This chapter describes basic Helix Universal Server setup. These functions include binding to IP addresses, specifying ports, and setting up distributed licenses. You may not need to change any of these settings depending on your system's configuration and the values you chose during installation.
After you install Helix Universal Server, you can change the ports used for protocols such as RTSP and HTTP, as well as for features such as Helix Administrator. RealNetworks recommends that, whenever possible, you use the default communications ports, which are "well-known" ports that Web browsers and media players use by default when contacting Helix Universal Server. The following table lists the default ports for the protocols that Helix Universal Server uses.
| Protocol or Feature | Default Port | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| RTSP | 554 | RTSP-based communication between Helix Universal Server, RealOne Player, and QuickTime Player. |
| MMS | 1755 | MMS-based communication between Helix Universal Server and Windows Media Player. |
| HTTP | 80 | HTTP-based communication between Helix Universal Server and Web browsers, as well as media players behind firewalls that necessitate HTTP cloaking. |
| PNA | 7070 | PNA-based communication between Helix Universal Server and older RealPlayers (primarily RealPlayer 5 and earlier). |
| Admin | (random) | Communication with Helix Administrator. The value is randomly generated during installation, and is required in the browser URL when connecting to Helix Administrator. |
| Monitor | 9090 | Communication with the Server Monitor. For more information on this feature, see Chapter 18. |
| For More Information: For more information about these protocols, as well as topics such as HTTP cloaking, see Chapter 11. |
You can easily change ports through Helix Administrator. This requires a Helix Universal Server restart, and if you change the Admin port, you'll also need to log into Helix Administrator again with the new port value.
| To change Helix Universal Server port settings: |
Set to Yes by default, this option instructs Helix Universal Server to add
protocol port information to all Web page links that use the /ramgen/ mount
point to launch RealOne Player. RealNetworks recommends that you leave
this feature set to Yes. For additional information, see "Handling
Communication through Nonstandard Ports".
If you set this option to Yes, Helix Universal Server automatically includes an
alternate HTTP URL to the streaming content in all Web page links that use
the /asxgen/ mount point. This allows Windows Media Player to request the
content through HTTP if MMS communication is blocked.
Initially blank, this option instructs Helix Universal Server to use the specified range of UDP ports for media player replies. Enter a minimum range of two ports for each CPU on the Helix Universal Server machine. "Helix Universal Server Default Ports" lists the standard UDP port ranges. For background information, see "Working with Firewall Technologies".
If you set the port for a communications protocol such as HTTP, RTSP, or MMS to a nonstandard value, media players may not be able to communicate to Helix Universal Server because they won't know which port to use. When you choose the standard ports, which are set up by default during installation, clients always communicate on the correct ports. If you have set nonstandard ports, you can use port hinting, or add port numbers to URLs.
Port hinting tells a media player which communications ports are used for various protocols. This works only for RealPlayer 8 and later. If you keep the Enable Ramgen Port Hinting URLs feature at its default value of Yes, hinting occurs automatically when you launch RealOne Player or RealPlayer 8 through a Web page link that uses the Ramgen utility.
| For More Information: For instructions on using Ramgen, see "Using a Client Launch Utility". For background information, see "Streaming to Client Software Behind Firewalls". |
When using a Ram file to launch a presentation for RealPlayer 8 or later,
content creators can include port hints with the cloakport parameter. The
player then attempts to connect to the server using the specified protocol and
ports. This is useful if you have multiple Helix Universal Servers that use
different ports. Content creators do not then have to know exactly which port
is used on each machine. In the following example, RealPlayer attempts to
connect through RTSP on port 554. If that doesn't work, it tries RTSP on port
550, and so on. You can specify up to four ports:
rtsp://helixserver.example.com/video1.rm?cloakport="554 550 1012 9120" |
Note:
You'll need to inform content creators about the
cloakport parameter, which is not discussed in RealNetworks
production guides. For more about the Ram file, see "Using
Metafiles".
|
You need to include the specific, nonstandard port number in URLs in cases
where port hinting and the cloakport parameter don't work. This includes
communication with Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, and
RealPlayers earlier than version 8. This also applies to Web page links that use
the HTTP protocol. For all protocols, you add the port number after the Helix
Universal Server address, separating the two with a colon. For example:
rtsp://helixserver.example.com |
| Note: You'll need to alert content creators to the use of nonstandard ports so that they can write hyperlinks correctly. The section "Writing Links to Content" provides more information about Helix Universal Server URLs. |
When Helix Universal Server starts, it uses the IP address assigned to the first network interface it finds on the computernetwork interface 0. In a computer with multiple network interfacesoften referred to as a multi-homed machineyou can configure Helix Universal Server always to use specific IP addresses. Through this feature, you can select individual IP addresses to use, or you can bind to all the IP addresses on the machine.
By default, Helix Universal Server binds to the localhost address (also called the
loopback address), which enables a simulated network connection from Helix
Universal Server to a client installed on the same computer. When using this
address, which is useful for testing, no information is sent over the network,
but it appears as if the connection came from the network. You can express
this address in dotted decimal form as 127.0.0.1.
You can use the IP binding feature to capture all addresses for Helix Universal
Server's use. To do this, specify the IP address 0.0.0.0, and delete all others.
Helix Universal Server will automatically bind to all addresses and to
localhost. For most installations, RealNetworks recommends binding to all
addresses.
If you bind Helix Universal Server to one or more specific addresses, Helix Universal Server binds only to those address, but not to others. In other words, it will not bind to localhost. To bind to a specific address and to localhost, you must add both to the IP binding list.
