Apple QuickTime Server User Manual

QuickTime Streaming Server

Darwin Streaming Server

Administrator’s Guide

Apple Computer, Inc.

The owner or authorized user of a valid copy of QuickTime Streaming Server and Darwin Streaming Server software may reproduce this publication for the purpose of learning to use such software. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this publication or for providing paidfor support services.

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022-0329/11-20-02

Preface QuickTime Streaming 7

What Is Streaming? 7

About Streaming Servers 7

Live Versus On-Demand Delivery 8

Simple Setup for Live Video 8

How Does Streaming Work? 9

Multicast Versus Unicast 10

Relaying Streamed Media 11

The Total Streaming Solution 11

The QuickTime Suite 12

More About QTSS and DSS 12

For More Information 13

1 Getting Started 15

Setup Overview 15

Hardware and Software 16

Client Computer Requirements 16

Server Requirements 17

Live Broadcasting Requirements 17

Setting Up Your Streaming Server 18

Testing Your Setup 19

2 Managing Your Streaming Server 21

User Interface 21

Working With Streaming Server Admin 21

Viewing Streaming Status 22

Starting or Stopping Streaming Service 22

Working With Connected Users 22

Changing Server Settings 23

Controlling QuickTime Broadcaster Remotely 23

Working With General Settings 24

Working With Port Settings 25

Working With Log Settings 25

Viewing Error Logs and Access History 26

Media 27

About Instant-On Streaming 27

Preparing Prerecorded Media 27

Preparing Audio 28

Streaming Media Files With Multiple Sources 28

Streaming File Formats Like .avi, .text, and .wav 28

Exporting a QuickTime Movie as a Hinted Movie 29

Improving the Performance of Hinted Movies 30

Session Description Protocol (SDP) Files 30

Streaming Live Media 31

Viewing Streamed Media From a Client Computer 31

Setting Up a Web Page With Streamed Media 32

Creating Links to MP3 Playlists 33

Bandwidth Considerations 33

Playlists 34

Using Playlists to Broadcast Prerecorded Media 34

Working With Playlist Settings 34

Starting and Stopping Playlists 35

Creating a Playlist 35

Changing a Playlist 36

Deleting a Playlist 36

Relays 37

Working With Relay Settings 37

Setting Up Relays 38

Turning a Relay On or Off 39

Contents

Security 39

Resetting the Streaming Server Admin User Name and Password 39

Controlling Access to Streamed Media 40

Creating an Access File 40

What Clients Need to Access Protected Media 42

Adding User Accounts and Passwords 42

Adding or Deleting Groups 42

Making Changes to the User or Group File 42

Installing SSL 43

Using Automatic Unicast (Announce) With QTSS or DSS on a Separate Computer 43

Executing a Command With sudo 44

Streaming on Port 80 45

Firewalls and Networks With Address Translation 45

Problems 45

Streaming Server Admin Is Not Responding 46

The Server Doesn’t Start Up or Quits Unexpectedly 46

The Streaming Server Computer Crashes or Is Restarted 46

Media Files Do Not Stream Properly 46

Streaming Performance Seems Slow 47

Users Can’t Connect to Your Broadcast 47

Users See Error Messages While Streaming Media 47

Users Can’t See Live Streamed Media 48

You’re Having Problems With Playlists 48

Advanced 49

How do I bind the Streaming Server Admin computer to a single IP address if my machine

is multihomed? 49

How do I bind QTSS or DSS to a single IP address if my machine is multihomed? 50

How do I kill and restart the QuickTime Streaming Server processes in Mac OS X Server?

How do I kill and restart Streaming Server Admin processes in Mac OS X Server? 51

How do I get QTSS to re-read its preferences without killing or restarting the server? 52

How do I conﬁgure QTSS to host streams from multiple user media directories? 52

3 Setup Example 55

Streaming Presentations—Live and On Demand 55

Contents

Setting It Up 57

Creating a Web Page for Easy Access 65

Shooting the Live Presentation 66

Archiving the Live Presentation 66

Glossary 69

Index 77

Contents

PREFACE

QuickTime Streaming

The focus of this guide is QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS) and Darwin Streaming Server (DSS). But before getting into the details of QTSS and DSS, it may be helpful to learn what streaming is all about and to get an overview of the total streaming solution provided by the QuickTime suite of products.

What Is Streaming?

Streaming delivers media from a server over a network to a client in real time, from modem rates to broadband. No ﬁle is ever downloaded to a viewer’s hard drive. Media is played by the client software as it is delivered.

