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Add/Edit Publishing Point Dialog Box

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Use the Add Publishing Point dialog box to create a Live Smooth Streaming publishing point on the Web server. Use the Edit Publishing Point dialog box to edit settings for a Live Smooth Streaming publishing point that you select.

UI Element list

The following tables describe the UI elements that are available in the dialog box.

Basic Settings

Use the Basic Settings tab to specify general publishing point settings, such as the name of the file that stores the publishing point settings and how it is configured to receive live streams.

Element Name Description

File name

Enter a file name for the Live Smooth Streaming publishing point. The publishing point file (a file that has an .isml file name extension) defines the publishing point settings.

Title

Enter a descriptive title for the publishing point.

Estimated duration

Enter the duration of the live stream, if you know it, so that the client Seek bar can be scaled to the length of the stream. Format the duration as days. hours: minutes: seconds. For example, if you know that the live stream duration is one hour, enter 01:00:00.

Note
Be aware of the following requirements when entering the duration value:

  • The maximum value for seconds is 59 (00:00:59). 60 seconds must be entered as 1 minute (00:01:00).

  • The maximum value for minutes is 59 (00:59:00). 60 minutes must be entered as 1 hour (01:00:00).

  • The maximum value for hours is 23 (23:00:00). 24 hours must be entered as 1 day (1.00:00:00).

  • The maximum value for days that can be entered is 10675199 (10675199.00:00:00).

  • The total maximum value that can be entered is 10675199.02:48:05.

  • The value must be a positive value.

Live source type

If the live streams are posted to the publishing point from one or more live sources, such as an encoder or a publishing point on another Live Smooth Streaming server, select Push. If the publishing point gets the live streams by requesting them from one or more live sources, select Pull.

When you select Pull, the Publishing Point URL list is displayed so that you can add the URLs of the live stream sources. The same live stream can be delivered from multiple sources so that if one fails, another can take its place, resulting in no disruption of the stream to clients. To add the live stream source URLs to the list, click Add to open the Add Publishing Point URL dialog box and then enter the live stream source URLs and authentication credentials if required.

To remove a live stream source URL from the list, click the URL in the Publishing Point URL list, and then click Remove.

Advanced Settings

Use the Advanced Settings tab to specify one or more roles that the publishing point performs. At least one of the following roles must be selected for a publishing point:

  • Archive. The publishing point archives the live streams from an encoder or from a publishing point on another Live Smooth Streaming server to a Smooth Streaming presentation for later on-demand viewing by clients.

  • Client DVR. The publishing point delivers the live streams to Smooth Streaming-compatible clients.

  • Server distribution. The publishing point distributes the live streams to publishing points on other Live Smooth Streaming servers. You can configure publishing points on multiple Live Smooth Streaming servers to source from this publishing point in order to balance the load across the servers in your Live Smooth Streaming network.

A publishing point can be configured to perform any combination of these roles.

Element Name Description

Archive media

Select this option to store the live streams as a Smooth Streaming presentation that can be served to clients for later on-demand viewing by using the Smooth Streaming extension for IIS 7. By default, the live streams are archived to a Smooth Streaming presentation folder in %SystemDrive%\inetpub\media\archives\WebSiteName\PublishingPointFileName-isml.

If you decide to archive the live stream, select one of the following options that specify how the live stream will be archived:

  • Archive as single presentation. Archives the live stream as a single Smooth Streaming presentation, which contains the following files: one contiguous .ismv file per bit rate, a presentation server manifest (.ism) file, and a presentation client manifest (.ismc) file.

  • Archive as segmented presentation. Archives the live stream as multiple Smooth Streaming presentations. The duration of each presentation is specified by entering a value in the Segment length box. Choose this option if you want to split a long-running live stream into shorter segments for on-demand viewing. For example, you can archive a live stream that lasts 24 hours into 24 on-demand Smooth Streaming presentations, each lasting one hour.

Note
For more information about how to change the archive root directory for live streams, see Live Smooth Streaming Page.

Allow client connections

Select this option to enable the publishing point to return live streams when they are requested by clients.

If you choose this option, select one of the following options that specify how the clients can use their DVR transport (Fast Forward, Rewind, and Seek) controls:

  • Enable DVR for the entire event. Enables clients that join the live stream in-progress to rewind to the beginning of the live stream, and then use Fast Forward and Seek controls to access any part of the live stream that has been published by the live source. This setting creates an archive of the entire live stream, which is discarded after the publishing point is shut down.

  • Enable DVR for recent content. Enables clients that join the live stream in progress to use their DVR transport controls within the part of the live stream that you specify in the DVR window length box. For example, if you enter 30 in the DVR window length box, clients can rewind 30 minutes of the live stream, and then use Fast Forward and Seek controls to access any part of the live stream that has been published by the live source from that point forward. This setting creates an archive of the live stream with a duration that is equal to the DVR window length. As the live stream plays, archived content that is older than this setting is discarded.

Allow server connections

Select this option to enable the publishing point to return live streams when they are requested by publishing points on other Live Smooth Streaming servers in a distributed network.

