................................................................................577

Implementing a cache/proxy system..................................................................................579Understanding scalability....................................................................................................580Understanding content replication......................................................................................581Logging client information...................................................................................................582

Accessibility for people with disabilities........................................................583Accessible features in Windows Media Services.....................................................................584

Keyboard shortcuts for the Windows Media Services snap-in............................................585Access keys in the Windows Media Services snap-in........................................................587Keyboard shortcuts for Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.....................591

Accessibility features in Windows Media Services Help..........................................................592Keyboard shortcuts for using the Help window...................................................................593

Glossary.............................................................................................................596


Windows Media ServicesWith Microsoft® Windows Media® Services 9 Series in Windows® Server 2003, you can deliver content to users over the Internet or intranet. Windows Media Services has two administrative interfaces that can be used to configure and manage one or more servers running Windows Media Services. If you are an experienced Windows Media Services user, check out Changes to Windows Media Services to get up to speed quickly on the new and improved features of Windows Media Services 9 Series.

Comparing versions of Windows Media Services. Provides an overview of the different features available in Windows Media Services based on the edition of Microsoft Windows® Server 2003 you are running.

Documentation conventions. Provides information about the documentation conventions used to represent information in Windows Media Services Help.

Getting started. Provides information to help you start using Windows Media Services.

Scenarios. Discusses the top usage scenarios for Windows Media Services.

Concepts. Provides the concepts that are central to successfully using Windows Media Services.

How to…. Provides detailed procedures for administrative tasks.

Administration. Provides detailed information about the administrative interfaces of Windows Media Services.

Troubleshooting. Provides information to assist in solving common difficulties encountered when using Windows Media Services.

Playlist reference. Provides a guide to the elements and attributes used when creating server-side playlists.

Deployment guide. Provides a guide to the practical application of Windows Media Services in several frequently-encountered scenarios.

Accessibility for people with disabilities. Provides information about the features, products, and services that make Microsoft Windows Media Services more accessible for people with disabilities.

Glossary. Provides terms and definitions related to Windows Media Services. Note

Windows Media 9 Series Privacy Statement. For more information about protecting your privacy while accessing the Internet, see the Windows Media 9 Series Privacy Statement at the Microsoft Web site.

1


Comparing versions of Windows Media Services

Windows Media Services 9 Series is available as an optional component of Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. However, additional features are available when Windows Media Services is used with Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. The following table provides an overview of the available features.

Feature Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

Absolute Playlist Time

Advanced Fast Start

Advanced FF/RW

Advertising server support

Broadcast Auto-Start

Cache/proxy server support

Custom plug-in support

Event-based scripting support

Fast Cache

Fast Reconnect

Fast Recovery

Fast Start

2


Fast Streaming

Internet authentication method (Digest)

Internet Group Management Protocol version 3 (IGMPv3) support

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) support

Intranet authentication methods (Negotiate authentication, Anonymous access)

Multicast content delivery

Multiple authorization methods (NTFS ACL, IP Address)

Multiple control protocol support (MMS, HTTP, RTSP)

Multiple media parser support (Windows Media, MP3)

Multiple playlist parser support (WSX, Directory)

Play While Archiving

RTSP streaming

Robust event notification (WMI, SNMP)

Server based content repacketization

Unicast content delivery

Related topics


3


Documentation conventionsThe following conventions are used in this Help system.

This convention Indicates

Information only applicable when administering Windows Media Services by using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Bold User interface elements or text that should be typed exactly as shown.

Italics Variables that you should replace with text appropriate to your environment.

Code Sample code that you should replace with code appropriate to your environment.

Notes

When using Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to administer Windows Media Services, there are many different methods to accomplish the same tasks, such as using menu commands, shortcut menus that can be accessed by right-clicking console tree items, taskpad buttons, toolbar buttons, and double-clicking. By default, this documentation uses a combination of menu commands and taskpad buttons in procedural topics.

When using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, the interface is limited. For Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web procedures, this documentation uses a combination of buttons or other user interface items.

Related topics


4


Getting startedThis section provides introductory information about Microsoft Windows Media Services. Windows Media Services has been completely redesigned for this version. If you are familiar with earlier versions of the product, you will notice new administrative interfaces, new terminology, and many new features. Review the topics in this section for more details about the features included in this release and information about installing or upgrading Windows Media Services.

This section contains the following topics:

Understanding Windows Media 9 Series. Provides an overview of the technologies that can be used with Windows Media Services.

Understanding terminology. Presents a quick overview of specialized terms used with streaming media technology.

Changes to Windows Media Services. Presents the changes made since the previous version of Windows Media Services.

Upgrading Windows Media Services. Describes the process of migrating existing Windows Media Services configuration information when upgrading.

New features in Windows Media Services. Describes the new features in Windows Media Services.

System requirements. Includes reference tables that provide minimum system specifications for hardware and software.

Deploying Windows Media Services. Provides an overview of the issues involved in deploying Windows Media Services.

Administering Windows Media Services. Provides an overview of managing Windows Media Services.

Related topics


5


Understanding Windows Media 9 SeriesWindows Media 9 Series is the term for the family of digital media software developed by Microsoft. All of the software is designed to work together to provide the optimal digital media experience.

Windows Media Services is a platform for streaming audio and video content to clients over the Internet or an intranet. These clients may be other computers or devices that play back the content using a player, such as Windows Media Player, or they may be other computers running Windows Media Services (called Windows Media servers) that are proxying, caching, or redistributing your content. Clients can also be custom applications that have been developed using the Windows Media Software Development Kit (SDK).

The content your Windows Media server streams to clients can be either a live stream or preexisting content, such as a digital media file. If you are planning to stream live content, your server will connect to encoding software, such as Windows Media Encoder, that is capable of broadcasting a live stream in a format supported by the server. You can also stream preexisting content that has been encoded by Windows Media Encoder, Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint® 2002, Windows Movie Maker, or many other third-party encoding programs.

To learn more about the basics of streaming using Windows Media Services, see Streaming media system overview.

For more information about Windows Media 9 Series, see "An overview of Windows Media 9 Series" on the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics

Getting started

6


Understanding terminologyWhen reviewing this documentation and using the administrative interfaces, it is helpful to have an understanding of some specialized terms and concepts that are used when working in a streaming media environment. The following reference list is meant to give you a quick overview of these concepts. More detailed information can be found in the Concepts section of this documentation.


Announcement file

Bandwidth

Broadcast

Content

Cue

Distribution

Element

Encoder

File location

Interstitial advertisements

Logging

Loop

Multicast

On-demand

Playlist file

Plug-in

Port

Publishing point

Pull

Push

Shuffle

Streaming

Unicast

Windows Media file

WMRoot

Wrapper playlists

Related topics

Getting started

7


Announcement file

An announcement file is a Windows Media metafile with an .asx file name extension that is used to redirect clients to content on your Windows Media server. Announcement files can be distributed to clients from a Web site, sent as an e-mail attachment, or shared on network drive. By default, the announcement file is associated with Windows Media Player. The announcement file uses Extensible Markup Language (XML) syntax and can contain additional information to be displayed in the Player, such as file properties and captioning information. The announcement file can also contain additional instructions for the Player, such as instructions to open a Web page or to send logging data to a server.

In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you can create announcement files by using the Unicast Announcement Wizard. If you are using multicast transmission, you can create an announcement file when you create a multicast information file by using the Multicast Announcement Wizard.

Related Topics

About announcements

Delivering content as a multicast stream

Delivering content as a unicast stream

Understanding terminology

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is a measurement that reflects the data transfer capacity of a network. Bandwidth is usually expressed in the number of bits that a system is capable of transferring in a second: bits per second (bps) or kilobits per second (Kbps). Windows Media Services utilizes the available network bandwidth when streaming content to clients. Each stream from your server has a bandwidth requirement. Clients that are connecting to your server have defined available bandwidth, based on their network connection method. Therefore, when planning your streaming media system, you must include support for different bandwidths. Multicasting streaming is one method that is commonly used to conserve bandwidth on intranets because it only sends a single stream across the network.

Related topics



Streaming vs. downloading content


Broadcast

Broadcast is a means of transmitting data to a large audience simultaneously. In Windows Media Services, broadcasts are accomplished through the use of broadcast publishing points. Clients that receive a broadcast cannot control the start of the content or the rate of playback, and they cannot fast-forward or rewind the stream. The server is in control of the stream. Before clients can receive content from a broadcast publishing point, the publishing point must be started.

Related topics

8


About on-demand and broadcast playlists

About publishing point types

Broadcasting programmed content

Providing live broadcasts


Content

Content is a generic term that refers to any audio, video, images, text, or other information that is contained in a digital media file or stream. You can then use the content as a source for your publishing point and stream the content across a network using Windows Media Services.

Related topics

Obtaining content

Sourcing from playlists, files, and encoders


Cue

Cueing is a means of preloading content from a broadcast playlist into the memory of the server so that it can be transmitted to clients with less delay. By default, the next item in a playlist sequence is cued when the previous content is 90 percent complete. If you are going to skip a playlist entry during a broadcast, cueing the entry first provides a better playback experience. Cueing an element in a playlist can be done from the Source tab of the publishing point that is broadcasting the content.

Related topics


To edit an online broadcast playlist


Distribution

Distribution describes the process by which content is transmitted from one computer to another. You can use the following types of distribution with Windows Media Services:

Server-to-server distribution. This occurs when a publishing point on your server acts as the content source for a publishing point on another Windows Media server, which then transmits the content to players that request it.

Push distribution. This occurs when an encoder initiates a broadcast and then uses a publishing point on a Windows Media server to transmit the content to the players that request it.

Pull distribution. This occurs when a server initiates a connection to an encoder to receive a content stream and then transmits the content to the players that request it.

Related topics

9


Ensuring the stability of your streaming media system

Understanding content delivery

Using distribution servers


Element

Element is an Extensible Markup Language (XML) term that refers to the "building blocks" of a playlist. When used in a playlist file, elements can define timelines, create groups of content, and define how the different pieces of the playlist interact with each other.

Related topics

Playlist reference

Understanding playlists


Encoder

An encoder is a computer which uses software, such as Windows Media Encoder, to apply a compression/decompression (codec) algorithm and stream format to content that is in either analog or digital audio and video format and then reproduces the content as a digital file or stream. This process is referred to as encoding. Once the content has been encoded, it can be distributed by Windows Media Services. In most cases, the software used to encode the content is installed on a separate computer from Windows Media Services.

Related topics

Sourcing from an encoder

Working with data sources


File location

The file location explains how and where Windows Media Services can locate the file you specify. The location can be specified as either an explicit path, such as C:\WMPub\WMRoot\Filename.wma, a URL address, such as http://servername/filename.wma, or a network resource path, such as \\Servername\Foldername\Filename.wma.

Related topics

Reference for content sources



Interstitial advertisements are advertisements that occur in the middle of the content that the user is receiving.

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Related topics

Understanding advertising


Logging

Logging is the process of writing data about the activity of your server and its clients to a file.

Related topics

Log file reference information

Logging data and events


Loop

A loop is the continuous repetition of content streaming from a publishing point on your server. When content is looped, it plays from beginning to end and then starts over at the beginning without any perceptible wait time. The WMS Playlist Transform Plug-in must be enabled for the server to loop the content in your playlist or directory. Looping can be turned off and on through the properties sheet of the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in.

Related topics

Playlist transform category


Multicast

Multicast is a method of transmitting data across a network that allows many clients to receive the same data stream. This minimizes the amount of bandwidth required to transmit the data to a group of network clients. Multicast transmission requires that the routers and switches on the network be multicast-enabled, which means that they can transmit class D Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and interpret multicast information packets.

Note

Multicast streaming and the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, these features are not supported.

Related topics


Using broadcast publishing points


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On-demand

On-demand describes a method of delivering content that uses unicast transmission to stream the content only when the client requests it from the server. Each client that requests a stream usually has full control of the stream and can fast-forward, rewind, pause, and restart the content. This is because on-demand publishing points provide a unique data path for every client that requests content.

Related topics


Using on-demand publishing points


Playlist file

A playlist file can be used by Windows Media Services to stream a sequence of content, such as digital media files, encoder URLs, and other content server locations, to users from a publishing point. Playlist files can be either server-side or client-side. Server-side playlist files allow you to manage the playlist on the server while clients are receiving the content. Client-side playlists are transferred to the player, which then manages all of the content items. In client-side playlists, content references cannot be modified by the server.

Related topics




Plug-in

Plug-ins are used by Windows Media Services to enable different features. Plug-ins are managed along with the other configurable properties of your server through the Properties tab in the administrative interfaces. You can use plug-ins purchased from other software vendors and custom plug-ins created by using the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK) to extend the functionality of Windows Media Services.

Notes

Custom or third-party plug-ins should be located in a protected directory to prevent tampering. The protected directory can be any directory that has been set to deny write permissions to unauthorized users. For more information about restricting directory access, see Windows Help and Support.

Installation of custom or third-party plug-ins is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

Plug-in architecture


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Port

A port identifies a unique process through which a server can provide a service or a client can access a service. Windows Media Services uses both Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to stream content.

Related topics

Understanding protocols


Publishing point

A publishing point is the means by which you distribute your content to users. Content can be published by creating an announcement file that redirects clients to your publishing point or by distributing the URL to your publishing point.

Related topics

Announcing content


Pull

Pulling is one of the methods by which content is transmitted from a stream source, such as Windows Media Encoder or another Windows Media server, to the Windows Media server that is requesting it. Pull is used to denote that the transmission of the stream is initiated and managed by the requesting server.

Related topics




Push

Pushing is one of the methods by which content is transmitted from Windows Media Encoder to a Windows Media server. Push is used to denote that the transmission is initiated and managed by the encoder.

Related topics




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Shuffle

Shuffle is a method of randomizing the content referenced either by a directory or playlist file before streaming it from your publishing point. When content is shuffled, it plays each item in the playlist or directory once in a random order. Shuffle can be used with looping to provide continuous, random playback. The WMS Playlist Transform plug-in must be enabled for the server to shuffle the content in your playlist or directory. Shuffle can be turned off and on through the properties sheet of the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in.

Related topics



Streaming

Streaming is a means of transmitting digital media in packets that can be rendered as they are received, allowing for the playback of data in a continuous flow without the delay required to download an entire file.

Related topics

Understanding streaming media


Unicast

Unicast is a method of transmitting data packets on a network that requires point-to-point communication between the client and the services transmitting the data. Unicast is also known as directed traffic, because the data is directed to a specific client on the network.

Related topics



Windows Media file

A Windows Media file is a file containing audio, video, or script data that is stored in Windows Media Format. Depending on their content and purpose, Windows Media files use a variety of file name extensions, such as: .wma, .wme, .wms, .wmv, .wmx, .wmz, or .wvx.

Related topics

Obtaining content

Sourcing from files


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WMRoot

WMRoot is the Windows Media root directory. Windows Media Services creates this folder by default during setup. In it you will find sample content files, a sample playlist file, and a sample wrapper playlist that you can use to learn about Windows Media Services. The Default publishing point uses %systemdrive%\WMPub\WMRoot as its source. Once Windows Media Services is running on your server, you can use a player to connect and view the sample content by using the following URL: mms://server_name/content_clip1.wmv.

You can place any existing content you have into WMRoot and quickly start streaming content.

Related topics

About the Default publishing point


Wrapper playlists

Wrapper playlists are Windows Media metafiles that add additional content to the beginning or end of a stream. Examples of content include welcome or goodbye messages, advertisements, and station branding. In the Create Wrapper Wizard, the content of the publishing point is represented by %Content requested by client%. In the wrapper playlist file, the content of the publishing point is represented by %requestedURL%.

Related topics

About wrapper playlists


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Changes to Windows Media ServicesWindows Media Services was redesigned for this release, making the server more flexible, unifying the core components, and simplifying the administrative process. Following is a brief overview of changes in the current release:

MMS rollover. If clients that support the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) connect to a server running Windows Media Services 9 Series using a URL that starts with a Microsoft Media Server (MMS) moniker (for example, mms://server_name/content_clip1.wmv), the server uses protocol rollover to stream the content to the client using RTSP to provide an optimal streaming experience. Clients that support RTSP include Windows Media Player 9 Series or later or other players that use the Windows Media Player 9 Series ActiveX control.

Earlier versions of Windows Media Player and other players that do not support the RTSP protocol can still connect to the server by using a URL with an mms:// prefix. However, automatic protocol rollover from MMS to MMS with UDP-based or TCP-based transports (MMSU or MMST), or even HTTP, may occur as the server tries to negotiate the best protocol for the Player and provide an optimal streaming experience.

To make sure that your content is always available to clients that connect to your server using a URL with an mms:// prefix, ports on your firewall must be opened for all of the connection protocols that might be used during protocol rollover. For more information, see Using firewalls.

Four services combined into one—the Windows Media Services service. The Windows Media Services service replaces the four separate services that comprised Windows Media Services versions 4.0 and 4.1: Windows Media Monitor Service, Windows Media Program Service, Windows Media Station Service, and Windows Media Unicast Service.

Expanded use of plug-ins. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, you could expand the server through the use of custom authentication, authorization, or event notification plug-ins; other plug-in types were not supported. This version considerably increases the number of ways that you can customize and configure the server through an expanded plug-in architecture. Interfaces are provided for most of the plug-ins so you can build custom plug-ins that enhance the server's capabilities. You can use plug-ins to control the following behaviors:

How the server reads from devices. Use data source plug-ins to enable the server to read from databases, device drivers, and different network locations.

How data is sent over the network. Use data writer plug-ins with control protocol plug-ins to support a variety of network protocols.

How server-side playlists are translated. Use playlist parser plug-ins to enable the server to support different metafile formats.

Expanded use of publishing points. Publishing points handle the association of content to streams. Publishing points expand the basic functionality provided in previous versions of Windows Media Services and greatly simplify the functionality that was formerly provided by using a combination of programs, streams, and stations. You can now create both broadcast and on-demand publishing points, and you can customize these publishing points through property pages that control different server functions.

Flexible server-side playlists. Every publishing point (including on-demand publishing points) can stream content from a playlist. Each item in the playlist has a set of independent attributes such as repeat, duration, genre, and so on. You can specify these attributes to meet your

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particular needs. Playlists can even be modified during a broadcast, allowing you to respond to situations without having to interrupt your stream.

Absolute Playlist Time. Adds the playlist timing value wallclock, which can be used to automate broadcast schedules by assigning real-world clock values in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to attributes in server-side playlists.

Flexible event architecture. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, external events were available only through station and unicast Microsoft ActiveX® objects. In this version, events are available internally through server interfaces, as well as externally through both Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) events.

Fast Streaming. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, content was streamed at a constant bit rate to the clients. Fast Streaming allows for a combination of streaming, downloading, and caching in order to provide the best user experience. The following features provide Windows Media Services Fast Streaming capabilities:

Fast Start. Enables the beginning portion of the content to be quickly downloaded to Windows Media Player at the maximum available bandwidth, reducing the amount of time required to fill the buffer requirement of the Player and reducing the amount of time a user has to wait to begin receiving the stream.

Advanced Fast Start. Adds to Fast Start capabilities by allowing the Player to begin playing content as soon as its buffer receives a minimum amount of data, further reducing the amount of time a user has to wait to begin receiving the stream.

Fast Cache. Enables Windows Media Services to make use of any additional bandwidth to send out additional data to the buffer of the Player, allowing the Player to better withstand network bandwidth fluctuations.

Fast Recovery. Enables the server to provide an uninterrupted viewing experience to users receiving content over high latency network connections, such as wireless and satellite networks, by using forward error correction to greatly reduce packet corruption and interruption.

Fast Reconnect. Enables the server to automatically restore client connections—including encoders, distribution servers, and players—that are lost during a broadcast due to network conditions.

Play While Archiving. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, broadcast content could be archived to a file, but the archived content could not be made available for on-demand requests or rebroadcast until archiving was stopped. In this version, archived files can be made available for on-demand requests or rebroadcast even before the broadcast that is being archived has finished.

Advanced FF/RW. This version of Windows Media Services contains improved fast-forward and rewind ("trick mode") functionality for the video portion of encoded files. This feature stabilizes network bandwidth availability by smoothing the rate at which data is sent. Potential server performance bottlenecks are reduced because the server must read less presentation data from the source content disk, while delivering a seamless experience to clients.

Improved packet resend logic. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, packet resend requests from clients could only be fulfilled for the last two seconds of content. In this

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version, 10 seconds of data is stored in the server buffer, allowing for better error correction and stream quality.

Server-based content repacketization. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, the server could only stream data packets as defined by the stream format. In this version, the server administrators can set the optimum packet size for streaming in their environment, and the server can reallocate data to stream packets based on that property setting. This optimization is only applicable when streaming content using User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets and the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).

IPv6 support. This version of Windows Media Services has support for Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) addressing.

IGMPv3 support. Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) version 3 provides Windows Media Services the ability to help prevent problems with multiple broadcast servers that use the same multicast IP address. This feature requires that the clients connecting to the multicast are using Windows Media Player 9 Series or later.

Broadcast Auto-Start. In previous versions of Windows Media Services, broadcast publishing points had to be started manually in the event of an interruption, such as a power failure. In this version, you can configure your broadcast publishing points to begin running again automatically whenever the Windows Media server starts.

Additional Windows Server System platform support (x64). Windows Media Services is available as a component in x64-based versions of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system. (Note that x64-based computers are computers running 64-bit processors with an extended x86 instruction set, such as the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) AMD64 and Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T) processor lines.) Windows Media Services is not available in Itanium-based versions of the Windows Server 2003 operating system. For more information, see the Microsoft Web site.

The following table cross-references Windows Media Services version 4.x terms and features to current Windows Media Services terms and features.

Previous term New term

Advanced Systems Format (.asf) files The .wma or .wmv file name extensions enable the client to tell whether a file includes video or is audio only and are often used instead of .asf. The file format is the same, and .asf files can be renamed with .wma or .wmv file name extensions (and vice versa) without difficulty.

ASFRoot WMRoot

Broadcast unicast publishing points Broadcast publishing points that use the unicast data writer.

Distribution stations Broadcast publishing points that use the unicast data writer.

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MSBD protocol This protocol is no longer supported. Either the RTSP or HTTP protocols can be used instead for server-to-server data transfer. The HTTP protocol is used exclusively for encoder-to-server data transfer.

Multicast stations Broadcast publishing points that use the multicast data writer

Programs Playlists

Unicast publishing points On-demand publishing points

Windows Media Station Service

Windows Media Unicast Service

Windows Media Program Service

Windows Media Monitor Service

Windows Media Services service combines the functionality of these four services.

Note

The features in Windows Media Services features differ depending on which version of Windows Server 2003 you are running. For a complete list of the features available in each version of Windows Media Services, see Comparing versions of Windows Media Services.

Related topics


How protocol rollover works

Using firewalls

Configuring firewalls for unicast streaming

Advertising support

Deploying Windows Media Services

Managing your Windows Media server

Platform components


Server-side playlists


Understanding publishing points

Upgrading Windows Media Services

Wireless delivery

Working with the administrative interfaces

Getting started

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Upgrading Windows Media ServicesWindows Media Services 9 Series is available with Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. You can upgrade your operating system from either Microsoft Windows NT® Server 4.0 or Windows 2000 Server. If you are running Windows Media Services version 4.1, it is upgraded to the latest version automatically when you upgrade the operating system.

If you installed Windows Media Services for the first time, the server is set up with a base configuration, which includes a default on-demand publishing point and a sample broadcast publishing point.

If you are upgrading from Windows Media Services 4.1, your previous configuration is moved over to the new version of Windows Media Services through a process called migration. Much of the previous configuration is migrated over to this version, such as on-demand publishing points. However, this version contains design improvements and features that were not available in version 4.1, and several elements of the previous configuration must be modified to work in the new environment. For example, broadcast stations and programs from Windows Media Services 4.1 are reconfigured as broadcast publishing points and playlists in this version. There might also be elements of your existing configuration that you need to change manually. For example, Windows Media Services no longer supports distribution using the Media Stream Broadcast Distribution (MSBD) protocol, so you must manually change any Windows Media metafiles or Windows Media Encoder configurations that use this protocol to the HTTP protocol.

The topics in this section describe the migration process. This process is mostly automatic; however, understanding how migration works can help you quickly get started using this version of Windows Media Services. When the upgrade process finishes, an upgrade log file is created that provides details of the migration.

This section includes the following topics:

Migration overview

How migration works

Configuration elements that are not migrated

Using the upgrade log

Related topics

Changes to Windows Media Services

Getting started

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Migration overviewThe upgrade process migrates as much as possible of the existing Windows Media Services 4.1 configuration with few or no changes. In cases where conversions are necessary, the upgrade process changes only what is necessary and migrates as much of the existing content and configuration as possible.

The following table provides a general overview of how the migration process affects version 4.1 elements.

This version 4.1 element Migrates to

Publishing points Publishing points

Stations Broadcast publishing points

Programs Playlists

Streams media elements in playlists

The use of publishing points has not changed from version 4.1 to this version of Windows Media Services. A version 4.1 on-demand publishing point is still an on-demand publishing point in this version. However, the use of stations, programs, and streams for broadcasting has changed substantially from the previous version of Windows Media Services. In this version, all broadcasting is handled by using broadcast publishing points and playlists. If you want to broadcast by using multicast delivery, you enable a multicast data writer plug-in on a broadcast publishing point. During the upgrade process, stations are migrated to broadcast publishing points, and the programs and streams that provide the source content for the stations are migrated to server-side playlists that act as the sources of the broadcast publishing points. For example, if a publishing point in version 4.1 points to a station, two broadcast publishing points are created during the upgrade process: one that contains the station information and sources from a playlist, and a second one that sources from the first publishing point.

You may not need to know any more than these basic principles to update Windows Media Services. However, if your existing configuration is extensive, you should review this section, so you know the specifics of the migration process. The following list summarizes the primary principles of migrating from Windows Media Services version 4.1 to this version:

Unicast publishing points in Windows Media Services version 4.1 become on-demand publishing points in this version.

Stations in version 4.1 become broadcast publishing points.

Programs in version 4.1 become playlists and are copied to a new folder, %systemdrive%\WMPlaylists.

Streams in version 4.1 become playlist elements.

MSBD-based URLs in version 4.1 become HTTP-based URLs.

Multicast file transfers are no longer supported, so they are not migrated to this version of Windows Media Services.

The On-Line Presentation Broadcast service that provides integration with Microsoft PowerPoint® is no longer supported, so it is not migrated.

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Distribution authentication user IDs and passwords are not migrated.

Any security settings that have been configured on the source directories of the version 4.1 publishing points are migrated. The migrated security settings are modified to allow the NETWORK SERVICE account to have read permissions for the source directories of the migrated publishing points. For more information about rights used by Windows Media Services, see Understanding rights.

Windows Media Services creates a log that indicates how the version 4.1 configuration was migrated to the latest version. Wmsupgrade.log is located in %systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server. To view the log file, open the file in a basic text editor, such as Notepad.

Related topics

How migration works


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How migration worksThe migration process handles the conversion of version 4.1 configurations, such as publishing points and stations. The following topics describe the specific version 4.1 configurations that are converted during the upgrade process and how the conversions are handled:

Publishing points that point to directories

Publishing points that point to publishing points

Publishing points that point to local stations

Publishing points that point to remote sources

Stations with no publishing points

Stations and programs not associated

Publishing points and stations with the same name

Publishing point security

Related topics

Migration overview


Publishing points that point to directoriesIn version 4.1, if the publishing point path points to a directory that contains Windows Media files, an on-demand publishing point is created in this version. The publishing point name is migrated, and the path is not changed, as described in the following table.

This version 4.1 configuration Migrates to

Unicast publishing pointpointing to a directory

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: %systemroot%\WindowsMediaFiles

Publishing point

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: %systemroot%\WindowsMediaFiles

Related topics


How migration works

Publishing points that point to publishing pointsIn version 4.1, if a publishing point uses another publishing point as its source, a broadcast publishing point is created during the migration process. If the publishing point uses an MMS URL as its source, this is changed to HTTP during the migration process. The publishing point name is

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migrated but the publishing point path is changed to use the HTTP protocol in the URL as described in the following table.


Unicast publishing pointpointing to a remote publishing point

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: mms://remote_server/remote_pp

Broadcast publishing point

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: http://remote_server/remote_pp

Related topics


How migration works

Publishing points and stations with the same nameIn version 4.1, if a station and publishing point have the same name, then two broadcast publishing points are created during the migration process. The first publishing point acquires the station's properties and the original name followed by an incremented value, and the second publishing point points to the first publishing point and acquires the original name, as described in the following table.


Unicast publishing pointpointing to a station with the same name

Example:Station name: MyStationPublishing point name: MyStation


Example:Publishing point name 1: MyStation-1Publishing point name 2: MyStation

This migration procedure is followed regardless of whether the publishing point is actually associated with the station or not.

Related topics


How migration works

Stations and programs not associatedIf a version 4.1 station exists but no program points to it, the station is migrated to this version. If a version 4.1 program points to a nonexistent station, a new playlist file is created, using the name of the program, and the playlist file is saved to a new directory (%systemroot%\WMPlaylists\Program_Name.wsx). A publishing point is not created.

The following table describes the migration of stations that are not associated with programs and programs that are not associated with stations.

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These version 4.1 configurations Migrate to

Station that is not associated with any programs


Program that is not associated with any station

Example:Program name: MyProg

Playlist

Example:Playlist: MyProg.wsx

Note

A program will lose its association with a station only if the station is deleted after the program is created.

Related topics


How migration works

Publishing points that point to local stationsThe following table describes what happens when publishing points and their associated local stations are migrated to this version of Windows Media Services from version 4.1.


Unicast publishing pointpointing to a local stationassociated with programs and streamsusing MSBD or HTTP

Example:Station name: MyStation

Program names: MyProg1, MyProg2

MyProg1 streams: Str11, Str12MyProg2 streams: Str21, Str22

Str11 source: msbd://encoder:1000Str21 source: http://server/stationx

Publishing point name: PubPointPath: msbd://localhost/mystation


Example:Publishing point name: MyStationPath: \WMPlaylists\MyProg1.wsx

Playlists: MyProg1.wsx, MyProg2.wsx

MyProg1.wsx media: Str11, Str12MyProg2.wsx media: Str21, Str22

Str11 src: http://encoder:1000Str21 src: http://server/stationx

Publishing point name: PubPointPath: http://localhost/mystation

If the publishing point path uses the HTTP or MSBD protocol to point to an existing local station service and programs, the upgrade process results in the following:

A new playlist file is created, using the name of the program, and the playlist file is saved to a new directory (%systemroot%\WMPlaylists\Program_Name.wsx).

Each stream within the program becomes a media element within the playlist, and all properties associated with the stream become attributes of the media element.

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References to MSBD in the source URL are replaced by HTTP.

If two programs exist for a single station:

A new playlist file is created for each program, using the name of the program, and the playlist file is saved to a new directory (%systemroot%\WMPlaylists\Program_Name.wsx).

A broadcast publishing point is created for the station and the path points to the playlist file that was created for the first program.

Two broadcast publishing points are created:

The version 4.1 station name becomes the name of the first broadcast publishing point, which points to the playlist path. The station properties are migrated to the publishing point.

The version 4.1 publishing point name becomes the name of the second broadcast publishing point, which points to the first publishing point.

Notes

The upgrade process only covers the migration of Windows Media Services. Any remote servers and encoders must be reconfigured manually to use the HTTP protocol.

If you were using a port other than 80 to stream content from another server or an encoder, you will need to update the URLs in the playlist to reference the appropriate port number. For example if you streamed welcome.asf over port 8008 on your 4.1 server and your original URL was msbd://server1/welcome.asf the upgrade process will result in the URL http://server1/welcome.asf. However, that will not work if the content is not available on the default HTTP port, so you must modify the reference to http://server1:8008/welcome.asf.

Related topics


How migration works

Publishing points that point to remote sourcesThe following table describes the migration of a publishing point that points to a remote server station in version 4.1 to this version.


Unicast publishing point pointing to a remote server station

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: msbd://remote_server/station


Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: http://remote_server/station

If the publishing point path in version 4.1 uses the HTTP or MSBD protocol to point to an encoder or station service on a remote server, a broadcast publishing point is created using the existing name. If the MSBD protocol is used, it is changed to HTTP during the migration.

The following table describes the migration of a publishing point that points to a remote encoder.

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Unicast publishing point pointing to a remote encoder

Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: msbd://remote_encoder:1000


Example:Publishing point name: PubPointPath: http://remote_encoder:1000

Note that the MSBD protocol is changed to HTTP as in the previous table.

Note

The upgrade process includes only the migration of Windows Media Services. Any remote servers and encoders must be reconfigured manually to use the HTTP protocol.

Related topics


How migration works

Stations with no publishing pointsThe following table describes the migration of stations in version 4.1 that are not associated with publishing points.


Station with one or more existing programs

Example:Station name: MyStation

Program names: MyProg1, MyProg2

MyProg1 streams: Str11, Str12MyProg2 streams: Str21, Str22

Str11 source: msbd://encoder1:1000Str21 source: http://encoder2:2000


Example:Publishing point name: MyStationPath: \WMPlaylists\Prog1.wsx

Playlists: Prog1.wsx, Prog2.wsx

MyProg1.wsx media: Str11, Str12MyProg2.wsx media: Str21, Str22

Str11 src: http://encoder1:1000Str21 src: http://encoder2:2000

If a version 4.1 station exists and there is a program that points to that station, the following happens during the migration:

A new playlist file is created using the name of the program, and the playlist file is saved to a new directory (%systemroot%\WMPlaylists\Program_Name.wsx).

Each stream within the program becomes a media element within the playlist, and all associated stream properties become attributes of the media element

References to MSBD in the source URL are replaced by HTTP.

If two programs exist for a single station:

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A new playlist file is created for each program using the name of the program, and the playlist file is saved to a new directory (%systemroot%\WMPlaylists\Program_Name.wsx).

A broadcast publishing point is created for the station, and the path is set to point to the playlist file that was created for the first program.

A broadcast publishing point is created. The existing station name becomes the name of the broadcast publishing point, which points to the playlist path.

Related topics


How migration works

Publishing point securitySecurity settings on all publishing point source directories are migrated during the upgrade. The only access control list (ACL) security change made during migration is to add read access to the NETWORK SERVICE account. The following table provides an overview of how the settings are migrated.

Windows Media Services version 4.1 Windows Media Services 9 Series

No authentication or authorization enabled

(default server configuration).

The WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in and the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in are enabled.

The HTTP-BASIC and Membership Service Account Database authorization package is enabled.

The WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in and the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in are enabled.

The WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in is disabled.

The HTTP-BASIC Authentication and NTLM Account Database authorization package is enabled.

The WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in and the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in are enabled.


The Windows NTLM Authentication and Account Database authorization package is enabled.

The WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in and the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in are enabled.


Note

In the Windows Media Services version 4.1 access control list (ACL), checking could be either enabled or disabled. The default installation of Windows Media Services enables the WMS

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Publishing Points ACL plug-in without regard to the ACL setting used with the previous version as a means of keeping your server secure until you have configured it.

Related topics

Configuring security options


How migration works

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Configuration elements that are not migratedCertain elements of a version 4.1 configuration are not automatically migrated during an upgrade. The previous sections mentioned features, such as multicast file transfer, that are not migrated. In addition, migration does not remove content, such as files, folders, and certain registry settings, even though the content may be obsolete.

The following list describes elements that are not migrated and the manual configuration that might be necessary:

Security accounts and groups. The NetShow® Administrators or Windows Media Administrators local groups and the NetShowServices local user accounts are not removed during the upgrade process. To ensure maximum security, decide whether the accounts are still applicable, and then make them unavailable or remove them if they are no longer in use.

Access control lists (ACLs). ACLs that are associated with publishing points are not migrated. However the information is not removed from the system registry. If you want, you can remove the ACL information manually from the registry, by removing the following registry subkeys:

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NetShow\AccessLists

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NetShow\AccessLists\AllowDistribution

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NetShow\AccessLists\AllowUnicastClients

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NetShow\AccessLists\DisallowDistribution

\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\NetShow\AccessLists\DisallowUnicastClients

If you want to reassign ACLs, you must enable the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in.

Authorization and authentication plug-ins. These plug-ins are not removed during migration. You can manually remove them after the upgrade is finished.

IP access lists. The list of IP addresses that you have configured to grant or deny access to your server are not migrated. You can recreate these lists by using the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in properties dialog box.

Programs. All programs are migrated to playlists regardless of whether they contained streams, with the exception of programs containing multicast file transfer streams. You can remove the empty playlists if you choose.

Configuration folders. The following folders and any files contained in them are not removed:

%systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\ASDB

%systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\ASDB\NSP

%systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\Station DataYou can manually remove the folders if you choose.

Distribution Authentication. If you enabled server authentication proxy settings in Windows Media Services version 4.1, the name of the proxy server used to validate authentication credentials will be migrated during the upgrade. However, you must manually enter the user name and password used with the proxy server in the property sheet of the WMS Network Data Source plug-in. You must specify the user name and password for each protocol that uses the

30


proxy server to connect to a network data source. For more information, see To configure the WMS Network Data Source plug-in.

On-Line Broadcast. This service, which provides integration with Microsoft PowerPoint, is not migrated. If you are running programs that require this service, you must continue to use Windows Media Services version 4.1 on a compatible operating system, such as Windows 2000 Server.

Windows Media File Transfer Services. This service is not migrated. If you are running programs that require this service, you must continue to use Windows Media Services version 4.1 on a compatible operating system, such as Windows 2000 Server.

Third party plug-ins. Third-party plug-ins used with Windows Media Services version 4.1 cannot be used with the new version of Windows Media Services. Several software developers have created new plug-ins for this version. Check with the plug-in developers to find out whether new plug-ins are available.

Incompatible publishing points. If a publishing point or station on your Windows Media Services version 4.1 server has a name that exceeds 260 characters it will not be migrated.

Note

Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.

Related topics

How migration works

Using the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in

Using the upgrade log


31


Using the upgrade logUpon completion of an upgrade, Windows Media Services creates a log file, Wmsupgrade.log. You can use the log file to understand how your configuration was migrated during the upgrade process. The log describes in detail how every part of the previous configuration was migrated, including any errors that may have occurred.

Wmsupgrade.log is located in %systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server. To view the log file, you can open the file in a basic text editor, such as Notepad.

Related topics

How migration works


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New features in Windows Media ServicesWindows Media Services has been completely redesigned for this release. If you are familiar with earlier versions of the product, you will notice new administrative interfaces, new terminology, and many new features. Review the topics in this section for more details about the features included in this release.

This section covers the following topics:

Platform components


Advertising support


Wrapper playlists

Wireless delivery

IPTV support

Related topics

Getting started

33


Platform componentsWindows Media Services is now a single service that runs on Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. Its core components were developed using the Component Object Model (COM), creating a flexible architecture that is easily customized for specific applications. It supports a greater variety of control protocols, including Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The platform is compliant with the following industry standards:

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) for server event notification and messaging.

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) for networking components.

Extensible Markup Language (XML), the Document Object Model (DOM), and the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 2.0 for playlist implementation.

Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) 1 and 2 for audio and video formats. Most streaming scenarios can be accomplished using the core components installed with Windows Media Services. However, more advanced scenarios may require that you incorporate some custom programming and integration work. For developers and systems integrators, the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK) provides access to all elements of the server through a combination of plug-ins, a fully documented object model, and a rich set of external event notifications, all designed to be easily customizable.

As you explore the Windows Media Services snap-in and Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, you will find a variety of plug-ins that accomplish different tasks. More than half of the server's features are implemented through the use of plug-ins. If necessary, custom plug-ins can be developed to integrate your Windows Media server with other systems. For example, if you have a large amount of high-bandwidth content stored in a proprietary database, a data source plug-in can be developed to retrieve the content from the database.

As you evaluate your Windows Media server implementation, you might decide that a custom approach works better. Any feature that you can configure in an administrative interface is exposed in the Windows Media server object model, which is documented in the Windows Media Services SDK. Using the object model, you can programmatically access every counter, interface, plug-in, publishing point, and playlist. In fact, the administrative interfaces were created by using this object model. For more information about creating a custom application, see the Windows Media Services SDK available on the Windows Media SDK Components Web page at the Microsoft Web site.

You might want to explore automating Windows Media Services. Windows Media Services provides events through both SNMP and WMI. It also supports command-line scripting. By combining scripting and events, you can automate many server management tasks.

Notes

For more information about the SMIL 2.0 Specification, W3C Recommendation, see the W3C Web site.


Related topics

Obtaining content

34


Streaming media system overview


New features in Windows Media Services

35


Plug-in architectureWindows Media Services supports customizable server configuration through the use of plug-ins. You can implement most of the features of Windows Media Services by enabling and configuring the plug-ins that you want to use. Certain system plug-ins provide core functionality and are enabled by default. You can use plug-ins to perform a wide range of tasks, including protocol handling, data parsing, authentication, authorization, and archiving. You can apply a plug-in to either an entire Windows Media server or to a specific publishing point on the server by enabling the plug-in at the appropriate level. You can modify the plug-in settings for each server or publishing point you are managing.

Windows Media Services plug-ins are divided into categories by function. Each category contains several types of plug-ins. The following table describes the plug-in categories.

Plug-in category Description

Archiving Used to archive content that is being streamed from a broadcast publishing point to a file.

Authentication Used to validate client credentials before any additional data is sent to the client.

Authorization Used to grant or deny client access to content.

Cache/Proxy Management Used to control cache and proxy policies on your computer.

Control protocol Used to control the data sent between clients and servers.

Data source Used to receive data from an encoder, file system, or network source.

Event notification Used to control and customize how the server responds to internal events.

Logging Used to record server and client activity.

Media parser Used to allow the server to translate different digital media file types or real-time streams.

Multicast streaming Used to control the delivery of content through multicast transmission. This plug-in must be configured for each publishing point that is going to use multicast delivery.

Playlist parser Used to allow the server to translate different playlist types.

Playlist transforms Used to change the manner in which content is streamed from a playlist or directory.

Unicast streaming Used to control the delivery of content through unicast transmission.

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You can use third-party plug-ins or custom plug-ins with Windows Media Services in order to implement customized streaming solutions such as cache/proxy servers, multiple streaming formats, customized logging applications, and specialized data storage. A list of third-party plug-ins for Windows Media Services is available on the Windows Media Technologies Partner Center page at the Microsoft Web site. The Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK) can be downloaded from the Windows Media SDK Components Web page at the Microsoft Web site.

Note


Related topics

Manage servers


Work with publishing points

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Advertising supportHistorically, the newspaper, radio, and television industries are able to realize revenue and offer information services to the public at a low cost because they are able to find sponsors who pay them to advertise products. The World Wide Web has embraced this business model; most Web sites include some form of advertising. Web sites that provide information services fund their operations through the sale of advertising, and companies and e-commerce sites can also market their own brands through strategic ad placement.

