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Windows Server Forum / Windows Media Server / June 2007Keeping a publishing point up and running
I'm building a semi-complex media streaming infrastructure for broadcasting internal communications (executive speeches and the like) and I'm running into a problem that publishing points don't stay up if they aren't receiving a signal. Because I can't use multicasting across WAN links here the basic design I've developed is - A mobile encoding XP box and camera that goes to where the person is broadcasting from. The encoder then sends the encoded video to a "master" Windows Media Server in a data center (I'm currently pulling the stream because I can't seem to get Push to work, but that's another issue.) That master Media Server then sends a Unicast stream to "slave" Windows Media Servers in multiple branch offices in the organization. Those slave Media Servers then Multicast the speech to the branch. I have pre-defined Multicast only publishing points because we have the user go to our portal and pick their location and click go and they receive the .NSC file and all for that location, and I don't to have to update the .NSC file every time I want to stream another speech. What I'm running into is that when my encoder shuts down the publishing points automatically go into a stopped state, and when I want to broadcast another speech the person running the encoder has to log into each server (via remote desktop or the web admin interface) and start the publishing points again. This is highly inconvenient, and because human intervention needs to take place mistakes can take place and servers could be missed. Is there any way to keep a publishing point up and running even though it's not receiving a signal? Thanks for your time. Brad >design I've developed is - A mobile encoding XP box and camera that goes to >where the person is broadcasting from. The encoder then sends the encoded >video to a "master" Windows Media Server in a data center (I'm currently >pulling the stream because I can't seem to get Push to work, but that's Have you checked your firewall and routing to ensure the encoder is pushing to the correct location, and that TCP port 7007 is open on the server end ? http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsmedia/deploy/fwconfig.mspx >What I'm running into is that when my encoder shuts down the publishing >points automatically go into a stopped state, and when I want to broadcast [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >there any way to keep a publishing point up and running even though it's not >receiving a signal? I think it's just that you're missing the terminology to find the info you need. It's "encoder failover", which is achieved simply using a WSX file to roll the encoder to a static image (or a backup encoder) until it reconnects. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/mediaadvice/0068.m spx#EPG You'll nee WS2003 standard, enterprise or datacenter to use those features. Also take a look to at the reconnect behaviour in this document http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms753592.aspx although not documented there, it actually has 2 possible different parameters http://www.iliveu.com/wmserver_en/hosting/streaming/controllingencoderfailoverwi thurlmodifiers.htm HTH Cheers - Neil ------------------------------------------------ Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs Perfect, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot Neil. >>design I've developed is - A mobile encoding XP box and camera that goes >>to [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs So I may have found an issue with your solution. It seems to work swimmingly with Unicast, when I point my media player to the "slave" Media Server I see the streaming video, I then stop the encode and on the "master" Media Server it switches over to a picture (or another video) and that shows up in my media player just fine. But when I set up a Multicast things don't work at all. I run the Multicast Announcement Wizard on the "slave" Media Server and point it at the "master" Media Server (I chose "Remote Publishing Point" and use a rtsp://servername/pubpoint address.) I can then launch the .ASX file and watch the Multicast stream fine, but as soon as I stop the encoder the Multicast stream errors out and doesn't switch to the picture (if I have a Unicast stream going at the same time the Unicast stream shows the picture but the Multicast bombs out.) If I go onto the server and stop and restart the publishing point I get an Error Code: 0xc00d006b (Error Description: The publishing point cannot be started because the server does not have the appropriate stream formats. Use the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create a new announcement for this publishing point.) It seems that Multicasting is unhappy if I change up the media type on it (from encoding to JPG.) I've tried Googleing for Multicast encoder failover but I'm not finding anything. Is there any way to work around this? Thanks again for your help. Brad >>design I've developed is - A mobile encoding XP box and camera that goes >>to [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 > http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs Ok, never mind, I figured it out. When you run the Multicast Announcement Wizard you have to point it to all the possible media you will be streaming. So if I'm using a picture as my publishing point "keep alive" I need to point the "slave" Media Server Multicast Announcement Wizard to the picture as well. Brad Martin > So I may have found an issue with your solution. It seems to work > swimmingly with Unicast, when I point my media player to the "slave" Media [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] >> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 >> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs That's correct. Also note that you can manually combine multiple NSC files into one so that you don't have to provide a separate file for each multicast source. I can give you more details if you're interested. > Ok, never mind, I figured it out. When you run the Multicast Announcement > Wizard you have to point it to all the possible media you will be streaming. [quoted text clipped - 67 lines] >>> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 >>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs Please do, that's something I'd like to do. Thanks. Brad Martin > That's correct. Also note that you can manually combine multiple NSC > files into one so that you don't have to provide a separate file for each [quoted text clipped - 83 lines] >>>> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 >>>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs Going off old memory... Delete the Multicast Adapter line from the main NSC file. Open the other NSC files and copy their Format lines to the end of the main file, incrementing the counter as necessary. Format lines with identical information can be removed. The main NSC file can now be used to launch streams from multiple multicast sources. > Please do, that's something I'd like to do. > [quoted text clipped - 82 lines] >>>>> Digital Media MVP : 2004-2007 >>>>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs |
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