With QuickTime streaming you can deliver

broadcasts of live events in real time

video on demand

playlist broadcasts of prerecorded content

About Streaming Servers

If you want to send streams to people over the Internet or a local network, you need a streaming server. Just as you need a web server for web pages, and a mail server for email messages, you need a streaming server to send real-time streams.

The streaming server transmits video and audio streams to individuals in response to requests from those individuals using client software such as QuickTime Player. The requests are handled using Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), a protocol for controlling a stream of real-time multimedia content. The streams are sent using Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP), a transport protocol used for transmitting real-time multimedia content over networks. A streaming server can create streams from QuickTime movies stored on a disk. It can also send copies of any live streams to which it has access.

For small audiences, the same computer can run web server software, mail server software, and streaming server software. For larger audiences, one or more computers typically are dedicated to acting purely as streaming servers.

Live Versus On-Demand Delivery

Delivery options for real-time streaming media are divided into two categories: live and on demand. You can serve both from QuickTime Streaming Server and from Darwin Streaming Server.

Live events, such as concerts, speeches, and lectures, are commonly streamed over the Internet as they happen with the assistance of broadcasting software, such as QuickTime Broadcaster. The broadcasting software encodes a live source, such as video from a camera, in real time and delivers the resulting stream to the server. The server then serves, or “reﬂects,” the live stream to clients.

Regardless of when different customers connect to the stream, each sees the same point in the stream at the same time. This live experience can be simulated with recorded content by broadcasting from an archive source such as a tape deck or creating playlists of media on the server.

For an on-demand delivery experience, such as a movie or an archived lecture, each customer initiates the stream from the beginning, so no customer ever comes in “late” to the stream. No broadcasting software is required in this case.

Simple Setup for Live Video

The illustration below shows a setup for streaming live video and audio. (Most video cameras have a built-in microphone.) You can stream audio only using a microphone, mixer, and other appropriate audio equipment.

Broadcaster

Streaming server

Preface

A PowerBook G4 with QuickTime Broadcaster software captures and encodes video and audio. The encoded signal is sent over an Internet Protocol (IP) network to a server computer running QTSS or DSS software. QTSS or DSS on the server computer sends the signal over the Internet or a local network to client computers that tune in using QuickTime Player.

You can also run QuickTime Broadcaster and QTSS or DSS on the same computer. If you are broadcasting to a large audience (more than, say, 100), however, Apple recommends that you run QuickTime Broadcaster and QTSS or DSS on separate computers.

How Does Streaming Work?

When you watch and listen to cable or over-the-air media transmissions on television or radio, the cable or electromagnetic wavelengths used are dedicated to that transmission. Those transmissions are mostly uncompressed and so consume large amounts of transmission bandwidth. But that’s not a problem, because they don’t have to compete with other transmissions within the frequency over which they’re broadcast.

When you send that same media over the Internet, the bandwidth used is no longer dedicated to only that transmission stream. The media now has to share extremely limited bandwidth with thousands, potentially millions, of other transmissions traveling back and forth over the Internet.

Multimedia sent over the Internet is therefore encoded and compressed for transmission. The resulting ﬁles are saved in a speciﬁc location, and streaming server software such as QuickTime Streaming Server or Darwin Streaming Server is used to send the media over the Internet to client computers.

Streamed media can be viewed by both Macintosh and Windows users using QuickTime Player (available free on the Apple web site) or any other application that supports QuickTime or standard MPEG-4 ﬁles. Streams can also be set up so that users can view them from within a web browser when the QuickTime plug-in is installed.

When a user starts to play streamed media through a web page, the QuickTime plug-in sends a request to the streaming server. The server responds by sending the multimedia content to the client computer.

The type of multimedia that is sent to the client computer depends on what content you speciﬁed on the web page. If you linked to a playlist created on the streaming server, that’s sent. If you linked to a QuickTime movie in the speciﬁed media directory, that movie is sent. If you linked to a live broadcast, that’s sent.

QuickTime Streaming

Multicast Versus Unicast

QTSS and DSS support both multicast and unicast network transport to deliver streaming media.

In a multicast, a single stream is shared among the clients (see illustration). Each client “tunes in” to the stream much as a radio tunes in to an FM broadcast. Although this technique reduces network congestion, it does require a network that either has access to the multicast backbone, otherwise called the Mbone, for content generally distributed over the Internet, or is multicast enabled for content distributed within a contained private network.