Windows Media Services provides support for advertising in a variety of ways:

Playlists. Playlists provide an easy way to provide interstitial advertisements during a broadcast. Dynamic playlists can respond to a client's user profile to target advertisements demographically.

Wrappers. Wrappers can be used to provide a set of advertisements at the beginning and end of the client's requested content. Wrappers are often used to implement bumper advertisements or lead-in/lead-out ads.

Reporting. Detailed log files and real-time performance counters provide a means of monitoring the activity of your Web site and evaluating your audience. Counters that reflect the number of clickthroughs, the number of plays, and the length of time the client viewed the advertisement are available for you to use in billing and reporting.

Related topics

Displaying banner ads

Displaying interstitial ads

Supporting personalized on-demand content

Working with wrapper ads


38


Server-side playlists Server-side playlists cover a wide range of scenarios: Internet radio and television stations, regional and custom advertising, fail-safe streaming, and content control. You can use server-side playlists to insert advertisements before, during, and after content, to switch seamlessly between alternating content and to provide a structure that defines how users receive multiple pieces of content. For example, you can use server-side playlists to create a user experience similar to that of a radio or TV station. Controlling your playlists with the Windows Media server enables you to make changes to a playlist during a broadcast.

Because playlists are a single file or directory, you can manage the resources on your server more easily. Playlist content can range from a list of Web pages to live encoder feeds to stored files.

Related topics

Creating and editing offline playlists

Editing online playlists



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Wrapper playlistsWindows Media Services supports wrappers, which are Windows Media metafiles that can be used to direct users to certain additional content before the requested content and then to an additional piece of content once the requested content ends. Wrappers are especially useful in the following situations:

Broadcast content. During a broadcast, users can connect at different times, making it difficult to ensure that a piece of content (such as an advertisement, station identification, or copyright notice) is received by every user. However, when a wrapper playlist is used in conjunction with the broadcast, the content in the first part of the wrapper is streamed to the user regardless of the point at which he or she connects to the broadcast. This makes it possible to ensure that a piece of content is received by every user who connects to your broadcast.

On-demand content. Wrappers are also an efficient way to play content, such as advertisements, to every user who connects to your server. Each publishing point on your server can use the same wrapper, so you only need to update one file when changes occur.

Related topics


To start the Create Wrapper Wizard



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Wireless deliveryWindows Media Services enables you to create highly available and scalable systems. It helps ensure that your systems are always available and can support multiple processors and larger amounts of memory. Thus, it makes an excellent platform for large-scale streaming media delivery. One of the largest areas of potential growth for streaming media is the delivery of digital media content to wireless devices, such as cellular phones, handheld PCs, and laptop computers.

The Fast Recovery feature of Windows Media Services uses forward error correction to support streaming over wireless networks such as wireless local area networks (LANs), satellite connections, and mobile devices.

Note

Forward error correction is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

Understanding Fast Recovery


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IPTV supportAdvances in networking technology, digital media, and codecs have made it possible for broadband service providers to begin streaming live and on-demand television to homes and offices over their high-speed Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The Windows Media platform (Windows Media Encoder, Windows Media Services, and Windows Media Player) can be used to provide the framework for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) systems.

The following features in Windows Media Services make it ideal for delivering a high-quality experience to IPTV viewers:

Unicast, multicast, video on-demand (VOD), and broadcast. Windows Media Services can deliver broadcast and on-demand streams, using unicast and multicast protocols.

Intelligent streaming. When digital media is streamed, the Player detects network conditions and sends feedback to the Windows Media server, which then adjusts the properties of the stream to maximize quality. The highest-quality stream is delivered to the viewer, regardless of network conditions. Typically, intelligent streaming makes use of multiple-bit-rate streams. However, the server can also use stream thinning as a way to deliver a quality stream over a saturated network.

Fast Start. Delivers an instant-on playback experience by eliminating buffering time, whether playing a single piece of content or switching seamlessly between on-demand clips or broadcast channels. When a viewer connects to a stream, the first few seconds of data is sent at a high bit rate, so playback can begin as soon as possible.

Fast Cache. Provides an always-on playback experience by streaming content to the cache of Windows Media Player as fast as the network will allow, reducing the likelihood of playback interruption due to network issues. The server sends a stream to a client at as high a bit rate as possible.

Fast Reconnect. Automatically restores live or on-demand Player/server and server/server connections if disconnected during a broadcast, ensuring an uninterrupted viewing experience.

Advanced Fast Start. Adds to Fast Start capabilities by allowing the Player to begin playing content as soon as its buffer receives a minimum amount of data, further reducing the amount of time a user has to wait to begin receiving the stream.

Advanced FF/RW. Improves fast-forward and rewind ("trick mode") functionality for the video portion of encoded files and stabilizes network bandwidth availability by smoothing the rate at which data is sent. Potential server performance bottlenecks are reduced because the server must read less presentation data from the source content disk, while delivering a seamless experience to clients.

Play While Archiving. Archived files can be made available for on-demand requests or rebroadcast, even before a broadcast that is being archived has finished.

For more information about using the Windows Media platform to create IPTV solutions, download the white paper "Delivering IPTV with the Windows Media Platform" from the Microsoft Web site.

Note

Advanced Fast Start, Advanced FF/RW, and Play While Archiving are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1; and x64-based versions of these operating systems. If you are

42


running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with SP1 or the x64-based version of this operating system, these features are not supported.

Related topics

How unicast works

How multicast works

Understanding intelligent streaming

Understanding Fast Start

Understanding Fast Cache

Understanding Fast Reconnect

Understanding Advanced Fast Start

Understanding Advanced FF/RW

Understanding Play While Archiving


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System requirementsThe default installation of Windows Media Services installs the following software on your server hard disk:

Windows Media Services service. This service allows you to stream digital media content to clients over an intranet or the Internet.

Windows Media Services snap-in. This snap-in enables you to manage and configure Windows Media Services using Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

You may choose to also install the following optional components on your server to provide support for additional features:

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. This component provides support for remote, browser-based administration of your Windows Media server. Selecting this component installs a set of Active Server Pages (ASP) for use with Internet Information Services (IIS). When installed, the Windows Media Services Administration site appears in the IIS Web sites folder. Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web may also be installed separately from the Windows Media Services service.

Multicast and advertisement logging agent. This component enables you to record statistics from players that connect to content through a Web server. Selecting this component installs an extension to the Internet Information Services Web server that collects the logging information and writes it to a log file in the location you specify.

Use the tables in the following topics to determine the minimum requirements for your system based on the components you choose to install:

Windows Media Services service and Windows Media Services snap-in

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web

Multicast and advertisement logging agent

Related topics

Getting started

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Windows Media Services service and Windows Media Services snap-inThe default Windows Media Services installation includes both the Windows Media Services service and the Windows Media Services snap-in. The Windows Media Services snap-in provides you with full control of the server and enables you to manage groups of Windows Media servers using Microsoft Management Console.

The following table shows the system requirements for the computer running the Windows Media Services service and the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Component Requirement Recommendation

Operating system Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition SP1

x64-based versions of these operating systems

Processor 233 megahertz (MHz) 550 MHz or higher

Memory 256 megabytes (MB) of RAM 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM or higher

Network interface card Ethernet card and Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Same

Free hard disk space 21 MB (6 MB for system files and 15 MB for installation); adequate disk space for content storage

21 MB (6 MB for system files and 15 MB for installation); 500 MB for content storage

The Windows Media Services snap-in can be added to clients that meet the following requirements and have the proper administrative rights.

Component Requirement

Operating system Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition; or any x64-based version of Windows Server 2003

Software Microsoft Management Console

Related topics

System requirements

45


Windows Media Services Administrator for the WebTo support administering Windows Media Services from remote computers, you have the option of installing Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web on a network server. Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web is a browser-based interface that uses Active Server Pages (ASP) hosted by (Internet Information Services (IIS). This set of Active Server Pages is located under the Windows Media Administration site in IIS.

The following table shows the system requirements for the server hosting Windows Media Administrator for the Web.




Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1





Same

Free hard disk space 3.4 MB 3.4 MB

Software Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) to support the browser-based Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web

Same

File system NTFS Same

Once Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web is installed on your server, it can be accessed by clients that meet the following requirements and have the proper administrative rights.

Component Requirement

Operating system Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003

Software Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later, or Netscape Communicator 6.0 or later

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Notes

To function, the Windows Media Administration site must be able to install cookies on the remote client computer, so be sure that the client browser is using a security option that supports cookies.

Be sure to review the information in Securing the Windows Media Administration site to ensure that you provide security for this Web site.

ASP documents are not compatible with the file allocation table (FAT32) file structure. If you are having difficulty viewing Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, ensure that your file system does not use the FAT32 architecture.

Related topics

System requirements

47


Multicast and advertisement logging agentTo log statistics from players that connect to a Web server to receive multicast broadcast or advertising content, you can install the multicast and advertisement logging agent on a network server. The multicast and advertisement logging agent is an IIS application extension that uses the Wmsiislog.dll to collect information from players. This Wmsiislog.dll is installed in the %systemdrive%\WMPub\Wmiislog folder.

The following table shows the system requirements for the computer hosting the multicast and advertisement logging agent.




Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1





Same

Software Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)

Same

Related topics

System requirements

48


Deploying Windows Media ServicesThere are many scenarios in which you can deploy Windows Media Services. Some examples to consider are: live product demonstrations, interactive television shows and movies, real-time customer conferences, breaking news stories, broadband video stores, and interactive training presentations. Once a piece of content is available over the Internet, the number of clients who can discover the content and request it is tremendous. When planning your deployment, you need to be aware of how your server will react in situations in which it is being inundated with requests for content. Following are some requirements you should keep in mind when assessing your deployment:

Scalability

Windows Media Services is scalable by design to support a range of deployments, from small Internet radio stations that have hundreds of connection requests to large–scale streaming media Web sites that generate millions of requests. You can administer both groups of servers and publishing points and single servers and publishing points.

Security

You may want to secure certain content on your Windows Media server in order to allow only specific clients to connect. Windows Media Services supports several authentication and authorization methods that allow you to control access to your content.

Stream quality

As more clients connect to your server, its available bandwidth can decrease. Additionally, the load on your server can overwhelm the processor's ability to serve the content. If you are streaming video content, investigate encoding using multiple–bit–rate video so that the bandwidth can gracefully scale down and up as necessary.

Related topics

Deployment guide

Scenarios

Getting started

49


Administering Windows Media ServicesYou can administer Windows Media Services in a variety of ways depending on your needs and your environment. Windows Media Services can be administered by using the following interfaces:

Windows Media Services snap-in. This interface enables you to use Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to manage your Windows Media server. You can add the snap-in to Microsoft Management Console on any computer running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, or Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, or you can access the snap-in by using a Remote Desktop connection.

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. This interface makes remote administration of your server easy through the use of a Web browser. Using a Web interface allows you to administer Windows Media Services over a firewall, on a low-bandwidth network connection, or in a non-Windows environment.

Command-line scripts. This interface enables you to manage your server quickly by using a Telnet connection or batch programs.

Once you have selected an administration method, you can manage the settings of your Windows Media server. These settings control the delivery of content to your client and may apply to properties, plug-ins, publishing points, and server-side playlists.

Properties are used to set rules that apply to the core behavior of Windows Media Services. You can apply properties to either the entire server or to specific publishing points. Plug-ins are used to supply additional features, such as logging, authentication, data sources, and control protocols. You can apply plug-ins to an entire Windows Media server or to specific publishing points. To learn more about properties and plug-ins, see About properties and plug-ins.

Publishing points are used to manage and distribute your content. There are two types of publishing points: on-demand publishing points or broadcast publishing points. To learn more about administering publishing points, see Understanding publishing points.

Server-side playlists are collections of content that the server streams to clients. Users perceive playlists as a single streaming experience. To learn more about playlists, see Understanding playlists.

If you use a network management console, such as Hewlett Packard HP OpenView, Compaq Insight Manager XE, and Dell OpenManage, you can receive events through Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). With these events, you can keep apprised of server activity and react quickly to situations as they arise. To learn more about options for monitoring events, see Monitoring performance.

Note

Regardless of the interface you use to access your server, you must have administrative rights and privileges for the server to manage it or change its settings. For more information about administrative rights and privileges, see Limiting user rights.

Related topics



Getting started

50


ScenariosThis section provides common scenarios for streaming audio and video content from a server running Windows Media Services. Each scenario contains an overview and links to key concepts and procedures within Help to get you started quickly. This section contains the following topics:

Distributing corporate communications. Learn how you can use Windows Media Services to communicate more effectively in a corporate environment.

Streaming entertainment programming and advertising. Learn how you can use Windows Media Services to create a broadcast presence on the Web.

Streaming programming to subscribers. Learn about how Windows Media Services can support a streaming subscription service.

Related topics

Implement streaming scenarios


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Streaming entertainment programming and advertisingOne of the most common uses for streaming media is to create a user experience that is similar to traditional broadcast media, such as radio and television programs, by using the World Wide Web. With Windows Media Services, you can stream Windows Media-based content over a network in a variety of ways to create a Web-based radio or television station. This section provides common scenarios for creating a radio or television presence on the Web. This section contains the following topics:


Supporting personalized on-demand content

Providing live broadcasts




Replacing ads

Related topics

Scenarios

52


Broadcasting programmed contentUsing Windows Media Services, you can rebroadcast existing content, such as radio or television programs, or you can create original programs for the Web that provide a similar user experience. You can add advertisements to the playlist the same way you add digital media files. Loop and shuffle features randomize play so that your broadcast behaves like a real radio or TV station.

Windows Media Services can generate content-specific logs which you can then forward to advertisers to help evaluate advertising performance. Logs can also help you track the content played in order to determine licensing fees.

When implementing this scenario, consider the following:

Wrappers are useful for station identification, bumpers, or short advertisements. You can use wrappers to stream content to users when a connection is requested, when a stream ends, or both.

You need to determine the content for your broadcast, such as music, a live talk, video, or advertisements, and organize it into a playlist.

You need to specify the order in which you want your playlist to play. By default, your playlist will play the sequence of content that you specify; however, you can include the following elements to modify the playlist order:

excl element. Use this element to set a rule that only one media element can play at a given time. For example, if you are broadcasting a live stream and want to switch to advertisements at certain times in the broadcast, you can place the live stream and the ads inside an excl element in your playlist. The ads can then be triggered by events generated by the encoder.

priorityClass element. Use this element to create a subset of media elements defined by their priority class, which specifies how items in a playlist can interrupt other items. For example, you may assign emergency broadcast information to a higher priority class so that it can interrupt any content that is playing.

On the Source tab of your broadcast publishing point, you can specify values for the attributes of the items in your playlist. The following attributes are commonly used:

repeatCount. Use this attribute to repeat or loop the selected content a specified number of times. This is useful if you want to stream content 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

role. Use this attribute to identify specific content as an advertisement for reporting purposes and for script events that are specific to ad behavior.

dur. Use this attribute to configure how long content should play.

Monitor your publishing point activity accurately by enabling logging on the publishing point. For example, you can use data from the log file to create a report about the number of users that click a specific advertisement.

Related topics


Obtaining content

To access the Add Publishing Point Wizard

53


To add a publishing point using the advanced method

To create a playlist using the Windows Media Playlist Editor

To create a streaming radio station


Streaming entertainment programming and advertising

54


Supporting personalized on-demand contentIf you have a large amount of content on your Web site that you want to use, one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site is to support personalized user experiences. You can host content on your Web site that users can select to create their own customized radio playlists. Your Web site generates traffic when users return to the site to hear their playlists, which they also might want to share with their friends. You can also use your Web site to create playlists customized for an individual user based on his or her personal preferences, past behavior, or demographic information. In addition, by using demographic information, you can better target advertising to your users, making your Web site more attractive to Web advertisers.


To provide a compelling user experience, obtain a variety of content and organize it into categories appropriate for personalization, such as genre, region, hobbies, local news, politics, and so on.

Use Active Server Pages (ASP pages) to gather the information needed to create a dynamic playlist for the user. As an additional feature, you can prompt users to specify whether the server should add new content automatically to their playlists or whether they prefer to add new content manually.

Use a relational database to store unique user information.

Use custom scripting to create a playlist that uses the information in the database and then store that playlist on a Windows Media server. For more information about custom scripting, see the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK).

Create an on-demand publishing point on your Windows Media server that references the URL of the user's playlist.

Related topics


Obtaining content







55


Creating syndicated programmingIf you have created and licensed digital media content, you can use Windows Media Services to create syndicated programming, which you can then sell to content providers. You can use live or prerecorded content for your syndicated program, but it must be encoded in a supported streaming format. You can also organize your content by using a playlist. Playlists enable you to set policies that control how the content is played and ensure that content providers comply with the terms of your licensing agreement.


Encoding content is a processor–intensive activity. A stable, high–quality streaming system normally has computers dedicated to encoding content to Windows Media Format. If you plan to encode live content, the encoding computer must have the appropriate audio or video capture cards. You can download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site. For more information about encoding content, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

Create a playlist from your content on the Windows Media server. You can organize your content sequentially in the playlist or create an "online jukebox" from which users can choose available content. You can intersperse advertisements in the playlist that are set to play according to events that you specify. For example, an advertisement could play after five songs, when a user clicks a certain area in the content, or after 10 minutes. To learn more about scripting events, see the Windows Media Services SDK.

Distribute your content by setting up a broadcast publishing point that content providers can use to redistribute your content.

Related topics

Obtaining content




56


Providing live broadcastsYou can distribute live broadcasts, or webcasts as they are often called, by using Windows Media Services. You can either produce new content for a live broadcast or simultaneously broadcast content that is also being broadcast on the television or radio. You can archive the live broadcast and make it available to users on demand at a later time. Examples of live broadcasts include news conferences, sporting events, and music concerts.


Use a computer running Windows Media Encoder to encode content into Windows Media Format and create an encoded stream. You can then broadcast the stream from a Windows Media server. You can download the latest version of Windows Media Encoder from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site. For more information about encoding, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

On a Windows Media server, create a broadcast publishing point that uses the encoded stream as the data source. If you want to switch from the live stream to a file, such as a file containing advertising or prerecorded content, and then back to the live content, create an exclusive playlist that uses script commands from the encoder to initiate the stream switch. Consider using a wrapper playlist to play some content before and after your live broadcast. Wrapper playlists are commonly used for site branding, welcome messages, and sponsor identification.

A webcast has a scheduled start time, which means that most users will attempt to connect to it in a short period of time. By creating a group in Windows Media Services, you can use several Windows Media servers to distribute the load of connection requests.

Let your users know that content is available. You can create a link on your existing Web site that users can use to connect to your publishing point and access your content. You can also create a default Web page with a link to your content and then customize the page to meet your needs.

Related topics



Obtaining content



To broadcast a stream pulled from an encoder





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Displaying banner adsYou can use Windows Media Services to display banner advertisements in a player or on a Web site. Banners can include any type of digital media content, such as animations, video streams, or audio streams. For example, while a song is streaming from your server, you can display information about the artist, album, and concert schedule in the banner. Alternatively, your banner could feature a link to a concert schedule that users can click to go to the concert promoter’s Web site without disrupting the audio stream.

When implementing banner advertisements, consider the following:

Banners can be displayed for the entire duration of the playlist or can change as each new piece of content streams.

You can implement customized banners for each user by referencing dynamic URLs created by reading cookies from advertising service vendors.

Rotate banners based on playback duration.

You also can use the banner space to display other Web-based information, such as news and advertisements links.

Design various sizes of banners, depending on the advertiser's requirements and your needs. The banner advertisement is displayed regardless of how the player is implemented, whether it is an embedded player, a standard player, or a skin.

Banners are implemented by associating an advertising banner URL with a BANNER metadata element in the announcement file or by using a bannerURL attribute with a clientData element in a server-side playlist file. For more information about elements that can be used in an announcement file, see the Windows Media Metafile Elements Reference at the Microsoft Web site. For more information about server-side playlists, see the Playlist reference.

Related topics

To add a banner advertisement to a stream


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Displaying interstitial adsYou can mix advertisements in with other content in your playlist by using interstitial advertisements. The advertisements in the playlist can be from a local server or from an advertising service vendor.

When implementing interstitial advertising, consider the following:

Switch between content streams by using stream switches. Stream switches can correspond with time duration, script commands, or client events.

Use a URL to a specific advertising service vendor in the playlist locations in which you want advertisements to appear. Frequently, the advertising service vendor will provide a link to an advertisement that best matches the user profile.

Use the noSkip attribute to prevent users from skipping the advertisement.

If you are logging data about your publishing points and want to be able to differentiate between the advertisements and the other content, set the value of the role attribute for the advertising content to Advertisement. You can then search the log file for that value and use only the relevant data.

Related topics

Include interstitial advertising in your on-demand playlist

To add an interstitial advertisement to a stream


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Working with wrapper adsYou can use wrappers to provide advertisements or other content when users first connect to your server and/or when the content stream ends. When you specify a wrapper for your content, Windows Media Services includes that content as part of a wrapper playlist. A wrapper playlist enables you to insert your choice of opening and closing content as a playlist item before and after the primary content.

In addition to advertisements, content commonly streamed as wrappers includes dynamic playlists that are generated by Active Server Pages (ASP), site branding, and sponsor identification.

For example, a unicast client that connects to a live stream for which a wrapper advertisement was specified must first play back all of the content specified in the wrapper playlist before it can stream the live content.

Related topics


To add a wrapper advertisement to a stream

Use wrappers to provide advertising with your live broadcast

Working with the Create Wrapper Wizard

Wrapper playlists


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Replacing adsIt is common for radio stations to broadcast their content over the radio and the Internet simultaneously (called simulcasting). Internet radio broadcasts enable regional radio stations to access a much wider audience at a low additional operating cost. However, certain problems may arise when local advertising content is broadcast over the Internet. Local advertising is often not suitable for a global audience, and therefore it is sometimes necessary to substitute Internet-specific ads for local advertisements. This task is made more difficult because of the need for it to be done in real-time.

The most effective advertisement replacement technique is to use a server-side playlist containing excl and priorityClass playlist elements in coordination with an encoder that has been configured to send a script command to the Windows Media server. This script command signals the start of the advertising segment. The signal is interpreted at the publishing point by the excl playlist element. If the script command value matches the begin attribute value of the excl element, the content in the excl element interrupts the live stream. The replacement advertising content is contained within a priorityClass element which has a peers attribute value of pause. When the replacement advertisement ends, the pause value causes playback to resume with the live stream.

This advertisement replacement strategy works best if the length of the local advertisement and the replacement advertising content match. Differences in the lengths of the two types of content can cause the server to return to the original content late or prematurely.

The key to successful advertisement replacement is seamless switching. The transition from one content source to another should occur quickly in order to appear as professional as possible. Transition delays of more than two-tenths of a second can cause a late return to the live stream after a break. To reduce the delay, you can configure the encoder to send a cueing script command prior to the switching command. When the server receives the cueing command, it prebuffers data from the upcoming advertisement before the switch.

Related topics

excl element

priorityClass element


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Distributing corporate communicationsUsing Windows Media Services, you can improve both internal and external business communications. You can stream internal communications, such as meetings, speeches, and training, over a corporate intranet, and you can stream external communications to customers, vendors, and business partners over the Internet.

In the following scenarios, you can use playlists to intersperse Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) content or Active Server Pages (ASP) pages with other streaming media content. These scenarios also rely on authentication and authorization methods to control access to content and on logging to report on the activity of the publishing point through which the content is streamed.

This topic contains the following sections:

Broadcasting executive speeches

Presenting training seminars

Holding financial briefings

Related topics

Archiving content

Control access to content


Scenarios

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Broadcasting executive speechesTwo of the most common corporate uses of Windows Media Services is for broadcasting executive speeches and company meetings. When these corporate speeches and meetings are broadcast by using Windows Media Services, employees that are located in other areas do not have to travel or miss the speech, presenters can give the speech at their convenience, and the meeting can be prerecorded instead of live.

Using Windows Media Services, the corporations can choose to broadcast the content as a live presentation or record it and broadcast it later. In addition, the presentations can be made available to viewers when they request it.


Encoding software is optimized for live streaming or recording. Choose the appropriate encoding software for the approach you want to use. For example, Windows Media Encoder can encode a live stream directly to your Windows Media server but it does not provide you with the opportunity to edit the content. Alternatively, Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2002 enables you to create and edit a presentation from a live source and synchronize it with a set of PowerPoint slides, but it cannot transmit a live stream. For more information about content creation tools, see the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

Each client that connects to your server requires network bandwidth. Determine whether it is best for all of your clients to connect to the stream at the same time or whether it is be better to schedule users to access the server at different times. Also consider whether you want to deliver the broadcast using multicast transmission to conserve network bandwidth.

You can use Windows Media Services to archive a broadcast stream to a file. Once the stream has been archived, you can rebroadcast the file or make it available for clients later by using an on-demand publishing point.

Related topics


Archiving content

Obtaining content

Setting up Windows Media Services



To archive content

To broadcast a live presentation


To broadcast content pushed from an encoder

To configure a multicast stream from a broadcast publishing point

To rebroadcast archived content

Distributing corporate communications

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Presenting training seminarsEmployee training is one of the most important uses of streaming media in corporations. By making training seminars available by using Windows Media Services, corporations can ensure that employees learn additional skills or refresh existing knowledge at a time that is most convenient for their schedules in the locations of their choice.

If the training is designed to be online, the course materials can be integrated with screen shots, Web pages, and slides to provide an interactive training experience. If the training is being presented live, it may be simultaneously broadcast as a live presentation and archived to be made available to viewers when they request it.




Using authentication, authorization, and logging can provide you with information about the users that have received the content from your server.

By using passwords with your publishing points, you can limit employees' access to training until they have completed the prerequisites or received permission.

Related topics

Archiving content

Obtaining content


Sourcing from files

To archive content


To provide an on-demand training seminar

To stream a Windows Media file from an on-demand publishing point


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Holding financial briefingsRegular financial briefings are required by companies whose stocks are publicly traded. The information in these briefings is often confidential and may have an effect on the company's success or failure in the marketplace if the information is revealed at the improper time.

Windows Media Services enables you to control which users can connect to your content, prevent users from caching your content, and log how long each client was connected to the broadcast.




Using authentication, authorization, and logging can provide you with information about the users that have received the content from your server.

By using passwords with your publishing points, you can limit access to content to users that have registered and have met the requirements for receiving the content.

Related topics

Archiving content

Obtaining content


Sourcing from files

To archive content

To broadcast a recorded presentation




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Streaming programming to subscribersWith Windows Media Services, you can ensure that information is being transmitted only to users that have been authorized to access the content by distributing unique user licenses and by limiting access to your server resources.


Providing video on demand

Providing a subscription service

Creating a client activity report

Wireless streaming

Delivering IPTV

Related topics

Scenarios

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Providing video on demandUsers can connect to your Web site, select a movie, and either purchase it as a rental with a limited number of playbacks or purchase it for unlimited playback. You can provide users with the option of downloading or streaming the content from the server.


You must have suitable video content, as close to DVD quality as possible, with a high frame rate and full–screen capability.

You must have a suitable method for licensing your content. For more information about the methods for streaming protected Windows Media-based content, see the Windows Media Rights Manager SDK.

Because this scenario assumes that streaming will require high bandwidth, you can avoid excessive buffering and network congestion by distributing your publishing points across several servers and by placing limits on each publishing point to control how many users can stream from each.

You can use the authentication and authorization plug-ins included with Windows Media Services to control access to your content. You can also use a logging plug-in to record the activity on the publishing point.

Windows Media Services includes announcement features which can help you create a link on your existing Web site that users can click to connect to your publishing point or create a default Web page that contains a link to your content.

Related topics



Obtaining content

Sourcing from files



To set limits for a server or publishing point

Streaming programming to subscribers

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Providing a subscription serviceAnother method of providing content to users is as a subscription service. In this scenario, a user pays a fee to play back content a certain number of times and to receive licenses for a variety of content each billing period. When implementing this scenario, consider the following:

Determine the method for licensing your content. For more information about the methods for streaming protected Windows Media-based content, see the Windows Media Rights Manager Software Development Kit (SDK).

Use the Windows Media Services snap-in to create on-demand publishing points on your server to distribute subscription content.

Enable the authentication and authorization plug-ins that you want to use to control access to your content. You may also want to enable a logging plug-in to record the activity on the publishing point. Using data collected in the log files, you can create reports to verify that your system is performing as expected.

Let your users know that content is available. You can create a link on your existing Web site that users can use to connect to your publishing point and access your content. You can also create a default Web page with a link to your content and then customize the page to meet your needs.

Related topics



Obtaining content

Sourcing from files




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Creating a client activity reportPart of providing a streaming service is providing reporting data to clients to verify your claims. Using the data collected in Windows Media Services log files, you can verify that users are accessing only the content for which they have been granted access.

You can use the data in a log file to create reports that reflect the client activity for a server or publishing point. Reports can detail the total number of clients per URL, the average stream duration, and the advertisements that each client viewed. When implementing this scenario, consider the following:

Use a database to store the data you collect. By storing data over time, you can analyze trends and provide historical information about the performance of your Web site.

Determine the audience of your client activity reports. Be sure that you create reports that meet the needs of your audience and focus on the most important statistics.

Investigate different reporting products. There are several companies that specialize in reporting software. For more information about reporting software, see the Windows Media Partner Center at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics

Logging data about unicast streams


To configure and enable unicast logging


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Wireless streamingWireless streaming scenarios apply primarily to three kinds of devices that are or very soon will be capable of rendering streaming media content: portable computers, personal digital assistants, and Internet-capable phones. If your target audience includes these devices, consider the following:

Enable forward error correction on your publishing points. Forward error correction (FEC) is a common method of preserving the integrity of data transmitted over unreliable or slow network connections. When forward error correction is used, the server broadcasts extra packets on the assumption that some of the packets will be lost before they reach the client. This process enables the client to reconstruct the original transmission even if a significant portion of the packets are missing.

PDAs typically have a much smaller viewing area than desktop computers or even portable computers. When encoding video for a PDA, you must accommodate not only the PDA's small screen size, but also its modest computing power. For example, the screen size of a Pocket PC is 320 pixels by 240 pixels, but the best compromise of picture quality, frame rate, and bit rate suggests a frame size of 208 pixels by 160 pixels and a frame rate of 20 frames per second. In order to render streaming video at full screen size, the frame rate must be reduced, which often makes movement on the screen excessively jerky. Additional encoding profiles for encoding content for mobile devices are available from the Windows Media Encoder page at the Microsoft Web site

Cellular data transfer technology has not advanced to the point of permitting broadband access to streaming media. Devices that use Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) or other cellular modem technology are generally restricted to a bit rate of 9.6 kilobits per second (Kbps or less). Bit rates in this range cannot support streaming video.

Note


Related topics

To configure the Enable forward error correction property


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Delivering IPTVAdvances in networking technology, digital media, and codecs have made it possible for broadband service providers to begin streaming live and on-demand television to homes and offices over their high-speed Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The Windows Media platform can be used to provide the framework for Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) systems. For more information about best practices for configuring the Windows Media platform to deliver the highest-quality IPTV experience to viewers, download the white paper "Delivering IPTV with the Windows Media Platform" from the Microsoft Web site. For more information about the features in Windows Media Services that can be used to enhance IPTV delivery, see IPTV support.

Related topics


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ConceptsThis section is designed to help you become familiar with terms and concepts related to Windows Media Technologies. This section contains the following topics:

Understanding streaming media. Provides an overview of the different methods, configurations, and issues you should consider when using Windows Media Services to stream content.

Networking and content delivery. Describes the networking features of Windows Media Services, which enable you to stream audio and video data over computer networks.

Managing your Windows Media server. Provides an overview of the Windows Media Services snap-in, the feature of Windows Media Services used for managing your server.

Understanding publishing points. Describes publishing points and how they can be used to help you develop a successful strategy for managing content.

Sourcing from playlists, files, and encoders. Provides an overview of publishing point sources and how they are used.

Announcing content. Provides information about how announcement files are created and how players use announcements to receive content from a Windows Media server.

Understanding advertising. Provides information about streaming advertising along with other digital media content.

Logging data and events. Provides information about logging client data and using event handler plug-ins.

Configuring security options. Provides information about the various methods you can use to protect your server and your content.

Securing the Windows Media Administration site. Provides information about configuring Internet Information Services to increase the security of the Web site that supports Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Caching and proxying content. Provides information about caching and proxying content to provide a better viewing experience for users and reduce your operating costs.

Related topics


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Understanding streaming mediaThis section introduces concepts that are important to understand as you prepare to implement a streaming media system. This section contains the following topics:



Obtaining content


Related topics

Concepts

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Streaming vs. downloading contentYou can deliver digital media files to clients over a network by using one of two methods: streaming or downloading. This topic provides an overview and a comparison of each method.

Downloading

To deliver content to users by using the downloading method, you typically save the content to a Web server and provide users with a link to the content by adding the link to the content on a Web page, for example. The user then clicks the link, downloads the file to his or her local hard disk, and then plays back the content using a player.

Downloading requires that users copy entire files to their computers before they can play the content, which consumes both time and disk space. In addition, because the entire file must be downloaded to a computer before it can play, downloading can not be used with live content.

Downloading does not make efficient use of available bandwidth. When a client begins to download a digital media file, all available network bandwidth is used to transfer the data as quickly as possible. As a result, other network functions may slow down or be disrupted.

Streaming

To deliver content to users by using a streaming method, you can save the content to a Windows Media server, and then assign the content to a publishing point. You can then provide users with access to the content by either creating an announcement file or by supplying users with the URL of the publishing point. You can embed the announcement file or the URL in a Web page or send it in an e-mail message. When the user clicks the link or the announcement file, the player opens and connects to the stream.

Streaming uses bandwidth more efficiently than downloading because it sends data over the network only at the speed that is necessary for the client to render it properly. This helps prevent the network from becoming overloaded and helps maintain system reliability. There is typically a delay between the time the stream is received by the player and the point at which it begins playing because the player must first buffer the data in case there are delays or gaps in the stream. Because data streaming and rendering occurs at the same time, streaming also enables you to deliver live content.

To stream content smoothly, the bit rate of the content must be lower than the bandwidth of the network. If the bit rate is higher than the available bandwidth, the player will attempt to thin the stream so it can render the stream properly by using a process called stream thinning. Because of this, the player may render only key frames of the video stream with audio so that the video is not in motion, creating a viewing experience similar to a slide show. If the bit rate requirements greatly exceed the available bandwidth, video playback may stop altogether and only the audio portion will be played.

The impact of inadequate available client bandwidth can be minimized if multiple-bit-rate (MBR) content is streamed. MBR content enables the player to request a lower bit rate stream from the server so that stream thinning is not necessary.

Fast Streaming

Windows Media Services 9 Series includes Fast Streaming, which provides several features that combine the advantages of streaming and downloading.

The server can use the Fast Start and Advanced Fast Start features to ensure that the client can begin playing the content as quickly as possible after the stream begins. The Fast Start feature enables the player to download and buffer a small portion of the content from the server as fast as

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the network will permit before the content begins to play. Once the buffer has been filled on the player, the server slows down the stream until it matches the rendering speed of the player.

The server can take Fast Streaming one step further by using the Advanced Fast Start feature to enable clients to begin playing the content even before the player's buffer is full. As soon as the player receives a minimum amount of data, it can begin playing the content. The player's buffer continues to fill at an accelerated rate—a rate that is faster than the encoded bit rate of the content. When the buffer is full, Fast Start acceleration stops and the player begins receiving data at the encoded bit rate.

When the server uses the Fast Cache feature, it streams all of the content to the player at the highest possible bit rate so that the effects of network congestion or interruption can be minimized. As with normal streaming, the player begins rendering the content as soon as the necessary amount of data has been buffered. The rest of the data is stored in a temporary cache on the client computer.

If you are streaming variable-bit-rate (VBR) content, the amount of bandwidth required to transmit the stream can fluctuate based on the complexity of the content. Fast Streaming can take advantage of periods of lower bandwidth by sending extra data to the player to replenish the content buffer, enabling the VBR content to play back smoothly when streamed from the server.

Note

Advanced Fast Start is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1; and x64-based versions of these operating systems. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with SP1 or the x64-based version of this operating system, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

Obtaining content




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Streaming media system overviewA streaming media system based on Windows Media Technologies typically consists of a computer running an encoder (such as Microsoft Windows Media Encoder), a server running Windows Media Services, and players. The encoder enables you to convert both live and prerecorded audio, video, and computer screen images to Windows Media Format. The server running Windows Media Services, called a Windows Media server, enables you to distribute the content over a network. Users receive the content you distribute by using a player, such as Windows Media Player.

In a typical scenario, a user clicks a link on a Web page to request content. The Web server redirects the request to the Windows Media server and opens the player on the user's computer. At this point, the Web server no longer plays a role in the streaming media process and the Windows Media server establishes a direct connection with the player and begins streaming the content directly to the user.

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The Windows Media server can receive content from several different sources. Prerecorded content can be stored locally on the server or retrieved from a networked file server. Live events can be captured using a digital recording device and processed through an encoder before being sent to the Windows Media server for broadcast. Windows Media Services can also rebroadcast content streamed from a publishing point on a remote Windows Media server.

Note

For information about implementing security measures in your streaming media system, see Configuring security options.

Related topics

Ensuring the stability of your streaming media system

Obtaining content


Streaming from a Windows Media server vs. a Web server


Streaming from a Windows Media server vs. a Web serverYou can deliver Windows Media-based content either from a server running Windows Media Services or from a Web server. However, a Windows Media server is designed specifically for streaming Windows Media-based content; a standard Web server is not. If you decide to use a Web server, be aware of the following differences in the way the content is delivered, which can affect the playback quality:

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The method of sending data differs between a Web server and a Windows Media server. A Web server is designed to send as much data as it can, as quickly as possible. This is the preferred method for sending static images, text, and Web page scripts, but it is not the best method for streaming digital media. Ideally, the data packets for streaming media content should be delivered in real time, not in large bursts, and players should receive packets immediately before rendering them.

A Windows Media server regulates the delivery of packets according to feedback information it receives while sending a stream to a player and according to the configuration of certain features such as Fast Cache and Fast Start. When a player receives packets in this way, the presentation is much more likely to be smooth. Because bandwidth use is controlled, more users can connect at the same time and still receive streams that are free of interruptions.

Web servers do not support multiple-bit-rate (MBR) video. When a file streams from a Web server, the quality of the delivery is not monitored and the bit rate cannot be adjusted, which can cause the playback quality to vary during the duration of the stream and can result in a poor user experience.

Web servers cannot use the preferred delivery protocol for streaming media, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), so delivery of a stream is more likely to be interrupted by periods of silence while the player buffers data.

Web servers do not support live streaming or multicast streams.

Web servers do not support indexed Windows Media files. (Indexing provides users with a means of fast-forwarding and rewinding through a file that is streaming.)

A Windows Media server includes built-in monitoring and logging capabilities with which you can gather valuable information about your streaming media session and its audience.

Note

There are times when you may prefer to stream from a Web server—for example, if you plan to offer only a small amount of content or if you have a site with limited resources. A Web server can also be used for downloading files that you do not intend to stream, such as files with a high bit rate that is intended for local playback only. For more information about streaming from a Web server, see the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


Ensuring the stability of your streaming media systemTo ensure that your streaming media system is stable, redundant, and capable of bearing the predicted load, keep the following in mind:

If you plan to encode live content, it is recommended that you install the encoder and Windows Media Services on separate computers. Live encoding requires a large amount of processing capability; the additional load of serving client requests can adversely affect the quality of an encoded stream.

Have multiple encoders encoding content so that publishing points on your Windows Media servers can switch to an alternate source in case there is a problem on the original encoder source.

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If you want to archive encoded content for later playback, do not use the encoder to create the archive file. Instead configure your Windows Media server to create an archived copy. This reduces the processing load on the encoding computer.

Distribute content between numerous Windows Media servers. This enables the servers to provide content to different network segments, which reduces the number of routers that the stream must traverse in order to reach clients and improves the overall stream quality. In addition, extra servers provide redundancy and additional capacity if there are any server problems.

If you intend to stream high volumes of Windows Media files, consider dedicating a separate NTFS volume for storing the files. An NTFS volume permits the use of access control list (ACL) checking on your content files as well as better file management capabilities.

If you intend to stream high volumes of on-demand video content that is indexed to support fast-forward, skip, rewind, and pause capability, consider using the Advanced FF/RW feature to improve fast-forward and rewind ("trick mode") functionality for the video portion of encoded files. This feature stabilizes network bandwidth availability by smoothing the rate at which data is sent, and reduces potential server performance bottlenecks by reading less presentation data from the source content disk, all while delivering a seamless experience to clients. Copies of the original source content files must be created that support the different fast-forward or rewind speeds requested by clients.

Consider using multicast streaming with unicast rollover. Multicast streaming can deliver content to any number of clients from a single stream. When additional clients connect through a multicast-enabled network, they do not require extra bandwidth from the server or place an additional load on the network, thus increasing the efficiency of the stream.

Note

Advanced FF/RW is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1; and x64-based versions of these operating systems. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with SP1 or the x64-based version of this operating system, this feature is not supported.

Related topics


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Obtaining contentYou can stream many types of content in Windows Media Format, including a radio show, a song, a television program, or a music video. Content can either be a stored Windows Media file or a live stream. You can also create a playlist file that references a combination of files and live streams and generates a continuous stream. The following table lists software available from Microsoft that you can use to create and edit Windows Media-based content.

Tool Description

Windows Media Encoder Use to convert both live and prerecorded content to Windows Media Format. Windows Media Services is compatible with Windows Media Encoder version 4.1 and later.

Windows Media Encoding Script

Use this command-line tool to convert both live and prerecorded audio and video into Windows Media files or streams.

Windows Media Player Use to copy existing content from a CD.

Windows Movie Maker Use to capture audio and video and do simple video editing. Windows Movie Maker is a feature of Windows XP Home Edition and Professional.

Windows Media Stream Editor

Use to split or combine streams in existing Windows Media files into new Windows Media files.

Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2002

Use to combine slides from a presentation created in Microsoft PowerPoint or Web pages created with Microsoft FrontPage® with audio and video.

Windows Media File Editor

Use to open and edit a file with a .wmv, .wma, or .asf file name extension. This utility enables you to trim the start and end points of a file, as well as add attributes, markers, and script commands.

For more information about obtaining and using any of the above products as well as information about additional content creation tools, see the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

Notes

Support for encoding content in Windows Media Format is included in many third-party programs, such as Vegas Video and Sound Forge from Sonic Foundry, Premiere from Adobe, and VideoWave from MGI. Most of these products are used for advanced editing and processing of video and audio. When you finish working on a file, the program enables you to encode it as a Windows Media file.

Windows Media Services can create content from a broadcast stream using the WMS Archive Data Writer. For more information, see Archiving content.

