Downstream faults

Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2

Failure of the Windows Media server or one of its downstream components, such as a distribution server, can prevent clients from receiving the content they requested. Using multiple Windows Media servers to stream the same content, called clustering, reduces the risk of interrupted service.

Clustering is a valuable fault tolerance technique because reduced capacity or failure of any one server is unlikely to interrupt the whole system. If one server stops responding, the workload of the failed server can be immediately and seamlessly transferred to the other servers.