Streaming Media Servers
In a Nutshell - CIW Course Section 3, Part B2, Chapter 4
Streaming Media Servers Overview
The minimum hardware requirements for a streaming media server include: a Pentium processor, 256MB RAM, a soundcard, 10GB disk space and audio and video editors.
There are two types of streaming media content: on-demand and live streaming.
When using streaming media the format of the URL is somewhat more detailed than is normal for a simple Web page.
|
protocol://address:port/MountPoint/path/file |
The components that make up a RealServer streaming media URL are detailed in the following table:
| RealServer Streaming Server Components | |
|---|---|
| Component | Description |
| Protocol | Accesses media |
| Address | IP address or domain name |
| Port | Port number RealServer listens to for requests |
| Mount point | Indicates how the media should be served |
| Path | Used to access subdirectory of the mount point |
| File | Refers to the name of the media file |
RealServer uses mount points to determine which features will handle the request. Mount points relevant to RealServer are displayed in the table below:
| RealServer Mount Points | |
|---|---|
| Mount Point | Description |
| / | Used for on-demand content located in a subdirectory |
| /encoder | Used to refer to live content |
| /ramgen | Used if you are linking to RealMedia inside a Web page |
Installing Streaming Media Server
The course notes give download instructions for RealSystem Server 8.0 G2. Unfortunately, these would seem to be out-of-date. The current, free, streaming media server available from Real is Helix Server which can be found here.
The installation process for Helix Server is not dissimilar to that of RealServer except where RealServer wants to default to port 8080 to listen for HTTP requests, Helix Server defaults to port 80.
Upon downloading Helix Server you will receive an email with the licence key which you should save to the the hard disk. You can now browse to the licence file for this step of the installation.
You should now enter a username and password to be used to authenticate on the Web-based Server Administrator. On all other screens you can just accept the default settings and it should install without further problems. When downloading you are advised that Helix Server is for Windows 2003 server, I installed it, without a hitch, onto a Windows 2000 server. Note: While this completes the installation, Helix Server still needs to be started. Run the Helix Server script from the start menu and this should set it all running.
Serving On-Demand Streaming Media
For On-Demand media to work, the client must have RealPlayer installed.
To serve on-demand streaming media, you create a Web page with a link such as: http://192.168.0.10:8080/ramgen/g2video.rm