Windows Media Services will not stream variable-bit-rate (VBR) MP3 files.

Content streamed by Windows Media Services must meet the minimum supported content length of the player to ensure reliable playback. The minimum supported content length for Windows

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Media Player 9 Series or later is 5 seconds. The minimum supported content length for previous versions of Windows Media Player is 30 seconds.

Related topics




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Setting up Windows Media ServicesAfter you have obtained your content, the next step is to set up a server running Windows Media Services to distribute that content. The basic steps involved in setting up a Windows Media server include adding and configuring publishing points to identify the content you plan to stream, and communicating to users that the content is available.

A Windows Media server uses publishing points to translate a client request for content into a physical path on the server hosting the content. You can add two types of publishing points to a Windows Media server, broadcast and on-demand. If you want to stream live content from an encoder, a broadcast publishing point is the best choice. If you plan to stream a file and want to allow users to control playback of the content (for example, to pause, rewind, or fast-forward it), an on-demand publishing point is the best choice.

After you have added a publishing point and identified the content you want to stream from it, you need to communicate that the content is available. An easy method for accomplishing this is to create an announcement for the content.

You may also want to implement some of the more advanced features available through Windows Media Services. For example, you can modify settings to limit the number of client connections, set up security measures to protect your content, log data about client activity, and set up a distribution server.

When selecting the type of publishing point to use, you should consider how you want to deliver the content; for example, whether you want to deliver the content as a unicast or multicast stream. With a unicast stream, clients connect to a Windows Media server to access content. With a multicast stream, the server streams content to a single multicast IP address on the network, and all clients access that IP address to receive the stream instead of connecting to the server. This reduces the amount of bandwidth required on the network as the single stream is able to fulfill multiple client requests.

You can deliver content as a unicast stream from either an on-demand or a broadcast publishing point. You can deliver content as a multicast stream only from a broadcast publishing point. For more information about multicast and unicast streaming, see Selecting unicast vs. multicast distribution.

Note


Related topics

Caching and proxying content


Controlling unicast connections to a publishing point


Obtaining content



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Delivering content as a unicast streamA unicast stream is a one-to-one connection between the server and a client, which means that each client receives a distinct stream and only those clients that request the stream receive it. You can deliver content as a unicast stream from either an on-demand or a broadcast publishing point.

Unicast streaming is the default method by which a Windows Media server delivers content. Unicast streaming is automatically enabled by the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in, which is enabled by default.

The following figure shows an example of delivering content as a unicast stream by using an on-demand publishing point.

As shown in the figure, there is an on-demand publishing point named TV1 on the Windows Media server called Server1. This publishing point identifies the location of the content you want to stream. The content can be hosted on the local server or a network file system. You can source from a specific file, a playlist file, or a directory. In this example, the publishing point is sourcing from a playlist file that is stored locally on Server1. When you are ready for users to begin streaming, you can create an announcement to give users the URL to the content. Because the content is being delivered as a unicast stream, each player has a unique connection to Server1.

Related topics

Announcing your content to users



Delivering content as a multicast streamMulticast streaming is a one-to-many relationship between a Windows Media server and the clients receiving the stream. With a multicast stream, the server streams to a multicast IP address on the network, and clients receive the stream by subscribing to the IP address. All clients receive the same stream. Because there is only one stream from the server regardless of the number of clients receiving the stream, a multicast stream requires the same amount of bandwidth as a single unicast stream containing the same content. Using a multicast stream preserves network bandwidth and can be useful for low bandwidth local area networks.

You can deliver content as a multicast stream only from a broadcast publishing point. In addition, your network routers must be multicast-enabled, meaning that they can transmit class D IP addresses. If your network routers are not multicast-enabled, you can still deliver content as a multicast stream over the local segment of your local area network.

The following figure shows an example of content being distributed from an encoder as a multicast stream by using a broadcast publishing point.

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These steps describe one way you can multicast live content from an encoder, as shown in the previous figure.

Send the live images from a digital video camera to a video capture card on a computer running Windows Media Encoder. The images are encoded into Windows Media Format, and then streamed to the server using HTTP.

On the Windows Media server called Server1, use the Add Publishing Point Wizard to add a broadcast publishing point that sources from the encoder. As part of the wizard. you may choose to allow unicast rollover. Unicast rollover ensures that players that cannot access the multicast stream can still receive the content by switching to an available unicast stream. For example, a player may be unable to access the multicast stream if the network routers are not multicast-enabled, or if the player is beyond the time-to-live (TTL) radius of the multicast stream.

Use the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create an announcement to provide users with the URL to the content. The wizard can create a multicast information file (with an .nsc file name extension), an announcement file (with an .asx file name extension), the code necessary to embed an announcement within a Web page, or any combination of those three options.

Note


Related topics





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After you set up your Windows Media server and the content you want to stream, you need to let users know the content is available and how to access it. Users can access content by typing the URL to the content in their players. However, users do not always know the URL or even that your content exists. To make it easy for users to access your content, you can create an announcement. An announcement is a Windows Media metafile with an .asx extension that gives a player the information needed to connect to a Windows Media server.

Announcing a unicast stream

To enable players to access a unicast stream, you can create an announcement file by using the Unicast Announcement Wizard. An announcement provides the information that the player needs to connect to and receive your content. You can place a link to an announcement on a Web page, make the announcement available on a shared network location, or send an announcement in an e-mail message. Users can access your content either by clicking the link on the Web page or by directly opening the announcement.

Announcing a multicast stream

To enable players to access a multicast stream, you can create an announcement file and a multicast information file by using the Multicast Announcement Wizard. An announcement provides the information that the player needs to connect to and receive your content.

A multicast information file is a Windows Media metafile with an .nsc extension that contains information a player needs to decode the stream. You can place a link to the announcement on a Web page, make the announcement available on a shared file location, or send an announcement in an e-mail message. Users can access the announcement either by clicking the link to the announcement on the Web page or by directly opening the announcement. The announcement opens briefly, points to the multicast information file, and then the player begins receiving the content.

Note


Related topics

Announcing content



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Networking and content deliveryThis section contains information about how a computer running Windows Media Services interacts with the other computers on your network to deliver content to clients. This section contains the following topics:


Understanding Fast Streaming


Related topics

Concepts

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Understanding protocolsTo enable streaming, Windows Media Services supports the Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol, Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) through the use of control protocol plug-ins. This section contains the following topics:

Protocol overview

Using the MMS protocol

Using the RTSP protocol

Using the HTTP protocol


How unicast works

How multicast works Note


Related topics

Networking and content delivery

Protocol overviewA data transfer protocol is a standardized format for transmitting data between two devices. The type of protocol used can determine such variables as the error checking method, the data compression method, and end-of-file acknowledgements. If all networks were constructed in the same manner and all networking software and equipment behaved similarly, only one protocol would be necessary to handle all of our data transmission needs. In reality, the Internet is comprised of millions of different networks running a wide array of hardware and software combinations. As a result, the ability to stream digital media content reliably to clients depends on a set of several well-engineered protocols. The protocols used to stream Windows Media-based content are:

Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)

Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)Windows Media Services manages the use of these protocols by using control protocol plug-ins. Windows Media Services includes the WMS MMS Control Protocol plug-in, the WMS RTSP Control Protocol plug-in, and the WMS HTTP Control Protocol plug-in. With the exception of the WMS HTTP Control Protocol plug-in, these plug-ins are enabled by default.

The control protocol plug-in receives the incoming client request, determines what action is indicated by the request (for example, to start or stop streaming), translates the request into a command form, and then passes the command to the server. Control protocol plug-ins can also return notification information to clients if there is an error condition or a change of status.

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While the previously listed protocol plug-ins listed handle the high-level exchange of data, basic networking protocols such as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) are used to manage more fundamental tasks such as network connectivity and packet error correction. The MMS and RTSP protocols are used in combination with both the UDP or TCP protocols.

The following diagram depicts how Windows Media Services uses different protocols to negotiate connections between a Windows Media server, encoders, content sources, and clients.

Windows Media Services 9 Series in Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition or in Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition includes the following additional networking capabilities:

Multicast transmission. You can deliver content as a multicast stream from a broadcast publishing point on your server.

Clients that receive content as a multicast stream do not use a connection-based protocol. Instead, they receive the stream by joining to a multicast broadcast. The information the client needs to locate and join a multicast stream is contained in a multicast information file with an .nsc file name extension. The client first opens the file from a Web server or from a link in an e-mail and then uses the information contained in the file to connect to the multicast stream.

Wireless optimizations. You can use forward error correction to send additional data packets in your stream to correct errors caused by the lossy transmission methods used by wireless networks.

Note

When setting up distribution servers to use the Fast Streaming feature, use either the RTSPT or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about Fast Streaming, see Understanding Fast Streaming. For more information about distribution servers, see Using distribution servers.

Related topics


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Using the MMS protocolThe Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol is a proprietary streaming media protocol developed by Microsoft for earlier versions of Windows Media Services. You can use the MMS protocol when delivering content as a unicast stream. It supports player control actions such as fast-forwarding, rewinding, pausing, starting, and stopping an indexed digital media file. If you are supporting clients that are using earlier versions of Windows Media Player, you will need to use either the MMS or the HTTP protocol to service their stream requests.

If the connection URL specified by the Player uses MMS (for example, mms://server_name/publishing_point_name/file_name), then the Player can use protocol rollover to negotiate the best protocol to use. MMSU and MMST are specialized versions of the MMS protocol. MMSU is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP)-based protocol, which is the preferred protocol for streaming. MMST is the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based protocol used on a network that does not support UDP.

If you want to force the server to use a specific protocol, you can identify the protocol to be used in the announcement file. The user can also specify the protocol in the content address (for example, mmsu://server_name/publishing_point_name/file_name). To facilitate protocol rollover, it is recommended that the URL use the generalized MMS protocol. That way, the Player can use either the MMSU or MMST protocols to connect to the stream. If the Player cannot connect to the stream successfully by using either of these protocols, it attempts to connect to the stream by using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). For more information about protocol rollover, see How protocol rollover works.

Windows Media Services implements the MMS protocol through the WMS MMS Server Control Protocol plug-in. In a default installation of Windows Media Services, this plug-in is enabled and bound to TCP port 1755 and UDP port 1755.

Notes

When setting up distribution servers for the Fast Streaming feature, use either the RTSPT or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about Fast Streaming, see Understanding Fast Streaming. For more information about distribution servers, see Using distribution servers.

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Some ISA clients may have trouble connecting to port 1755. To correct this problem, create a file called Wspcfg.ini and save it to the folder named %systemroot%\Windows\System32\Windows Media\Server. The file should contain the following text:

[WMServer]LocalBindTcpPorts=1755LocalBindUdpPorts=1755

Related topics


Using the RTSP protocolYou can use Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) to deliver content as a unicast stream. It is an application-level protocol that was created specifically to control the delivery of real-time data, such as audio and video content. It is implemented over a correction-oriented transport protocol. It supports player control actions such as stopping, pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding indexed Windows Media files. You can use RTSP to stream content to computers running Windows Media Player 9 Series or later or Windows Media Services 9 Series. RTSP is a control protocol that works in tandem with the data delivery Real Time Protocol (RTP) to provide content to clients.

If the connection URL uses RTSP (for example, rtsp://server_name/publishing_point_name/file_name), RTSP automatically negotiates the best delivery mechanism for the content. It then directs the RTP protocol to deliver streaming content using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or using a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)-based protocol on a network that does not support UDP.

If you want to force the server to use a specific protocol, you can identify the protocol to be used in the announcement file. The user can also specify the protocol in the content address (for example, rtspu://server_name/publishing_point_name/file_name). To facilitate protocol rollover, it is recommended that the URL use the generalized RTSP protocol. That way, the Player can use either the RTSPU or RTSPT protocols to connect to the stream. If the Player cannot connect to the stream successfully by using either of the RTSP protocols, it attempts to connect to the stream by using one of the MMS protocols. For more information about protocol rollover, see How protocol rollover works.

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Windows Media Services implements RTSP through the WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol plug-in. In a default installation of Windows Media Services, this plug-in is enabled and bound to TCP port 554.

Notes

When setting up distribution servers for Fast Streaming, use either RTSPT or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about the Fast Streaming feature, see Understanding Fast Streaming. For more information about distribution servers, see Using distribution servers.

When using RTSPU, setting the RTP packet size to a small value may prevent the Windows Media server from streaming. For more information about unicast packet sizes, see How unicast works.

If a client that supports RTSP attempts to connect to the Windows Media server using a URL that starts with mms://, the content will be streamed to the client using RTSP.

Related topics


Using the HTTP protocolYou can use Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to stream content from an encoder to a Windows Media server, to distribute streams between computers running different versions of Windows Media Services or computers that are separated by a firewall, and to download dynamically-generated playlists from a Web server. HTTP is especially useful for clients that receive streaming content through a firewall because HTTP is usually set up to use port 80, which is not blocked by most firewalls.

You can use HTTP to deliver streams to all Windows Media Player versions and to other Windows Media servers. If a client uses HTTP to connect to the server, protocol rollover is not used.

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Windows Media Services uses the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in to control HTTP-based client connections. You must enable this plug-in for Windows Media Services to use HTTP to stream content to clients or to receive streams from Windows Media Encoder.

When you enable the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in, it attempts to bind to port 80. If another service, such as Internet Information Services (IIS), is using port 80 on the same IP address, then you cannot enable the plug-in. For more information about HTTP streaming concurrently with other services, see Using HTTP streaming and other services on the same computer.

The HTTP protocol is also used when a server running Windows Media Services is streaming a dynamic playlist generated by an ASP page or Web script. For more information about dynamic playlists, see Using dynamic sources.

Notes

When setting up distribution servers to use Fast Streaming, use either the RTSPT or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about the Fast Streaming feature, see Understanding Fast Streaming. For more information about distribution servers, see Using distribution servers.

Clients that receive a HTTP broadcast stream may not be able to reconnect to the stream for a period of up to 90 seconds after the stream ends. This delay occurs because the Windows Media server holds the data path open after the content ends in order to receive logging data.

Related topics

To enable HTTP streaming


Using HTTP streaming and other services on the same computer

If you use both Windows Media Services and a Web service such as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) on the same server, both services will attempt to bind to port 80. You can avoid such conflicts by assigning each service to a different port. If you assign a service to a port other than 80, the network administrator must open the corresponding port on the network firewall. For more information about changing the port that Windows Media services binds to, see To change the port Windows Media Services uses for HTTP streaming.

As an alternative, you can assign additional IP addresses to the server, enabling each service to have its own IP address and still use port 80. The simplest way to accomplish this is to install multiple network interface cards on your server. However, if this solution is not possible, you can create multiple IP addresses on a single network interface card and assign separate port 80 addresses to them. You must then configure Windows Media Services and your Web service to bind to separate IP address/port 80 combinations. Windows Media Services includes a tool for assigning additional IP addresses to your services. For information on adding IP addresses to your servers, see To add IP addresses to resolve port 80 conflicts.

Related topics

To change the port Windows Media Services uses for HTTP streaming

To configure the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in



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How protocol rollover worksThe ability of Windows Media Services to choose the right protocol for a client depending on its environment is known as protocol rollover. Protocol rollover is useful if you are supporting a variety of client versions, clients that are connecting through a firewall, or clients that are connecting through different types of networks. Protocol rollover works best if all the server control protocol plug-ins available on your server (including the WMS HTTP Server Control plug-in) are enabled.

The Windows Media server uses protocol rollover in order to establish the optimal connection to the client. When a client attempts to connect to a server, it sends information about its type and what protocols it can support. The Windows Media server compares that information to the protocols that are enabled and then uses the best protocol for the situation. Typically, the first connection attempt between the server and the client is successful and no further action is taken. If that connection request is not successful, the client attempts to connect to the server using another supported protocol. The client experiences a very small, usually unnoticeable period of latency during each protocol rollover attempt.

In addition, when a client attempts to establish a new connection to the server, preference is given to the protocol that the client used in the previous connection. If you use an announcement to enable clients to access your content, the Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol is used automatically, ensuring that protocol rollover will occur if necessary.

It is recommended that you use protocol rollover to ensure that your clients have the optimal streaming experience. If clients connect to your stream using a URL with an mms:// prefix, protocol rollover will occur if necessary. Be aware that users can disable protocols in the property settings of their players. If the player only supports a single protocol, rollover cannot occur. The logic used with protocol rollover differs depending on the type of client connecting to the server.

Windows Media Player 9 Series or later

When Windows Media Player 9 Series or later or a player that uses the Windows Media Player 9 Series ActiveX control attempts to connect to the server using a URL with an mms:// prefix, the server automatically uses RTSP. If Fast Cache is enabled on the server (the default condition for all new publishing points), the server tries to connect to the client using RTSP with TCP-based transport (RTSPT) first. If the Player does not support that protocol, then the server attempts to connect using RTSP with UDP-based transport (RTSPU). If that connection is also not successful, the server will attempt to connect using the HTTP protocol if the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in is enabled. If Fast Cache is not enabled, the server first tries to connect to the client using RTSPU, then RTSPT, and finally HTTP.

Earlier players

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Earlier versions of Windows Media Player, such as Windows Media Player for Windows XP, do not support the RTSP protocol. However, the MMS protocol provides protocol rollover support for those players. Thus, when an earlier version of the Player attempts to connect to the server using a URL with an mms:// prefix, the server automatically negotiates the best protocol for the Player. The server first tries to connect to the client using MMS with UDP-based transport (MMSU). If that protocol is not supported, then the server attempts to connect using MMS with TCP-based transport (MMST). If that connection is also not successful, the server will attempt to connect using the HTTP protocol if the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in is enabled.

Distribution servers

Protocol rollover is not used when a distribution server attempts to connect to an origin server. Distribution servers cannot use a URL with an mms:// prefix to request a connection to the origin server. If the distribution server attempts to connect using RTSP, that request is translated as RTSPU. If TCP-based transport is preferred or required, then the URL must use an rtspt:// prefix. If the servers must connect using HTTP, then the URL must use an http:// prefix.

Note

If the Windows Media server is separated from the client by a firewall or a proxy server that cannot pass UDP packets, you should disable UDP packet transmission in the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in properties. Clients that attempt to receive UDP transmissions through network components that are not UDP-enabled may experience latency during the protocol rollover process. For more information about the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in, see To configure the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in.

Related topics

Announcing content


How unicast worksUnicasting is a method of transmitting a single stream of data to a single client. Unicast delivery provides each client with an individual stream from the server. Clients that receive content through unicast delivery can connect to the server using any of the supported connection protocols.

Once the client has connected to the server, the content can be delivered through either the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The difference between these two protocols is how clients acknowledge the receipt of data packets.

If a UDP delivery method is used, such as MMSU or RTSPU, the server does not have to receive verification that a data packet was successfully received before transmitting another data packet. This method works best for streaming. If the client does not receive a packet, it can request that the server resend the missing data packet. This is known as a UDP resend request. When the server receives a request for a UDP resend, it checks its buffer to see if it still has the data available. If it

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does, the data is resent to the client. If it does not, the server cannot fulfill the request. The client can withstand some packet loss and can continue to render content even after an unsuccessful UDP resend request.

If a TCP delivery method is used, such as HTTP, MMST or RTSPT, the server must wait for the client to acknowledge a successful receipt of a data packet before it can send another. If the data packet is lost, the server must resend it before continuing with the data transmission. This method works best for connections between platform components, such as encoders, cache/proxy servers, and distribution servers, because it maintains the highest quality stream.

By default, Windows Media Services determines the optimum packet size for streaming based on the content. If you are streaming content over a unicast connection by using the RTSP protocol and are experiencing a high amount of packet loss or fragmentation, you may want to set a specific unicast packet size for your server by using the properties sheet of the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in. When determining the correct packet size for your server, consider the following:

If the packet size exceeds the capacity of the router that is forwarding it to the client, the packet is fragmented by the router, and then the fragments are sent to the client. When all of the packets are received by the client, they are reassembled into the original packet. This can result in a high amount of packet loss because the loss of any one of the fragments will result in the entire packet being lost.

Each packet sent by the server has an additional bandwidth requirement in order to transfer header information, such as the control protocol, stream format, and server address. Sending out a large number of small packets can result in a large increase in bandwidth use.

Each resend requires the same amount of bandwidth and time to send as the original data packet.

Different audiences can support varying packet sizes. Optimize your packet size for your target audience.

When using UDP with the RTSP protocol (RTSPU), setting the RTP packet size to too small a small value may prevent the Windows Media server from being able to stream.

Related topics

WMS Unicast Data Writer - general properties


How multicast worksMulticasting is a method of transmitting a single stream of data to multiple clients. Multicasting is connectionless; clients receive a multicast by monitoring a specific multicast IP address and port that receives the content stream from the server.

To successfully use multicast delivery with your server, your network must use multicast-enabled routers. Multicast-enabled routers are routers that are able to interpret class-D IP addresses use the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) to route clients to the multicast IP address.

All multicast content must have a specified time-to-live value that limits the number of routers that the multicast can traverse before it expires.

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The WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in controls how the server uses multicast delivery with your publishing point. This plug-in is disabled by default and can only be enabled on broadcast publishing points.


About multicast IP addresses and ports

About time-to-live values Note


Related topics



Multicast IP addresses are class D addresses that fall within two ranges: 224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255 and FF00:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 through FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF. The addresses in the first range are Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses, which is the current version of the Internet Protocol. The addresses in the second range are IPv6 addresses, which is the new version of the protocol. For more information about implementing IPv6 addresses on your server, see Windows Help and Support.

For intranet use, it is recommended that you use IPv4 addresses in the range 239.*.*.*. Port numbers can range between 1 and 65535. The routers on the network over which you are transmitting your content must be multicast-enabled, meaning that they must be able to interpret class D addresses or they will not be able to forward your multicast information to clients.

Note


Related topics

About time-to-live values

How multicast works

About time-to-live values

A multicast stream is distributed over a specific number of routers in a network, which is determined by the time-to-live (TTL) value. The time-to-live value decreases every time the content passes through a router. When the value reaches zero, the multicast stream travels no further. The WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in has the following preset time-to-live values based on the type of distribution:

1 : Local network

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32 : Intranet

64 : Internet, intra-continent

128 : Internet, inter-continent

255 : Maximum-allowed valueYou may also specify any whole number between 1 and 255 to meet the needs of your multicast.

If you use an IPv6 multicast address, the time-to-live value is included in the first field of the address. For example, the first field in the address FF01:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 is FF01, which indicates the address is locally scoped, meaning that the content is restricted to the local computer and the time-to-live value is set to 1. The following list shows the standard first field values and their corresponding scopes:

FF01 : local node or computer

FF02 : local area network (LAN)

FF05 : local site

FF08 : organization

FF0E : Internet Notes

IP addresses in the range 239.*.* are administratively scoped, which means that TTL values do not have a special meaning. For example, the value 32 does not limit the stream to an intranet, and the value 64 does not limit the stream to the intra-continent Internet. The TTL assignment should be used to limit addresses in the range 239.192.000.000 through 239.255.255.255 to a single organization, and addresses from 239.255.000.000 through 239.255.255.255 to a single site.


Related topics


How multicast works

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Understanding Fast StreamingFast Streaming refers to a group of features included in Windows Media Services to improve the quality of streaming media content for the user. This topic includes the following sections:




Understanding Fast Reconnect


Related topics


Understanding Fast CacheWhen used with Windows Media Player 9 Series or later, Fast Cache provides a way to stream content to clients faster than the data rate specified by the stream format. For example, using Fast Cache, the server can transmit a 128-kilobits-per-second (Kbps) stream at 700 Kbps. The stream is still rendered in Windows Media Player at the specified data rate, but the client is able to buffer a much larger portion of the content before rendering it. This allows the client to handle variable network conditions without a perceptible impact on the playback quality of either on-demand or broadcast content.

This ability is useful in the following situations:

When the available network bandwidth of the client exceeds the required bandwidth of the content; for example, clients that use a cable modem, DSL connection, or corporate intranets.

When the network connectivity is intermittent or has high latency; for example, wireless networks.

When the quality of the content received is of paramount importance; for example, businesses that provide pay-per-view movies.

You can configure the Fast Cache settings for your server on the Properties tab of your publishing point. For more information on these settings, see Enable Fast Cache and Limit Fast Cache content delivery rate. Fast cache is supported by both the RTSP and the HTTP protocols. Clients that connect using the MMS protocol will not receive the stream using Fast Cache, but will instead receive the standard bit rate stream.

Notes

When setting up distribution servers to use Fast Cache, use either the RTSPT or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about distribution servers, see Using distribution servers.

You can control the behavior of individual streams by adding Fast Streaming modifiers to the URL that a client uses to connect to the stream. For example, the WMCache modifier enables a client to use the Fast Cache feature when it uses the following URL format to connect to the server: http://servername/file.wmv?WMCache=1. You can also control the maximum bandwidth

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available to stream a file or live stream by using the modifiers WMBitrate and WMContentBitrate. For more information, see Controlling streaming behavior with URL modifiers.

The Fast Cache feature is only used by clients that connect to a unicast stream.

If you are using Fast Cache with a server-side playlist, clients that connect to your server must use the RTSP or the HTTP 1.1 protocol to receive the benefit of the Fast Cache feature.

If you define the src attribute of a server-side playlist media element as being a publishing point on the local server using the lpp:// syntax, you must enable or disable player caching on the source publishing point. Changing the setting of the Enable Fast Cache property on any publishing point except the source will not affect the ability of players to cache content.

Related topics


Understanding Fast StartWindows Media Player must buffer a certain amount of data before it can start rendering content. If your clients are using Windows Media Player for Windows XP or a later version of the Player you can use Fast Start to provide data directly to the buffer at speeds higher than the bit rate of the content requested. This enables users to start receiving content more quickly. After the initial buffer requirement is fulfilled, on-demand and broadcast content streams at the bit rate defined by the content stream.

Using Fast Start enables your users to have a better experience when playing back your content. Users can fast-forward and rewind content without additional delay and rebuffering. A Player that connects through broadband networks start playing the content more quickly, making the experience much more like viewing a television program or listening to a radio broadcast. Users will notice that server-side playlists streaming from your publishing point switch smoothly and seamlessly between content items. Additionally, the pre-buffering of data makes the Player resistant to playback errors due to lost packets or other network issues.

The increased bandwidth that the Fast Start feature initially uses to send data to the Player can overburden a network if many Players connect to the stream at the same time. To reduce the risk of network congestion caused by the Fast Start feature, you can limit the amount of bandwidth the Fast Start feature uses to stream to each Player. For more information about limiting Fast Start bandwidth, see Limit Fast Start bandwidth per player (Kbps).

Notes

Fast Start requires that Windows Media Services continuously maintain a buffer of content to be streamed to new clients. When the Start publishing point when first client connects property is enabled in a live broadcast publishing point, Fast Start can cause an additional rendering delay of 8 to 10 seconds for the first client that connects to the stream because Windows Media Services must first collect a content buffer. Clients connecting to a broadcast stream that is in progress will not experience any additional delays due to Fast Start buffering.

The Fast Start feature is only used by clients that connect to a unicast stream.

Related topics


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Understanding Fast RecoveryFast Recovery is accomplished by enabling forward error correction (FEC) on a publishing point. With the help of FEC, Windows Media Player can usually recover lost or damaged data packets without having to request that the data be resent by the Windows Media server. In environments that are subject to latency problems, such as satellite networks and other wireless networks, this process of receiving data is much more efficient. You can specify the amount of error correction data transmitted per span of data sent on the Forward Error Correction properties sheet.

Notes

Forward error correction can only be used with players that connect to your server through the RTSPU protocol.

The Fast Recovery feature is only used by clients that connect to a unicast stream.

Users may develop customized players that request FEC data packets. If you have not specified a number for the FEC packets per span setting, the server will attempt to deliver the amount of FEC data requested by the player. Excessive FEC data requests can cause the server's processor to be overloaded and may result in poor server performance. If you notice that the processor use is out of the normal range, set the FEC packets per span setting to a lower number.

Fast Recovery is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

Forward Error Correction - general properties



Understanding Fast ReconnectFast Reconnect minimizes the impact to each client during a temporary network outage by enabling the client to reconnect to the server automatically and restart streaming. If the client was connected to an on-demand publishing point, the client restarts playback at the point at which the connection was lost by synchronizing itself with the content timeline. If the content includes video, the client estimates the approximate video frame at which the connection was lost. If the content is indexed, this estimate is more accurate. If the client is connected to a broadcast publishing point, the client reconnects to the broadcast in progress. Depending on the content, the user may experience a gap in the broadcast.

The following are some key details about the Fast Reconnect feature:

Fast Reconnect can be used with clients that connect through any of the default connection protocols (MMS, HTTP, and RTSP).

A successful reconnection is reflected in the log file with a status code of 210.

Both broadcast and on-demand publishing points can use the Fast Reconnect feature. Notes

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You can control the behavior of individual streams by adding Fast Streaming modifiers to the URL that clients use to connect to the stream. The WMReconnect modifier sets the number of times a client will attempt to reconnect to a stream if a connection is lost. For example, a client that connects to a stream using the following URL format will attempt to reconnect three times before stopping: http://servername/broadcast?WMReconnect=3. For more information, see Controlling streaming behavior with URL modifiers.

The Fast Reconnect feature is only used by clients that connect to a unicast stream.

Related topics


Understanding Advanced Fast StartAdvanced Fast Start is designed to minimize startup latency in Windows Media Player 10. Startup latency is the period of time starting when a viewer requests a stream by using the Player, and ending when the content begins playing. A number of factors can introduce latency, such as the speed of the client computer, the state of the network, the available bandwidth, and the Windows Media server configuration. However, the primary reason for startup latency is the delay caused by buffering on the client.

An adequate buffer size is essential for providing a good user experience. The client buffer stores streaming media data in memory so that the Player can maintain smooth playback of a stream. With inadequate buffer size, presentation playback can be uneven. The buffer is also used by codecs that decode a stream. When more buffer memory is available to codecs, the audio and video quality is improved.

The buffer size affects the amount of startup latency because a client cannot begin playing a stream until the buffer is full. The Fast Start feature in Windows Media Services 9 Series reduces latency significantly by streaming the data at an accelerated rate until the buffer is full. However, the stream still cannot be played until that point.

Advanced Fast Start enables Windows Media Player to begin playing a stream before its buffer is full. As soon as the Player receives a minimum amount of data, it can begin playing a stream while its buffer continues to fill at an accelerated rate—a rate that is faster than the encoded bit rate of the content. When the buffer is full, acceleration stops and the Player begins receiving data at the encoded bit rate.

You can configure the Advanced Fast Start settings for your server on the Properties tab of your publishing point. For more information on these settings, see Enable Advanced Fast Start.


How Advanced Fast Start works

Encoding content for Advanced Fast Start Notes

Advanced Fast Start is only used by clients that connect to a unicast stream. For the broadcast publishing points on your Windows Media server, you may choose to allow unicast rollover, which ensures that clients that cannot access the multicast stream can still receive the content by switching to an available unicast stream. You can configure Advanced Fast Start for unicast rollover connections on the Properties tab of your broadcast publishing points. Enabling this property does not enable Advanced Fast Start for multicast client connections.

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On the client side, Advanced Fast Start is supported by Windows Media Player 10 running on the Windows XP operating system, or by Windows CE version 5.0 or later (using the HTTP protocol).

On the server side, Advanced Fast Start is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1; and x64-based versions of these operating systems. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with SP1 or the x64-based version of this operating system, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

Enable Advanced Fast Start

Controlling Advanced Fast Start behavior with URL modifiers

Understanding Fast StreamingHow Advanced Fast Start works

For Advanced Fast Start to work effectively, adequate bandwidth must be available above the encoded bit rate of a stream. For example, if 1,200 kilobits per second (Kbps) of bandwidth is available for an 800 Kbps stream, Windows Media Player can use an acceleration rate of 1.5 times the encoded bit rate. On the other hand, if no additional bandwidth is available, the Player must fill its buffer before it begins playing a stream and no benefit can be gained from either Advanced Fast Start or Fast Start.

To use Advanced Fast Start, it must be enabled on both Windows Media Player 10 and Windows Media Services because it depends on communication between the two components when the Player initially requests a stream.

Advanced Fast Start requires that the Windows Media server send an accelerated bit rate stream. Therefore, this feature is only available for unicast streaming.

The following process describes how Advanced Fast Start works after the Player sends a request and the server has successfully located the requested content and authorized the Player to receive it:

1. The server analyzes the content, and calculates the following data for a number of acceleration rates:

Largest underflow amount. Underflow occurs when the Player renders the data faster than it is being received. When underflow occurs, the Player must stop and buffer more data. Therefore, underflow must be avoided in order to maintain a quality user experience. The largest underflow amount is the largest amount of extra data that the client will require during a given acceleration period to avoid underflow. The higher the acceleration rate and longer the acceleration period, the less likely it is that underflow will occur. The server initially determines a fixed acceleration period.

Time of underflow. The time that the largest underflow amount occurs.

The server typically sends the client data at the following acceleration rates: 1.0, 1.2, 1.5, 2.0, and 3.0. For example, the data might show that with an acceleration rate of 1.2, the client will need 150 KB of additional data in its buffer after five seconds to avoid underflow.

2. The Player calculates the current bandwidth between the client and server, and then requests the most appropriate acceleration rate from the server.

3. The server streams the content at the requested acceleration rate.

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4. The Player buffers the minimum amount of data, checks to make sure that adequate data has been received, and then begins playing the content. Meanwhile, its buffer continues to fill at the requested acceleration rate.

5. When its buffer is full, the Player sends a message to the server to end acceleration, and begins streaming at the encoded bit rate.

Related topics

Encoding content for Advanced Fast Start



Encoding content for Advanced Fast Start

Windows Media Encoder organizes audio and video data into data packets that can be easily and efficiently transported over a network. When the packets arrive at the client, Windows Media Player 10 re-assembles the data in the correct order and plays the audio and video with the correct synchronization. Because the video buffer is typically larger than the audio buffer, it is common for the encoder to place the audio data in a packet that arrives after the corresponding video. When this occurs, the Player must wait for the audio to arrive before it begins rendering a stream because video cannot play without the accompanying audio stream.

Audio that arrives late is typically not a problem if startup latency is not an issue in the streaming scenario. However, when Advanced Fast Start is used to minimize latency, it is important that the audio arrive slightly before the video so the content can begin playing as soon as possible. To make sure the audio arrives before the video, you can create an encoder profile in which the audio and video buffers are the same size. The fixed audio buffer size is 1450 milliseconds (ms). Therefore, if the profile sets audio and video buffers to 3000 ms, the audio buffer is 3000 ms plus the fixed buffer size, or 4450 ms, which effectively places the audio data before the video data.

To create a profile that includes an audio buffer setting, first create a custom profile with Windows Media Profile Editor, and then add the setting by opening and editing the custom profile file with a text editor, such as Notepad.

To add an audio buffer setting to an encoding profile

1. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Windows Media, point to Utilities, and then click Windows Media Profile Editor.

2. On the General tab, enter the following information:

Name and Description. Enter text to identify your custom profile.

Mode and Codec. In Media Types, select the Audio and Video check boxes. Make sure CBR (constant bit rate) is selected for audio and video, and Windows Media Audio 9 and Windows Media Video 9 codecs are selected.

Select the Allow interlaced processing and Allow non-square pixel output check boxes (This is not required for Advanced Fast Start, but is recommended).

Target bit rates. Click Add, and type any number over 15K. You will adjust the final bit rate on the Bit Rate tab.

3. On the Bit Rate tab, enter the following information:

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Audio format. Select a compression setting and format. For example, for high-quality audio, select 64 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo CBR.

Video size. Select the Same as video input check box.

Frame rate. Enter an appropriate frame rate. For highest quality, the frame rate should be the same as the source, for example 29.97 for NTSC video.

Key frame interval. Enter the minimum key-frame interval value of 1.

Video bit rate. Enter an appropriate high-bandwidth video bit rate, for example 1200 Kbps or 1.2 Mbps.

Buffer size. For unicast delivery with Advanced Fast Start, enter 3. For multicast, enter the minimum buffer size of 1.

Video smoothness. Enter a value of 83.4. Click Save and Close.

5. In the Save Profile As dialog box, locate the Profiles folder (by default, %systemdrive%\Program Files\Windows Media components\Encoder\Profiles), and enter a file name for the profile.

6. Close Windows Media Profile Editor, open a text editor such as Notepad, and then open the custom profile file.

7. In the profile text, specify the bufferwindow value as 4450:

bufferwindow="4450"

8. Save the file.

Note

The audio buffer setting described in this section is a guideline that works well for many, but not all, streaming scenarios. For more information, see "Delivering IPTV with the Windows Media Platform" on the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics

How Advanced Fast Start works



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Understanding content deliveryThe topics in this section are designed to help you understand the processes used when delivering digital media content to users.



Understanding variable-bit-rate content delivery



Related topics


Working with data sourcesWindows Media Services supports multiple data sources through the use of data source plug-ins. By default, Windows Media Services has the following data source plug-ins available:

WMS File Data Source plug-in. When the source of the content streamed by your publishing point is a located on a Common Internet File System (CIFS) Windows Media Services uses the WMS File Data Source plug-in to access the content. This plug-in is able to read data from any CIFS file system, including the NTFS file system, file allocation table (FAT), or FAT32, and can use the UNC address system. If you are storing your content by using an alternate file system, then you need to obtain a custom data source plug-in so that Windows Media Services can read the data.

WMS Network Data Source plug-in. When the source of the content streamed by your publishing point is another computer on your network, such as an encoder or another Windows Media server, Windows Media Services uses the WMS Network Data Source plug-in to access the content. This plug-in is able to read streaming data packets from a network and uses a control protocol plug-in to negotiate a connection to the network source.

WMS HTTP Download Data Source plug-in. When the source of the content streamed by your publishing point is a playlist that is retrieved from a Web server, Windows Media Services uses the WMS HTTP Download Data Source plug-in to transfer the playlist file from the Web server to the Windows Media server.

WMS Push Data Source plug-in. When the source of the content streamed by your publishing point originates from an encoder that is capable of pushing content, the encoder administrator has the option of broadcasting directly from the encoder or broadcasting through a Windows Media server. If the administrator chooses to broadcast through a Windows Media server, the encoder can initiate a connection to the Windows Media server, create a broadcast publishing point for its use, and send the stream over the network to the server. This series of events is commonly called an encoder push or push distribution, because the encoder initiates the connection to the server to broadcast the stream. In this situation, Windows Media Services uses the WMS Push Data Source plug-in to maintain the connection between the encoder and the server. This plug-in is able to accept incoming digital media data packets from an encoder.

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If the encoder administrator chooses to broadcast directly from the encoder, Windows Media Services can still initiate a connection to the encoder using the encoder connection URL and can then broadcast the stream. This scenario is known as encoder pull or pull distribution. In this situation, the WMS Network Data Source plug-in is used.

These data source plug-ins provide support for the most common streaming scenarios. You can use the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK) to create custom data source plug-ins to handle more specific scenarios.

Notes

Any data source accessed must have the appropriate permissions settings for Windows Media Services to retrieve the content from the location. By default, Windows Media Services uses the Network Service account when responding to network authentication and authorization requests. The Network Service account should be granted at least read access permissions for any data source you want to use with Windows Media Services. For more information see Understanding rights.

Custom or third-party plug-ins should be located in a protected directory to prevent tampering. The protected directory can be any directory that has been set to deny write permissions to unauthorized users. For more information about restricting directory access, see the Windows Help and Support Center.

If the content source for your publishing point is a computer running Windows 2000 Server you may have difficulty streaming the content because Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 handle user account authorization and privileges differently. If the two servers are members of the same domain, on-demand publishing points that have the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in enabled will cause remote clients to receive an "Access denied" error message when they attempt to retrieve content from the computer running Windows 2000 Server. Local clients, such as the Test stream feature of Windows Media Services, are not affected. If the two computers are not members of the same domain, see To access content on a computer running Windows 2000 Server.

Related topics

Data source category


Using distribution serversA distribution server publishes content received from another streaming source, such as another Windows Media server. Any computer running Windows Media Services can operate as a distribution server. The origin server is the source of the content being streamed by the distribution server. Clients then connect to the distribution server as if it were the origin server. Distribution servers are located between the origin server and the client in the content stream and are therefore able to perform several different functions, such as:

Load balancing. Distribution servers are an easy way to reduce the client load on your Windows Media server because you can distribute the client content requests to several servers on your network.

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Network security policies. A distribution server can be placed inside your network firewall and source from an origin server that is outside your firewall, providing clients inside your firewall with access to the content without opening additional ports. Alternatively, a distribution server can be placed outside the network firewall and source from an origin server that is inside the firewall, providing clients that are outside the firewall with access to your content.

Server rollover. You can use distribution servers when multicasting content to clients that are on multicast-enabled networks. Clients that are not on multicast-enabled networks can be redirected to another distribution server for standard unicast delivery of the content.

Syntax for distribution server connections

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Distribution servers connect to origin servers by using a connection protocol. Use the following information to determine the URL syntax that the distribution server should use.

Origin server Scenario Syntax

Windows Media Services 9 Series

Servers are on an intranet. Some data loss between servers is acceptable, so UDP transport can be used.

rtsp://server_name/publishing_point


Servers are on an intranet. Data loss is not acceptable, so TCP transport must be used.

rtspt://server_name/publishing_point


Servers are on separate networks and need to connect through a firewall.

http://server_name/publishing_point

Windows Media Services 9 Series (multicast)

Server is rebroadcasting a multicast stream to a network segment that is not multicast-enabled.

MCast://%systemdrive%\Wmpub\Wmroot\File.nsc

-or-

MCast://\\MachineName\Inetpub\Wwwroot\File.nsc

Windows Media Services 4.1 (unicast)

Server is rebroadcasting unicast content from a server running Windows 2000 Server.

http://server_name/publishing_point/file_name

Windows Media Services 4.1 (multicast)

Server is rebroadcasting multicast content from a server running Windows 2000 Server

mcast://\\server_name\shared_folder\station.nsc

For more information about control protocols, see Understanding protocols.

Note

When setting up distribution servers to use the Fast Streaming feature, use the RTSPU, RTSPT, or HTTP protocols to connect to the origin server. For more information about the Fast Streaming feature, see Understanding Fast Streaming.

Related topics


Understanding variable-bit-rate content delivery

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When encoding variable-bit-rate content, additional bandwidth is temporarily required in order to handle content that is challenging to encoding algorithms, such as high motion and highly detailed content. By using the additional bandwidth, the encoder can use more key frames and capture more detail, which improves the content quality. In the same encoded stream, simple content will require less bandwidth for compression. Thus, the overall quality of the content achieved by using variable-bit-rate encoding often exceeds the quality of the same content encoded by using a traditional encoding scheme.