Multicast

In a unicast, each client initiates its own stream, resulting in the generation of many one-toone connections between client and server (see illustration). Many clients connected via unicast to a stream in a local network can result in heavy network trafﬁc. But this technique is the most reliable for delivery over the Internet since no special transport support is required.

Unicast

Preface

Relaying Streamed Media

QuickTime Streaming Server or Darwin Streaming Server can be conﬁgured as a relay. A relay listens to an incoming stream and then forwards that stream to one or more destinations. A relay can reduce Internet bandwidth consumption. Relays can be useful in special broadcast situations, especially if numerous viewers in different locations want to tune in.

Large organizations can often make good use of relays. For example, if a company regularly broadcasts a quarterly presentation from the CEO, that broadcast can be relayed from headquarters to branch ofﬁces.

ClientsDestinationBroadcaster

Internet

Relay

Destination

Company headquarters Branch offices

Clients

The CEO’s presentation is captured live with a video camera. The audio and video from the camera are encoded using QuickTime Broadcaster on a Mac OS X computer. A Mac OS X Server computer with QuickTime Streaming Server software acts as the relay computer and relays the broadcast of the CEO’s presentation over the Internet to destination computers serving the company’s branch ofﬁces. Employees of the company using client computers tune in to the destination computers to hear and watch the CEO’s presentation.

For more detailed information about setting up streamed media, see the appropriate topics in this manual.

The Total Streaming Solution

The QuickTime suite of products is unique in that it provides the software you need for endto-end production, transmission, and reception of streamed media. Each product is designed from start to ﬁnish for optimum compatibility with every other component in the suite.

QuickTime Streaming

The QuickTime Suite

The QuickTime suite is made up of the following components:

QuickTime Player:

The free QuickTime Player is an easy-to-use application for playing, interacting with, or viewing any video, audio, virtual reality (VR), or graphics ﬁle that is compatible with QuickTime.

QuickTime Pro:

This powerful application, the “Pro” version of QuickTime Player, provides an abundance of media authoring capabilities. From simple slide shows to complex video and audio encoding, Media Skin creation, automation of repetitive production workﬂow tasks, and assembly of hundreds of different media types into one movie ﬁle, QuickTime Pro can do it all.

QuickTime Broadcaster:

Combining the power of QuickTime with legendary Apple ease of use, QuickTime Broadcaster allows just about anyone to produce a live broadcast event. From a backyard birthday party to a corporate keynote speech, QuickTime Broadcaster allows anyone with an Internet connection to attend virtually. This free download, also included with Mac OS X Server version 10.2, will capture and encode QuickTime content, including MPEG-4, for live streaming via the web. QuickTime Broadcaster supports most codecs supported by QuickTime and allows users to create custom settings.

QuickTime Streaming Server:

The open-source, standards-based QuickTime Streaming Server, included with Mac OS X Server version 10.2, delivers media either in real time or on demand over the Internet with no per-stream license fee.

Darwin Streaming Server:

This free, open-source version of QuickTime Streaming Server supports popular enterprise platforms such as Linux, Solaris, and Windows NT/2000. It is available for download in source or binary form and can be ported to other platforms by modifying a few platform-speciﬁc source ﬁles.

Preface

More About QTSS and DSS

QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS) 4 and Darwin Streaming Server (DSS) 4 let you deliver media over the Internet in real time. Users can tune in to broadcasts of live or prerecorded media, or they can view prerecorded media on demand. Users see streamed media as soon as it reaches the computer; they don’t have to wait to download ﬁles.

Features of QTSS and DSS 4 include

Native MPEG-4 streaming:

Standard hinted MPEG-4 ﬁles can be served directly, without

being converted to .mov ﬁles.

MP3 audio streaming:

You can create your own Internet radio station. Now serve MP3 ﬁles to clients that support MP3 streaming via HTTP, such as iTunes, WinAmp, and RealPlayer.

An even easier-to-use web-based admin:

You can beneﬁt from a whole new design, plus new features such as a setup assistant and easy administration of relays between streaming servers.

Improved stream quality:

Enhancements to Apple skip-protection technology (patent

pending)—a collection of quality-of-service features-—result in even better stream quality.

Performance enhancements:

Overall stability and performance of the server has been

improved.

Authentication:

Two types of authentication, digest and basic, let you control access to

protected media.

Server-side playlists:

You can stream a set of media ﬁles as if it were a live broadcast. This

can be ideal for creating and managing a virtual radio or television station.

