Managing Publishing Points
Publishing points
are used to define the locations and types of content available to
users of Windows Media Services. When you install the Streaming Media
Services role, a default publishing point named <Default>
(on-demand) is created automatically. The root file system location for
this folder is %SystemDrive%\Wmpub\Wmroot.
This location contains a set of default media files, including sample
Windows Media Video (.wmv) video files, playlists, and image files.
Creating a New Publishing Point
When you want to
provide access to new content, you can create a new publishing point,
using the Windows Media Services console. To start the process,
right-click the Publishing Points object on the left side of the
console, and then select the Add Publishing Point (Wizard)
command. On the Welcome page, click Next. The Publishing Point Name
page of the Add Publishing Point Wizard will ask you to provide a name
for the new publishing point. (See Figure 8.)
This name should be brief but also descriptive because it will be used
as part of the URL used by clients to connect to content.
The Content Type page of
the wizard will prompt you to specify the type of content that will be
made available through this publishing point. (See Figure 9.) The options are:
Encoder (A Live Stream)
Playlist (A Mix Of Files And/Or Live Streams That You Can Combine Into A Continuous Stream)
One File (Useful For A Broadcast Of An Archived File)
Files (Digital Media Or Playlists) In A Directory (Useful For Providing Access For On-Demand Playback Through A Single Publishing Point)
The Publishing Point Type page enables you to create either a Broadcast Publishing Point or an On-Demand Publishing Point. (See Figure 10.) Based on the option you chose on the previous page, one of the options might be unavailable.
The Delivery Options
For Broadcast Publishing Points page enables you to specify whether you
want to use Unicast or Multicast communications. (See Figure 11.)
The default setting is Unicast, which is the most compatible approach
but which also uses the most bandwidth. For networks that support
multicast, you can choose the Multicast option. When you select
Multicast, you also can enable Unicast rollover, a feature that provides
unicast transmissions to clients that cannot access the multicast
stream.
When you are creating a
publishing point that provides access to files, you will be presented
with the Directory Location page. (See Figure 12.)
The Location Of Directory setting specifies the root folder in which
media content is located. You should plan to store all the audio and
video files you want to make available within this folder.
The Enable Access
To Directory Content Using Wildcards option enables users to access any
of the files directly that are stored in this location. They can do this
by manually modifying the URL if they know the name of the file to
retrieve. Enabling this option is useful when you have a large number of
files to which you want to link directly. However, if you want to
ensure that users can access only the files you make available, using
links on a Web site, disable this option.
The Content Playback
page provides options related to how playlists will be created and
managed for on-demand content. The two options are:
If you have chosen to
create an on-demand publishing point that is based on a live feed, the
Encoder URL page will prompt you to provide the URL of the encoder that
will provide the media content. (See Figure 13.) The URL should include the full path and port number to a server that is running a Windows Media Services–based encoder.
The Unicast Logging
page of the Add Publishing Point Wizard enables you to set the
collection and storage of usage statistics for Unicast users of the
publishing point.
The Publishing Point Summary page provides a list of the selections you have made in previous steps. (See Figure 14.)
The final page of the
wizard contains important information about the URL that will be used to
access the publishing point. (See Figure 15.)
At this point, you will also be able to choose from various files that
will help make your content accessible to users. You will learn more
about these options later in this section.
