After you have determined the type of content you want to
stream, you need to select the best way to distribute it. Windows
Media Services offers two basic methods of streaming live or
prerecorded content: through an on-demand publishing point or
through a broadcast publishing point. The type of publishing point
you choose determines the streaming format.
Some of the decisions you need to make when creating a new
publishing point include:
What to name the publishing point. The name of your
publishing point should be descriptive but also as brief as
possible. When a client connects to your stream, the publishing
point name is part of the address that directs the player to the
content. Typing a long, complicated publishing point name is
tedious and increases the chance for errors.
What type of content you want to stream. If you have
properly prepared your content, you should have no trouble
selecting your content type.
Which streaming format you want to use. You must stream
live content from a broadcast publishing point. For all other
content types, you can use either broadcast or on-demand publishing
points, and you can choose how your audience accesses your
content.
Where the content is located. In the case of live
content, be sure you have the URL of the encoder or remote
publishing point that is streaming the content. Prerecorded content
can be located either on the server itself or in a content library
location that is accessible over the network. Be sure your path
information is accurate.
When the publishing point will be activated. You can
create a publishing point and start it manually when you are ready
to start streaming content. When a broadcast publishing point is
started, it begins streaming immediately, even if no clients have
connected to it. Alternatively, you can set up a broadcast
publishing point to start streaming when the first client connects
to it. You can also start an on-demand publishing point manually
and set it to either allow or deny new connections.
Whether to create an announcement. Windows Media
Services can create an announcement file that you can use to direct
clients to your publishing point automatically. Announcement files
are typically Web page links or e-mail attachments that the client
can invoke.
If you haven't already configured your server for streaming, you
can use the following quick start procedures to help you prepare
your server:
On-demand streaming
Use the following quick start procedures to set up the Windows
Media server to stream your content from an on-demand publishing
point:
