VBrick dme Admin Manual

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Vbrick Distributed Media Engine

vbrick dme v3.21.0

Admin Guide

March 2019

Vbrick Systems, Inc. 607 Herndon Parkway, Suite 300 Herndon, VA 20170 USA

This publication contains confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information. No part of this document may be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any machine-readable or electronic format without prior written permission from Vbrick Systems, Inc. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and Vbrick assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies. Vbrick, Vbrick Systems, the Vbrick logo, VEMS Mystro, StreamPlayer, and StreamPlayer Plus are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vbrick Systems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Windows Media, SharePoint, OCS and Lync are trademarked names of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other products or services mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks, service marks, or product names as designated by the companies who market those products. Inquiries should be made directly to those companies. This document may also have links to third-party web pages that are beyond the control of Vbrick. The presence of such links does not imply that Vbrick endorses or recommends the content of any third-party web pages. Vbrick acknowledges the use of third-party open source software and licenses in some Vbrick products. This freely available source code is posted at www.vbrick.com/opensource

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About Vbrick Systems

Founded in 1998, Vbrick Systems is a privately held company that has enjoyed rapid growth by helping our customers successfully introduce mission critical video applications across their enterprise networks. Since our founding, Vbrick has been setting the standard for quality, performance and innovation in the delivery of live and stored video over IP networks—LANs, WANs and the Internet. With thousands of video appliances installed world-wide, Vbrick is the recognized leader in reliable, high-performance, easy-to-use networked video solutions.

Vbrick is an active participant in the development of industry standards and continues to play an influential role in the Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), the MPEG Industry Forum, and Internet2. In 1998 Vbrick invented and shipped the world's first MPEG Video Network Appliance designed to provide affordable DVD-quality video across the network. Since then, Vbrick's video solutions have grown to include Video on Demand, Management, Security and Access Control, Scheduling, and Rich Media Integration. Vbrick solutions are successfully supporting a broad variety of applications including distance learning and training, conferencing and remote office communications, security, process monitoring, traffic monitoring, business and news feeds to the desktop, webcasting, corporate communications, collaboration, command and control, and telemedicine. Vbrick serves customers in education, government, healthcare, and financial services markets among others. Vbrick products are manufactured in an ISO certified manufacturing facility.

DME v3.21.0 Admin Guide

Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Chapter and Topic Organization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

How to Use DME Online Help Topics for Best Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

1. Introduction

DME Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

DME Supported Applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

DME Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

DME Supported Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

DME Server Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

DME Software-Only Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Software Development Kit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

DME Compatibility with Vbrick Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

2. Installation

Contents

DME Installation Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3. Getting Started

How the DME Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Plan for your DME Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

DME Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Streaming Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

VC Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

VOD Servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

FTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Caching (HTTP) Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Storage Extension Capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Streaming Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Served VOD Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Pushed Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Pulled Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Transmuxed Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Transrated Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

VBAdmin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Login to the DME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Log Out of the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

End User License Agreement (EULA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Register the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

The Apply, Revert, and Default Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

DME Admin Guide iii

Reset the System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Online Help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

DME Status (Snapshot) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

DME Status (Historical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Configuration Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

DME Status Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

VBDirectory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Configure the DME with Secure Shell (SSH) or a Console. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

4. Configure a DME Stream

Input and Output DME Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Stream Use Cases Summarized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

DME Listener Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

DME Input Streams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

In-1 < Push (RTMP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

In-2 < RTP Auto Unicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

In-4 < Unicast/Multicast Transport Streams In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

In-5 < Pull (RTMP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

In-6 < Pull (RTSP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

In-7 < Pull Transport Stream using RTSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

In-8 < Unicast/Multicast RTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

DME Output Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Out-1 > Serve (RTMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Out-2 > Serve TS via RTSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Out-3 > Serve (RTP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Out-4 > Serve (RTP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Out-5 > Push TS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Out-6 > Create HLS (for iPod, iPhone/iPad) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Out-7 > Relay (Unicast/Multicast) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Out-8 > Create HDS (for Flash). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Out-9 > Push (RTMP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Out-10 > Push RTP via RTSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Out-11 > Push RTP via RTSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Out-12 > Serve (.wmv, HLS, HDS, other) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64

HLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

HDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

5. System Configuration

Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

IPV4 Network Interface 1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

NAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Domain Name Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Network Time Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Proxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

iv Contents

Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

SNMP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

System Maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

System Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

System Reset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Differentiated Services Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84

Caching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Standalone DME or Legacy (DME with VEMS) Caching Configuration . . . . . . . . . . .87

HLS CDN Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Mesh with Rev Caching Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Manage Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

SSL Certificates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

SAN/iSCSI Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Activate Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Rev Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

6. Rev Integration Functions

DME Video EdgeIngest to Rev. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Required File Types for Bulk Video Upload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Start a Bulk Video Upload to Rev. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Monitor a Bulk Video Upload to Rev . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

7. SAP Configuration

Announcement Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Management SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Announce SAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

SAPs for Unannounced Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

8. Input Stream Configuration

Flash/RTSP Pull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

RTP Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Create or Edit an RTP Playlist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Transport Stream In. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

MPG2TS Streams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

HLS Pull. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

9. Output Stream Configuration

Flash Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Flash Multicast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Assigning a Multicast Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

DME Admin Guide v

Vbrick Multicast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

RTSP Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Transport Stream Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

HLS Streaming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Playlist Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

HDS Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Playlist Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

RTP Relay Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Create or Edit an RTP Relay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Stream on Demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Advanced StreamOnDemand Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Stream Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Reflection of Akamai Streams for Rev VC Live Webcast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

10. User Configuration

Username and Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Readonly Username and Password . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Stream Input Authentication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

11. VC Gateway Configuration

VC Gateway Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

VC Gateway Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

VC Gateway Vendor Compatibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Configure a VC Gateway Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Deliver a VC Gateway Stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

VC Gateway and VEMS Mystro Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

VC Gateway Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Incoming Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Create or Edit a VC Gateway Incoming Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Outgoing Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Create or Edit a VC Gateway Outgoing Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Create a Custom Audio Chime or Welcome Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

12. Rev Devices

Set Top Box Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Discovered Set Top Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

13. Logging

Enable Error and Access History Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

14. Monitor and Logs

MPS Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

RTP Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Relay Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

vi Contents

Access History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Upgrade Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Error Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

User Login Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Upload Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

15. Maintenance

System Maintenance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Disk Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Provision a New Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

16. Diagnostics

Trace Capture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Ping Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Traceroute Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Caching Diagnostics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

17. Play a DME Stream

DME Input and Output Stream Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Play an RTSP/RTP Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Play a Multicast RTP Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Play an HLS Stream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .188

Play a Transport Stream. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Play a Stream with a Flash Client. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

18. Detailed Use Cases

MultiCast Relay Use Case Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Configure a Multicast Relay with a Unicast Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

H.264 Encoder Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

DME Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Configure a Multicast Relay with an Auto-Unicast Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

H.264 Encoder Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

DME Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

19. Other Tasks

Install Security Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Manage Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Backup and Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

20. Configuring Devices for the DME

Configure a Vbrick Encoder for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Configure VBOSS for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Configure Rich Media Desktop (RMD) for the DME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Configure Rich Media Studio (RMS) for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

DME Admin Guide vii

Stream to the DME with RMS 1.6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Stream to the DME with RMS 1.3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

More Configuration Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Configure an RTMP Stream for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Configure an RTP Stream for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Configure a Transport Stream for the DME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Configure an HLS Stream for the DME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

viii Contents

DME v3.21.0 Admin Guide

Welcome

This document explains how to configure and use Vbrick's Distributed Media Engine (DME). The DME is a versatile, highly-configurable media distribution engine that moves streaming media to and from a wide variety sources and endpoints.

For example, it can take a unicast RTP stream and multicast it to thousands of local IP users, or it can transmux and serve the same RTP stream to RTMP (Flash) users on the Internet.

The information in this document is available Online on the Vbrick website. For all the latest technical documentation for Vbrick products, go to

Note: This Admin guide is not written for casual users. It assumes readers will have a working knowledge of network addressing, communication protocols, and configuration concepts, as well as hands-on experience working with streaming video products.

Chapter and Topic Organization

Topics may be reference material or how-to materials for specific use cases.

For best results, please familiarize yourself with the way the information is organized and follow the steps listed in

How to Use DME Online Help Topics for Best Results.

www.vbrick.com/documentation

Introduction A system overview and detailed explanation of the different

DME models available. Also contains a glossary of terms.

Installation How to set up and test the server hardware. It also explains

how to configure the DME as a VOD server in VEMS.

Getting Started How the DME works including an overview of the major

system components. The VBAdmin management program is also covered.

Configure a DME Stream Detailed use cases with step-by-step instructions that explain

how to configure DME input and output streams for all common scenarios.

System Configuration Reference chapter; provides a detailed description of all the

parameters on the System Configuration page in VBAdmin.

Rev Integration Functions Detailed use cases with step-by-step instructions that explain

how to use the various integration functions between the DME and the Rev media management system.

SAP Configuration How to configure SAP announcements for different kinds

of streams.

Input Stream Configuration How to configure DME input streams including Flash Pull,

TS In, and RTP Playlists.

Output Stream Configuration How to configure DME output streams including Flash and

RTSP Push, TS Out, HLS, and RTP Relays.

DME Admin Guide ix

User Configuration How to configure the DME user name and password and

the announce settings that let you push streams into the DME.

VC Gateway Configuration How to set up a video conferencing gateway.

Rev Devices View Rev/DME Set Top Box Connector Configurations

and Logs.

Logging How to enable and configure the Access History and the

Error Log.

Monitor and Logs How to view the various status and log pages to monitor

important DME resources and tasks such as connected users and CPU Load.

Maintenance How to reset or shutdown the system.

Diagnostics How to capture trace files for Vbrick Support Services when

troubleshooting VC Gateway issues.

Play a DME Stream Explains the most common ways that DME end users can

view live and stored RTP and RTMP (Flash) streams.

Detailed Use Cases The detailed steps required (on the encoder and on the

DME) to configure input and output for common use cases.

Other Tasks Other common tasks such as how to upgrade the server

when new software is available from Vbrick.

Configuring Devices for the DME

How to configure Vbrick's RMD and RMS applications to stream from the DME.

Ho w to Us e DME Onlin e He lp To p ic s fo r B e s t Re s u lts

You are encouraged to become thoroughly familiar with the information contained in this documentation before getting started.

The DME is a complex and highly-configurable product that can be used to transmux and stream video in a variety of different ways.

For best results, it is recommended that you use online help as follows:

1. Read the introduction and install the hardware as explained in the

Installation topics.

2. Carefully review the

Functions and Plan for your DME Deployment.

3. Carefully review the

cases that are appropriate for your site and follow the step-by-step instructions.

4. While configuring your DME inputs and outputs, refer to the reference topics (for

example

about each configurable parameter.

5. If you run into trouble, see the

finding errors or troubleshooting problems. If you experience unexpected behavior, see

the DME Release Notes for caveats that may apply.

6. For step-by-step procedures that fully explain the encoder setup and the DME setup for

multicast relays, see the

System Configuration or Input Stream Configuration) for detailed information

Getting Started topics. Pay particular attention to How the DME

Configure a DME Stream topics. Find the input and output use

Logging and Monitor and Logs topics for help with

Detailed Use Cases topics.

Introduction and

x Preface

7. To learn how to extend the DME’s power, review the Rev Integration Functions topic in

full.

DME Admin Guide xi

xii Preface

Introduction

DME Overview

The Vbrick H.264 Distributed Media Engine (DME) simplifies delivery of high definition video and other rich media content across multi-site enterprises and campus environments. If properly configured, you can simultaneously input multiple streams (of different types) into the DME and output them as the same stream types or as different stream types.

For example, you can input RTP and TS (transport streams) into the DME and output those same streams as RTMP (Flash) or HLS (for Apple iOS devices). The DME also provides video content caching, storage, and serving to ensure that stored content is delivered from a DME as close to the end user as possible.

The DME may be deployed at a central location, to support transmuxing, or at remote locations to support distribution. It is a single integrated platform providing media redistribution, media transformation and video-on-demand content storage.

The DME accepts multiple H.264 media streams from multiple central sites and redistributes that content to diverse endpoints including PCs/MACs, mobile phones and televisions/ monitors. This one integrated platform optimizes WAN bandwidth use, simplifies endpoint support and offers local storage of centrally managed content.

Chapter 1

The DME is offered on a choice of three robust hardware platforms, all leveraging Vbrick's experience with high performance, low touch appliances. It is also offered as a software product to be installed on the customers own hardware (including VMWare).

It requires only a web browser interface for management, and the H.264 DME seamlessly integrates as a distributed element within the Vbrick enterprise IP video platform. This includes working in concert with a central Vbrick Enterprise Management System (VEMS) to intelligently store and serve content from a local DME.

Deploying the H.264 Distributed Media Engine assures users of access to high definition quality video on both fixed and mobile endpoints, even if they are located across campus or across the world.

DME Admin Guide 1

DME Supported Applications

The H.264 Distributed Media Engine is deployed on the network edge to support endpoints requiring RTP or RTMP (Flash) streams as well as firewall-friendly HTTP progressive downloads. It supports enhanced scalability and performance across the Vbrick suite of applications including:

• Meeting and Event Broadcasting – Provides ubiquitous access to high quality broadcasts

and corresponding rich media content at the network edge.

• Training and Lecture Capture – Flash streaming and progressive download via HTTP

allow for distribution of content to a wide variety of clients including mobile devices.

• Television Distribution – Simplifies multicast distribution at remote buildings or

locations that might not be connected by multicast enabled WAN connections.

• Enterprise YouTube® – Local content storage reduces burden on WAN.

• Surveillance & Monitoring – Deliver more content to diverse endpoints over challenging

or far flung network environments.

• Digital Signage – Enhanced performance for greater scalability.

DME Fe atu re s an d B e n e fits

• Bandwidth Conservation – Redistribute high quality, live or on-demand, media via RTP

multicast; enables more end users to share a single media stream. Leveraging multicast

eliminates the need to incrementally scale network bandwidth to support more viewers.

• Media Transformation – Stream high quality H.264 content once and leverage the DME

at distributed locations to deliver multiple formats (RTP, RTMP Flash, and/or HTTP

progressive download) to reach multiple types of endpoints.

• Mobile Device Support – Enables delivery of live H.264 content to mobile devices as

Flash video or supports HTTP progressive download of video-on-demand content.

• Transrating provides for delivery of content to mobile devices of different types on

networks of varying quality.

• Intelligent Central Management – Content is created once and then intelligently managed

by the Vbrick Enterprise Media System (VEMS) regardless of the location. Stored

content is appropriately distributed to local DMEs so users have faster access to

frequently viewed content without the need to contend with constrained WAN or

Internet links.

• Robust Appliance Design – Requiring only a web browser for management, the DME

eliminates the need to separately manage patches and security updates on commercial

server operating systems.

• Secure – Designed to meet the security requirements of demanding government

information assurance policies.

• Firewall Friendly – Supports video on demand content via HTTP download; eliminating

barriers imposed by network security policies.

• Enhanced User Experience – Increases user adoption and impact by assuring

outstanding picture quality and response from video applications. The DME easily

accommodates increased user demand without degrading performance or the user

experience.

2 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

DME Supported Protocols

The table below describes the supported protocols of the DME.

Protocol Description

Incoming • RTSP Announce

• RTP Over UDP (with RTCP) Unicast and Multicast

• RTP over TCP (with RTCP) Unicast Only

• RTP over UDP (SDP file delivered via FTP)

• FTP for VOD file transfer

• RTMP via RTMP Push over TCP

• Transport Stream (MPEG2TS delivery of H.264 audio and video content)

Outgoing • RTP via RTSP (stream)

• UDP, TCP Interleaved, and HTTP Tunneled

• RTP via RTSP (relay - Push)

• UDP, TCP Interleaved using Announce

• RTMP (stream and relay)

• RTMP (Flash Multicast)

• HTTP (progressive download)

• TS (transport stream)

• HLS (Apple HTTP iPad/iPhone live streaming)

• HDS (Adobe Flash HTTP dynamic streaming)

• HTTP Caching Server

Introduction

Management • HTTP/HTTPS for management

• IGMPv3

DME Se rve r Mo de ls

Vbrick currently supports a variety of shelf and rack-mount models. See the latest DME Release Notes for a detailed description of DME models and specifications. There are no

absolute rules for sizing a multipurpose device like the DME but there are some basic guidelines that can help you select the right model.

The smaller Model 7530 does not offer redundant power supplies or redundant VOD storage so if these attributes are important, you should consider the larger models. The Model 7530 is shelf-mount only while the larger models are rack mount 1U and 2U servers. Users seeking significant VOD content playback should consider one of the two larger models.

The RAID arrays built into the Models 7550 and 7570 (seen below) are much more powerful and better suited for frequent requests than for concurrent VOD playback. The single drive on the Model 7530 is well suited for small to medium offices that have occasional VOD demands.

DME Admin Guide 3

All of the models have excellent throughput performance and are designed to manage occasional traffic bursts exceed recommended performance characteristics. The throughput recommendations are based on a combination of input and output. For example, a Model 7530 (with 250 Mbps throughput) can support four 1 Mbps streams in, and reflect out 96 1 Mbps unicast streams of RTP or Flash (any combination that equals 250 Mbps).

Also keep in mind that one multicast stream out counts as a single stream from a bandwidth perspective, regardless of how many users are watching. Please refer to the latest DME

Release notes for complete hardware specifications.

DME So ftw are -O n ly Ve rsio n

The DME is available as a hardware/software combination in which case Vbrick will deliver the DME server hardware with the DME software already installed. You can also purchase the DME in a VMware virtualized version in which case you must install the DME software on your own server platform.

For more about this option, and server hardware recommendations, see the “Software-Only Version” topic in the latest DME Release Notes.

So ftware Developm ent Kit

The DME Software Development Kit (SDK) is available for customers who want to build custom applications to control the DME. It assumes the reader is an experienced software developer with a working knowledge of Web Services. All code examples are written in C#.

The SDK includes an .xml document with DME name/value pairs, a sample application, and the DME SDK Reference Guide which explains how to use the APIs. For more information contact your certified Vbrick reseller or Vbrick

Support Services.

DME Com patibility w ith Vbric k Produc ts

The table below specifies DME compatibility with other Vbrick products:

Vbrick Product Compatible With Version †

VEMS Mystro® Portal Server 6.0.1

VEMS Portal Server 5.4

H.264 Encoding Appliance 3.0 (RTP)

H.264 Encoding Appliance 3.1 (RTP, RTMP)

H.264 Decoding Appliance 3.0

Rich Media Desktop (RMD) 1.1

Rich Media Studio 1.3 (1.6 recommended)

4 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Vbrick Product Compatible With Version †

Rev 7.0

† Use version shown or higher.

Glossary

These terms are used throughout this document and DME’s Online help.

Auto Unicast A transmitter mode that allows an encoder to "automatically" establish and

CDN Content delivery networks are distributed server systems of deployed in

DASH Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. DASH is a multimedia streaming

DME Distributed Media Engine is an integrated platform that provides media

Introduction

maintain a connection with a streaming server like Quicktime or Darwin. The stream is pushed to a configured publishing point external clients can connect to retrieve the stream.

multiple data centers in the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance.

technology where a multimedia file is partitioned into one or more segments and delivered to a client using HTTP.

redistribution, media transformation and video-on-demand content storage.

Caching Server Content is cached at remote locations so subsequent requesting clients can

access it locally.

FMS Flash Media Server is a proprietary data and media server from Adobe

Systems. This server works with the Flash Player runtime to create media driven, multiuser Rich Internet Applications.

Flash Multimedia platform used to add video and interactivity to web pages.

Flash uses RTMP and is a proprietary Adobe technology.

FMLE Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder is a media encoder appliance that streams

audio and video in realtime to an Adobe Flash Media Server.

FTP Server The DME uses File Transfer Protocol to populate the DME with files for

progressive download.

HDS HTTP Dynamic Streaming is Adobe's HTTP streaming protocol for Flash

players. Like other HTTP adaptive streaming protocols, it breaks the stream into small HTTP-based files so the client can select from different streams containing the same material encoded at different data rates. This allows the streaming session to adapt to available data rates.

HLS HTTP Live Streaming is Apple's HTTP streaming protocol for QuickTime

and iPhone. Like other HTTP adaptive streaming protocols, it breaks the stream into small HTTP-based files so that the client can select from different streams containing the same material encoded at different data rates. This allows the streaming session to adapt to available data rates.

HTTP Server The DME has an internal web server that serves VOD files via progressive

download.

DME Admin Guide 5

ICP Internet Cache Protocol coordinates multiple web caches. It finds the most

appropriate location to retrieve a requested object when multiple caches are in use at a single site. The goal is to minimize the number of remote requests to the originating server.

Multicast A highly-efficient streaming mechanism wherein one stream is sent to

multiple clients without impacting available bandwidth. Multicast is a one-to-many connection between client and server. Used only in local IP networks (not the Internet); requires support from a switch. See

Unicast.

Progressive Download

Progressive download is a method of delivering audio and video that involves caching and playing the downloaded portion of a file while a download is still in progress via FTP. The files are downloaded—not streamed.

Pull The mechanism whereby a video stream is requested, and pulled, from an

RTP server (e.g. QuickTime or Darwin), an RTMP server (e.g. Wowza or FMS), or another Vbrick DME.

Push The mechanism whereby an RTP or RTMP stream is continuously pushed

to a configured destination.

RTMP Real Time Messaging Protocol is a proprietary protocol developed by

Adobe for streaming audio and video over the Internet, between a Flash player and a Flash server. The DME has an internal RTMP server for Flash files. Wowza and FMS are also RTMP servers.

RTMPS RTMP over a secure SSL connection. With RTMPS streamed content is

encrypted by the Flash Media Server "on the fly" so there is no need to encrypt the source file.

RTP Real Time Transport Protocol is the Internet-standard protocol for the

transport of realtime audio and video over the web. The DME has an internal RTP server. Darwin, QuickTime, and Vbrick VOD-W streaming servers are RTP servers.

RTSP Real Time Streaming Protocol is a network control protocol used to

control streaming media servers. RTSP defines the control sequences in streaming playback and uses TCP to maintain an end-to-end streaming connection.

SDP Session Description Protocol. A standard which provides information

about the timing and format of a live RTP stream and provides information on how to tune into the stream. It can be provided as part of a session creation in a protocol such as RTSP or as a text file with a .sdp extension.

SIP Session Initiation Protocol is a signaling protocol widely used for

controlling video conferencing communication sessions.

StreamPlayer Vbrick PC application used to view live and on-demand streams.

StreamPlayer can discover program names on a network by listening for session announcements (SAPs) from Vbrick devices.

Transmux The process whereby a digital bit stream is converted from one file format

or streaming protocol to another—without changing the compression method. An example of transmuxing is when a unicast stream is converted to multicast or when an RTP stream is converted to RTMP.

6 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Introduction

Transport Stream (TS)

MPEG transport stream (MPEG2TS) is a standard format for transmission and storage of audio and video. Transport Stream specifies a container format encapsulating packetized elementary streams, with error correction and stream synchronization features for maintaining transmission integrity when the signal is degraded.

Transrate Change the speed/compression characteristics of a stream without

changing the compression algorithm to accommodate different devices (e.g. laptop, mobile phone) on networks of varying qualities of service

Unicast A bandwidth-intensive streaming mechanism wherein a separate and

complete video stream is sent to each requesting client. Unicast is a one-to-one connection between the client and the server. See

Multicast.

VBAdmin An integrated management interface that lets you manage the DME

configuration from an external web browser.

VBDirectory A proprietary Vbrick application used to auto-discover Vbrick devices

(including DMEs) on a local IP network. It is available on the Vbrick Downloads page for new customers and is automatically installed when you perform an upgrade.

VBDME Download

A proprietary Vbrick application used to perform a software upgrade on DME appliances.

VC Gateway Vbrick's Video Conference Gateway uses standards-based SIP and H.264

technology to become a participant in a video conference and stream the content to multiple endpoints including PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc.

VEMS Vbrick's flagship Vbrick Enterprise Media System is an integrated solution

that delivers both live and on-demand audio and video over an IP-based infrastructure. It provides access to a dynamic viewing portal, scheduling and administrative controls, and a media management engine.

VEMS Mystro VEMS Mystro is Vbrick's modular enterprise media management system.

Mystro's unique widget-based streaming design lets you personalize and embed IP video in any communications environment such as unified communications, learning management, or mobile devices.

VOD Video-on-demand files are stored streams that can be played from the

DME's FTP server via progressive download.

Wowza The Wowza Media Server is a proprietary platform that serves multiple

protocols and files.

DME Admin Guide 7

8 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Installation

DME Installation Overview

There are two different ways that the server may be purchased from Vbrick – either as software (a virtual machine supplied as OVA or Hyper-V), or as physical hardware with the software. Partners may sell hardware with/without VMware to host the Vbrick virtual machine. Please identify which of the deployments you have for each of your DMEs.

Installation instructions are standardized to each DME version in Vbrick Release Notes and contain all the information necessary to deploy that version’s DME as either a VM or as an update to an existing version.

Chapter 2

Please refer to the version of DME you are installing for further details.

DME Installation section of the DME Release Notes for the specific

DME Admin Guide 9

10 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Getting Started

How the DME Functions

The Vbrick DME is a multi-faceted platform that performs a variety of serving, reflecting, and transmuxing, and transrating activities and is comprised of the major components shown

DME Components topic.

in the

In a typical application, a DME receives a unicast stream over the WAN link (often over TCP) to effectively traverse the LAN and pass through firewalls. The DME then streams via unicast and/or multicast to a variety of different clients in the streaming protocol of choice for each client.

To conserve bandwidth, reflectors can be linked across the WAN to relay video streams from one remote site to multiple downstream DME reflectors. The net effect is that a single unicast stream across the WAN can reach tens of thousands of viewers. To improve reliability, reflectors can either pull or push streams across the WAN using TCP. If a network outage occurs, the DMEs will automatically reconnect and resume streaming without any user intervention.

Chapter 3

To reach different classes of clients (e.g. PCs, STBs, and mobile devices), a single stream of H.264-encoded multi-bitrate (MBR) video can work in concert with reflectors to distribute streams in the most efficient manner. Reflectors can also transmux video streams, converting from one type of transport stream on the input to another type of transport on the output. In transmuxing, a digital bit stream is converted from one file format or streaming protocol to another—without changing the compression method.

An example of transmuxing is when a unicast stream is converted to multicast or when an RTP stream is converted to RTMP. H.264 offers a variety of transport protocols to ensure the reliable delivery of video over a variety of networks.

For live broadcasts, the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) is efficient, while the Real-time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) offers the player controls (fast forward, rewind) needed for VOD playback. Newer transport protocols like RTMP (for Flash) and HTTP are optimized for Internet clients and mobile devices.

DME Components

Plan for your DME Deployment

The DME provides a powerful way to redistribute media by allowing you to reach multiple/ remote locations and multiple users with minimal use of streaming bandwidth. Streams can be converted from unicast to multicast or delivered as Flash HDS and Apple HLS streams from an RTP source. Since the DME accepts multiple types of input streams and provides multiple ways to output streams, it may not be entirely clear which use cases apply to you and what is the simplest way to deploy your solution using the DME. The best way to determine how to use the DME effectively is to understand three basic factors:

DME Admin Guide 11

• How you will be delivering media to the DME. This is typically determined by how your media is currently being created, for example as RTP, RTMP, etc.

• How your clients will be viewing content from the DME and with what players, for example with StreamPlayer, QuickTime, etc.

• Which firewalls, virtual networks, proxies, encryption systems, etc. are in place that will need to be traversed and/or reconfigured.

Once you have a better understanding of these issues you are ready to start considering what type of input streams you will have (RTP or RTMP) and how will they be distributed. For example they can be pushed to the DME, pulled from the DME, or by unannounced unicast from the source or an announced auto-unicast to the DME. You will also know how your clients will be viewing the content, for example as RTP, RTMP, or both, using a standalone player, an embedded web page, or through Vbrick's VEMS Portal Server. You will also know whether or not the content needs to be relayed to another remote DME or to a CDN for Internet Distribution. Finally, knowing how many users you have and the bandwidth consumed by each will help to clarify how many DMEs and which models you will need to distribute the streams. By gathering this information in advance, and reading this manual carefully, you can help to ensure a successful deployment of the DME in your own unique environment.

To help you understand the various options available, the topic defines a number of typical use cases—not all of which will apply to you. The use cases can help to simplify the configuration. They can help, for example to avoid deploying a simple solution in an overly complex way. In other cases you may also choose one method for one requirement, and have to choose a different method for a second requirement, meaning you will have two input streams when one could just as easily be used for both.

Firewalls can also play an important role in determining which use cases are appropriate. When no firewalls apply, a push or an auto unicast solution can be easily deployed. However if the DME is behind a firewall, you probably cannot reach it with a push without having to reconfigure the firewall. Similarly, you can probably pull a stream from a source into the DME. However if the source is also behind a firewall, more network planning, such as placing the DME in a "DMZ" (which the source can push to and the destination can pull from) may be a better solution. If virtual IP addresses are used, you will need to know more about the configuration of the network; and if deploying RTP streams that will travel over UDP, your firewall may need to be configured to allow UDP data in and out.

Configure a DME Stream

DME Components

Stre am in g Se rv e rs

As shown in the figure below, the DME has an RTP server, a Multi Protocol server, and an HTTP server for progressive download.

Configure a DME Stream

Each of these servers supports specific types on inputs and outputs. For example, as shown in the topic input methods and multiple output methods.

The streaming servers and the VOD servers are built on a robust embedded operating system.

12 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Configure a DME Stream, the Multi Protocol streaming server supports multiple

Getting Started

How the DME Functions

Configure a DME Stream

VC G a t e w a y

The DME video conferencing solution builds on a simple video conference by delivering a multi-vendor, standards-based stream that lets smartphones, tablets, PCs/Macs, and TVs display the video conference. It provides a cost effective way to leverage existing video conferencing investments by delivering the video conference audio and video as a stream to other elements in the Vbrick ecosystem.

VC Gateway Configuration

VO D Se rve rs

The DME engine includes an RTP VOD server, a Multi Protocol VOD server, and an HTTP Progressive Download server. All stored VOD files are added to the DME via FTP.

The VOD servers support all of the file types shown in the table below.

VOD Server Supported File Types

RTP mp4, mov, m4a, m4v

Multi Protocol flv, f4v, mp4, mov, m4a, m4v (H.264)

HTTP all available files including M3u8

(HLS) and f4m(HDS)

FTP Se rve r

The DME has a fully functional Web server that uses File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to populate the DME with files for progressive download. You can FTP to the the DME or to a sub-folder.

When adding VOD files via FTP, you must wait for the ingestion to complete before the stream will play in VEMS. You can view the ingestion progress on the VEMS client. If the ingestion is not complete, the title will display but the stream will not play.

FTP folder on

Status page in the

Caching (HTTP) Serve r

The DME has an internal Web server that serves VOD files via progressive download. It also serves video content via the various HTTP adaptive streaming protocols. The HTTP content

DME Admin Guide 13

is cached at remote locations so that subsequent requesting clients can acquire the content that is cached on a local server.

Caching

Sto rag e Exte n s io n Cap ab ilitie s

The DME supports Storage Area Network (SAN)/iSCSI storage extension options if needed. New disks may be added to the VMWare virtual environment as well to extend the current content area available. At present, these are the only supported extension options available.

SAN/iSCSI Setup

Provision a New Disk

Streaming Overview

The DME can be configured to receive or pull from an encoder, a Flash server, a video conferencing device, or another DME; it can also serve streams or push streams to an RTMP server, an RTP server, or to another DME.

The DME supports unicast and/or multicast for both input and output.

Unicast streams typically have one source and one destination; most network traffic between clients and servers is unicast.

Multicast packets have a single source and multiple destinations. Instead of sending out individual unicast packets to each client, a single stream of multicast packets can be viewed by multiple clients. This can save substantial network bandwidth when multiple clients are accessing the same stream.

Se rve d VOD Stre am s

The DME has an RTP server, an RTMP server, and an HTTP Progressive Download server for stored VOD files (including Windows Media files). In server mode, a served stream does not become active on the network until requested by a client. The client may be a software player like StreamPlayer or QuickTime running on a PC, a Macintosh, a mobile device, or a set top box like the Vbrick Multi Format set top box.

The user requests a stream from the DME by directing the client to issue an RTSP/RTMP/ HTTP request via a URL to the DME. The client and the DME then exchange a sequence of RTSP/RTMP messages to direct the DME to send the program to the client.

The DME server examines the file to determine Transport Type, Video Rate, Audio Rate, and other parameters. It then plays the stream using optimal settings adjusted for bandwidth, frame rate, etc.

Note: New content files that are transferred via FTP will not be available immediately for VOD RTMP streaming until the associated seek and meta files are generated. Meta and seek files are typically generated within a few minutes of being transferred.

14 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Table 1. Supported Stored Stream Types/Players

Windows

Stream

Media (wmv,

Types

wma, asf)

Flv, f4v Progressive

m4v (assumes AAC audio)

MPG, TS (H.264, Mpeg2)

MP4, mov (H.264)

MP4, mov(MPEG4P

Flv, f4v RTMP,

m4v (assumes AAC audio)

MP4 (H.264) RTMP,

MP4, mov (H.264)

MP4, MOV (Mpeg4P2)

MPG, TS (H.264, Mpeg2)

HLS file (m3u8 manifest)

HDS file (f4m manifest)

Getting Started

Players

iPhone,

Player

Progressive Download

Download

Progressive Download

RTMPT

RTMP, RTMPT

RTMPT

RTSP No No Yes* Yes* Yes* No Yes* No Yes* No

RTSP No No No Yes* Yes* No Yes* No Yes* No

RTSP No No No No No No No No No No

DASH No Yes Yes (4.0) Yes No No No No No No

DASH No No No No No Yes No No No No

Yes No No No No No Yes Yes No No

No No No No No Yes No No No No

No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No No No

No No No No No No No No No No

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No

No No No Yes Yes No No No No No

No No No No No Yes No No No

No No No No No Yes No No No No

Android QuickTime

iPad

(MAC)

QuickTime

(PC)

Flash

Player

StreamPlayer,

Vbrick MAC

Player

Silverlight/

Smooth

Streaming

Player

MFSTB

Amino

STB

Smooth Streaming files (ism manifest)

DASH No No No No No No No Yes No No

* Only if the MP4 files are hinted

Pushed Streams

The DME also pushes live streams to a configured destination. The destination may be a single endpoint in the case of a unicast, or multiple endpoints in the case of multicast. The transmitter does not directly depend on a client to initiate the streaming but is always transmitting (in the case of multicast) and transmits if the client is reachable and listening (in the case of unicast). The streams are transmitted across the network via RTP, RTMP, or Transport Stream. Note that RTMP is a unicast-only protocol.

DME Admin Guide 15

Pulled Stream s

The Multi-protocol Streaming Server can pull live streams from an RTSP/RTP server or an RTMP server. It can pull from various outside sources, for example from another DME, or from a Wowza, FMS, QuickTime, or Darwin streaming server. These streams can then be served or pushed via various protocols.

Transmuxed Stream s

Transmuxing is the process whereby a digital bit stream is converted from one file format or streaming protocol to another—without changing the compression method (as opposed to transcoding which actually changes the compression method). The DME transmuxes streams; it does not transcode streams. An example of transmuxing is when a unicast stream is converted to multicast or when an RTP stream is converted to RTMP. The following table shows the live input streams that are supported in the left column and the live output streams that are supported in the top row.

Table 1. Live Transmux Capabilities

DME Output Streams

RTMP

Unicast

RTMP Unicast

Pull

Inp

RTMP Auto-

Unicast

Stre ams

RTP Unicast Push

RTP AutoUnicast

RTP Unicast RTSP Pull

RTP Multicast Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

TS Unicast Push Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

TS Unicast RTSP Pull

(3.1.1)

TS Multicast Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Apple HLS No No No No No No No No No Yes

Adobe HDS No No No No No No No No No Yes

VC SIP Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Pull

RTMP

Auto-

Unicast

RTP

Unicast

Push

RTP

Auto-

Unicast

RTP

Unicast

RTSP

Pull

RTP

Multicast

Unicast

Push

Unicast

RTSP

Pull

Multicast

Apple

HLS

(Cache)

VC SIP

Transrated Stream s

Transrating is the process where a digital bit stream is converted from one bit rate to anotherwithout changing the compression. An example of transrating is when a high bit rate stream is converted into multiple lower bit rate streams for delivery to mobile devices. Note that the

16 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

DME does not change the resolution of the source stream, although the receiving device will generally display the stream at its preferred resolution.

Stream Conversion

VBAdmin

The Vbrick DME server has an integrated management interface (VBAdmin) that lets you manage the DME configuration from an external Web browser. This allows network managers to remotely configure and monitor the appliances from virtually any location that has Web access.

Getting Started

Note: When working with streams with closed captions, do not change the framerate. You can still change the resolution and bitrate, but changing the framerate will have adverse effects on CC data. In these cases, please keep framerate set to Current Rate.

The most convenient way to access the VBAdmin interface (

VBDirectory utility. After installing VBDirectory you will see the initial screen shown for

the

DME Status (Snapshot)) is via

VBDirectory. Locate a specific DME and simply double-click on the Name to launch the VBAdmin

To optimize the functionality of this tool, set the

Configuration > Network page) to a meaningful text string during initial configuration.

