MACROMEDIA FLASH MEDIA SERVER 2-MANAGING FLASH MEDIA... User manual

Managing Flash Media Server

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Acknowledgments
Project Management: Suzanne Smith
Writing: John Norton, Suzanne Smith
Editing: Geta Carlson, 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
Macromedia, Inc.
600 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
Contents
About This Manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Intended audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
System requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About the Flash Media Server documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Chapter 1: Managing the Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Basic server settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Registering client applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Configuring virtual hosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Deploying server-side scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Starting and stopping the server in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Starting and stopping the server on Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Using the management console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Connecting to the management console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Managing applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Creating a new application instance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Managing the administrative users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Managing the servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Managing servers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Viewing server details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Viewing connection details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Viewing application details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Viewing license files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Viewing the server log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Logging client connections and other system events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Access log file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Application log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Diagnostic log file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Configuring logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Viewing server events in the Windows event viewer . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Configuring the server at runtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

4Contents
Managing Flash Media Server on Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Starting the Flash Media Admin Service in Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Starting the Flash Media Admin Service on Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Using the fmsmgr utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Chapter 2: Deploying Flash Media Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Typical configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Configuration for development and testing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Deploying on one computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Deploying on two computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Deploying on two computers with authentication
through Flash Media Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Deploying on two computers with authentication
through an application server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
SSL support in Flash Media Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Defining a secure port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Configuring SSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Creating multiple certificates for an adaptor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Configuring independent virtual hosts for SSL application . . . . . . . 66
About configuration levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
About the configuration hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Adding adaptors and virtual hosts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Server administration over HTTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Configuring Flash Media Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Using the admin commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Symbolic text substitutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Making a substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Predefined symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Mapping environment variables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Defining symbols outside the substitution.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Building the symbol map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Configurable application object properties for server-side scripting . 82
Chapter 3: Configuration Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
XML configuration files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Server.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Summary of Server.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Description of Server.xml tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Users.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Summary of Users.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Description of Users.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Logger.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Summary of Logger.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Description of Logger.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Contents 5
Adaptor.xml file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Summary of Adaptor. xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Description of Adaptor.xml tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Vhost.xml file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Summary of Vhost.xml tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
Description of Vhost.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Application.xml file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
Summary of Application.xml tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .186
Description of Application.xml tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
Chapter 4: Flash Media Server Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Managing server security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
About authentication and authorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
JavaScript security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219
Secure script loading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Protecting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
Permissions levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Choosing passwords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Access DLL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Configuring Access DLL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Sample Adaptor.cpp file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Developing secure applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Using SSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Using other secure development practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
About privacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
Deploying secure applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
About firewalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
Log file precautions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

6Contents

7
About This Manual
Macromedia Flash Media Server 2 enables one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and
many-to-many communication in real time between applications created in Macromedia
Flash 8. Developers create these applications using ActionScript, a scripting language based on
the same standard used by the JavaScript language.
Flash Media Server communicates with Macromedia Flash Player using the Real-Time
Messaging Protocol (RTMP), an unencrypted TCP/IP protocol designed for high-speed
transmission of audio, video, and data messages. You can also administer the server over
HTTP. You can use the same server administration application programming interface (API)
over HTTP as you would over RTMP. By passing command strings and arguments to the
URL of your Flash Media Server, you can interact with the server to retrieve information or
modify the server configuration. This API is described in detail in the Server Management
ActionScript Language Reference, included with Flash Media Server.
This manual describes how to configure and manage Flash Media Server to support media
applications deployed on a variety of network configurations. The rest of this chapter provides
system requirements, describes the Flash Media Server documentation, and lists additional
resources.
Flash Media Server enables applications to communicate with other servers. This manual does
not discuss web server and application server management or server operating system setup.
Intended audience
This manual is aimed at system administrators who will configure and manage Flash Media
Server to support media applications. You should already be familiar with basic network
infrastructure and security. You should also have some familiarity with client-server
application models, XML, and JavaScript.

8AboutThisManual
System requirements
Flash Media Server can be deployed on the following systems:
■Microsoft Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server - Standard Edition running on
a Pentium III 1-GHz processor or faster (Dual Pentium 4 or faster recommended).
Windows XP is acceptable for developing and testing applications.
■Linux Red Hat Enterprise Version 3.0 and Linux Red Hat Enterprise Version 4.0 running
on a Pentium III 1-GHz processor or faster (Dual Pentium 4 or faster recommended).
Your deployment system for Flash Media Server applications also requires the following:
■Minimum of 512 MB of available RAM.
■50 MB of available disk space.
■CD-ROM drive for installation.
Depending on your applications, your requirements might be greater than outlined here.
If you install Flash Media Server on a Linux computer, you’ll need Flash 8 installed on a
separate Windows or Macintosh computer to develop your Flash applications. You’ll also need
Macromedia Flash Player for Windows or Macintosh and a web browser to run the sample
applications.
About the Flash Media Server
documentation
All Flash Media Server documents are available in PDF format (viewable and printable with
AdobeAcrobatReaderatwww.adobe.com/products/acrobat/)and asFlash help. The PDFs
are available on the product CD or can be downloaded from the Macromedia website. To
view the help, open the Welcome page (in Windows, Start > Programs > Macromedia > Flash
Media Server > Welcome) or in Flash 8, select Help > Using Flash and then select a Flash
Media Server topic from the Table of Contents.
Tutorials on how to build simple applications that demonstrate important individual concepts
are included with the server. You can access these tutorials on Windows by selecting Start >
Programs > Macromedia > Flash Media Server > Welcome. Click on Welcome and then
Sample Applications. A link to the tutorials appears on the page that is displayed.

Additional resources 9
Typographical conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
■Code font indicates ActionScript statements, XML tag and attribute names, and literal
text used in examples.
■Italic indicates placeholder elements in code or paths. For example, /settings/myPrinter/
means that you should specify your own location for myPrinter.
■Directory paths are written with backslashes (\) for servers running on Microsoft
Windows systems. If you are running Flash Media Server on a UNIX system, replace the
backslashes with forward slashes (/).
Additional resources
The Flash Media Server documentation was written before the code in the product was
complete. Therefore, there may be discrepancies between the final implementation of the
product’s features and how they are documented in this manual. For a list of known
discrepancies, see thedocumentation update (www.macromedia.com/go/
flashmediaserver_documentation_update_en)intheFlash Support Center
(www.macromedia.com/go/flashmediaserver_support_en).
The Flash Support Center is updated regularly with the latest information on Flash and Flash
Media Server, as well as advice from expert users, advanced topics, examples, tips, and other
updates.

10 About This Manual