This white paper provides the "best practices"—or the most useful techniques and approaches—for deploying RealNetworks®RealSystem RealServer® 8.01 across a network. It is targeted at network managers, system architects, and administrators who are interested in using RealServer for the following purposes:
This white paper assumes a solid understanding of RealServer, network architecture, and the leading operating systems, as well as familiarity with the process of creating streaming media files. For a more thorough understanding of these technologies, see the links in the Additional Resources section later in this paper.
Because of the bandwidth-hungry nature of streaming media, the consistent and reliable delivery of streamed files—often over complex network paths—is imperative. Understanding how to calculate your hardware and software system requirements is crucial to building an effective, scalable network that can respond gracefully to sudden bursts of traffic. While RealNetworks provides reasonable numbers for basic planning on the three most popular platforms, in the Memory Usage section, there are numerous variables that can affect your real-world deployment and performance.