Windows Media Services Server SETUP

The exact terminology of movie server is: Streaming Media Server. Streaming Media Servers are used in large-scale video conferences, audio and video training for enterprises; network-based on-demand video, broadcast, live broadcast, and other enterprise-level network-based media communication applications have a great future and wide application value. There are two "big names" in today's streaming media server market, one of which is from RealNetworks.Helix ServerThe other is Microsoft'sWindows Media Services. The Helix Server of RealNetworks has many advantages in compatibility. Operating System Therefore, a large website that provides on-demand movie services may run Linux and other operating systems, so we can only use the Helix Server of RealNetworks. Microsoft's Media Server comes with Windows 2000 or Windows Server version, which is basically free of charge. Of course, it is a server component and it will not be installed by default. You must specify the installation. This article only introduces Windows Media Services, a Windows-based streaming media server, which is provided by the operating system and is easy to configure, manage, and have powerful functions. The two Windows server operating systems have different Streaming Media Server versions. The last one is the latest, known as the Windows Media Services 9 Series (see figure 1 ), it is best to run in the Windows 2003 Server operating system. In this article, we will also introduce the case of Windows Media Services 9 series based on the Windows 2003 operating system. Figure 1 Windows Media Services is a platform provided by Microsoft to transmit audio and video content to clients over the Internet or intranet. The client can be a PC computer or device (end user) that uses a player (such as Windows Media Player) to play the content ); it can also be another running Windows Media Services media server used for proxy, cache, or redistribution of content. The Windows Media Server can receive content for publishing from a variety of different "sources. There are three methods: 1. pre-recorded content stored on the local server can also be extracted from the online file server; 2. You can use a digital recording device (camera or microphone) to record the actual situation and send it to the Windows Media Server for broadcast after being processed by the encoder (encoding software; 3. Windows Media Services can also broadcast the content transmitted from the publishing point on another remote Windows Media Server. If you plan to transfer live content, the server will connect to the encoding software that supports media formats (such as the Windows Media Encoder ). You can use Windows Media Encoder 9 Series (download location:Http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx? Familyid = 1271ba02-e496-440a-bba9-b2f1182cdf24 & displaylang = ZH-CN & hash = c39wqb8), Microsoft Producer for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 (download location:Http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx? Familyid = 1b3c76d5-fc75-4f99-94bc-784919468e73 & displaylang = ZH-CN), Windows Movie Maker, etc. These software can be downloaded from Microsoft's website. Before introducing the setup of Windows Media Server, let's first understand what stream media is, What Is unicast and multicast "; what are professional technologies such as "on-demand broadcast release point" and "broadcast release point" and Microsoft's proprietary terms. Streaming Media Streaming Media, as its name suggests, can be regarded as a mobile media. It transmits digital media over the network in the form of continuous streams (data packets. Media files, such as audio and video files, are decomposed and encoded into digital signals that flow to the destination like a stream, and are restored to an image or sound by the player when the destination is reached. This method presents the content while receiving it, so that you can play data continuously without waiting to download the entire file. After streaming files are played, they are not stored in the computer. Release point The publishing point is the physical path on the server where the client accesses the media content to which the content is stored (a URL is displayed to the player, similar to the root directory of the website ). A publishing point is a point used by network administrators to mark a certain type of media service. Through the control interface of the Media Server, you can view the working status of these points and manage them at any time. After the client successfully connects to the publishing point, the Windows Media Server manages the connection and transmits the content. The client can access the content stream from the server by connecting to the publishing point. There are two types of publishing points: "On-Demand Publishing point" and "broadcast publishing point ". A Windows Media Server can be configured to run multiple publishing points, which can be broadcast and VOD coexist. There are some important differences between VOD and broadcast. (1) Use a VoD release point If you want the console to control the playback, you can operate the player's playback, pause, fast forward, and other functions, then use the VOD release point. This type of release point is most commonly used for content with files, playlists, or directories as the source. When the client connects to the publishing point, the content will be played from the beginning. The end user can use the playback control on the player to pause, fast forward, reverse, skip the items in the playlist or stop. Content can be transmitted only when the client is connected and can receive streams. The content transmitted from the VOD publishing point is always transmitted as a unicast stream. This method applies to the on-demand media service, which is also the method used by the movie server. It is also the solution to be adopted and highlighted in this case. (2) Use broadcast publishing points If you want to