MICROSOFT MEDIA DISTRIBUTION

Microsoft Media Distribution

Media Distribution

Introduction

This paper provides a technical overview of the performance and scalability of Microsoft Windows Media Services 9 Series It describes common Windows Media Services performance issues, limitations, and performance monitoring techniques. It also presents the results from a set of performance tests conducted in a controlled lab environment.

Q.1 Windows Media Services Version 4.1 vs. Windows Media Services 9 Series

Windows Media Services 9 Series provides significant performance improvements when compared to the previous version, Windows Media Services version 4.1. The following list contains some of the features of Windows Media Services 9 Series that contribute to these performance gains:

New object model and extensible plug-in architecture.

Improved I/O and threading model.

Improved user experience provided by Fast Streaming. Fast Streaming is comprised of four components: Fast Start, Fast Cache, Fast Reconnect, and Fast Recovery.

Fewer disk-seek operations due to the retrieval of larger blocks of data.

Increased number of simultaneous users in common streaming scenarios.

In-memory caching of frequently accessed content using the file-buffering capabilities of the Windows Server 2003 operating system.

Higher packet recovery rates over User Datagram Protocol (UDP) transport.

The following charts summarize the performance gains of Windows Media Services 9 Series in Windows Server 2003 compared to Windows Media Services version 4.1 in Windows 2000. The first pair of columns presents a comparison between the maximum number of broadcast users in both platforms. The second pair of columns presents a comparison between the maximum number of on-demand users sourcing from a hardware RAID 0 set of three Ultra SCSI 3 15000 rpm disks.

Q.2 What is the typical setup necessary for media distribution through a website, used by a media organization, such as a newspaper or television station?

A media server is a computer-like device that is used to store and distribute digital media. Media servers can come in various forms from portable hard drives to dedicated computers ...