Cisco ACNS Software Caching Configuration Guide, Release 4.2
Chapter 9: Configuring Windows Media Technologies Streaming Media Caching
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Table Of Contents

Configuring Windows Media Technologies Streaming Media Caching

Enabling WMT on the Content Engine

Enabling Transparent WMT Service Using WCCP-Enabled Routers

Requirements

Procedure

Enabling Conventional WMT Proxy Service

Requirements

Procedure

Configuring WMT Multicasting

WMT Multicast and Broadcast CLI Commands

WMT Multicast

WMT Broadcast

Unicast-In Multicast-Out

Multicast-In Multicast-Out

Multicast-In Unicast-Out

WMT Examples


Configuring Windows Media Technologies Streaming Media Caching

This chapter describes how Windows Media Technologies (WMT) Version 7.01 streaming media caching is configured on the Content Engine. This chapter contains the following sections:

•Enabling WMT on the Content Engine

•Enabling Transparent WMT Service Using WCCP-Enabled Routers

•Enabling Conventional WMT Proxy Service

•Configuring WMT Multicasting

Enabling WMT on the Content Engine

To enable WMT on the Content Engine, follow these steps.

Note To enable WMT on the Content Engine, you must use CLI commands.

Step 1 Access the CLI and view the WMT license agreement by using the show wmt license-agreement command in EXEC mode. 

ContentEngine# show wmt license-agreement

Step 2 After reading the license agreement, enter global configuration mode and accept the license agreement. 

ContentEngine# configure

ContentEngine(config)# wmt accept-license-agreement

Step 3 Enter your Cisco license key. 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt license-key licensekey

Step 4 Alternatively, accept an evaluation license by using the wmt evaluation command. 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt evaluation

Step 5 Enable the Content Engine with the wmt enable command. 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt enable

You are now able to configure the WMT parameters required for streaming media connections through WMT technologies by transparent caching or conventional caching.

Note You must configure disk space to include mediafs storage with the disk config command before you can run cache streaming media using WMT.

Enabling Transparent WMT Service Using WCCP-Enabled Routers

During transparent caching, the user's network traffic flows through the WCCP-enabled router rather than through the Content Engine to access streaming media.

Requirements

•Content Engine running ACNS 4.1 or later software

•WMT proxy software installed with mediafs partitions mounted on the Content Engine

•WMT license key

•IP address of the router or routers

Procedure

To enable transparent redirection of WMT traffic to the Content Engine acting as a WMT proxy, follow these steps.

Step 1 On the routers running WCCP Version 2, turn the WCCP feature on for the specified service groups used to redirect WMT traffic to the Content Engine. For more information on router commands, see "Web Cache Communication Protocol Version 2." 

router(config)# ip wccp 81

router(config)# ip wccp 82

Note MMS works on two transport protocols: TCP and UDP. To perform a WCCP redirect of MMS traffic, the router has to redirect both TCP and UDP traffic. With a router running WCCP Version 2, that means that you must enable two WCCP service groups on the router. The standard service group is 81 for TCP and 82 for UDP.

Step 2 Configure the outbound interfaces to the Internet and enter interface configuration mode. In the following example, the outbound interface is the Ethernet 0 device. 

router(config)# interface Ethernet 0

Note Although typical router configuration in a branch office scenario involves configuring the outgoing interface, you can also configure the incoming interface on the router for traffic redirection. This depends primarily on the client's network topology.

Step 3 Enable WCCP redirection to service groups 81 and 82 on the specified interface. 

router(interface)# ip wccp 81 redirect out

router(interface)# ip wccp 82 redirect out

Step 4 Set the WCCP Version 2 parameters on the Content Engine. 

ContentEngine(config)# wccp version 2

ContentEngine(config)# wccp wmt router-list-num 1

Step 5 Enter the numbered router list that you wish to associate with this service. In the following example, the WCCP Version 2-enabled routers have the IP addresses 172.16.25.25 and 172.16.24.24. 

ContentEngine(config)# wccp router-list 1 172.16.25.25 172.16.24.24

Step 6 Enable WMT on the Content Engine. See the "Enabling WMT on the Content Engine" section.

Step 7 Save the new configuration. 

ContentEngine# copy running-config startup-config

Step 8 Configure WMT parameters as needed using CLI commands.


