Welcome to RealServer™, the most powerful server for streaming media files across an intranet or the Internet. This manual will help you use and optimize RealServer for real-time delivery of multimedia files.
This guide is intended for the technical system administrator who will manage RealServer and its activities, but not necessarily create the material to be streamed. Information on creating content is available in a companion book, RealSystem G2 Production Guide.
IS professionals, server administrators, Web masters and others providing Web pages for the Internet and intranet may also find this document useful.
RealServer Administration Guide is also available online at
http://service.real.com/help/library/index.html.
This manual contains the following chapters:
This chapter gives step-by-step instructions on getting RealServer started and running quickly.
If you're familiar with previous versions of RealSystem™, this chapter will give you a quick update on the new features in RealServer version 7.0.
This chapter gives the "big picture" of how RealServer works with a Web server to stream media to client software such as RealPlayer©.
In order to serve clips to users, you first need to get the content. This chapter describes two methods (RealProducer Plus™ and G2SLTA) for creating content.
This chapter describes how to construct the links to your content.
This is a guide to starting and stopping RealServer. Depending on which platform your RealServer runs on, different automatic options are available. The license structure is discussed.
Modifying RealServer by changing settings in the configuration file is the key to fine tuning RealServer features. Whether you use the RealSystem Administrator or edit the configuration file directly, this chapter describes how to make changes to RealServer.
This chapter discusses differences between RealServer on the different platforms, media caches, firewalls, and the assignment of IP addresses for RealServer's use.
If you are delivering content to users on the Internet, you'll want to know how RealServer and other RealSystem products interact with firewalls.
In this chapter, instructions are given for delivering pre-recorded or prepared clips.
Live clips are streamed much like static clips, with a few differences. Learn how to make broadcasting work well.
Splitting can help you make the best use of bandwidth and can provide highest-quality reception.
Multicasting is a way of sending a single live stream to multiple clients, rather than sending a stream to every single client. Clients connect to the stream, rather than to the RealServer.
You can limit access to RealServer by specifying restrictions such as maximum bandwidth and IP addresses.
Control and limit who can view your content; this chapter describes the different RealServer authentication methods and the advantages of each.
RealServer comes with some different methods for tracking authentication information. Use such data for billing or to track who's watching what.
If you are an Internet Service Provider (ISP), you can host streaming media on behalf of your customers.
To provide highest-quality service, you'll want to keep track of how many people are accessing your RealServer. This chapter describes the different methods of watching Server activity.
You'll want to look at trends and see what content is most popular. RealServer can report player behavior with a customizable degree of detail. Errors are reported in their own log, which can help you troubleshoot any problems that arise.
RealServer can automatically insert advertisements into presentations. This chapter describes the many options available within this feature.
Any problems? This chapter lists good steps to take when you're not sure what's wrong. It also lists error messages and tells what to do about them.
A quick reminder of the structure of URLs for all the different types of content and delivery formats for streamed media.
This appendix consists of a discussion of the XML syntax used by the configuration file.
This is a guide to the configuration file contents, for those who prefer to edit it directly rather than using RealSystem Administrator.
For those RealServer administrators who've worked with a previous version of RealServer, this chapter lists settings in the old configuration file along with their new XML-based equivalents.
This section explains some conventional terms and formats used throughout the manual
Because this manual is aimed at the RealServer administrator, the term "you" refers to the administrator. People or customers who play clips served by RealServer are referred to as "visitors," "viewers," or "users."
RealSystem clients, such as RealPlayer, are referred to generically as "clients". Where information applies specifically to the RealNetworks RealPlayer or RealPlayer Plus™, this is spelled out. Although most clients in use are RealNetworks' own RealPlayer, RealNetworks also makes a software development kit that enables other companies to develop their own players which can also receive streamed data types.
RealSystem production tools, which create the files and data that RealServer streams, are referred to simply as "encoders."
"Clips," "content," "media files," and "files" are used interchangeably to indicate the material that RealServer streams.
The following table explains the typographic conventions used in this manual:
Examples of links that point to the RealServer are given like this:
realserver.company.com
realserver is meant to be the machine name of the computer that is running your RealServer. Substitute the name of your organization's computer where you see this text.
company.com is meant to be an example of a domain name. Substitute the domain name of your organization's machines where you see this text.
In all the examples shown in this book, it is assumed that you installed RealServer in the default location for your operating system, and that you are using default values for all settings. You can certainly customize RealServer to meet your needs; default values are shown in this manual for clarity.
On Windows-based platforms, the default installation directory is C:\Program Files\Real\RealServer. For UNIX-based platforms, the default installation directory is /usr/local/RealServer.
Depending on which RealServer product you purchased, some of the features described in this manual may not be available to you or may be limited in some way (such as the number of streams you can transmit simultaneously). Consult your license file for a list of which features are enabled on your RealServer. If you would like to add to your RealServer's capabilities, contact RealNetworks or your reseller.
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Additional Information |
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| Instructions on reading license files with RealSystem Administrator are given in "License Information". |
In addition to this manual, you may need the following RealNetworks resources, available at http://service.real.com/help/library/index.html.
This manual explains the basics of creating streaming files with the RealSystem tools. It tells how to calculate bandwidth needs and shows how to put a multimedia presentation together. To view this manual, click Resources under Help in RealSystem Administrator.
This guide supplements RealSystem G2 Production Guide. It explains how to use JavaScript or VBScript to control RealPlayer functions for a presentation embedded in a Web page.
This manual explains how to create streaming text. You can use RealText, for example, to create a live stock ticker feed or provide video subtitles.
With RealPix you can create streaming slide shows of still images. RealPix Authoring Guide tells you how to put a slide show together and use special effects such as fades and zooms.
If you are using RealProxy software, or are working with someone who is, this manual describes the use of RealProxy and configuration information.
RealNetworks has developed a Software Development Kit (SDK) that lets you integrate applications with RealSystem or create new plug-ins for RealServer or RealPlayer. Knowledge of programming is required to use the SDK. Register for and download the SDK from
http://www.realnetworks.com/devzone/.
General troubleshooting steps and information about contacting RealNetworks technical support are given in Chapter 21, "Troubleshooting".