When streaming variable-bit-rate content, the Windows Media server must be able to reallocate bandwidth based on the requirements of the stream, or it must be able to buffer the higher bit rate content on the Player in order for the Player to render it correctly. Therefore, when delivering variable-bit-rate content, it is recommended that both Fast Cache and Fast Start be used.

Related topics





Understanding intelligent streamingIntelligent streaming refers to the method by which your Windows Media server works with Windows Media Player to detect network conditions and adjust the properties of a stream automatically to maximize playback quality. With intelligent streaming, users receive a continuous flow of content tailored to their specific connection speeds.

For the server to provide the full advantage of intelligent streaming, you should encode your content using multiple bit rates. Multiple-bit-rate (MBR) content contains several streams encoded at different bit rates, each of which usually corresponds to a common connection rate. When a distribution server is used to deliver multiple-bit-rate content, all of the streams are sent by the origin server to the distribution server. When multiple-bit-rate content is sent to a Player, either from the origin server or a distribution server, only the bit rate that is the most appropriate for current bandwidth conditions is streamed. Windows Media Player determines which bit rate stream to use and communicates this information to the Windows Media server, which then transmits the appropriate stream to the Player. The bit rate evaluation and selection process is completely invisible to the user. Windows Media Services can distribute both multiple-bit-rate streams from an encoder and multiple-bit-rate files.

With intelligent streaming enabled, the Player responds to insufficient bandwidth by requesting that the server reduce the bit rate by using one of the following techniques. If one technique does not solve the problem, the Player will try the next one:

If the file is encoded using MBR, the first step the Player takes to rectify insufficient bandwidth is to request a lower bit rate version of the stream.

If a video file is not MBR, or if using a lower bit rate stream does not reduce the bandwidth requirements enough, the Player requests that the server thin the video stream. This means that the server reduces the frame rate of the video being streamed.

If thinning the video stream does not reduce the bandwidth requirements enough, the Player requests that the server stop sending the video stream.

Intelligent streaming is controlled by adding the WMThinning URL modifier to the path of the source. If intelligent streaming is not desired, you can set the value for WMThinning to 0 to disable intelligent

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streaming, and then manually control the bit rate at which clients receive the stream by specifying values for the WMBitrate and WMContentBitrate URL modifiers. For more information, see Controlling Fast Streaming behavior with URL modifiers.

Note

MP3 files cannot use the intelligent streaming feature in Windows Media Services.

Related topics

Controlling Fast Streaming behavior with URL modifiers


Understanding Advanced FF/RWAdvanced FF/RW improves upon the standard fast-forward and rewind "trick mode" functionality for the video portion of encoded files.

When clients use standard trick mode to fast-forward or rewind an on-demand video file, the Windows Media server receives a request that includes the following information:

A rate request.

The presentation time at which the client began fast-forward or rewind.The server responds by rapidly searching the source content file for all available key frames after the presentation time reported by the client so that it can send the data quickly at the requested rate. The server divides the total presentation time by the rate request value to calculate the correct trick mode speed, and then delivers the content, beginning at the first available key frame after the presentation time reported by the client.

Clients that use standard trick mode to fast-forward or rewind an on-demand video file can create enormous demands for network resources because identical amounts of presentation data must be processed and sent at faster speeds to fulfill the client requests. Servers must process additional presentation data from source content disks, or from storage devices in Storage Area Networks (SANs), at accelerated rates, potentially creating server performance bottlenecks caused by higher disk-read rates.

The key frames that are sent to clients during standard trick mode consume additional bandwidth, especially at high speeds. This can exceed the original bandwidth of the content. If the content has low key-frame distances, more network bandwidth is consumed at high speeds because the server must send more key frames in a specific time period. If the content has high key-frame distances, less network bandwidth is consumed at high speeds because the number of key frames sent in the specific time period is lower. However, the motion viewed in the client may not be smooth while it fast-forwards or rewinds the file.

Advanced FF/RW addresses the performance issues that accompany standard trick mode functionality by smoothing the rate at which data is sent from servers to clients and from back-end network devices to servers. For example, when a client requests that content be rewound at five times normal speed (5x), the client is delivered a copy of the original source file that contains only 20 percent of the frames that were originally present (a file created from the original such that for every 5 frames, 4 frames are dropped). When the server delivers this file to the client in place of the original source file, it reads the presentation data without incurring a high disk-read rate from the source content disk.

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Because key frames contain all of the data that is required to reconstruct the video image in the client, without reference to previous frames, the fast-forward or rewind presentation in the client remains smooth, alleviating spikes in network bandwidth.


How Advanced FF/RW works

Encoding for Advanced FF/RW

Implementing Advanced FF/RW Notes

Advanced FF/RW is enabled on the server through the WMS Advanced FF/RW Format Media Parser plug-in.

Advanced FF/RW can be implemented in an Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) scenario only.

On the client side, Advanced FF/RW is supported by Windows Media Player 9 Series or later running on the Windows XP operating system, or by Windows CE version 5.0 or later.

On the server side, Advanced FF/RW is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1); Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition with SP1; and x64-based versions of these operating systems. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition with SP1 or the x64-based version of this operating system, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

WMS Advanced FF/RW Format Media Parser


How Advanced FF/RW works

When clients use Advanced FF/RW to fast-forward or rewind an on-demand video file, the Windows Media server receives a request that includes the following information:

A rate request.

The presentation time at which the client began fast-forward or rewind.Instead of processing presentation data from source content disks to fulfill client requests (as in standard trick mode), the server responds by matching the client's rate request value to a compressed copy of the original source file. It then locates the first available key frame after the presentation time reported by the client and begins streaming the file copy to the client after that point. The file copy is compressed so that its reduced file size also reduces the total presentation time by the correct amount. On the client, data appears to render at the rate requested. However, the client is simply playing back the content stream from the server. After the client's Advanced FF/RW request is complete, the server seamlessly switches back the original source content file and resumes playback at normal speed.

Notes

When a user clicks the Fast Forward or Rewind button in Windows Media Player, the implementation of Advanced FF/RW appears to be seamless: the file plays faster in the desired direction. Users may experience a slight readjustment of the video displayed as the Player locates the nearest key frame when the file is played. During Advanced FF/RW, no sound is played, although any sound data that remains in the client cache is played until it is exhausted.

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Related topics


Encoding for Advanced FF/RW

To use Advanced FF/RW, you must create compressed copies of the original source content files (sometimes called "trick mode speed files") for the different fast-forward or rewind speed values that may be requested by clients.

By default, when a user clicks the Fast Forward or Rewind button in Windows Media Player, the file plays in the desired direction at five times normal speed. Rate requests up to ten times normal speed can be sent by Windows Media Player if the user adjusts the slider in the Play Speed Settings Enhancements pane. Windows CE supports even higher rate requests.

If a client makes a rate request for which you have not encoded a corresponding trick mode speed file, the server fulfills the request by using standard trick mode instead. In typical video-on-demand scenarios, clients can be restricted to request trick mode functionality at predetermined speeds to use Advanced FF/RW.

Trick mode speed files are identical to the original content source file, except that excess frames are removed during encoding. For example, for clients that might request fast-forward at five times normal speed, a corresponding trick mode speed file is created by retaining every fifth frame as a key frame during the encoding process, while the rest of the frames are removed. By using only key frames in trick mode speed files, the fast-forward presentation in the client is smoother. Also, by using only 20 percent of the original frames in the trick mode speed file, the file size is reduced by approximately 80 percent, reducing the presentation time. If you play the trick mode speed file using Windows Media Player 9 Series or later, it will appear as if the original file is being played five times faster.

Video editing tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro should be used to create trick mode speed files. After creating a project with the appropriate settings (such as video size, frame rate, and so on), the source content file can be dropped onto a time line and the appropriate speed value applied to match a rate request. For example, you can use the following settings on the Speed/Duration tab in Adobe Premiere:

Set speed to For a client rate request of

100% Normal speed

500% Five times normal speed

1000% Ten times normal speed

10000% One hundred times normal speed (Windows CE)

The file can then be exported as an Audio-Video Interleaved (AVI), which is then encoded to the corresponding normal and trick mode speed files in Windows Media Video (WMV) format.

For best results, make sure to observe the following guidelines while creating trick mode speed files:

Use AVI files for your original source content.

If your encoding software includes an option to import or include an encoding profile in the encoding process, you can save time by using an encoding profile to encode trick mode speed files for various speeds.

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Encode a normal speed content file to WMV format using the encoding profile of your choice. Set the key frame distance to an appropriate value for smooth playback on the client.

Use the same encoding profile settings (audio/video bit rate, stream numbers, and buffers, video size and pixel aspect ratio, interlace/progressive mode, frame rate, packet size, and encoding buffer) and codecs to encode all of your trick mode speed files to WMV format. Unpredictable behavior may result if you change the settings. For example, the server may not be able to stream the files to the client or the client experience may vary when switching between the normal speed file and a trick mode speed file. However, you should set the key frame distance to zero. This setting allows the Windows Media server to send all frames as key frames, resulting in smooth playback on the client during fast-forward or rewind. Note, however, that the quality of a file is reduced when more key frames are used.

Name your files so that it is easy to differentiate the normal speed file and trick mode speed files.Normal and trick mode speed files created for Advanced FF/RW must be placed in a location that is accessible to the client. Clients are directed to trick mode speed files through either a fully qualified or relative URL contained in a tmi element in a client-side playlist (.asx). For more information, see Implementing Advanced FF/RW.

Related topics


Implementing Advanced FF/RW

After you create the normal speed file and trick mode speed files, the files must be placed in a location accessible by the client. The Windows Media server provides the client with the information it needs to connect to the server and receive the content by using an announcement file (a Windows Media metafile with an .asx file name extension). The announcement contains a reference to a .tmi file that contains the URLs of the normal speed file and trick mode speed files.

The following is an example of a basic announcement file that contains a reference to a .tmi file (mycontent.tmi):

<asx version = "3.0"> <entry> <ref href = "mms://server1/mycontent.tmi"/> </entry></asx>A .tmi file resides on the server and provides the server with the locations of the normal speed file and trick mode speed files so that the server can stream the files to the client upon request. A .tmi file is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

The following example shows the elements in a .tmi file:

<?tmi version="1.0"?><tmi> <media src="file://C:\wmpub\WMRoot\myFile_1x.wmv" rate="1"/> <media src="file://C:\wmpub\WMRoot\myFile_5x.wmv" rate="5"/></tmi>

A .tmi file contains the following elements:

tmi

media, nested inside the tmi element

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Each tmi element can include up to 10 media elements. media elements correspond to the normal speed and trick mode speed files.

The media element includes two attributes:

src, the location of the normal speed file and trick mode speed files

rate, the speed at which the normal speed file and trick mode speed files are playedThe src attribute specifies the location of the normal speed and trick mode speed files. The location value can be a fully qualified URL or a relative URL. If relative, it will be resolved to a fully qualified URL by using the location of the .tmi file on the server as the base URL. The rate attribute specifies the speed factor for the file referenced in the src attribute.

If more than one trick mode speed file is referenced, you can add another media element to the tmi element. For example, if you want to add trick mode speed file that plays 10 times faster than a normal speed file, add the following media element to the .tmi file:

<media src="file://C:\wmpub\WMRoot\myfile_10x.wmv" rate="10"/>

You can create or edit a .tmi file by using a text editor, such as Notepad, or an XML editing program.

Notes

If the src attribute does not reference a file with a .wmv file name extension, a "file not found" error is displayed in the client.

If a client makes a rate request for which you have not created a corresponding entry in the .tmi file, the server fulfills the request using standard trick mode instead.

Trick mode speeds specified in announcement files must be whole numbers (integers). Trick mode speeds up to 10 times normal speed are supported in Windows Media Player 9 Series or later. Trick mode speeds are not restricted in Windows CE version 5.0 or later.

Related topics

Announcing content


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Managing your Windows Media serverUsing Windows Media Services, you can configure your Windows Media server to stream content over an intranet or the Internet. Before you begin streaming content, you must configure settings for your server running Windows Media Services, add and configure publishing points, and set up your content.


Administering servers

Using groups

Monitoring performance

Related topics





Concepts

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Administering serversWindows Media servers can be administered by using the Windows Media Services snap-in or by using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. If you use the Windows Media Services snap-in, you can add any server that is running Windows Media Services to the console as long as you have administrative rights for the server. If you remove a server from the snap-in, you can still manage that server by using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. You can also use command-line scripts and custom programs created using the Windows Media Services 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) to administer your server.


Allowing or denying unicast client connections

Setting server limits

Using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web

Related topics

To start Windows Media Services on a server

To stop Windows Media Services on a server



Allowing or denying unicast client connectionsYou can choose to allow or deny new unicast connections to your server or publishing point. Once you allow new connections, clients can connect to publishing points on a server and receive content.

If you deny new connections, new clients are prevented from connecting to the content, but current clients are not disconnected. As connected clients stop receiving content (when the stream ends or they disconnect from the server), the number of connections gradually decreases. You may want to deny client connections to your server when conducting various activities, such as updating your plug-in configuration, modifying server property settings, or modifying your content source. If these activities are performed while clients are connected to the server, there is a chance that streaming will be interrupted for a short period of time.

Notes

If you choose to deny new connections, a client that is connected through HTTP will be disconnected from the server if the user attempts to stop, pause, fast-forward, or rewind content.

You can only deny or allow connections to clients that are receiving content as a unicast stream. If clients are receiving the content as a multicast stream, you must stop the broadcast publishing point in order to disconnect them from the content.

Related topics


To allow unicast connections to a server

To deny unicast connections to a server

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Setting server limitsTo manage server resources, you can set limits for a number of connection parameters. Limits set at the server level apply to all of the publishing points on that server. You can set the limits for the following parameters on the Properties tab:

Limit player connections. Sets the maximum number of player connections.

Limit outgoing distribution connections. Sets the maximum number of distribution servers that can connect to this origin server.

Limit aggregate player bandwidth. Specifies the maximum amount of bandwidth in kilobits per second (Kbps) that all player connections can use.

Limit aggregate outgoing distribution bandwidth. Specifies the maximum amount of bandwidth in Kbps that distribution server connections can use.

Limit bandwidth per stream per player. Specifies the maximum amount of bandwidth in Kbps that a single player connection can use.

Limit bandwidth per outgoing distribution stream. Specifies the maximum amount of bandwidth in Kbps that a single distribution server connection can use.

Limit connection rate. Specifies the maximum number of connection requests processed per second. The default value is 50.

Limit player timeout inactivity. Specifies the number of seconds that a player can remain connected but inactive before being automatically disconnected. The default value is 3,600 seconds (1 hour). This default value supports users pausing playback of content for an extended period of time and then restarting playback without having to reconnect to the server.

Limit connection acknowledgement. Specifies the number of seconds that the server will wait for the player to respond to a connection acknowledgement request before disconnecting the player. Connection acknowledgement requests are sent to the player by the server to verify the connection to the player. The default value is 60 seconds. If you are streaming in an environment with high latency, consider increasing this value to correspond with network conditions.

When a limit is reached, subsequent connection requests are refused, and a limit hit event is displayed in the Troubleshooting event list.

Related topics




Using Windows Media Services Administrator for the WebWindows Media Services Administrator for the Web enables you to administer Windows Media servers remotely by using a browser such as Internet Explorer. Windows Media Services

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Administrator for the Web has most of the functionality of the Windows Media Services snap-in, but it also enables you to administer Windows Media servers in diverse scenarios, including servers that are separated from server administrators by firewalls, servers that are using a low-bandwidth network connection, or servers that are in a non-Windows environment. Using the Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, you can perform common tasks such as creating and starting publishing points, monitoring publishing point activity, and configuring plug-ins. Tasks that require a fixed network location, such as creating announcement files, browsing folders, and creating and editing playlists, however, can only be done with the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web is a complete Web site that is hosted on your Windows Media server by Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). You can add Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web during installation or at any time using the Windows Components Wizard. After adding Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, it is recommended that you configure an appropriate level of security for the administration Web site to protect data transferred between a remote computer and your Windows Media server and to protect your network from unauthorized access. For more information, see Securing the Windows Media Administration site.

Once you have installed Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, configured the appropriate security settings, and started the Web site, you can access the Web site from any browser that supports Active Server Pages (ASP). Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web is useful if you want to administer one or more servers from a single location or if physical or network access to the server is difficult, such as when you administer a server across a network firewall. Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web is also useful for use in temporary remote locations. For example, you could use Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web to control broadcast publishing points from a remote location where you are producing and encoding a live event.

Once the main administration Web site has been opened remotely, Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web requires only a small amount of bandwidth. To access Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, you must log on to the remote computer using an account that has administrative privileges. If you would like to provide non-administrators with access to Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, you can modify the security settings in Windows Media Services to give specified users rights to administer the server. For more information, see Limiting user rights.

The system requirements for the server hosting Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web are roughly equivalent to those of a server running Windows Media Services. For more information about system requirements, see Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Note

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web can only be installed on an NTFS-formatted drive.

Related topics


To install and use Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web


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Using groupsBy grouping servers, you can monitor their performance in one area of the Windows Media Services snap-in, making it possible to organize your servers according to your needs. For example, you can group your servers by administrative area, business application, geographic location, or content source.

The group summary page provides the total number of players and the total amount of bandwidth being used by the server group. This allows you to determine when to add additional resources or when to establish limits on your servers. It also provides a quick way to see the status for all the servers in your group.

Note

This information only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in. Group management is not supported in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Related topics

About groups

To add a group

To add a server to a group

To export a console configuration

To import a console configuration


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Monitoring performanceThere are many different methods that you can use to monitor the performance of your Windows Media server.

Monitor tab. This tab is available for both the server itself and for each publishing point on the server. It provides a general overview of the activity on the server or publishing point. For more information, see About the Monitor tab for a server and About the Monitor tab for a publishing point.

Windows Performance Monitor. This feature, accessible from the Monitor tab, provides a graphical view of several different performance counters. It can be customized to display the statistics that are most important in your system. For more information, see Using Windows Media performance counters.

SNMP object monitoring. Windows Media Services provides extensive support for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) objects and traps. For more information, see About the Windows Media SNMP objects.

WMI event monitoring. Windows Media Services is a fully extensible Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) provider. Your WMI monitoring application can subscribe to WMI events from Windows Media Services in the same way that it uses events from other providers. For more information, see Subscribing to Windows Media WMI events.


Using Windows Media performance counters

About the Windows Media SNMP objects

Subscribing to Windows Media WMI events Note

The default settings for SNMP service access in Windows Server 2003 prevent unauthorized access to your server. If you are using SNMP to monitor a local server, you do not need to change the SNMP service settings. If you plan to use SNMP objects to monitor your server from another computer, you must authorize remote access to your SNMP service by configuring the SNMP Services Properties settings on the Windows Media server to accept SNMP packets from the remote computer that you want to use to monitor the Windows Media server.

Related topics

Setting publishing point limits



Using Windows Media performance countersWindows Media Services provides two sets of performance object counters that you can use to monitor your Windows Media servers and publishing points: Windows Media Services and Windows Media Publishing Points.

On the Monitor tabs of both your server and publishing point, you can click the Performance button to open a performance monitor that reports the most commonly used Windows Media performance

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counters for the selected object. You can add or remove counters from the monitor to suit your needs.

Windows Media performance counters can provide useful information in the following scenarios:

Real-time usage statistics. Performance counters provide information about the current usage of the server, such as the number of currently connected players, the amount of bandwidth utilization, and the number of distribution streams.

Identify streaming problems. Performance counters can provide information to help you identify and troubleshoot issues in your streaming system, such as the number of stream errors and resend requests.

Monitor encoder and distribution streams. Encoder and distribution server packet counters help identify when streams from an encoder or streams through a distribution server are failing.

Report peak usage. Most counters provide peak values, which enable you to track the maximum capacity of your system.

The following table identifies the performance monitor counters that are available for each performance object.

Performance monitor counter name and description Windows Media

Services

Windows Media

Publishing Points

Current Cache Downloads

The number of concurrent streams being downloaded to the memory area of the cache/proxy server.

Current Connected Players

The current number of players with unicast connections to the server. This number does not include distribution server connections.

Current Connection Queue Length

The current number of connection requests that are pending on the server from both players and distribution servers.

Current Connection Rate

The current number of clients per second that are connecting to the server.

Current File Read Rate

The current rate, in kilobits per second (Kbps), at which data packets are read from a file.

Current Incoming Bandwidth

The current bandwidth, in Kbps, allocated for streams from other servers.

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Current Late Read Rate

The current number of data packets per second that take longer than 400 milliseconds to read from the file system.

Current Late Send Rate

The current number of packets that are sent out 0.5 seconds or more after the marked send time.

Current Outgoing Distribution Allocated Bandwidth

The current bandwidth, in Kbps, allocated for streams to distribution servers.

Current Outgoing Distribution Connections

The current number of distribution servers that are connected to this server.

Current Outgoing Distribution Send Rate

The current rate, in Kbps, at which data packets are being streamed to distribution servers.

Current Player Allocated Bandwidth

The current amount of bandwidth, in Kbps, that is allocated for all streams to players.

Current Player Send Rate

The current rate, in Kbps, at which data packets are being streamed to players.

Current Stream Error Rate

The current number of errors per second due to dropped packets.

Current Streaming HTTP Players

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the HTTP protocol. This does not include players that are stopped or paused.

Current Streaming MMS Players

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the MMS protocol. This does not include players that are stopped or paused.

Current Streaming Players

The current number of players that are being streamed data across all protocols. This does not include players that are stopped or paused.

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Current Streaming RTSP Players

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the RTSP protocol. This does not include players that are stopped or paused.

Current UDP Resend Requests Rate

The current number of requests for UDP resends per second received from clients.

Current UDP Resends Sent RateThe current number of UDP resends per second sent to clients.

Peak Connected Players

The peak number of players that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Outgoing Distribution Allocated Bandwidth

The peak bandwidth, in Kbps, allocated for all streams to distribution servers that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Outgoing Distribution Connections

The peak number of distribution servers that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Outgoing Distribution Send Rate

The peak rate, in Kbps, at which data was streamed to distribution servers since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Player Allocated Bandwidth

The peak bandwidth, in Kbps, that has been allocated for all streams to players since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Player Send Rate

The peak rate, in Kbps, at which data was streamed to players since the last time the counter was reset.

Peak Streaming Players

The peak number of players that have been streamed data concurrently since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Advertisements

The total number of advertisements that have been streamed from playlists since the last time the counter was reset.

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Total Connected Players

The total number of players that have connected to the server since the last time the counter was reset.

Total File Bytes Read

The total number of bytes read from files by the server since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Late Reads

The total number of times that the server required more than 400 milliseconds to read data from the file system since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Late Sends

The total number of times the server sent out data packets 0.5 seconds or more after the marked send time since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Outgoing Distribution Bytes Sent

The total number of bytes streamed to all distribution servers since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Outgoing Distribution Connections

The total number of distribution servers that have connected to the server or publishing point since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Player Bytes Sent

The total number of bytes streamed to all players since the last time the counter was reset.

Total Server Uptime

The elapsed time, in seconds, that the Windows Media Services service has been running since it was last started.

Total Stream Denials

The total number of times the server refused to send a requested stream to a client since the last time the counter was reset. This includes denials that occurred due to failure to be authorized or authenticated, as well as denials that occurred because limits were exceeded.

Total Stream Errors

The total number of stream errors due to dropped packets since the last time the counter was reset.

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Total Stream Terminations

The total number of streams that were terminated due to inactivity or errors since the last time the counter was reset. This includes terminations that occurred because player inactivity and timeout limits were exceeded, as well as terminations due to events such as late reads.

Total Streaming Players

The total number of players that have been streamed data since the last time the counter was reset.

Total UDP Resend Requests

The total number of requests for UDP resends received from clients since the last time the counter was reset.

Total UDP Resends Sent

The total number of UDP resends sent to clients since the last time the counter was reset.

Note

Windows Media Services has built-in support for cache/proxy plug-ins. In the performance monitor Add Counters dialog box, you will see the following additional publishing point instances: Cache/Proxy Broadcast and Cache/Proxy On-Demand. These publishing points are only active if you have installed a cache/proxy server plug-in and are using your server as a cache/proxy server. For more information on cache/proxy servers, see Caching and proxying content.

Related topics


About the Windows Media SNMP objectsWindows Media Services provides support for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-based management consoles through an extensive set of SNMP objects. These objects are defined in the Windows Media Services SNMP management information base file WMSSNMP.mib, which is located on your Windows Media server in %systemroot%\System 32\Windows Media\Server.

To use Windows Media Services SNMP objects, you must first register the DLL Wmssnmp.dll. For more information about registering the DLL, see To register Windows Media Services SNMP objects for SNMP monitoring.

It is recommended that you configure your server to use Internet Protocol security (IPSec) for SNMP data transfers. Otherwise, the SNMP service will transfer data in clear text, which means that the data could be intercepted and decoded by network analyzers. IPSec encrypts data and communications between the SNMP agent and management stations, so the information is safer from interception.

If you decide to use IPSec for SNMP data transfers, you should create an IPSec policy on your computer that filters data transferred on both UDP and TCP ports 161 and 162 and that uses

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Kerberos authentication. For more information about creating Internet Protocol security policies, see Windows Help and Support.

The following table lists the objects that you can receive in your SNMP browser. All of the objects have read-only access.

Object and description Syntax

wmsCurrentPlayerAllocatedBandwidth

The current bandwidth, in kilobits per second (Kbps), that is allocated for streams to all players.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentOutgoingDistributionAllocatedBandwidth

The current bandwidth, in Kbps, that is allocated for streams to distribution servers.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentConnectedPlayers

The current number of players with unicast connections to the server.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentConnectionQueueLength

The current number of connection requests that are pending on the server.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentConnectionRate

The current number of clients per second that are connecting to the server.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentStreamingHttpPlayers

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the HTTP protocol. This number does not include players that are stopped or paused.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentStreamingMmsPlayers

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the MMS protocol. This number does not include players that are stopped or paused.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentOutgoingDistributionConnections

The current number of connections to distribution servers.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentStreamingRtspPlayers

The current number of players that are being streamed data through the RTSP protocol. This number does not include players that are stopped or paused.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentStreamingPlayers

The current number of players that are being streamed data across all protocols. This number does not include players that are stopped or paused.

INTEGER

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wmsCurrentCacheDownloads

The current number of streams downloaded to a cache server that have not yet expired.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentOutgoingDistributionSendRate

The current rate, in Kbps, at which data is being streamed to distribution servers.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentPlayerSendRate

The current rate, in Kbps, at which data is being streamed to players.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentLateReadRate

The current number of data packets per second that take longer than 400 milliseconds to read from the file system.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentLateSendRate

The current number of packets that are sent out 0.5 seconds or more after the marked send time.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentStreamErrorRate

The current number of errors per second due to dropped packets.

INTEGER

wmsCurrentUdpResendRequestsRate

The current number of requests for UDP resends per second received from clients.

INTEGER

wmsCurrrendUdpResendsSentRate

The current number of UDP resends per second sent to clients.

INTEGER

wmsPeakPlayerAllocatedBandwidth

The peak bandwidth, in Kbps, allocated for all streams to players since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsPeakOutgoingDistributionAllocatedBandwidth

The peak bandwidth, in Kbps, allocated for all streams to distribution servers that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsPeakConnectedPlayers

The peak number of players that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsPeakOutgoingDistributionConnections

The peak number of distribution servers that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

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wmsPeakOutgoingDistributionSendRate

The peak rate, in Kbps, at which data was streamed to distribution servers since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsPeakPlayerSendRate

The peak rate, in Kbps, at which data was streamed to players since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsPeakStreamingPlayers

The peak number of players that have been streamed data concurrently since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalConnectedPlayers

The total number of players that have been connected to your server since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalOutgoingDistributionConnections

The total number of distribution servers that have connected since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalLateReads

The total number of times that the server required more than 400 milliseconds to read data from the file system since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalLateSends

The total number of times the server sent out data packets 0.5 seconds or more after the marked send time.

INTEGER

wmsTotalStreamDenials

The total number of times the server refused to send a requested stream to a client since the last time the counter was reset. This includes both denials that occurred due to failure to be authorized or authenticated, as well as denials that occurred because limits were exceeded.

INTEGER

wmsTotalStreamErrors

The total number of stream errors due to dropped packets since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalStreamingPlayers

The total number of players that have been streamed data since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

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wmsTotalStreamTerminations

The total number of streams that were terminated due to inactivity or errors since the last time the counter was reset. This includes terminations that occurred because player inactivity and timeout limits were exceeded, as well as terminations due to events such as late reads.

INTEGER

wmsTotalUdpResendRequests

The total number of requests for UDP resends received from clients since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalUdpResendsSent

The total number of UDP resends sent to clients since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalServerUptime

The elapsed time, in seconds, that the Windows Media Services service has been running since it was last started.

INTEGER

wmsTotalAdvertisements

The total number of advertisements that have been streamed from playlists since the last time the counter was reset.

INTEGER

wmsTotalPlayerBytesSent

The total number of bytes streamed to all players since the last time the counter was reset.

Counter64

wmsTotalOutgoingDistributionBytesSent

The total number of bytes streamed to all distribution servers since the last time the counter was reset.

Counter64

Note

SNMP services are not installed by default with either the Windows Server 2003 operating system or Windows Media Services. Before attempting to use Windows Media Services SNMP objects, ensure that SNMP services are installed on your computer. For more information about installing SNMP services, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics

To register Windows Media Services SNMP objects for SNMP monitoring


Subscribing to Windows Media WMI eventsIf you are using a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)-based console to manage your servers, you can subscribe to different WMI events that report on your Windows Media server activity and set alerts that enable you to respond to situations as they arise. Windows Media Services includes the WMS WMI Event Handler plug-in. WMI is the Microsoft implementation of

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Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM), which is an industry initiative to develop a standard technology for accessing management information in an enterprise environment. WMI uses the Common Information Model (CIM) industry standard to represent systems, applications, networks, devices, and other managed components in an enterprise environment. For more information about WMI events and classes, see the Windows Media Services SDK at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


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Understanding publishing pointsWindows Media Services uses publishing points to translate a client request for content into a physical path on the server hosting the content. After a client successfully connects to a publishing point, your Windows Media server manages the connection and streams the content. This section contains the following topics:


Adding publishing points

Configuring publishing points

Streaming from publishing points

Archiving content

Related topics



Concepts

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About publishing point typesClients access content streams from your server by connecting to a publishing point. Windows Media Services includes two types of publishing points: on-demand and broadcast. Either type can be configured to deliver a stream from one of several types of sources, such as a live stream from an encoder, a file, or a playlist. One Windows Media server can be configured to run multiple publishing points, hosting a combination of broadcast and on-demand content.

The two types of publishing point are similar in many ways, but have a few important differences. In general, you would use an on-demand publishing point if you want the client to control playback; a broadcast publishing point if you want to control playback on the server. This section describes more differences between the two types of publishing point. Keep this information in mind when choosing the type of publishing point you want to use to stream content. This section includes the following topics:

Using on-demand publishing points

Using broadcast publishing points

Related topics

Working with the Add Publishing Point Wizard


Using on-demand publishing pointsStreaming content from an on-demand publishing point is best suited for scenarios in which you want users to be able to control playback of the content that is being streamed. This type of publishing point is most often used to host content sourced from files, playlists, or directories. When a client connects to the publishing point, the content starts at the beginning and the end-user can use the playback controls on the Player to pause, fast-forward, rewind, skip between items in a playlist, or stop.

An on-demand publishing point streams content only when a client is connected to receive the stream. Content streamed from an on-demand publishing point is always delivered as a unicast stream, which means that the server maintains a separate connection with each client.

An on-demand publishing point can also be used to deliver a broadcast stream from an encoder, a remote server, or another publishing point. Any of these can be selected as the sole source of content or included as part of a content playlist. When content originates from a source other than the Windows Media server, the user cannot use the playback controls on the Player to pause, fast-forward, rewind, skip items in a playlist, or stop.

Notes

The ability to fast-forward, skip, rewind, and pause while playing content from a server-side playlist is only supported by Windows Media Player 9 Series or later or a player that uses the Windows Media Player 9 Series ActiveX control. Users that are connecting with a previous version of the Player will not be able to control the playback of the content in the server-side playlist. If these users stop and then restart the Player, playback will start from the beginning of the playlist.

If your publishing point is accessing files on a computer running Windows 2000 Server as a source of content, you may have difficulty streaming the content due to differences in the way that Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003 handle user account authorization and

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privileges. If the two computers are members of the same domain, on-demand publishing points that have the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in enabled and attempt to retrieve content from a computer running Windows 2000 Server will cause remote clients to receive an "Access denied" error message. Local clients, such as the Test stream feature of Windows Media Services, are not affected. If the two computers are not members of the same domain, see To access content on a computer running Windows 2000 Server.

Related topics




Using broadcast publishing pointsStreaming content from a broadcast publishing point is best suited for scenarios in which you want to create an experience similar to viewing a television program—the content is controlled and streamed at the point of origin or the server. This type of publishing point is most often used to deliver live streams from encoders, remote servers, or other broadcast publishing points. When a client connects to a broadcast publishing point, the client is joining a broadcast that is already underway. For example, if a company-wide meeting is broadcast at 10:00 A.M., clients connecting at 10:18 A.M. have missed the first 18 minutes of the meeting. A client can start and stop the stream, but cannot pause, fast-forward, rewind, or skip.

You can also stream files and playlists of files on a broadcast publishing point. When they are sourced by a broadcast publishing point, the file or playlist is sent as a broadcast stream by the server and the player cannot control playback as it can with an on-demand stream. The user experience is just like that of receiving a broadcast of a live encoded stream; the client begins playing the stream in progress.

Typically, a broadcast publishing point streams as soon as it is started and then continues until it is stopped or the content finishes. However, you can configure a broadcast publishing point to start and run automatically only if one or more clients are connected. By doing so, network and server resources are saved when no clients are connected. You can also configure a broadcast publishing point to start automatically when a Windows Media server is started. For example, if a power interruption causes a Windows Media server to restart, all broadcast publishing points can begin running automatically after the server starts.

You can deliver content from a broadcast publishing point as either a unicast or multicast stream. You can save the stream from a broadcast publishing point as an archive file and then offer the file to end-users as an on-demand replay of the original broadcast. For more information, see Archiving content.

Notes

Manually starting a broadcast publishing point overrides the Start publishing point when first client connects property. If you want the broadcast publishing point to start and stop automatically based on client connections, do not start the publishing point manually.


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Related topics



203


Log file reference informationA log file is a text file that is divided into two general areas: the header and the log entries. The header, which appears first in the log file, contains data about the log file. The log entries contain data about client activity. This section contains tables that provide reference information about the fields that appear in the log file header and log file entries. This section also contains a table of the wildcard characters you can add to a log file name if you want a log file name to be more meaningful.


Log file header reference


Wildcard characters reference

ISAPI properties reference

Related topics


Log file header referenceThe log file header consists of a number of lines, each starting with a number sign (#), followed by the header field name, a colon, a single space, and the field's value. Each line ends with a carriage return (\n). The header consists of the following entries (in order).

Field name Description Example

StartDate The date (in international date format, YYYY-MM-DD) and time (hh:mm:ss) the log file was created. It represents the date and time by using the locale of the server generating the log file.

This field is named Date in log files that are generated by the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent ISAPI extension.

#StartDate: 2001-11-30 16:05:03

EndDate The date (in international date format, YYYY-MM-DD) and time (hh:mm:ss) the log file was closed. It represents the date and time by using the locale of the server generating the log file.

This field does not appear in log files that are generated by the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent ISAPI extension.

#EndDate: 2001-11-30 16:05:42

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TimeFormat The time format used in the log file (Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or local). If the time format is local, the number in parentheses represents the number of minutes before UTC.

#TimeFormat: Local(480)

EncodingFormat

The text encoding used in creating the log file, which can be either UTF-8 or ANSI. UTF-8 is the default.

#EncodingFormat: ANSI

ServerName The name of the server generating the log file.


#ServerName: WMS_Server_1

ServerIP A comma-separated list of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses that the Windows Media Services service is bound to. This may not include every IP address the computer is bound to.


#ServerIP: 192.168.1.2, 192.168.1.33

Software The software name. #Software: Windows Media Services

Version The version of the Windows Media Services service.

#Version: 9.0

Publishing Point

The name of the publishing point the log file is associated with. The field includes any forward slash (/) characters in the name.


#Publishingpointname: [Global] (represents the entire server)#Publishingpointname: Name

Fields Space-separated list of all the field names that are logged in the order in which they are logged. The Fields header is always the last header entry in the header.

#Fields: c-ip date time c-dns

Related topics



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Each client event in a log file is represented as a single line, or log entry. Each log entry contains a number of space-delimited fields. All spaces embedded in a field value are replaced by underscore (_) characters (for example, Windows NT appears as Windows_NT). If there is no value available for a given field, a single hyphen (-) character is used to indicate the value is either not available or not applicable. For example, there is no data available for server statistics fields in log files created by the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent, so those fields contain single hyphens.

The following table contains a list of each field (in the order in which the field appears in the log file), a description, and a sample value. It also identifies whether the data in the field is reported from unicast clients, multicast clients, or both.

Field name Description Sample value Client data reported

c-ip The source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the connected socket. This may be the IP address of a proxy server or firewall.

157.56.219.146 Unicast

Multicast

date Date when a client connected (in international date format).

2001-04-19 Unicast

Multicast

time Time when the client connected. The time format is either in Coordinated Universal Time or local time, depending on how the logging plug-in is configured.

15:30:30 Unicast

Multicast

c-dns This field is always blank. - Unicast

Multicast

cs-uri-stem The path (requested URL without the schema, host, port number, and question mark) to the content that was requested. See cs-url for the full URL. Note that this represents a change from Windows Media Services version 4.1, in which this field contained the full URL.

/test/sample.wmvor/broadcast

Unicast

Multicast

c-starttime Timestamp (in seconds, no fractions) indicating the point in the stream when the client started to render content. For live broadcasts, this field is set to 0.

39 Unicast

Multicast

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x-duration Length of time (in seconds) of the data received by the client. For player log entries, the value does not include buffered data. For distribution server log entries, the value includes all time spent receiving data, including any buffering.

31 Unicast

Multicast

c-rate The rate at which data is sent from the server to the client. Possible values:0.5: Half of the real-time rate.

1: Real-time rate

2: Twice as fast as real-time

5: fast forward

-5: fast rewind

If you are using Fast Streaming, these values could be considerably higher or lower depending on the content and the available bandwidth.

1 Unicast

Multicast

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c-status Codes that describe client status. Possible codes:200: The connection was successful.210: The client reconnected (after first disconnecting).400: The requested URL was invalid.

401: The client was denied access.404: The requested content was not found.408: The client failed to submit a log because the client disconnected.420: The client was disconnected and attempted to reconnect but failed. The client will then connect again starting a new session. This code reflects the client's statistics when it was originally disconnected. For each log entry with this code there should be a 408 that has the same session ID.

500: The Windows Media server encountered an internal error and stopped streaming.

200 Unicast

Multicast

c-playerid Globally unique identifier (GUID) of the client. For player log entries, if the player is configured not to send unique player identification information to content providers, the value is: {3300AD50-2C39-46c0-AE0A-xxxxxxxxxxxx}, where x is the session ID of the client. For distribution server log entries, this value is always a series of zeroes.

{c579d042-cecc-11d1-bb31-00a0c9603954}

Unicast

Multicast

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c-playerversion

For player log entries, this field represents the version number of the player. For distribution server log entries, this field represents the version number of the distribution server.

6.2.5.415 Unicast

Multicast

c-playerlanguage

Language and country/region code of the player.

en-US Unicast

Multicast

cs(User-Agent) Browser type used if the player was embedded in a browser. If the player was not embedded, this field refers to the user agent of the client that generated the log.

Mozilla/4.0_(compatible;_MSIE_4.01;_Windows_98)

Unicast

cs(Referer) URL to the Web page in which the player was embedded (if it was embedded). If this is unknown, this field is blank.

http://www.example.microsoft.com

Unicast

c-hostexe For player log entries, the host program (.exe) that was run. For example, a Web page in a browser, a Microsoft Visual Basic applet, or a stand-alone player. For distribution server log entries, the name of the distribution server's service program (.exe) that was run.

iexplore.exevb.exemplayer2.exeWMServer.exe

Unicast

Multicast

c-hostexever Host program (.exe) version number.

4.70.1215 Unicast

Multicast

c-os Client operating system. Windows_NT Unicast

Multicast

c-osversion Version number of the client operating system.

4.0.0.1381 Unicast

Multicast

c-cpu Client CPU type. Pentium Unicast

Multicast

209


filelength Length of the digital media file (in seconds). This value is zero for a stream delivered from a broadcast publishing point.

60 Unicast

filesize Size of the digital media file (in bytes). This value is zero for a stream delivered from a broadcast publishing point.

86000 Unicast

avgbandwidth Average bandwidth (in bits per second) at which the client was connected to the server. The value is calculated across the entire duration of the connection.

24300 Unicast

Multicast

protocol Actual protocol used to access the content (may differ from the protocol requested by the client). A value of "Cache" indicates that a client played the content from its disk-based cache. A value of "asfm" indicates that the content was delivered using multicast transmission.

MMST Unicast

Multicast

transport Transport protocol used to stream content. Multicast content is always streamed using UDP.

UDPTCP

Unicast

Multicast

audiocodec For player log entries, the audio codecs used to encode the audio streams the client accessed. If multiple codecs were used, the values are delimited by a semicolon. This field contains a hyphen (-) in distribution server log entries.

Microsoft_Audio_Codec

Unicast

Multicast

210


videocodec For player log entries, the video codecs used to encode the video streams the client accessed. If multiple codecs were used, the values are delimited by a semicolon. This field contains a hyphen (-) in distribution server log entries.

Microsoft_MPEG-4_Video_Codec_V2

Unicast

Multicast

channelURL URL to the multicast information file. This field contains a hyphen (-) in a client receiving content as a unicast stream unless the unicast stream is a result of a unicast rollover from a multicast stream.

http://www.example.microsoft.com/channel.nsc

Unicast

Multicast

sc-bytes Total number of bytes the server sent to the client. The value does not include any overhead that is added by the network stack. However, protocols such as MMS, RTSP, and HTTP may introduce some overhead. Therefore, the same content streamed by using different protocols may result in different values.

This field contains a hyphen (-) in propagated cache/proxy logs and in multicast log files.

30000 Unicast

211


c-bytes Number of bytes received by the client from the server. The value does not include any overhead that is added by the network stack. However, protocols such as MMS, RTSP, and HTTP may introduce some overhead. Therefore, the same content streamed by using different protocols may result in different values. If c-bytes and sc-bytes are not identical, packet loss occurred.

28583 Unicast

Multicast

s-pkts-sent Number of content packets sent by the server to a connected client. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets. This field contains a hyphen (-) in propagated cache/proxy logs and in multicast log files.

