Adobe 65029121 - Flash Media Streaming Server Instruction Manual

ADOBE®FLASH®MEDIA SERVER 4.5
Conguration and Administration Guide

Last updated 11/28/2012
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Last updated 11/28/2012
Contents
Chapter 1: Deploying the server
Configure ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Load balancing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Deploying edge servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Deploying 64-bit servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2: Configuring the server
Configure the server for virtual hosting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Working with configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Configuring performance features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Configuring security features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Performing general configuration tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Configuring content storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Configuring Apache HTTP Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Configure Apache for Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming and Apple HTTP Live Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Configure HTTP Streaming failover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Using a third-party web server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Configuring Differentiated Services (DiffServ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 3: Using the Administration Console
Connecting to the Administration Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Inspecting applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Manage administrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Managing the server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Chapter 4: Monitoring and Managing Log Files
Working with log files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Access logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Application logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Diagnostic logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Chapter 5: Administering the server
Start and stop the server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Checking server status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Checking video files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Managing the server on Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Scramble tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Chapter 6: Using the Administration API
Working with the Administration API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 7: XML configuration files reference
Changes to configuration files from 4.0 to 4.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Adaptor.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

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Application.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Logger.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Server.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Users.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Vhost.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

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Chapter 1: Deploying the server
Configure ports
When you install Flash Media Server, you can accept the default ports on which Flash Media Server and Flash Media
Administration Server listen. You can also enter new ports. The default ports for Flash Media Server are 1935 and 80.
The default port for Flash Media Administration Server is 1111.
To test which ports a client can connect to on a Flash Media Server hosted by Stefan Richter of FlashComGuru,
see FlashComGuru Port Tester.
To test which ports a client can connect to on your own Flash Media Server, use a port tester developed and hosted
by Jake Hilton.
Port requirements
The following table describes ports on which clients must be able to establish connections to the server:
Port number Protocol Transport Description
1935 RTMP/E TCP By default, Flash Player and AIR clients make RTMP
connections to Flash Media Server over port 1935
over TCP.
To communicate with Flash Media Server over the
RTMP protocol, clients attempt to connect to ports
in the following order: 1935, 80 (RTMP), 80 (RTMPT).
1935 RTMFP UDP By default, Flash Player and AIR clients make RTMFP
connections to Flash Media Server over port 1935
over UDP.
80 RTMP/E, RTMTP, HTTP TCP By default, Flash Player and AIR clients that cannot
connect to Flash Media Server over port 1935
attempt to tunnel over port 80 (RTMPT).
If Apache is installed and enabled, HTTP requests
made over port 80 are proxied to Apache over port
8134.
HTTP Streaming requests to port 80 can hang when
proxying to port 8134. Use port 8134 in the request
or configure Apache to listen directly on port 80
and configure Flash Media Server not to listen on
port 80.

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Configure IP addresses and ports
Use the fms.ini file to configure the IP addresses and ports on which Flash Media Server listens for requests.
1Open rootinstall/conf/fms.ini in a text editor.
2Edit the ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT parameter. The default ports are:
ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT = :1935,80
3Save the file and restart the server.
The Adaptor.xml configuration file uses the ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT parameter in the Adaptor/HostPortList/HostPort
element:
<HostPort name="edge1" ctl_channel="localhost:19350"
rtmfp="${ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT}">${ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT}</HostPort>
See also
“Start and stop the server” on page 106
19350-65535 RTMFP UDP By default, clients use port 1935 and ports 19350-
65535 to communicate with Flash Media Server
over the RTMFP protocol. The RTMFP protocol
communicates over UDP. Clients connect to the
server over 1935 and the server redirects the client
to a port between 19350 and 65535.
Allow inbound UDP traffic on 1935 and outbound
traffic on ports 19350 - 65535.
Allowing UDP inbound traffic from unknown hosts
on ports 19350 - 65535 is optional. Flash Media
Server sends a packet out to a new client to redirect
it to a port in the range 19350 - 65535. This packet
attempts to punch a hole to allow the client traffic
back in over the correct port.To use server-side
RTMFP NetConnections, allow outbound UDP
traffic on all ports.
8134 HTTP TCP Flash Media Server proxies HTTP requests to
Apache HTTP Server over port 8134.
HTTP Streaming requests to port 80 can hang when
proxying to port 8134. Use port 8134 in the request
or configure Apache to listen directly on port 80
and configure Flash Media Server not to listen on
port 80.
1111 HTTP, RTMP TCP By default, Flash Player, AIR, and HTML clients
connect to Flash Media Administration Server over
port 1111. Clients must specify port 1111 in
connection URLs.
Clients cannot access Flash Media Administration
Server over RTMPS. As a result, Adobe recommends
that you block all external access to port 1111 so
that access to the Administration Server is
restricted to clients that are inside your firewall.
443 RTMPS TCP The default port for RTMPS. RTMPS adheres to SSL
standards for secure network connections and
enables connections through a TCP socket on a
secure port.
Port number Protocol Transport Description

