WMS Archive Data Writer - general properties

The WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in is used to write data from a broadcast publishing point to a file. You can configure the following options for the plug-in.

Item

Description

Start archiving when publishing point starts

Select this check box to have the archive plug-in start archiving when the publishing point is started.

Directory

Type a path to the archive file, including an archive file name template. The default path is %systemdrive%\WMPub\WMArchive\<V>\Archive_<Y><m><d>.asf, where <V> represents a folder with the same name as the source publishing point. If you are using a remote computer for administration, this path is the archive file location on the server, not on the administration computer. You can use a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) path or an absolute path.

The default archive file name template is Archive_<Y><m><d>.asf, where <Y> is the year, <m>is the month, and <d> is the day. When the archive file is closed, the template is used to determine the appropriate file name. For example, if the archive file is closed on January 1, 2002 and the default file name template is used, the resulting archive file name is Archive_20020101.asf.

You can use environment variables and wildcard characters in the path and archive file name. Environment variables must be delimited by the percent character (%). Wildcard characters must be delimited by less than (<) and greater than (>) characters. For more information about wildcard characters that can be used in naming archive files, see the Archive wildcard characters reference.

If you change the path or name of the archive file after the publishing point has started, you must stop and restart archiving before the change takes effect.

In the Windows Media Services snap-in, you can do the following:

Click Browse to specify a new directory and file name for the archive file.
Click Expand to display the full path and file name for the current archive file. If the value of the wildcard character cannot be resolved, it will be replaced in the file name by an underscore (_) character. If the value of the wildcard character can be determined when the broadcast publishing point and the archiving plug-in are active, then the wildcard character will be expanded to the placeholder variable, for example <F> will expand to PL_ROLE.

Note Image Notes

The broadcast publishing point must be stopped before you can enable the WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in.
A new archive file cannot overwrite an existing archive file. A version number is added to the end of the archive file name to differentiate between files, if necessary.
Archive files are always saved using the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) regardless of the format of the original content.
If the WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in is enabled and packets are lost during streaming, the troubleshooting list displays the event and the number of lost packets.
If you are streaming content that includes video and you enable both the WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in and Fast Start on your publishing point, clients that connect to your publishing point may miss the first few seconds of the broadcast. If you want to use the Fast Start feature, it is recommended that you use a different publishing point to create the archive file.
By default, archive files are created on the system drive of your server. If you do not have adequate disk space on your system drive, make sure to change the default path. The WMS Archive Data Writer plug-in will stop archiving and post a warning message to the troubleshooting list if you do not have at least 60 megabytes (MB) of free disk space.
The server does not use your user account to access folders and other resources; it uses the Network Service account by default. If you are saving files to a location other than C:\WMPub and its subdirectories, make sure that the folder is shared and that the Network Service account has read and write permissions for the folder. If the Network Service account does not have permissions for a folder, the server will not be able to save files to it. For more information about rights and permissions, see Understanding rights.
In the event of a network outage or stream interruption that exceeds two seconds in length, the archive file is closed. If the publishing point reconnects to the stream, a new archive file is created and starts archiving from that point. The troubleshooting list will report the amount of time lost during the stream interruption.