RealSystem G2: Management and Control of
`Streaming Media Over Corporate Networks
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`March 1999Copyright 1999, RealNetworks, Inc. All rights reserved.Author: K.Lagana
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`NEULION 1006
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`Management and Control of Streaming Media1
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`CONTENTS
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`INTENDED AUDIENCE........................................................................3OVERVIEW OF REALSYSTEM G2.......................................................3TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR STREAMING MEDIAIN AN ENTERPRISE NETWORK..........................................................4HOW REALSYSTEM G2 ADDRESSES THESECONSIDERATIONS WITHIN ENTERPRISE NETWORKS.....................4RealAudio and RealVideo Codecs.......................................................................4SureStream...........................................................................................................5Multicast................................................................................................................5 Back-channel Multicast....................................................................................5 Scalable Mulicast.............................................................................................5 Network Splitters..............................................................................................6RealSystem Administrator....................................................................................6 RealSystem Monitor.........................................................................................6 Connection Control..........................................................................................7 Multicast Controls............................................................................................7TYPICAL NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS USINGREALSYSTEM G2................................................................................8Company A: 2,500 - 10,000 Users......................................................................8Company B: 40,000 Users ..................................................................................9FOR MORE INFORMATION ON DEPLOYMENT..................................9
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`Want to know more about how RealNetworks products andtechnologies control media over corporate networks.
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`INTENDED AUDIENCE
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`OVERVIEW OF REALNETWORKS REALSYSTEM G2
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`Step 1: Encode with
`RealProducer G2
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`Digitized and
`Compressed Content
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`RealPlayer®, which plays the media clips.Corporations using RealSystem G2 for on demand or live broadcast, useall three components to encode, compress, serve and playbackRealMedia files.
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`Step 2: Serve and Broadcast
`with RealServer G2
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`Step 3: Playback Content on
`RealPlayer G2
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`Management and Control of Streaming Media3
`This white paper is intended for IT and MIS professionals who:
`Are considering a corporate-wide deployment of RealSystem™ G2.
`Wish to obtain examples of corporate RealSystem G2 installations.
`RealSystem G2 includes three components:
`RealProducer™, which converts audio and video files to digital media clips.
`RealServer™, which streams the clips in real-time.
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`TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR STREAMING MEDIA IN AN ENTERPRISE NETWORK
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`Bandwidth availability
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`How to support remote, local and international sites, solving for bothhigh and low connection speeds.
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`The effect of streaming large media files on shared network:
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`How to successfully deploy streaming media and be confident that itwon't disrupt mission-critical network traffic.
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`Scalability for a growing business:
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`How to start with a moderate amount of streaming media, but be able torapidly scale users and bandwidth without needing to reinstall the system.
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`Data traveling from host to end-user may traverse many networkconfigurations with multiple transmission speeds. Also the size of the audioand video data files will vary greatly depending upon the quality at whichthey were captured. When streaming media to end users, corporate ITmanagers will consider:
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`HOW REALSYSTEM G2 ADDRESSES THESE CONSIDERATIONS
`WITHIN ENTERPRISE NETWORKS
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`A combination of RealSystem G2 features enable network administrators toeasily configure their systems to mange variable bandwidths, media filesize, and network traffic:
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`1) RealAudio and RealVideo Codecs
`2) SureStream
`3) Multicast
`4) RealSystem G2 Administrator
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`RealAudio and RealVideo codecs
`RealAudio and RealVideo
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`Target
`Bit Rate
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`Real Audio
`Bandwidth
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`Real Video
`Bandwidth
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`Target Connection
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`codecs compress files quickly to suittarget bit rates. These compression/decompression algorithms enablerelatively large files to be streamed within limited bandwidths. Thefollowing table shows the recommended maximum bit rates forstreaming presentations over various network connections and howeach Codec adjusts to stay within target. Within RealProducer G2, theuser simply selects the target bit rate(s) and RealProducer automaticallysets the appropriate A/V bandwidths.
`28.8 Modem20 Kbps8 Kbps Music-G2 Stereo12 Kbps56.0 Modem32Kbps8 Kbps Music-G2 Stereo24 Kbps56.0 ISDN45 Kbps11 Kbps-G2 Stereo34 Kbps112 Kbps Dual ISDN80 Kbps20 Kbps Music-G2 Stereo60 Kbps10BT/Corporate LAN150 Kbps32 Kbps Music-G2 Stereo118 KbpsDSL Cable Modem220 Kbps32 Kbps Music-G2 Stereo188 Kbps
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`SureStream
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`SureStream provides dynamic bandwidth adjustments, assuring thebest quality signal at any bandwidth. A single RealVideo clip can beencoded for up to six target bandwidths – this enables corporateadministrators tosupport the variousconnection speedswithin theirorganization forremote and localusers. For example, asingle clip can beencoded for all of thetarget connectionsshown in the tableabove. Based on itsconnection speed,RealPlayer G2receives theSureStream at 20, 32,45, 80, 150 or 220Kbps.
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`Multicast
`Multicast allows many players to connect to one single stream, (asopposed to Unicast where there is a 1 to 1 ratio between player andstream).
`When Multicast is combined with SureStream, the Playerchooses the stream to tune in to based on its actual connection speed.RealSystem G2 provides two types of multicast: back-channel and
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`scalable.- Back-channel multicast is ideal when the audience is limited insize and quality of service is important. This type of multicastincludes a data packet resend option that is used when multicastedUDP data packets are lost. If a client cannot connect to a back-channel multicast event, then the client will attempt to connect viastandard unicast live. This failover feature is useful since a networkis not guaranteed to be fully multicast-enabled. Another benefit isthat Back-channel multicast content can be authenticated and userstatistics can be captured within server logs.-
`Scalable multicast, on the other hand, requires very little serverresource whether serving one client or one thousand clients.Scalable multicast is ideal for large audience live events, howevermulticast packets are susceptible to typical network packet lossBoth multicast and unicast URL links can be provided to users in aWeb page so that users on non-multicast enabled networks cantune into the same broadcast.