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“Add an adaptor” on page 15
Configure IP addresses and ports for RTMFP
RTMFP connection flow
1An RTMFP client connects to a Flash Media Server fmsedge process over UDP port 1935.
Specify this port in the ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT parameter of the fms.ini file. To change this value, see “Configure IP
addresses and ports for RTMFP” on page 3.
Important: RTMFP and RTMP/E clients use the same port to connect to Flash Media Server. However, RTMFP
clients use UDP and RTMP/E clients use TCP.
2The fmsedge process redirects the connection to an fmscore process listening on a UDP port in the range 19350-
65535.
Each fmscore process has its own RTMFP listener. Each RTMFP listener binds to one UDP port in the range. When
an fmscore process starts, the listener binds to the next available UDP port in the range specified in the
Adaptor/RTMFP/Core/HostPortList/HostPort element of the Adaptor.xml configuration file. For example, if there
are three fmscore processes, they listen on ports 19350, 19351, and 19352. These ports are called the RTMFP redirect
ports or the RTMFP migration ports.
The number of ports in use depends on the number of fmscore processes in use. The number of fmscore processes
in use depends on how application instances are distributed. See “Configure how applications are assigned to server
processes” on page 29.
When the server redirects the client, it sends the client an IP address and port number. If the server is behind a NAT,
specify the public IP address of the server in the public attribute of the HostPort element. The server passes this
address to the client and the client uses it to connect to the fmscore process.
Configure RTMFP redirect ports
1Open rootinstall/conf/_defaultRoot_/Adaptor.xml in a text editor.
2Edit the value of the HostPort element. The default ports are as follows:
<Adaptor>
...
<RTMFP>
...
<Core>
<HostPortList>
<HostPort>:19350-65535</HostPort>
</HostPortList>
</Core>
</RTMFP>
</Adaptor>
3If the RTMFP adaptor is behind a NAT, specify the in-front-of-NAT IP address that clients connect to in the
public attribute of the HostPort element. The following example uses 12.34.56.78 for the in-front-of-NAT IP
address:
<HostPort public="12.34.56.78:19350-65535">:19350-65535</HostPort>
To redirect the client to an fmscore process, the fmsedge process sends the client an IP address and a port number.
The server knows the behind the NAT IP address, but the client can’t connect to that. The client needs to know the
in-front-of NAT IP address. To tell the server its in-front-of NAT IP address, specify it in the public attribute.

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4Save the file and restart the server. See Start and stop the server
About the HostPort element
The value of the HostPort element has the following format:
<value-of-HostPort> := [<host-port-range> [; <host-port-range> [; ... ] ] ]
<host-port-range> := [<host>][:<port-range>[, <port-range> ] ]
<port-range> := <start-port>[ - <end-port> ]
In this example of HostPortList, each core listens to two ports: one port from either host1:2000-2010 or
host2:3000-3010 and one port from either host2:5000 or host2:3010-4000 :
<HostPortList>
<HostPort public="12.34.56.78:2000-2010">host1:2000-2010; host2:3000-3010</HostPort>
<HostPort>host2:5000; host2:3010-4000</HostPort>
</HostPortList>
Configure a public IP address if the server is behind a NAT
If an RTMFP adaptor is behind a NAT, specify the in-front-of-NAT IP address that clients connect to in the public
attribute of the HostPort element:
<HostPort public="<in-front-of-NAT-server-IP>:19350-65535">:19350-65535</HostPort>
If you don't specify the public attribute, the server doesn’t know its in-front-of-NAT-address. The fmsedge process
can redirect the client to the correct port (for example, 19351) but it tells the client the behind-NAT address, which the
client can't contact.
Each HostPort element can specify a public address that corresponds to the specified port. This is the address that is
advertised to clients for the given HostPort. To advertise an address, specify a value for the public attribute of the
HostPort element. The public attribute has the same format as the HostPort element. The number of ports specified
by the public attribute must equal the number of ports specified by the HostPort element. If the core listens on the
n-th port of the HostPort value, the n-th port of the public attribute is advertised as its value.
In this example of HostPortList with a public attribute, if a core listens on host1:1005, its publicly advertised
address is host2:4005.
<HostPortList>
<HostPort public="host2:4000-5000">host1:1000-2000</HostPort>
</HostPortList>
More Help topics
“Add an adaptor” on page 15
NAT and firewall traversal
NAT (network address translation) and firewall filtering can block peer-to-peer connections. In an intranet
application, in which you have control over the entire network, do the following to ensure that clients can create peer-
to-peer connections:
•Allow UDP traffic through any firewalls
•Use a NAT or firewall that complies with the NAT implementation recommendations of the IETF BEHAVE
working group.
•Use the TURN proxy support in Flash Player to send traffic to a proxy in a DMZ that can comply with the previous
recommendations. See Best practices for real-time collaboration using Flash Media Server.

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In an Internet application, the application developer must choose how to handle cases in which a firewall or NAT
blocks a direct peer-to-peer connection. To create an application that works for connections that aren’t peer-to-peer,
create a protocol fallback to client-server RTMP and/or RTMPT. To create an application that never relays media
through the server (even though some clients may not see the media), don’t create a protocol fallback.
Understanding types of NAT
It’s important to understand the different types of NAT behavior:
Cone Reuses the same address and port when talking to all peers.
Multiple IP address, symmetric Picks a new address and port when talking to a new peer.
Single IP address, symmetric Uses the same address but a new port when talking to a new peer.
It’s also important to understand the filtering behaviors of NATs and firewalls:
None A cone NAT with no filtering is called “full cone”.
Address-restricted The peer is restricted to talking only to addresses it has talked to already.
Address and port-restricted The peer is restricted to talking only to addresses and ports it has talked to already.
In addition, some NAT and firewall behaviors aren't easily defined. For example, a NAT could act as a symmetric NAT
that preserves port numbers. When it runs out of resources, it could switch and act as a cone NAT.
In another example, a NAT could act as one type of NAT for the first client that connected to a server. It could act as
a different type of NAT for the second client that tried to connect to the same server. In this case, a simple analysis can
fail to predict whether a client can make a peer-to-peer connection.
Note: A firewall can filter and not be a NAT. A NAT can act as a firewall and have filtering. A firewall may block UDP
completely.
RTMFP Connectivity checker
RTMFP inventor Matthew Kaufman hosts a website called RTMFP Connectivity Checker at http://cc.rtmfp.net/. Use
this site to try to determine whether a client on a particular network can create a peer-to-peer connection.
If the connection to cc.rtmfp.net has the same properties as the connection to and from the peer, use the results to
determine whether a peer-to-peer connection can be formed. The results are not always definitive because, in some
cases, the connection does not have the same properties. For example, two peers in the same organization behind the
same firewall can have different properties between each other than they each have to http://cc.rtmfp.net.
To test a connection, the client connection must have the same properties as the client you’re testing, and the NAT or
firewall must have predictable behavior. The following are the RTMFP Connectivity Checker tests:
Test Description
Knows public IP address of self Flash Player has a local address that matches the address that
cc.rtmfp.net saw when the connection came in. In this case, there is
no address translation.
Public UDP port number same as local UDP
port number
Flash Player's idea of which UDP port number it is using matches
what http://cc.rtmfp.net saw when the connection came in. In this
case, there is no port translation. If this answer and the previous
answer are “Yes”, there probably isn’t a NAT (but there may be a
firewall).
Can receive from same IP address, same
UDP port number
This value is always “Yes”, because if a client couldn't complete this
test, it couldn't establish the initial connection.

