Announcing publishing point content
Applies To: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2
When delivering content as a unicast stream, either through an on-demand publishing point or a broadcast publishing point, use the Unicast Announcement Wizard to create the announcement file. The announcement file contains the following information:
The URL of the content
Announcement metafile elements, such as the author, title, and copyright
When a user opens the announcement in his or her Player, the Player extracts the URL of the content and the metafile elements from the announcement and then begins playing the content.
If you are delivering content as a multicast stream through a broadcast publishing point, you must use the Multicast Announcement Wizard. When you use this wizard, the announcement that is created contains the following information:
The URL of the multicast information file
Announcement metafile elements, such as author, title, and copyright
When a user opens the announcement in his or her Player, the Player extracts the URL of a multicast information file. This file contains information the player needs to access and decode the stream, such as the IP address, port, and stream format. The Player downloads the multicast information file and then begins playing the content.
To announce publishing point content
In the console tree, select the publishing point that contains the content you want to announce.
In the details pane, click the Announcetab.
Click Unicast Announcement Wizard, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
Note
This procedure only applies to the Windows Media Services snap-in.
For a broadcast publishing point, you can announce your content by clicking either Unicast Announcement Wizard (for a unicast stream) or Multicast Announcement Wizard (for a multicast stream) and then following the steps in the wizard.
If you change the list of stream formats after the creation of the multicast information file, the existing file is not valid. You must run the announcement wizard again to update the file. You are not required to create a new announcement.
Distribution servers cannot use announcement files to connect to a publishing point. To enable a distribution server to connect to your publishing point, you must give the publishing point URL to the distribution server administrator.
Multicast streaming is not available if Windows Media Services is installed on some Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 operating systems. For more information, see Decide which version of Windows Server is right for you.