Host Name of the DME (on the System

Alternatively, if you know the DME's IP address, you can access it directly from a browser. As shown in the table below, you can launch VBAdmin in Internet Explorer or Firefox (other browsers are not supported by Vbrick). Connect to VBAdmin by pointing to the IP Address and Port Number (for example:

http://192.168.5.5:8181) of the DME and log in with valid

credentials. Note that the DME's management interface is not on Port 80. By default the admin port for the DME is

8181. This allows Port 80 to be reserved for HTTP downloads.

Browser Version

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher

Mozilla Firefox 3.6 or higher

DME Status (Snapshot)

VBDirectory

Lo g in to th e DME

The DME ships with DHCP enabled and you can use VBDirectory to auto discover the IP addresses of all DMEs in your network. The VBDirectory application (which you can install on a local PC) is provided free of charge. It is available on the Vbrick new customers and is automatically installed when you perform an upgrade.

Once you know the DME's IP address, you can login by entering the server's IP address or host name and the management port (

When the login page is displayed, enter a valid

8181) in the address bar of your browser.

User Name and Password (default = admin for

both) to launch the VBAdmin management interface.

DME Admin Guide 17

Downloads page for

A typical login URL would have the following format:

http://172.22.2.50:8181

Note: Administrators should be aware that the DME’s management interface is not on Port 80 as is typical for most web-based admin tools. By default the

admin port for the DME is 8181. This allows Port 80 to be reserved for HTTP downloads.

VBAdmin

VBDirectory

DME Status (Snapshot)

Lo g O u t o f th e DM E

To log out of the application, click Log Out in the navigation panel on the left. As a security measure, if no keyboard activity is detected for 20 minutes, VBAdmin will automatically timeout and display the Login page.

It is highly recommended that you use the change the user name and password after logging in for the first time. The user name and password cannot exceed 20 characters.

Username and Password page in VBAdmin to

En d Us e r Lic e n s e Ag re e m e nt (EULA)

The first time you launch the DME you will need to page down and click on Accept EULA. This means that you accept the end user license agreement for the Vbrick software. The application will not run if you decline to accept the EULA.

Reg ister the DME

Note: If you have purchased a hardware DME, it will come pre-registered from the factory and you do not have to complete the registration steps described in this section. These steps below are for software-only DMEs only.

18 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Getting Started

The registration splash page is automatically displayed after accepting the EULA. You will need to register your DME with Vbrick before you can run the application.

The following items will be required to register a DME:

1. The MAC address of the DME machine

2. The serial number(s) for future support

3. A license file.

The MAC address is pre-filled on the registration page (see above); the serial number(s) are available using the “License Activation” letter you received with your order. And a license file is obtained through Vbrick Support Services.

 To obtain a license file and register your DME:

1. Contact Vbrick Support to obtain the license files needed for the type of DME and features purchased.

2. Click on the green hyperlink for information on how to contact support.

3. When prompted, browse to a folder where you will save the .lic license file (once received from support).

4. Open the .lic file in Notepad and copy the entire contents. Then go back to the

Registration Page and paste the contents into the license text box.

DME

5. Enter the Serial Number(s) from the sticker in the serial number text box on the “License Activation” letter you received with your order.

6. Click

Finish Registration to complete your registration.

7. A similar process is followed to license and activate new features on a previously existing and license DME.

Activate Feature

Th e Ap p ly , Re v e rt, an d De fau lt B u tto ns

Depending on screen resolution, it may be necessary to scroll down the page to see additional information and fields. The the bottom of the page when appropriate.

DME Admin Guide 19

Apply, Revert and Default buttons however, are always shown at

You may also see Refresh, Reset Counters, and other buttons depending on what page you are on.

Apply Applies the changes made on the screen to the appliance. Each

configuration page has an

Apply button. You must click Apply before you

exit the page; otherwise your changes will be lost.

Revert Aborts all changes made on the screen and returns to the values that were

present prior to any changes. The

Revert button restores the values that

were present prior to the last "apply."

Default Returns to the default settings for all parameters on the page. You must still

Apply for these default settings to take effect.

click

System Reset

Re se t th e Sy ste m

A system reset resets (i.e. reboots) the appliance. It does not change, save, or reset any configuration parameters.

 To reset the DME:

1. Navigate to Maintenance > System Maintenance.

2. Click the

Reset button under the System Reset label.

Note: Some changes to the configuration will initiate an automatic reset. When this happens, wait approximately 60 seconds, then refresh the page and log back in with your user name and password.

System Reset

20 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Getting Started

Online Help

A link to the Online help system is available from the Configuration Menu on the left side of the VBAdmin page. This help system has a powerful full-text search engine that can quickly find the information you need. You may wish to take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the help system. It can save time when tying to find information about DME parameters or options.

When using VBAdmin, click on the question mark hyperlink in the upper-right corner of each page to get context-sensitive help for that page. Be aware that you must have an Internet connection to see the Online help.

DME Status (Snapshot)

The DME Status Snapshot page has the Configuration Menu on the left and a read-only

Status Bar displaying the health of the system on the bottom. The Status Snapshot is the first

page that you see upon logging in to the DME and displays relevant system information about your DME.

Each section of your Status Snapshot page is explained below.

Note: Be aware that the VBAdmin pages (including the snapshot page) are not automatically refreshed. To update any page with the latest information, re-click the link for that page in the Configuration Menu in the left pane.

DME Admin Guide 21

Field Description

DME Status The DME status provides a one stop location to see how long

your DME has been up, and what time the DME is set to. Please review the Local Time and modify it if necessary.

• Status: Day, date, and time (hh:mm:ss) the server was last reset.

• Up Time: Aggregate up time since the last server reset.

• Local Time: System Time; set on System Configuration > General page.

Software Versions and Licenses

The DME is a collection of multiple services running on a server. This section identifies the current version numbers, as well as your system licenses. Please use these version numbers when contacting Vbrick Support. Please monitor the license expiry dates and act as necessary.

• Application Code Revision: DME software code revision currently installed.

• MPS Server Version: RTMP server software code revision.

• OS Registration Number: OS registration number.

• System Licenses: Types of licenses installed and expiration dates.

22 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Field Description

Getting Started

Connections and Throughput

Connections and throughput identify the current load on the system by our main processes. This does not represent the entire load on the system.

• Current # of Connections: Total number of clients currently connected.

• Current Throughput: Current throughput in bits/sec. This is reported as the throughput from the MPS and HTTP/ HTTPS throughput via cashing and HLS serving. Depending on your load, the numbers are reported independently as either Mb, Kb, b per second.

• MPS Connections: Maximum number of multi protocol connections (configured on System Configuration > "Streaming" page, and individually viewed on the Monitor and Logs > MPS Connections page).

• RTP Connections: Maximum number of RTP connections (configured on System Configuration > "Streaming" page, and individually viewed on the Monitor and Logs > RTP Connections page.).

CPU Load This section identifies the CPU load on the system for the

main components.

• RTP CPU Load: Displays the total system CPU percentage being consumed by the RTP server.

• MPS CPU Load: Displays the total system CPU percentage being consumed by the MPS server.

• HTTP/S CPU Load: Displays the total system CPU percentage being consumed by the HTTP/S set of services. This includes http and https serving, as well as the caching system.

• Total CPU Load: Total CPU being used by everything in the DME. This includes the other reported CPU loads as well as other system activities – e.g., stream conversions, etc. This number, therefore, will be greater than the sum of the reported CPU load values.

Memory & Swap Status RAM and Swap memory usage statistics (used, free, and total).

These are the values reported to the DME (using the linux free command).

Note: Memory MIB values retrieved by SNMP are different. Please refer to the System Configuration > SNMP help page.

DME Admin Guide 23

Field Description

Disk Status

Configuration Menu

DME Status Bar

DME Status (Historical)

VBAdmin

VBDirectory

The disk status reports both usage and health (as reported by SMART). These is over the two logical disks for Content (where your downloaded videos, created HLS, and disk caching storage is kept) and System (where your OS is kept.) Please monitor the size and health of your Content disk.

• Disk Usage System: Total megabytes used and available for DME system resources.

• Disk Usage Content: Total megabytes used and available for DME content.

• Disk Health: Reports any disk issues found during the nightly SMART reports and returns a PASSED condition if none are found. This includes any error condition or prefailure of the DME disk.

• iSCSI Usage: Total megabytes used and available on iSCSI device (if enabled).

DME Statu s (H isto ric al)

The DME Status Snapshot (Historical) page provides a historical view of various health measures of your DME in an easy to review chart format. These measures and charts are meant to show trends for quick viewing. Stronger reporting should happen through SNMP or Rev. The data presented in these charts are held for a 2 week window and older measures are deleted in a nightly process (at about 4am local DME time.) Therefore, the graphs will only contain up to 2 weeks of data.

Top Bar Controls: There are several controls displayed within the top bar, spanning the charts. These are not chart specific.

24 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Control Description

Getting Started

Clicking the

Gear icon toggles the display of the bottom axis

for each graph as well as the legend (which are both off by default.) Once displayed, clicking on the Data set names within the Legend will toggle its display within the graph.

Show drop-down allows you to pick the number of days

The to display. This displays today or up to the last N days. In this way, smaller more pinpointed views can be generated.

Display Timezone button displays the current timezone in

The UTC. It will be of the format UTC+#### or UTC-####, where #### is the displacement in hours off UTC. Clicking this button toggles between the DME's native timezone and UTC+0000. Only the dates on the graph will change if displayed. Toggling the timezone is handy when comparing graphs from multiple DMEs in different timezones, as all can be normalized to UTC+0000 and provide direct time comparisons. This relieves the need for the addition and subtraction previously necessary.

Download CSV button is for advanced users who wish to

The chart or investigate information offline. This downloads a file (named DMEStats-<<DATE>>to<<DATE>.csv) of all the measurements within a comma-separated-values format – easily imported into common spreadsheet programs. This may take a moment for the DME to generate and download, so please be patient. Each of the columns is labeled and represents a 5 minute average measurement. Note: cpu_time is not an average, but a snapshot measurement. Definitions of the included data can be found in "Squid: The Definitive Guide"

https://www.amazon.com/Squid-Definitive-Guide-Duane-

at Wessels/dp/0596001622 or via PDF off the Internet. Again, remember that the data is only kept for two weeks, so please download accordingly.

Notes on Each Graph:

System HTTP/S Throughput. This graph shows all the HTTP or HTTPS (e.g., HLS)

traffic that is going through the caching engine. These numbers are 5 minute averages and samples. Snapshots of additional current measures are provided on the right hand side.

There are three controls related to this graph:

• Services View / Hardware View. This will switch the view of the graph to display either the streaming services bandwidth, or to view bandwidth by NIC (network

DME Admin Guide 25

interface card). Selecting the Hardware View will automatically stack the results and hide the Total (which is the sum of all the NICs).

• Graph in UNIT_MEASURE. This allows you to select the unit measure for the graph. It is always displayed in bps (bits per second), but you can display it in Mbps, Gbps, etc. Changing the units will also change the chart title at the bottom of the chart to help avoid confusion.

• Colors. A selection of different colors for the chart.

Local Cache Activity. This multi dataset graph provides insight into how much your local DME cache is being used (either from local or remote requests). These numbers are 5 minute averages and samples. Snapshots of additional current measures are provided on the right hand side.

Toggle the axis and legend to see the datasets included in this chart, they are:

• Dataset: Cache Hits % of Total Bytes. This is the percentage of bytes delivered that come from the cache. Logically, the higher the better for this measure as performance from the cache is quicker and more efficient. In some cases you may see negative results – this represents requests made but not fully delivered by the cache (this is expected in some use cases).

• Dataset: HTTP/S Request Count. This is a raw count from our cachine engine on the number of requests to the DME.

• Dataset: HTTP/S % Cache Hits. This is the percentage of request counts that are delivered by the cache. This differs from the measure above because this is a count of requests, not total bytes delivered by the requests. Again, the higher the better – this translates directly as how your cache is being used.

CPU Usage. This is a running representation of your (aggregated) CPU usage. In most cases, your CPU usage will bounce within a range (these are snapshots, not averages), but the trend should be evident. This view can also illustrate the impact of high CPU DME actives (e.g., transrating via Stream Conversion feature). Snapshots of additional current measures are provided on the right hand side.

There is one additional control related to this graph:

• Windowed Average. The dropdown within the CPU chart will allow for viewing the raw data (select "No Span, Raw Data") or a windowed average ("Average Span N=??"). A windowed average is calculated as the average of all the numbers (based on N) around a data point. For example, using N=5 window or span, calculating the 12 element in the dataset would be:

Data[12] = (Data[10] + Data[11] + Data[12] + Data[13] + Data[14])/5

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Getting Started

And so on. Using these views will disable the raw view for clarity. These views are useful if you have increased variability in the CPU measures. The CPU measures, as a reminder, are pinpoint measurements and may fluctuate quite a bit depending on your DME use.

Note: The CPU Usage graph, in particular, can contain a great deal of data. As such, it may take a moment to load and subsequently process any view or chart changes. This may also be affected by the compute power of your PC and connectivity. This is to be expected for large datasets. For detailed analyses, please take advantage of the data download capability.

Note: Be aware that Historical status page is not automatically refreshed, nor are the changes to views retained. To update this page with the latest information, re-click the link for that page in the Configuration Menu in the left pane.

All graphs have the common controls explained below.

Control Description

Decrease Height of Graph This will decrease the height of the graph. This does not

refresh the data on the page, only the display parameters.

Increase Height of Graph For cases where you wish to drill into the data or have higher

resolution, this will increase the height of the graph. This can be clicked numerous times. This does not refresh the data on the page, only the display parameters.

Configuration Menu

DME Status Bar

VBAdmin

VBDirectory

Config uration Menu

The DME Configuration Menu on the left side of the VBAdmin page provides access to all configurable DME parameters. Use the (plus and minus) tree controls to expand or collapse the menu. Click on any item in the menu to display the corresponding configuration page. Note that the DME is a reflector will always send what is received. For this reason, there are

DME Admin Guide 27

no video or audio configuration fields on the DME pages nor do the destination pages let you select different video and audio rates.

DME Status (Snapshot)

DME Status (Historical)

System Configuration

Input Stream Configuration

Output Stream Configuration

User Configuration

VC Gateway Configuration

SAP Configuration

Displays a snapshot of important status indicators including software version and the current number of client connections.

Provides a historical view of various health measures of your DME in an easy to review chart format. These measures and charts are meant to show trends for quick viewing. Stronger reporting should happen through SNMP or Rev.

Provides access to configurable system parameters such as Network, Streaming and Caching. You may also activate new licenses or DME features through this menu option.

Lets you configure input stream types.

Lets you configure output stream types.

Lets you configure the DME user name and password and the announce settings that let you push streams into the DME.

Explains how to configure the DME as a video conferencing gateway.

Allows configuration of announcements of DME capabilities and streams.

Rev Devices

Allows configuration of Vbrick’s Multi-Format Set Top Boxes for use with Rev (via multicast SAP messages

captured by local DMEs and forwarded to Rev)

Logging Lets you enable and configure the Access History and

the Error Log.

Monitor and Logs The Monitor and Logs pages show status information

for users and relays as well as the Access History and the Error Log.

Maintenance

Diagnostics

Provides access to system maintenance options including Shutdown and Reset.

Explains how to run diagnostics when troubleshooting VC Gateway issues.

Log Out of the DME Logs out the current user and displays the Login to the

DME page. VBAdmin automatically times out and

displays the Login page after 20 minutes with no activity.

Online Help

Displays the Online help system. You can also click the question mark (?) icon on any page to go directly to the help for that specific page. You will need an Internet connection to display the Online help topics.

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Getting Started

DME Status Bar

The DME Status Bar on the bottom of the VBAdmin page provides near-real time updates and reporting on DME functions. The values on the bar update every two minutes or you may use the they mean are described below.

Disable Server button. Click to enable or disable streaming on the DME and

terminate all connections. The “Server is Running” message will be replaced with “Server is Idle.”

Displays DME information specifics:

• DME name and IP Address

• DME software version currently installed

• MPS software version currently installed

• Total up time since the last server reset

• MPS and RTP Server status (True means running.)

Server status. The “Server is Running” message will change to “Server is Idle” if the Disable Server button is toggled. The field’s background color will change indicating its health status. The server status (Normal, Warning, and Alert) is tied to Content Disk, CPU, Throughput and Memory status – any elevation of these statuses will be reflected in this status.

Server status. This section will also display “Server is Upgrading” during the upgrade process and report upcoming licensing expirations.

Refresh link to update them manually as needed. The different sections and what

This area displays the number of streams going through your Multiprotocol server, your stream capacity, and associated CPU usage. This covers your RTMP, RTMFP, HLS, and HDS streams.

This area displays the number of streams going through your RTP server, your stream capacity, and associated CPU usage.

DME Admin Guide 29

This is a snapshot of the Memory Use in your system. Memory is measured as your physical plus swap. Hovering your mouse over the measures will provide detailed measures.

The field’s background color will change indicating its health status. The available statuses are: Normal (0%-50% memory usage), Warning (51%-85%), and Alert (> 85%). As a snapshot, this is a transient measure that may selfcorrect. These thresholds are applied on snapshots and represent hard cut-offs between the status – please consider your use cases, the status, and the actual measure within the status to help determine if action is necessary.

Guidance: A DME, depending on load, shares it memory with all other system services. When we examine the memory, we combine the system RAM and SWAP because it is really a high measure of this combination that may indicate issues. In most cases, the SWAP will have little use, but there are some use cases that may drive it up. Because the memory measure includes SWAP it may drive higher into Warning or Alert based on the frequency that the system returns SWAP memory from running or terminating apps. In most cases, spikes of memory use that drive Waring or Alert reflect singleton events within the system, and may be transitory. Meaning, if your DME bounces into an out of Warning or Alert, but does not remain in that state for more than 1 refresh of the Status Bar, action may not be necessary but as a cautionary measure you may wish to monitor the use and playback experiences.

This is a snapshot of the Content Disk Use. DMEs can be thought of as having two logical partitions – an OS partition and the content partition. This snapshot measures the content partition and does not include the OS partition. The content partition, however, does include some system files. The field’s background color will change indicating its health status. The available statuses are: Normal (0%-75% usage), Warning (76%-85%), and Alert (> 85% OR less than 32GB free). As a snapshot, this is a transient measure that may selfcorrect. These thresholds are applied on snapshots and represent hard cut-offs between the status – please consider your use cases, expansion of content plans (disk growth can be fast or slow depending on content ingestion into Rev), the status, and the actual measure within the status to help determine if action is necessary.