Publishing points on other Live Smooth Streaming servers can be configured as Pull publishing points that get live streams from this publishing point. You can also configure this publishing point to push live streams to other publishing points by selecting Push in the Live source type drop-down list on the Basic Settings tab.

When you select Push, the Publishing Point URL list is displayed so that you can add the URLs of additional publishing points to which this publishing point will push live streams. The live streams can be pushed to multiple publishing points to balance the load across the servers in your Live Smooth Streaming network. To add the publishing point URLs that will receive the live streams to the list, click Add to open the Add Publishing Point URL dialog box and then enter the publishing point URLs and authentication credentials if required.

To remove a publishing point URL from the list, click the URL in the Publishing Point URL list, and then click Remove.

Start publishing point automatically upon first client request

Select this option to configure the publishing point to start automatically when it receives a request. The request can be an HTTP GET request for live streams from a client or from a publishing point on another Live Smooth Streaming server. It can also be an HTTP POST request with live streams from an encoder or from a publishing point on another Live Smooth Streaming server.

Number of lookahead fragments

Enter the number of fragments that will be buffered by the server. Clients use the information about the buffered fragments, which is stored in the current response, to optimize requests for the subsequent buffered fragments in a stream. This enables smoother playback of video.

The number of lookahead fragments that you choose introduces latency equal to the combined length of the buffered fragments into the live stream. For example, choosing 2 lookahead fragments introduces 4 seconds of latency into the stream if the fragment length is 2 seconds. Entering a value of 0 will minimize latency; however, it will not completely eliminate it due to factors such as network congestion or other factors outside the server's control.

Note

Smooth Streaming-compatible clients that are based on the Silverlight 3, Silverlight 4, and Silverlight 5 frameworks support this feature, which is only available in IIS Media Services 4.

Mobile Devices

Use the Mobile Devices tab to specify settings for delivering live streams to Apple® mobile digital devices, including iPhone® and iPad® devices. For more information about how to configure Live Smooth Streaming publishing points to serve live broadcasts to Apple mobile digital devices, see Apple HTTP Live Streaming with IIS Media Services.

Note

These settings are only available in IIS Media Services 4.

Element Name Description

Enable output to Apple mobile digital devices

Select this check box to enable the Live Smooth Streaming publishing point to convert live Smooth Streaming MPEG-4 (MP4) fragments to MPEG-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-2 TS) segments, and to create an Apple HTTP Live Streaming (.m3u8) playlist file that describes the MPEG-2 TS presentation for the mobile device.

Segment length

Enter the duration of each MPEG-2 TS segment, in seconds. The default value is 10 seconds, which is recommended for most Apple mobile digital devices.

Maximum bit rate

Enter the maximum bit rate, in kilobits per second (Kbps), to be created for the MPEG-2 TS segments. Some bit rates in a Live Smooth Streaming presentation are too high to be played by an Apple device after they are converted to MPEG-2 TS container format. Most Apple devices can play media encoded at bit rates up to 1,600 Kbps.

Enable iOS 3.0 compatibility

Select this check box to enable the MPEG-2 TS segments to be played on Apple devices that use the iOS 3.0 mobile operating system, such as the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch® devices.

This setting enables URLs to be created in the Apple HTTP Live Streaming (.m3u8) playlist file that are compatible with the QuickTime® Player on these devices.

Apple AES-128 encryption

Live Smooth Streams for Apple devices can be encrypted so that they can only be viewed by devices that obtain a file that contains the content key to decrypt the streaming content. Live Smooth Streaming encrypts content by using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key. It can also provide the content key file to clients, or you can specify that the content key be provided from an alternate location, such as a custom ASP.NET Web page.

To use Apple AES-128 encryption for live Smooth Streams, do the following:

  1. Select the Enable check box.

  2. In the Encryption key box, enter a key value that will be used to encrypt the stream. You can enter this value in the following ways:

    • Click the Generate button to enter a random value.

    • Click the Import button and then use the Open dialog box to locate and open a binary-encoded 16-octet key file (a file with a .key file name extension) that is provided by an external source.

    • Type a 128-bit hexadecimal number that represents a 16-octet key value.

  3. If you want the Live Smooth Streaming server to store the content key file locally and provide it to Apple devices that request the encrypted stream, no further configuration is required and you can skip to step 4.



    To serve the key file from an alternate location, such as from a Web server that serves the key file by using dynamic ASP.NET Web pages, a Web server that authenticates users, or from a Content Delivery Network (CDN), do the following:

    1. Click Export to save the existing Encryption key value as a binary-encoded 16-octet key (.key) file on the computer.

    2. Copy the key file to the remote location and configure the remote computer to serve the key file when it is requested.

    3. Select the Use custom encryption key URL check box, and then in the text box enter the remote URL that clients must use to obtain the key file.

  4. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog box.

See Also

Concepts

Add Publishing Point URL Dialog Box
Live Smooth Streaming Publishing Points Page