Note Refer to the Cisco ACNS Software Command Reference, Release 4.2 for more detailed information on these parameters. Alternatively, you can click the WMT Config button to configure the WMT parameters as needed with the Content Engine GUI. (See Figure 9-1.)

Note To access the Content Engine GUI, enter the Content Engine IP address and append the default port number 8001 as the URL address in your browser of choice. For example, enter http://CEIPaddress:8001 as the URL. See the "Logging On to the GUI" section for more information on how to access the features supported by the Content Engine GUI.

Figure 9-1 WMT Administration Page in Content Engine GUI

Step 9 Use the following CLI command to display all WMT statistics once you have started the WMT player: 

ContentEngine# show statistics wmt all

Note The WMT statistics relate only to objects transported over MMS that were requested by a WMT client. Objects transported over HTTP are counted in the HTTP statistics.

Enabling Conventional WMT Proxy Service

During conventional proxy caching, the user media player is pointed to the Content Engine rather than a WCCP-enabled router to access streaming media.

Requirements

•Content Engine running ACNS 4.1 or later software

•WMT Proxy software installed with mediafs partitions mounted on the Content Engine

•Microsoft WMT license key

•IP address of the Content Engine

Procedure

To configure the Content Engine to service WMT clients with the WMT proxy, follow these steps:

Step 1 Enable WMT on the Content Engine. See the "Enabling WMT on the Content Engine" section.

Step 2 Configure the Content Engine to listen for WMT traffic on a specified port. The standard WMT port is 1755. 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt incoming 1755

Step 3 Configure WMT media players to use the Content Engine as the WMT proxy. (See Figure 9-2.)

a. Open the Windows Media Player.

b. Choose Tools > Options.

c. Click the Network tab.

d. Click the Multicast, UDP, TCP and HTTP radio buttons if not selected.

e. Click MMS under Proxy Settings and click Configure. The Configure Protocol Page in WMT Media Player page appears. (See Figure 9-3.)

f. Click Use the following proxy server.

g. Enter the IP address of the Content Engine in the Address field.

h. In the port field, enter the port number that you entered in Step 2.

i. Click OK.

Figure 9-2 WMT Media Player Network Options

Figure 9-3 Configure Protocol Page in WMT Media Player

Step 4 Save the new configuration. 

ContentEngine# copy running-config startup-config

Step 5 Configure WMT parameters as needed using the CLI commands. Use the wmt ? command to see available configuration options. 

ContentEngine(config)#wmt ?

  accept-license-agreement     Accept license; View by 'show wmt license-agreement'

  broadcast                    Broadcast live configuration.

  cache                        WMT cache config

  disallowed-client-protocols  Specify disallowed WMT client protocols

  enable                       Enable WMT

  evaluate                     Start/continue 60-day evaluation of WMT.

  incoming                     Configuration for incoming WMT requests

  l4-switch                    Configure layer 4 switch interoperability for WMT.

  license-key                  Required license key for WMT

  max-bandwidth                Maximum aggregate bandwidth limitation.

  max-bitrate                  Maximum stream bit rate that can be served to a client.

  max-concurrent-sessions      Maximum number of unicast clients that can be served concurrently.

  multicast                    Multicast configuration and scheduling.

ContentEngine(config)

Note Alternatively, you can click the WMT Config button to configure the WMT parameters as needed with the Content Engine GUI. (See Figure 9-1.)

Step 6 Use the following CLI command to display all WMT statistics once you have started the WMT player: 

ContentEngine# show statistics wmt all

Note The WMT statistics relate only to objects transported over MMS that were requested by a WMT client. Objects transported over HTTP are counted in the HTTP statistics. Streaming objects requested by other clients or transported over protocols other than RTSP (for RealPlayer streaming media) bypass the Content Engine.

Configuring WMT Multicasting

Based on the capabilities and limitations of the network, a Content Engine can receive and deliver WMT streaming content through IP multicast in the following three scenarios:

•Unicast-In Multicast-Out

•Multicast-In Multicast-Out

•Multicast-In Unicast-Out

The unicast-in multicast-out multicast delivery feature enables you to distribute streaming media efficiently by allowing different devices on the IP multicast to receive a single stream of media content from the Content Engine simultaneously. This can save significant network bandwidth consumption, because a single stream is sent to many devices, rather than sending a single stream to a single device every time that this stream is requested. This multicast delivery feature is enabled by setting up a multicast address on the Content Engine to which different devices, configured to receive content from the same channel, can subscribe. The delivering device sends content to the multicast address set up at the Content Engine, from which it becomes available to all subscribed receiving devices.

