MACROMEDIA FIREWORKS 2-USING FIREWORKS Mounting instructions

Using Flash Media Server
Edge Servers

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Acknowledgments
Project Management: Suzanne Smith
Writing: John Norton, Suzanne Smith
Editing: Evelyn Eldridge, Mary Ferguson, Lisa Stanziano, Anne Szabla
Production Management: Adam Barnett
Media Design and Production: Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman, John Francis, Mario Reynoso
First Edition: October 2005
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3
Contents
Using Edge and Origin Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Introducing edge servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
How edge servers work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Caching data in edge servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Deploying edge servers in the DMZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Explicit and implicit proxies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Reverse proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Routing information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Connecting to an edge server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Detecting the presence of proxy servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chaining edge servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Configuring edge servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Deploying a cluster of edge servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Connecting to a cluster of edge servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Enrolling proxy servers in the cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Accessing applications through an edge cluster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Clustering reverse proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Setting up origin and proxy servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Maintaining edge server clusters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Clearing the edge server cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4Contents

5
Using Edge and Origin
Servers
This chapter describes the various strategies for deploying Flash Media Server with edge and
origin servers.
Introducing edge servers
Until this release of Flash Media Server, clients always connected directly to the computer
where the application was running. These applications were running locally, since their
execution occurred on the same computer that the clients were connected to. This release of
Flash Media Server introduces the concept of remote execution of applications. Flash Media
Server can now run applications locally as an origin server or remotely as edge servers. Edge
servers are not a different kind of Flash Media Server, rather, they are configured to run
applications remotely.
Deploying edge servers in your organization offers significant benefits. Enhanced security is
one benefit. Applications running on the origin server are no longer directly exposed to the
Internet. All requests for Flash Media Server services are routed through known and secure
connection points. These connectors are called edge, or proxy, servers; the terms are
interchangeable. Administrators can monitor the traffic on edge servers. The access log files
for each edge server lets administrators verify that the connections are authorized. The log files
also identify unauthorized requests for connections.
The edge server-origin server deployment is flexible. Edge servers let administrators scale up
or redistribute access to Flash Media Server without dismantling their current deployment.
Administrators can add edge servers. Administrators can reallocate edge servers to match
realignments of users and sites within an organization, or changes in the flow of traffic among
the sites.

6 Using Edge and Origin Servers
Deploying edge servers lets administrators distribute the incoming connection requests for
Flash Media Server services. Traffic between clients and the origin server uses the existing
bandwidth and system resources more efficiently. More traffic occurs locally between the
clients’ computers and the edge server. Without edge servers, all clients have to connect to a
Flash Media Server origin server, no matter where that server is located.
Edge servers mediate communications traffic between the organization’s trusted network and
an untrusted network such as the Internet. Using edge servers does not remove the need for a
firewall to manage the traffic at an IP level, but does provide an additional layer of security at
the application level.
How edge servers work
With an edge-origin deployment strategy, all connection requests from users’ computers for
Flash Media Server services are redirected to an edge server. The edge server receives the
request from the user’s computer, but the edge server is not running the application. The edge
server makes the connection to another computer, called the origin server, where the
application is running. When the origin server fulfills the request for Flash Media Server
services, it sends the application’s data back to the edge server, which in turn forwards the data
to the client (the user’s computer).
It may seem to the users that they are directly connected to the origin server where the
application is located. The edge server does make it appear as if it is running the application.
The edge server’s role, however, is to mediate the communications between clients and the
origin server. Edge servers authenticate the users and authorize their requests for web services.
For example, when Flash Media Server is deployed solely on one computer and is running just
one application instance, system and network resources may not always be sufficient when a
large number of users in an organization want to connect almost simultaneously to Flash
Media Server from multiple locations. Such might be the case in an enterprise-wide meeting
or conference. When too many users want to access the same application at the same time, the
existing bandwidth and system resources can be overwhelmed. Increased latency is another
indication that resources need to be reconfigured or reallocated.
Every connection into the origin server consumes resources independent of the actual data
flowing through the connection. As the number of connections increase, this load can become
inordinately large and adversely affect the server performance. The edge server greatly
mitigates this problem by aggregating connections. The edge multiplexes the connections
from a large number of clients on to one connection to the origin server.