55 Unicast

c-pkts-received

Number of packets from the server (s-pkts-sent) that are received correctly by the client on the first try. Packets that are not received correctly on the first try can be recovered if they are resent through the UDP protocol. Packets that are not recovered through UDP resend are considered lost in the network. You can recover these packets if error correction is enabled. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets.

50 Unicast

Multicast

212


c-pkts-lost-client

Packets lost that were not recovered at the client layer through error correction or at the network layer through UDP resends, during transmission from server to client. These packets are sent by the Windows Media server but never played by the client. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets.

5 Unicast

Multicast

c-pkts-lost-net Number of packets lost on the network layer. You can still recover these packets if error correction is enabled. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets.

2 Unicast

Multicast

c-pkts-lost-cont-net

Maximum number of continuously lost packets on the network layer during transmission from server to client. If the value is high, the network conditions were bad, with long periods of time during which the client received no packets. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets.

2 Unicast

Multicast

c-resendreqs Number of client requests to receive new packets. This field contains a zero unless the client is using UDP resend.

5 Unicast

Multicast

213


c-pkts-recovered-ECC

Packets lost in the network (c-pkts-lost-net) that were repaired and recovered at the client layer because error correction was enabled. Error correction is the only means of packet recovery for multicast streams. Packets repaired and recovered at the client layer are equal to the difference between c-pkts-lost-net and c-pkts-lost-client. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets.

3 Unicast

Multicast

c-pkts-recovered-resent

Number of packets recovered because they were resent through UDP. The value does not include TCP or UDP packets. This field contains a zero unless the client is using UDP resend.

5 Unicast

Multicast

c-buffercount Number of times the client buffered while playing the stream.

4 Unicast

Multicast

c-totalbuffertime

Time (in seconds) the client used to buffer the stream. If the client buffers more than once before a log entry is generated, c-totalbuffertime is the total amount of time the client spent buffering.

6 Unicast

Multicast

c-quality The lowest amount of stream quality reported by the Player during the playback of the stream.

96 Unicast

Multicast

s-ip IP address of the server that received the log file. For multicast log files, this value will be the IP address of the Web server on which Wmsiislog.dll is installed.

224.24.41.189 Unicast

Multicast

214


s-dns Domain Name System (DNS) name of the server that received the log file. This field contains a hyphen (-) in multicast log files.

media.server.company.com

Unicast

s-totalclients Number of clients connected to the server (but not necessarily streaming) at the time the event was logged. This field contains a hyphen (-) in propagated cache/proxy logs and in multicast log files.

20 Unicast

s-cpu-util Average load on the server processor (0 to 100 percent). If multiple processors exist, this value is the average for all processors. This field contains a hyphen (-) in propagated cache/proxy logs and in multicast log files.

40 Unicast

cs-username The user name the client provided during authentication. This field contains a value only if authorization and authentication plug-ins are enabled. If an anonymous authentication method is used, this field will contain a hyphen (-).

JSmith Unicast

s-sessionid A session identifier the server uses to track a stream session. This is important for tracking multiple log entries to the same session. Note that if Windows Media Player version 6.4 received content over HTTP, the s-sessionid value will change for each log entry, even if the entries are for the same session.

123456 Unicast

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s-contentpath The actual content that streamed. A plug-in may resolve a requested path to another path. If the client was redirected, this field represents the location to which the client was redirected.

file://C:\WMPub\WMRoot\Encoder_ad.wmv

or

http://www.example.microsoft.com/speech.wma

Unicast

cs-url The actual URL requested by the client. For multicast clients, this value is the multicast IP address and port. However, Windows Media Player 9 Series or later and Windows Media Player 9 Series ActiveX control multicast clients submit the multicast IP address and port, followed by the IP address of the network interface from which the server broadcasts the multicast.

mms://microsoft.com/mycontent.wmv

asfm://206.73.118.254:26502

-or- (for Windows Media Player 9 Series or later)

asfm://multicast IP address:port/Server IP address

Unicast

Multicast

cs-media-name

If the client was receiving content from a playlist, the media element the client was receiving. The value is derived from the mediaName attribute of the playlist media element. If the mediaName attribute is not present, the value in this field is derived from the file name value. This field is blank if the client was not receiving content from a playlist.

Alternatively, this entry can be specified in the announcement file in order to classify logs according to user or content.

/ads/MyAd2.asf Unicast

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c-max-bandwidth

The maximum bandwidth rate (in bits per second) of the client. This value can be used to determine whether clients have the capacity for higher bandwidth content. The value recorded for this field can have the following types of values:a) a valid number of bps reported from the client., such as 38400

b) an undetermined amount, logged as 0.

c) a very large amount that cannot be accurately measured but is greater than 1000000 bps but less than 1000000000 bps, logged as a hyphen (-).

d) a hyphen (-), when a file is being played from the local cache and no bandwidth is used.

384000 Unicast

Multicast

cs-media-role A user-defined value that identifies the role of a media element in a playlist. Typically, this field is used to enable advertisement logging. For more information, see Logging advertising data.

If the media element does not have a role attribute, or if the client was not receiving content from a playlist, this field is blank.

Alternatively, this entry can be specified in the announcement file in order to classify logs according to user or content.

Ad Unicast

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s-proxied Indicates whether the client connected through a cache/proxy server. A value of "0" indicates no cache/proxy server was involved. A value of "1" indicates a cache/proxy server was involved.

1 Unicast

Related topics


Wildcard characters referenceYou can add wildcard characters to a log file name if you want to change the name to suit your needs. Wildcard characters must be delimited by the less than (<) and greater than (>) characters. For example, the log file name template WMS_<a><B><Y>.log might correspond to the log file name WMS_MonApril2000.log.

The following table lists and describes the wildcard characters.

Character Description

a Abbreviated name for the day of the week (three letters).

A Full name for the day of the week.

b Abbreviated month name (three letters).

B Full name for the month.

c Date and time representation appropriate for the location of the server generating the log file.

d Day of month in two-digit format (01 to 31).

H Hour (24-hour format) in two-digit format (00 to 23).

I Hour (12-hour format) in two-digit format (01 to 12).

j Day of year in three-digit format (001 to 366).

m Month in two-digit format (01 to 12).

M Minute in two-digit format (00 to 59).

N A four-digit sequence that starts at 0 and increases every time a new file is needed. The counter resets to 0 when the rest of the file name changes in any way.

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p The indicator for 12-hour format (AM or PM) of the server generating the log file.

S Seconds in two-digit format (00 to 59).

T The computer name of the server generating the log file.

U Week of the year in two-digit format (00 to 53, with Sunday as the first day of week).

V The name of the publishing point for which data is being logged. If data is being logged for a server, the word "[Global]" is inserted in the log file name. If data is being logged for the default publishing point, the word "[Default]" is inserted in the log file name. If the publishing point name contains a forward slash (/) character, the character will be replaced with an underscore (_) character in the log file name. If the publishing point is renamed, the log file will automatically cycle to reflect the new name.

w Day of the week in one-digit format (0 to 6, with Sunday as 0).

W Week of the year in two-digit format (00 to 53, with Monday as the first day of the week).

x Date representation for the location of the server generating the log file.

X Time representation for the location of the server generating the log file.

y Year in two-digit format (00 to 99).

Y Year in four-digit format.

Z Time zone name or abbreviation. There are no characters if the time zone is unknown.

Note

You can add environment variables to the log file path. For information about environment variables, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics


ISAPI properties referenceWhen you install the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent, Windows Media Services creates the following registry keys in the registry of the computer. You can use these registry keys to modify the properties of the Wmsiislog.dll application extension. The following table provides information about the property values, which are stored in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Media\Server\ISAPI\Logging.

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Setting Type Description

LogDirPath REG_EXPAND_SZ

Provides the path to the log file. By default this value is %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS_ISAPI.

FreeSpaceQuota

REG_DWORD Provides the minimum amount of available disk space on the drive to which log files are being written. If the amount of free disk space is not available, the log file will not be written and the multicast logging application will stop.

UseLocalTime REG_DWORD Determines the time zone (local or Coordinated Universal Time) to use. A nonzero value indicates that local time is used.

UseUnicode characters (UTF-8)

REG_DWORD Specifies whether the log file should contain Unicode or ANSI text. A nonzero value indicates that Unicode (UTF-8) is used.

Caution

Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on the computer.

Notes

If you move Wmsiislog.dll to another Web server for logging, you must manually register it on the server by typing regsvr32 wmsiislog.dll at the command prompt. If this application is used on a Web server without being registered, it will use the default values.

If you change the default logging directory, you must grant the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent permissions to write to that directory. For the statistics to be successfully written to the log file, grant read, write, and modify permissions to the Network Service account and IWAM_HOSTNAME.

Related topics


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Understanding event handler plug-insYou can use event handler plug-ins to customize how the server handles internal events. You can enable event handler plug-ins at both the server and publishing point levels.


WMS WMI Event Handler plug-in

WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-in

Related topics


WMS WMI Event Handler plug-inBy enabling this plug-in, you can receive seamless and secure notification of all internal server events through Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) for either a local or remote computer. With WMI, you can use a single, consistent, standards-based, extensible, and object-oriented interface to manage the Windows operating system.

The WMS WMI Event Handler is enabled at the server level by default.

Note

This plug-in is responsible for communicating event information between the Windows Media Services service and other services and programs. Changing the reported events can cause issues with client programs, including the Windows Media Services snap-in and Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Related topics

Understanding event handler plug-ins

WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-inBy enabling this plug-in, you can customize how the server handles internal events, authorizes specific events, or responds to basic plug-in actions, such as enabling or disabling a plug-in by using a scripting language (such as Microsoft JScript®, Microsoft Visual Basic® Scripting Edition, or Perl Script).

Notes

For more information about programming events and scripts, see the Windows Media Services 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) on the Windows Media SDK Components Web page.

The WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-in is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics

To configure the WMS Active Script Event Handler properties

221


To configure the WMS WMI Event Handler properties


222


Configuring security optionsIf you are a content provider, one of the most important tasks for you to do is to control access to your content. The following topics provide more detail about implementing security on a server running Windows Media Services:

Understanding authentication

Understanding authorization

Understanding rights

Limiting user rights

Transferring data securely

Understanding Windows Media Rights Manager

Enabling system-wide security

Using firewalls

Related topics


Concepts

223


Understanding authenticationAuthentication is a fundamental aspect of security for a server running Windows Media Services. It confirms the identity of any user trying to access resources on your Windows Media server. Windows Media Services includes authentication plug-ins that you can enable in order to validate user credentials. Authentication plug-ins work in conjunction with authorization plug-ins: after users are authenticated, authorization plug-ins control access to content.

Windows Media Services authentication plug-ins fall into the following categories:

Anonymous authentication. These are plug-ins that do not exchange challenge and response information between the server and a player, such as the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in.

Network authentication. These are plug-ins that validate users based on logon credentials, such as the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in.

When a user attempts to access a server or publishing point, the server attempts to authenticate users through an anonymous authentication plug-in. If more than one anonymous authentication plug-in is enabled, the server only uses the first one listed. If that attempt fails or an anonymous authentication plug-in is not enabled, the server attempts to authenticate the user by using a network authentication plug-in. If more than one network authentication plug-in is enabled, the server attempts to use the first one that is also supported by the client. The order in which the plug-ins are listed in the details pane can be changed using the Server Object Model, which is documented in the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK).

If you enable all of the default Windows Media Services authentication plug-ins and a player attempts to access the server, the server uses the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in first to validate the user. If the server is unable to provide access to the user based on the anonymous user account specified for the plug-in, the server then tries to authenticate the user by using the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in. If this attempt fails, Windows Media Player version 7 and later will continue to attempt to authenticate using this secondary method. Previous versions of the Player will stop after the secondary method has failed once.

If a player is connected through HTTP, the player disconnects from the server each time the user stops, pauses, fast–forwards, or rewinds your content. If the user tries to continue receiving the content, the authentication and authorization process occurs again.


Using the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in

Using the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in

Using the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in Notes

You can enable multiple authentication plug-ins at the server and publishing point levels. If you enable an authentication plug-in for a server and then enable another authentication plug-in for a publishing point of that server, only the plug-in for the publishing point is used to authenticate users.

The authentication and authorization plug-ins work together to grant clients access to streaming media content. If either the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in or the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in is enabled but no authentication plug-in is enabled, unicast clients cannot access the server.

224


The WMS Digest Authentication plug-in is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics



Using the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-inIf you want users to be able to access content without being prompted for a user name or password, you can enable the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in. When a user attempts to connect to the Windows Media server, the plug-in uses the Windows user account that you specified in the plug-in properties to authenticate the user.

By default, the user account specified in this plug-in is WMUS_servername. If you are using the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in with the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in, you must provide that the WMUS_servername account with read permissions for any files and folders that will be streamed from a publishing point. If you want to use another anonymous user account that already has the necessary rights and permissions, you can change the user account in this plug-in from the default value to the user account of your choice.

When this plug-in is enabled it allows anonymous users to connect to your server. You can restrict the content that anonymous users can access by enabling an authorization plug-in. The authorization plug-in enables you to set different access control policies for content. For example, you could allow users to access only certain content in a publishing point by using the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in.

This plug-in can be enabled on a single publishing point on your server. By setting the appropriate access control lists (ACLs) for your content folders, you can ensure that the account used by this plug-in can only access certain content. An example of this situation is an Internet site with both free and subscription-based digital media content.

Note

The authentication and authorization plug-ins work together to grant clients access to digital media content. If either the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in or the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in is enabled but no authentication plug-in is enabled, unicast clients cannot access the server.

Related topics

To configure and enable the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in



Using the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-inIf you want users to be able to access content based on their network logon credentials, you can enable the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in. This plug-in uses an encrypted

225


challenge/response scheme to authenticate users. It is a secure form of authentication because the user name and password are not sent across the network; the player acknowledges the password by using a cryptographic exchange with the Windows Media server. The WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in relies upon established user logon credentials that are authenticated using either NTLM or Kerberos authentication.

By using this plug-in, you can authenticate users on a variety of operating systems. NTLM authentication was the default authentication in Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0. It is retained in Windows Server 2003 for compatibility with computers that are running Windows NT 4.0 and earlier. It can also be used to authenticate users that log on to stand-alone computers that are running Windows 2000 Server or later. Kerberos authentication is the default authentication method used in the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Microsoft Windows XP operating systems.

This form of authentication is appropriate for an intranet site that needs to support a variety of Windows clients as well as provide protection for confidential content.

Note


Related topics

To enable the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in


Using the WMS Digest Authentication plug-inIf you want users that connect to your server from the Internet to be able to access content after they provide their user names and passwords, you can enable the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in. This plug-in uses a challenge/response HTTP authentication scheme that does not require a password to be sent over a network. Instead, the plug-in uses a hashed version of a password to authenticate the user. This method is considered to be more secure than basic authentication but not as secure as the NTLM, Kerberos, or other private-key authentication schemes.

The WMS Digest Authentication plug-in is appropriate for situations in which your audience is connecting from an outside network, such as the Internet, and you want to be able to provide minimal user authentication.

This plug-in uses realm identification to authenticate users against Microsoft Active Directory domains. A realm is a logical grouping of resources used to authenticate users and groups. User name and password pairs are associated with realms to allow the same authorization information to be used for multiple resources.

To use the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in, Windows Media Services must be part of a Microsoft Active Directory™ domain. The domain controller for the Active Directory domain must be a computer running Windows Server 2003.

Notes


226


Digest authentication is supported by Windows Media Player 9 Series or later or a player that uses the Windows Media Player 9 Series ActiveX control. Users that attempt to connect using a previous version of the Player will not be authenticated and will receive an access denied message.

For more information about digest authentication, see RFC 2069, "An Extension to HTTP: Digest Access Authentication."


Related topics

To configure and enable the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in


227


Understanding authorizationIt is important to understand the following distinction between authentication and authorization to understand why connection attempts are either accepted or denied:

Authentication is the process of verifying the credentials of client attempting to connect to the server. This process consists of sending the credentials from the client to the server and using an authentication scheme to identify the user.

Authorization is the process of verifying that the client is allowed to connect to the server. Authorization occurs after authentication is successful. During the authorization process, the server checks the user against the access permissions set for the resource to which the user is trying to connect.

You can enable authorization plug-ins to control the access to content by authenticated users. If you enable an authorization plug-in, it is required that you also enable an authentication plug-in for users to be able to access your publishing points. However, the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in does not require an authentication plug-in to authenticate a player.

You can enable authorization plug-ins at both the server and the publishing point levels. If you enable an authorization plug-in for a server and another for a publishing point on the server, both authorization plug-ins are used to authorize a user, but the plug-in for the server is used first. If you enable multiple authorization plug-ins for a server or for a publishing point, all the plug-ins are used in the order they appear on the Properties tab for the server or publishing point. If a user is denied access by any of the plug-ins, the authorization process terminates, and the server checks whether another authentication plug-in is enabled to authenticate the user.


Using the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in

Using the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in

Using the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in Note


Related topics



Using the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-inIf you have set access permissions on files and directories in an NTFS file system, you can enable the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in to enforce the permissions. This plug-in enforces discretionary access control lists (DACLs) and system access control lists (SACLs) that have been set on files and directories in an NTFS file system. A DACL is a list of user accounts, groups, and computers that are allowed or denied access to an Active Directory object. A SACL defines the

228


events that are audited for a user, group or computer. This plug-in is useful when you want to set different access control policies for your content.

The WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in can be enabled for specific on-demand publishing points or for an entire server. Once this plug-in is enabled, each piece of content streamed from the publishing point or server must be authorized for the user account specified by the authentication plug-in. This means that if you are streaming content from a playlist, the user account must be authorized for every item listed in the playlist. If a user account cannot be authenticated for a certain item in the playlist, that item is skipped and the next item in the playlist for which authentication succeeded is streamed to the client.

Because this plug-in enforces access control policies that you set on files or directories, it is not appropriate for use in the following situations:

Broadcasting a live stream. Because a stream from an encoder is not located in a file or directory on an NTFS drive, this plug-in cannot be used for live stream authorization.

Proxying a stream. When using a Windows Media server as a proxy server that does not cache content, the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in does not have a defined set of files or directories against which it can authenticate a user account. Enabling the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in on the origin server will cause the proxy server to forward the authorization request to the client and transmit the information back to the origin server, which then performs the authorization. If you want to authorize clients that access a proxy server, use the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in instead.

Notes


This plug-in is dependent on information gathered from the NTFS file system that is accessed by the WMS File Data Source plug-in. The WMS File Data Source plug-in is enabled by default when Windows Media Services is installed. Do not disable the WMS File Data Source plug-in if you are using this authorization plug-in.

For more information about creating and managing DACLs and SACLs, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics

To enable the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in



Using the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-inYou can allow or deny access to content based on specific Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or groups of IP addresses by enabling the WMS IP Address Authorization plug–in. This plug-in is useful if you want to allow access only to users on an intranet and restrict access to all other users. Or, if you believe there is a security violation on a server, you could quickly enable this plug-in to deny access to the IP address that is violating security. The WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in can be enabled for specific publishing points or for an entire server.

229


Related topics

To configure and enable the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in


Using the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-inThis plug-in allows you to create access control lists (ACLs) for the publishing points on your server. You can assign the following access permissions to users or groups through the properties sheet of this plug-in:

Read. Permits a user or application to open, play, fast-forward, or rewind content.

Write. Permits a user or application to write content to your server.

Create. Permits a user or application to create new publishing points on your server, when combined with write permissions.

This plug-in is enabled with the following access permissions by default:

Everyone. The Everyone group has read permissions only.

BUILTIN\Administrators. The Administrators group has full permissions.This plug-in is useful when you want to set restrictions on all content on a specific publishing point or server or when the publishing point content is a live stream. If you are using push distribution from an encoder, be sure that the encoder administrator is a member of a group that has both write and create permissions or assign the necessary permissions to the encoder administrator by using this plug-in.

Note


Related topics

To configure and enable the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in


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Understanding rightsRights are granted to users to define what a particular user is allowed to do on a system and to grant different levels of permission to different users. You can define rights for individual users, computers, and servers on your system. By default, Windows Media Services runs under the Network Service user account. This is a change from Windows Media Services version 4.1 in Windows 2000 Server. In that version, Windows Media Services created its own administrator account with administrator rights and permissions to access system resources.

The Network Service account is a predefined local account that first appeared in the Windows XP operating system. Services that are running under the Network Service account access network resources using the credentials of the computer account. The Network Service account has minimal privileges on the local computer. This prevents someone from using the account to gain access to protected resources on your system. The Network Service account does not have a password associated with it. If you change Windows Media Services to run under a different user account and then change it back to the Network Service account, do not enter a password.

Because Windows Media Services uses the Network Service account credentials to respond to authentication requests from other resources, ensure that the Network Service account has been granted the appropriate permissions in the access control lists of any resource with which it might interact. For example, if you are going to write log file information to a network location that is different from the default location, you must grant the appropriate permissions to the Network Service account for that location for Windows Media Services to write log files successfully.

Some plug-in features cannot interact with the Network Service account. For example, if you are going to use the Microsoft Script Debugger to troubleshoot script that will be run by the WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-in, you must configure Windows Media Services to run under another account.

Windows Server 2003 uses security templates to predefine the rights and permissions granted to users. When you review the security templates for your Windows Media server, be aware of the following:

DCOM settings. Microsoft Management Console (MMC) uses distributed component object model (DCOM) to administer Windows Media Services. Each DCOM interface has a discretionary access control list (DACL) that was configured by Windows Media Services during setup to allow the Network Service account to launch, configure, and access files on the server. If you change the account that Windows Media Services uses, make sure to also modify the DCOM configuration. By default, Windows Media Services uses the Packet Privacy authentication level to secure communication between MMC and the service. For more information on modifying DCOM configuration on your server, see Windows Help and Support.

File and folder permissions. When Windows Media Services attempts to stream a file to a user, the user must be authenticated against the location of the file. Network Service has the appropriate level of permissions for the default folder WMRoot, meaning that it has been assigned Modify, Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read, and Write permissions. Windows Media Services requires those permissions for any activity that requires reading and writing data, for example, logging, modifying playlists, archiving broadcasts, and accessing digital media files. Make sure that Network Service has been added to the access list for any files or folders to which Windows Media Services requires access.

Related topics

To provide a user administrative rights to Windows Media Services

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Limiting user rightsOne way to protect your Windows Media server is to limit the rights of users who have access to the server. For each server user, you should determine the rights required by each and then set the appropriate limits. For example, rather than grant everyone administrator rights and permissions, you can reserve those rights for a few users who need full access to the server, such as information technicians and system managers.

By default, Windows Media Services can only be accessed by users in the Administrators group. In order to limit user rights effectively while still enabling users to administer Windows Media Services, you can remove users from the Administrators group and then add them to Windows Media Services only. To add users directly to Windows Media Services, you must use Component Services to configure access permissions for the Windows Media Services Component Object Model (COM) object.

You can move the majority of your Windows Media server users to a group, such as the USERS user group, that grants them adequate permissions for performing non-administrative tasks on the server. If you grant users access to the Windows Media Services COM object directly, they can perform most functions in the Windows Media Services snap-in and Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, such as adding publishing points and monitoring client activity. Limiting the number of users with full rights greatly reduces the potential for security lapses.

To make user administration easier, you can create a new user group by using Computer Management. In Component Services, you can then add the new user group to the access list, and then add the non-administrator users to the new group. Grouping users enables you to administer user configurations for the entire server by using Computer Management.

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Understanding Windows Media Rights ManagerWindows Media Rights Manager is a digital rights management (DRM) platform that can be used by content providers and retailers to distribute digital media files securely over a network, such as the Internet. The Microsoft Windows Media Rights Manager Software Development Kit (SDK) helps protect digital media content (such as songs and videos) by packaging Windows Media files in an encrypted file format. A packaged file contains a version of a "protected" file that was encrypted and locked with a "key" after business usage and distribution rules were added to the content header. This packaged file is also bundled with additional information from the content provider and, optionally, from the distributor. The result is a protected Windows Media file that can only be played by a user who has obtained a license.

The basic Windows Media Rights Manager process is as follows:

Protecting. The content owner or content provider adds business usage and distribution rules to the content. (For example, this process could include setting the playback count rights, the license validity duration, or the ability of the distributor to update specific usage rules.) Once the file is protected, it can only be used or opened by specified users. For commercially distributed files, the content owner can include "Anyone" as a user, but can specify that certain distributors can change one or more of the usage rules to meet their business requirements. Typically, the content provider then sends the protected file to the distributor for packaging.

Packaging. The distributor packages the digital media file using Windows Media Rights Manager. The packaged file has been encrypted and locked with a "key." This key is stored in an encrypted license, which is distributed separately. Other information is added to the file, such as the URL where the license can be acquired. This protected file is saved in Windows Media Audio format (.wma file name extension) or Windows Media Video format (.wmv file name extension).

Distribution. The protected file can be placed on a Web site for download, placed on a server for streaming, distributed on a CD, or e-mailed to users. Windows Media Rights Manager permits users to send copy-protected files to friends, as well. The distribution rules are set by the content owner and the distributor according to their desired business rules.

Establishing a license server. The content provider chooses a clearinghouse that stores the specific rights or rules of the license and implements the Windows Media Rights Manager license services. The role of the clearinghouse is to authenticate the customer's request for a license. Files and licenses are distributed and stored separately, making it easier to manage the entire system.

License acquisition. To play a protected file, the user must first acquire a license key to unlock the file. The process of acquiring a license begins automatically when the user attempts to acquire the protected content, acquires a predelivered license, or plays the file for the first time. Windows Media Rights Manager either sends the user to a registration page where information is requested or payment is required, or "silently" retrieves a license from a clearinghouse.

Playing the file. To play the file, the user needs a player that supports Windows Media Rights Manager. Support for Windows Media Rights Manager was first added to Windows Media Player for Windows XP. Players that were created using the Windows Media Player ActiveX control version 8 or later also support this DRM platform. With the appropriate version of the Player installed, the customer can then play the file according to the rules or rights that are included in the license. Licenses can have different rights, such as start times and dates, duration, and counted operations. For instance, default rights may allow the user to play the file on a specific computer and copy the file to a portable device. Licenses, however, are not transferable. If a

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customer sends a protected file to a friend, this friend must acquire a different license to play the file. This per-computer licensing scheme ensures that the protected file can only be played by the computer that has been granted the license key for that file.

For more information, see the Digital Rights Management page at the Microsoft Web site

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Enabling system-wide securityThe security features of Windows Server 2003 provide the means to protect your digital media resources. You can use access control lists (ACLs) or the Active Directory directory service to assign users and resources into groups, enabling a more granular security model within your organization.

Internet Information Services (IIS) provides security against intrusion by unauthenticated Internet users in two ways. It provides authentication methods (Windows Integrated and Digest) that Windows Media Services includes through its authentication plug-ins.

If you have installed Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web or are hosting Web sites to distribute your content, you should consider using Web server permissions in conjunction with the NTFS file system permissions to prevent intruders from gaining access to all or parts of your Web site.


Transferring data securely

Using the NTFS file system

About Web server permissions

Protecting custom plug-ins

Related topics


Transferring data securelyYou can use Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) to secure data as it travels over the Internet or an intranet. IPSec is a public standard used to define end-to-end encryption of data at the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network layer. The Windows operating system provides several components that you can use to implement IPSec on your Windows Media servers. For more information about IPSec, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics


Using the NTFS file systemUsing the NTFS file system with Windows Media Services increases the security of your Windows Media server and your content for the following reasons:

It is more secure from command-line system attack methods.

You can configure access control lists (ACLs) to grant or deny various forms of access to user and group accounts.

You can use Active Directory to maintain your content and user authentication tables.Windows Media Services includes the WMS NTFS ACL Authorization plug-in to enforce any ACLs that are already set up for your network resources. For more information about the NTFS file system and permission, see Windows Help and Support.

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Related topics



About Web server permissionsIf you have installed Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web or are hosting Web sites to distribute your content, you should consider using Web server permissions. Permissions set on your Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server apply to all users accessing your Web sites; whereas, NTFS file system permissions apply only to a specific user or group of users with a valid Windows-based account. IIS permissions enable you to control access to virtual directories on your Web site in the same manner that the NTFS file system permissions control access to folders on your server.

When users access your Web site by using anonymous authentication, they use the IUSR_computername account. By default, they receive NTFS file system permissions for the folders and files on your Web site, which you can change by using Web server permissions.

For more information about Web server permissions, see IIS Help.

Related topics


Protecting custom plug-insAfter creating or obtaining custom plug-ins for use with your Windows Media server, you should protect those plug-ins from tampering by placing them in a protected directory. After a custom or third-party plug-in has been installed and registered, it could be overwritten or modified in ways that could render it ineffective or malicious to the server. Place the plug-ins in a directory that denies write permissions to unauthorized users. Ensure that Windows Media Services has read permissions to the directory that contains the plug-ins or they cannot be used.

Related topics


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Using firewallsIf you plan to stream content from a Windows Media server on a network to players on the Internet, you may need to open additional ports in your firewall to prevent players from having problems receiving the content. This section provides an overview of firewalls and how Windows Media Services interacts with firewalls.


Understanding firewalls and protocols

Configuring firewalls for unicast streaming

Configuring firewalls for multicast streaming

Enabling access to an encoder outside a firewallImportant

This content may have been updated. For the most recent information, see the Windows Media Services 9 Series Firewall Information Web page.

Related topics


Understanding firewalls and protocols A firewall is a piece of hardware or software that prevents data packets from either entering or leaving a specified network. To control the flow of traffic, numbered ports in the firewall are either opened or closed to specific types of packets. The firewall reviews two pieces of information in each arriving or departing packet: the protocol through which the packet is being delivered, and the port number to which it is being sent. If the firewall is configured to accept the specified protocol through the targeted port, the packet is allowed through.

You can configure each control protocol plug-in (MMS, RTSP, and HTTP) to use a specific port to make firewall configuration easier. Therefore, if your network administrator has already opened a series of ports for use by your Windows Media servers, you can allocate those ports to the control protocols accordingly. If not, you can request that the default ports for each protocol be opened. If opening ports on your firewall is not possible, Windows Media Services can stream content by using the HTTP protocol over port 80.

Notes

Using HTTP to stream content is disabled by default.

Windows Media Services was formerly known as Microsoft NetShow Services; some firewalls have a preconfigured NetShow setting, which may work for Windows Media Services.

Important


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Using firewalls

Configuring firewalls for unicast streamingTo configure a firewall for unicast streaming, you must open the ports on the firewall that are required for the connection protocols enabled on your server. If you are streaming content by using either the MMS or RTSP protocols, you need to support both the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

To enable Windows Media Player and other clients to use the HTTP, RTSP, or MMS protocols to connect to a Windows Media server that is behind a firewall, open the following ports.

Ports Description

In: TCP on port 80, 554, 1755

The Windows Media server uses the TCP In ports to accept an incoming HTTP connection (port 80), RTSP connection (port 554), or MMS connection (port 1755) from Windows Media Player and other clients.

In: UDP on port 1755, 5005

The Windows Media server uses UDP In port 1755 to receive resend requests from clients streaming by using MMSU and UDP In port 5005 to receive resend requests from clients streaming by using RTSPU.

Out: UDP between ports 1024-5000.

The Windows Media server uses UDP Out ports 1024-5000 to send data to Windows Media Player and other clients.

To enable a distribution server that is behind a firewall to use the HTTP or RTSP protocols to stream content from an origin server outside the firewall, open the following ports.

Ports Description

In: UDP between ports 1024-5000

The Windows Media server uses UDP In ports 1024-5000 to receive data from another server.

Out: TCP on port 80, 554

The Windows Media server uses the TCP Out ports to establish an HTTP connection (port 80) or RTSP connection (port 554) to another server or encoder.

Out: UDP on port 5005

When RTSPU distribution is used, the Windows Media server uses UDP Out port 5005 to send resend requests to another server.

Note

If it is not possible to open all the UDP Out ports on a firewall, UDP packets sent by a Windows Media server may be blocked by the firewall and may not be able to reach the clients on the other side of the firewall. If this is the case, clients may still be able to receive a stream by automatically rolling over to a TCP-based protocol, such as HTTP or RTSPT. However, the rollover will cause a delay for the client receiving the stream. If you know you will not be able to support UDP streaming through a firewall, you can decrease the rollover delay by clearing the UDP check box in the Unicast Data Writer plug-in Properties dialog box. For more information, see To configure the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in.

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Important


Related topics

Using firewalls

Configuring firewalls for multicast streaming If you distribute content using multicast streaming, network traffic is directed through the standard Class D IP addresses (224.0.0.0 through 239.255.255.255). To multicast, you must have enabled multicast-forwarding on your network. The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), supported by Windows Media Services, ensures that multicast traffic passes through your network only when a player requests a multicast connection, so enabling multicast on your routers does not flood your network.

The following firewall configuration enables multicast packets to traverse your firewall:

IP multicast address range: 224.0.0.1 to 239.255.255.255

To enable IP multicasting, you must allow packets sent to the standard IP multicast address range to come through your firewall. This IP multicast address range must be enabled on both the player and server sides, as well as on every router in between.

Important


Related topics

Using firewalls

Enabling access to an encoder outside a firewall Encoders use HTTP to connect to a server running Windows Media Services. By default, Windows Media Encoder uses port 8080 for HTTP connections; however, the encoder administrator can specify a different port. If a different port is used, you must specify the same port when you identify the encoder connection URL for the Windows Media server and when opening the port on your firewall.

The following example firewall configuration allows a computer running Windows Media Encoder outside of a firewall to access a Windows Media server behind a firewall by using HTTP. The In port is the port through which the server accepts connections. The Out port is the port through which the server sends data to clients:

In/Out: TCP on port 8080.

Important


Related topics

Using firewalls

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Securing the Windows Media Administration siteWindows Media Services Administrator for the Web provides you with full access to Windows Media servers from a remote computer by using a Web browser. By using Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, you can access the local Windows Media server (the server on which the Windows Media Administration Web site is located) and other Windows Media servers on your network. To enable this level of control, configuration and authentication data is sent over the network between the remote computer and the local Windows Media server computer. As the data is being sent, it is vulnerable to unauthorized access.

This section describes three security measures available in IIS you can add to your site that provide different levels of protection. Most of the configuration is performed by changing the security settings in the Windows Media Administration site properties in IIS. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) also requires that you obtain a certificate from a certification authority or create a certificate yourself by using Microsoft Certificate Services. For more complete setup information, see Internet Information Services Help.


Using Secure Sockets Layer

Using integrated Windows authentication

Using basic authentication

Related topics

Concepts

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Using Secure Sockets LayerSecure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the recommended security method for running the Windows Media Administration site. SSL provides the highest level of security by encrypting data before it is sent over a network. Authentication is handled using certificates, which are digital authentication documents that allow both servers and clients to authenticate each other. You can create a certificate using Microsoft Certificate Services, or you can obtain one from a mutually trusted, third-party organization called a certification authority (CA). With SSL, a password is not necessary because the certificate handles the authentication.

SSL provides a secure connection for administering the local Windows Media server. However, SSL must be used in conjunction with an authentication method that allows delegation if you want to allow the remote administration of multiple Windows Media servers. Delegation allows a service to act as a user account to access resources throughout the network. Methods that allow delegation, such as Kerberos and Basic, require that the user have an authenticated user name and password. If one of these methods is not used with SSL, a user will only be able to remotely administer the local server.

Each of the delegation methods has associated security risks. For more information about authentication methods and SSL, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics

To configure SSL


Securing the Windows Media Administration site

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Using integrated Windows authenticationIntegrated Windows authentication provides a means of authorizing users of the administration site, but does not allow credentials to be transmitted over the network. When you enable integrated Windows authentication, the browser running the administrative interface initiates a cryptographic exchange with the Web server using either NTLM or Kerberos authentication to validate the user. This method provides a great deal of security, but does not allow Internet Information Services (IIS) to delegate user names and passwords to remote servers. Therefore, you can administer the local Windows Media server only when integrated Windows authentication is enabled.

Integrated Windows authentication does not initially prompt the user for a user name and password. The Windows user account information on the client computer is used for authentication. However, if the authentication exchange fails to identify the user, the browser prompts the user for authentication information. Internet Explorer 2.0 or later is required, and integrated Windows authentication does not work across proxy servers or other firewall applications. For more information, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics

To configure integrated Windows authentication


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Using basic authenticationWhen you secure the Windows Media Administration site using basic authentication, a user must supply a user name and password. If the user information corresponds to a valid Windows user account, a connection is established.

Basic authentication is widely used on networks for collecting user credential information. The advantage of basic authentication is that it is simple to use and works with most browsers, proxy servers, and firewalls. The main disadvantage is that basic authentication provides a low level of security because credentials are not encrypted before they are sent across a network. Someone attempting to compromise your system security could use a protocol analyzer to examine user passwords during the authentication process.

Because user credentials are obtained during the logon process, Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web enables you to administer the local server and other servers on the network. Keep in mind, however, that basic authentication is not recommended for administering multiple servers because of the low level of protection. You should use basic authentication with care, and preferably only on local area networks (LANs) known to be secure. To improve security for managing multiple servers, use basic authentication in conjunction with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

For more information, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics

To configure basic authentication



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Caching and proxying contentYou can add a third-party cache/proxy plug-in to your server to provide cache and proxy server support for other Windows Media servers. Using a cache/proxy plug-in is an easy way to conserve bandwidth, decrease network-imposed latency, and offset the load on the origin server. Network bandwidth is minimized because only one connection from the origin server is required to upload content to and receive information from the cache. Network latency is decreased because a client can receive content from a nearby cache/proxy server more quickly than it could if it had to traverse the network or the Internet to receive content from the origin server. Additionally, the load on the origin server is offset because fewer clients are connecting directly to the origin server. These three factors result in a better viewing experience for users and operating cost reduction.

To view a list of partners that provide cache/proxy plug-ins for Windows Media Services 9 Series, see the Windows Media Technologies Partner Center at the Microsoft Web site. You can also create custom cache plug-ins by using the Windows Media Services 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK), available for download from the Microsoft Web site.


Caching and streaming on-demand content

Proxying a live stream

Understanding reverse proxy Notes

Custom or third-party plug-ins should be located in a protected directory to prevent tampering. A protected directory can be any directory that has been configured to deny write permissions to unauthorized users. For more information about restricting directory access, see the Windows Help and Support Center.

Cache/proxy services are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, these features are not supported.

Related topics

Concepts

Caching and streaming on-demand contentThis topic discusses a type of behavior that a cache/proxy plug-in could provide when used with Windows Media Services. The cache/proxy plug-in you obtain or create may behave differently.

After a cache/proxy plug-in is installed on a Windows Media server it can provide support for caching on-demand content from another Windows Media server. When a client requests on-demand content, the cache/proxy plug-in verifies that the content is cached locally and is current. To do this, the plug-in first checks the cache expiration property of the content. If the content is set to expire after a certain time that has already passed, the plug-in then requests that the cache/proxy server open a connection to the origin server and verifies that the content in the cache matches the content on the origin server. A cache hit occurs if the content matches; a cache miss occurs if the content does not match. If the origin server is unavailable or cannot provide the requested content, the server returns an error message to the client stating that the content cannot be found.

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If a cache hit occurs, the plug-in requests that the cache/proxy server stream the content from its cache to the client.

If a cache miss occurs, the content is purged from the cache, and the cache/proxy server downloads the updated content from the origin server. The cache/proxy server initiates another connection to the origin server to act as a proxy server to deliver the content to the client.

If a cache miss occurs when the cache/proxy server attempts to stream multiple-bit-rate (MBR) content, the cache/proxy server will attempt to download all of the different bit rate streams from the origin server at once. If you have set a bandwidth limit for outgoing distribution streams on the origin server or a limit on the incoming bandwidth for the cache/proxy server, the aggregate bandwidth of the multiple-bit-rate stream may exceed these limits. If so, the cache/proxy server will not be able to download the content to its cache and will only stream the content at the bandwidth requested by the client.

If content was moved to a different location on the origin server, the cache/proxy plug-in can transfer client requests to the new location. For example, if the cache/proxy plug-in receives an HTTP code 301 or 302 when checking whether content is current, the plug-in updates its internal database to recognize requests for the new location.

Notes

To view a list of partners that provide cache/proxy plug-ins for Windows Media Services 9 Series, see the Windows Media Technologies Partner Center at the Microsoft Web site.


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Proxying a live streamThis topic discusses a type of behavior that a cache/proxy plug-in could provide when used with Windows Media Services. The cache/proxy plug-in you obtain or create may behave differently.

After a cache/proxy plug-in is installed on a Windows Media server it can provide the ability for your server to proxy a live stream from an origin server through another Windows Media server. When a client requests a live stream, the cache/proxy plug-in checks whether the cache/proxy server is already proxying the stream. If the server is not proxying the stream, the plug-in requests that the cache/proxy server open a connection to the origin server. After establishing a connection to the origin server, the cache/proxy server streams the content from the origin server to the client. If the cache/proxy server is already proxying the stream, the plug-in requests that the server split the stream so that all requesting clients can receive the content. In this way, there is only one connection between the cache/proxy server and the origin server. The content is not cached because a live stream does not have a file associated with it.

Notes



Related topics


Understanding reverse proxyA reverse proxy server is a proxy server configured to be responsible for servicing all client requests. For unicast broadcasts, a reverse proxy server can reduce the load on the origin server by streaming multiple unicast streams while receiving only one stream from the origin server. For on-demand content, a reverse proxy server can reduce the load on the origin server by caching the content from the origin server and streaming it to clients from its cache.

To the client, the reverse proxy server appears to be the origin server. This enables you to isolate your origin server from your clients. A reverse proxy server can increase the security of your streaming media system because the client never connects to the origin server directly.

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Authentication for reverse proxy servers also differs from that of conventional cache/proxy servers. When the client submits a request for content and authentication is enabled, the content must first be authenticated by the reverse proxy server. Once the client is authenticated, the reverse proxy server submits a content request to the origin server and must be authenticated by the origin server before it can begin proxying the content to the client.

A large number of unicast streams can place an enormous burden on an origin server. You can further increase the reliability of your streaming media system by caching and delivering content from multiple reverse proxy servers. If only one reverse proxy server is used, there is the potential for a single point of failure in that system. The use of two or more reverse proxy servers greatly reduces the chance that the system will fail due to a reverse proxy server fault.

Notes

For more information about implementing reverse proxy, see the Windows Media Services 9 Series SDK.



Related topics

Performing load balancing and clustering

To set authentication credentials for a reverse proxy server


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How to…This section contains the following topics:

Quick starts. Contains procedures for common streaming media tasks performed using Windows Media Services.

Manage servers. Contains procedures that explain how to start or stop Windows Media Services on a server, add or remove a server by using an administrative interface, and control client connections to a server.