Relay support:

You can easily set up several layers of servers to broadcast streams to a

virtually unlimited number of clients.

QTSS and DSS 4.1 added these features:

Support for Instant-On:

Viewers with a broadband connection watching a streaming video with QuickTime 6 and later will beneﬁt from Instant-On, an advance in Apple skipprotection technology (patent pending) that dramatically improves the viewing experience by playing video and audio streams instantaneously.

Integrated Broadcaster administration:

A new dialog linked from the General Settings page provides an easy way to set up or change the user name and password for QuickTime Broadcaster. A Broadcast Settings pane allows remote operation of QuickTime Broadcaster (on Mac OS X Server version 10.2 or later).

For More Information

Additional QuickTime streaming resources are available. These include classes, mailing lists, and frequently asked questions (FAQs).

The QuickTime Streaming Server product page (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qtss/) provides the latest information on key features, recent downloads, and minimum requirements, with links to additional support pages.

The public source web site (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/streaming/) provides access to Darwin Streaming Server source code as well as access to the public Concurrent Version System (CVS) archive and developer information. Be sure to read the FAQs linked from this page.

The Mac OS X Server AppleCare support page (http://www.info.apple.com/usen/ macosxserver/) provides links to many useful Knowledge Base articles on all of the services that ship with Mac OS X Server, including QuickTime Streaming Server and Apache. It also provides links to downloadable PDFs of

Server

and

Mac OS X Server Administrator’s Guide.

Getting Started With Mac OS X

QuickTime Streaming

The QuickTime Streaming course takes an in-depth look at QuickTime Streaming Server and Darwin Streaming Server by teaching system administrators and QuickTime authors the details behind real-time streaming. For more information, see the Resources section of the QuickTime Streaming Server product page (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qtss/).

The best-selling

QuickTime for the Web

is an excellent hands-on guide. This Apple QuickTime Developer Series book shows how to integrate video, recorded sound, Flash animation, virtual reality, MIDI, text, still images, live streams, games, and user interactivity into a web site. The companion CD-ROM includes QuickTime Pro and a full set of development tools for both Windows and Macintosh. Published by Morgan Kaufmann, this award-winning book is featured with other useful titles on the QuickTime Instructional web site (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tools_tips/books.html). Get the third edition for the most up-to-date information.

The Apple Discussions area within the AppleCare support web site (http://discussions.info.apple.com/) provides a community posting location for QuickTime Streaming Server issues. Navigate to the Mac OS X Server section and then to QuickTime Streaming Server. You can post messages and view posts from other registered users.

Apple hosts many mailing lists (http://lists.apple.com) including lists for streaming server users and developers. Actively followed by Apple engineers, these lists are an excellent resource for novice and advanced users alike. If you want to subscribe, click “Lists hosted on this site,” and then click “streaming-server users” or “streaming-server developers,” and sign up. You can also search through the archives of both lists.

The QuickTime Services web site (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/tools_tips/services/) lists streaming service providers. Apple partners listed provide services ranging from content delivery and encoding to authoring and webcasting.

If you are an advanced user, you may want to review the Request for Comments (RFC) memorandums on the RTP and RTSP standards by visiting the web site of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). For RTP, the web address is http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1890.txt. For RTSP, it is http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2326.txt.

Preface

CHAPTER

Getting Started

Welcome to QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS) and Darwin Streaming Server (DSS).

Mac OS X Server includes QTSS in its suite of services. QTSS comes preinstalled on Apple server hardware and is optimized for the Power Mac G4. It is also installed if you purchase and install the Mac OS X Server software package.

DSS, based on the same code as QTSS and supported by the open source community, runs on non-Mac OS X Server platforms. You can download the source code and compiled binaries free of charge from the Apple Darwin Streaming Server web site (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/streaming/).

QTSS and DSS are similar in design and conﬁguration to Apache, the popular web server software that is also included in Mac OS X Server. If you have experience working with Apache, working with QTSS or DSS will seem familiar.

This chapter will help you get your streaming server up and running quickly.

Note:

The instructions that follow assume that you have already installed and performed a basic setup of Mac OS X Server or other compatible server software. For instructions on setting up Mac OS X Server, see “Getting Started With Mac OS X Server” (included on the installation CD and available to download in PDF format at http://www.info.apple.com/ support/manuals.html). For a list of platforms that DSS supports, see “Server Requirements” on page 17.