Guidance: When evaluating the content disk size, please consider that this partition is shared by a number of DME activities. This partition will include not only (per configuration) new pre-positioned content, but also any content that gets pre-positioned during normal use. The system swap file (which can be several GB depending on your DME License) is contained within the content space. Also, it should be noted that your Caching system will also utilize the content store as well in accordance to the levels specified on the Streaming page. So, if you mark your DME as a DEDICATED caching server, much disk space will be used. It terms of guidance, it depends on your use case. If your DME is used in a highly caching environment, then running at higher disk use will automatically self correct. Also, even in a largely pre-positioned environment, the DME will self correct – it will delete pre-positioned content as it needs space. It will not, however, delete space that has been used by the caching engine (which can be cleared on the Maintenance page). If you are concerned about your disk availability, please review your Cache settings, preposition settings on Rev, and potentially add additional space through the DME admin interface.

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Getting Started

This is a snapshot of the aggregated CPU Use. The field’s background color will change indicating its health status. The available statuses are: Normal (0%70% CPU usage), Warning (71%-80%), and Alert (> 80%). As a snapshot, this is a transient measure that may self-correct. These thresholds are applied on snapshots and represent hard cut-offs between the status – please consider your use cases, the status, and the actual measure within the status to help determine if action is necessary.

Guidance: A DME, depending on load may bounce into and out of a Warning or Alert stages during the normal course of use. If your DME is constantly running in Warning, you should consider and monitor the CPU if you are planning to add additional CPU intensive configurations (such as Stream Conversion / transrating). If your DME bounces into an out of Alert, but does not remain in that state for more than 1 refresh of the Status Bar, action may not be necessary but as a cautionary measure you may wish to monitor the use and playback experiences. If your DME is consistently reporting in Alert status, then please evaluate your configuration and load. Particularly, watch the MPS monitor page for stream packet loss which may indicate that the DME is running too hot. The Critical alert is a range, so the higher it goes the more drastic intervention Linux will take to keep the system running.

Snapshot of current MPS (only) throughput and is measured in accordance to the allowable limit for the DME license. The field’s background color will change indicating its health status. The available statuses are: Normal (0%-60% throughput usage), Warning (61%-90%), and Alert (> 90%). As a snapshot, this is a transient measure that may self-correct. These thresholds are applied on snapshots and represent hard cut-offs between the status – please consider your use cases, number of current streams IN/OUT, the status, and the actual measure within the status to help determine if action is necessary.

Guidance: A DME, depending on load may bounce into and out of a Warning status during the normal course of use. If your DME is constantly running in Warning, you should consider your distribution configuration against available licensed throughput. If your DME bounces into an out of Alert you may wish to actively monitor the use and playback experiences. If your DME is consistently reporting in Alert status, then please evaluate your configuration and load. Particularly, investigate the IN/OUT configuration of streams, number of attaching DMEs/players, and watch the MPS monitor page for stream packet loss which may indicate that the DME is running too hot.

Snapshot of current HTTP, HTTPS and caching (only) throughput. Hovering your mouse over this field will provide detailed measures for in/out traffic and local cache use. These measures are averaged over 5 minutes.

Note: Unlike the other measures, this measure is not compared to thresholds and does not report a health status or color.

Countdown until the Status Bar values are refreshed automatically by the DME. Refresh link to refresh them manually. If the Status Bar does not automatically refresh, you may also refresh the whole page using your browser refresh.

Status to denote if the DME is linked to Rev and if the Rev interface is running. If either of these is Red, it indicates a problem connecting with Rev. Please check your Rev Interface page.

DME Admin Guide 31

VBDirectory

VBDirectory is Vbrick management application that discovers and displays all Vbrick devices (including DMEs) connected to your network. It displays the Address),

VBDirectory is an easy way to connect to the management pages for the DME or other Vbrick devices. The VBDirectory application is available on the Vbrick new customers and is automatically installed when you perform an upgrade.

Be aware that you will need VBDirectory v5.3 or higher to discover the DMEs on your network.

IP Address, and Model (see the table below) for each DME on your network.

Name (as DME and MAC

Downloads page for

Type Model Recommended Concurrent Users

DME BPS 7530 50–100

DME XPS 7550 1000 or less

DME HPS 7550 1000 or more

VBAdmin

DME Status (Snapshot)

Configure the DME with Secure Shell (SSH) or a Console

The DME ships with a configuration and monitoring tool called the SSH Admin Interface. The tool is available via a Secure Shell (SSH) v2 connection (or on the Console if you have direct access.) This tool is useful to perform basic configuration and monitoring. Specifically, it is useful to initially configure your network connections after an install.

To access the tool, please log in using SSH. This requires a client application like PuTTY, mRemoteNG (Windows) or a similar Telnet/SSH client. Use the DME administrator login name and password for access. SSH is enabled by default on the DME, and can be modified on the

System Configuration > Security page.

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Getting Started

Caution: As a reminder, the DME ships with admin|admin as the username and password. Be sure to change this on the DME User Configuration > Username and Password screen. This should be done BEFORE allowing internal/external access to the DME.

Once you have logged into the SSH Admin Interface, the tool will first perform a quick review of the CPU and Memory configuration. In most cases, the review takes less than 1 second and you will not see anything. However, if the DME does not have sufficient CPU (by count) or Memory resources (by percentage, anything below 80% will be reported), then the interface will provide an upfront message. The message will also identify possible falsepositive cases for early versions of hardware DMEs. Messaging will appear similar to the image(s) below:

DME Admin Guide 33

If you receive one of these warnings, you will also see a notification at the top of the primary menu screen. These warnings may indicate an under provisioned DME and require attention. Please Refer to the DME Release Notes (for your version of DME) for CPU/Memory/ Disk requirements, or our DME CheckUp FAQ (at:

https://www.vbrick.com/doc/PDFs/

DME/Vbrick%20DME%20Checkup.pdf) for additional details.

If your DME is provisioned correctly, you will not see anything.

Next, the tool will perform and display a quick log analysis. The analysis provides a cursory search of targeted system log files. This is not meant to be a complete analysis, but one that could quickly identify and highlight issues that may need addressing. Example output of this is displayed below:

In this example, you will notice analysis of several different logs. This analysis should be quick, however, if the log is large (and the Rev Communication Interface log can be very large) then it may take several moments. Each section, when complete, displays a

Done.

Issues that require immediate attention or possibly investigation will be noted. If no issues, for the specific log search, are not found then there will be no message. This is an exceptions based report.

If the DME is operating correctly, then the reports may identify historical issues that may no longer be concerning. On the other hand, if your DME is not operating correctly, then this page may help you and Vbrick Support to quickly target and identify investigation areas.

This log analysis is also provided as a Menu option. So, if you need to review the results you can re-run the analysis. After the analysis is complete, pressing enter (or waiting 120 seconds) will bring up the main menu for the SSH Admin Interface.

When running the tool, always review the system characteristics displayed within a banner at the top of the page. It will look similar to this image:

The banner includes system characters that should be spot-checked at each usage:

• IP Address

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Getting Started

• Name (should be an FQDN)

• DME Version

• DME type (7530, 7550, 7570) and if it is VM or Hardware

• Number of CPUs with DME type requirements with configuration (Sockets, Cores, and Threads). Total CPU = Sockets * Cores * {1 | 2 for threads}

• Memory with DME type requirement

The top banner also indicates if the DME is currently upgrading or not. It is very important not to reboot or apply changes if the system is currently running an upgrade – this can cause instability within the server. The banner will clearly indicate if the system is NOT being updated as well. Also keep in mind, that a DME that is currently upgrading will reboot as part of that process and drop the SSH session.

Below the banner, a primary menu list of Administration Tasks are provided by number. Each task is executed by typing in its corresponding number. For example, at the

by Number prompt you would enter “1” to Configure Network Settings. The current menu

Select Task

structure is missing some numbers by design. This is because there are historical numbers that were kept, while Vbrick improved the grouping of functions in later versions of the Admin Interface tool.

Several tasks require a Reboot of the DME for the settings to be applied. Those are clearly identified and there will be a confirmation prompt before the Reboot. Remember, rebooting the DME will cause interruptions in streaming, recording, and all DME functions.

There are live tasks, such as watching the Rev Interface log, that will continue until terminated by the user or by closing the SSH session. All live tasks, or repeating measure displays, can be terminated by a Control-C. This will return you to the primary menu.

Depending on the version, the complete page with banner will look similar to:

Commands are entered at the bottom banner of the page next to

DME Admin Guide 35

Select task by number.

The bottom banner (seen below) provides the following information:

• Current Date, Time, Time Zone and Year

• System load averages in parentheses for past 1, 5, and 15 minutes. (Please review Linux documentation for meaning and uses of load average.)

• Uptime of Server

• Users that are currently logged into the system (SSH or Console, not VBadmin GUI)

Users are prompted with

Select task by number to enter in a number from the menu above it.

99 will exit the tool and terminate the SSH session.

36 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Each Administration Task menu option is described in the following table.

Group Administration Task Description

Network Tasks

Configure Network Settings

Used to quickly configure your network settings. This includes the ability to configure for DHCP or static address and designate an IP address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway. Changing the Hostname will assign a self-signed Cert which will need to be updated within the DME VBAdmin UI.

This is the same ability that is included on the

Configuration > Network screen on the DME. This allows you to

set the FQDN, IP/Subnet/Gateway/DNS addresses, and a Search Domain for your DME before you begin using your appliance.

Changing parameters in this task may require a system reboot. Please do not reboot during any upgrade activity (identified at the top of the screen).

Set Hostname (only) The DME Hostname identifies the appliance to various network

applications including DHCP and the VBDirectory management application. By default, this value is DME<MAC ADDRESS>. This task will allow customization of the Hostname.

Best Practice is to use a FQDN (fully qualified domain name) provided by your IT department with associated DNS entries. Also include an associated CERT.

Changing this value will force the DME to create a new selfsigned certificate. Please review section in Help for more details. This is the same ability that is included on

Changing parameters in this task may require a system reboot. Please do not reboot during any upgrade activity (identified at the top of the screen).

Getting Started

System

SSL Certificates management

System Configuration > Network page.

Clear DNS (temporarily) If the DNS entries are not reachable, the device may respond

sluggishly. Clearing the DNS entries may alleviate the situation.

This will temporarily remove the Primary and Secondary DNS settings. These session will return once the system is rebooted.

This will also remove any Search Domain settings – which will not return and must be re-entered within VBAdmin.

DME Admin Guide 37

Group Administration Task Description

Reset Tasks

Reset to Default Settings This task resets most settings (except for network settings and

passwords) to their default settings. The same task may be executed from the form in the DME.

This task requires a system reboot. Please do not reboot during any upgrade activity (identified at the top of the screen).

System Configuration > Manage Configuration

Realtime Usage Tasks

Reset to Factory Default Settings

This task resets ALL settings (including network and passwords) to factory defaults. Use with caution. The same task maybe be executed from the

System Configuration > Manage Configuration

form in the DME.

This task requires a system reboot. Please do not reboot during any upgrade activity (identified at the top of the screen).

Remove License This task will remove Vbrick DME licenses. This will require you

to acquire and reapply a new license (or any license you may have saved) to the DME for proper operation.

This task requires a system reboot. Please do not reboot during any upgrade activity (identified at the top of the screen).

Realtime System Usage Snapshots

This task, using the Linux application sar, will provide usage snapshots for CPU, Memory, Paging System, SWAP, and DISK. These results are only snapshots and do not provide trending.

Please review online Linux documentation for sar command for details on particulars of reported data.

CPU Realtime Usage This task, using the Linux application sar, provides a 20 reports at

3 second intervals (1 minute total) of CPU use within the DME. This is meant to be a more detailed view than the snapshots, but only report for the minute selected.

Control-C will terminate the report.

Please review online Linux documentation for sar command for details on particulars of reported data.

Memory Realtime Usage This task, using the Linux application sar, provides a 20 reports at

3 second intervals (1 minute total) of memory use within the DME. This is meant to be a more detailed view than the snapshots, but only report for the minute selected.

Control-C will terminate the report.

Please review online Linux documentation for sar command for details on particulars of reported data.

Disk Realtime Usage This task displays the disk partitions and usage for attached disks,

the last SMART report (if the DME is hardware), and using the Linux application sar, provides a 20 reports at 3 second intervals (1 minute total) of disk use within the DME. This is meant to be a more detailed view than the snapshots, but only report for the minute selected.

Control-C will terminate the report.

Please review online Linux documentation for sar command for details on particulars of reported data.

38 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Group Administration Task Description

Network Monitoring Tasks

Review Network Settings This task will show various Linux commands and result details of

your network settings.

Please review online Linux documentation for the associated/ displayed command for details on particulars of reported data.

Each report will display the DME Hostname and command to the screen and wait for you to

Getting Started

Press Enter to continue.

Advanced Network Health

This task will show various Linux commands and result details of your network settings. Utilizing ifstat, this task will show snapshots and a repeating display of RX/TX Pkts statistics across interfaces. This task also provides the measures using netstat.

Please review online Linux documentation for the associated/ displayed command for details on particulars of reported data.

Each report will display the DME Hostname and command to the screen and wait for you to

Press Enter to continue.

TCP Network Health This task will show various Linux commands and result details of

your network settings. Specifically, netstat is used to review active TCP connections with their state, and metrics per protocol.

Please review online Linux documentation for the associated/ displayed command for details on particulars of reported data.

Each report will display the DME Hostname and command to the screen and wait for you to

Press Enter to continue.

UDP Network Health This task will show various Linux commands and result details of

your network settings. Specifically, netstat is used to review active UDP connections with their state, and metrics per protocol.

Please review online Linux documentation for the associated/ displayed command for details on particulars of reported data.

Each report will display the DME Hostname and command to the screen and wait for you to

Press Enter to continue.

Ping Test This task will allow entry of a Hostname or IP address to perform

a ping test. Five tests will be performed and displayed.

This is a useful feature to test your connection to your Rev instance (default address for test) or other online Hostnames.

Traceroute Test Like the ping test, this task will allow entry of a Hostname or IP

address to perform a traceroute. Each line will be displayed with a max of 30 hops.

This is a useful feature to test and view the path to reach your Rev instance (default address for test) or other online Hostnames.

Speed Test This item will run an Internet speed test utilizing speedtest.net. In

order to run this test, the DME will need Internet access. It will reach out and pull down a list of available servers, and connect to a close server to retrieve a sample dataset. Nothing will be stored on your DME.

This is only a snapshot representing conditions during the test.

DME Admin Guide 39

Group Administration Task Description

Running Services Tasks

System Services (Status & Restart)

This task will display system information and status and memory use of several System Services. If appropriate, user will be prompted to restart the service.

Do not restart services during an upgrade, or while there is heavy server use. Restarting services may have an impact on streaming delivered from the DME.

Streaming Services This task will display system information and status and memory

use of several DME (streaming, ingest) Services. If appropriate, user will be prompted to restart the service.

Do not restart services during an upgrade, or while there is heavy server use. Restarting services may have an impact on streaming delivered from the DME.

HTTP/Caching Services This task will display a quick log review, system information and

status and memory use of system services related to the DME Caching Engine and Web page Serving. If appropriate, user will be prompted to restart the service.

Do not restart services during an upgrade, or while there is heavy server use. Restarting services may have an impact on streaming delivered from the DME.

Rebooting Tasks

Reboot Device This task will Reboots the device allowing the user to specify an

option disk check on reboot.

If the DME is shut down improperly, the disk may need to be checked to verify and recover any bad sectors. Use this option to do so. Depending on the size of your disks, this may take a great deal of time.

Do not reboot during an upgrade, or while there is heavy server use. Rebooting will have an impact on streaming delivered from the DME.

Shutdown Device A graceful shutdown and power off that will require human

intervention to power the device back on.

Do not shutdown during an upgrade, or while there is heavy server use. Rebooting will have an impact on streaming delivered from the DME.

Recent Shutdown History This task will display a recent history of shutdown activities, as

well as any sleep entries (there should not be any of these).

Reset Tasks

Sysuser Login Failures Displays information related to the current login failures for the

Sysuser. The current lockout is set to 3. If you are locked out, please wait 15 minutes before attempting logging again.

Reset Sysuser Login This will reset the login password to original settings and reset

any log in failure that may have occurred for the Sysuser.

40 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Group Administration Task Description

Kernel Messages Tasks

Display Kernel messages This task displays the contents of the system console (kernel ring

buffer). Use this test only with support from Vbrick Customer Support.

Getting Started

Logging Tasks

Live Log Review Tasks

Kernel messages Err & above

This task displays the contents of the system console (kernel ring buffer) for messages at the ERR or above level. Use this test only with support from Vbrick Customer Support.

Generate Log Collection for Vbrick

This task item will create an encrypted file, stored in the ftp root under the zippedlogs directory. This file should only be created if/when Vbrick Customer Support requests it. It will only be able to be de-crypted at Vbrick. Depending on the size of your DME logs, this may take up to an hour to create.

Clean Up Logs/Memory Dump

This task will step through a series of system and DME specific logs and prompt for removal.

Quick Log Analysis The analysis provided with this task is a cursory search of targeted

system log files. This is not meant to be a complete analysis, but one that could quickly identify and highlight issues that may need addressing.

Live/Check Upgrade Status

This task will display two logs: dmeupgrade.log (also available from the VBAdmin page) and rpmupgrade.log.

If the system is currently performing an upgrade, then the rmpupgrade.log will be displayed live. Meaning, the log should scroll with new results and you must hit Ctrl-C to exit viewing it. This is useful to follow along with an upgrade if necessary. If the system is not performing an upgrade, then the system will just display the log normally. As a reminder, the system will reboot twice during an upgrade.

Live/Review Rev Interface Logs

This task will allow direct viewing of the Rev Interface logs. This should only be executed in conjunction with Vbrick Customer Service.

Exit This will exit the tool.

DME Admin Guide 41

42 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Configure a DME Stream

Input and Output DME Streams

The diagram below shows the most common input and output streams supported by the DME.

The DME Input Streams shown on the left in the diagram are live inputs from a Vbrick encoder or streams from another live source—these streams can be inputs to either the RTP server or to the Multi Protocol server in the DME.

DME Output Streams on the right may include live streams as well as stored streams

The from any of the three (RTP, Multi Protocol, HTTP) onboard VOD servers. Live output streams are reflected from the RTP server or the Multi Protocol server.

Chapter 4

For an important conceptual overview of the DME, please read the topic, DME Deployment.

For both Input and Output cases the numbering reflects the general priority of the various streams. For example, all factors being equal, RTMP push in (In-1) is the preferred method

for delivering streams into the DME.

Alternate mechanisms may be required, however, based on a number of factors:

1. Ability of the source to deliver a stream by a given protocol.

2. Ability of the firewalls to manage delivery of the stream via the given protocol.

3. Specific requirements of the stream, such as:

• KLV metadata which can only be transported via Transport Stream in the Vbrick

ecosystem.