Work with groups of servers. Contains procedures that explain how to manage groups of Windows Media servers using the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Work with plug-ins. Contains procedures that explain how to use plug-ins with Windows Media Services.

Work with publishing points. Contains procedures that explain how to add or remove a publishing point, control client connections to a publishing point, and set up archiving for a broadcast publishing point.

Set up content to stream. Contains procedures that explain how to create and use playlists and how to set up and stream content such as files, an encoder stream, and a stream from a remote publishing point.

Monitor and set limits. Contains procedures that explain how to set limits in order to manage server and network resources and how to monitor performance for a server or publishing point.

Log data about clients. Contains procedures that explain how to log data about clients that are receiving content as either a unicast or multicast stream and how to configure the event handler plug-ins.

Control access to content. Contains procedures that explain how to configure the authentication and authorization plug-ins.

Secure the Windows Media Administration site. Contains procedures that explain how to configure Internet Information Services (IIS) to add security to the Windows Media Administration site.

Implement streaming scenarios. Contains procedures for implementing the scenarios described in the Scenarios section.

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Quick startsThis section contains end-to-end procedures for common server management tasks to help you get started quickly using Windows Media Services.


Stream Windows Media files on demand

Use your server to publish live content from Windows Media Encoder

Use your server to broadcast a stream published by Windows Media Encoder

Use a playlist with on-demand Windows Media files

Alternate between live and prerecorded content in your broadcast

Include interstitial advertising in your on-demand playlist

Use wrappers to provide advertising with your live broadcast

Related topics

How to…

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Stream Windows Media files on demandThis quick start demonstrates how to use Windows Media Services to stream a single file from your server when a user requests it, also known as on-demand streaming. Users can start, stop, pause, fast-forward, and rewind the content they request by using controls on the player. From a user's perspective, on-demand streaming is similar to playing content on a DVD or CD player.

Windows Media Services requires no additional configuration and is ready for on-demand streaming. All you need to do is place the file that you want to stream in the default Windows Media Services content directory. The file can be either a Windows Media file or an .mp3 file.

1. Double-click the My Computer icon, and then locate the file you want to stream.

2. Copy the file to the %systemdrive%\Wmpub\WMRoot folder on your Windows Media server.

Your server is now ready to stream the file.

For more information about testing your streaming content, see Testing a stream.

Note

You can use announcements to direct users to your content. Announcements are metafiles that automatically open Windows Media Player and direct the Player to the content on a publishing point. For more information about announcements, see Working with the announcement wizards.

Related topics


Quick starts

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Use your server to publish live content from Windows Media EncoderThis quick start demonstrates how to use Windows Media Services to stream live content that it pulls from a computer running Windows Media Encoder. The user experience is similar to watching a traditional television program or tuning into a radio broadcast. The user can watch or listen to the content, but does not have the ability to pause, fast-forward, or rewind it.

For this task, you must have a separate computer running Windows Media Encoder that has an audio or video capture card. The live stream is encoded from an attached video camera, VCR, or microphone. You can download Windows Media Encoder from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

1. On the computer running Windows Media Encoder, start encoding your live content by doing the following:

Start Windows Media Encoder and create a new broadcast session.

Begin encoding the session and note the connection URL for the encoder. The connection URL has the following syntax: connection protocol://encoder_name:port (for example, http://encoder1:8080). This is the URL that the Windows Media server uses to connect to the encoder. For more information about setting up the encoder for a live broadcast, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

2. Create a new broadcast publishing point on the Windows Media server by using the Add Publishing Point Wizard:

In the console tree, expand the server from which you want to stream the content, and then click the Publishing Points item.

On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Wizard).3. In the Add Publishing Point Wizard, do the following:

On the welcome page, click Next.

On the Publishing Point Name page, type a name for the new publishing point.

On the Content Type page, click Encoder.

On the Publishing Point Type page, click Broadcast publishing point.

On the Delivery Options for Broadcast Publishing Points page, click Unicast.4. Using the wizard, configure the following settings to enable the publishing point to receive content

from the encoder:

On the Encoder URL page, type the encoder URL using the following syntax: http://encoder_name:port.

On the Unicast Logging page, select the check box if you want to log data about your clients.

On the Publishing Point Summary page, verify that the settings for the new publishing point are correct.

On the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, select the Start publishing point when wizard finishes check box, clear the After this wizard finishes check box, and then click Finish.

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Users can now connect to the live encoder stream by using the URL of your publishing point. The URL of a broadcast publishing point uses the following syntax:connection protocol://server_name/publishing_point_name (for example, mms://server1/my broadcast).


Notes


For a detailed description of how to set up Windows Media Encoder, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

Related topics


Quick starts

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Use your server to broadcast a stream published by Windows Media Encoder This quick start demonstrates how to publish a broadcast from a computer running Windows Media Encoder through a Windows Media server, also known as push distribution. This technique is ideal for broadcasting company meetings or live presentations. For this task, you must have a separate computer running Windows Media Encoder that has a sound card or video capture card and the appropriate input devices. Also, be sure that the person operating the encoder has administrator rights and privileges for the Windows Media server and can connect to Windows Media Services.

1. Prepare Windows Media Services to receive content from the encoder by doing the following:

In Windows Media Services, in the console tree, click the server from which you want to stream.

In the details pane, click the Properties tab, and then in Category, click Control protocol.

Click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol, and then click the Enable button. Windows Media Encoder uses the HTTP control protocol to send the encoded stream to the Windows Media server. For more information about the HTTP control protocol, see Using the HTTP protocol.

On the computer running Windows Media Encoder, set up a new encoding session to broadcast a live event.

2. Configure the encoder to create a new publishing point on your server by choosing the appropriate broadcast method.

3. You need to supply the following information to the encoder to enable it to create a publishing point successfully:

The name of your Windows Media server.

The name of the publishing point from which the content will be broadcast. The encoder will create this publishing point on your server if it does not already exist.

The name of an existing publishing point on the Windows Media server that has the settings that you want to use as a template for your new publishing point. The encoder administrator must have write and create permissions for the publishing point to use it as a template. If there is not an existing publishing point that you want to duplicate, the encoder will use the default publishing point configuration. For more information about setting publishing point permissions, see WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization - general properties.

Once Windows Media Encoder creates a broadcast publishing point on the Windows Media server and begins streaming live content to it, clients can connect to the broadcast by using the publishing point URL or an announcement file.


Notes

Windows Media Services does not include a logging plug-in for encoder push scenarios. You can log encoder push broadcast data by creating an active script logging plug-in to use on your Windows Media server. For more information about creating a custom plug-in, see the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK), which can be downloaded from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

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For a detailed description of how to set up Windows Media Encoder, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

Related topics


Quick starts

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Use a playlist with on-demand Windows Media filesThis quick start demonstrates how to stream a set of files in the order you specify. This streaming scenario is ideal for providing online training or a series of on-demand presentations. To set up this task, you need to identify a set of Windows Media files that you intend to stream as a playlist, and then use the following steps to accomplish the task:

1. Use the Add Publishing Point Wizard to create a new on-demand publishing point by right-clicking the server from which you want to stream a playlist and then clicking Add Publishing Point (Wizard). Proceed through the wizard pages making the following choices:


On the Content Type page, click Playlist.

On the Publishing Point Type page, click On-demand publishing point.

On the Existing Publishing Point page, click Add a new publishing point.

On the File Location page, click New Playlist.2. Use the wizard to create a new playlist by doing the following:

On the New Playlist page, click the Add Media button. The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

In Location of content, type the location of the content or click the Browse button to locate the content. Click OK.

Repeat the previous step as necessary to add all of the files to the playlist.

On the New Playlist page, adjust the sequence of the files in the playlist by clicking a file and then clicking the Move Up or Move Down buttons.

On the Save Playlist File page, type a unique file name and location for your playlist.3. Use the wizard to enable and configure the following plug-ins:

WMS Playlist Transform plug-inOn the Content Playback page, select the appropriate check box if you want to loop or shuffle your playlist content. Select both check boxes for continuous, random playback.

WMS Client Logging plug-inOn the Unicast Logging page, select the check box if you want to log data about your clients.

4. Verify that your wizard settings are correct and complete:


On the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, clear all of the check boxes and then click Finish.

Users can now receive the content in the playlist by using the URL of your publishing point. The URL of a publishing point uses the following syntax:connection protocol://server_name/publishing_point_name (for example, mms://server1/my playlist).


Notes

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You can change the properties for a file in a playlist by modifying the properties area in the Playlist Editor or by using the Source tab. For more information about modifying playlist elements and attributes, see the Playlist reference or the Windows Media Services 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) available on the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


Quick starts

257


Alternate between live and prerecorded content in your broadcastThis quick start demonstrates how to use Windows Media Services to stream both live and prerecorded (stored) content. Despite the inclusion of stored content, users do not have the ability to pause, fast-forward, or rewind the broadcast. The user has the option of starting, stopping, and resuming the broadcast stream, creating a user experience similar to tuning in to a radio or television broadcast.

This quick start is an example of how versatile server-side playlists can be and how they are used to manipulate the playback at the client computer. For this task, you must be streaming live content from a computer running an encoder and you must have prerecorded content, such as an advertisement, in a Windows Media file. In the following procedure, the client receives five minutes of live content, which is then is interrupted for an advertisement. When the advertisement ends, the live content resumes for another five minutes.

1. In Windows Media Services, in the console tree, click Publishing Points. In the details pane, click the View playlist editor button. The Windows Media Playlist Editor opens.

2. Add container elements to the playlist to control how different playlist elements are played back with respect to each other. In this quick start, the publishing point will pause the content when one element interrupts another. To specify this behavior do the following:

In the Windows Media Playlist Editor, click the Add element arrow on the toolbar and then click Exclusive. An excl element appears in the playlist tree.

Click the excl element that you just created. Click the Add element arrow on the toolbar and then click PriorityClass. A priorityClass element appears in the below the excl element.

Click the priorityClass element that you just created. In the properties area, click the peers attribute and then type Pause in the text box. Press ENTER. This setting instructs the publishing point to pause this content whenever it switches to another media element.

3. Add live content to the playlist by doing the following:

In the Windows Media Playlist Editor, click the Add element button on the toolbar. The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

Type the URL of the encoder stream by using the following syntax: http://encoder_name:port. Select the Add as a child element check box and then click OK. The media element appears in the playlist tree beneath the priorityClass element and displays the URL of the encoder.

4. In the Windows Media Playlist Editor, set the following values to define how the live content should be played back. In this example, the content will start immediately and stream for 10 minutes:

In the playlist tree, click the media element that you added in the previous step.

Click the begin attribute in the properties area and then type 0 in the text box. Press ENTER. This setting instructs the publishing point to begin streaming the live content as soon as the publishing point starts.

Click the dur attribute in the properties area and then type 10min in the text box. Press ENTER. This setting instructs the publishing point to stream the live content for a total of 10 minutes.

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5. To provide a unique identifier for the live content, click the id attribute in the properties area and then type a name for the media element, such as M1, in the text box. Press ENTER. This setting provides this media element with a name that can be referenced by other elements in the playlist.

6. Add prerecorded content to the playlist by performing the following steps. In this example, the prerecorded content is an advertisement:

In Windows Media Playlist Editor, click the priorityClass element in the playlist tree.

Click the Add element button on the toolbar. The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

Type the name and location of the advertisement that you want to add. Select the Add as a child element check box and then click OK.

7. Define how the advertisement should be played back by doing the following. In this example, the advertisement starts five minutes after the content starts:

In the playlist tree, click the advertisement media element that you just added.

Click the begin attribute in the properties area and then type M1.begin + 5min, for example, in the text box. Press ENTER. This instructs the publishing point to wait until the live content has played for five minutes and then play the advertisement.

8. Provide a unique identifier for the advertisement by clicking the id attribute in the properties area. Type a name for the advertisement, such as M2, in the text box. Press ENTER. This provides this media element with a name that can be referenced by other elements in the playlist.

9. Save the playlist and then close the Windows Media Playlist Editor.

10.Use the Add Publishing Point Wizard to create a new broadcast publishing point by doing the following:

On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Wizard). The Add Publishing Point Wizard appears.




On the Publishing Point Type page, click Broadcast Publishing Point.

On the Delivery Options for Broadcast Publishing Points page, click Unicast.11.Use the wizard to reference the playlist that you created in steps 1 through 9 by using the

following settings:

On the File Location page, click Existing playlist. In File name, type the name and location of the new playlist.



On the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, clear all of the check boxes, and then click Finish.

12.Configure the following publishing point settings to have the publishing point start when the first client connects:

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In the console tree, click the publishing point you just created. In the details pane, click the Properties tab. In Category, click General.

Click the Start publishing point when first client connects property and then click the Enable button.

Users can now receive the content in the playlist by typing the URL of your publishing point in their player. The URL to a publishing point uses the following syntax: connection protocol://server_name/publishing_point_name (for example, mms://server1/my publishing point).


Related topics

Playlist reference

Quick starts

260


Include interstitial advertising in your on-demand playlistThis quick start demonstrates how to stream a playlist that contains prerecorded (stored) content and advertising. You can stream advertising content from either a locally stored file or from a participating advertiser's server.

When receiving the stream, users have full control over the playback of the prerecorded content, but they cannot skip the advertising content. This quick start assumes that you have several prerecorded content files as well as some sort of advertising content available for streaming.

1. Use the Add Publishing Point Wizard to create a new on-demand publishing point by doing the following:

In Windows Media Services, in the console tree, expand the server from which you want to stream content.

On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Wizard).

On the welcome page of the Add Publishing Point Wizard, click Next.



On the Publishing Point Type page, click On-demand Publishing Point.2. To use the wizard to create a new playlist, do the following:

On the New Playlist page, click the Add Media button. The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

In Location of content, type the location of the digital media content or click the Browse button to locate the content. Click OK.

Repeat the previous steps as necessary to add all of the content to the playlist.


3. Use the wizard to add advertising content to the playlist by doing the following:

On the New Playlist page, click the Add Advertisement button. The Add Advertisement dialog box appears.

Type the location of the advertising content or click the Browse button to locate the advertisements. Click OK.

Repeat the previous steps as necessary to add all of the advertisements to the playlist.


On the Save Playlist File page, type a unique file name and location for your playlist.4. Use the wizard to configure the following playback options:

On the Content Playback page, select the appropriate check box.


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On the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, clear the After this wizard finishes check box, and then click Finish.

Users can now receive the content in the playlist by typing the URL of your publishing point in their players. The URL of a publishing point uses the following syntax:connection protocol://server_name/publishing_point_name (for example, mms://server1/my publishing point).


To see how many advertisements have been served by this publishing point at any time, in the details pane, click the Advertising tab. In the Advertisements served by area, click the Reset button to restart the count at zero.

Related topics


Quick starts

262


Use wrappers to provide advertising with your live broadcastThis quick start demonstrates how to append advertising to the beginning and end of a live broadcast using wrappers. Wrappers are a special type of playlist that can be used to reference ads and other content that precede or follow user-requested content, or both. Wrappers commonly include introductory pages that generate custom playlists, site branding, and sponsor identification. Wrappers are especially effective when used with live streaming because they ensure that the audience will view the advertising content no matter when they join the broadcast. The source of advertising content can be either a locally stored file or a link to a participating advertiser's server.

You have the option of starting, stopping, and resuming the broadcast stream based on one or more user connections, but the user experience will be similar to tuning in to a radio or television broadcast. Live content viewers do not have the ability to pause, fast-forward, or rewind the content of a broadcast and will join the broadcast in process.

In this quick start, it is assumed that you have another computer running Windows Media Encoder that is broadcasting a live stream and that you have prerecorded advertising content available. This quick start uses the Create Wrapper Wizard to create a wrapper that streams the prerecorded advertising content before and after the live broadcast. It does not specifically address setting up a live stream. For a detailed description of how to set up Windows Media Encoder, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

1. Do the following to start the Create Wrapper Wizard:

In Windows Media Services, in the console tree, expand the server from which you want to stream content, and then expand Publishing Points.

Click the broadcast publishing point in which you want to include a wrapper. In the details pane, click the Advertising tab.

Click Wrapper Editor to open the Wrapper Playlist Editor Options dialog box.

Click Create playlist file, and then select the Use the Create Wrapper Wizard check box. The Create Wrapper Wizard appears.

2. Use the following settings in the Create Wrapper Wizard to add advertising content to your wrapper playlist:


On the Wrapper Playlist File page, click the Add Advertisement button. The Add Advertisement dialog box appears.

Type the location of the advertising content or click the Browse button to locate the advertisements. Click OK.

Repeat the previous steps as necessary to add all of the desired wrapper advertisements.

Change the location of the wrapper ads before by clicking an individual item and then clicking the Move Up or Move Down buttons.

On the Save Wrapper Playlist File page, type a unique file name and location for your wrapper playlist.

Select the Start publishing point when wizard finishes check box to reset the publishing point, allowing all enabled wrappers to play as scheduled.

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Select the Enable wrapper playlist when wizard finishes check box to use the new wrapper playlist immediately, and then click Finish.


Related topics



Quick starts

264


Manage serversThis section contains tasks specific to managing Windows Media servers:





To add a server

To remove a server



To view troubleshooting information for a server

To configure troubleshooting options for a server



To add IP addresses to resolve port 80 conflicts


To access content on a computer running Windows 2000 Server



Related topics

How to…



1. Install Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web by doing the following:

On the taskbar, click the Start button, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.

Click Add/Remove Windows Components. Windows Setup starts and the Windows Components Wizard opens.

In the components list, click Windows Media Services, and then click the Details button.

Select the Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web check box and then click OK. A message appears, informing you that this component requires Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 and that installing this component will install IIS 6.0 with the Active Service Pages and Server Side Includes features enabled. Click OK to close the message and continue with the installation.

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Click OK to close the Windows Media Services dialog box.

Click Next to install Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.2. To use Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web from the local server, click the Start

button, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Media Services (Web).

-or-

To connect to Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web from a remote location, make sure the Web services are running on the Windows Media Administration Web site, and then type the URL to the Windows Media Administration site into your Web browser. By default this URL is http://server_name:8080/default.asp.

3. Windows Server 2003 has an increased level of security that prevents some controls from running on non-trusted Web sites. Because the Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web runs from a Web site on the Windows Media server, if JavaScript and Meta-Refresh are not enabled for the Internet zone in the Security settings, you must make the Windows Media server a trusted site before you can administer the server remotely. To make it a trusted site, do the following:

On the taskbar, click Start, point to Control Panel, and click Internet Options.

Click the Security tab. In the list of Web content zones, click Trusted sites, and then click Sites.

In the Add the Web site to the zone dialog box, type the URL to the Windows Media server (for example, http://servername:8080), and then click Add.

The address is added to the list of trusted Web sites.

On the Windows Media server, press F5 to refresh Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

4. If you have not run the Web Server Security Lockdown Wizard in Internet Information Services (IIS), the Security Settings page opens. Do one of the following:

Click the link to learn more about securing the Windows Media Administration site. If you decide to use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure the Windows Media Administration site, you must reconnect to Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Click Administer the local Windows Media Server to open Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web without enabling SSL.

Click Administer a list of Windows Media Servers to open the server list page and select which Windows Media server to administer.

Note

You can also manage the server using a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. You can use the default snap-in configuration that was created when Windows Media Services was installed, which may be accessed in the Administrative Tools submenu, or you can add the Windows Media Services snap-in to Microsoft Management Console. For more information about adding a snap-in to an MMC console, see Microsoft Management Console Help.

Related topics

Administering Windows Media Services

Secure the Windows Media Administration site

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To add a server

Manage servers


1. On your server start the DCOM config utility. For more information about DCOM configuration, see Windows Help and Support.

2. Locate Windows Media Services in the list, and open its properties.

3. On the Security tab, edit the access permissions.

The Access Permissions list shows the users and user groups that can administer Windows Media Services.

4. Add the users or groups that you want to be able to administer Windows Media Services, and then close the dialog boxes.

The new settings will take effect when you restart Windows Media Services.

Notes

By default, members of the Administrator group on the server have administrative rights and permissions to Windows Media Services. This procedure is provided to inform you how to grant administrative rights and permissions to Windows Media Services to users who are not system administrators. This is can be useful in cases where Windows Media Services is being administered remotely through another program, such as Windows Media Encoder.

To make user administration easier, you can create a new user group by using Computer Management and add the group to the Windows Media Services access permissions list. Then you can use Computer Management to add or remove users from the group, rather than doing so with DCOM config. By creating a new group, you can add or remove users without having to restart Windows Media Services. Groups also enable you to manage user privileges for the whole server at the same time.

Related topics

Limiting user rights

Understanding rights

Manage servers


1. Click the server on which you want to start Windows Media Services.

2. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, on the Action menu, click Start.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, on the Service Stopped page, click the Start Service button.

Once the Windows Media Services service starts, the details pane displays the Monitor tab information for the server.

Related topics

Manage servers

267



1. In the console tree, click the server on which you want to stop Windows Media Services.

2. In the details pane, click the Monitor tab, and then click the Stop button.

A confirmation dialog box appears. Once you confirm that you want to stop the server, the interface indicates that the server has been stopped.

Related topics

Manage servers

To add a server

1. In the console tree, click Windows Media Services.

2. On the Action menu, click Add Server.

The Add Server dialog box appears.

3. In Server name or IP address, type the name or IP address of the server you want to add, and then click OK.

The new server name appears in the console tree. After you have added the server, you can set limits, control access to content, and set up logging for it.

For Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web

1. On the server list page, click the Add Server button.

The Add Server page opens.

2. In Server name or IP address, type the name or IP address of the server you want to add, and then click Add.

The new server name appears in the server list.

To administer the server, click the server name on the server list page. After you open the server administrative interface, you can set limits, control access to content, and set up logging for it.

Related topics


Log data about clients


Monitor and set limits

Manage servers

To remove a server

1. In the console tree, click the server you want to remove.

2. On the Action menu, click Remove.

A confirmation dialog box appears.

3. Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the selected server from the console tree.

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1. On the server list page, click the server you want to remove.

2. Click the Remove Server button.

3. Click OK to confirm that you want to remove the selected server from the server list.

Related topics

Manage servers


1. Click the server that you want to deny unicast connections to.

2. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, on the Action menu, click Deny New Connections.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click the Deny button.

New requests for unicast streams will be denied.

Note

If you are delivering the content as both unicast and multicast streams from a broadcast publishing point, players will still be able to receive multicast streams from the server after you deny unicast connections. You must stop either the server or the publishing point if you do not want players to receive the multicast stream.

Related topics



To stop a broadcast publishing point


Manage servers


1. Click the server to which you want to allow unicast connections.

2. In the details pane, click the Monitor tab, and then click the Allow button.

New requests for unicast streams will be allowed.

Related topics



Manage servers

269


To view troubleshooting information for a server

1. In the console tree, expand the server for which you want to view troubleshooting information.

2. In the console tree, click Troubleshooting.

The list of events associated with the server is displayed in the details pane.

3. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click an event and then click View error details to view more information about an event in the list.

The Error Details dialog box appears with detailed information about the event.

Related topics


Manage servers


1. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, do the following:

In the console tree, expand the server for which you want to configure troubleshooting options, and then click Troubleshooting.

In the details pane, click the View options button.The Troubleshooting Options dialog box appears.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, do the following:

In the console tree, click Troubleshooting.The Troubleshooting page displays a list of errors and the troubleshooting options settings.

2. In Number of events server stores, type the maximum number of events you want to appear in the troubleshooting events list. The minimum allowable entry is 100 and the maximum is 2000. The default is 200.

3. In Filter events, you can choose which events are displayed in the troubleshooting events list by selecting the corresponding check box:

Display limit hits. Select this check box to display events when a server or publishing point reaches its set limits. When the limits are reached, new clients are not able to connect to your server. To stop displaying limit-hit events, clear the Display limit hits check box.

Display server warnings. Select this check box to display warnings related to the Windows Media Services service. To stop displaying server warnings, clear the Display server warnings check box.

Display server errors. Select this check box to display errors related to the Windows Media Services service. To stop displaying server errors, clear the Display server errors check box.

Display plug-in warnings. Select this check box to display plug-in warnings, which indicate that the plug-in is not able to function as configured. To stop displaying plug-in warnings, clear the Display plug-in warnings check box.

270


Display plug-in errors. Select this check box to display plug-in errors, which indicate that a plug-in is not functioning and should be disabled or reconfigured. A plug-in may need to be reinstalled to resolve an error event. To stop displaying plug-in errors, clear the Display plug-in errors check box.

Note

All events are selected by default.

Related topics

Manage servers


1. Click the server for which you want to enable HTTP streaming.

2. In the details pane, click the Properties tab.

3. In Category, click Control protocol.

4. In Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol.

5. Click the Enable button.

Note

If Windows Media Services and Internet Information Services (IIS) are installed on the same computer, be sure each service has been allocated a unique HTTP port. By default, both services will attempt to bind to port 80, which causes a port conflict. You can resolve the port conflict by either adding IP addresses to your server or by changing the port that Windows Media Services uses for HTTP streaming.

Related topics




Manage servers


1. Click the server for which you want to change the port allocated for HTTP streaming.



4. In Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol, and then click Properties.

5. If you have more than one IP address available on your server, in IP address, click Allow selected IP addresses to use this protocol, and then click the specific IP addresses you want to use from the list.

6. In Port selection, click Use other port, and then type the port number you want to use in the space provided. HTTP port numbers can range from 1 to 65535.

7. Click OK to apply the change.

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8. In the details pane, in Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol. Click Enable to make the HTTP protocol available for streaming content from your server.

Notes

Windows Media Services attempts to use port 80 by default, but that port is also commonly reserved for use by Web servers. To avoid port conflict, use a port other than 80 for HTTP streaming. If you do not use the default port, the URL that a player uses to connect to the publishing point must include the new port number. For example, if you change the HTTP port to port 1450, the connection URL would be http://server_name:1450/publishing_point_name.

To provide more than one port 80 on your server, you can install additional network interface cards, or you can use the networking features of the operating system to add additional IP addresses to a single network interface card. After creating additional IP address/port 80 combinations, you must configure Windows Media Services and your Web server to utilize separate ports.

Related topics



Manage servers


1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to %systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\Admin\MMC.

2. Double click WMSHttpSysCfg.exe.

The Windows Media Services HTTP Sys Configuration dialog box appears.

3. In IP Address, type the IP address you want the HTTP.sys driver to use and click Add.

4. Repeat step 3 to add any additional IP addresses.

5. Restart HTTP.sys and Internet Information Services (IIS) by either restarting the computer or typing the following at the command prompt:

net stop http /y && iisreset

6. To verify that IIS only binds to the newly added IP addresses, type the following at the command prompt:

netstat

7. Start the Windows Media Services snap-in.

8. In the console tree, click the server for which you want to enable HTTP streaming.



11. In Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol, and then click Properties.

12. In IP address, click Allow selected IP addresses to use this protocol, and then click the specific IP addresses you want to use from the list. Do not select the addresses that were added in step 3.

13.Click OK to apply the change.

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14. In the details pane, in Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol. Click Enable to make the HTTP protocol available for streaming content from your server.

Related topics

Using HTTP streaming and other services on the same computer

Manage servers


1. On the reverse proxy server, run the following script. In this script, password is the password and user_name is the user name you want to use to authenticate the origin server:

Dim serverSet server = CreateObject("WMSserver.Server")Dim pp1Set pp1 = server.PublishingPoints.Item("Cache/Proxy Broadcast")pp1.DistributionPassword = "password"pp1.DistributionUserName = "user_name"

2. On the origin server, configure the appropriate authentication plug-in to accept these values.

Related topics

Understanding reverse proxy

Manage servers

To access content on a computer running Windows 2000 Server

1. If the computer running Windows 2000 Server and the computer running Windows Media Services are members of the same workgroup, but do not belong to the same domain, create a new user account and password on the computer running Windows 2000 Server. This user account should not have administrator rights and permissions.

2. Create an identical user account and password on the computer running Windows Media Services. You can create new user accounts by using the Computer Management console. Grant the new user account all of the same permissions and rights as the Network Service account.

3. Configure Windows Media Services to log on using the new account when it starts. You can change the account the Windows Media Services Service uses to log on to the computer during startup through the Windows control panel.

For more information about creating and configuring accounts, passwords, and privileges, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics

Manage servers



2. On the Action menu, click Import console configuration.

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3. In the Open dialog box, select the console configuration file that contains the configuration data you want to use and then click Open. The console configuration file has an .xml file name extension.

The console configuration of servers and groups will be applied to the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Note

This information only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Related topics


Manage servers



2. On the Action menu, click Export console configuration.

3. In the Save As dialog box, enter a name for the console configuration and then click Save. The console configuration file must be saved with an .xml file name extension. By default, the file is saved to %HOMEPATH%\My Documents.

Server and group data for the current console will be stored in the file.

Note

This information only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Related topics


Manage servers

274


Work with groups of serversThis section contains the following topics:

To add a group


To remove a server from a group

To modify group properties

To refresh the statistics in the server list for a group

To remove a group Note

These procedures only apply to the Windows Media Services snap-in. Group management is not supported in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Related topics

How to…


To add a group


2. On the Action menu, click Add Group.

The Add Group dialog box appears.

3. In Group name, type a unique name for the group you are adding.

4. Click OK to add the group.

Note

This procedure only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in. Group management is not supported in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Related topics

Manage servers


Using groups

Work with groups of servers


1. In the console tree, click the group to which you want to add a server.

2. On the Action menu, click Add Server.

The Add Server dialog box appears.

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3. In Server name or IP address, type the name or IP address of the Windows Media server you want to add to the group, and then click OK.

The server name appears in the console tree under the group name.

Note


Related topics

Manage servers

Using groups



1. In the console tree, expand the group from which you want to remove a server, and then click the server that you want to remove from the group.


3. A confirmation dialog box appears. Click the Yes button.

The server is removed from the list.

Note


Related topics

Manage servers

Using groups



1. In the console tree, click the group you want to modify.

A list of the servers that are members of the selected group appears in the details pane.

2. In the details pane, click the View properties button.

The properties sheet for the selected group is displayed.

3. To change the name of the group, in Group name, type the new name.

4. To change how often the statistics displayed in the server list are updated, in Refresh rate, use the drop-down list to select the desired number of seconds between updates.

5. Click OK to apply the properties to the group.

Note


276


Related topics

Manage servers

Using groups



1. In the console tree, click the group whose statistics you want to refresh.

A list of the servers that are members of the selected group appears in the details pane.

2. In the details pane, click Refresh list.

The statistics displayed are updated to show the most current information.

Note


Related topics

Manage servers

Using groups


To remove a group

1. In the console tree, click the group you want to remove.


Note


Related topics

Manage servers


277


Work with plug-insThis section contains the following topics:

To enable a plug-in

To disable a plug-in

To configure plug-in properties

To rename a plug-in

To duplicate a plug-in

To remove a plug-in

To configure the WMS Network Data Source plug-in



To configure the WMS MMS Server Control Protocol plug-in

To configure the WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol plug-in

To configure the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in

To configure the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in

To configure the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in

Related topics

How to…


To enable a plug-in

1. Click the server or publishing point for which you want to enable a plug-in.


3. In Category, click the plug-in category.

4. In Plug-in, click the plug-in you want to enable, and then click Enable.

Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To disable a plug-in

1. Click the server or publishing point for which you want to disable a plug-in.



4. In Plug-in, click the plug-in you want to disable, and then click Disable.

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Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To configure plug-in properties

1. Click the server or publishing point for which you want to configure the plug-in properties.



4. In Plug-in, click the plug-in you want to configure, and then click Properties. The Properties button is unavailable if a plug-in does not have configurable properties.

Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To rename a plug-in

1. Click the server or publishing point for which you want to rename the plug-in.



4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, right-click the plug-in name, click Rename, type the new name.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click the Rename button, type the new name, and then click OK.

Note

The following characters are reserved and cannot be used as part of the plug-in name: &"'<>\.

Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To duplicate a plug-in

1. Click the server or publishing point for which you want to duplicate a plug-in.



4. In Plug-in, click the plug-in that you want to duplicate.

5. Click the Duplicate button.

6. In Plug-in name, type a name for the duplicated plug-in or accept the default, which is "Copy of plug-in name". The new plug-in will appear in the list.

Related topics

Work with plug-ins

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To remove a plug-in

1. Click the server or publishing point from which you want to remove a plug-in.



4. In Plug-in, select the plug-in that you want to remove.

5. Click the Remove button.

The plug-in status will change to Disabled-Pending Removal. The plug-in will be removed from the list after Windows Media Services service has been stopped and restarted.

Note

You cannot remove the last instance of a system plug-in. If you attempt to do so, a message is displayed, and you can choose to disable the plug-in instead. Disabling a system plug-in removes features and can affect the ability to stream content from the server.

Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS Network Data Source plug-in

1. Click the server for which you want to configure the plug-in.

2. In the details pane, click the Properties tab, and then select the Show all plug-in categories check box.

3. In Category, click Data source.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS Network Data Source, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Network Data Source.

WMS Network Data Source Properties appears.

5. On the General tab, in Protocols, select the check boxes of to the protocols you want to use when connecting to network data sources through RTSP.

6. If you are connecting to a network data source through a proxy server, in Proxy settings, click the protocol used to connect to the proxy server, and then click the Configure button.

7. Enter the appropriate information for your proxy server, and then click OK.

Note

Windows Media Services supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate increasing demand for unique IP addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are configured to use IPv6, but Windows Media Services will automatically use IPv6 when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the Internet Protocol Version 6 Web page at the Microsoft Web site.

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Related topics

WMS Network Data Source - configure protocol properties

WMS Network Data Source - general properties

Work with plug-ins


1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to configure the plug-in.


3. In Category, click Archiving.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS Archive Data Writer, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Archive Data Writer.

WMS Archive Data Writer Properties appears.

5. If you want to automatically begin archiving when the publishing point starts, select the Start archiving when publishing point starts check box.

6. Type a location and a name for the archive file, and then click OK. For more information about the wildcard characters that can be used in an archive file name, see Archive wildcard characters reference.

7. In the details pane, click Enable.

Notes

To change the archive file path after archiving has started, you must stop archiving, change the path, and then restart archiving. You can manually start and stop archiving on the Source tab of the publishing point.

The WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in cannot be enabled or disabled while the publishing point is streaming content. If you want to archive your broadcast, you must enable the archiving plug-in before you start your publishing point.

If you archive your streamed content by using the default name and the default directory, the content may be vulnerable to unauthorized access. To protect your archived content, save it to a location that is outside the Wmroot directory structure or implement additional network security measures.

Related topics

To archive content

Work with plug-ins


1. In the console tree, click the server for which you want to configure the plug-in.


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4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol.

WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol Properties appears.

5. Do one of the following:

To Do this

Allow all of the IP addresses on your server to use HTTP when streaming content

Click Allow all IP addresses to use this protocol.

Allow only those IP addresses you select in the IP address list to use HTTP when streaming content

Click Allow selected IP addresses to use this protocol, and then in the IP address list, click the IP addresses that will use the HTTP protocol.


To Do this

Use the default HTTP port Click Use default port (80).

Specify a different port to use with HTTP Click Use other port (1-65535), and then type the port you want to use in the space provided.


Notes

Changes made to this plug-in are applied to new client connection requests only. Clients that are already connected to the server are not affected.

Attempting to use Windows Media Services and a Web service such as Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) concurrently on a server can cause conflicts because both services attempt to bind to port 80 by default. You can avoid port conflicts by assigning Windows Media Services to a different port or by creating additional IP addresses so that each service can use port 80 on a separate IP address.

Windows Media Services supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate increasing demand for unique IP addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are configured to use IPv6, but Windows Media Services will automatically use IPv6 when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the IPv6 page at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


282




Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS MMS Server Control Protocol plug-in




4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS MMS Server Control Protocol, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS MMS Server Control Protocol.

WMS MMS Server Control Protocol Properties appears.


To Do this

Allow all of the IP addresses on your server to use MMS when streaming content


Allow only those IP addresses you select in the IP address list to use MMS when streaming content

Click Allow selected IP addresses to use this protocol, and then in the IP address list, select the IP addresses that will use the MMS protocol.


To Do this

Use the default MMS port Click Use default port (1755).

Specify a different port to use with MMS Click Use other port (1-65535), and then type the port you want to use in the space provided.


Notes


Windows Media Services supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate increasing demand for unique IP addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are

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configured to use IPv6, but Windows Media Services will automatically use IPv6 when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the IPv6 page at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol plug-in




4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol.

WMS RTSP Server Control Protocol Properties appears.


To Do this

Allow all of the IP addresses on your server to use RTSP when streaming content


Allow only those IP addresses you select in the IP address list to use RTSP when streaming content.

Click Allow selected IP addresses to use this protocol, and then in the IP address list, select the IP addresses that will use the RTSP protocol.


To Do this

Use the default RTSP port Click Use default port (554).

Specify a different port to use with RTSP Click Use other port (1-65535), and then type the port you want to use in the space provided.


Notes


Windows Media Services supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate increasing demand for unique IP

284


addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are configured to use IPv6, but Windows Media Services will automatically use IPv6 when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the IPv6 page at the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics


Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in

1. Click the server for which you want to configure the plug-in.

2. In the details pane, click the Properties tab, and then select the Show all plug-in categories check box.

3. In Category, click Unicast streaming.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS Unicast Data Writer, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Unicast Data Writer.

WMS Unicast Data Writer Properties appears.

5. Do any of the following:

To Do this

Allow unicast transmission of data using MMS and RTSP protocols through UDP

Select the UDP check box.

Allow unicast transmission of data using RTSP and HTTP through TCP

Select the TCP check box.


To Do this

To have the content stream determine the optimum packet size for streaming when using a UDP-based RTSP protocol (RTSPU)

Click Use default packet size from content.

To specify the number of bytes that each streaming packet should contain when using a UDP-based RTSP protocol (RTSPU)

Click Use maximum packet size (in bytes), and then type a packet size value in the space provided. The default is 1452 bytes.


Notes

Setting the RTP packet size to too small a value may prevent the Windows Media server from streaming.

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If the Windows Media server or any clients are behind a firewall or a proxy server that cannot pass UDP packets, you should disable UDP packet transmission for the WMS Unicast Data Writer plug-in. Clients that attempt to receive UDP transmissions through network components that are not UDP-enabled may experience latency during the protocol rollover process. For more information about protocol rollover, see How protocol rollover works.

Related topics


How unicast works

Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point for which you want to configure the plug-in.


3. In Category, click Playlist transform.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS Playlist Transform, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Playlist Transform.

WMS Playlist Transform Properties appears.

5. Do any of the following:

To Do this

Repeat the sequence of your directory or playlist until stopped by an administrator

Select the Loop check box.

Play back the contents of your directory or playlist in random order

Select the Shuffle check box.


Related topics

Work with plug-ins

To configure the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in

1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to configure the plug-in.


3. In Category, click Multicast streaming.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Plug-in, click WMS Multicast Data Writer, and then click Properties.

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-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Multicast Data Writer.

WMS Multicast Data Writer Properties appears.

5. On the General tab, in IP address, type the multicast IP address, and then in Port, type the port number from which you want to multicast.

6. In Time-to-live (TTL), enter the number of routers that your multicast can pass through (also known as the number of "hops") before expiring on the network.

7. If you want to enable players to automatically switch to a unicast stream if they cannot receive the stream through multicast, select the Enable unicast rollover check box, and then do one of the following:

To Do this

Allow the current publishing point to stream content by using the Unicast Data Writer plug-in

Click Use this local publishing point.

Redirect unicast connection requests to an alternate publishing point

Click Use other publishing point, and then type the URL of the publishing point.

8. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click the Advanced tab to perform the following steps.

In IP address of the network interface card to multicast from, enter the IP address for the network interface card on your server that can multicast content.

In Logging URL, type the URL to the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent, for example, http://server_name/folder/wmsiislog.dll.

9. Click OK to close the properties sheet.


Notes

Windows Media Services supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate increasing demand for unique IP addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are configured to use IPv6, but Windows Media Services will automatically use IPv6 when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the IPv6 page at the Microsoft Web site.


Related topics


How multicast works

To install the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent

Work with plug-ins

287


Work with publishing pointsThis section contains the following topics:



Testing a stream

Configuring publishing point properties

Related topics

How to…



288


Setting up a publishing pointThis section contains the following topics:



To duplicate a publishing point

To remove a publishing point

To rename a publishing point


To archive content

Related topics





1. In the console tree, expand the server to which you want to add the publishing point, and then click Publishing Points.

2. On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Wizard).

The Add Publishing Point Wizard appears.

3. Follow the instructions in the wizard to add a publishing point.

Notes

This procedure only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in.

The Add Publishing Point Wizard does not support creating a publishing point that obtains content from a remote publishing point or from a dynamic playlist generated by an ASP page or Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script. To add a new publishing point that uses those content sources, use the Add Publishing Point (Advanced) command to configure the publishing point properties manually.

Related topics






1. In the console tree, expand the server to which you want to add the publishing point, and then click Publishing Points.

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2. On the Action menu, click Add Publishing Point (Advanced).

3. Select the type of publishing point you want to add: on-demand or broadcast.

4. In Publishing point name, type a unique name for the publishing point.

5. In Location of content, enter the path to the content of the publishing point, and then click OK. The following are examples of paths you can enter:

For a playlist: C:\Directory\Playlist.wsx

For a file: C:\Directory\File_name.wmv

For a directory: C:\Directory\*

For an encoder: http://encoder:port

For a multicast stream: MCast://C:\Wmpub\Wmroot\File.nsc or MCast://\\MachineName\Inetpub\Wwwroot\File.nsc

For a publishing point on a remote computer: http://server/publishingpointIf you want to select a playlist, file, or directory as the content source, you can click Browse to browse to the file location.

6. Click OK to add the publishing point to your server.


1. In the console tree, click Publishing Points, and then in the details pane, click the Add button.

2. Select the type of publishing point you want to add: on-demand or broadcast.

3. Type a unique name for the publishing point.

4. In Content type and location, enter the path to the content of the publishing point. The following are examples of paths you can enter:

For a playlist: C:\Directory\Playlist.wsx

For a file: C:\Directory\File_name.wmv

For a directory: C:\Directory\*

For an encoder: http://encoder:port

For a publishing point on a remote computer: http://server/publishingpoint5. Click OK to add the publishing point to your server.

Notes

After you add the publishing point, you can set limits, control access to content, and set up logging for it.

If you chose to publish content from a directory, you can stream the content of the entire directory in sequence to users by enabling the Enable access to directory content using wildcards property on the Properties tab of the publishing point.

If you add a broadcast publishing point, and you want to deliver content as a multicast stream, you must also configure and enable a multicast data writer plug-in.

When you are using a multicast stream as a content source, the location of the content is the address of the multicast information file (the file with the .nsc file name extension). Windows Media Services can access an .nsc file that is stored on a local or network shared drive. Windows Media Services cannot use a URL address to access an .nsc file.

