MACROMEDIA BREEZE Quick reference guide

Deployment Guide

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Acknowledgments
Director: Erick Vera
Project Management: Stephanie Gowin
Writing: Bob Benedict
Editing: Noreen Maher
Production and Editing Management: Patrice O’Neill
Production: Adam Barnett
First Edition: May 2004
Macromedia, Inc.
600 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
CONTENTS
Breeze Deployment Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About Breeze technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Launching a meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Common configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Additional configuration guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Firewalls and proxy servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Learning management system (LMS)/Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC)
communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SSL Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Planning your deployment summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

4 Contents

5
Breeze Deployment Guide
Breeze Deployment Guide is a supplement to Breeze Installation Guide. This deployment guide
offers additional information about installation configurations, and firewalls and proxies, as well
as guidelines for successful deployment.
About Breeze technology
A Macromedia Breeze installation includes components that interact to form a total solution. End
users log in, enroll in courses, view reports, and complete additional basic functions using a web-
based application that runs in a browser. End users can also participate in meetings using a
Macromedia Flash Player based application.
The web application interacts primarily with Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server
components. When a user launches a meeting, the Flash Player application interacts primarily
with the Breeze Live server, although there is still some interaction with the Breeze Presentation
and Breeze Training server as well. The following figure illustrates the primary components of the
system and how these components interact:

6 Breeze Deployment Guide
For two computers to communicate over the Internet, the client computer must have the IP
address of the server computer. Typically, the client uses a domain name such as
www.mycompany.com, and a name server translates the IP address of the server. To send
information to a specific application running on the server, the client must also know the port for
that application. For example, most web servers listen to port 80. Servers typically run a few
applications, such as a web server, a mail server, and an FTP server, and each one of these
applications owns or listens to a specific port.
Launching a meeting
You can trace the order in which components perform when users launch a meeting to help you
understand the primary system components. The following example illustrates the typical order
in which Breeze uses components to place users successfully in a meeting:
1. The web browser collects the login credentials and communicates the credentials to the
Breeze server.
2. The Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server accepts the login credentials and validates
the user.
3. The Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server creates a session and sends the home page
information to the browser.
Note: Some users might not see the home page if they received a meeting invitation directly.
4. In the web browser, the user sees the meeting on the home page and clicks the link (and
consequently the meeting launch button) to launch the meeting.
5. In Flash Player, the meeting interface, implemented as a Flash application, opens.
6. In Flash Player, the Flash application initiates communication with both the Breeze
Presentation and Breeze Training server and the Breeze Live server to participate in the meeting.
7. The Breeze Live server waits to initiate the meeting until the designated start time. (The
meeting actually is ready to begin during earlier communication between the Breeze server and
the Breeze Live server.)
8. The Breeze Live server handles most of the requests from Flash Player to display media, such
as video and audio, and to conduct application sharing.
9. The Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server interacts with Flash Player to provide
meeting services, such as content display and views into the Content library.

Common configurations 7
Common configurations
The previous figure in this document illustrates a common configuration for enterprise
customers. For small- to medium-sized customers with simple network configurations, installing
all Breeze server components on a single server is a viable solution. As an alternative, consider
using two separate servers, as the following figure shows:
The Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server is installed on one computer, and the Breeze
Live server is installed on a different computer. This configuration separates users who view the
content, courses, and reports from users who participate in meetings.
This configuration reduces the load on a single server and can also solve issues related to networks
and firewalls.
Breeze Installation Guide discusses several common configurations and the following additional
configurations:
Clustering Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training servers Creating a cluster of servers lets
you distribute end-user traffic across multiple servers. Use this configuration if you have many
users and are concerned about the load on a single server, or when you want to have more than
one server as a redundant system, in case a single server experiences hardware failure.
Clustering Breeze Live servers You can also create a cluster of Breeze Live servers to distribute
end-user traffic across multiple servers. Use this configuration if you have many users and are
concerned about the load on a single server. Breeze Live has many features that produce high
loads, such as support for audio, video, and sharing applications.
Separating Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training databases You may install the Breeze
database on a separate server from the application. Doing so lets you create more stringent backup
and redundancy procedures for the database itself, separate from the application. Breeze currently
supports Microsoft SQL Server 2000, which must be installed on the database server.