Tip: Click an input or output method on the image map below (e.g. In-

8 or Out-3) to view a step-by-step description of how to configure that method.

Plan for your

DME Admin Guide 43

Note: The Vbrick 9000 Encoder Admin Guide has complete configuration details for the vbrick 9000 encoder. Please refer to this document when configuring the DME. This document is found on the Vbrick documentation website.

The DME supports Adobe Flash Multicast as of v3.6. It is provided as an output from the multi-protocol server. For this diagram, this would be considered Out-13,

Flash Multicast.

A spreadsheet of DME input/output stream closed caption support may be downloaded here.

Plan for your DME Deployment

DME Components

44 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Stre am Us e Cas e s Su m m arize d

Input Streams

In-1 < Push (RTMP)

In-2 < RTP Auto Unicast

In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast

In-4 < Unicast/Multicast Transport Streams In

In-5 < Pull (RTMP)

In-6 < Pull (RTSP)

In-7 < Pull Transport Stream using RTSP

In-8 < Unicast/Multicast RTP

Output Streams

Out-1 > Serve (RTMP)

Out-2 > Serve TS via RTSP

Out-3 > Serve (RTP)

Out-4 > Serve (RTP)

Out-5 > Push TS

Out-6 > Create HLS (for iPod, iPhone/iPad)

Out-7 > Relay (Unicast/Multicast)

Out-8 > Create HDS (for Flash)

Out-9 > Push (RTMP)

Out-10 > Push RTP via RTSP

Out-11 > Push RTP via RTSP

Out-12 > Serve (.wmv, HLS, HDS, other)

Configure a DME Stream

Out-13 >

Flash Multicast

DME Lis te ne r Po rts

The following table shows the listeners that are configured by default on the DME. They are used in the differing use case scenarios shown below.

DME Port Protocol Description Where Used

554 RTSP Auto Unicast Announce (UDP/TCP)

5544 RTSP Auto Unicast Announce (TCP)

1935 RTMP Push from a Flash encoder, for example

a Vbrick encoder or an Adobe FMLE.

DME Input Streams

In-1 < Push (RTMP)

This is the preferred method for providing stream input to the DME. In this scenario the DME input is a live stream push from an RTMP transmitter. Common examples of sources that produce the RTMP live stream push include H.264 encoders, VB7000 v3.1 or higher, VB9000, another DME, and a Flash Media Live Encoder (FMLE). Since no configuration on

In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast

In-2 < RTP Auto Unicast

In-1 < Push (RTMP)

DME Admin Guide 45

the DME is required for this input mode, the stream name is derived from the RTMP stream name on the source. This stream name is used for redistributing the stream to various outputs.

Note: If you wish to redistribute the stream using Unannounced RTP (Out-

7), or using Served RTP from the RTP Server (Out-4), or Push RTP via RTSP from the RTP Server (out-11) an internal RTP Push (Out-10) must be configured.

Figure 1. Encoder RTMP Push to DME

 To configure a Push (RTMP) input:

Objective: This use case allows the DME to receive a live stream from an RTMP push source. The source can be an FMLE, a Vbrick encoder, or another DME.

• If you are pushing from a Vbrick encoder go to

“When sending a stream from a Vbrick

encoder.”

• If you are pushing from another DME go to

“When sending a stream from another

DME.”

• If you are using a FMLE, please refer to the FMLE documentation for help pushing to a Flash Media Server.

 When sending a stream from a Vbrick encoder:

1. In the encoder, set the desired Audio/Video configuration for frame rate, resolution, video and audio rate, sampling frequency etc.

2. Select a stream to send, set the stream type to RTMP, and select the streams you want to send to the DME (including audio, video, or both).

3. Select a transmitter for the selected stream and setup the information to send the stream out to the DME. From Stream Select, select the RTMP stream to be used for this transmitter. Enter either the IP address of the DME or DNS host name. The destination port is 1935 by default unless the administrator changed it on the DME. Do not use the hostname of the DME unless the DME hostname is registered via DNS. Enter the application name in the DME. It can be live, vbrick, vbApp, vod, or just vb. Enter a unique string name for the RTMP Stream. You need to make sure no other stream (in the destination DME) is using the same stream name. Also enter the user name and

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Configure a DME Stream

password for the DME to receive the stream if authentication is enabled. You can get this information from the administrator who configured the DME. By default, the username and password are broadcast/broadcast.

4. Enable the stream to be sent to the DME.

 When sending a stream from another DME:

1. In the DME, launch the management interface, log in, and go to

Flash Push Settings. Find an open slot from the 25 possible slots, enter the server IP

System Configuration >

address or DNS host name, and enter the port (1935 is the default port for RTMP). The port number is required. You also need an entry for Application name for the destination. If the destination is another DME, most likely the name would be live. Enter the destination publishing point name. In the stream name field, enter the name of the stream that exists on the local DME that you want to push out. The

Target Name is

optional and is the synonymous with the publishing point name. The other fields like

Emulate, swfURL, and pageURL are optional and are only needed if the destination server

requires special value to be inserted for them. They are not required for a destination DME. The DME push component currently emulates a FMLE v3.0. If a different emulation string is required, enter it here. This is not required for a destination DME. If security is enabled on the destination server you will need the user name and password so enter the appropriate values here.

2. This stream can now be redistributed by the DME.

Input and Output DME Streams

In -2 < RT P Au to Unic as t

From a source perspective, these two mechanisms are very similar. The only major difference is whether the stream is sent to the RTP Server or the Multi-protocol server. This is determined by DME port that the stream is sent to. In general, In-2 is preferred to In-3. The only situation where In-3 should be used is if the UDP protocol is required. since IN-2 does not support UDP. Note that depending on the mechanism used, and the output protocols required, manual configuration of In-6 or Out-10 is needed so the stream can pass between the two servers.

This use case is commonly used to publish streams to the DME from VB7000 encoders running v3.0 or earlier software. These early versions of the Vbrick appliance did not support RTMP, hence the preferred mechanism of RTMP Push (IN-1) is not available. In this scenario the input is sourced from an Auto Unicast transmitter on a Vbrick 7000/9000 Series (H.264) encoder. Auto Unicast is a transmitter mode that allows the Vbrick encoder to “automatically” establish and maintain a connection with a streaming server. The stream is pushed to a configured publishing point location on the DME to which external clients can connect to retrieve the stream. For example, you can place a Vbrick encoder inside a private network and configure it to Auto Unicast to a DME. External clients will then connect to the DME server via the Internet. Auto Unicast uses RTSP to control the session. It establishes a connection with the streaming server, negotiates ports, and begins streaming to the server. Once established, the encoder will push this stream to the DME until the session is terminated (typically by disabling the transmitter).

In the case of both In-2 and In-3, the Auto Unicast transmitter can be configured to send a UDP stream or a TCP stream. The key difference is that a TCP stream provides guaranteed delivery and therefore adds additional overhead; UDP does not and lost UDP packets are not

DME Admin Guide 47

retransmitted. If overhead is not a factor, TCP is recommended. See the "Auto Unicast Mode" topic in the Vbrick 9000 Encoder Admin Guide for more information. In addition, please keep the following points in mind when configuring this input method:

• If using UDP (IN-3), the DME chooses the audio and video ports. The default DME Auto Unicast Destination Port = 554.

• If using In-3 or In-2 and Flash Server Authentication is enabled on the DME Security page, you will need to configure an Auto Unicast Destination Username and Password.

• This input method has the desirable characteristic that no input configuration is required on the DME so the stream name is generated by the stream configuration parameters on the source side. This name must be unique in the DME. derived from two encoder parameters which must be configured to be consistent. One of these is the sdp file name. The second name source is the incoming program name. In some cases, multiple streams with different bit rates are to be sent to the DME. In these cases, the unique program names are preserved using the Announce Session Name Override parameter to override the common program name.

Figure 1. Encoder Auto Unicast Listener

 To configure an RTSP announce (RTP) input:

Objective: Send a unicast set of streams via Auto Unicast to the DME as input. RTP streams can be generated either by an encoder or another DME, and the corresponding SDP file describes the RTP stream(s).

 Configure your encoder as follows:

1. Set the desired Audio/Video configuration for frame rate, resolution, video and audio rate, sampling frequency etc.

2. Select a stream to send, set the stream type to RTP, and select the streams you want to send to the DME (including audio, video, or both).

3. Select a transmitter to use for the selected stream and setup the information to send the stream out to the DME. Select either auto-unicast UDP or auto-unicast TCP. If transmitting to the Multi Protocol server, only TCP may be used. The destination port, must be the Multi-Protocol or the RTP Server port as configured on the DME. The destination of the stream is the IP address or hostname of the target DME. Do not use

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Configure a DME Stream

the hostname of the DME unless it is registered via DNS. Also enter the user name and password of the DME to receive the stream if using In-3 or if required and using In-3. By default, the username and password are broadcast/broadcast but may have been changed by the DME administrator.

4. Configure the DME stream name by setting the Program name, sdp file name, and Announce Session Override as required per the discussion above.

5. Enable the stream to be sent to the DME.

Input and Output DME Streams

In -3 < RT P Au to Unic as t

See: In-2 < RTP Auto Unicast.

Input and Output DME Streams

In-4 < Unic ast/Multicast Transport Stream s In

This is the preferred method for providing stream input to the DME when Transport Stream is required. Transport Stream is required in cases where transport of metadata such as KLV is required, since no other protocol is capable of transporting this metadata. In this scenario the DME input is a live stream push from a Transport Stream transmitter. Common examples of sources capable of producing a live Transport Stream push include a VB6000/7000/9000 Vbrick MPEG-2/H.264

encoder or another DME.

Note: If you wish to redistribute the stream using Unannounced RTP (Out-

7), Served RTP from the RTP Server (Out-4), or Push RTP via RTSP from the RTP Server (out-11) an internal RTP Push (Out-10) must be configured.

 To configure a unicast/multicast (TS) input:

Objective: Use this option if you need to tune into an MPEG2TS carrying an H.264 load and need to distribute it further. The transport stream is either a multicast on your network or a unicast directed to this DME from a source.

• If multicast, you will need to know the IP address and port the multicast is being sent on.

• If unicast to you, you will need to know which port number it is being sent to.

1. Fill in the multicast address and port if multicast, or enter

127.0.0.1 and port if unicast.

For source specific multicasts, enter the multicast address followed by a colon and then the source address. Example:

232.1.1.1:172.22.2.166

2. Enter the port number. The port number needs to be unique for all unicast sources specified in the list.

3. Enter a name for this incoming transport stream. You can also use the default name, or create another meaningful name for this stream. The name is used to distribute the stream to other destinations and stream types.

4. Enable the location and click

Apply. The status will indicate “Receiving” if the stream is

found and being received. It will display “Waiting For Stream” if the stream is not detected. For multicast sources, the multicast address and port combination must be unique. For unicast sources, the port number must be unique (i.e. the same port cannot be used for multiple unicast receive.)

DME Admin Guide 49

TS Pull supports true pass-through without any parsing of the stream so the stream and all of its contents including KLV (if any) can be passed through to other TS destinations. See use

Out-5 > Push TS for more information.

case

The incoming name specified in the user interface can now also be used to stream the incoming transport stream as RTMP, RTP (via RTSP), or HLS. Once configured, you can see details about this stream in the Monitor >

MPS Connections page. .

Input and Output DME Streams

In -5 < Pu ll (RT MP)

This scenario is the same as method In-6 Pull RTSP/RTP above except that it is an RTMP pull from an RTMP server (for example Wowza, FMS, QuickTime) or from another DME. In this case the stream is pulled by the DME from a source with a URL similar to:

server:port/application/publishing_point.

If pulling from another DME it is convenient to make the stream name on this DME the same as the publishing point on the source DME in order to retain the same stream name throughout the ecosystem. The following example shows the original RTMP URL from a VBOSS URL and the parameters on the Flash Pull Setting page from which the URL is derived:

rtmp://fml.2D84.edgecastcdn.net/202D84/fls/2D84

rtmp://

Server:Port

Application

Publishing Point

Stream Name

fml.2D84.edgecastcdn.net

202D84/fls

2D84

myprogram

Note that if you wish to redistribute the stream using Unannounced RTP (Out-7) Served RTP from the RTP Server (Out-4), or Push RTP via RTSP from the RTP Server (out-11) an internal RTP Push (Out-10) will need to be configured

 To configure a pull (RTMP) input:

Objective: Pull a RTMP stream from another DME or a Flash server to redistribute.

1. In the DME, launch the management interface, log in, and go to

Flash Pull Settings. You will need to pull an RTMP stream from a source, so find an

System Configuration >

open slot from the 25 possible slots and select RTMP as the type. Enter the server IP address or DNS host name, and enter the port if not already 1935 (default port for RTMP). Since this is RTMP an entry in Application is required. Enter the source RTMP server application name, for example live. Also fill in the publishing point name, which identifies the resource on the remote system that we need to pull from. Enter a unique stream name to be used for redistributing the stream within the DME. In most cases there will be no need for the user name and password since this is a pull.

2. This stream can now be redistributed in several ways by the DME. It can also act as a source for uses case

Out-4 > Serve (RTP) and Out-11 > Push RTP via RTSP.

Input and Output DME Streams

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Configure a DME Stream

In -6 < Pu ll (RT SP)

In this scenario the input originates from an RTSP/RTP external source. Examples are the server on an H.264 encoder

The stream is pulled (via the RTSP session protocol) from the external source. The DME can pull from various outside sources (e.g. from another DME, or from a Wowza, QuickTime, or Darwin server). An RTSP Pull is configured in the DME on the

Flash Pull Settings page.

The stream packets are received as RTP and used as a source for any of the output protocols. Another use of this protocol is to pull the live stream from the DME's RTP server and deliver it as a source for one of the Multi Protocol server’s output protocols or as a source for transrating.

another DME, a Wowza, QuickTime, or Darwin server.

System Configuration >

Figure 1. Flash/RTSP Pull

Field Description

Type • RTSP – pull the RTSP stream into the DME. See

In-6 < Pull

(RTSP).

• RTMP – pull the RTMP stream into the DME. See

In-5 < Pull

(RTMP).

Server:Port The IP address and port number of the Vbrick server. Enter a port

number only if you are not using the default RTMP port (1935) or the default RTSP port (554).

DME Admin Guide 51

Field Description

Application Only required if you are pulling RTMP from an RTMP server such as

another DME or an FMS. See

In-5 < Pull (RTMP). This string is

defined by the source.

Publishing Point This is the

Resource Name on the Program Configuration > Servers

page on the encoder.

Stream Name User-friendly name displayed on the DME. Used, for example, to

simplify cryptic publishing point names coming from a CDN. This name becomes the incoming stream name the DME uses to distribute the stream in multiple ways.

User Name If the incoming stream requires authentication, enter the user name

and password.

Password If the incoming stream requires authentication, enter the user name

and password.

Use RTCP Lets you use RTCP sync reports for the incoming stream. If you know

your source does not produce RTCP reports, uncheck this box.

Status Displays the high-level status (Disabled | Connected | Receiving) of

the incoming stream.

 To configure a pull (RTSP) input:

Objective: Pull an RTSP unicast RTP stream(s) from a source as input to the DME. If the stream is coming from an external server, like a Vbrick H264 encoder, follow steps 1 and 2, and 3. Otherwise the stream should be active and available either from another DME, or internally from the same DME, and you can start at Step 4.

1. In the encoder, set the desired Audio/Video configuration for frame rate, resolution, video and audio rate, sampling frequency etc.

2. In the encoder, select a stream to send, set the stream type to RTP, and select the streams you want to send to the DME (including audio, video, or both).

3. In the encoder, select the resource name of the stream to be used in the server component of the encoder. The default name for streams served from the encoder is vbStream1S1. You can change the name to anything you want. You also need to enable the server.

4. In the DME, launch the management interface, log in, and go to System Configuration > Flash/RTSP Pull Settings. You will need to pull an RTSP stream from a source, so find an open slot from the 25 possible slots and select RTSP as the type. Enter the server IP address or DNS host name, and enter the port if not already 554 (default port for RTSP). Since this is RTSP, no entry for Application is required. Enter the publishing point name like vbStream1S1. If you are pulling a stream specified in use case

In-8 < Unicast/ Multicast RTP or In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast, enter the sdp filename used when creating the stream. In most cases there will no need for the user name and password since this is a pull. Note: the pull uses RTSP Interleaved streams delivered by TCP only so make sure this is supported on the source.

5. If you know the RTSP source does not generate RTCP reports, or the RTCP reports do not have accurate time sync information, uncheck the Use RTCP box and the DME will not look for RTCP reports or ignore those coming in. Note: RTCP reports help to enable audio and video sync. If unchecked, there will be no way to "re-sync" the stream

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Configure a DME Stream

once it has started. Uncheck only if you have knowledge of the source and the RTCP reports it sends.

6. Enable the stream and apply, and the DME will start acquiring the stream. This stream can now be redistributed by the DME.

Input and Output DME Streams

In-7 < Pull Transport Stream using RTSP

This protocol is not supported in DME 3.x.

Input and Output DME Streams

In-8 < Unic ast/Multicast RTP

This input is sourced from a unicast or multicast transmitter on a Vbrick 7000/9000 Series (H.264) encoder or equivalent source. In this scenario, a transmitter is configured to send a live unicast stream (e.g.

239.xxx.xxx.xxx) to a multicast address.

172.xxx.xxx.xxx) to the DME or a live multicast stream (e.g.

For both of these options you will need to manually fetch the SDP file from the encoder and FTP it to the root folder (or a subfolder) on the DME. The SDP file has information describing the stream

such as profile, bit rate, addressing, and transmission method.

Note: In order to redistribute a stream via any of the mechanisms sourced from a multi-protocol server, an RTSP pull (In-6) must be configured between the RTP streaming server and the multi-protocol server

Similarly, if this input mechanism is used to source a transrating operation, the RTSP Pull must be set up. Announcements need manual configuration if this input mechanism is used.

 To stream from a Vbrick encoder:

1. Launch the VBAdmin page for the encoder.

2. Go to the Program Configuration > Transmitters page.

3. Click on the

SDP File URL button.

4. FTP the SDP file to the root folder (or a subfolder) on the DME.

When configuring the encoder, the default Video Port is 4444; the default encoder Audio Port is 4644. These ports must be unique for each stream and must match those configured in the DME. The DME administrator must ensure that all SDP files have unique port numbers and that no port numbers are duplicated across all SDP files. Subsequently the encoder must also be configured to transmit on unique ports when streaming to the DME.

DME Admin Guide 53

Figure 1. Encoder Unicast/Multicast Configuration

 To configure a unicast/multicast input:

Objective: Send a unicast or multicast RTP set of streams to the DME as input. RTP streams can be generated either by an encoder or another DME, and the corresponding SDP file describes the RTP stream(s). Configure your encoder (v3.0 or higher) as follows:

1. Set the desired Audio/Video configuration for frame rate, resolution, video and audio rate, sampling frequency etc.

2. Select a stream to send, and set the stream type to be RTP, and select the streams you want to sent to the DME (including audio, video, or both).

