Installation guide

TypicallyEdge/Origindeploymentsarebestusedwithone-waystreamingservices.Whenusing
customserver-sideapplicationstoenablereal-timecommunication,theEdgeserverstrictly
handlestherequestsonbehalfoftheOriginserver.Clientconnectionsthenmakeround-tripsto
theOriginservertoruntheapplication.
InFlashMediaInteractiveServer3,Edge-levelsupportforbandwidthdetectionandstream
lengthdetectionhasbeenintegrated.erstserverinthechain(EdgeorOrigin)receivinga
stream call will also handle the bandwidth check and stream length check without calling the
Originserverscriptlayer.isfeatureiscompatiblewiththeFLVPlaybackcomponentfor
Flash8orFlashCS3Professional.
Whenaclientrequestisreceived,theEdgeserverwillhandlethetasksitcan,thenwillmakea
connectiontotheOriginserverforanyadditionaldatarequired.WhentheOriginserverfullls
therequest,thedataissentbacktotheEdgeserver,thenontotheclient.Totheclient,itappears
thattheconnectionismadedirectlytotheapplicationrunningontheOriginserver.
eEdgeserverservesasa“traccop”—handling connection overhead, authentication, and
otheradministrativeduties—freeingupvaluablesystemandnetworkresourcesfortheOrigin
server.Everyconnectionandconnectionattemptconsumesresourcesoverandabovetheactual
stream data owing through the connection. As the number and frequency of connections
increase,theloadcanbeexcessive;adverselyaectingserverperformance.eEdgeserver
greatlyreducesthisloadbyaggregatingconnections.eEdgemultiplexestheconnectionsfrom
alargenumberofclientsintooneconnectiontotheOriginserver.Allcommunicationsbetween
EdgeandOriginserversaretransparenttoclients.
eEdgeserveralsostorestheprerecordedmediacontentreceivedfromtheOriginserverina
cache,whichisthenmadeavailabletootherclientsthatconnecttotheEdgeserver.Caching
staticcontentfurtherreducestheloadontheOriginserver.
Deployment strategies
AsimplewaytodistributeloadamongEdgeserversistoassignusersinageographicalregionor
otherdelineationtoaspecicEdgeserver.Forexample,oneEdgeservermayaggregateand
forwardrequestsfromclientsinLondon,whileanothermayhandlerequestsfromTokyo.
AtypicalnetworkedFlashMediaServerdeploymentcaninvolvemultipleEdgeservers,deployed
eitherindividuallyorinclusters.Edgeserverscanalsobechained,allowingevenfurther
distribution of trac.
ToenabletheEdge/Originfeature,youcancongureanyserverinyourclusterasyourOrigin
server(orservers),andtherestasyourEdgeservers.AlleditionsinanEdge/Origincongura-
tionmustbethesame(forexample,youcannotmixFlashMediaStreamingServerandFlash
MediaInteractiveServereditionsinacluster).
Deployment
Large-scaleFlashMediaServerdeploymentsaresupportedwiththeFlashMediaServer
Edge/Originconguration.ForanintroductiontoFlashMediaServerEdge/Origin,please
refer to the Using Flash Media Server Edge Serversmanual.ForinstructionsforsettingupanEdge
server,refertothe“InstallingEdgeservers”sectionintheInstalling Flash Media Server 2 manual.
Edgeserversarealsoreferredtoasproxyservers.erearefourwaystocongureaFlashMedia
ServerEdge(orproxy)server:
• Clientauto-discoveryproxy
• Serverauto-discoveryproxy(reverseproxy)
• ExplicitURI
• ImplicitURI(recommended)
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