Windows Media Services

__NOTOC__Windows Media Services (WMS) is a streaming media server from Microsoft that allows an administrator to generate streaming media (audio/video). Only Windows Media, JPEG, and MP3 formats are supported.

In addition to streaming, WMS also has the ability to cache and record streams, enforce authentication, impose various connection limits, restrict access, use multiple protocols, generate usage statistics, and apply forward error correction (FEC). It can also handle a high number of concurrent connections making it ideal for content providers. Streams can also be distributed between servers as part of a distribution network where each server ultimately feeds a different network/audience. Both unicast and multicast streams are supported (multicast streams also utilize a proprietary and partially encrypted Windows Media Station (*.nsc) file for use by a player.) Typically, Windows Media Player is used to decode and watch/listen to the streams, but other players are also capable of playing Windows Media content (Microsoft Silverlight, VLC, MPlayer, etc.)

64-bit versions of Windows Media Services are also available for increased scalability. The Scalable Networking Pack for Windows Server 2003 adds support for network acceleration and hardware-based offloading, which boosts Windows Media server performance. The newest version, Windows Media Services 2008, for Windows Server 2008, includes a built-in [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/cache_proxy.aspx WMS Cache/Proxy plug-in] which can be used to configure a Windows Media server either as a cache/proxy server or as a reverse proxy server so that it can provide caching and proxy support to other Windows Media servers. [cite web | url = http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/serve/prodinfo2008.aspx | title = Windows Media Services 2008 | accessdate = 2007-09-25] Microsoft claims that these offloading technologies nearly double the scalability, making Windows Media Services the industry's most powerful streaming media server. [cite web | url = http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/server/server.aspx | title = Windows Media Services | accessdate = 2007-09-25]

Windows Media Services 2008 is no longer included with the setup files for the Windows Server 2008 operating system, but is available as a free download. [ [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9ccf6312-723b-4577-be58-7caab2e1c5b7&DisplayLang=en Download Windows Media Services 2008 for Windows Server 2008] ]

Releases

* Windows Media Services 4.1 (Included in Windows 2000 Server family and downloadable for previous Windows versions) [ [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/software/macintosh/osx/systemrequirements.aspx System Requirements for Windows Media Services 4.1] ]
* Windows Media Services 9 Series (Included in Windows Server 2003, works with IIS 6)
* Windows Media Services 2008 (Downloadable for Windows Server 2008, works with IIS 7)

See also

*Microsoft Media Server
*Windows Media Encoder
*Windows Media Player
*Microsoft Silverlight

References

External links

More Information

* [http://download.microsoft.com/download/winmediatech40/Update/4.1/WIN98/EN-US/wmserver.exe Windows Media Services 4.1 for Windows NT 4.0]
* [http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/server/server.aspx Official Windows Media Services site]
* [http://blogs.iis.net/chriskno/archive/2007/08/13/comparing-web-servers-to-streaming-media-servers.aspx Comparing Web servers to streaming media servers]
Applications to Manage Windows Media Services

* [http://shootingstarbbs.kicks-ass.net/wmsmonitor/about.htm WMS Monitor] - Shareware app for monitoring WMS publishing points
* [http://shootingstarbbs.kicks-ass.net/wmcontroller/ WM Controller] - Small app that allows remote starting/stopping of WMS publishing points
* [http://awstats.sourceforge.net/ AWStats] - Open source log file analyzer that is capable of reading WMS log files
* [http://wmsauth.sourceforge.net/ WMS authorization plugin] - Open source authorization plugin.

Monitoring Solutions for Windows Media Services

* [http://www.StreamPatrol.com Stream Patrol] - Software to monitor windows media streams. Status screen for NOC included with email alert notifications.
* [http://www.StreamChecker.com Stream Checker] - Plugin for existing monitoring solutions like Nagios that checks Windows Media Streams (both video and audio).