The multicast-in multicast-out multicast receive feature enables you to receive multicast WMT streams delivered through IP multicasting, then relay them to end users through another delivery channel (unicast or multicast).

The two WMT multicast-out features combined enable you to receive and deliver WMT streaming media content through IP multicasting, and to do conversions from multicast to unicast (and vice versa).

The multicast-in unicast-out scenario enables you to create a broadcasting publishing point to deliver an incoming stream live to requesting clients using multicast as the source of the streaming media.

WMT Multicast and Broadcast CLI Commands

Two global configuration CLI commands are needed to configure the Content Engine for the WMT multicasting scenarios described:

•wmt multicast—Unicast-in multicast-out

•wmt multicast—Multicast-in multicast-out

•wmt broadcast—Multicast-in unicast-out

WMT Multicast

Use the wmt multicast {schedule-start name minute hour day month | station-configuration name dest_addr dest_port media_source [play-forever]} command to enable WMT multicasting for the unicast-in multicast-out and multicast-in multicast-out scenarios on the Content Engine. The schedule-start name minute hour day month option creates a scheduling option to allow the Content Engine to start a multicast at a specified time. This option only works if you have configured a multicast station first.

Note You must enable WMT on the Content Engine before you can use the wmt multicast and wmt broadcast commands. See the "Enabling WMT on the Content Engine" section.

The station-configuration name dest_addr dest_port media_source option specifies a multicast station name, an IP multicast address, port number and media source for the multicast station created. Each station needs a multicast IP address. You must enter a valid class D IP address multicast address in the range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255, except for the reserved IP ranges based on RFC 1700 and related documents as follows:

•224.0.0.0-224.0.6.255

•224.0.13.0-224.0.13.255

•224.1.0.0-224.2.255.255

•232.0.0.0-232.255.255.255

Note You must choose a multicast IP address that does not conflict internally within the same multicast-enabled network configuration. This multicast IP address is not related to the IP address of the Content Engine.

The allowed multicast port range defined by the dest_port option is 1 through 65535. However, the multicast-enabled network may impose certain restrictions on your choice of port. Normally, port numbers below 1024 should be avoided, but the Content Engine does not enforce any restrictions.

The media_source option determines the source of the multicast. The source can be any valid WMT URL. In other words, if you can play the URL on your Windows Media player, then you can make this URL the source of your multicast.

WMT Broadcast

Use the wmt broadcast {alias-name name source url} command to configure the multicast-in unicast-out broadcast scenario on the Content Engine. With this command, you create a broadcasting alias to deliver an incoming stream live to requesting clients using multicast as the source of the streaming media.

Note You can also configure WMT multicasting parameters with the Content Engine GUI. Click the WMT Config button shown in Figure 9-1 to access these parameters.

Unicast-In Multicast-Out

The Content Engine supports several different sources for a unicast-in multicast-out stream, otherwise known as stream splitting. A unicast input can be from a video on demand (VOD) publishing point, a live unicast publishing point, an encoder, or a streaming media source from a local disk. The ASF header obtained from the unicast input and the parameters used to configure the multicast station are used by the Content Engine to automatically create the multicast description .nsc file. The clients use this easily accessible file to subscribe to the multicast.

To enable WMT multicasting for unicast-in multicast-out, follow these steps:

Step 1 Configure a multicast station on the Content Engine in global configuration mode with the wmt multicast station-configuration command: 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt multicast station-configuration test1 233.33.33.33 3333 
mms://172.16.30.31/source.asf play-forever

ContentEngine(config)#

In this example a multicast station named test1 is configured and used by the Content Engine as the multicast source file. Its Class D IP address is 233.33.33.33 and the multicast port is 3333. The play-forever option is used. When the input source.asf file is a VOD file, this option automatically restarts from the beginning of the source.asf file once the end of this file has been reached.

Note This source file source.asf can be located on any WMT server, including a Windows server, or the Content Engine. In the case of the Content Engine, pre-positioned media files should be stored in the /local1/wmt_vod directory. In this scenario, the media source is represented by mms://CEIPaddress/wmt_vod/source.asf, where CEIPaddress is the IP address of the Content Engine.

Step 2 Start the multicast using the wmt multicast-station command in EXEC mode. 