Introducing edge servers 7
Such constraints may prompt the Flash Media Server and network administrators to consider
a different deployment strategy. The strategy involves configuring Flash Media Server to
redistribute the load on system and bandwidth resources by running some virtual hosts as
edge servers and other virtual hosts as origin servers.
Rather than forwarding every request to the origin server and consuming resources for such
repetitive tasks, the edge server collects the requests from a large number of clients and
aggregates them into one connection to the origin server. All communications between edge
and origin servers happen transparently to the users.
To distribute the demands on network and system resources, administrators can assign the
users in a geographical region or functional area of the organization to a specific edge server.
For example, one edge server might aggregate and forward requests from users in Tokyo and
another might aggregate and forward requests from Paris. The edge servers in Paris and Tokyo
gather the requests from their clients and forward them to the origin server located in another
secured location, such as Chicago.
Edge Server
Tokyo
Edge Server
Paris
Origin Server
Chicago
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User

8 Using Edge and Origin Servers
Users in these zones always access the origin server through their assigned edge servers. These
edge servers receive the responses from the origin server, then distribute them back to the
clients (the users’ computers) in their respective zones: Paris or Tokyo. The edge also stores the
data received from the origin server in a cache, and makes it available to other clients that
connect to this edge server. Recycling the data is one more way that edge servers use resources
efficiently. Caching static content reduces the overall load placed on the origin server.
A networked Flash Media Server deployment involves multiple edge servers; these can be
deployed individually or in clusters. Edge servers can also be chained, where one edge server
collects and aggregates the connection requests from other edge servers and their clients, then
transmits the requests to an origin server.
Origen
Server
Client (Users)
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Edge
Server
Client (Users)
Client (Users)
Client (Users)
Client (Users)
Client (Users)
Client (Users)
Client (Users
)
Client (Users) Client (Users)

Introducing edge servers 9
Caching data in edge servers
An edge server is designed to intercept the requests for Flash Media Server services from users
in a particular zone, collect or aggregate these requests, and transmit them to the origin server.
The origin server returns the results to the edge server, which in turn sends the data back to
the user’s client computer. The edge server also stores this information in its cache, where
other users or clients assigned to the same edge server can access it. In this scenario, fewer
requests for services are forwarded to the origin server.
The edge server caches data such as video streams and shared objects. When a user requests
data that is found in the edge server’s cache, it returns the data to the requesting client (the
user’s computer) without ever calling upon the origin server. This detour is transparent to the
user. The edge server is conserving bandwidth by not connecting to the origin server. In this
scenario, no demands are placed on the origin server.
Deploying edge servers in the DMZ
Edge servers may be deployed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of a corporate network. A
DMZ is an isolated network placed between an organization’s trusted network and the
Internet’s untrusted network. In this deployment, the edges function as proxy servers for all
Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) traffic that flows through the organization’s network.
Deploying edge servers in the DMZ provides one more layer of defense between the user’s
Internet connection and the origin server. All traffic that comes from the Internet with Flash
Media Server as its destination must pass through an edge server.

10 Using Edge and Origin Servers
With the edge servers sitting in the DMZ, the network operators can open access to port
1936, avoiding the system overhead and risk of HTTP tunneling. Because the edge server
performs stream splitting and stream caching, it uses the connection to the origin server
efficiently, reducing the Internet bandwidth cost. The user also benefits from the more reliable
connectivity.
Explicit and implicit proxies
Edge servers are defined by the values in the configuration files. Both explicit and implicit
(also called anonymous) proxies intercept and aggregate the clients’ requests to connect to the
applications running on an origin server. The explicit edge server prefixes its address to the
origin server’s Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). This configuration makes the client (the
user’s computer) aware of the proxy. The URI in the explicit proxy specifies the edge servers
that will intercept the clients’ connection requests to the origin server.
The identity (the IP address and port number) of the implicit proxy is hidden from the client.
The implicit proxy does not change or modify the routing information in the incoming URI
before it connects the clients to the origin server. Edge servers are also defined as implicit
proxies through the Flash proxy auto-detection process (FPAD).
Flash Media Server and network administrators can deploy Flash Media Server and route the
incoming connection requests to the origin server through one or more edge servers. These
implicit edges are transparent because the client is unaware of the proxy. They are also
sometimes referred to as interception proxies. This deployment strategy is useful to ISP and
telco providers for optimizing the flow of RTMP traffic through their networks.
Firewall,
Router,
Load Balancer Edge Server Cluster
80,
443,
1935
Origin
Server
DMZ
80
443
1935
1936
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User