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Understanding the RTMFP Connectivity test
In some cases, symmetric NATs break peer-to-peer connectivity.
Flash Player can work with most cone NAT configurations and many firewall configurations. (There are some issues
with multiple layers of NAT and lack of “hairpinning” support.) However, symmetric NAT in combination with
certain firewall or NAT cases at the other end blocks the ability to establish a peer-to-peer connection. If one end is a
symmetric NAT with a single IP address, Flash Player cannot connect to peers behind other symmetric NATs or
behind port-restricted cone NATs (or port-restricted firewalls).
If one end of a connection is a symmetric NAT with multiple IP addresses, connections to peers behind other
symmetric NATs or behind address-restricted (and probably port-restricted) cone NATs (or address-restricted or
port-restricted firewalls) are impossible. No matter what Flash Player tries to do to “punch a hole” through the
restricted cone NAT or restricted firewall to let the other peer through, the other end moves to a new address and/or
port number that doesn't match. The hole that was created is no longer applicable.
Configure ports for HTTP streaming
By default, Flash Media Server is configured to listen on port 80. Flash Media Server proxies HTTP traffic to Apache
HTTP Server over port 8134. However, HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming connections can hang
when proxying through the server.
Do not proxy HDS and HLS traffic through Flash Media Server to Apache HTTP Server. Either specify the port
number in the request URL, or configure Apache to use port 80 and configure Flash Media Server not to use port 80.
You do not need to use both techniques.
Specify the port number in request URLs
❖Connect clients to Apache HTTP Server directly through its own port (the default is port 8134). For example, use
the following request URL:
http://fms.example.com:8134/hds-vod/somefile.f4v.f4m
Can receive from same IP address,
different UDP port number
Indicates whether your firewall is “port restricted”. A port restricted
firewall requires an outbound connection to the same address and
port number before inbound traffic is permitted from that address
and port number. This requirement is true even when previous
traffic was sent to the same address but different port number.
Can receive from different IP address,
different UDP port number
Indicates whether your firewall is “address restricted”. An address
restricted firewall requires that an outbound connection is made to
a new IP address before inbound traffic is permitted from that IP
address.
Can send to different IP address after
server introduction
This value is always be “Yes” if the initial connection can be made.
This test is like opening a new RTMFP connection. If this test fails,
there's a problem with how Flash Player received or treated the
introduction request, or the firewall is unpredictable.
Source IP address is preserved from
original connection
This test means that you have one of the following: a cone NAT, a
symmetric NAT with only one IP address, or a symmetric NAT with
multiple IP addresses but the same address happened to be used
this time. If repeated tests cause the value to change, you have a
symmetric NAT with multiple IP addresses, and sometimes you
happen to use the same address.
Source UDP port number is preserved
from original connection
This test means that you have a cone NAT. If the value is "No", you
have a symmetric NAT.
Test Description

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Configure Apache to use port 80 and configure Flash Media Server not to use port 80
1Configure Apache to use port 80.
aOpen rootinstall/Apache2.2/conf in a text editor.
bChange the line Listen 8134 to Listen 80.
cRestart Apache. See Start and stop the server.
2Configure Flash Media Server not to use port 80.
aOpen rootinstall/conf/fms.ini in a text editor.
bRemove 80 from the ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT parameter so the parameter looks like the following:
ADAPTOR.HOSTPORT = :1935
cRestart Flash Media Server. See Start and stop the server.
Load balancing
Workflow for deploying servers in a cluster
You can deploy multiple servers behind a load balancer to distribute the client load over multiple servers. Deploying
multiple servers enables you to scale an application for more clients and creates redundancy, which eliminates single
points of failure. You can deploy any version of the server (Flash Media Interactive Server, Flash Media Development
Server, or Flash Media Streaming Server) in a cluster.
1Install Adobe® Flash® Media Server and verify the installation on each computer.
Ensure that you deploy all servers on computers that meet the minimum system requirements.
Note: For cross-platform compatibility, use lowercase names for all folders and applications.
2Configure a load balancer to see the servers hosting Flash Media Interactive Server or Flash Media Streaming
Server.
Clustering multiple servers behind a load balancer
Add all the servers in the cluster to the pool (server farm) in the load balancer. The load balancer distributes traffic
among all the servers in the pool. Configure the load balancer to distribute the load in round-robin mode and to
monitor over TCP port 1935.
If the server does not have an externally visible IP address, then for HTTP tunnelling to work, you should enable
cookies when you deploy servers behind a load balancer. The load balancer checks the cookie and sends requests with
this cookie to the same server. Cookies can be enabled in the load balancer or in the Adaptor.xml configuration file in
the Adaptor/HTTPTunnel/SetCookie element.
Note: For tunnelling connections, cookies are currently supported only on Adobe®Flash®Player 9.0.28 or later in
Windows only.
For more information, see the following articles:
•www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_redundancy_en
•www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_clustering_en
•www.adobe.com/go/learn_fms_scalable_en