Setup Overview

If you are currently using an older version of QTSS or DSS, and you want to retain your

streaming server conﬁguration, note the following:

If you’re upgrading Mac OS X Server:

settings) will be automatically preserved. If you want to do a “clean install” and preserve your old streaming server settings, back up your “/Library/QuickTimeStreaming/Conﬁg/ directory and merge back any customized settings.

Your old server settings (including streaming server

If you’re upgrading DSS on a non-Mac OS X platform:

The new installation overwrites the conﬁguration ﬁles. If you want to preserve your old settings, back up your “/etc/streaming/” directory (for Windows, “c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server \” directory) and merge back any customized settings.

If you are setting up QTSS or DSS on a remote server or a server with no display attached (a

“headless” server such as Xserve), you should already have set up an administrator computer from which you can enable and conﬁgure the streaming server software using the web-based Streaming Server Admin user interface (UI). For information on setting up an administrator computer, see

Getting Started With Mac OS X Server.

Important

During remote installation, the administrator computer and the server must be connected to the same IP subnet. If necessary, you can connect a portable administrator computer to the server’s subnet during installation, or install the software over the administrator computer’s subnet, and then move the server to its permanent network location to ﬁnish setting it up.

If you want to run DSS on non-Mac OS X Server platforms, download the free installation package (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/streaming/).

If you want to broadcast live content, you can use QuickTime Broadcaster, which is included and installed with Mac OS X Server. For setup and other information, see the Apple QuickTime Broadcaster web page (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/broadcaster/) and QuickTime Broadcaster online help.

Note:

QuickTime Broadcaster and QTSS must be running on the same computer if you want to control QuickTime Broadcaster remotely. This feature is available only with Mac OS X version 10.2 and QTSS 4.1 and later.

Hardware and Software

Make sure that your hardware and software meet the following requirements.

Client Computer Requirements

QuickTime 6 and a broadband Internet connection are required to take advantage of InstantOn using QuickTime Streaming Server or Darwin Streaming Server 4.1 or later.

Any computer with QuickTime 4 or later installed can view media streamed by the streaming server. For best results, Apple recommends QuickTime 6 or later.

Any ISO-compliant MPEG-4 player can view MPEG-4 ﬁles. Streaming MP3 playlists can be listened to using iTunes or other compatible streaming MP3 player such as WinAmp.

You can download QuickTime client software from the QuickTime web site at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qt/

Chapter 1

Server Requirements

QuickTime Streaming Server

You can use the QTSS software on an Xserve, a Macintosh Server G4, a Power Mac G4, a Macintosh Server G3, a Power Macintosh G3, an iMac, or an eMac.

Mac OS X Server version 10.2 or later must be installed. QTSS will also run under Mac OS X Desktop version 10.2 and Desktop/Server version 10.1.x, although this conﬁguration is not eligible for AppleCare support.

Apple recommends

at least 128 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM)

a minimum of 512 MB of RAM and 500 megahertz or higher processor speed if you expect heavy trafﬁc on your server

1 gigabyte of available disk space

Automatic hardware restart requires an Xserve, Macintosh Server G4, or Power Mac G4 released in February 2000 or later. Mac OS X Server does not support upgraded PowerPC processors.

Darwin Streaming Server

DSS binaries and source code are available on the following platforms:

Mac OS X

RedHat Linux 7.2

Solaris 8

Windows 2000 and Windows NT

When installed on Mac OS X, DSS stores some of its binaries in the /usr/sbin/ and /usr/bin directories (for Linux and Solaris, /usr/local/sbin/ and /usr/local/bin). If this path is not included in your shell’s default $PATH variable, add it to your shell’s environment settings. Otherwise, you need to type the full path to the ﬁle when starting up any of these binaries (for example, /usr/local/sbin/DarwinStreamingServer).

Live Broadcasting Requirements

You need the following equipment to stream live audio or video: m Source equipment for audio, video, or both, such as a VCR, video camera, and

microphone.

m A computer with QuickTime Broadcaster or other broadcast software (PowerPC G4

recommended for MPEG-4 broadcasting) and a video or audio capture card.

Note: QuickTime Broadcaster supports video capture from most FireWire-equipped sources, including digital video (DV) cameras, some webcams, and DV converter boxes for a fast and easy broadcasting process with professional-quality results.

Getting Started

m 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended for professional broadcasting). m QuickTime 6 or later.