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When naming a publishing point, you should avoid using names that are identical to those of directories or subdirectories on the Windows Media server. A publishing point with the same name as a directory may interfere with another publishing point that sources from that directory.


Related topics











1. In the console tree, click the publishing point you want to duplicate.

2. On the Action menu, click Duplicate.

The Duplicate Publishing Point dialog box appears.

3. In Publishing point name, type the name for the new publishing point, and then click OK.


1. In the console tree, click Publishing Points.

2. Click the publishing point you want to duplicate, and then click the Duplicate button.

3. Type the name for the new publishing point, and then click OK.

Notes

Any configurations you made to the properties of the original publishing point are copied to the properties of the new publishing point.


Related topics



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1. In the console tree, click the publishing point you want to remove.


3. In the Remove Publishing Point dialog box, click Yes.



2. Select the publishing point you want to remove, and then click the Remove button.

Related topics



1. In the console tree, click the publishing point that you want to rename.

2. On the Action menu, click Rename.

3. In Publishing point name, type a name for the publishing point, and then click OK.



2. Click the publishing point you want to rename, and then click the Rename button.

3. Type a name for the publishing point, and then click OK.

Note


Related topics



1. To assign or create a new Default publishing point, remove or rename the existing Default publishing point.

2. In the console tree, click the publishing point that you want to assign as the default.

-or-

Create a new publishing point using the Add Publishing Point Wizard or the advanced method.

3. On the Action menu, click Rename.

4. In Publishing Point Name, replace the existing name with a forward slash (/) and then click OK.

The publishing point will change to display <Default> (Broadcast) or <Default> (On-demand), depending on the type of publishing point you used.

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1. To assign or create a new Default publishing point, remove or rename the existing Default publishing point.


3. Click the publishing point that you want to assign as the default.

-or-

Click the Add button to create a new publishing point.

4. Click the Rename button.

5. In Publishing point name, replace the existing name with a forward slash (/), and then click OK.

The publishing point will change to display <Default>.

Related topics






To archive content

1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to archive content.

2. Click the Properties tab.

3. In Category, click Archiving.

4. If you have not already done so, configure and enable the WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in. For more information, see To configure the WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in.

5. To start archiving manually, in the details pane, click the Source tab, and then click the Start archiving button.

Notes

The WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in cannot be enabled or disabled while the publishing point is streaming content. If you want to archive your broadcast, you must enable the archiving plug-in before you start your publishing point.

The server does not use your user account to access folders and other resources; it uses the Network Service account by default. If you are saving files to a location other than C:\WMPub and its subdirectories, make sure that the folder is shared and that the Network Service account has read and write permissions for the folder. If the Network Service account does not have permissions for a folder, the server will not be able to save files to it. For more information about rights and permissions, see Understanding rights.

Related topics



293


Managing connections to a publishing pointThis section contains the following topics:

To start a broadcast publishing point


To deny unicast connections to a publishing point


To disconnect clients from a publishing point

To announce publishing point content

Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point you want to start.

2. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, on the Action menu, click Start.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click the Start button.

Notes

Broadcast publishing points can be configured to start automatically when the first player requests a connection. For more information about this feature, see To enable the Start publishing point when first client connects property.

Manually starting a broadcast publishing point may interfere with the Start publishing point when first client connects property. If you want your broadcast publishing point to start and stop automatically based on client connections, do not manually start the publishing point.

Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point you want to stop.

2. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, on the Action menu, click Stop.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click the Stop button.

Related topics

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1. In the console tree, click the publishing point that you want to deny unicast connections to.


-or-


New requests for unicast streams from the server will be denied.

Note

If you are delivering the content as both unicast and multicast streams from a broadcast publishing point, players will still be able to receive multicast streams from the server. You must stop either the server or the publishing point if you do not want players to receive the multicast stream.

Related topics





1. In the console tree, click the publishing point that you want to allow unicast connections to.

2. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, on the Action menu, click Allow New Connections.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click the Allow button.

Note

New requests for a unicast stream from the publishing point will be allowed as long as the server is also allowing unicast connections.

Related topics




To disconnect clients from a publishing point

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point from which you want to disconnect clients.

2. In the details pane, on the Monitor tab, click the Disconnect All button.

Related topics

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To announce publishing point content

1. In the console tree, select the publishing point that contains the content you want to announce.

2. In the details pane, click the Announce tab.

3. Click Unicast Announcement Wizard, and then follow the steps in the wizard.

Notes


For a broadcast publishing point, you can announce your content by clicking either Unicast Announcement Wizard (for a unicast stream) or Multicast Announcement Wizard (for a multicast stream) and then following the steps in the wizard.

If you change the list of stream formats after the creation of the multicast information file, the existing file is invalid. You must run the announcement wizard again to update the file. You are not required to create a new announcement.


Related topics

Announcing content

Working with the Multicast Announcement Wizard

Working with the Unicast Announcement Wizard


296


Testing a streamThis section contains the following topics:

To test a stream using the Stream Test utility

To test a stream using Windows Media Player

To test a stream pulled from an encoder

Related topics


To test a stream using the Stream Test utility

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point that is associated with the stream you want to test.

2. In the details pane, click the Source tab, and then click the Test stream button.

The Stream Test utility opens, and the publishing point starts if it has not already started.

3. In Client and protocol, verify that the URL of the content is correct.

4. Verify that Windows Media Player starts and the content stream starts playing.

5. Using the Player controls, test the control functionality of the content stream. Broadcast streams can make use of the Start and Stop commands. On-demand streams can make use of the Start, Stop, and Pause commands, as well as the Seek bar.

6. Test all of the available streaming protocols. The Test Stream utility typically opens unicast streams using the MMS protocol. In Client and protocol, click a different protocol, and then click the OK button. The HTTP protocol will not be active unless the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in is enabled. For more information about protocols, see Protocol overview.

7. Allow the stream to play for a representative period of time and check the stream statistics for excessive numbers of skipped frames and lost packets.

8. Click Exit to close the Test Stream utility.

Note


Related topics

Testing a stream

To test a stream using Windows Media Player

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point that hosts the stream you want to test.

2. In the details pane, click the Announce tab, and then, in Unicast streams, make note of the value in URL that clients may use to your content.

3. Start Windows Media Player on a computer that should have access to the stream, and enter the URL that you noted in the previous step.

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4. Using the Player controls, test the control functionality of the content stream. Broadcast streams can make use of the Start and Stop commands. On-demand streams can make use of the Start, Stop, and Pause commands, as well as the Seek bar.

5. Test all of the available streaming protocols. A unicast stream will attempt to connect using the MMS protocol, but will switch to the RTSP protocol if network conditions or the Player version requires it. The HTTP protocol will not be active unless the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in is enabled. For more information about protocols, see Protocol overview.

6. Allow the stream to play for a representative period of time and check that the stream quality is sufficient for the type of content and the capabilities of the equipment.

Notes


A true test of stream availability requires a Windows Media Player session on a computer under the most adverse connection circumstances. For instance, if some members of your expected audience will access the stream from a dial-up connection outside a network firewall, your testing scenario should include that condition.

If you are streaming by using a multicast transmission, use the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create a Web page that your test computers can connect to and test the stream.

Related topics

Testing a stream

To test a stream pulled from an encoder

1. After the encoder has started an encoding session, obtain the connection URL of the encoder. The URL uses the following syntax: connection_protocol://computer_name:port (for example, http://encoder1:8080). This is the URL that you will use to connect the Windows Media server to the encoder.

2. Start Windows Media Player on the computer running Windows Media Services, and then enter the URL that you noted in the previous step.

3. Check that the encoded content is reproduced accurately in the Player. Poor reproduction quality could indicate network problems or an improper encoder setting.

Related topics

Testing a stream

298


Configuring publishing point propertiesThis section contains the following topics:

To enable the Start publishing point when first client connects property


To configure the Cache expiration property

To configure the Stream splitting expiration property

To configure the Specify distribution credentials property

To configure the Enable buffering property


Related topics


To enable the Start publishing point when first client connects property

1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to enable the Start publishing point when first client connects property.


3. In Category, click General.

4. In Property, click Start publishing point when first client connects, and then click Enable.

Related topics

Start publishing point when first client connects



1. In the console tree, click the publishing point for which you want to configure the Enable forward error correction property.


3. In Category, click Wireless.

4. In Property, click Enable forward error correction, and then click the Properties button.

The Forward Error Correction Properties dialog box appears.

5. To adjust the number of redundant data packets sent with each piece of content, in FEC packets per span, enter a value from 0 to 24. A value of 0 disables Forward Error Correction.


Note

Forward error correction is available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and

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Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, this feature is not supported.

Related topics




To configure the Cache expiration property

1. In the console tree, click the on-demand publishing point for which you want to configure the Cache expiration property.


3. In Category, click Cache/Proxy.

4. In Property, click Cache expiration, and then click the Properties button.

The Cache Expiration Properties dialog box appears.


To Do this

Renew the content from the origin server after a specified number of seconds has passed

Click After (seconds), and then enter a value.

Renew the content from the origin server each time a client requests the content from the cache/proxy server

Click Immediately.

Never renew the content from the origin server

Click Never.


Related topics


To configure the Stream splitting expiration property

1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to configure the Stream splitting expiration property.


3. In Category, click Cache/Proxy.

4. In Property, click Stream splitting expiration, and then click the Properties button.

The Stream Splitting Expiration Properties dialog box appears.


300


To Do this

Renew the content from the origin server after a specified number of seconds has passed

Click After (seconds), and then enter a value.

Renew the content from the origin server each time a client requests the content from the cache/proxy server

Click Immediately.

Never renew the content from the origin server

Click Never.


Related topics


To configure the Specify distribution credentials property

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point for which you want to configure the Specify distribution credentials property.


3. In Category, click Credentials.

4. In Property, click Specify distribution credentials, and then click the Properties button.

The Credentials Properties dialog box appears.

5. In User Name, type the user name that you want this server to use on the network.

6. In Password, type the password that will authenticate the server on the network.

7. In Confirm Password, type the password again to be sure that you have specified it correctly.


Related topics


To configure the Enable buffering property

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point for which you want to configure the Enable buffering property.


3. In Category, click Networking.

4. In Property, click Enable buffering, and then click the Properties button.

The Enable buffering Properties dialog box appears.


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To Do this

Reduce client startup latency by buffering data in the server cache before streaming it to clients

Click Buffer content.

Keep the content stream closely synchronized with the client connections.

Click Disable buffering.


Related topics



1. In the console tree, expand the server for which you want to enable Broadcast Auto-Start, and then expand Publishing Points.

2. Click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to enable Broadcast Auto-Start.



5. In Property, right-click Enable Broadcast Auto-Start, and then click Enable.

Related topics


302


Set up content to streamThis section contains the following topics:



Setting up files to stream


Related topics

How to…



303


Creating and editing offline playlistsThis section contains the following topics:


To open an existing playlist from the Source tab


To create a wrapper playlist by using the Windows Media Playlist Editor


To add a media element to a playlist


To add a container to a playlist

To add a clientData element to a playlist

To delete an element from a playlist

To change the value of an offline playlist attribute

To use a wrapper playlist with a publishing point

To stop using a wrapper playlist with a publishing point

Related topics


Playlist reference




1. Start the Windows Media Playlist Editor.

The Windows Media Playlist Editor dialog box appears.

2. On the toolbar, click the Add element button to add a media element to the playlist.

The Add Media Elements dialog box appears.

3. Specify the name and location of the content you want to add to the playlist. Repeat this step until you have added all of the content to your playlist.

4. On the toolbar, click the Save playlist button, and then specify the name and location of the playlist file. The playlist file must use a .wsx file name extension.

Notes

The Windows Media Playlist Editor can be started from the Windows Media Services snap-in by clicking the Summary Tab of the Publishing Points item or the Source tab of a specific publishing point.

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The Windows Media Playlist Editor can also be started as a stand-alone program by double-clicking the Wmseditor.exe file, which can be found in the folder in which you installed the Windows Media Services snap-in. By default, this is %systemroot%\System32\Windows Media\Server\Admin\MMC.

After you have created your playlist, it may be used by any publishing point. To use your playlist with a publishing point, click the Change button on the Source tab of the publishing point.

The Windows Media Playlist Editor is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.


If you want to save your playlist files on another computer or network drive, you must first grant share permissions to the Windows Media server. The Windows Media server cannot write files to a remote network drive if the server has not been granted permissions. For more information about drive sharing and permissions, see Windows Help and Support.

If your playlist includes JPEG image files, do not include any syntax in your playlist that causes the image to pause while being rendered by the player. Pausing a JPEG image in this manner can cause the player to enter a permanent wait state. If you must show a still image under these circumstances, create a video file of that image and then use the video file in the playlist instead.


Related topics

Playlist reference


To open an existing playlist from the Source tab

1. On the Source tab of the publishing point, click View playlist editor.

The Playlist dialog box appears.

2. Click Open an existing playlist.

3. In File name, type the path to the playlist file you want to open or click Browse to select the file.

4. Click OK. The Windows Media Playlist Editor opens the selected playlist.

Notes

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Existing playlist files can also be opened from the Windows Media Playlist Editor menu by clicking File, and then clicking Open. This opens the Windows Media Browse dialog box in which you can locate the playlist file.


Related topics

Playlist reference



1. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add a wrapper.

2. Click the Advertising tab, and then click Wrapper Editor.

3. Click Create playlist file, and then select the Use the Create Wrapper Wizard check box.

4. Follow the instructions in the Create Wrapper Wizard to create a wrapper playlist file.

Note

Wrapper playlists can use the same elements and attributes as standard playlists and can be created using the Windows Media Playlist Editor.

Related topics


Playlist reference




1. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add a wrapper.


3. Click Create playlist file, and then clear the Use the Create Wrapper Wizard check box.

4. On the toolbar, click the Add element button to add a media element to the wrapper playlist.


5. Specify the name and location of the content you want to add to the wrapper playlist. You can arrange the playback order by dragging elements in the playlist tree.

The %RequestURL% element is already a part of your playlist. It represents the content that the user requests from the publishing point. Playlist elements placed in front of the %RequestURL% element play before the publishing point content, while items placed after it play after the publishing point content ends.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have added all of the content to your wrapper playlist.

7. On the toolbar, click Save playlist, and then specify the name and location of the wrapper playlist file. The wrapper playlist file must use a .wsx file name extension.

Notes

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You can also create a wrapper playlist by using the Windows Media Playlist Editor on the Source tab. To create a new wrapper playlist in the Playlist Editor, on the File menu, point to New, and then click Wrapper Playlist. The Windows Media Playlist Editor is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.


Related topics


Playlist reference




1. In the console tree, click the publishing point for which you want to open the wrapper playlist.


3. Click Edit existing playlist file.

4. In File name, type the path to the wrapper playlist file, or click Browse to locate the wrapper playlist file, and then click OK.

Related topics

Playlist reference


To add a media element to a playlist

1. In the Windows Media Playlist Editor, expand the playlist, and then expand the smil element to show the elements in the playlist.

2. Click the element after which you want to add a media element.

-or-

Click the seq, switch, excl, or priorityClass element inside which you want to add a media element.

3. On the toolbar, click the Add element button.


4. In Location of content, type the path to the media element you want to include in the playlist.

The Content type examples area displays list of valid content types.

5. If you want to put this element inside an existing seq, switch, excl, or priorityClass element in the list, select the Add as a child element check box.

6. To add the selected media element to the playlist, click Add. When you are finished adding media elements to the playlist, click OK.

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Notes





Related topics

Playlist reference





2. Click the element after which you want to add an advertisement.

3. On the toolbar, click the Add element arrow, and then click Advertisement.

The Add Advertisement dialog box appears.

4. Type the location of the advertisement you want to add.

5. Click OK to add the selected advertisement to the playlist.

Notes



Related topics

308


Playlist reference


To add a container to a playlist


2. Click the element after which you want to add a container.

3. On the toolbar, click the Add element arrow.


Click this To do this

Sequence Add a seq element to the playlist. A seq element is a container for content items, which are played in the order in which they are listed. For more information, see seq element.

Switch Add a switch element to the playlist. A switch element provides alternate content in case a user is unable to access the intended content. For more information, see switch element.

Exclusive Add an excl element to the playlist. An excl element is a container for content items that are played only if they are triggered by an event or if a begin attribute is specified and its criteria is met. For more information, see excl element.

priorityClass Add a priorityClass element to the playlist. A priorityClass element must be an immediate child of an excl element. A priorityClass element enables you to specify what happens when one media element interrupts playback of another. For more information, see priorityClass element.

Note


Related topics

Playlist reference



To add a clientData element to a playlist


2. Click the element after which you want to add a clientData element.

3. On the toolbar, click the Add element arrow.

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4. Click ClientData.

A clientData element is added to the playlist.

5. Click the new clientData element. If the clientData element was added after a media element, you may have to expand the media element.

Notes


If the user is running Windows Media Player for Windows XP and earlier, the clientData element information will be ignored. The clientData element is supported by Windows Media Player 9 Series or later.

Related topics

clientData element

Playlist reference



To delete an element from a playlist


2. Click the element you want to delete.

3. On the toolbar, click Remove element.

Note


Related topics

Playlist reference



1. In the Windows Media Playlist Editor, on the File menu, click Open.

2. In File name, type the name of the playlist file that you want to modify or locate the file in the file list. Click Select File.

3. In the playlist tree, expand the playlist, and then expand the smil element to show the elements in the playlist.

4. Click the element you want to modify.

The available attributes and their associated values are visible in the properties attributes list.

5. To change the value of an attribute, click the attribute.

A text box appears in Value.

6. In the text box, type the value you want for the attribute, and then press ENTER.

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7. To save the changes made to your playlist, click the Save playlist button.

Note


Related topics

Playlist attributes

Playlist reference


To use a wrapper playlist with a publishing point

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add a wrapper playlist.

2. In the details pane, click the Advertising tab, and then click Change.

3. In Location, type the path to the wrapper playlist file, or click Browse to locate the file.

4. Click OK.

5. Select the Use a wrapper with this publishing point check box.

The wrapper playlist is applied to the publishing point.

Notes

You can use a single wrapper playlist file on multiple publishing points.

File system browsing is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Related topics


Playlist reference


To stop using a wrapper playlist with a publishing point

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point on which you want to stop using a wrapper playlist.

2. In the details pane, click the Advertising tab.

3. Clear the Use a wrapper with this publishing point check box.

The wrapper playlist is no longer applied to the publishing point.

Related topics


Playlist reference


311


Editing online playlistsThis section contains the following topics:

To edit an online on-demand playlist


To change the value of an online playlist element

Related topics


Playlist reference



To edit an online on-demand playlist

1. In the console tree, click the on-demand publishing point associated with the playlist you want to edit.

2. In the details pane, click the Source tab.

The path and file name in Location correspond to the playlist that is currently online.



5. Use the toolbar above the playlist to perform any of the following steps:

To add a container, click the Add Element arrow, and then do one of the following:





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To delete an element, click the Remove element button.6. If you have enabled the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in, you can change the way the playlist is

streamed by clicking the following toolbar buttons:

To have the playlist repeat its content until the publishing point is stopped, click the Loop button.

To have the playlist stream its content in random order, click the Shuffle button. Notes


To move an element up or down in the playlist, click the element you want to move, and then drag it to a new location.

Windows Media Services server-side playlists are Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents that are compliant with the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 2.0 language specification. For more information about the SMIL 2.0 Specification, W3C Recommendation, see the W3C Web site.

Related topics

Playlist reference




1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point associated with the playlist that you want to edit.





5. Use the toolbar above the list to perform any of the following steps:

To add a container, click the Add Element arrow, and then do one of the following:



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To delete an element, click the Remove element button.6. While the playlist is running, you can do one of the following:

To reduce the latency between the element that is currently playing and an upcoming element, click the upcoming element, and then click Cue element. The first few seconds of the upcoming element are saved in a buffer on the server.

To have the playlist stop playing the current element and start playing another element in the list, click the next element, and then click Jump to element.

7. If the publishing point is stopped and you have enabled the WMS Playlist Transform plug-in, you can change the way the playlist is streamed by using the following toolbar buttons:

To have the playlist repeat its content until the publishing point is stopped, click the Loop button.

To have the playlist stream its content in random order, click the Shuffle button.8. To save your changes to the playlist, click the Save button on the toolbar.

Notes

Online playlist editing is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

To move an element up or down in the playlist, click the element you want to move and then drag it to a new location.


Related topics

Playlist reference



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To change the value of an online playlist element

1. In the console tree, click the publishing point associated with the playlist you want to edit.

2. Click the Source tab.




5. To change the value of an attribute, click the name of the attribute, and then type a new value.

6. To save your changes to the playlist, click the Save playlist button.

Notes

Online playlist editing is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

More information about playlist elements and attributes is available in the Playlist reference and in the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK).


Items that are cued or currently playing cannot be edited.

Related topics

Playlist reference



315


Setting up files to streamThis section contains the following topics:



Related topics



1. In the console tree, click the on-demand publishing point from which you want to stream content.


3. In the Content Source area, be sure the Location path is the same as the location of the Windows Media file you want to stream.

If it is not, click Change and type the path to the content, or click Browse to locate the file.

Notes

If you choose, you can move the Windows Media file to the directory specified in the Location path instead.


Related topics


Sourcing from files

Testing a stream



1. In the console tree, click the on-demand or broadcast publishing point from which you want to stream files.


3. In the Content Source area, be sure the Location path is the same as the location of the Windows Media file you want to stream.

If it is not, click Change and type the path to the content, or click Browse to locate the file.

If you choose, you can move the Windows Media file to the directory specified in the Location path instead.

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4. If you are streaming from an on-demand publishing point, click the Properties tab, and click the General category. Click the Enable access to directory content using wildcards property, and then click the Enable button.

5. To provide a shortcut to your content, click the Announce tab, click the Run Unicast Announcement Wizard button, and then follow the steps in the Unicast Announcement Wizard to create an announcement.

Notes

The Enable access to directory content using wildcards property enables you to use wildcard characters in the URL to the publishing point. For example, a Web page could link to all the video files in a specified directory by referencing the URL mms://server_name/publishing_point_name/*.wmv, or to all the audio files in the directory by using the URL mms://server_name/publishing_point_name/*.wma.

If you are using a broadcast publishing point, you can use a wrapper playlist to provide an introduction to the content. For more information, see About wrapper playlists.


Related topics


Sourcing from a directory

Testing a stream


317


Setting up a broadcastThis section contains the following topics:










To embed the Player control in a Web page

Related topics



1. Start the encoder and note the URL from which the encoder is streaming.

2. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point that you want to use to pull content from the encoder.

3. In the details pane, click the Source tab, and then click the Change button.

The Change <publishing point> content source dialog box appears.

4. In Location, type the encoder URL.

5. Click the Start button.

Note

If the server pulls the stream from an encoder through a proxy server, you may need to configure proxy server settings to enable your server to connect to the encoder using HTTP. For more information, see To configure the WMS Network Data Source plug-in.

Related topics

Testing a stream





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1. Start the encoder, and then configure it to broadcast the encoded stream to your Windows Media server. During the encoder session configuration wizard, the following information is required:

The name of the Windows Media server. This can be an alias, a fully qualified domain name, or an IP address.

The name of the publishing point. This is the name of the publishing point on your server through which the encoded stream will be broadcast. This publishing point can already exist on the Windows Media server or it can be created by the encoder during the configuration process.

Whether to remove the publishing point when the broadcast has ended. This prevents older publishing points that are no longer needed from accumulating on your Windows Media server.

2. On the Windows Media server, in the console tree, click the server that you want to use for this stream.



5. Enable the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in. The encoder must use the HTTP protocol to send the encoded stream to the server.

Notes

To push content from an encoder to Windows Media Services, you must use Windows Media Encoder or an encoder based on the Windows Media Encoder SDK.

A publishing point that is streaming content pushed from an encoder can be managed from the Windows Media Services snap-in or Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. The same properties and plug-ins can be configured from either interface, including authentication and authorization properties, limits, and announcements.

When the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in is enabled, you must grant certain permissions at the server level and publishing point level for the encoder administrator to be able to create a new publishing point on your server. You must configure the plug-in to grant the user or group both write and create permissions. For more information about the WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization plug-in and server and publishing point permissions, see WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization - general properties.

For information about setting up the encoder, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

Related topics

Testing a stream





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1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point you want to use to broadcast the multicast stream.


3. Click the Change button.

The Change <publishing point> content source dialog box appears.

4. In Location, type the directory path to the multicast information file (which has a .nsc file name extension). Windows Media Services can access an .nsc file that is stored on a local drive or on a network shared drive. The path should be in the following format:

MCast://%systemdrive%\Wmpub\Wmroot\File.nsc

-or-


Notes

Using a multicast stream as a content source in a playlist is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

You can include a multicast stream as a content source in a server-side playlist by specifying the URL to the multicast information file as a src attribute of a media element. To do this, the playlist that references the multicast stream must already be assigned to a broadcast publishing point. Then, using the playlist editing control on the Source tab in the Windows Media Services snap-in, add a media element for the multicast stream. You cannot add a multicast stream to a playlist using the Playlist Editor. When adding the URL to the multicast information file, you must specify an absolute path, such as MCast://C:\Wmpub\Wmroot\File.nsc or MCast://\\MachineName\Inetpub\Wwwroot\File.nsc.


Related topics




2. On the toolbar, click the Add element button.


3. In Location of content, specify the URL of the encoder that will be the primary source of content for the broadcast.

4. (Optional) Append a URL modifier to the URL of the encoder that will be the primary source of content for the broadcast in order to enable encoder failover. For more information, see Controlling encoder failover with URL modifiers.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to specify the location of the alternate content source for the broadcast. This content will be streamed when the encoder session ends or if there is an interruption in the

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encoder stream. The alternate content source can be another encoder, an advertisement, a remote publishing point, a playlist, or a digital media file or files.

6. You can change the value of the repeatCount attribute of the smil element to Indefinite if you want the server to switch back to the original encoder in the case of secondary content source failure. For more information about changing attribute settings, see To change the value of an offline playlist attribute.

7. Name and save the new playlist.

8. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point for which you want to enable content rollover.


10. In Content source, click Change.

Change <publishing point> content source on <server> appears.

11. In Location, type the name and location of the playlist you created in the first five steps.

Note

By using redundant encoders and a rollover playlist, you can greatly improve the reliability of your broadcast stream. You can further increase reliability by using load balancing techniques.

Related topics





1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point you want to use to rebroadcast archived content.


3. In the Content source section, click Change to locate the archive file of your broadcast.

4. To announce the publication of your content, click the Announce tab, and then click Unicast Announce Wizard.

Note

Archive files can be created by either Windows Media Encoder, an encoder based on the Windows Media Encoder SDK, or Windows Media Services. If the archive file was created by Windows Media Services, you can determine the archive file name from the archive data writer plug-in associated with the original broadcast publishing point.

Related topics

Archive wildcard characters reference

Archiving content


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1. Create a broadcast publishing point (LiveStream) that sources from a live encoded stream.

2. Configure and enable archiving for LiveStream. For more information, see To archive content.

3. Start LiveStream.

4. Create an on-demand publishing point (ArchiveStream) that sources from the LiveStream archive file. For more information, see Sourcing from files.

Clients can connect to ArchiveStream at a later time to view the broadcast from the beginning.

Notes

You can run the announcement wizards on the Announce tab of the Windows Media Services snap-in to help you create a multicast information file (.nsc) for your broadcast publishing point (LiveStream) and an announcement file (.asx) for your on-demand publishing point (ArchiveStream). For more information, see Announcing content.

Clients that stream content from the archived file that is being written to (ArchiveStream) cannot fast-forward or rewind the content until archiving stops.


Related topics





1. Create a broadcast publishing point (LiveStream) that sources from a live encoded stream.

2. Configure and enable archiving for LiveStream. For more information, see To archive content.

3. Start LiveStream.

4. Create a broadcast publishing point (DelayedStream) that sources from the LiveStream archive file. For more information, see Sourcing from files.

5. Start DelayedStream after the delay period elapses.

Clients can connect to DelayedStream to view the delayed LiveStream.

Notes

You can run the announcement wizards on the Announce tab of the Windows Media Services snap-in to help you create multicast information files (.nsc) for your broadcast publishing points (LiveStream and DelayedStream). For more information, see Announcing content.

You can start DelayedStream automatically by sourcing from a server-side playlist that contains a wallclock timing value. For more information, see Timing values.

Clients that stream content from an archived file that is being written to cannot fast-forward or rewind the content until archiving stops.

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Related topics





1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point from which you want to multicast content. If the publishing point is started, click Stop.



4. In Plug-in, click WMS Multicast Data Writer, and then click the Properties button.

The WMS Multicast Data Writer Properties dialog box appears.

5. In Destination multicast IP address and port, specify the parameters for the multicast distribution by using the following settings:

IP address. Type the multicast IP address.

Port. Type the port on the Windows Media server through which the multicast will be streamed.

Time-to-live (TTL). Enter the number of routers that your multicast can pass through (sometimes referred to as the number of "hops") before expiring on the network.

6. Select the Enable unicast rollover check box to allow clients to connect to a server to receive the content, and then do one of the following:

To allow this publishing point to stream its content by using the Unicast Data Writer plug-in, click Use this publishing point.

To redirect unicast client connection requests to an alternate publishing point, click Use other publishing point, and then type the URL of the publishing point; for example, rtsp://unicast_server/publishing_point.

7. Click the Advanced tab. If you have multiple network interface cards on your server, in IP address of the network interface card to multicast from, click the appropriate IP address.

8. In Logging URL, type the URL to the Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) directory; for example, http://server_name/scripts/wmsiislog.dll, where server_name is the name of the Internet Information Services (IIS) computer.

9. Click OK to apply your configuration to the plug-in, and then click the Enable button to use the plug-in on the publishing point.

10.To create a multicast announcement, click the Announce tab, and then click Run Multicast Announcement Wizard.

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11.To start your publishing point, in the console tree, click the publishing point. In the details pane, click the Monitor tab, and then click Start.

Notes

If you selected the Enable unicast rollover check box, verify that the publishing point you are rolling over to is set to Allow New Connections.

If you specified a logging URL, you are not required to have the wmsiislog.dll file on the same computer as the Windows Media server; however, wmsiislog.dll must be installed in a directory that can be accessed from the Web.

Clients must use an announcement to connect to a multicast stream. If clients use a URL, they are connecting by using unicast.


Related topics



Announcing content

Testing a stream




1. Select the broadcast publishing point that you want to use for the multicast.

2. If you have not already done so, run the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create an announcement file (with an .asx file name extension) for the publishing point. Note the location of the announcement file.

3. Identify the URL of the content you want users to receive before connecting to the multicast. The location of the wrapper content is determined by the type of content you are using:

If you want the wrapper content to be streamed from a Windows Media server, it must be associated with an on-demand publishing point.

If you want the wrapper content to be downloaded from a Web server, it must be associated with an appropriate Web folder.

4. Using a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad, open the .asx file associated with the broadcast publishing point mentioned in step 2.

5. Do the following:

Find the first entry in the announcement file:<asx version = "3.0">

After this line, type the following: <entry>

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<ref href = "protocol://servername/filename"/> </entry>

Replace protocol with an appropriate protocol type—either mms if the content is on a Windows Media server or http if the content is on a Web server.

Replace servername with the DNS name or IP address of the server that contains the content.

Replace filename with the name of the content that you want to stream to users prior to the multicast content.

The multicast content requested by the user will continue streaming while the on-demand wrapper content plays. Consider keeping the length of the wrapper content short so that the user misses as little of the requested content as possible.

6. Save your changes to the announcement file.

Users that connect to your multicast will receive the content specified in step 5 before being connected to the multicast content.

Note


Related topics


Announcing content


To embed the Player control in a Web page

1. In the console tree, select the publishing point that contains the content you want to stream in an embedded Windows Media Player ActiveX control.

2. In the details pane, click the Announce tab.

3. Click Run Unicast Announcement Wizard if your content is being streamed using unicast transmission. Click Run Multicast Announcement Wizard if your content is being streamed using multicast transmission.

4. For a unicast stream, follow the steps in the Unicast Announcement Wizard, making sure to select the following options:

On the Save Announcement Options page, select the Create a Web page (.htm) with embedded player and a link to the content check box and then specify a file name and location for the HTML file created by the wizard.

-or-

Select the Copy the syntax for embedding a player in a Web page to the clipboard check box to be able to program the commands directly into your Web page source code.

5. For a multicast stream, follow the steps in the Multicast Announcement Wizard, making sure to select the following options:

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On the Specify Files to Create page, select the Automatically create a Web page check box.

On the Save Multicast Announcement Files page, in Web page (.htm) with embedded player, specify a file name and location for the HTML file created by the wizard.

6. Modify the Web pages created by the announcement wizard to suit your Web site. Provide a link to your site so that your clients can view it.

Related topics

Embedding the Player in a Web page


326


Monitor and set limitsThis section contains the following topics:

To monitor performance for a server or publishing point

To reset peaks for a server or publishing point



Related topics





How to…

To monitor performance for a server or publishing point

1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point you want to view the statistics for.

2. In the details pane, click the Monitor tab.

The Monitor tab displays statistics about a server or publishing point, including the total number of connected players, the total bandwidth usage, and the total CPU usage.

Related topics



To reset peaks for a server or publishing point

1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point for which you want to reset peaks.


3. Click Reset.

The peaks are reset to zero.

Related topics




1. On the taskbar, click Start, and then click Run.

327


2. Type the following in the Run dialog box:regsvr32 "%systemroot%\system32\windows media\server\wmssnmp.dll"

A message box displays once the DLL registration has completed.

3. Click OK to close the message box.

Notes

After registering Wmssnmp.dll, you should configure your server to use Internet Protocol security (IPSec) for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) data transfers. SNMP transfers data in clear text, which means that the data could be intercepted and decoded by network analyzers. IPSec encrypts data and communications between the SNMP agent and management stations, so the information is safer from interception.

For more information on creating IP Security policies, see Windows Help and Support.

Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point for which you want to set limits.


3. In Category, click Limits.

4. Select the check box for the limit you want to set.

A text box appears to the right of the check box.

5. Type a value for the limit in the text box.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each limit you want to set.

7. To restore the default value for any limit, clear the check box.

Note

If limits set for a publishing point exceed the limits set for a server, the server limits override the publishing point limits.

Related topics




328


Log data about clientsThis section contains the following topics:






Related topics


How to…


1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point that you want to log data to.


3. In Category, click Logging.

4. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click WMS Client Logging, and then click Properties.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, click WMS Client Logging. WMS Client Logging Properties appears.

5. In both interfaces, you can configure the following settings in WMS Client Logging Properties. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you must change tabs to see different settings; in Windows Media Administrator for the Web, all of the settings are listed on a single page:

In Directory, enter the path and name for the log file. If you used wildcard characters or system variables to create a name template, you can click Expand to view the expanded path and name. For more information on wildcard characters, see Wildcard characters reference.

To change how often a new log file is created:In the Windows Media Services snap-in, in Log cycle period, click Modify, and then click the cycle period you want to use.

-or-

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, in Log cycle period, click the cycle period you want to use.

6. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you must click the Advanced tab to modify the following settings:

Time format. Click the time format you want to use for recording entries. The default is Use Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

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Buffer. To write entries to a log file immediately, click Write log entries to file immediately. By default, log file entries are buffered before they are written to the log file. This improves performance.

File format. Click the output format you want for the log file. The default is Use Unicode characters (UTF-8).

Log format. Click the type of log file you want the logging plug-in to create. The default is Windows Media Services Format. Click Legacy if you have custom log analysis tools that are based on the log format from the previous version of Windows Media Services.

7. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you must click the Log Entries tab to modify the following settings:

Log entries. Select the check boxes for the types of clients you want to log data about.

Filter options. Select the check boxes for the types of events you want to record in your log file.

8. Click OK to close WMS Client Logging Properties.

9. In the details pane, click the Enable button.

Logging is now enabled on the server or publishing point.

Notes

Windows Media Services does not include a logging plug-in that works with encoder push scenarios. You can log encoder push broadcast data by creating an active script logging plug-in. For more information about creating a custom plug-in, see the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK), which can be downloaded from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

If you want to save log files on another computer or network drive, you must first grant read, write, and create permissions to the Web server account. The Multicast and Advertisement Logging agent cannot write files to a remote network drive if the Web server has not been granted permissions. For more information about Web server permissions, see Internet Information Services Help.

For more information on log cycle periods, see WMS Client Logging - general properties.

Related topics




1. In Add or Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows Components.

2. In the Windows Components Wizard, select Windows Media Services and then click Details.

3. Select the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent check box and then click OK.

The Wmsiislog.dll file is placed in the %systemdrive%\WMPub\WMIISlog directory, and the default multicast logging properties are set in the registry.

4. In Internet Information Services (IIS), create a virtual directory that references the %systemdrive%\WMPub\WMIISlog directory and then assign it read, run, and execute permissions. For more information about configuring IIS to use application extension, see IIS Help.

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You may now use the URL to the Wmsiislog.dll as the URL for any field that can use a logURL attribute, such as an announcement file, the Multicast Data Writer plug-in, a multicast information file, or clientData elements in a server-side playlist file. The logURL is specified as http://web_server_name/virtual_directory/wmsiislog.dll.

Notes

The Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent is dependent on Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0. If IIS version 6.0 is not installed on your server, selecting this component will also install IIS 6.0. However, removing this component does not remove IIS from your server. For more information about Internet Information Services, see IIS Help.

It is recommended that you do not install the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent on the same computer that is running Windows Media Services. The Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent uses Internet Information Services (IIS) to receive log files. By default, both Windows Media Services and IIS will attempt to bind to port 80, which causes a port conflict. If Windows Media Services and IIS are installed on the same computer, be sure each service has been allocated a unique HTTP port.

If you change the default logging directory, you must grant the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent permissions to write to that directory. For the statistics to be successfully written to the log file, grant read and write permissions to the Network Service account and IWAM_HOSTNAME.


Related topics






1. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point you want to log multicast information for. If it is started, stop the publishing point.



4. In Plug-in, click WMS Multicast Data Writer, and then click Properties.

WMS Multicast Data Writer Properties appears.

5. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click the Advanced tab.

6. Configure the following setting:

Logging URL. Type the URL of the Wmsiislog.dll file on your Web server, such as http://web_server_name/virtual_directory/wmsiislog.dll.

7. Click OK to apply the new setting to the plug-in.


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9. Run the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create a new multicast information file (.nsc file) for your multicast.

Notes

This procedure requires that your Web server running Internet Information Services (IIS) has a virtual directory that references the %systemdrive%\WMPub\WMIISlog directory and that the Wmsiislog.dll has been granted executable permissions on the virtual root. For more information about using executable ISAPI filters and Web service extensions, see Internet Information Services Help.

If you want to change the log file recycling period, you can change the setting in Internet Information Services (IIS). For more information about log file settings, see IIS Help.

A client sends logging information to the IIS server after the client stops streaming a multicast. After the server receives logging information from a client, it may take several minutes before that information is added to the log file.

If you change the settings of the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in, you must create a new multicast information file for clients to be able to receive to the multicast stream. You can create the multicast information file by using the Multicast Announcement Wizard available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

Windows Media Services does not include a logging plug-in that works with encoder push scenarios. You can log encoder push broadcast data by creating an active script logging plug-in. For more information about creating a custom plug-in, see the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK), which can be downloaded from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.

The default location of the multicast log files created by the Multicast and Advertisement Logging Agent is %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS_ISAPI. The log file name is WMS_yyyymmdd.log, where yyyymmdd is the year, month, and day when the log file is created. If more than one log file is generated in a day, an incremented number is added to the file name, using the format WMS_yyyymmdd_iiii.log. For example, if the first log is named WMS_20040304.log, the second log on that day is named WMS_20040304_0001.log, and so forth.

The server does not use your user account to access folders and other resources; it uses the Network Service account by default. If you are writing log files to a location other than C:\WMPub and its subdirectories, make sure that the folder is shared and that the Network Service account has read and write permissions for the folder. If the Network Service account does not have permissions for a folder, the server will not be able to write log files to it. For more information about rights and permissions, see Understanding rights.


Related topics






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1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point you want to report Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) events about.


3. In Category, click Event notification.

4. Click WMS WMI Event Handler, and then click Properties.

5. Configure the following setting in WMS WMI Event Handler Properties:

Classes. Select the check box for each event you want to report. For more information on the event classes, see WMS WMI Event Handler - general properties.

Note

WMI events are used to pass information between Windows Media Services and other services and programs. Changing the reported events can cause issues with some client programs.

Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point on which you want to configure the WMS Active Script Event Handler.


3. In Category, click Event notification.

4. Click WMS Active Script Event Handler, and then click Properties.

WMS Active Script Handler Properties appears.

5. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click the General tab.

6. In File name of script to run, type the name of the script file that you want to run. In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you can also click Browse to locate the file.

7. If you want to attach the Microsoft Script Debugger to your script file, select the Enable script debugging check box. If an error is encountered while running the script, the debugger stops the script, traps the error, and presents the error in a dialog box.

8. In the Last script error information area, you can view information about the latest error encountered.

9. Click OK to close the dialog box and run the script after the plug-in is enabled.

Note


Related topics

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Control access to contentThis section contains the following topics:







To protect the Default publishing point

Related topics




How to…


1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point for which you want to configure the plug-in.


3. In Category, click Authentication.

4. In Plug-in, select WMS Anonymous User Authentication, and then click the Properties button.

5. In User name, type the user name you want anonymous users to use when accessing content.

6. In Password, type the password for the anonymous user account.

7. In Confirm password, type the password again to verify that you entered it correctly.


Notes

By default, the Windows user account WMUS_computername is assigned to anonymous users, where computername is the name of the server on which Windows Media Services is running.

The password is used only within the Windows operating system; anonymous users do not log on by using a password. During Setup, a password is randomly generated for the WMUS_computername user account, where computername is the name of the server on which Windows Media Services is running. If you change the password for the anonymous user account in the operating system, you must update that password here in order to allow anonymous users access to your content. Passwords are case-sensitive.

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The authentication and authorization plug-ins work together to grant clients access to streaming media content. If an authorization plug-in is enabled, but no authentication plug-in is enabled, unicast clients cannot access the server.

Related topics


Using the WMS Anonymous User Authentication plug-in



1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point for which you want to enable the plug-in.



4. In Plug-in, click WMS Negotiate Authentication, and then click the Enable button.

Note


Related topics



Using the WMS Negotiate Authentication plug-in



1. In the console tree, click the server or publishing point for which you want to enable the plug-in.


3. In Category, click Authorization.

4. In Plug-in, click WMS NTFS ACL Authorization, and then click the Enable button.

Note


Related topics




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4. In Plug-in, click WMS IP Address Authorization, and then click the Properties button.

