About Darwin Streaming Server 3 Public Preview (Window 2000/NT)

 

Contents

 

Introduction

This document provides an overview of the Darwin Streaming Server (DSS) 3 Public Preview software, installation instructions, and information on how to give feedback to Apple. This software is a preview of the next Darwin Streaming Server release.

What's new in Darwin Streaming Server 3 Public Preview?

And as always, QuickTime Streaming Server is an opensource project, allowing the highest level of customizability and community involvement.

While not required, it is recommended that QuickTime 5 is used for viewing streams from Darwin Streaming Server 3 Public Preview.

Please refer to the online Help (see Documentation section below) included in this seed package for more detailed information about using the features of this seed.

 

Seed Software Disclaimer

The Darwin Streaming Server 3 Public Preview software is being released for evaluation of its technology and will expire on February 15, 2001. This software is in development.

The seed software is not a supported product, but we encourage you to use it, evaluate it, and give us feedback. This copy is for evaluation purposes only and is offered at no charge. We cannot guarantee that any subsequent releases will be offered free of charge, but we suggest that you check periodically for any revisions to this release.

 

IMPORTANT: The software is in development. There are inherent risks in installing unreleased software on your computer. You should not use this product in production or mission critical operations or where 100% reliability is required. As much as possible, we will respond to problems and provide updates to address issues, but we cannot guarantee all problems will be addressed. You should back up your system and hard drives prior to installing and testing this software. Then you should save your work often and back up your hard drives regularly to protect your data. Apple cannot accept liability for any lost data or other injury.

 

Giving Apple Feedback About the Preview Software

You can give feedback to Apple about Darwin Streaming Server 3 Public Preview. Refer to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/servers/ for details.

 

Installing a Perl Intrepreter

The Streaming Admin Server is written entirely in perl and requires perl 5 (or above) to be running on the server machine. You must install a Perl 5 intrepeter in order to use the web-based administration software.

This preview version of Darwin Streaming Server has been tested only with the nsPerl interpreter which can be downloaded at http://people.netscape.com/richm/nsPerl/. Follow all instructions an be sure to make sure that the perl binary is located in one of your PATH directories as mentioned in the perl install documentation.

 

Installing and Setting Up

To install and set up Darwin Streaming Server Public Preview software, follow these steps on the server computer:

When the Server package is unzipped, a folder with Darwin Streaming Server and associated files will be created. Inside this folder is an Install script, named "Install.bat". Double-click this file to install the server and its components on the server machine. The installer also starts up the Streaming Server Admin, so keep the command prompt window open.

 

The Install script will create the following directory:

c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server\

Inside this directory you will find:

DarwinStreamingServer.exe - Server executable
PlaylistBroadcaster.exe - PlaylistBroadcaster executable
qtpasswd.exe - Command-line utility for generating password files for access control
SpamPro.exe - Command-line program for stress-testing the Streaming Server
streamingadminserver.pl - Admin Server that is used for administering the Streaming Server
streamingserver.cfg - Default server configuration file
streamingrelay.cfg - Default relay configuration file
QTSSModules\ - Folder containing QTSS API modules
Movies\ - Media folder
Logs\ - Folder containing access and error logs
AdminHtml\ - Folder containing the CGIs and the HTMl filesrequired by the Admin Server
Documentation\ - Documentation folder

To configure and administer your server from either the server machine or a remote client machine, follow these steps.

  1. From the server machine or a remote machine launch Netscape Navigator, Netscape Communicator, or Microsoft Internet Explorer, versions 4.5 or later.
  2. Enter the URL for your Streaming Server Admin:
    http://myserver.com:1220
    Replace "myserver.com" with the name of your Streaming Server computer. 1220 is the port number.
     
  3. Follow the onscreen instructions to log into the server as user "Administrator". The first time you log in, the "Administrator" password will be "default".
  4. Choose the Settings tab to start configuring your server.

 

IMPORTANT: The preview version of the server is configured with the "Administrator" password set to "default". Immediately after installing, you should reset the "Administrator" password. Note: The "Administrator" password can only be set from a web browser running on the local server machine using the following URL:

http://127.0.0.1:1220/

 

Integration with the Service Manager

 

The Install script also installs Darwin Streaming Server as a service in the Service Manager.

  1. It is possible to start, stop, and check server status from the Service control panel.

     

Documentation

For help on using the DSS administration and setting up your server to stream hinted media, refer to the online Help by selecting the Question Mark button from the Streaming Server Admin.

Platform Support

Darwin Streaming Server source code currently compiles and runs on the following platforms:

  • Mac OS X
  • Linux (RedHat 6.2, Intel)
  • Solaris 7 (SunOS 5.7)
  • FreeBSD 3.5 (Intel)
  • Windows 2000 /NT(Service Pack 5)

It can be ported to other platforms by modifying a handful of platform specific source files. For more information on the source code and on porting the source, see the files AboutTheSource.html and SourceFAQ.html.

Troubleshooting

• If the Streaming Server Admin is not responding, you should verify that the streamingadminserver.pl script is running first. This can be done by opening up the task manager and looking for perl process. If not, launch the Admin by typing 'perl "c:\Program Files\Darwin Streaming Server\streamingadminserver.pl"' at the command prompt. The Streaming Server Admin process is attached to a command window, so closing it will cause the process to quit. Make sure that the command window from which the Streaming Server Admin is started remains open.

 

© 2000 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, PowerBook, Power Macintosh, and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. iBook, iMac, and Power Mac are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.