Setting Up Your Streaming Server

Follow these steps to set up your streaming server:

1 From Mac OS X Server, click the Streaming Server Admin icon in the Dock. From a server

with QuickTime Streaming Server or Darwin Streaming Server installed, open your web browser. From a remote computer, open Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.5 or later, Netscape Navigator or Netscape Communicator version 4.x or later, or Mozilla 1.0 or later.

2 Enter the URL for your Streaming Server Admin computer. For example:

http://hostname:1220

where hostname is the hostname or IP address of your streaming server computer and

1220 is the port number.

The ﬁrst time you run Streaming Server Admin, the Setup Assistant prompts you for a user name and password.

Note: For help on administering your streaming server software, select the question mark on any Streaming Server Admin page.

3 After entering and reentering a new user name and password in the Assign Username/

Password page, click Set Password.

Note: You will use this user name and password to administer the streaming server.

18 Chapter 1

The MP3 Broadcast Password page appears.

4 Enter and reenter a new password.

You will use this password when you send an MP3 stream to your streaming server.

5 Click Next.

The Secure Administration page appears. Enable this option only if you are administering your server remotely and have an SSL certiﬁcate installed for secure remote administration. For more information on secure mode operation, see “Installing SSL” on page 43.

6 Click Next.

The Media Folder page appears. Note the default path. This is where you place media you want to stream.

7 Click Next.

The Streaming on Port 80 page appears. Enable port 80 if you intend to allow content to be viewed from outside the local area network (that is, from the Internet). For information on the pros and cons of choosing this option, see “Streaming on Port 80” on page 45.

8 Click Finish.

The Streaming Server Admin main screen appears. “Server is Running” should appear at the top of the screen.

9 If instead “Server is Idle” appears, click the Start Server button to start the server.

The streaming server is now active and ready to stream media.

10 Click General Settings. If you want the server to start up each time you power on the server,

choose Start Server at System Startup and click Save Changes.

Testing Your Setup

Sample QuickTime movies are included with QTSS and DSS in the default movie folder so you can test the server setup. The sample movies can be viewed from a client computer using QuickTime Player.

Note: The included sample .mp3 ﬁle is for use in a streaming MP3 playlist only. It is not a hinted QuickTime movie and cannot be streamed on demand via RTSP. For information on hinted movies, see “Exporting a QuickTime Movie as a Hinted Movie” on page 29. For information on preparing MP3 and other prerecorded media for simulated live streaming, see “Preparing Prerecorded Media” on page 27.

To view a sample movie:

1 Choose Open URL in New Player in the player File menu and enter, for example, the

following URL:

rtsp://hostname/sample_300kbit.mov

where hostname is the host name or IP address of your server.

2 Click OK to request the sample movie.

QuickTime Player connects with the streaming server, a window appears, and the movie plays if the streaming server is functioning correctly.

This concludes the initial setup of your streaming server software. Additional settings depend on your hardware and software, network connections, expected number of viewers, and media you want to stream. For guidance in determining these settings and operating your streaming server, see Chapter 2, “Managing Your Streaming Server,” Chapter 3, “Setup Example,” and the resources listed on page 13.

Getting Started 19

CHAPTER

2 Managing Your Streaming Server

This chapter provides information you need to complete your setup and manage your streaming server. Topics covered include

m using the administration tool Streaming Server Admin m working with media m dealing with security issues m solving common problems

The last section answers questions raised by more advanced users.

User Interface

To set up and manage QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS) and Darwin Streaming Server (DSS), you use the web-based Streaming Server Admin application. This tool provides a standard graphical user interface for all supported platforms and allows you to administer the streaming server locally or remotely.

Working With Streaming Server Admin

Streaming Server Admin is a web-based user interface (UI) in which you can change general settings, create and serve playlists, monitor connected users, view log ﬁles, manage bandwidth usage, relay a stream from one server to another for scalability, and control QuickTime Broadcaster remotely. Because the interface is web-based, you can administer your server and QuickTime Broadcaster from anywhere by connecting from any computer with compatible software and with Internet access.

To configure and administer your server:

1 From Mac OS X Server, click the Streaming Server Admin icon in the Dock. From a server

2 Enter the URL for your Streaming Server Admin computer. For example:

http://hostname:1220

where hostname is the hostname or IP address of your streaming server computer and

1220 is the port number.

The ﬁrst time you run Streaming Server Admin, the Setup Assistant prompts you for a user name and password.

To display online help, click the question mark button in the UI. Information about QTSS and DSS is also available at the QuickTime web site (www.apple.com/quicktime/products/qtss/) and the Mac OS X Darwin web site (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/projects/streaming/).