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Load balancing peer-assisted networking applications
Use one of the following two techniques to load balance a peer-assisted networking applications:
•Distribute introductions across a server-only RTMFP NetGroup.
This technique is new in Flash Media Server 4.5. Use a Server-Side ActionScript API to distribute peer lookup
requests across multiple servers. For more information, see Distributing introductions across multiple servers.
•Set up an edge-origin configuration.
In the Vhost.xml configuration file on each edge server, set <Mode>remote</Mode>. For more information, see
“Configure edge servers” on page 9.
On the client, the NetConnection URL changes from "rtmfp://fms-server/application" to "rtmfp://edge-
fms-server/?rtmfp://origin-fms-server/application". Alternately, you can configure the RouteTable
and RouteEntry in the Vhost.xml file on the edge server to point to the origin server. In this case, the client URL
is still "rtmfp://fms-server/application".
Set up DNS entries to distribute the load across the edge servers. For the server to function properly as an RTMFP
introducer, use one origin server per application. For peer lookup to work, clients must be connected to the same
server process, but not necessarily to the same application. Peer lookups do not work across origin servers.
However, peerIDs are cached on the edge server which reduces the load on the origin. When clients are connected
to the same edge, the introduction can happen at the edge and there is not a lookup call to the origin.
More Help topics
“Deploying edge servers” on page 8
Deploying edge servers
Workflow for deploying edge servers
Note: Flash Media Streaming Server cannot be configured as an edge server.
By default, the server runs as an origin server. To run the server as an edge server, you must configure an XML file.
Typically you would run Flash Media Interactive Server as an origin server on one computer and run Flash Media
Interactive Server as an edge server on another computer.
1. Install Flash Media Interactive Server and verify the installation on each computer.
Deploy all edge and origin servers on computers that meet the minimum system requirements. For information about
installing and verifying installation, see the Installation Guide.
Note: For cross-platform compatibility, use lowercase names for all folders and applications.
2. Configure an edge server and restart.
On the edge server, edit the Vhost.xml file of the virtual host you want to run as an edge server.
3. Verify that the edge server can communicate with the origin server.
The easiest way to verify is to create an explicit connection. Create a SWF file with an explicit connection to the edge
server and run the vod or live service.

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4. If you’re installing multiple edge servers, copy the Vhost.xml file to the same directory on each edge server.
5. Verify that each edge server can communicate with the origin server.
6. Place the origin server and those edge servers nearest to it on the same subnet.
7. If you’re deploying more than one edge server, configure a load balancer.
Place the load balancer between the clients and the edges. Configure the load balancer to access the pool of edge servers
in round-robin mode and to monitor over TCP port 1935. Use the virtual IP (VIP) address of the pool as the IP address
in the RouteEntry element of each edge server’s Vhost.xml file. For detailed information on how to configure the
RouteEntry element, see the comments in the RouteEntry element of the default Vhost.xml file, or see RouteEntry.
Configure edge servers
To configure the server to run as an edge server, edit the Vhost.xml configuration file of the virtual host you want to
run as an edge server. The Vhost.xml file defines how the edge server connects clients to the origin server.
Note: You can also configure some virtual hosts to run applications locally (as origins), while others run applications
remotely (as edges); this is called mixed mode or hybrid mode.
Configure a virtual host to run as an edge server
1Open the Vhost.xml file of the virtual host you want to configure and locate the following code (comments have
been removed):
<VirtualHost>
...
<Proxy>
<Mode>remote</Mode>
<Anonymous>false</Anonymous>
<CacheDir enabled="false" useAppName="true"></CacheDir>
<LocalAddress></LocalAddress>
<RouteTable protocol="">
<RouteEntry></RouteEntry>
</RouteTable>
<EdgeAutoDiscovery>
<Enabled>false</Enabled>
<AllowOverride>true</AllowOverride>
<WaitTime>1000</WaitTime>
</EdgeAutoDiscovery>
</Proxy>
</VirtualHost>
Note: The default VHost.xml file is located in the RootInstall/conf/_defaultRoot_/_defaultVHost_ directory.
2Edit the following XML elements, as needed.

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3Validate the XML and save the Vhost.xml file.
Element Required/optional Description
Mode Required Enter local to configure the server to run as an origin server. Enter remote
to configure the server to run as an edge server.
Anonymous Optional A Boolean value specifying whether the edge server connection is implicit
(true) or explicit (false). The default value is false.
CacheDir Optional Enables or disables the caching of streams to disk, in addition to caching in
memory, on an edge server and allows you to specify the cache location.
There are two attributes: enabled and useAppName.
To enable caching, set the enabled attribute to "true". When enabled, the
server places streams in the RootInstall/cache/appName directory by default.
Use the useAppName attribute to specify whether to use the application
name as the name of the cache for the application.
Vod applications get significant performance gains when caching is enabled.
LocalAddress Optional Specifies the local IP address to which to bind a proxy's outgoing connection
(the proxy’s loopback address). This element allows the administrator to
control network traffic by isolating incoming and outgoing traffic to separate
network interfaces.
RouteTable Optional; create a routing
table when it is not
necessary or desirable for
application developers to
see the origin server URL or
when you want to use
implicit connections.
Specifies, in each RouteEntry element, how to route connections from the
origin to the edge. There is one attribute, protocol, that indicates the
protocol of the outgoing connection. Set this attribute to either "rtmp" or
"rtmps".
To override the RouteTable protocol for a specific RouteEntry element,
add a protocol attribute to the RouteEntry element you want to change.
RouteEntry Optional Each RouteEntry element maps a host/port pair to a different host/port pair.
In the following example, connections to host1:port1 are routed to
host2:port2:
host1:port1;host2:port2
Typically, host1:port1 is your edge server and host2:port2 is your
origin server. The following example routes connections destined for host
"edge" on port 1935 to host "origin" on port 80:
<RouteEntry>edge:1935;origin:80</RouteEntry>
You can specify a wildcard character (*) for any host or port. The following
example routes connections destined for any host on any port to host "origin"
on port 1935:
<RouteEntry>*:*;origin:1935</RouteEntry>
You can also specify a wildcard for the host/port to which connections are
being routed. The following example routes connections destined for any
host on any port to the same host on port 80:
<RouteEntry>*:*;*:80</RouteEntry>
To reject connections, you can specify that a host/port combination be routed
to null:
<RouteEntry>edge:80;null</RouteEntry>
The RouteEntry element has a protocol attribute. This attribute overrides
the RouteTable protocol for a specific RouteEntry element. For example,
RouteTable may have one RouteEntry element that specifies an
encrypted outgoing RTMPS connection and another RouteEntry tag that
specifies the regular RTMP connection. If a protocol is not specified, the
outgoing connection uses the same protocol as the incoming connection.