8 Breeze Deployment Guide
Additional configuration guidelines
The following are additional guidelines to help you set up your network and Domain Name
Service (DNS):
Static IP addressees Breeze does not support static IP addresses to access the server. Many
websites and systems let you access their content by entering either a URL, such as
www.search.com, or an IP address, such as 66.252.27.402. You must set up a domain name
for your Breeze server and map that to the proper IP address using either a DNS server or a
.hosts file.
Two server configurations and ports If you install Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training
modules on one server, and Breeze Live on another, configure Breeze Live to use port 80.
Although Breeze Live can use port 80 or port 1935, port 80 is better known and the system
encounters fewer issues, such as with firewalls and networks.
Firewalls and proxy servers
Firewalls and proxy servers can cause problems for a single-server Breeze configuration. The
Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server uses port 80 by default, which most firewalls and
proxy servers allow. Breeze Live uses port 1935 by default, and reverts to port 443 if port 1935 is
not successful. These two ports are not as common to firewalls and proxy servers; if necessary,
Breeze Live attempts to use port 80 to interact with the end-user’s computer if ports 1935 and
443 aren’t available.

Firewalls and proxy servers 9
A conflict arises when you install all Breeze components on the same server with a firewall or
proxy server. The Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server uses port 80, and Breeze Live
also uses port 80 if ports 1935 and 443 do not work. You then have two applications running on
the same server with the same IP address using the same port. The following figure illustrates this:
Traffic coming into the server for port 80 only goes to one of the two applications; the traffic
might go to the wrong application. One solution is to install the two server applications on two
separate computers, ensuring that they have their own IP addresses. Another solution is to update
your firewall or proxy server to support two different ports on the same computer: using port
1935 for Breeze Live, for example. Several TechNotes at www.macromedia.com offer instructions
about configuring a Breeze Live server. (Search for Flash Communication Server topics. Flash
Communication Server powers Breeze Live.)
Learning management system (LMS)/Aviation Industry CBT Committee
(AICC) communication
If you use a proxy server or firewall, keep in mind during installation that the AICC e-learning
standard requires content to send data back to the learning management system using HTTP to
track user results. If you use Breeze and the AICC option for LMS, and your users are outside of
your firewall, you must make sure that your firewall accepts incoming HTTP requests to capture
learner results. AICC standards define this communication strategy.

10 Breeze Deployment Guide
SSL Support
Breeze requires an SSL accelerator to support encrypted communication over the Internet. You
can use a hardware solution, such as F5 BigIP SSL accelerator, to improve results. Macromedia
recommends using hardware solutions, due to the high bandwidth requirements of streaming
media. Macromedia does not recommend using software SSL solutions.
The Internet uses well-known ports for nonencrypted HTTP-based web traffic and encrypted
HTTPS-based web traffic. Nonencrypted traffic generally goes to port 80, and encrypted traffic
generally goes to port 443. SSL accelerators work by intercepting traffic on port 443, decrypting
the information, and sending it on to the server through port 80. There is no indication to the
server that the original data was encrypted. When you set up your SSL solution with Breeze
however, you must still send the decrypted traffic to Breeze on port 443, even though it is already
decrypted and could, in theory, go to a nonencrypted port. The problem is, the Breeze server
generates specific URLs to allow users to go directly to meetings and courses. If you are running
an SSL accelerator, these URLs must begin with https instead of http (the “s” in HTTPS indicates
encrypted Internet traffic). Breeze uses the port of incoming traffic to determine whether the
URL should begin with http or https.
For the solution, if you are installing Breeze Presentation, Breeze Training, and Breeze Live
modules, and you are using an SSL accelerator, you must install each server on a separate
computer. With SSL, the Breeze Presentation and Breeze Training server uses port 443 for
encrypted traffic, as does the Breeze Live server. The section, “Firewalls and proxy servers”
on page 8, explains the conflict that occurs if both applications are running on the same
computer and listening to the same port.
Planning your deployment summary
The following are key decisions you should make before you deploy:
How should you configure your network and DNS server to allow end users to interact with
the servers? Have a plan that includes IP addresses and domains that you need to support.
Review the installation documentation to confirm that you know how to change these settings
in Breeze.
Do you require more than one server (such as when you are using a firewall or proxy server)
or should you create a cluster of servers? Review Breeze Installation Guide to determine if
you require more than one server, and to learn how to create a multiserver configuration.
Will some of your users interact with the servers by communicating through a firewall or
proxy? Verify that your firewall or proxy server configuration allows end users to interact
with the servers. You must also use the proper configuration of servers.
Are you adding SSL to the final solution? Verify that you correctly set up and configured your
SSL solution following the tips in this document. Remember that using SSL requires you to
install each server on a separate computer.