Viewing Streaming Status

You can view a snapshot of current streaming server activity or see information about connected users in the Main and Connected Users panes of Streaming Server Admin.

To view streaming server activity:

1 Click Main in Streaming Server Admin.

2 To see information about connected users, click Connected Users in Streaming Server

Admin.

Starting or Stopping Streaming Service

22 Chapter 2

You can start or stop streaming service at any time by clicking the button at the top of the Streaming Server Admin window.

m To start streaming service, click Start Server. m To stop streaming service, click Stop Server.

Working With Connected Users

To see the Connected Users pane, click Connected Users in Streaming Server Admin.

In this pane, you can view information about the client users currently connected to your streaming server. You can display the information in a number of ways using the onscreen controls.

To change the number of entries displayed, choose a number from the “Display __ entries” pop-up menu.

To change how often the list is updated, choose a number from the “Page Refresh Interval” pop-up menu.

To select the sort column, click the column label by which you want to sort the user information.

To select the sort order, click the arrow next to the selected column label.

Changing Server Settings

You can click the labels along the left side of the Streaming Server Admin screen to display various settings panes.

To change the settings for streaming service:

1 Click General Settings, Port Settings, Relay Settings, Log Settings, or Playlists.

2 Make the changes you want and click Save Changes.

Controlling QuickTime Broadcaster Remotely

If you have QuickTime Streaming Server (QTSS) 4.1.1 or later, you can use the web-based Streaming Server Admin to control QuickTime Broadcaster remotely. This comes in handy if, for instance, the broadcaster is installed on a rack-mounted Xserve computer running “headless” (without a monitor) on the same local network or even hundreds of miles away and accessible via the Internet. You can use any computer with an appropriate web browser and a network connection to perform the broadcaster control functions.

Using Streaming Server Admin to control QuickTime Broadcaster remotely requires that the broadcaster and QTSS be installed on the same computer. A Broadcast Settings pane in Streaming Server Admin provides a simple user interface (UI) for controlling the broadcaster.

Note: This feature works only with Mac OS X version 10.2 and later.

If you want the broadcaster presets that were set by the user who initially set up the broadcaster to be accessible from Streaming Server Admin, you (or a colleague) must move the presets directory via the broadcaster UI from the Home directory of the initial user to a newly created shared folder. To specify the new presets location, choose Preferences in the QuickTime Broadcaster menu and enter the new path:

/Library/QuickTimeStreaming/Config/Broadcaster Presets/

To set up and start a broadcast remotely:

1 From the remote (controlling) computer, open Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.5 or

later, Netscape Navigator or Netscape Communicator version 4.x or later, or Mozilla 1.0 or later.

2 Enter the URL for your Streaming Server Admin computer:

http://hostname:1220

where hostname is the hostname or IP address of your streaming server computer and

1220 is the port number. It is assumed that QTSS has been conﬁgured and is running. The

Streaming Server Admin UI appears in your browser window.

3 Click Broadcaster Settings to display the Broadcaster Settings pane.

Managing Your Streaming Server 23

4 Choose and enable the audio and/or video presets you want and specify an SDP ﬁle name

and the buffer delay in seconds (zero for instant-on streaming).

If you want to record the broadcast for future rebroadcast, specify the path to the Movies directory in the “Record to” ﬁeld and select the Enabled checkbox.

If you want to broadcast to a different streaming server, select the “Send this broadcast to a different streaming server” checkbox and enter the hostname or IP address of that server and the user name and password of the broadcast user account created on that server.

If you want to broadcast over TCP (a slower but more accurate transmission method), select the “Broadcast over TCP” checkbox.

5 When the settings are correct, click Save Changes, then click Start Broadcast to begin

broadcasting through the streaming server.

If the broadcaster is already running in non-headless mode (opened from the Dock), you will be presented with the option of restarting the broadcaster in headless mode (required for remote administration).

If the broadcaster transmission method is Automatic Unicast (Announce), QuickTime Broadcaster creates an SDP ﬁle with the name you speciﬁed and automatically copies it into the Movies folder of the streaming server.

6 To view the broadcast, click View Broadcast in the Broadcaster Settings pane.

7 To stop the broadcast, click Stop Broadcast in the Broadcaster Settings pane.

24 Chapter 2

For more information on Streaming Server Admin, see “Working With Streaming Server Admin” on page 21. For more information on creating a broadcast user account, see “Using Automatic Unicast (Announce) With QTSS or DSS on a Separate Computer” on page 43.