3. Select a transmitter to use for selected stream and setup the Destination Port parameter to send the stream out of a port that is not already used on the DME. This is a manual process to determine which other streams are on the DME. Usually, choosing a high number in the 20000 range is likely safe and will not conflict. Use an even number, then use the next sequential even number for the next stream (audio or video), for example Video Port 20100, Audio Port 20102.

4. Enable the stream to be sent to the DME either as a unicast or multicast out. The Destination IP address determines whether it is a unicast or multicast.

5. Extract the SDP stream once the settings above are applied and active. Place the SDP file in DME via FTP in the root folder. Make sure the SDP filename you use is unique when placing the file in the DME. This stream can now be redistributed by the DME.

Input and Output DME Streams

DME Output Streams

There are different output scenarios available depending on whether the stream originates from the RTP server, the RTMP server, or the HTTP server.

This is illustrated on the diagram in the topic to this diagram when configuring DME output streams.

54 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Input and Output DME Streams. Please refer

Configure a DME Stream

Out-1 > Serve (RTMP)

Live streams content can be served via unicast RTMP. Note that the port generally will not have to be defined in the URL provided the default port 1935 is used. You can play the stream in a Flash player using a URL similar to the following:

rtmp://server:port/application/publishing_point

For live streams the publishing point is the stream name and the application is typically “live”. For stored the publishing point is the file name and the application is “vod”. No explicit configuration of this option is required.

 To configure a server (RTMP) output:

Objective: This use case is typically used to allow Flash clients using RTMP streaming to acquire a live stream or a VOD stream.

1. Enter the RTMP URL information in the embedded Flash client with an application of live or vod depending on the type of content served.

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-2 > Se rv e TS via RT SP

You can serve available live streams and stored files via unicast RTSP/TS. Note that the port must be explicitly identified in the URL. The port required is the Multi Protocol server port default 5544.

Live

No explicit configuration of this option is required. All live streams in Multi-Protocol server are available for serving via an appropriate URL. Generally only Transport streams containing H.264 video are supported, but for transport streams which are brought into the DME using a transport stream protocol and are transmitted using transport stream protocol, any codec will be supported. This allows support of MPEG-2 video in transport stream for this use case. There are number of possible formats for the URLs. The recommended URL format includes “

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/ts/<stream_name>

Alternate URLs are available for backward compatibility. These URLS are recommended. If the stream has been provided using a TS push only (In-4) the following URLs are acceptable:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/<stream_name>_ts

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/ts/<stream_name>_ts

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port><stream_name>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port><stream_name>_ts>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/ts/<stream_name>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/ts/<stream_name>_ts>?ForceTS

ts” in the URL path:

not

If the stream has been provided using another Input use cases, the following URLs are legal:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port><stream_name>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/ts/<stream_name>?ForceTS

DME Admin Guide 55

Stored

ts/mpg, mov, or mp4 files can be served using unicast RTSP/TS. Only files containing H.264 content video are supported. The recommended URL format for this use case is as follows. Alternate URLs are available but not recommended.

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vodts/<filename.extension>

If the file is a transport stream file then the following formats can be used:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vod/<filename.extension>

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vod/<filename.extension>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vodts/<filename.extension>?ForceTS

If the file is a mov or mp4 file then the following format are acceptable:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vod/<filename.extension>?ForceTS

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/vodts/<filename.extension>?ForceTS

You can serve an available stream via unicast RTSP with the resulting URL as follows (append “_ts” to the URL path).

rtsp://<dme_ip_address>:5544/<stream_name>_ts

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-3 > Se rv e (RT P)

The Multi-Protocol server on the DME serves live or stored content using the RTSP/RTP protocol. You can play the stream in StreamPlayer, QuickTime, or VLC using a URL similar to this:

rtsp://server:port/<publishing_point>

Since the Multi-Protocol server uses a non-standard RTSP port (default 5544), the port number is required in the URL. There are two use cases for serving RTSP. Out-4 should be used for optimal stream stability, but if many simultaneous users are expected, the equivalent Out-3 is preferred. There are three possible protocols used for RTP serving: UDP; TCP using RTSP interleaved; TCP using HTTP tunneling. Out-4 supports all three of these options while Out-3 does not support HTTP tunneling. This difference may determine which RTSP/RTP server to utilize.

Live

This output option requires no explicit configuration on the DME but is available for all live content present on the Multi-Protocol server, whether brought directly into the server or Pulled from the RTP server using an internal In-6. An example of a live publishing point is:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/<streamname>

Stored

There are two options for serving RTSP. Out-4 is used if the VOD content contains MPEG-4 Part2 video or PCM audio. Since Out-4 is more generally applicable it is recommended for this use case. Stored content is accessed using the filename of the content. Examples of stored URLs are:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/filename.mov

rtsp://<dme_ip_address:port>/filename.mp4

56 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Configure a DME Stream

The RTP server on the DME serves RTP files. Play the stream in StreamPlayer, QuickTime, or VLC using a URL similar to this:

rtsp://server:port/publishing_point.sdp

Since the Multi Protocol RTP server uses an non-standard RTSP port – default 5544 – normally the port must be explicitly included in the URL.

 To configure a serve (RTP) output:

Objective: This use case explains how a stream available on the Multi Protocol server is served to clients that support RTSP streams. Further, this server is commonly used for delivering VOD content.

From a client that supports RTSP RTP streams, enter the RTSP URL, typically:

rtsp:// DME_ip_address:5544/streamname

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-4 > Se rv e (RT P)

The RTP server on the DME serves live or stored content using the RTSP/RTP protocol. You can play the stream in StreamPlayer, QuickTime, or VLC using a URL similar to this:

rtsp://server:port/<publishing_point>

Normally the default port 554 is assigned to the RTSP/RTP server, so the port number is optional in the URL. If an alternate port is assigned to the RTSP/RTP server, then the port number must be entered. There are two use cases for serving RTSP. Out-4 should be used for optimal stream stability, but if many simultaneous users are expected, the equivalent Out-3 is preferred. There are three possible protocols used for RTP serving: UDP; TCP using RTSP interleaved; TCP using HTTP tunneling. Out-4 supports all three of these options while Out-3 does not support HTTP tunneling. This difference may affect which RTSP/RTP server to use.

Live

Note that this output option requires no explicit configuration on the DME but is available for all live content present on the RTP streaming server, whether brought directly into the RTP server or Pushed from the Multi Protocol server using an internal Out-10. A live publishing point includes the ".sdp" extension in the publishing point name so an example of a live publishing point is:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address>/my_streamname.sdp

Stored

There are two options for serving RTSP. Out-4 must be used if the VOD content contains MPEG-4 Part2 video or PCM audio. Stored content is accessed using the filename of the content. Examples of stored URLs are:

rtsp://<dme_ip_address>/filename.mov

rtsp://<dme_ip_address>/filename.mp4

DME Admin Guide 57

 To configure a serve (RTP) output:

Objective: This use case explains how to allow a stream acquired through use case

In-8 < Unicast/Multicast RTP or In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast, or most commonly via an internal Push form the Multi Protocol server (Out-10), to be served via an RTSP server from the DME to clients that support RTSP streams. Additionally this server is commonly used for delivering VOD content.

1. From a client that supports RTSP RTP streams, enter the RTSP URL, typically

dme_ip_address/streamname.sdp where the streamname.sdp file is the original output

rtsp://

SDP file name.

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-5 > Pu s h T S

 To configure a Push TS output:

Objective: This use case explains how to distribute available streams to unicast or multicast Transport Stream destinations. Note that although any stream available to the MultiProtocol server can be distributed as a Transport Stream, if it is required for KLV metadata, the stream must remain in a Transport Stream container in all cases.

1. Enter the destination unicast or multicast address.

2. Enter the destination port to send the stream to.

3. Enter the name of the incoming stream you want to distribute to your destination.

4. Enable the stream and click Apply.

5. The status will indicate either “

stream cannot be found.

6. You can also verify the detailed status of your outbound transport stream on the

Monitor>

MPS Connections page.

Sending” or “Waiting for Stream” if the specified input

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-6 > Cre ate HLS ( fo r iPo d , iPh o n e /iPad )

 To create an HLS stream for serving via HTTP:

Objective: This use case explains how to create an HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) stream which is essentially a set of TS files made from an input H.264 stream with a playlist, so that it can be played on Apple iPad/iPhone/iPad devices via a wireless connection. Mac QuickTime X players (and some VLC players) can also play the stream.

The playlist generated can either be from a single input stream or multiple input streams. Multiple streams are useful in varying bandwidth environments. If you need to create an adaptive playlist that allows the player to switch between multiple rate streams to adapt to the fluctuating bandwidth, you need to create multiple HLS output streams—all with the same Master Playlist Name.

The playlist generated can vary depending on the configuration. Since the segments must be generated on an IDR (Key Frame) boundary, the source must be producing IDR frames at a regular interval in the stream. It is helpful to know how often IDR frames are being inserted into stream from the source and it is a good idea to set a Minimum Segment Length that is a

58 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Configure a DME Stream

multiple of IDR interval number. Larger segment sizes increase latency. The default settings will create a latency of about 30 seconds (a common latency for HLS). This is probably optimal in terms of IDR frame interval/segment sizes. You can reduce latency by forcing the incoming IDR interval to 1 and setting the minimum segment length to 1 but this will make the source, the DME, and the client work much harder than they may need to.

You can also enter the bandwidth associated with each incoming stream. The stream bandwidth is important when generating an adaptive bitrate stream with multiple streams. Although Vbrick 7000/9000 Series (H.264) encoders include the bandwidth information in the stream, some stream sources do not. You may need to provide this information (if your encoder does not) because HLS generation for adaptive bitrate streaming requires accurate bandwidth information to work properly.

1. Enter the stream name for the generated HLS stream.

2. To create an adaptive bit rate playlist, enter a unique name for your master playlist. This

must be different from any incoming stream name, otherwise leave blank. When blank, the default non-adaptive playlist name created is "HLS" which is required in the playback URL. Use the same name when creating multiple HLS streams which are then all associated with the adaptive bitrate master playlist. The highest bandwidth streams should be at the top of the list of (1 to 25) HLS streams.

3. If you know your incoming stream does not have bandwidth information, enter a value

(in kbps) in the bandwidth override field for the stream. This value supersedes any value actually in the stream.

4. Playlists that are created using “rolling” means that the old segments are deleted as new

segments are created for a live stream. In some applications, you may want to keep all your segments and create an ever growing playlist. This lets you create a DVR-like feature where users can tune in late into a live presentation, and rewind to the beginning or jump back to the present.

Caution: the “appending” setting does not delete segments and may adversely impact the space available on your hard drive. You could conceivably use all remaining disk space if you leave a live stream running from the source into the DME. Thus a built-in safeguard stops creating appending segments and switches to rolling segments after 7 days.

Note: if you need to archive appending (non-rolling segmentation), the segments and playlist are available via FTP in the folder:

streamname, only when the stream is enabled and active. When disabled, all associated

/HLS/streamname or /MultiplePlaylistName/

playlists and segments are deleted from disk.

5. The

Playlist Length field signals the playlist size of segments and controls the length of

DVR functionality when Type = Rolling. This field is ignored when Type = Appending. Leave at the default (rolling) unless you have a compelling reason to change.

6. The

Minimum Segment Length is a number (in seconds) that determines minimum size of

segments that will be created. Although reducing this number reduces latency, it also creates smaller files meaning that the player will need to request new segments more frequently. Make this number a multiple (2x) of the IDR Frame Interval. For Vbrick encoders, the default interval is 4, so that 8 (the default) is a recommended value.

7. Enable the stream(s) and click

8. The status will indicate “

Stream” if the input stream cannot be found.

Apply.

Active” if HLS streams are being created or “Waiting for

9. You can also verify the detailed status of your outbound TS stream on the Monitor >

MPS Connections page.

Input and Output DME Streams

DME Admin Guide 59

Out-7 > Re lay (Un ic as t/M u ltic as t)

Relays can be used to output RTP streams as either unicast or multicast. However, it is normally used for multicast, since pushing RTP should use OUT-10 whenever possible. As explained below, after configuring the stream source, there are two ways to configure the relay destination. You can (1) configure an Announced UDP relay where the stream is announced and transmitted via Auto Unicast (Out-11); or (2) configure an Unannounced UDP relay where the destination device requires access to the sdp file located on the source DME.

The use case for Auto Unicast is not recommended—use Out-11 instead, a similar use case. Details are covered in a unicast destination the sdp file may have to be manually copied the from the source to the destination - an error prone and inconvenient process. It is occasionally necessary to use this technique to communicate with an end device depending on firewall settings. The dominant use for the Relay configuration is to generate an RTP multicast. Typically the sdp file is accessed via HTTP. The sdp file contains all of the information needed for the client to locate the multicast. Each of these options is explained below. See more about relays.

Tip: For a step-by-step procedure that explains how to configure a multicast relay in greater detail, see

Out-10 > Push RTP via RTSP below. If using Unannounced relay with

RTP Relay Overview for

Play a DME Stream.

Figure 1. RTP Relay Page

Source Settings

Every relay has one source and one or more destinations. The source is typically the Hostname or IP address of the DME.

60 © Vbrick Systems, Inc.

Field Description

Configure a DME Stream

Source Hostname

The Hostname or IP address of the DME.

or IP Address

Mount Point The incoming stream .sdp filename.

Request incoming stream

This option creates an RTSP pull for an RTP stream. It is recommended that this option NOT be used. If this option is needed please use In-6 and configure an RTPS push to the RTP Server (Out-

10). Check this box to request an incoming stream from the specified DME source. If the source is a DME server, you must specify the administrative username and password of that server.

• User Name – valid administrator name on the DME.

• Password – valid administrator password on the DME.

Wait for announced stream(s)

This is the preferred option. Check this box to wait for a stream to be announced (via Auto Unicast). The DME will start relaying when a new stream is announced on the source IP address. Under normal circumstances the Auto Unicast is a local RTP Push via RTSP (Out-10) internal to the DME

Destination Settings

As noted a relay has one source but it can have multiple destinations. Use Add Destination or

Remove Destination to manage the destinations. Always click Apply to save your changes or

the changes will be lost when you exit the page.

Field Description

Hostname or IP Address

This is the unicast or multicast destination IP address, typically an QuickTime or Darwin server or a another DME.

Announced UDP This option is not recommended. Please use the equivalent Push RTP

via RTPS (Out-10). Check this box when the stream will be announced automatically and continually via an Auto Unicast configured on the encoder. No .sdp file is required with this method.

• Mount Point – this is the .sdp file name.

• User Name – valid administrator name on the DME.

• Password – valid administrator password on the DME.

DME Admin Guide 61

Field Description

Unannounced UDP

Check this box when the stream will not be announced via Auto Unicast. The stream will be sent to the specified IP address and port number. The most feature is most commonly used for multicast stream distribution. In this use case, the most common means for a player to access this stream is by fetching the sdp file via HTTP. For unicast the only method for playback requires the inconvenient step of placing an.sdp file on the destination server so it is not recommended.

• Base Port – the port to which the stream is sent. It can be an arbitrary port. It must however be an even number and, in the case of unicast, be a unique port number on the destination server. The Base Port will be used to send either audio or video depending on the order of streams in the .sdp file. The first stream uses the Base Port number; the next stream uses Base Port number + 2.

• Multicast TTL – Used to specify the number of routers the multicast stream will pass through before it stops propagating over the network. Range = 1–255. Set this for the topology of the network you are working on.

 To configure a unicast/multicast output:

Objective: This use case describes how an existing RTP stream can be relayed as a unicast or multicast output from the DME. This allows the rebroadcast of stream acquired through use

In-8 < Unicast/Multicast RTP or In-3 < RTP Auto Unicast or (most commonly)

case through an RTP Auto Unicast (Out-10) from the Multi Protocol server. For a step-by-step procedure that explains how to configure a multicast relay in greater detail, see the

Play a

DME Stream topic.

Announced UDP – follow Steps 1–4, and 7.

Unannounced UDP – follow Steps 1–6.

1. The SDP file generated for input use case

In-8 < Unicast/Multicast RTP will need to be copied, renamed, and modified when relayed to another destination. Leave the original SDP file in place. For the remaining cases, the sdp file will be automatically generated

2. Create a new Relay in System Configuration > RTP Relay Settings by clicking on new relay.

3. Enter a relay name identifying this relay.

4. In Source Settings enter the IP address

127.0.0.1, Select Request incoming stream.

If the input is In-8, enter the original SDP filename for mount point. In other cases, select the Target Name of the “Push RTP via RTSP”. Note that the mount point must always have a “.sdp” file extension. For In-3 or Out-10, use the stream name. If using Announced UDP, go to Step 7.

5. Enter the multicast or unicast address or hostname to send the stream to in

Settings. Since this is not an auto-unicast relay to another DME (Step 7) or a server that

supports auto-unicast, select

Unannounced UDP and enter the first port number used by

Destination

the first stream listed in the SDP file. Subsequent streams use an incremental even number value. If this is a multicast, and needs to adhere to multicast time-to-live restrictions, enter the value in the Multicast TTL field.

Configure a DME Stream

6. Enable and apply the relay and stream will start to be delivered. You will need to distribute the new SDP file created in Step 1 for your destination for subsequent multicast clients to use to tune into the relay.

7. If you are utilizing the Auto Unicast output feature select

If using Unannounced UDP you are done.

Announced UDP and enter the

user name and password if required by the destination device. If the input is from an Unannounced Unicast/Multicast (In-8) be sure to use the new SDP name.

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-8 > Cre ate HDS (f o r Flash )

 To create an HDS stream for serving via HTTP:

Objective: This use case explains how to create an HDS (HTTP Dynamic Streaming) stream which is essentially a set of Flash video fragments made from an input H.264 stream with a playlist, so that it can be played on Flash players via an HTTP protocol.

The configuration of the HDS is equivalent to the configuration of HLS streams in Out-6 above; the same steps may be followed. The screens for configuring these options are identical.

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-9 > Pu s h ( RTM P)

In this scenario the DME functions as a live encoder that sends the stream to another RTMP (i.e. Flash) server such as a Wowza, an FMS, or another DME. The parameters on this page are similar to those on the Flash Pull Settings page (see image on the topic) but there are also additional fields marked with (o).

These (o)ptional fields may be required at the destination device, for example by a Wowza or other Flash server. For more about these fields, see Output Configuration >

In-6 < Pull (RTSP)

Flash Push.

Figure 1. DME Flash Push

 To configure a push (RTMP) output:

Objective: This use case is similar to use case incoming into a DME. See

In-1 < Push (RTMP) for more details.