You bind Helix Universal Server to IP addresses using Helix Administrator. You'll need to restart Helix Universal Server after making these changes.
| To reserve IP addresses for Helix Universal Server: |
Warning!
Use either 0.0.0.0 or specific addresses, but never
both. If you use both, Helix Universal Server will not start.
|
By default, Helix Universal Server on UNIX uses the user and group names of
the person who starts it. After startup, though, it can immediately switch to a
different user and group setting. This lets you start Helix Universal Server as
root, so that it can capture port 554 for RTSP communications, then assume a
different user and group identity. The user and group names must be
predefined through the operating system, and must have write permission for
Helix Universal Server's Logs and Secure directories.
| To change the group or user names: |
%-1, which means Helix Universal Server uses the name of the user who logged in and started Helix Universal Server.%-1, which means that Helix Universal Server uses the group name of the user who logged in and started Helix Universal Server.Helix Universal Server lets you limit the number and types of media client connections made. As well, you can set a limit on the bandwidth that Helix Universal Server uses for streaming. All settings are optional.
| For More Information: For instructions about requiring a user name and password for client connections, see Chapter 13. See also the access control feature described in Chapter 12. |
| To limit connections: |
You can specify a number from 1 to 32767. The value must be less than or equal to the number of streams permitted by your license. If the value is 0 or blank, Helix Universal Server uses the number of streams specified by your license.
On. Other media players cannot then connect.On. Other media players, as well as any free versions of RealPlayer that predate RealOne Player, cannot then connect.| Tip: Your Helix Universal Server license may allow more bandwidth than is suitable for your network. Check with your network administrator to determine the right number to use. |
Although not intended to be used as a Web server, Helix Universal Server can serve any content over HTTP. The following sections cover configuration options for extending HTTP delivery to specific content paths, and for defining MIME types. You generally do not need to change these settings unless you intend to use Helix Universal Server for Web serving functions.
By default, Helix Universal Server restricts HTTP delivery to defined directories. This protects streaming media content from HTTP downloading, which may place copies of downloaded clips in Web browser caches. To serve content in a new location over HTTP, you specify which mount points allow HTTP requests. The following mount points (and the subdirectories of their base paths) are preconfigured to allow HTTP delivery.
| Mount Point | Function |
|---|---|
/admin |
Delivering Helix Administrator pages. See "Starting Helix Administrator". |
/ramgen |
Taking RealMedia requests from browsers. See "Using a Client Launch Utility". |
/httpfs |
Delivering any media or HTML page through HTTP. |
/viewsource |
Sending HTML pages that list source information and markup. See "Displaying Source Information". |
/encfs |
Negotiating port settings between Helix Universal Server and Helix Producer. |
/asxgen |
Taking Windows Media requests from browsers. See "Using a Client Launch Utility". |
/nscfile |
Launching Windows Media multicasts. See "Defining a Multicast Channel". |
/scalable |
Taking scalable multicast requests from browsers. This is added automatically when you set up multicasting. See "Linking to a Scalable Multicast". |
| Note: You generally do not need to change the settings of the preconfigured mount points. For general information about mount points, see "Mount Points". |
| To allow HTTP delivery for a mount point: |
/htmlpages.Because Helix Universal Server acts as a Web server for certain features, it has its own MIME types section. You can modify Helix Universal Server's list of MIME types if you plan to deliver over HTTP a data type not listed in the following table.
| MIME Type | Extension |
|---|---|
audio/x-pn-realaudio |
ram |
image/gif |
gif |
image/jpg |
jpg, jpeg |
text/html |
html, htm |
text/plain |
txt |
video/quicktime |
mov |
| To add a MIME type for HTTP serving: |
Using distributed licensing, multiple Helix Universal Servers can use a single license, sharing a pool of streams that use specific features. Both the authentication and ad streaming features can use this feature, for example. The Helix Universal Servers that share a license are called a license group. Clients are not denied service unless the entire pool of connections in the license group is in use.
When you use distributed licensing, you place the main license file on a main Helix Universal Server, called the publisher, then configure additional Helix Universal Servers as subscribers. The subscribers look to a primary publisher for licensing information. If the primary publisher is not available, or has too few connections available for use, subscribers can use a secondary publisher.
Each Helix Universal Server, whether a publisher or a subscriber, maintains its own configuration file that you can edit independently, either manually or through Helix Administrator. The features available to each subscriber depend on the features permitted by the shared license, but you can modify each Helix Universal Server's configuration file independently.
| Note: Within a given network or organization, you can have multiple groups, but you should not use this feature outside of a network or across a firewall. |
Carry out the procedure below to define each publisher in you license group. You need to know the IP address and Helix Administrator port used on each publisher you set up. Repeat this procedure on each Helix Universal Server that acts as a publisher.
| To set up a publisher: |
Follow the procedure below to set up each subscriber. You'll need to know the values for each publisher's IP address and Helix Administrator port. Carry out this procedure on each Helix Universal Server that acts as a subscriber.
| To set up a subscriber: |
After you have configured both publishers and subscribers, restart the publishers, then restart the subscribers. This activates distributed licensing, allowing Helix Universal Servers to pool their stream count and feature availability.
On the publisher, you can use a license group monitor to view the number of connections currently used by the subscribers. In the publisher's Helix Administrator, click Logging & Monitoring> License Monitor. The License Monitor page appears, showing the number of publishers, subscribers, and connections currently in use.
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