Working With General Settings

Use General Settings in Streaming Server Admin to access the streaming server functions listed.

m To see the general settings, click General Settings.

“Media Directory” contains the media ﬁles available to streaming server clients. The ﬁles must be properly formatted streaming media ﬁles. The media ﬁles must be located in the media directory or in any of its subdirectories.

“Secure Administration” lets you enable or disable SSL security for Streaming Server Admin. Before you enable secure administration, you must get a valid certiﬁcate signed by a certiﬁcate authority such as VeriSign or Thawte, and install it in /Library/ QuickTimeStreaming/Conﬁg/streamingadminserver.pem with the information from your certiﬁcate ﬁle.

For Windows, install the certiﬁcate in c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server\streamingadminserver.pem.

For other supported platforms, install the certiﬁcate in /etc/streaming/ streamingadminserver.pem.

“Max. Number of Connections” lets you set the maximum number of connections. When this number is reached, users who try to connect see a message that the server is busy (error

453).

“Max. Throughput” lets you set the maximum throughput of the server. If the maximum throughput is reached, no one else can connect. Users who try to connect see a message that the server is busy (error 453).

“Default Authentication Scheme” lets you choose between basic or digest. By default, the server uses the more secure digest authentication. However, digest authentication requires that users connect with QuickTime 5 or later. Basic authentication is less secure than digest but is compatible with earlier versions of QuickTime.

“Change Admin Username/Password” lets you change the server administrator’s user name and password.

“Change Movie Broadcast Password” lets you create or update a broadcast user account on the streaming server. This account allows an SDP ﬁle to be created on the server. You can then broadcast from QuickTime Broadcaster to QuickTime Streaming Server running on a separate computer using the Automatic Unicast (Announce) transmission method.

Note: Using this feature will overwrite any existing access controls that the user has placed on the QTSS Movies directory. The qtaccess ﬁle is overwritten when the user name/password change is made.

“Change MP3 Broadcast Password” lets you change the password required to send an MP3 broadcast stream. The MP3 broadcast password cannot contain spaces.

Working With Port Settings

You can view and change port settings in Streaming Server Admin. m To see the port settings, click Port Settings.

“Streaming on Port 80” lets you serve QuickTime streams over HTTP port 80. If you need to serve streams past ﬁrewalls, you may need to enable streaming on port 80. If your computer is also running a web server, enabling streaming on port 80 causes a port conﬂict that results in one or both of the servers’ not behaving properly.

Working With Log Settings

You can view logs and change log settings in Streaming Server Admin. m To see the log settings, click Log Settings.

Managing Your Streaming Server 25

“Error Log” shows error and informational messages. Use this log to troubleshoot problems with the server.

“Access Log” shows the number of times each media ﬁle has been accessed, when it was accessed, and who has accessed it since the log was reset. Access errors are also reported in the log. Currently, MP3 client connections are not displayed. A raw MP3 access log can be viewed by looking in /Library/QuickTimeStreaming/Logs/mp3_access.log (for Mac OS X), c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server\Logs\ (for Windows), or /var/streaming/Logs/ mp3_access.log (for other supported platforms).

You can specify that each log be reset after a certain number of days or after it reaches a certain size (in KB).

Viewing Error Logs and Access History

If logging is turned on in the Logging Settings pane of Streaming Server Admin, information about access and errors is saved to log ﬁles.

m Click Error Log or Access History to choose which log you want to view.

The information stored in the access log can be analyzed using software from other vendors. The access history log is updated only as client connections are disconnected. Any currently connected clients at the time of a power failure or server crash are never logged, and won’t appear in the access log when the server is restarted.

These logs and some additional logs you might ﬁnd useful are, with the exception noted below, stored in the following locations:

26 Chapter 2

Mac OS X:

/Library/QuickTimeStreaming/Logs/

Windows: c:\Program Files\Darwin StreamingServer\Logs\ Other supported platforms: /var/streaming/Logs/

The default ﬁle names are as follows:

Error Log:

Error.log

QuickTime movie and broadcast requests log: StreamingServer.log Streaming MP3 requests log: mp3_access.log Streaming admin server requests log: streamingadminserver.log Playlists log (one per play list): playlistname.err

where playlistname is the name of the playlist.

The playlists log is stored in the following locations (where

playlistname is the name of

the play list):

Mac OS X:

/Library/QuickTimeStreaming/Playlists/playlistname/

Windows: c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server\Logs\

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