In-1 < Push (RTMP) where the stream is

Input and Output DME Streams

DME Admin Guide 63

Out-10 > P u s h RT P v ia RT SP

 To push an incoming stream out via auto unicast:

Objective: This use case explains how to push an incoming stream via RTSP RTP Auto Unicast to another destination. This feature is typically used to bring a TS or RTMP stream into the DME and send the stream via RTSP to the internal RTP server so that you can multicast the RTP stream via a multicast relay.

1. Enter the destination address. This is typically the loopback address ( is assumed to be port 554. If not 554 enter a different port number, for example:

127.0.0.1:555

2. Enter the incoming stream name you want to publish as an RTP stream. This can be another incoming RTP, RTMP, or TS stream name.

3. Enter the target name (typically name.sdp) which then can be used to serve or relay the RTP stream using the SDP name. Be sure the name is not already in use when pushing to this destination.

4. Most likely external destinations will require authentication. If so, enter the username and password.

5. Select

6. The status will indicate “

Enabled and click Apply.

Active” if a stream is being delivered, “Waiting for Stream” if the

input stream cannot be found, or “

Disconnected” if the destination cannot be written to.

7. You can also verify the detailed status of your outbound TS stream on the Monitor > MPS Connections page.

127.0.0.1). The port

Once the stream is being pushed to the destination, example localhost (

127.0.0.1), it can be

used to stream to more clients via RTSP, or you can setup a multicast relay to send the original incoming RTMP stream out via an RTP multicast.

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-11 > Pu s h RTP via RT SP

This is not a recommended configuration, Please use the equivalent Out-10 instead. It should be noted, however, that Out-11 will do RTP via RTSP Push using UDP while Out10 will use RTSP interleaved, a TCP protocol. The TCP protocol is recommended, but firewall considerations may require use of the UDP option. Configuration of this option is discussed briefly under use case

Out-7 > Relay (Unicast/Multicast).

Input and Output DME Streams

Out-12 > Serve (.wm v, HLS, HDS, o ther)

Use this option to serve .wmv, HLS, or other files via progressive download. The DME has a built-in HTTP Progressive Download server for stored VOD files only that have been FTPed to the DME. A Progressive Download server lets you begin viewing the stream before it has been completely downloaded. It streams all file types supported on the DME (see the table on supported file types on the (.m3u8), and HDS (f4m) files. This is the only way to serve .wmv files from the DME. The HTTP

VOD Servers topic) including Windows Media (.wmv), HLS

Configure a DME Stream

server uses Port 80 by default but this can be changed on the System Configuration > Port Settings page. You can play the stream in an appropriate player (see the table below) for example in a QuickTime, Flash, or HLS (iPhone) respectively using a URL similar to these:

http://<ip_address>/filename.wmv

http://<ip_address>/subfolder/filename.flv

HLS

For HLS, use the following options:

 To play a live non-adaptive HLS stream when no master playlist is selected:

http://<dme_ip_address>/HLS/<stream_name>/playlist.m3u8

 To play a stored non-adaptive HLS stream when no master playlist has been created:

http://<dme_ip_address>/<stream_name>/playlist.m3u8

 To play a live or stored adaptive HLS stream and have the player specifically select one

stream (normally for test purposes):

http://<dme_ip_address>/<master_playlist_name>/<stream_name>/playlist.m3u8

 To play a live or stored adaptive HLS stream and (typically) have the stream selected by

automatic negotiation between the player and the server:

http://<dme_ip_address>/<master_playlist_name>/playlist.m3u8

HDS

For live HDS, use the following options for a configured live stream.

To play a non-adaptive HDS stream when no master playlist is selected:



http://<dme_ip_address>/HDS/<stream_name>/manifest.f4m

 To play an adaptive HDS stream and (typically) have the specific stream selected by

automatic negotiation between the player and the server:

http://<dme_ip_address>/HDS/<master_playlist_name>/manifest.f4m

For stored HDS content the content must be placed in the hdsvod directory under ftproot. Use the following URLs for playback:

 To play a non-adaptive HDS stream when no master playlist is selected:

http://<dme_ip_address>/hdsvod/<filename>.f4m

 To play a stored adaptive HDS stream and (typically) have the specific stream selected by

automatic negotiation between the player and the server:

http://<dme_ip_address>/hdsvod/<filename>.f4m

Table 1. Outputs and Associated Players

DME Output Supported Players

RTP Vbrick StreamPlayer, QuickTime

RTMP Flash players (e.g. Adobe, JW, VLC, etc.)

WMV Windows Media Player, Vbrick StreamPlayer

HLS iOS devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod)

HDS Flash players via HTTP

DME Admin Guide 65

 To configure a serve (WMV) output:

Objective: This use case allows files to be delivered via HTTP to a destination client. Files of type .wmv (Windows Media) cannot currently be served via the DME. Files can however be delivered via HTTP progressive download. This u is not restricted to WMV files, and almost any file type can be served via HTTP.

Input and Output DME Streams

System Configuration

Network

 To access the Network fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > Network.

Chapter 5

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

 To access the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) field:

1. Navigate to section.

Use this field to configure your yourdmehostname.yourcompanydomainn.com).

This name will be shown in the banner graphic at the top right of all the DME Admin UI configuration pages.

Currently, the FQDN defaults to DME<MAC ADDRESS>.While you can continue to use this, it is recommended that you change it. Please contact your network administrator to make sure that this FQDN is registered within your DNS servers for easy access. Also remember that this FQDN will identify the appliance to various network applications -including DHCS and the

System Configuration > Network > Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

Fully Qualified Domain Name (e.g.,

Caution: Please make sure to enter your FQDN in all lowercase letters.

VBDirectory application.

DME Admin Guide 67

Note: Be aware that the FQDN field is tied to your current SSL Certificate. Changing this value will revert the DME back to a self-signed certificate. Please review the application of Certificates to align this name with the contents of the certificate.

SSL Certificates

IPV4 Network Interface 1

 To access the IPV4 Network Interface 1 fields:

1. Navigate to

The DME supports up to four network interface (NIC) cards you can use to increase the bandwidth and throughput available to the DME. A DME with one NIC card has an overall bandwidth limitation of 1GB for all output streams. A DME with the load shared over four NIC cards provides 4GB of bandwidth. Note that when load sharing is enabled, the primary NIC card (IPV4 Network Interface 1) cannot use DHCP. With multiple NIC cards and load sharing enabled all NICs will use the same IP address as the primary.

System Configuration > Network > IPV4 Network Interface 1 section.

Field Description

Network DHCP Default = Enabled. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. If

DHCP is enabled, the appliance gets its IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Gateway from the DHCP server. If the DHCP server supplies the DNS server address, these parameters will replace the user-entered DNS settings.

The DME is setup by default to acquire an IP address via DHCP. If the DHCP server is not available at boot time, the DME DHCP IP address acquisition will fail and the appliance will retry to reacquire the address every 10 minutes. During the 10 minute retry period, the appliance uses a default IP address of subnet mask of

255.255.0.0. If you need to change the DME to use

172.17.1.5 with a

a static IP address instead of getting one from DHCP, connect the DME to the network, connect a laptop to the network, set the laptop to be on the same subnet, and give the laptop a fixed IP address of into the DME management interface (default:

172.17.1.5:8181

172.17.1.6 with subnet of 255.255.0.0. You can then go

http://

) to login and give the appliance a static IP address.

System Configuration

Field Description

IP Address This is either a static or a DHCP-enabled IPv4 address. If IPv6 is

turned on for this segment of the network, this will be an autogenerated global IPv6 address. If using IPv6, use the IPV6 Address field below. Note: Although the IPv6 address is displayed, it cannot be used to manage the appliance as yet.

Subnet Mask Subnet mask for the DME address.

Gateway IP Address Gateway IP Address for communicating across distinct network

segments.

Maximum Transmission Unit Size

Range 500–1500 (default = 1500). The MTU is used for all network traffic from the DME and defines the largest network packet size that will be transmitted. A higher MTU brings higher bandwidth efficiency and Vbrick recommends using the default. However you may wish to reduce MTU size to meet the requirements of some networks with VPN or other security tunnels that cannot tolerate 1500 byte packets.

Configured Interface Speed / Duplex

Default = Auto Detect. Use Auto Detect or manually set the bit rate and duplex setting for network devices that do not support auto negotiation. With Auto Detect the DME will automatically adjust its duplex setting and speed to match the switch or hub to which it is attached.

Detected Interface Speed / Duplex

Read only. Displays the current connection speed and duplex setting.

MAC Address The Media Access Control address is a unique identifier assigned

to the DME for network communications.

IPV6 Address Optional. Enter an IPv6 address.

IPv4 Network Interface 2–4

IPV4 Network Interface 2-4

The DME will auto detect the number of NIC cards installed. If more than one NIC is installed, you can use the additional card(s) to increase bandwidth and throughput.

• Disabled – Default. You can disable the NIC if, for example, you have bandwidth constraints imposed by your network or service provider.

• Load Share Enabled – The NIC will load balance the resources used by output streams.

NAT

 To access the NAT Public IP Address field:

1. Navigate to

DME Admin Guide 69

System Configuration > Network > NAT section.

Network address translation is the method by which private IP address are held and referenced in a network translation table. It is common practice to hide an entire IP address space, usually consisting of private IP addresses, behind a single IP address.

To avoid ambiguity in the handling of packets, a one-to-many NAT alters higher level information such as TCP/UDP ports in outgoing communications and maintains a translation table so that return packets can be handled correctly. The DME allows stream access through a direct IP address, a Natted IP address, or both.

Field Description

NAT Public IP Address The public IP address in a network translation table.

Domain Name Server

 To access the Domain Name Server fields:

1. Navigate to

Field Description

System Configuration > Network > Domain Name Server section.

Primary Server IP Address This is the primary server used for DNS lookups. This

service will resolve a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) into numerical IP addresses.

If the user interface pages are loading slowly, make sure this is a valid IP address. If you are not using a DNS server, leave this field blank. Please consult your Network Administrator if you have questions.

Note: An invalid IP address will adversely impact the operation of the user interface.

Note: DNS server addresses are automatically supplied if you have Network DHCP enabled. Any changes to these addresses will be overwritten at boot up if DHCP is enabled.

Secondary Server IP Address This is the secondary server used for DNS. It serves the

same purpose as the primary server, but will be used if the primary server is unable to resolve the FQDN to an IP address.

System Configuration

Field Description

Search Domain These domains will be searched by your computer when

performing IP lookups for less than fully qualified or noncanonical host names.

For example, if your Search Domain is “mycompany.com” and you perform a ping on “testCompuerA”, then “testComputerA.mycompany.com” will resolve (if possible) and be pinged. Ping is used here just an example – any application that needs name resolution will use this field for domain search restriction.

Note: The Search Domain field is automatically supplied if you have Network DHCP enabled. Any changes to these addresses will be overwritten at boot up if DHCP is enabled.

Network Time Synchronization

 To access the Network Time Synchronization fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > Network > Network Time Synchronization section.

These fields are used to synchronize network time using the host name or IP address of a known server to provide a synchronized time for all appliances in the network.

Note: Network Administrators please note. DHCP Option 4 (TIME) and Option 42 (NTP) are requested from the DHCP server to obtain SNTP server addresses. One or both of these options must be enabled in the DHCP server for these addresses to be returned to the DME. If both are returned, the DME will use the NTP server address. If the DHCP server configuration is unknown, it is recommended that the address(es) be manually entered since the DHCP server-supplied address will always override a manually-entered address.

Field Description

Network Time Protocol Check to enable network time synchronization. Default =

Disabled.

Primary Server IP Address Primary host name (DME Host Name or DNS Host Name)

or IP address of valid SNTP server providing time synchronization. A blank field indicates the server address will be acquired via the DHCP server only if the

field above is checked.

DHCP

Network

Secondary Server IP Address Secondary host name (DME Host Name or DNS Host

Name) or IP address of valid SNTP server providing time synchronization. A blank field indicates the server address will be acquired via the DHCP server only if the

field above is checked.

DHCP

Network

DME Admin Guide 71

Proxy

If your network utilizes HTTP(s) proxies, use this screen to specify them.

 To access the Proxy fields:

1. Navigate to

Field Description

Proxy Check to enable a proxy server. Disabled by default.

HTTP Proxy URL HTTP URL of a valid HTTP proxy server. An IP address or

System Configuration > Network > Proxy section.

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) can be used. This should be in one of the following example formats:

http://10.10.1.201:3128

http://httpproxyname.mycompany.com:3128

Where 10.10.1.201 is an IP address, the FQDN is an HTTP proxy server address, and 3128 is the proxy port.

Consult your Network Administrator for your own unique network specifics.

Note: If FQDN is used, please use all lowercase letters.

HTTPS Proxy URL HTTP URL of a valid HTTPS proxy server. An IP address or

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) can be used. This should be in one of the following example formats:

http://10.10.1.201:3128

http://httpsproxyname.mycompany.com:3128

Where 10.10.1.201 is an IP address, and the FQDN is an HTTPS proxy server address, and 3128 is the proxy port. Consult your Network Administrator for your own unique network specifics.

Note: If FQDN is used, please use all lowercase letters.

Proxy Exceptions Use Exceptions when you want to bypass proxies for specific

destinations. To create an Exception(s), include IP addresses of Exceptions, separated by commas. This should be in the following example format:

10.10.0.1, 10.10.0.23.

Username Username for the proxy

Password Password for the proxy

Ports

 To access the Ports fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > Ports.

System Configuration

Field Description

RTSP Server Port Default = 554. RTSP port for VOD streams from RTP

server. Cannot be changed. Used to receive an RTP Auto Unicast stream as input and to serve RTSP RTP clients for output

MPS Server Port Default = 1935. MPS Server Port for Flash VOD streams

from MPS server. Allows MPS streams as input. For example a Vbrick H.264 encoder can be an MPS input stream.

Note: This was formerly labeled the RTMP Server Port.

Multi-Protocol Server RTSP port

RTMP Server Announce Listener Port

Default = 5544. The port number used by the Multi-Protocol Server to listen for announcements.

Default = 5544. Allows for listening for auto unicast sessions from RTSP clients. Lets you send RTP streams to an RTMP streaming server via Auto Unicast (for transmuxing to Flash, HLS, or TS). Also allows TS streams to be served via RTSP on this port.

VBAdmin Server Port Default = 8181. Specifies the listener port for HTTP

management connections as follows:

IPaddress = DME IP address or hostname, and port.

where

http://IPaddress:port

The port number can be moved to another port if required as long as it does not conflict with another existing port in the system.

Conversion Input Port Start Default = 64879. The starting port number used by the

Stream Conversion feature.

Secure VBAdmin Server Port Default = 8383. Specifies the listener port for management

and HTTPS connections. Used for HTTPS connections when enabled on the

Security configuration page. Can be

moved to another port number if required.

DME Admin Guide 73

Field Description

HTTP Server Port Default = 80. Sets the port used for progressive download

(HTTP), HLS streams, and Caching. This port can be 80 or a safe port in the range 1025–65535. An error message will indicate an invalid port.

HTTPS Server Port Default=443 Secure HTTP port

HTTP Streaming Tunneling Port

Default = 8080. Sets the port for HTTP tunneling via RTSP. The default is 8080 but if you are streaming HTTP directly from a DME via the Internet, it is a common practice to change this to 80 and to set any other service using port 80 to a different port. If you change this value you will need to make a

comparable change on the player and on the DME configuration (i.e. HTTP Tunnel Port) in VEMS.

HTTP Caching ICP Port (starting port of 8 consecutive ports)

This defines the starting port of a range of 8 consecutive UPD ports used for ICP. This value sets the ports used to discover multiple web caches on the local (source) DME and on remote DMEs. The default UDP port is 3130, and it is highly recommended that this value is not changed. Changing this port will impact DME shared caching (MESH). If you must change this range of ports, then it must be changed (to the same value) on ALL DMEs within your deployment.

SIP Port Default = 5060. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) port is

used as a communication signaling port for VCGW features of the DME.

FTP Data Port Default = 20. Defined for FTP data port; works for FTPS as

well.

FTP Command Port Default = 21. Defined for FTP command port; works for

FTPS as well. The FTP client that connects to the DME must use ACTIVE mode to utilize this port.

SFTP Port This is the port that sFTP will utilize.

Note: For correct operation of the DME Mesh and shared caches, do not change the HTTP and HTTP default ports. Additionally, changing the HTTP Caching ICP Port must be changed on ALL DMEs and is therefore not recommended.

Security

 To access the Security fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration

System Configuration > Security.

Field Description

External VBAdmin VBAdmin cannot be completely disabled: select HTTP or HTTPS.

Default = HTTP.

• HTTP – VBAdmin is enabled via HTTP.

• HTTPS Only – VBAdmin is encrypted and secured using HTTPS.

SSH Shell Default = Enabled. SSH Secure Shell access may be used by Vbrick

Support Services. Do not use except as directed.

External FTP Server Default = Enabled. Disabled will prevent FTP sessions to the DME

appliance. Note that this feature must be enabled to upgrade the appliance firmware.

External FTP Server Mode

The FTP server can run in one of two modes: Standard FTP (which is the default), FTPS TLS Forced.

The FTPS TLS Forced is secure and utilizes TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2. This mode is only Explicit FTPS.

When changing the DME between Standard and FTPS TLS Forced, the DME will default the data channel to port 20, and the command channel to port 21. If you wish a different port, please modify it on the Ports page AFTER selecting the appropriate FTP mode.

Note: The DME does not support the alternative SFTP.

Any changes to this setting will not reboot the server but will restart the FTP service—ending any active FTP transfers in progress.

SNMP Server Select to enable the SNMP server. Required to enable SNMP traps

and alarms.

SNMP Server Mode Specify what version of SNMP to enable.

RTMP Server Default = Enabled. Enable the RTMP server for Flash streaming.

DME Admin Guide 75

Field Description

RTMP Announce Receiver

Flash Server Authentication

Serve HTTP/HLS Videos

TLS Support Use this dropdown to select the level of TLS support you want the

Cache Manager Utility Default = Disabled. For debugging only.

SNMP

Vbrick supports SNMP v2 and SNMP v3 traps. SNMP traps are a subset of the SNMP management component of the appliance. Use of any element of the SNMP management system requires use of an SNMP browser or SNMP manager application (not supplied).

Default = Enabled.

Default = Enabled. If enabled, then RTMP streams pushed to the DME must be authenticated using credentials on the

Authentication screen. If disabled, then any RTMP stream can be

Stream Input

pushed to the DME without authentication being required.

Note: As always, it is recommended that you modify the default passwords.

