Event ID 310 — Unicast Logging

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can configure Logging plug-ins in Windows Media Services to keep a record, a log file, of client and server activity during a streaming session. Log information can also help:

• Track server usage so that you can decide when you might need to add more resources to your system.
• Assist you in planning your security implementation. For example, if your system is subjected to a denial-of-service attack, log files can help you determine which clients are being used in the attack.
• Identify user-reported issues with your streaming system by providing event codes that correspond to common issues.
• Provide historical data for use in trend analysis and business cases.

For more information, see Logging Model for Windows Media Services.

Event Details

Resolve

Specify Network Service account permissions for logging

Windows Media Services uses the Network Service account to log files in %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS\<V>\, where <V> represents a folder that has the same name as the publishing point from which the logging data is originating. If the WMS Client Logging plug-in is logging data for a server, <V> represents the [Global] folder. If you are using a remote computer for administration, the directory is located on the server generating the log file, not the remote computer. By default, the Network Service account has Read, Write, and Modify permissions to %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS\ and its subdirectories.

If the specified log folder does not reside in %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS\, you must specify permissions on the alternate log folder for the Network Service account.

To perform this procedure, you must have membership in the local Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority.

To specify Network Service account permissions for logging:

1. On the Windows Media server, open Windows Media Services. To open Windows Media Services, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Media Services.
2. In the console tree, click the Windows Media server or the on-demand publishing point for which you want to log data.
3. In the details pane, click the Properties tab.
4. In Category, click Logging.
5. In Plug-in, right-click WMS Client Logging, and then click Properties.
6. In the WMS Client Logging Properties dialog box, on the General tab, note the location where log files are stored in Directory.
7. In Windows Explorer, right-click the log folder, and then click Properties.
8. On the Security tab, click Edit.
9. In the Permissions for <Object name> dialog box, click Add.
10. In the Select Users, Computers, or Groups dialog box, in Enter the object names to select, type Network Service, and then click OK.
11. In the Permissions for <Object name> dialog box, in the Group or user names area, click NETWORK SERVICE.
12. In the Permissions for NETWORK SERVICE area, click the Allow check box for the following permissions: Read, Write, Modify.
13. Click OK to save the changes.

Note: After this problem is corrected, the plug-in will try to log data to the unicast log file again at the beginning of the next log cycle period. To begin a new log immediately, click Cycle Now in the WMS Client Logging Properties dialog box.

Verify

To verify that the client logs are being created correctly, test a stream by using Windows Media Player:

1. If you want to test the stream by using Windows Media Player on the computer that is running Windows Media Services, you must install Desktop Experience. For more information, see Installing Desktop Experience.
2. In Windows Media Services, in the console tree, click the publishing point that hosts a stream that you want to test.
3. In the details pane, click the Announce tab, and then, in Connect to a unicast stream, note the value of the URL that a client can use to access the content.
4. Start Windows Media Player on a computer that can access the stream, and enter the URL that you noted in the previous step.
5. Using the Player controls, test the control functionality of the content stream. Broadcast streams can use the Start and Stop commands. On-demand streams can use the Start, Stop, and Pause commands, and the Seek bar.
6. Test all the available streaming protocols. A unicast stream will try to connect by using the MMS protocol, but will switch to the RTSP protocol if network conditions or the Player version requires it. The HTTP protocol is not active unless the WMS HTTP Server Control Protocol plug-in is enabled. For more information, see About data transfer protocols.
7. Allow the stream to play for a representative period of time and check that the stream quality is sufficient for the type of content and the capabilities of the equipment.
8. View the fields in the log file to confirm that they are filled in correctly. For more information, see Log File Entries Reference.

Note: You can use a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) value created by Windows Media Player to identify the Player connection to the Windows Media server and view the log entries created by the Player that you use in your test environment. The c-playerid field in the log is used to record the Player ID value. To help protect user privacy, the option to send unique Player identification information to content providers is turned off in Windows Media Player. For Player log entries, if the Player is configured to not send this information, the recorded value in c-playerid is: {3300AD50-2C39-46c0-AE0A-xxxxxxxxxxxx}, where x is the session ID of the client. To identify the log entries generated by the Player in your test environment, you can enable the option to send a unique Player ID on the Privacy tab in Windows Media Player. For more information, see the Windows Media Player Privacy Statement.

Related Management Information

Unicast Logging

Streaming Media Services