Installation guide

FormoreinformationonH.264/AACsupport,seetheFlashPlayer9UpdateFAQat
http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:H.264.
Extending Flash Media Server
ereareanumberofAPIsavailablefordevelopingcustomapplicationsandmonitoringFlash
Media Server.
Client-side ActionScript API
YoucanuseanyversionofAdobeFlash(MX2004orlater)orAdobeFlexBuilder™sowareto
writeclient-sidescriptsthatcommunicatewithFlashMediaServer(suchasstreamingor
capturingliveaudioandvideo,orsendingcallstoserver-sidefunctions).esescriptscanbe
any version of ActionScript.
Server-side ActionScript API
FlashMediaInteractiveServerprovidesaccesstoserver-sideActionScript.Server-side
ActionScript code can be used to control login policies, republish content to other servers,
allow and disallow user access to server resources, allow users to update and share information,
andmore.Server-sideActionScriptissimilarbutnotidenticaltoActionScript1.0.
Plug-in API
FlashMediaInteractiveServeroersplug-inswritteninC++thatallowyoutoextendthe
functionality of the server. Some plug-ins perform access security checks, allow geographical
targeting of content, track statistical data about clients, and execute network-based le operations.
Flash Media Server 3.5 ships with new sample plug-ins that make it even easier to get started.
Administration API
eAdministrationAPIgivesyouthetoolsyouneedtocreateFlashPlayerorAdobeAIRclients
that can monitor and administer all editions of Flash Media Server.
Benets of streaming versus HTTP delivery
erearethreemethodsfordeliveringvideoovertheInternetusingAdobeFlashPlayer:
• Embeddedvideo
• Progressivedownload
• Streaming
Embeddedvideoisrarelyusedexceptinveryspecializedapplicationswithlow-quality,short
video clips, so our discussion will focus on progressive download and streaming.
Inbothprogressiveandstreamingdelivery,thevideocontentisexternaltotheSWFle.To
deploy video content to the web, the SWF le and the video le would be uploaded to a server.
Keeping the video external and separate oers a number of benets over the embedded video
method, including:
• Easytoupdate—Accommodatesdynamiccontentandit’srelativelyeasytoaddorchange
content independent of the video player and without the need to republish the SWF le.
• SmallSWFlesize—YourSWFlecanremainverysmallforfasterpageloading,allowingthe
video to be delivered when the user requests it.
• Betterperformance—BecausetheFLVandSWFlesareseparate,theuserhasabetter
playback experience.
Note: Although this section focuses on the delivery of video les, these same methods can be used to deliver
audio les.
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