This setting controls how HTTP content, e.g. HLS, will be delivered. The default setting is to allow either HTTP or HTTPS delivery. It should be noted that VEMS will utilize HTTP, On Premises Rev (depending on configuration) may use either HTTP or HTTPS, and Cloud Rev requires HTTPS for the player. Changing from this default is not recommended.

DME to use.

Traps are SNMP base messages used by SNMP elements to report changes in status or alarm conditions to remote SNMP management entities. Traps are generally used to alert network administrators of potential equipment problems or other noteworthy events. The trap event will be sent every time the monitored event occurs and then not again unless the condition goes away and returns or if SNMP is restarted or reconfigured on the DME.

Currently defined traps are sent with the root Vbrick OID of 1.3.6.1.4.1.4289 with text indicating which trap it is.

Vbrick supports read-only access to the following standard MIBs (DMEs currently support MIB-I, but not MIB-II/MIB-2 standards):

• HOST-RESOURCES-MIB (.1.3.6.1.2.1.25.)

• UCD-SNMP-MIB (.1.3.6.1.4.1.2021.)

• IP-MIB (.1.3.6.1.2.1.4.)

• IF-MIB (.1.3.6.1.2.1.2.)

Note: The VBAdmin UI utilizes the Linux free command to determine memory usage (free and swap). This is a different calculation of memory than is reported by the UCD-SNMP-MIB (which does not include slab allocation in cache). For more accurate free physical memory, you may wish to consider tracking the sum (memAvailReal.0 + memBuffer.0 + memCached.0) – also still lower than what is reported by free. This also affects HOST-RESOURCES-MIB. Please be aware of this and review if you are using SNMP to track memory via either of these MIBs.

 To access the SNMP fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > SNMP.

System Configuration

Field Description

SNMP Server Running Default = False. Enabled on the Security page. Must be

enabled to allow SNMP reads and traps.

Read Community The community string used for SNMP v2 and v1 read access.

May include any combination of alphanumeric characters and only the underscore special character.

SNMPv3 Username Default = "SNMPadmin". May include any combination of

alphanumeric characters and only the underscore special character.

SNMPv3 Authentication Password

Enter password. Must be at least 8 characters. May include any combination of alphanumeric characters but only the following special characters: ~ ! # $ ^ * + & [ ] { } | < > _

SNMPv3 Authentication Protocol

Select protocol: MD5 or SHA. Select the authentication protocol that matches the set up in the SNMP management tool you are using. If both are present in the management tool, SHA is regarded as the more secure choice.

SNMPv3 Privacy Password Required. Must be at least 8 characters. May include any

combination of alphanumeric characters but only the following special characters: ~ ! # $ ^ * + & [ ] { } | < > _

SNMPv3 Privacy Protocol Select protocol: DES or AES. AES is more secure and should

be selected here unless your management tool does not support this protocol.

SNMPv3 Security Level • Authentication Only (Default)

• None (No Authentication or Privacy)

• Authentication and Privacy

Trap Mode Default = Traps Disabled. Used to enable v2 or v3 SNMP

Traps.

DME Admin Guide 77

Field Description

Trap Destination The IP Address of a SNMP management station where traps

Disk Space Threshold A percentage between 1 and 99 of available allotted disk

CPU Threshold A percentage between 1 and 99 of allotted CPU processing

General

 To access the General fields:

1. Navigate to

are sent. The SNMP management application should be active on this station in order to receive any traps.

space. The trap is triggered when the amount of disk used for content (Home page > Disk Usage Content field) reaches or exceeds this percentage.

power. The trap is triggered if the “Total CPU Load” (Home page > Total CPU Load field) reaches or exceeds this percentage.

System Configuration > General.

System Maintenance

 To access the System Maintenance fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > General > System Maintenance.

System Configuration

The Name, Location, and Contact fields are used to identify the appliance. They are not changed when you click

Default. (They are changed when you reset to the defaults on the

Manage Configuration page.)

Field Description

System Description Read-only. Company name and product name.

System Model Number 7530, 7550, or 7570.

System Serial Number Unique serial number assigned to unit. See label on DME.

System Licenses Displays whatever licenses are currently installed and may include:

DME Base, VC Gateway, among others.

System Name User-defined. System name, for example Biology Dept.

System Location User-defined. System location, for example West Campus.

System Contact User-defined. Contact person, for example Jane Doe.

Lo g in

 To access the Login fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > General > Login.

Field Description

System Login Message This customized message (max = 8k chars) will be displayed on the

System Login

If default is unchecked a custom Logo can be uploaded.

Banner(200x45px)

System Time

 To access the System Time fields:

1. Navigate to

Field Description

Date Time Sets system date and time in

Time Zone Select from list: (GMT-12) Eniwetok – (GMT +12) Auckland.

System Configuration > General > System Time.

mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm format. The

appliance will reset when you click

Set Time.

DME Admin Guide 79

Field Description

Daylight Saving Time U.S. only. Check this box and the appliance will automatically

adjust for Daylight Savings Time. This is particularly useful when monitoring the System Logs.

Sy ste m Re se t

 To access the Reset button:

Navigate to

Button Description

Reset Resets (i.e. reboots) the appliance. A reset does not change, save,

The Apply, Revert, and Default Buttons

Reset the System

Streaming

 To access the Streaming fields:

1. Navigate to

This page is used to set various configuration constraints. Be aware that it is possible to overload the DME. That is, you can configure the maximum number of RTP connections (and the maximum throughput) in such a way that performance will be seriously degraded.

System Configuration > General > System Reset.

or reset any configuration parameters.

System Configuration > Streaming.

If this happens, all clients will be affected and some connections may actually be rejected. Guidelines for choosing the number of connections depend on the model number (shown on the System Configuration >

General page) of your DME. For best results, use the

recommendations shown below.

Field Description

System Configuration

Max. Number of RTP C onnections

Max. Number of Multi Protocol Connections

Range: 0–1000. Select this value based on number of expected connections. When selecting the number of connections, the total expected bandwidth of the streams should not exceed recommendations. The recommendations shown here for each model are for total throughput (input and output) in megabits per second:

• DME Model BPS 7530 - Do not exceed 100 Mbps.

- Hardware Part # 8000-0222-0x00

- Software Part # 7500-0250-0x00

• DME Model XPS 7550 - Do not exceed 500 Mbps.

- Hardware Part # 8000-0223-0x00

- Software Part # 7500-0251-0x00

• DME Model HPS 7570 - Do not exceed 3000 Mbps.

- Hardware Part # 8000-0224-0x00

- Software Part # 750-0252-0x00

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 100/100/100

The maximum number of allowed connections. This will vary by DME model.

• DME Model 7530 - May not exceed 100.

• DME Model 7550 - May not exceed 1000.

• DME Model 7570 - May not exceed 2200.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 100/1000/2200

RTP Server Max. Throughput

Set maximum allowed throughput in mbit/sec or kbits/sec. See recommendations above.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 100/100/100

DME Admin Guide 81

Field Description

Multi Server Max. Throughput

RTP Buffer Length (seconds)

RTCP Timeout (seconds)

Maximum amount of bandwidth used by streaming clients within the Multi Protocol Server. This includes RTP/RTSP/RTMP/ RTMFP/Vbrick Multicase. This number is capped by the appropriate DME license, but can be set lower to limit the actual max bandwidth used.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 100Mb/500Mb/3072Mb

The maximum time a packet will sit in a streaming buffer before being delivered to the client. This is adjusted for poor quality networks between client and server. Lower numbers may reduce playback latency. The higher number allows it to behave better with poor network connections.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 10/10/10

The maximum time the DME will wait for a RTP server will wait before timing out the connection. Setting a value of 0 means never timeout. This is useful if the source is not sending any RTCP reports. Also, when using Pause in a RTP player, this number is what the server will wait as a maximum before terminating the paused connections. Setting it to 360 will allow a maximum pause of 5 minutes. It also means it will wait up to 5 minutes to drop connections that do not terminate gracefully, including live content, where the stream is interrupted.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 15/15/15.

Default Authentication Scheme

• Basic – the DME server sends authentication credentials over the network in Base64 encoded text.

• Digest – the DME server sends encrypted authentication using MD5 credentials over the network.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): digest/digest/digest

System Configuration

Field Description

Differentiated Services Differentiated Services (DiffServ) is a course-grained mechanism

and setting that can be used to help manage a network’s quality-ofservice (QoS). The setting, which is 1 byte entered as decimal, is injected into the IP header to allow QoS for the data packet for UDP and TCP.

Please consult your network administrator before using this feature.

DiffServ takes up the first 6 bites of the 1-byte value you enter.

The DS field structure is presented below:

Therefore, any value you intend to use will fill the first 6 bits, with the 7th and 8th unused. The two tables below this one outline the correct entries for a number of common DiffServ settings.

Note: Additional information can be found in RFC2474

https:// www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2474.txt, and RFC2475 https:// tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2475.

Note: Use of Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) (in the 7th and 8th bit) is not covered here. Please see RFC3168

https://

tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3168. This value is in decimal.

Note: This is currently not available for HLS and HDS streams.

IMPORTANT: This value, when changed, is not automatically

propagated through all outgoing lines and their headers. To do so, would disrupt any playback. Therefore, when resetting this value, all outgoing lines must be disabled and then re-enabled for this value to be used within each of the streams' headers. It is not sufficient to disable or reboot the server.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 0/0/0

Cache System Settings Used

Be aware that this setting has a direct impact on memory and disk usage. If not configured properly, system memory will not be available for other functions. Do not change the default (Normal) unless you will be using the DME for a different function as explained below.

• Low – the DME will not be used for caching.

• Normal – the DME will be used primarily as a reflector and secondarily as a caching engine.

• High – the DME will be primarily used as a caching engine and secondarily as a reflector.

• Dedicated – the DME will be used exclusively for caching.

Caching for additional details.

See

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): Normal/Normal/Normal

DME Admin Guide 83

Field Description

Caching Workers Allows the number of Caching Workers to be adjusted. If you are

primarily doing DME to DME caching, then set this number high. If you are primarily doing Akamai pulls into the DME, set this number to 1. Note: The number of maximum available workers is the number of DME cores but it is capped at 8.

Defaults (7530/7550/7570): 4/4/8

Differentiated Services Values

The following tables provide the 8-bit encoded values to be used within the DME. Please select the correct value from the VBAdmin DiffServe Value column from the appropriate table. Do not effect changes to DiffServ without engaging your Network Administration Group to avoid conflicts and align with their policies and procedures.

Class Selector Values

DSCP Binary

VBAdmin

DiffServ

Value

Typical

Application

Examples

CS0 (Default)

000000

CS1 001000

CS2 010000

CS3 011000

CS4 100000

CS5 101000

CS6 110000

CS7 111000

List of the commonly used DSCP values described in Network Administrator before modifying any DiffServ values.

128

160

192

224

Scavager YouTube, Gaming, P2P

OAM SNMP, SSH, Syslog

Signaling SCCP, SIP, H.323

Realtime TelePresence

Broadcast video Cisco IPVS

Network control EIGRP, OSPF, HSRP, IKE

RFC 2475. Please consult your

Commonly Used DSCP Values

Binary

101110

VBAdmin

DiffServ Value

184

Meaning Drop Probability Equivalent IP

Precedence Value

Expedited

N/A 101 Critical

forwarding (EF)

Commonly Used DSCP Values

Binary

VBAdmin

DiffServ Value

System Configuration

Meaning Drop Probability Equivalent IP

Precedence Value

000000

001010

001 100

001110

010010

010100

010110

011010

011100

120

104

112

Best effort N/A 000 Routine

AF11 Low 001 Priority

AF12 Medium 001 Priority

AF13 High 001 Priority

AF21 Low 010 Immediate

AF22 Medium 010 Immediate

AF23 High 010 Immediate

AF31 Low 011 Flash

AF32 Medium 011 Flash

011110

100010

100100

100110

Reflection of Akamai Streams for Rev VC Live Webcast

Caching

The goal of caching within the DME and a DME network is to allow a viewer to locate and playback content hosted by any (with reachability) DMEs. Set up will depend on the deployment used:

• Standalone DMEs or Legacy (VEMS)

• DMEs with Rev

120

136

144

152

AF33 High 011 Flash

AF41 Low 100 Flash Override

AF42 Medium 100 Flash Override

AF43 High 100 Flash Override

DME Admin Guide 85

The caching system on the DME, which is independent from the content directories, is stored either in Memory or on Disk. These caches are maintained, and content is aged out by the caching system.

Depending upon your specific needs for this particular DME, you may wish to increase or decrease the caching capabilities. Specifically, you can control how much memory and disk the caching system can utilize. These settings control only HTTP based protocol caching (which includes progressive mp4, HLS and HDS delivery). Each of these settings will also have an impact on the amount of available storage for VOD content. Further, extensive use of the CPU will have a trade-off effect with other CPU intensive features (like transrating). As such, High or Dedicated settings should only be used on DMEs that will be used as reflectors or purely caching. DMEs that are used as prepositioned content servers should be set with Normal to Low caching settings.

This setting is unique to each of your DMEs within your deployment. As an example, it may be, based on your deployment architecture, that a few edge DMEs will be set as High Caching to facilitate remote reflection, while larger content DMEs may be set for Normal or Low. Please consider this setting during your deployment architecture design.

The table below defines the memory and disk allotments (what is available to be used as a percentage of system resources) by usage level (Dedicated, High, Normal, or Low – as selected and defined by the Cache System Resources (Memory/Disk) Used: setting within the DME.) These allotments are consistently applied across all DME versions, e.g., Large DMEs set to High will use the same percentage of memory (30%) as a Small DME set to High. These percentages are based off the memory within the system, so any over- or underprovisioning within VMs will be reflected in the allotment. The table also defines a minimum setting (or floor) for each of the values.

These allotments are based on a 75%/25% rule of use that prioritizes in-memory cache use over on-disk cache use. In other words, the DME reserves up to 75% of allowable memory (based on the chart below) for in memory objects, while the remaining 25% is used for indexes of on-disk caching. By limiting our disk cache index use to 25%, we have also reduced the addressable on-disk cache. This rule has had an reduction impact on the size of disk cache, as compared to older DME versions, but still represent a sizable use of storage depending on usage level.

These settings can be configured on the System Configuration >

Streaming page in the

Cache System Resources Used drop-down.

Dedicated High Normal Low

Memory Allowable Use 50% 30% 12.5% 6.25%

Minimum Setting 512 MB 256 MB 200 MB 100 MB

Disk Allowable Use 14.5% 8.6% 3.5% 1.7%

Minimum Setting 8192 MB 4096 MB 2046 MB 1024 MB

Tip: Your system Cache (both memory and disk) can be cleared by the Clear Cache button on Maintenance > System Maintenance page.

Please see the

System Maintenance topic for details.

Standalone DME or Legacy (DME with VEMS) Caching Configuration

System Configuration

Mesh with Rev Caching Configuration

Manage Configuration

Stan d alo n e DM E o r Le g ac y (DME w ith VEMS) Cac h in g Config uration

Creating a caching solution within a Legacy (VEMS) or Standalone DME deployment is discussed in this topic.

Although, a major focus of the feature is to allow access to HLS or HDS content created in another DME, the mechanism is generally the same for all HTTP accessed content. This is accomplished by creating a configuration of parents and alternate sources (i.e. siblings) on each DME. Then a client is directed to a DME located in the same zone by providing the URL of the local DME. It is not uncommon to have different sources for different types of HTTP content. Given that the most common and efficient way to configure the caching network is to configure parent relationships, the configuration allows different parent configuration for each major type of HTTP content.

The goal of configuring the caches on each DME in a network is to allow a client in any subnet (i.e. a "zone" in the VEMS context) to access content hosted by an HTTP server elsewhere in the network. Although, a major focus of the feature is to allow access to HLS or HDS content created in another DME, the mechanism is generally the same for all HTTP accessed content. This is accomplished by creating a configuration of parents and alternate sources (i.e. siblings) on each DME. Then a client is directed to a DME located in the same zone by providing the URL of the local DME. It is not uncommon to have different sources for different types of HTTP content. Given that the most common and efficient way to configure the caching network is to configure parent relationships, the configuration allows different parent configuration for each major type of HTTP content.

As shown on the parents for each of a number of types of HTTP content, one

Alternate Sources. Each of these IP addresses must be unique.

System Configuration > Caching page, each DME configuration consists of

Default Parent, and multiple

When the DME receives a request for HTTP content it will first determine if the content is cached locally. It will then try to find the content by completing the following steps:

1. Determines if the content is produced locally.

2. Checks with the

3. Attempts to obtain the content from a

Content Specific Parents are checked before the Default Parent. Each parent may follow the

Alternate Sources that have been defined.

Content Specific Parent.

same process trying to locate the content. Once the content is found, it is delivered to the requesting client through the discovery path. Each DME in the path will also cache the content to allow provide more efficient delivery to other requestors.

For many simple caching matrices, configuring the

Default Parent is all that is required.

Note that HLS/HDS/Smooth Streaming/DASH playlists are never cached since in the case of a live events, the playlists are constantly updated.

The image below shows a sample network diagram of multiple DMEs with one DME in each zone. In general, the goal is (1) to allow any DME to be a source of appropriate HTTP content, and (2) to allow clients in any subnet to access appropriate HTTP created in any other DME.

DME Admin Guide 87

Multiple DME Configuration (Sample Network Diagram)

 To access the Caching fields:

1. Navigate to

System Configuration > Caching.

When configuring a DME, the first step is to designate one Content Specific Parent for each content type. Also identify a

Default Parent for the DME for content not explicitly handled

by one of the other parents.

In the following example for simplicity, only a

Content Specific Parents. When Content Specific Parents are present, separate caching

Default Parent for each DME is defined- no

matrices exist for each content type.

In order to minimize the amount of required information, the master parent (DME A) should be at the "center" of the caching mesh, although you can actually designate any DME as the master. Each DME should designate as its parent the DME most efficiently on the path to the master parent. The master parent should designate all other DMEs that may be generating content as

Alternate Sources (i.e. siblings).

It is recommended (but not required) that any DMEs which can not be efficiently accessed on the master parent path, be entered as

Alternate Sources.

The table below shows the recommended configuration for the image displayed above.

Table 1. Recommended Sample Configuration

DME Default Parent Alternate Source

G E None

FD G

D A E, F, G

A None B, C, D, E, F, G

In another example, suppose a client co-located with DME E in the image above wants to access an HLS stream initiated on DME G. Since this configuration defines DME A as the Master Parent, the ultimate path for content delivery would be as follows (with asterisks showing where caching occurs):

DME G* > DME E > DME D > DME A* > DME D* > DME E*

Note that if DME G was designated as an alternate source for DME E, the path would simply be: DME G* > DME E*. Although this example designates a DME as master parent (as often happens if the content to be cached is HLS or HDS where content is not sourced from a DME, e.g. Smooth Streaming), the master parent will likely be an HTTP server.

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