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`- Network Splitters enable one or more RealServers to join the mainRealServer to distribute streams. These splitter servers can deliverymultiple streams from one single stream and work well on both amulticast and non-multicast enabled network. This feature is ideal forlarge scale broadcasting and enables growing organizations to adapt bysimply adding RealServers with splitters as remote locations increase.This also allows network administrators to easily bridge multicast andnon multicast network segments, tying in remote locations with limitedbandwidth
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`RealSystem Administrator
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`RealSystem Administrator provides several controls that enable ITManagers to monitor user activities, set bandwidth limits, and configuremulticast and network splitter features. -
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`The RealSystem Monitor is real-time Java Monitor displaying activityon one or more RealServers, making server management easy. Itshows how the server is being used, who is using it, which files arethe most requested and what the stream load is. The Java Monitorincludes a configurable graph that displays real-time informationabout the number of clients connected to RealServer, the resourcesused, and which files are being streamed. Administrators can alsocreate other external G2 Java Monitors to track more than one server,monitoring multiple RealServers side by side.
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`Management and Control of Streaming Media7- Connection Control provides IT managers the ability to limit theamount of bandwidth used at any one time for streaming media.The Maximum Clients setting limits the number of clients whoconnect simultaneously. Once this limit is reached, clients thatattempt to connect receive an error message, and will not be able toconnect until other clients disconnect. Similarly, the Maximum
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`Bandwidth setting limits the amount of bandwidth RealServer canuse to any number of kilobits per second (Kbps). If you establishvalues for both variables, RealServer will limit access when thelower threshold is reached.- MultiCast Controls enable IT Managers to set Ports, IP multicastaddresses and packet resend options. It also give theAdministrators control over delivery options and user lists. For moredetail on how to set up Multicast and Splitters see the IP MultiCastin RealSystem G2 Whitepaper or the RealSystem AdministratorUser Guide.
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`TYPICAL NETWORK CONFIGURATIONS USING REALSYSTEM G2
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`Company A: 2,500-10,000 Users
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`The scenarios below show how each of these technologies are used withindifferent network configurations.
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`Company A uses RealSystem G2 to provide monthly live and archived salestraining broadcasts to the entire sales force. Other applications includeproducing product and market updates for account managers to referenceat their convenience. The sales force is spread across the network with sitesinitially located at corporate headquarters, on a local network (mix of 10 and100BT), and 2 regional centers connected via the T1 wide area network,with a T1 Gateway for dial-up access for remote employees.As the company grows to 10,000 employees world wide, RealSystem G2media broadcasts are used for new hire training, HR Benefits, policyupdates and software training. The network enables the majority ofemployees to access content from now thirteen local area networks,connected by a T1 and T3 wide area network. There continues to be largegroup of remote employees who will access the streams via their dial-upmodems.At headquarters, the content is SureStream encoded for 150Kbps and20Kbps using RealProducer G2, supporting the company’s multipleconnection speeds. Each Regional office has a RealServer G2 with aSplitter. The Splitter allows the many Regional office employees to tune intothe single stream. Another benefit to having a G2 Server at each location isthat each regional office can now support on demand viewing, after livebroadcast, reducing cross network traffic.Not every Regional office is multicast enabled, so in some instances Unicastis used to reach a Region’s employees. This is also handled by the Regions’RealServerG2 and Splitters. The central IT Manager uses the RealSystemAdministrator to control maximum bandwidth consumption and Multicastsettings (host settings, port ranges and resending of packets) for the serversat the various regions.
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`Company B: 40,000 users
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`Company C uses RealSystem G2 for daily corporate communications, suchas executive broadcasts, as well as on demand training and certificationprocesses. The training content is particularly critical to the company as“best practices” need to be consistent across all international divisions. Thecompany’s infrastructure is composed of 40 100baseT and 10baseT localarea networks connected via a wide area network using T3 and T1. Thiscompany also has several small offices based in smaller countries with only56K and 128K ISDN access to the network.In this scenario the content is SureStream encoded for 45-150Kbps. Notevery Regional office is multicast enabled, so in some instances Unicast isused to reach a Region’s employees. This is managed by the RegionsRealServerG2 and Splitters. At each server location the IT Manager usesthe RealSystem Administrator to control maximum bandwidth consumptionand Multicast settings (host settings, port ranges and resending of packets).Back Channel multicast is used to track user statistics and the RealSystemAdministrator has been set to only allow viewing based on IP address and aspecified user list.
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`FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT REALSYSTEM G2 IN CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTS
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` Go to:http://www.real.com/solutions/enterprise/deploy.htmlInformation in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names, and data used inexamples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the expresswritten permission of RealNetworks, Inc.© RealNetworks, Inc.RealAudio, RealVideo, and RealPlayer are registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc.The Real logo, RealServer, RealPlayer Plus, RealText, RealPix, RealAudio Encoder, RealVideo Encoder,RealEncoder, RealPublisher, RealProducer, RealProducer Plus, RealProducer Pro, SureStream,RealBroadcast Network, and RealSystem are trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc.RealFlash is a trademark of Macromedia, Inc. and RealNetworks, Inc.Macromedia is a registered trademark and Flash is a trademark of Macromedia, Inc.Other product and corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies. Theyare used for explanation only, with no intent to infringe.
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