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4Restart the server.
More Help topics
“Adaptors and virtual hosts” on page 14
Set up caching on edge servers
Streams that are played via an edge server can optionally be cached on that edge server’s hard drive to avoid extra
network traffic back to the origin. Edge servers manage their disk caches automatically using a least-recently-used
(LRU) scheme.
Edge servers group the cached files on disk into buckets; the files within each bucket are not ordered, but the buckets
themselves are ordered by LRU. When an edge server needs to free up disk space, it deletes the entire contents of the
least-recently-used buckets. When a file is added, it gets put in the "newest" bucket, and likewise when an existing file
is accessed, it is moved to the newest bucket. This maintains the LRU ordering.
A disk cache is divided up into N buckets, but since all newly accessed content goes into the newest bucket, only the
newest bucket actually grows in size. Once that bucket reaches K/N bytes, where K is the maximum size of the disk
cache, the server triggers a rollover. A rollover means the server deletes the oldest bucket, and creates a new bucket
where new content will go.
For example:
1Start with an empty disk cache, configured to have 8 buckets and max size of 80 GB.
2All content goes into bucket "00" until it grows to 10 GB.
3New bucket "01" is created. All content now goes into this bucket. In addition, content accessed from bucket "00"
may be moved to bucket "01".
4When bucket "01" reaches 10 GB, the server creates bucket "02", and so on.
5Repeat until there are 8 buckets, "00" through "07".
6When bucket "07" reaches 10 GB, the server creates bucket "08", and also deletes bucket "00" and all the content it
contains.
The deletion is only triggered by the size of the "new" bucket, not the total size of the disk. Because content can be
moved from one of the older buckets into the newest bucket, the older buckets do not remain at their maximum size
of N/K bytes, and thus the total size of the disk will be less than its max K when the server starts deleting old buckets.
You set up caching on an edge server in the CacheDir element of the Vhost.xml file. The following table describes the
subelements that you use to set up caching:

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Connect to an edge server
There are two types of edge server connections: explicit and implicit (also called anonymous).
An explicit edge server prefixes its address to the origin server’s URL in the client NetConnection.connect() call.
For example, for applications running on fms.foo.com, instead of clients connecting to an application with a
connection string such as rtmp://fms.foo.com/app/inst, clients are directed through the edge, which prefixes its
protocol and hostname to the origin URL, as in the following:
rtmp://fmsedge.foo.com/?rtmp://fms.foo.com/app/inst
An implicit edge server does not change or modify the origin server’s URL in the client NetConnection.connect()
call. The identity (the IP address and port number) of the implicit edge is hidden from the application developer.
Create an explicit connection
❖Use the following syntax in a client-side NetConnection.connect() call to make an explicit connection to an edge
server:
rtmp://edge/?rtmp://origin/app
A question mark (?) separates the edge’s prefix from the main URL. The prefix contains only the protocol,
hostname, and optionally the port number. The prefix must always end with a trailing slash.
Create an implicit connection
1In the Vhost.xml configuration file, set the Proxy/Anonymous element to true.
Note: Restart the server after changing the Vhost.xml file.
2In the Vhost.xml file, create a routing table in the RouteTable element; for more information, see the comments
about RouteEntry tags in the Vhost.xml file installed with Flash Media Server.
Element Description
MaxSize Specifies the maximum allowed size of the disk cache, in gigabytes. The server
does LRU (least recently used) cleanup of the cache to keep it under the
maximum size. The default value is 32 gigabytes. A value of 0 disables the disk
cache. A value of -1 specifies no maximum.
NumBuckets Specifies the number of buckets to divide the cache into. The aggregate cache
size is defined by MaxSize. Can be any value from 2 to 128; the default value is
8. More buckets mean that a smaller portion of the disk content will be deleted
at any one time, but also that files will need to be moved to new buckets more
often, which results in more disk activity and lower performance.You can define
the number of buckets that contain contents that can be moved with
NumBucketsAtRisk.
NumBucketsAtRisk Specifies the number of buckets considered to be "at risk" of deletion. Can be
any value from 0 to NumBuckets - 1; the default is NumBuckets/2. To avoid
moving files too frequently at the expense of disk performance, only segments
that are in the oldest NumBucketsAtRisk buckets will be moved to the newest
bucket when accessed.
A value of 0 means that segments, once pulled from the origin, are never moved
to a newer bucket, effectively turning the cache into a LRU cache. The default
value of NumBuckets/2 means that only segments in the "older half" of content
will be moved. Segments in the "newer half" of content are more likely to be
accessed again before they are deleted, thus making it less important to move
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3Use the following syntax in a client-side NetConnection.connect() call to make an implicit connection to an
edge server:
rtmp://edge/app/appinstance
Connect edge servers in a chain
❖You can chain together any number of edges when you make connections to the origin server. Use the following
syntax to chain two explicit edges to direct connection requests to the origin server:
rtmp://edge1/?rtmp://edge2/?rtmp://origin/app/inst
As the connection moves through each edge in the chain, the server consumes the first token in the string. For
example, after making the connection to edge1, the connection string changes to:
rtmp://edge2/?rtmp://origin/app/inst
Note: You can specify the RTMPT protocol only for the edges, not for the origin.
When you use URL decoration to chain edges, Flash Player 7 and earlier versions may have problems with shared
objects because of the embedded question mark (?) character in the URL. Call the following function to encode or
escape the question marks from the URL before passing the URL to the shared object:
function escapeURI(uri) {
index = uri.indexOf('?');
if (index == -1) return uri;
prefix = uri.substring(0, index);
uri = uri.substring(index);
return prefix += escape(uri);
}
Deploying 64-bit servers
Flash Media Server installs on 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. The 64-bit server uses addressable memory space
greater than 4GB. This enables Flash Media Server to use a larger file cache which in turn reduces disk IO.
To deploy 64-bit servers, know the following:
•You can use any combination of 64-bit and 32-bit edge and origin servers in a network topology.
•To serve on-demand media at the highest possible performance, increase the size of the recoded media cache.
•If you have created custom C++ plug-ins for a 32-bit system, they do not work with a 64-bit system. To use 32-bit
plug-ins on a 64-bit server, recompile the plug-in with the 64-bit libraries.
More Help topics
“Configure a 64-bit server” on page 21

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Chapter 2: Configuring the server
Configure the server for virtual hosting
Adaptors and virtual hosts
To host multiple tenants on a server, configure the server so that each customer has their own section. Administrators
can configure their own sections to serve their content most effectively. You can configure virtual hosting in several
ways, depending on your needs.
The server is divided into hierarchical levels: server, adaptor, virtual host (also called vhost), and application. The
server is at the top level and contains one or more adaptors. Each adaptor contains one or more virtual hosts. Each
virtual host hosts one or more applications. Each application has one or more instances. You can add adaptors and
virtual hosts to organize the server for hosting multiple applications and sites.
Note: For information about registering applications with the server and storing media, see “Configuring content storage”
on page 49.
If you’re hosting multiple websites on a server, use virtual hosts to give customers their own root folders. For example,
you could use two virtual hosts to host www.test.com and www.example.com on the same server.
You can assign an IP address or a port number to an adaptor, but not to a virtual host. For this reason, use adaptors to
organize virtual hosts by IP address or port number. For example, if a virtual host needs its own IP address to configure
SSL, assign it to its own adaptor.
You can also configure one virtual host to run as an edge server and one to run as an origin server. This is called
running the server in hybrid mode.
Configuration folder structure
Each of these levels—server, adaptor, virtual host, application, and application instances—has distinct configuration
settings stored in XML files in the rootinstall/conf directory: Server.xml, Adaptor.xml, Vhost.xml, and
Application.xml. There are also configuration files for information about administrators and logging: Users.xml and
Logger.xml. The most important configuration parameters have been pulled out to the fms.ini file, which enables you
to use one file to configure the server.
Default structure of the server’s configuration (conf) directory
conf
Server.xml
_defaultRoot_
Adaptor.xml
_defaultVHost_
Application.xml
Logger.xml
Users.xml
fms.ini
Vhost.xml