control playing and transmitting content on the server, use broadcast publishing points. This is like playing a program on a station or TV station. The program is played continuously by the server. If you miss it, you can only miss it. This gives users a similar experience in watching TV programs. It is most commonly used to transmit live streams from encoder, remote server, or other broadcast publishing points. When the client connects to the broadcast publishing point, the client is added to the broadcast that is already being passed. The client can start and stop the stream, but does not stop the broadcast of the server, nor can it pause, fast forward, reverse or skip. Broadcast publishing points can also be used to transmit file and file playback lists, but the client player cannot control playback as it controls Vod. It seems that the user is receiving live-coded stream broadcasts. In this case, it is better to use the VOD release point method. The broadcast publishing point is transmitted immediately when the server is started and continues until it is stopped by the administrator or the content is transmitted completely. The startup can be manually started by the Administrator, or automatically started when the first client is connected. This method is suitable for enterprise video conferences and live webcast of football matches on campus networks. Unicast and multicast are the stream transmission methods. (1) unicast streams are one-to-one connections established between the server and the client, each client sends a request to the server to receive a different stream, and only the client that requests the stream receives the stream. When content is transmitted as a unicast stream, it can be used to create both the On-Demand Publishing point and the broadcasting distribution point. Unicast Streaming is also the default method used by the Windows Media Server to transfer content. It is enabled by default. It is also the most commonly used method. An example of content passing through a unicast stream using the VOD publishing point is displayed. (Figure 2) Figure 2 As shown in, on the Windows Media Server named server1, there is a VoD publishing point named TV1. Content can be placed on a local server or a file server on the network. You can use a specific "file", "directory", or "playlist file" as the source. In the preceding example, the publisher uses the playlist file stored on the local server 1 as the source. Create a URL that provides content to users. Because the content is transmitted in unicast stream mode, each player has a unique connection to server1. Since the movie server in this case belongs to the on-demand video publishing point, the on-demand video publishing point has no choice for unicast and multicasting in the settings of the Windows Media Server. It will only be the default unicast method of the system, no additional settings are required for the server system. (2) multicast refers to the one-to-many relationship between the Windows Media Server and the client that receives the stream. With multicast streams, the server transmits streams to a Class D multicast IP address on the network, and the client subscribes to the IP address to receive streams. All clients receive the same stream. No matter how many clients receive streams, the server only transmits one stream to the multicast address. Multicast streams can save network bandwidth and may be useful for wide-area networks with low bandwidth. This method requires the participation of routers and is suitable for large video conferences across the Internet. When transmitting content in the multicast stream mode, you can only create a broadcasting layout. In addition, the vro must have the multicast function enabled. In Internet cafe applications, in addition to on-demand movie and music services, we may also need broadcast services, such as live broadcast of football matches on the Internet. When creating a broadcast publishing point, you will encounter the server system's choice to transmit streams through "unicast" or "multicasting. In the LAN environment, the bandwidth is high enough, and no professional router is available for "Multicast". Therefore, you should choose "unicast" to transmit the stream. Before setting the Windows Media Services server, we need to install components because it is not installed by default. Go to "Control Panel", click "add or delete programs", click "Add/delete Windows components", and select "Windows Media Services" in the "Windows component wizard ", insert the Windows2003 installation disk and click "Next" to install it. (Figure 3) Figure 3 click to view the large image After installing the Windows Media Services server, we can start to set up the media server. Choose Start> program> management tools in Windows2003 and click Windows Media Services to open the Media Server Management Interface. The basic steps for setting up the Windows Media Server include adding and configuring the "release point ". The Windows Media Server can be configured with two types of publishing points: broadcast publishing point and On-Demand Publishing point. If you want to transmit the live content of the encoder, select broadcast publishing point. If you want to transfer a media file (the extension is .asf=.wma%.wmv%}and. wsx) and you want to allow the user to control the playback of the content (for example, pause, reverse or fast forward to control the player), You 'd better select the VOD release point and select it in this case. The subsequent sections of this article will only focus on the configurations required to create a movie server. For beginners who are not familiar with the terms of the Windows Media Server, the Windows Media Server provides us with a wizard to facilitate the addition of publishing points. Even so, for those who use Microsoft's media server for the first time, they will still feel confused about its terminology in every step. However, according to the important terms described above and examples of