The WMS IP Address Authorization Properties dialog box appears.


To Do this

Deny specific IP addresses access to your content

Click Allow all except those in the deny list.

In the Deny list, click the Add IP button.

Select the appropriate option, and then type the IP or subnet address.

Repeat this step to deny additional IP addresses.

Allow specific IP addresses access to your content

Click Deny all except those in the Allow list.

In the Allow list, click the Add IP button.

Click the appropriate option, and then type the IP or subnet address.

Repeat this step to allow additional IP addresses.

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Allow and deny specific IP addresses access to your content

Click Restrict as specified in the following lists.

In the Allow list, click the Add IP button.


Repeat this step to allow additional IP addresses.

In the Deny list, click the Add IP button.


Repeat this step to deny additional IP addresses.

6. To edit an address in either the Allow list or the Deny list, click the entry you want to edit, and then click the Edit button.

7. To remove an address in either the Allow list or the Deny list, click the entry you want to delete, and then click the Remove button.

8. When the lists contain the appropriate IP addresses, click Apply, and then click OK.


Notes

Properties for this plug-in cannot be configured in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Windows Media Services is Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) enabled. IPv6 is the newest version of the Internet Protocol and was designed to accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for unique IP addresses. IPv6 increases the IP address size from 32 bits to 128 bits to support more levels of addressing hierarchy and a much greater number of addressable nodes. Not all networks are configured to use IPv6, so Windows Media Services will automatically use it when it is available. For more information about IPv6, refer to the IPv6 page on the Microsoft Web site.

Related topics




Using the WMS IP Address Authorization plug-in





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4. In Plug-in, click WMS Publishing Points ACL Authorization, and then click the Properties button.


To Do this

Set permissions for a new user or group Click Add.

In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, click the Object Types button and select the types of objects you are trying to locate.

Click the Locations button, and then click the domain that you want to search.

Type the name of the user, computer, or group for which you want to set permissions, and then click the Check Names button.

Select the appropriate entries from the list. By default, new users and groups are granted read permission and denied write permission.

Remove permissions for a user or group In the Name list, click the appropriate user or group, and then click Remove.

Change permissions for an existing user or group

In the Name list, click the appropriate user or group.

In Permissions, modify the read and write permissions accordingly.

6. Click Apply, and then click OK.


Notes

A user or group must have been granted both write and create permissions to be able to create a publishing point. Create permissions alone are not sufficient to create a new publishing point.

Properties for this plug-in cannot be configured in Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.


Related topics


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4. In Plug-in, select WMS Digest Authentication, and then click Properties.

5. In Realm, type the domain or other operating system authentication to which the publishing point or server belongs.


Notes

If the realm is not specified, you must provide the fully qualified domain name and the user name in order to obtain access to the server.



Related topics


Using the WMS Digest Authentication plug-in


To protect the Default publishing point

1. Click the Default (on-demand) publishing point.



-or-


Requests for streams from the default publishing point will be denied.

Related topics

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Protecting the Default publishing point



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Secure the Windows Media Administration siteThis section describes how to configure three types of Internet Information Services (IIS) security for the Windows Media Administration site: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), integrated Windows authentication, and basic authentication. For more information about adding Web site security, see Internet Information Services Help.


To configure SSL



Related topics


How to…

To configure SSL

1. Start Microsoft Management Console (MMC).

2. If you have not added a certificates snap-in already, add one to MMC.

3. Request a new certificate. You may either use an existing certification authority (CA) on your network or install Certification Services and create your own certificate.

4. Start Internet Information Services (IIS).

5. Assign the certificate you obtained to the Windows Media Administration Site.

6. In IIS, configure the security properties for the Windows Media Administration site to require a secure channel. Assign an SSL port number for the site to use. The default SSL port is 443.

7. To access the site, open a browser that supports SSL, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. Enter the URL of the secure site by using the HTTPS protocol, server name and path, and the SSL port number you specified. For example: https://myserver:902.

Note

For more information about configuring SSL, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics





2. Prevent anonymous users from accessing the Windows Media Services Administration site by disabling any anonymous access settings.

3. Enable IIS to use the Windows operating system's authentication methods in order to authenticate users that attempt to access the Windows Media Administration site.

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Note

This procedure requires that you configure IIS security properties. For more information about IIS security properties, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics

Using integrated Windows authentication




2. Prevent anonymous users from accessing the Windows Media Services Administration site by disabling any anonymous access settings.

3. Enable IIS to use basic authentication methods in order to authenticate users that attempt to access the Windows Media Administration site.

Notes

Basic authentication sends passwords over a network in clear text, so be aware that there is an inherent security risk involved in enabling this authentication method. However, when it is being used in combination with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the security risk associated with basic authentication is mitigated. It is recommended that you do not enable basic authentication unless you are using SSL with your Web site.

This procedure requires that you configure IIS security properties. For more information about IIS security properties, see Internet Information Services Help.

Related topics



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Implement streaming scenariosThis section contains the following topics:








To provide video on demand

To replace advertisements in a live stream

Related topics

Scenarios


How to…




3. Complete the steps in the wizard, making sure to select the following options:

On the Content Type page, do one of the following: If you want to create a radio station by using preexisting digital media files, click Playlist; or, if you want to broadcast a live radio program by using Windows Media Services, click Encoder.


If you are using a playlist, on the Content Playback page, select the Loop check box to have the playlist play continuously and the Shuffle check box to have the content play in random order. You must have more than one entry in your playlist to use the shuffle and loop features.

4. For unicast broadcasts, on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can select the following options:

Start publishing point when wizard finishes. Select this check box to start broadcasting the content from your publishing point immediately after the wizard finishes. If you need to configure the publishing point or the encoder, you should clear this check box.

Start archiving when publishing point starts. Select this check box to begin recording your broadcast to an archive file when the publishing point is activated. This option is useful if you want to broadcast a live program from an encoder because it creates a digital media

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file of the broadcast that you can rebroadcast later. If you are streaming digital media files instead of an encoder stream, you do not need to create an archive file.

5. Also on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can start other wizards to help you create announcements and wrappers:

Create an .asx or .htm file. Click this option if you want to provide users with an announcement file that they can use to receive your radio station broadcast. The Unicast Announcement Wizard or the Multicast Announcement Wizard will start.

Create a .wsx file. Click this option if you want to play certain content to users before they receive the content being streamed from your radio station. This option is useful for providing station identification, advertisements, or legal notices. You can also specify content to be played at the end of your radio station content, but users will not receive that content if they close their players before the end of the broadcast. The Create Wrapper Wizard will start.

Create both a .wsx file then .asx file. Click this option if you want to use the wizards to create both a wrapper playlist and an announcement.

Notes


The Add Publishing Point Wizard only supports the creation of simple playlists that contain digital media files and advertisements. If you want to include other elements in your playlist, you can create the playlist before running the Add Publishing Point Wizard. For more information about the playlist elements available for use with Windows Media Services, see Playlist elements.

If you are using multicast delivery with your radio station, you must run the Multicast Announcement Wizard for players to connect to your stream. A URL connection is not available for multicast delivery. In addition, wrapper playlists cannot be used with multicast delivery.


Related topics



Announcing content

Testing a stream




1. Start the encoding software and create a new broadcast session. Begin encoding the session and note the connection URL for the encoder.

2. In the Windows Media Services console tree, click Publishing Points.


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On the Content Type page, click Encoder.

On the Delivery Options for Broadcast Publishing Points page, if you want to stream the presentation using multicast, select the Multicast check box. If you want to stream the presentation using unicast, select the Unicast check box.

5. For unicast broadcasts, on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can select the Start archiving when publishing point starts check box to begin recording your broadcast to an archive file when the publishing point is activated. This option is useful if you want to broadcast a live program from an encoder because it creates a digital media file of the broadcast that you can rebroadcast later.


Create an .asx or .htm file. Click this option if you want to provide users with an announcement file that they can use to receive your live broadcast. The Unicast Announcement Wizard or the Multicast Announcement Wizard will start.

Create a .wsx file. Click this option if you want to play certain content to users before they receive the live broadcast. This option is useful for providing speaker identification, introductory comments, or legal notices. You can also specify content to be played at the end of your live broadcast, but users will not receive that content if they close their players before the end of the broadcast. The Create Wrapper Wizard will start.


Notes


If you are using multicast delivery with your live presentation, you must run the Multicast Announcement Wizard for players to connect to your stream. A URL connection is not available for multicast delivery. In addition, wrapper playlists cannot be used with multicast delivery.


Related topics

Testing a stream

Announcing content


Working with the announcement wizards.

Broadcasting executive speeches



1. In the Windows Media Services console tree, click Publishing Points.

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On the Content Type page, click One file.


On the Delivery Options for Broadcast Publishing Points page, if you want to stream the presentation using multicast, select the Multicast check box. If you want to stream the presentation using unicast, select the Unicast check box.

4. For unicast broadcasts, on the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can select the Start publishing point when wizard finishes check box to start broadcasting the content from your publishing point immediately after the wizard finishes. If you need to configure the publishing point, you should clear this check box.


Create an .asx or .htm file. Click this option if you want to provide users with an announcement file that they can use to receive your broadcast. The Unicast Announcement Wizard or the Multicast Announcement Wizard will start.

Create a .wsx file. Click this option if you want to play certain content to users before they receive the broadcast. This option is useful for providing distributor identification, disclaimers, or legal notices. You can also specify content to be played at the end of your broadcast, but users will not receive that content if they close their players before the end of the broadcast. The Create Wrapper Wizard will start.


Notes


If you are using multicast delivery with your recorded presentation, you must run the Multicast Announcement Wizard for players to connect to your stream. A URL connection is not available for multicast delivery. In addition, wrapper playlists cannot be used with multicast delivery.

Related topics


Holding financial briefings

Announcing content

Testing a stream

Working with the announcement wizards.





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On the Content Type page, click Files (digital media or playlists) in a directory.

On the Publishing Point Type page, click On-demand publishing point.

On the Directory Location page, type the location of the training content. Make sure the content files are in the order that you want them to be viewed.

On the Content Playback page, if it is important that your training is viewed in a specific order, make sure that the Loop and Shuffle check boxes are cleared.

4. On the Completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard page, you can start other wizards to help you create announcements and wrappers:

Create an .asx or .htm file. Click this option if you want to provide users with an announcement file that they can use to connect to your training seminar. The Unicast Announcement Wizard or the Multicast Announcement Wizard will start.

Create a .wsx file. Click this option if you want to play certain content to users before they connect to the training seminar. This option is useful for providing curriculum identification, course provider information, or legal notices. You can also specify content to be played at the end of your training seminar, but users will not receive that content if they close their players before the end of the session. The Create Wrapper Wizard will start.


5. In the console tree, click the publishing point you have created.



8. If you want clients to be able to use a single link to access all of the content, enable the Enable access to directory content using wildcards property. If you want clients to be able to access the content files individually, make sure the Enable access to directory content using wildcards property is disabled, and then use the Unicast Announcement Wizard to create individual announcement files for each content file.

Notes

You can combine your presentation with a Web site that contains background information and links to additional resources. Reference the announcement files within the Web site to give visitors easy access to your content.

You can use a digital media presentation program such as Microsoft Producer for PowerPoint 2002 to integrate video, audio, slides, HTML, and custom backgrounds into a presentation. Presentations created using Microsoft Producer can be streamed using Windows Media Services.


Related topics


Presenting training seminars

Announcing content

Testing a stream

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1. Create a banner graphic to be displayed in the player during the broadcast.

2. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add the banner advertisement.


In the Content source area, be sure that the Location path and file name correspond to the playlist that is currently online.


5. Click the Media element that you want to add a banner advertisement to.

6. On the toolbar, click the Add Element arrow, and then click ClientData.

A ClientData element is added to the Media element.

7. Click the new ClientData element.

The Source details area displays the properties for the ClientData element.

8. Click the bannerAbstract attribute and type the ToolTip text for the banner graphic. For example:

Download more albums from this artist at our Web site.

9. Click the bannerInfoURL attribute and type the URL that is associated with this banner graphic. If the user clicks the banner graphic during playback, it opens this URL. For example:

http://www.microsoft.com

10.Click the bannerURL attribute and type the location of the banner graphic file. For example:

http://server/folder/image.jpg

11.On the toolbar, click the Save button.

Note


Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add an interstitial advertisement.


In the Content source area, be sure that the Location path and file name correspond to the playlist that is currently online.

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4. Click the Media element you want to add an interstitial advertisement after.

5. On the toolbar, click the Add Element arrow, and then click Advertisement.

The Add Advertisement dialog box appears.

6. Type the location of your advertising content. You can specify advertising content stored locally on the network or dynamic content provided by an advertising partner.

Notes

If you do not have an advertising partner, you can visit the Partner Center at the Microsoft Web site.


Related topics




1. In the console tree, click the publishing point to which you want to add a wrapper playlist.

2. Click the Advertising tab, and then click the Wrapper Editor button.

The Wrapper Playlist Editor Options dialog box opens.

3. Click Create playlist file, and then select the Use the Create Wrapper Wizard check box.

4. Follow the instructions in the Create Wrapper Wizard to create a wrapper playlist file.

5. On the Advertising tab, click the Change button.

6. In Location, type the path to the wrapper playlist file, or click Browse to locate the file.

7. Click OK.

8. Select the Use a wrapper with this publishing point check box.

The wrapper playlist is applied to the publishing point.

Note


Related topics



To provide video on demand

1. Obtain the video content you want to stream. You can create the content yourself, or purchase or license the content as necessary. The recording should be high quality and in a format that is convenient for encoding.

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2. Prepare the content for streaming. If necessary, edit the video to achieve the desired playing time, arrangement, and tone. Encode the video and save it as a Windows Media file. Windows Media Encoder includes several broadband encoding profiles that you can use to achieve a specific result. For example, if you intend to include interstitial advertisements in your content, consider encoding the video as several sequential video files. Store the content files either on the Windows Media server or in a location on your network. For more information about encoding content, see Windows Media Encoder Help.

3. Reference the video content in your on-demand publishing point:

In the console tree, click the on-demand publishing point from which you want to stream content.

In the details pane, click the Source tab.

In the Content Source area, be sure the Location path is the same as the location of the Windows Media file you want to stream.

If it is not, click Change and type the path to the content, or click Browse to locate the file.4. Choose a method to generate revenue from your content. The Windows Media Rights Manager

Software Development Kit (SDK) provides you with several commercial access options, such as pay-per-view or subscription services, depending on your business model. For more information about the methods for streaming protected Windows Media-based content, see the Windows Media Rights Manager SDK.

5. Protect your content from unauthorized access. Configure and enable the authentication and authorization plug-ins that you want to use to control access to your content. For more information about authentication and authorization, see Understanding authentication and Understanding authorization.

6. You can configure and enable a logging plug-in to collect client usage data and publishing point performance information. Using data from the log files, you can create reports to verify that your system is performing as expected. Additional logs can be generated to record the performance of specific advertisements within the broadcast. You can then give these specialized logs to your advertisers. For more information about logging, see Understanding logging.

7. Use the Unicast Announcement Wizard to create an announcement file that you can add to a Web page or provide to users as a network share location.

In the console tree, select the publishing point that contains the content you want to announce.

In the details pane, click the Announce tab.

Click Run Unicast Announcement Wizard, and then follow the steps in the wizard.Using the Unicast Announcement Wizard, you can also create a basic Web page with an embedded link to your content. After creating this page, you can then personalize it and add it to your site.

Related topics

About announcements


Obtaining content

Prerecorded content

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Stream Windows Media files on demand

Understanding encoding



To replace advertisements in a live stream

1. Configure the encoder to transmit script commands that signal the start of an advertising break.

Based on the connection speed of your clients, determine the pre-buffering time necessary to transition smoothly to the replacement advertisement.

Configure the encoder to transmit a CUE_EVENT script command before the advertising break.

Configure the encoder to transmit a Fire_Event script command at the beginning of the advertising break.

2. Create a playlist that alternates between primary and secondary digital media sources according to script commands received from the encoder.

Open the Windows Media Playlist Editor.

Click the smil element.

On the toolbar, click the Add Element arrow, and then click Exclusive.

An excl element is added to the playlist under the smil element.

Click the excl element.

On the toolbar, click the Add Element arrow, and then click PriorityClass.

A priorityClass element is added to the playlist under the excl element.

Click the priorityClass element, and then in peers, type pause.

On the toolbar, click Add Element.

The Add Media Elements dialog box opens.

Specify the name and location of the encoder. Repeat this step and specify the name and location of the alternate advertising source. Repeat this step again for any additional sources of advertising.

On the toolbar, click the Save playlist button.

Specify the name and location of the playlist file. The playlist file must use a .wsx file name extension.

3. Create or edit a publishing point that uses the playlist you created in the previous section as its content source.

4. Start the encoder and begin streaming your live broadcast. Check that the replacement advertisement transitions are smooth and timed correctly. If the player needs more pre-buffering time to avoid gaps and overlap, make the appropriate changes in the encoder configuration.

Related topics

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About announcements


Obtaining content

Prerecorded content

Replacing ads




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AdministrationThis section explains the features and functions of the Windows Media Services administrative interfaces. This section contains the following topics:

Working with the administrative interfaces. Provides a general overview of the user interfaces for the Windows Media Services snap-in and Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web.

Working with the Add Publishing Point Wizard. Provides information to assist you in completing the Add Publishing Point Wizard.

Working with the Create Wrapper Wizard. Provides information to assist you in completing the Create Wrapper Wizard.

Working with the announcement wizards. Provides information to assist you in completing the unicast and multicast announcement wizards.

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Working with the administrative interfacesThere are two administrative interfaces for Windows Media Services: the Windows Media Services snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, a Web-based administration interface that uses Active Server Pages (ASP) hosted by Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).

The Windows Media Services user interfaces are divided into two parts: the console tree on the left and the details pane on the right. The console tree is organized as a hierarchy composed of group, server, and publishing point items. The information displayed in the details pane changes based on the item you click in the console tree.

If you click a server or a publishing point in the console tree, the details pane displays tabs that enable you to monitor and configure your server or publishing point. If you click a group or the Troubleshooting item in the console tree, the details pane shows a summary of relevant statistics for that item. The details pane has a row of buttons at the bottom that you can use to perform administrative tasks.

In addition to the console tree and details pane, the Windows Media Services snap-in also has four wizards to help you create publishing points, wrapper playlists, and announcement files.

Working with the console tree

The console tree can contain the following items:

Servers. When you install Windows Media Services, your computer becomes the default Windows Media server. If you want to administer more than one Windows Media server using Windows Media Services, you can add additional servers to the console tree.

Groups. If you are administering several Windows Media servers using the Windows Media Services snap-in, you can manage them more effectively by organizing them into groups. Each group should contain servers that need to be monitored and controlled together. A server can be a member of more than one group, if necessary.

Troubleshooting. You can use the troubleshooting feature to identify problems or potential problems in your server operation. The Troubleshooting item provides a list of the most recent events and error messages that have occurred since the Windows Media Services service was started.

Cache/Proxy Management. Cache/proxy servers significantly reduce the latency of your digital media content as well as the load on the origin server. When you click the Cache/Proxy Management item in the console tree, the details pane displays a page containing information about plug-ins and other tools that can help you manage your cache/proxy servers.

Publishing Points. You can click the Publishing Points item to display a list of the names and statistics for all the publishing points hosted by a server. Each server can have one or more associated publishing points. By clicking an individual publishing point in the console tree, you can control and analyze the publishing point's activity by using the corresponding tabs in the details pane. A publishing point can operate by using one of two different methods: on-demand and broadcast. Each method provides the user with different types of content control and playback.

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Working with the details pane

The details pane is the area of the interface used to perform tasks and monitor the operation of Windows Media servers. The contents of the details pane changes depending on the item you click in the console tree.

The details pane typically consists of several tabs. Each tab provides you with information and server management capabilities specific to certain aspects of server operation. The buttons at the bottom of the tab enable you to perform common server tasks.

Working with groups of servers

Each administrative interface handles the administration of multiple servers differently. The following list describes the differences:

Windows Media Services snap-in. Multiple servers or groups can be added to or removed from the console tree. To administer a server, expand the server item in the console tree and click an item in the server list in order to view its statistics or configure its settings in the details pane. Both server and publishing point groups are available.

Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. On the Security Settings page that appears when Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web first starts, click Administer a list of Windows Media Servers. When the Administrator page opens, you can see the list of servers that are controlled by Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web. You can use the Add Server and Remove Server buttons to manage the list of servers. To administer a server, click a server listed on the server list page to display that server's administration page. To administer a different server, you must return to the server list page. For security reasons, you must use an authentication method other than NTLM that supports delegation in order to administer multiple Windows Media servers.

Working with wizards

In the Windows Media Services snap-in, four wizards are available to help you perform complex tasks. Each wizard takes you through a step by step process that helps you understand the operations you are performing.

Add Publishing Point Wizard. This wizard helps you choose a content source and a distribution method. It can also help you create a playlist, log files, and archive files. If you do not want to use the wizard to create a publishing point or you want to include advanced features in your publishing point, you can use the Add Publishing Point (Advanced) command instead.

Create Wrapper Wizard. This wizard helps you add advertising or other content to the start and end of your unicast broadcast.

Unicast Announcement Wizard. This wizard helps you create an announcement file which can be used by unicast clients to access your publishing point. You can also use the wizard to create a simple Web page with an embedded link to your publishing point.

Multicast Announcement Wizard. This wizard helps you create an announcement file and a multicast information file that clients can use to connect to your multicast stream.


Viewing group details

Viewing server details

Viewing publishing point details

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About troubleshooting

About properties and plug-ins Note

Cache/Proxy Management, multicast streaming and the Multicast Announcement Wizard are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, these features are not supported.

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Administration

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Viewing group detailsIf you click a group in the console tree, the details pane displays the items in the group and their associated statistics and provides a set of buttons you can use to perform general tasks related to the group.

This section contains the following topic:

About groups Notes

This feature is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.

You can view and configure settings for an individual item in a group by double-clicking or expanding the item in the console tree.

Related topics


About groupsThe details pane displays following information about the group.

Item Description

Server Name Displays the name of the server.

Connections Displays the number of players that are receiving streams, which provides an overall measure of server use.

Bandwidth Displays the amount of bandwidth consumption, which indicates whether you have allocated sufficient network resources.

System CPU Displays the current processor use on your server, which provides a means of measuring server health.

Stream Errors Displays the number of stream errors, which provides a means of measuring the quality level of a stream.

You can use the following buttons in the details pane to perform common group tasks:

Add Server. Adds a server to the group.

Remove Server. Removes the selected server from the group.

View properties. Opens the Group Properties dialog box. Use it to modify group properties such as group name and refresh rate.

Refresh list. Refreshes the information on the server list. Note


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Using groups

Viewing group details

Add a group

By adding a group to Windows Media Services, you can create a logical grouping of servers to monitor and manage. You must have administrator rights and permissions in order to add a group. Use the following information to complete the Add Group dialog box.

Item Description

Group name Type a unique name for the group.

Note


Related topics

To add a group

About groups

Specify group properties

Groups have the following properties that you can modify. Use the following information to complete the <Group> Properties dialog box.

Item Description

Group name Type a unique name for the group.

Refresh rate (seconds) Click the number of seconds you want between updates of statistics: 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, or 60.

Note


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About groups

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Add a server

You can add any server running Windows Media Services to a group, but you must have administrator rights and permissions to do so. Use the following information to complete the Add Server dialog box.

Item Description

Server name or IP address Type the name or IP address of the server you want to add to the administrative console.

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About groups

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Viewing server detailsWhen you click a server in the console tree or server list page, a set of tabs is displayed in the details pane. You can use the options on these tabs to configure different features of Windows Media Services, such as setting limits, configuring authentication, and enabling logging. Options set at the server level apply to all publishing points on that server.

Note

Some options can be set at both the publishing point level and the server level. If a publishing point setting conflicts with a server setting, the server setting overrides the publishing point setting.


About the Monitor tab for a server

About the Advertising tab for a server

About the Properties tab for a server

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About the Monitor tab for a serverThe Monitor tab displays the following information about your server.

Item Description

General

Last counter reset Displays the date and time when the counter was last reset. If the counter has not been reset, this area displays the date and time when the server was started.

System CPU Displays the current percentage of processor capacity used on the server.

Clients

Current limit setting Displays the player connection limit you set for the server.

Percentage of limit Displays the number of players connected to the server as a percentage relative to the limit.

Peak (since last counter reset)

Displays the highest number of players that have been connected to the server since the Windows Media Services service was started or the Reset button was clicked.

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Connected unicast players Displays the current number of players that have unicast connections to the server.

Bandwidth

Current limit setting Displays the bandwidth limits you set for the server.

Percentage of limit Displays the amount of bandwidth being used by the server as a percentage relative to the bandwidth limit.

Peak (since last counter reset)

Displays the largest amount of bandwidth used by the server since the Windows Media Services service was started or the Reset button was clicked.

Current allocated bandwidth Displays the total amount of bandwidth used by the server to provide streams to all of the clients receiving a unicast stream.

Advertising

Advertisements served by this server

Displays the total number of advertising impressions delivered by this server.

Refresh rate

Current refresh rate Displays the rate at which the statistics on this tab are updated. To change the refresh rate, click the up or down arrows.

On this tab, you can use the following buttons to perform server-related tasks:

Stop the service. Stops the Windows Media Services service on the Windows Media server.

Allow new unicast connections. Allows new client connections to the server.

Deny new unicast connections. Denies new client connections to the server.

Reset all counters. Resets the peak values.

View Performance Monitor. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Starts Windows Media Performance Monitor, which provides a graphical display of server and publishing point performance counters.


Use the following setting to configure additional server options:

Select interval. Sets how often the page is refreshed. This setting is found in the Page Loaded area. Select an interval value from never to 60 minutes.

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To add a group

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Using groups


About the Advertising tab for a serverUse the Advertising tab to find an advertising partner.

Item Description

Resources on the Web

Find an advertising partner In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click to open the Windows Media Technologies Partner center Web site to locate advertising partners and solutions providers on the Internet.

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About the Properties tab for a serverUse the Properties tab to view and configure properties for your server. You can set limits to manage your server resources and enable and disable the properties and plug-ins used by your server.

The Properties tab displays the following information about server properties.

Item Description

Show all plug-in categories Select this check box to display all of the plug-in categories that are available, including the core system plug-ins. Changing or disabling the core system plug-ins may result in your server not functioning as expected.

Category Displays the list of property or plug-in categories available for the server. Click the category name to view the list of available properties or plug-ins.

Property or Plug-in Displays the properties or plug-ins available, depending on the selected category. For more information, see About properties and plug-ins.

If you select a property or plug-in that is configurable, you can use the following buttons to perform common tasks:

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Enable. Enables the property or plug-in on the server.

Disable. Disables the property or plug-in on the server.

Remove plug-in. Marks the plug-in for removal from the list. The plug-in is not removed until you stop or start the server. You cannot remove the last instance of a core system plug-in.

Duplicate plug-in. Makes a copy of the selected plug-in, including its configuration.

View properties. Displays the properties of the item. Some items do not have configurable settings.

Refresh list. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Reloads all of the registered plug-ins in the selected category.


Use the following button and setting to configure additional plug-in or property options:

Rename plug-in. Allows you to rename a plug-in.


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Duplicate a plug-in

Duplicating a plug-in creates a new instance of the selected plug-in with the same property configuration as the original. Use the following information to complete the Duplicate plug-in dialog box.

Item Description

Plug-in name Type a unique name for the new plug-in instance. The name cannot exceed 250 characters and is not case-sensitive. The following characters cannot be used in a plug-in name: &"'<>\.

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Renaming a plug-in

Renaming a plug-in assigns a new unique identifier to the plug-in selected on the Properties tab. The name cannot exceed 250 characters and is not case-sensitive. The following characters cannot be used in a plug-in name: &"'<>\.

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About troubleshootingClicking the Troubleshooting item in the console tree displays the troubleshooting list in the details pane. You can use the troubleshooting list to view system events and warnings that have occurred since the Windows Media Services service started or since the list was cleared. You can use the data in this list to help you to identify and resolve issues on the server. The area at the top of the details pane indicates the number of unresolved events.

The details pane displays the following information for each event in the list.

Item Description

Type Displays an icon that identifies the event as either an error, warning, or information event.

Date Displays the month, day, and year the event occurred.

Time Displays the time of day the event occurred. The time is displayed in the time format used by the server, which can be either Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or local time.

Location Displays the name of the server or publishing point that generated the event.

Number Displays the number of times the event has occurred.

Description Provides more specific information about the type of event.

You can use the following buttons in the details pane to perform troubleshooting tasks:

Clear list. Removes all events from the list.

Refresh list. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Updates the list of troubleshooting events.

View error details. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Displays more information about the selected event.

View options. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Opens the Troubleshooting Options dialog box that enables you to specify the settings for the events reported in the list. For more information, see Setting troubleshooting options.


Use the following settings to configure additional troubleshooting options:

Filter Events. Sets troubleshooting options. For more information, see Setting troubleshooting options.


Note

Troubleshooting events are also logged in Event Viewer. If you want to review troubleshooting events that have been cleared or that occurred before the Windows Media Services service was started, you can view them in Event Viewer. For more information about Event Viewer, see Windows Help and Support.

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Setting troubleshooting options

You can set the following options to determine how events are displayed in the troubleshooting list.

Item Description

Number of events server stores

Enter the maximum number of events to be displayed in the troubleshooting list.

In the Windows Media Services snap-in, type or select a value.

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, type a value in the text box, and then click the Apply button.

Filter events

Display limit hits Select this check box if you want the troubleshooting list to display errors related to the limits set at the publishing point and server levels; for example, Client limit exceeded and, Server limit exceeded.

Display server warnings Select this check box if you want the troubleshooting list to display warnings from the server components.

Display server errors Select this check box if you want the troubleshooting list to display errors from the server components.

Display plug-in warnings Select this check box if you want the troubleshooting list to display warnings from the plug-ins that you are using; for example, Data source not available and Log file not found. Warnings are a sign that plug-ins are not able to function as configured. Because each plug-in supports a different component, the plug-in warnings can help you identify the problem in your configuration.

Display plug-in errors Select this check box if you want the troubleshooting list to display warnings from the server and publishing points about the plug-ins they are trying to use; for example, Cache plug-in could not be started and Control protocol plug-in failed. These warnings are from plug-ins that are not functioning at all and should be disabled or reconfigured. Sometimes a plug-in must be reinstalled to resolve the error condition.

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About troubleshooting

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Viewing publishing point detailsWhen you click a publishing point in the console tree, the details pane displays a set of tabs. The information available on some of the tabs differs slightly depending on whether the publishing point is on-demand or broadcast. You can use these tabs to perform tasks related to publishing points, such as modifying the content source, changing the publishing point properties, and adding advertisements. The Announce tab, which you can use to create announcements that direct clients to your content, is only available in the Windows Media Services snap-in.


About publishing points

About the Monitor tab for a publishing point

About the Source tab for a publishing point

About the Advertising tab for a publishing point

About the Announce tab for a publishing point

About the Properties tab for a publishing point Note


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About publishing pointsClicking the Publishing Points item in the console tree opens the Summary tab in the details pane where the publishing points on your server can be viewed and managed,

Summary tab

The Summary tab of the Publishing Points item displays the following information about the publishing points on your server.

Item Description

Name Displays the name of the publishing point.

Type Displays whether a publishing point is on-demand or broadcast.

Content Location Displays the source location of the content, such as a digital media file, a directory, another Windows Media server, an encoder, or a playlist file.

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Status Displays the current activity of the publishing point.

Players (Current/Limit)

(Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web only)

Displays the current number of players connected to the server and player connection limits that are set for the publishing point.

Bandwidth (Current/Limit)


Displays the total bandwidth in use and the bandwidth limits that are set for the publishing point.

After you click a publishing point from the list on the details pane, you can use the following buttons to perform publishing point tasks:

Add publishing point. Starts the Add Publishing Point Wizard, which helps you add a new on-demand or broadcast publishing point to the server.

Remove publishing point. Removes a publishing point from the server.

Start publishing point. Starts a broadcast publishing point.

Stop publishing point. Stops a broadcast publishing point, disconnecting all clients and refusing any new connection requests.

Allow new unicast connections. Allows unicast connection requests to the publishing point.

Deny new unicast connections. Denies new unicast connection requests, but allows currently connected unicast clients to continue receiving the stream.

View playlist editor. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Starts the Windows Media Playlist Editor. You can create a playlist file for a publishing point by using the Playlist Editor.


Use the following buttons to configure additional publishing point options:

Disconnect all clients. Disconnects all clients without stopping the publishing point.

Rename publishing point. Enables you to rename a publishing point.

Duplicate publishing point. Enables you to create an identical instance of the publishing point.

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Duplicate a publishing point

Duplicating a publishing point creates a new publishing point that has the same properties, plug-in configuration, and references the same content as the original publishing point. Use the following information to complete the Duplicate Publishing Point dialog box.

Item Description

Type the name for the new publishing point

Type a unique name for the publishing point. The name is not case-sensitive.

Note

The characters <>\?%&'#"{}|^[]* are reserved and cannot be used in the publishing point name.

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Rename a publishing point

Renaming a publishing point assigns a new unique identifier to the publishing point. Use the following information to complete the Rename Publishing Point dialog box.

Item Description

Publishing point name Type a unique name for the publishing point. The name is not case-sensitive.

Notes


Existing announcements on the publishing point will not work after you rename it. You need to create a new announcement for the renamed publishing point.

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Add a publishing point (advanced)

Adding a publishing point creates a publishing point with the default plug-in configuration and properties. Use the following information to complete the Add Publishing Point dialog box.

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Item Description

Publishing point type

Broadcast Select this option for live events such as chats, radio programs, and television shows. Users are passive participants, meaning that the server administrator has control of content playback.

You can use multicast transmission with this option to conserve network bandwidth.

On-demand Select this option when providing content such as individual songs, custom playlists, archived broadcast content, and computer-based training. Users are active participants, meaning that they control the stream and can start, stop, pause, fast-forward, or rewind the content as desired. This option requires unicast transmission of the content.

Publishing point name Type a unique name for the publishing point. The name is not case-sensitive.

Location of content Enter the path to the content.

Content type examples Displays examples of the available types of content and provides sample syntax for specifying the location of content:

File. Content from this source is a digital media file located in an accessible file storage system.

Encoder (pull). Content from this source is generated and encoded in real time. The Windows Media server connects to the encoder and streams the content.

Remote publishing point. Content from this source is a stream that originates from another Windows Media server.

Dynamic source. Content from this source is a Windows Media metafile generated by a Web page.

Playlist. Content from this source is referenced by a Windows Media metafile.

Directory. Content from this source is stored in a folder and its associated subfolders located in an accessible file storage system.

Encoder (push). Content from this source is generated and encoded in real time. The encoder directs the Windows Media server to stream the content.

Multicast stream. Content from this source is generated in real time by another Windows Media server. The Windows Media server connects to a multicast stream generated by a remote publishing point.

Note

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Browse a data source

Browsing is a way for you to navigate through your files, folders, and network locations to locate the content you want to publish. The Browse dialog box supports selecting individual digital media files or entire directories. Use the following information to complete the Browse dialog box.

Item Description

Data Source Select the location of the content. The drop-down list may contain local drives, network drives, or URLs.

Location Displays the current location. Click the up arrow to move up one level in the directory structure.

Name and Type Provides a list of the names and types of files and folders at the current location. You can use the scroll bars to move up and down on the list. Double-click an item in the list to select it.

Select File Click this button to use the path to the selected digital media file as the content source path and close the Browse dialog box.

Select Directory Click this button to use the path to the selected directory as the content source path and close the Browse dialog box.

Cancel Click this button to close the Browse dialog box without making any change to the content source path.

File name/Directory name Displays the name of the selected file or directory.

Files of type Select the type of files to display in the list.

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About the Monitor tab for a publishing pointUse the Monitor tab to monitor activity on your server. The Monitor tab displays the following information about your publishing point.

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Item Description

General

Now playing Displays the source of the content currently being streamed. This item is shown for broadcast publishing points only.

Last counter reset Displays the date and time that the counter was last reset. If the counter has not been reset, this item displays the date and time when the publishing point was started.

System CPU Displays the current percentage of processor capacity used on the server.

Clients

Limit Displays the player connection limit for the publishing point.

Percentage of limit Displays the number of players connected to the server as a percentage relative to the limit.

Peak (since last counter reset) Displays the highest number of players that have connected to the publishing point since the Windows Media Services service was started or the Reset button was clicked.

Players Displays the current number of players that have unicast connections to the publishing point.

Bandwidth

Current limit setting Displays the bandwidth limits for the publishing point.

Percentage of limit Displays the amount of bandwidth used by the server as a percentage relative to the bandwidth limit.

Peak (since last counter reset) Displays the largest amount of bandwidth used by the publishing point since the Windows Media Services service was started or the Reset button was clicked.

Current allocated bandwidth Displays the total amount of bandwidth used by the publishing point to provide streams to all of the players receiving a unicast stream.

Advertising

Advertisements served by this publishing point

Displays the total number of advertising impressions delivered by the publishing point.

Refresh rate

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Current refresh rate Displays the rate at which the statistics on this tab are updated. To change the refresh rate, click the up or down arrows.

On this tab, you can use the following buttons to perform publishing point tasks:

Start publishing point. (Broadcast publishing point only) Starts broadcasting the content.

Stop publishing point. (Broadcast publishing point only) Stops broadcasting the content.

Allow new unicast connections. Allows new client connections to the publishing point.

Deny new unicast connections. Denies new client connections to the publishing point.

Disconnect all clients. Disconnects all client connections to the publishing point.

Reset all counters. Resets the peak values for the statistics displayed on the Monitor tab.

View Performance Monitor. (Windows Media Services snap-in only.) Starts Windows Media Performance Monitor, which provides a graphical display of server and publishing point performance counters.


Use the following setting to configure additional options:


Related topics

Announcing content








About the Source tab for a publishing pointUse the Source tab to identify the content you want to stream from your publishing point. The Source tab provides the following information about the publishing point.

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Item Description

Location Displays the path to the content and identifies the content type. For example, C:\Wmpub\Wmroot identifies a directory as the source of the content.

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, type the location of the content, and then click Apply to change the source of the content.

Change In the Windows Media Services snap-in, click to specify the type and source of the content.

Content toolbar In the Windows Media Services snap-in, use to modify the contents and behavior of items in the Source details area. This toolbar is primarily used when you are working with an existing playlist source. If the content source is not a playlist, many of the buttons in the toolbar are unavailable. For more information, see Editing online playlists.

Content details In the Windows Media Services snap-in, displays details about the content source. For example, if the source is a directory, the files and file types in the directory are listed in this area. If the source is a playlist, the playlist elements and properties are displayed in a tree structure. For more information, see the Playlist reference.

On this tab, you can use the following buttons to perform publishing point tasks:

Start publishing point. (Broadcast publishing point only) Starts broadcasting the content.

Stop publishing point. (Broadcast publishing point only) Stops broadcasting the content.

Start archiving. (Broadcast publishing point only) Starts storing the content being broadcast to an archive file.

Stop archiving. (Broadcast publishing point only) Stops storing the content and closes the archive file.

Allow new unicast connections. (On-demand publishing point only) Allows new client connections to the publishing point.

Deny new unicast connections. (On-demand publishing point only) Denies new client connections to the publishing point.

View playlist editor. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Starts the Windows Media Playlist Editor. You can create a playlist or modify an existing playlist by using the Playlist Editor.

Test stream. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Starts Windows Media Player and attempts to connect to the publishing point to verify that the publishing point is streaming the selected content and is configured correctly.


Use the following buttons and setting to configure additional publishing point options:

Allow new unicast connections. Allows new client connections to the publishing point.

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Deny new unicast connections. Denies new client connections to the publishing point.


Related topics




About the Advertising tab for a publishing pointUse the Advertising tab to manage advertising streams for the publishing point. The Advertising tab provides the following information.

Item Description


What is an interstitial advertisement?

Click to display a Help topic about how to place advertisements throughout your content.

Wrapper advertisements

Advertisements inside wrappers

Click to display a Help topic about how to place advertisements at the beginning and end of content.

Use a wrapper with this publishing point

Select to use the wrapper playlist indicated in the Wrapper location text box with the publishing point.

Wrapper location In the Windows Media Services snap-in, displays the path to the wrapper playlist file.

In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, provides a space for you to modify the path to the wrapper playlist file.

Change

(Windows Media Services snap-in only)

Click to modify the path to the wrapper playlist.

Apply


Click to accept any changes made to the wrapper location.

Resources on the Web

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Find an advertising partner

(Windows Media Services snap-in only)

Click to open the Windows Media Technologies Partner center Web site to locate advertising partners and solutions providers on the Internet.

On this tab, you can use the following button to perform an additional task:

Wrapper Editor. Click to open the Wrapper Editor, which allows you to add advertisements to the beginning or end of content.

Related topics




About the Announce tab for a publishing pointThe Announce tab enables you to create an announcement that you can use to direct users to your content. The Announce tab appearance depends on whether the publishing point is an on-demand or a broadcast publishing point.

Unicast publishing points

For on-demand and broadcast publishing points, the Announce tab displays the following options for guiding users to your content. The Announce tab displays the current publishing point address so you can distribute it individually to clients or post it as a link.

Item Description

Run Unicast Announcement Wizard

Click to start the Unicast Announcement Wizard and create announcement files.

Multicast publishing points

For multicast broadcast publishing points, the Announce tab displays the following additional options for guiding users to your content.

Item Description

Run Multicast Announcement Wizard

Click to start the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create both a multicast information file and an announcement file.

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Related topics

Announcing content




About the Properties tab for a publishing pointUse the Properties tab to view and configure properties for your publishing point. You can set limits to manage the resources allocated to this publishing point and enable and disable plug-ins.

The Properties tab displays the following information.

Item Description

Category Displays the property and plug-in categories available for the publishing point.

Property or Plug-in Displays a list of properties and plug-ins available in the selected category. For more information, see About properties and plug-ins.

If you select a category with configurable properties, you can use the following buttons to perform common tasks:

Enable. Enables the property or plug-in on the publishing point.

Disable. Disables the property or plug-in on the publishing point.

Remove plug-in. Marks the plug-in for removal from the list. The plug-in is not removed until you stop or start the server. You cannot remove the last instance of a core system plug-in.

Duplicate plug-in. Makes a copy of the selected plug-in, including its configuration.

View properties. Displays the properties of the item. Some items do not have configurable settings.

Refresh list. (Windows Media Services snap-in only) Reloads all of the registered plug-ins in the selected category.


Use the following button and setting to configure additional plug-in or property options:

Rename plug-in. In Windows Media Services Administrator for the Web, enables you to rename plug-ins.


Note

If a publishing point setting conflicts with a server setting, the server setting overrides the publishing point setting.

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