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Edit any of these XML files in a text or XML editor and restart the server for the changes to take effect. If you modify
Users.xml or fms.ini, you also must restart Flash Media Administration Server. For more information, see “Working
with configuration files” on page 17.
The following rules define the conf directory structure:
•The root configuration folder is rootinstall/conf. You cannot remove or modify the name of this directory. The
server must have a Server.xml file, a Logger.xml file, and a Users.xml file in the conf directory.
•The server has one initialization file, fms.ini, in the rootinstall/conf directory. This file contains commonly used
settings.
•The default adaptor’s root directory is rootinstall/conf/_defaultRoot_. You cannot remove or modify the name of
this directory. Each adaptor must have an Adaptor.xml file in its root directory.
•The default virtual host’s root directory is rootinstall/conf/_defaultRoot_/_defaultVHost_. You cannot remove or
modify the name of this directory. Each virtual host must have a Vhost.xml file in its root directory. Each adaptor
must have a default virtual host.
•Virtual host directories may also contain an Application.xml file that serves as a default to all applications in that
virtual host and a Users.xml file that contains information about administrators of that virtual host.
•You may place an Application.xml file in an application’s registered directory to create an application-specific
configuration. For more information about registered application directories, see the Developer Guide.
Add an adaptor
1Create a new directory with the name of the adaptor in the rootinstall/conf folder; for example,
rootinstall/conf/adaptor2.
2In the adaptor2 directory, create or paste a copy of the _defaultVHost_ directory and an Adaptor.xml file.
Each adaptor directory must contain a _defaultVHost_ directory and an Adaptor.xml file.
3In the _defaultVHost_ directory, create or paste a copy of an Application.xml file and a Vhost.xml file.
4In the Adaptor.xml file in the adaptor directory, add a HostPort element to listen on a new port for this adaptor:
<HostPort name="edge2" ctl_channel=":19351" rtmfp=":1936">:1936</HostPort>
The name, ctl_channel, and rtmfp attribute values must be unique on the server. The rtmfp attribute and the
HostPort element specify the ports to which an IP address should bind. If an IP address is not specified, the adaptor
listens on all available interfaces. The server uses the control channel (ctl_channel) attribute internally to
communicate between server processes (adding a HostPort element creates a new FMSEdge process).
The server uses the HostPort value to listen for clients—no two adaptors can listen on the same port, either
internally or externally, unless they use different IP addresses. If a host has multiple IP addresses, multiple adaptors
can listen on port 1935. In addition, the control channels of two adaptors must be different, or they cannot inter-
operate. Ensure that the control channels on which separate adaptors listen are different from each other. The
following example is for a host with multiple IP addresses:
<HostPort name="edge1" ctl_channel=":19350"
rtmfp="xx.xx.xx.xx:1935">xx.xx.xx.xx:1935</HostPort>
<HostPort name="edge2" ctl_channel=":19351"
rtmfp="yy.yy.yy.yy:1935">yy.yy.yy.yy:1935</HostPort>
5If you’re running peer-assisted networking applications, add an Adaptor/RTMFP/Core/HostPortList/HostPort
element. See “Configure IP addresses and ports for RTMFP” on page 3.
6Restart the server.

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7To log in to the Administration Console on the new adaptor, use the syntax adaptorname/username in the
Username box; for example, adaptor2/admin.
For information about logging in to the Administration Console, see “Connecting to the Administration Console”
on page 80.
Administrators are defined in the UserList section of the Users.xml file. Administrators are either server-level
users (similar to a root user) or virtual host-level users. If you log in to an adaptor other than the default adaptor,
you are considered a virtual host administrator and don’t have privileges to manage the server or users.
The conf directory with an additional adaptor called adaptor2
Add a virtual host
1Create a folder with the name of the virtual host in an adaptor folder, for example,
rootinstall/conf/_defaultRoot_/www.example.com.
2Copy an Application.xml file, a Vhost.xml file, and a Users.xml file to the new virtual host folder. (The Users.xml
file is required only if you are defining administrators for this virtual host.)
3In the Vhost.xml file, specify an application directory in the AppsDir element, for example:
<AppsDir>C:\www.example.com<\AppsDir>
Note: It is possible to use the same applications directory for multiple virtual hosts, but it causes namespace conflicts
and is not recommended.
4Validate the XML and save the Vhost.xml file.
5Restart the server.
Note: You can call the startVHost() Administration API or log in to the Administration Console without restarting
the server.
6Log in to the Administration Console.
conf
Server.xml
_defaultRoot_
Adaptor.xml
_defaultVHost_
Application.xml
Logger.xml
Users.xml
fms.ini
Vhost.xml
Users.xml
_defaultVHost_
Application.xml
Vhost.xml
Users.xml
adaptor2
Adaptor.xml