this solution, I believe that readers should be able to develop a movie server. After opening the Windows Media Server, we will use the "add release point wizard" to create a "VOD release point" named "movie ". The procedure is as follows: 1. click the Server icon on the Left bar of the main interface of the Windows Media Server, click "release point", right-click, and click "add release point (wizard)" in the displayed dialog box )", click "Next ". (Figure 4 and 5) Figure 4 click to view the large image Figure 5 Click to view the large image 2. Add the release point name and enter the name of the movie service "movie ". Click "Next ". (Figure 6) Figure 6 click to view the large image 3. The "content type" selection dialog box is displayed, asking us to select the type of the content to be published. Because we want to publish movie files that exist on the hard disk of the local server (of course, the file format mentioned above, if not, various media conversion programs are required for conversion, such: windows Media Encoder 9), so select the last option "file in directory ". Click "Next ". (Figure 7) Figure 7 click to view the large image 4. The "release point type" dialog box is displayed. Select the "VOD release point" solution and select it. Click "Next ". (Figure 8) Figure 8 click to view the large image 5. The "directory location" dialog box is displayed, where you are required to specify the directory of the media file for the server. Click "Browse". In the displayed dialog box, click the hard drive letter of the directory at "Data Source" and click the directory at "location. Then, click "Select Directory" on the right to return to the original dialog box. In this case, you can also click the "allow wildcard" Check button. Click "Next ". (Figure 9) Figure 9 click to view the large image 6. The "content playback" dialog box appears. You can select the two check buttons at will. Click "Next ". (Figure 10) Figure 10 click to view the large image 7. The "unicast log record" dialog box appears. This check button is also optional. Click "Next ". (Figure 11) Figure 11 click to view the large image 8. A dialog box listing the operation summary is displayed. Click "Next ". 9. Now you can add a release point. However, the wizard also prompts that we can further create an announcement file for the release point, which provides the player with the information needed to connect to the Windows Media Server to receive content. However, for the movie server we want to build, we need to implement the on-demand video function and perform precise access to files in the directory one by one. The announcement file is an announcement of the entire directory, obviously it does not meet our requirements. In this step, we need to remove the check button "after the Wizard is completed" to force the Wizard to end and stop subsequent operations. (Figure 12) Figure 12 click to view the large image Now, the launch point of the "movie" movie server we created has been completed. The movie release point also appears on the Left bar of the main interface. The next configuration release point is actually very simple for our application. Just click the "attributes" tab in the right sidebar of movie and click "general" in "category ", enable the three general attributes. (Figure 13) Figure 13 click to view the large image Next, we should test whether this release point (movie server) is working properly. There are two test methods: click the "Source" tab and click the player icon under it to test the stream. (Figure 14 and 15) However, you must first ensure that the server has been connected to the network. Otherwise, a strange error will pop up, prompting: "Windows Media Player cannot play this file. Please connect to the Internet." This error message is confusing for beginners. I feel that each step is correct, it is very hard to find a problem. (Figure 16) To Be Honest, cool has a lot of comments on Microsoft's error prompt. I don't know if I will keep creating distribution points, so I can't get through the test. Cool was stuck in it, this is why I feel it. The second method of testing the stream is to access the URL of the publishing point on a client on the network, for example, MMS: // lanshan/movie /. Note that lanshan is the name of the author's server, and movie is the name of the publishing site. Figure 14 click to view the large image Figure 15 click to view the large image Figure 16 click to view the large image After setting the Windows Media Server and the content to be transmitted, you need to let the user know how to access the content of the movie. If you just give the user a link such as MMS: // lanshan/movie, the player will randomly open any movie in the playing directory. This result does not meet our requirements for on-demand movies. Therefore, we recommend that you use a precise URL address to access the Movie content, that is, the file name of the movie file must be added at the end of the above address, for example: MMS: // lanshan/movie/large tsunami DV shooting collection 1.wmv, make such a link into a movie webpage (maybe you can find the source code of a third-party movie website from the Internet, so it is more convenient to build a website ), this allows the audience to see the list of movie titles, and click to open the movie corresponding to the precise URL address for playing, truly on-demand operations. Summary:The Application of movie servers in large Internet cafes is very important. Nowadays, all Internet cafes provide movie watching services to netizens. However, if you open a shared folder for movie files on the file server, users can click to open the file directly. This will consume the system resources of the file server. In severe cases, the server will become a machine. Therefore, we can avoid this situation by using Microsoft's Windows Media Server as an easy-to-use tool for media publishing. The Windows Media Server can also be used to publish MP3 music, which is also a favorite of Internet users.