Using the Multicast Announcement Wizard
When
configuring publishing points that support multicast broadcasting of
media streams, you can use the Multicast Announcement Wizard to create
the necessary files. The Specify Files To Create page enables you to
select the method by which you will provide links to a multicast stream.
(See Figure 24.)
The default option,
Multicast Information File (.nsc) And Announcement File (.asx) creates
all the necessary files to provide access to the content. You can also
create or re-create the .nsc or .asx files individually. The
Automatically Create A Web Page option generates an HTML file that
includes a link to the multicast content.
The Stream Formats page
enables you to define which streams will be made available through the
announcement. You can provide access to different streams located on
various publishing points either on the same server or on another
Windows Media Services server. Click the Add button to access the Add
Stream Formats dialog box. (See Figure 25.)
The Location Of Content setting can point directly to an audio or video
file, or it can specify the location of a live media encoder. You can
also link to a stream from another publishing point. When you click Next
to continue, the Multicast Announcement Wizard automatically will
attempt to verify the links to the content that you specified.
The Save Multicast Announcement Files page lists the physical path locations into which the selected files will be stored. (See Figure 26.)
The default location is the root folder for Default Web Site, created
when you install the Web Server (IIS) server role. However, you can
change the location to make the announcements available from another Web
site.
An announcement can
point to a Web server location or a network share for the actual .nsc
file that stores the multicast information. You can choose the option in
the Specify URL To Multicast Information File page. (See Figure 27.)
If you are using a shared network location, the Windows Media Services
service account must have permissions to read the file. The Network
Share option is useful when you want to centralize the creation and
management of multicast information files.
Because
multicast streams are designed for providing access to live content,
the audio or video stream is not available for replay automatically. You
can use the Yes option on the Archive Content page to create an
archived video file automatically that can later be accessed after the
live stream has concluded.
After you have
finished the steps of the Multicast Announcement Wizard, you can test
the files and settings that were generated as you did with the Unicast
Announcement Wizard. For example, you can load the Web page that
contains an embedded player link for the live webcast. You should note,
however, that if a live stream has not started from the encoder link you
specified, you will not yet be able to view any of the media.
