Chapter 9: Bandwidth Management

Helix Universal Proxy uses several methods for managing bandwidth of streaming media. Whether you implement just one method, or you use several in conjunction, you have the ability to moderate the amount of streaming media traffic on your network.

Overview

When you install Helix Universal Proxy, the values for each of these settings is configured to use the maximum available number.

Techniques for managing the bandwidth you use include:

• Maximum Client Connections—limits the number of clients that can connect at one time.
• Maximum Proxy Bandwidth—restricts the bandwidth in use between Helix Universal Proxy and clients.
• Maximum Gateway Bandwidth—restricts the bandwidth in use between Helix Universal Proxy and Helix Universal Servers.

The default value for each method is 0, which means Helix Universal Proxy will use the maximum amount permitted by your license. If you establish values for all these features, Helix Universal Proxy will limit access when the lowest threshold is reached. If a client tries to make a request after a limit has been reached, the client receives an informative error message.

Maximum Client Connections

By using the Maximum Client Connections setting, you can limit the number of clients who connect simultaneously. Once this limit is reached, clients that attempt to connect receive an error message, and will not be able to connect until other clients disconnect.

To limit access by limiting connections:

1. In Helix Administrator, click Proxy Setup. Click Bandwidth Management.
2. In the Maximum Client Connections box, type the number of client connections you want to allow simultaneously.

This number can be from 1 to 32767, as long as it is less than or equal to the number of streams permitted by your license. If it is 0 or blank, Helix Universal Proxy uses the number of streams specified by your license. The default value is 0.

3. Click Apply.

Maximum Proxy Bandwidth

The Maximum Proxy Bandwidth setting establishes a threshold on the amount of bandwidth proxy uses for connections, in kilobits per second (Kbps). Helix Universal Proxy will make no new connections once this threshold has been crossed.

For example, if you set this to number to 100, and Helix Universal Proxy made one connection that used 80 Kbps, it can still make a connection of 40 Kbps even though the total Kbps in use is now 120. However, no new clients will be permitted to connect after that, as the maximum bandwidth use has been exceeded.

To limit client bandwidth:

1. In Helix Administrator, click Proxy Setup. Click Bandwidth Management.
2. In the Maximum Proxy Bandwidth box, type the maximum number of kilobits per second (Kbps) that should be in use at once.

For example, to limit the bandwidth to one megabit, specify maximum bandwidth usage by setting Maximum Proxy Bandwidth to 1024.

3. When you have finished making changes, click Apply.

Maximum Gateway Bandwidth

You may want to limit the amount of bandwidth Helix Universal Proxy acquires, whether from another Helix Universal Proxy, Helix Universal Server, or the Internet.

Limiting gateway bandwidth limits the following Helix Universal Proxy functions:

• pass-through data connections
• pull splitter data connections
• initial cache requests

The number in Maximum Gateway Bandwidth is given in kilobits per second (Kbps). Helix Universal Proxy will make no new upstream connections once the gateway threshold has been crossed.

For example, if you set this to 2048, and Helix Universal Proxy made one connection that used 1024 Kbps, it can still make a connection of 1600 Kbps (even though the total Kbps in use is now 2624), but no new connections can be made after that.

To limit Helix Universal Proxy-to-gateway bandwidth:

1. In Helix Administrator, click Proxy Setup. Click Bandwidth Management.
2. In the Maximum Gateway Bandwidth box, type the maximum number of kilobits per second (Kbps) that Helix Universal Proxy should use when it connects to its gateway.

For example, to limit the bandwidth to two megabytes, specify maximum bandwidth usage by setting Maximum Gateway Bandwidth to 2048.

3. When you have finished making changes, click Apply.

Limiting Access to Multicast Reception

By setting Multicast Delivery Only to Yes in the multicast list, you can require that clients within a certain range of IP addresses connect only in multicast mode. When this option is set to Yes, clients that are not able to connect in multicast mode receive an error message. If this option is No, clients that cannot connect in multicast mode can use unicast mode to receive the presentation.

This feature is described in Chapter 8, "Multicasting".

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