ContentEngine# wmt multicast-station start test1

ContentEngine#

Step 3 Open your WMT player and choose File > Open URL. Enter the following URL: 

http://CEIPaddress/test1.nsc

Click OK. The WMT player should retrieve the multicast description .nsc file and join the multicast station that is specified in Step 1.

Note The use of port 80 is implied in the URL for WMT multicasting. An equivalent URL is http://CEIPaddress:80/test1.nsc.

Multicast-In Multicast-Out

In this multicasting scenario, a description file *.nsc is created that is accessible through multicast-out to clients. This is similar to the unicast-in multicast-out scenario except that the input source is multicast. The clients use this description file to subscribe to the multicast.

To enable WMT multicasting for multicast-in multicast-out, follow these steps:

Step 1 Configure a multicast station on the Content Engine in global configuration mode with the wmt multicast station-configuration command: 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt multicast station-configuration test2 233.33.33.34 6667 
mms://172.16.30.31/source.nsc

ContentEngine(config)#

In this example, a multicast station named test2 is configured and used by the Content Engine as the multicast source file. Its class D IP address is 233.33.33.34 and the multicast port is 6667. The multicast stream stops playing once the end of the source.nsc file has been reached, unless the play-forever option is used.

Step 2 Start the multicast with the wmt multicast-station start command in EXEC mode. 

ContentEngine# wmt multicast-station start test2

ContentEngine#

Step 3 Open your WMT player and choose File > Open URL. Enter the following URL: 

http://CEIPaddress/test2.nsc

Click OK. The WMT player should receive the MMS media source specified in Step 1.

Multicast-In Unicast-Out

In this scenario a unicast-out publishing point is created to deliver the incoming stream live to requesting clients.

To enable WMT multicasting for multicast-in unicast-out, follow these steps:

Step 1 Configure a broadcasting alias on the Content Engine in global configuration mode with the wmt broadcast command: 

ContentEngine(config)# wmt broadcast alias-name myunicast source 
http://172.16.30.31/station.nsc

ContentEngine(config)#

In this step a unicast publishing point with the alias name myunicast is configured with a multicast source station.nsc file. This source is a server sending out WMT multicast streams. The source of an alias in the format http://server/file.nsc signals the Content Engine to treat this source as a multicast input source.

Step 2 Open your WMT player and choose File > Open URL. Enter the following URL: 

mms://CEIPaddress/myunicast

Click OK. The WMT player should receive the MMS media source specified in Step 1. Note that in this scenario an MMS URL is used to access the streaming media, and that only the alias-name is specified instead of the *.nsc files in the multicast-out scenarios.

This converts the multicast stream to unicast and sends it to the requesting client.

WMT Examples

In the following example, the show statistics wmt ? command is used to show the CLI options for displaying statistics monitored by the Content Engine. 

ContentEngine(config)# show statistics wmt ?

  all        Display all Windows Media statistics

  bytes      Display unicast bytes statistics

  errors     Display errors statistics

  multicast  Display multicast statistics

  requests   Display unicast request statistics

  savings    Display savings statistics

  usage      Display current usage statistics

  statistics Display statistics by module

The following example displays request statistics. In this example, the statistics reported are the total number of requests served, type of content (live or VOD), transport protocol, and source of content. 

ContentEngine# show statistics wmt requests

Unicast Requests Statistics

===========================

Total unicast requests received: 4

-------------------------------------


                                Total            % of Total

                                              Unicast Requests

                              --------------------------------------------


    Total Requests served:          4              100.00%


                                 Total        % of Total Requests

                             ---------------------------------------------


By Type of Content

------------------

             Live content:          2               50.00%

        On-Demand Content:          2               50.00%


By Transport Protocol

---------------------

                     MMSU:          4              100.00%

                     MMST:          0                0.00%

                     HTTP:          0                0.00%


By Source of Content

--------------------

                    Local:          0                0.00%

               Remote MMS:          4              100.00%

              Remote HTTP:          0                0.00%

                Multicast:          0                0.00%


ContentEngine#

In the following example, all WMT statistics are displayed. 

ContentEngine# show statistics wmt all

Unicast Requests Statistics

===========================

Total unicast requests received: 4

-------------------------------------


                                Total            % of Total

                                              Unicast Requests

                              --------------------------------------------


    Total Requests served:          4              100.00%


                                 Total        % of Total Requests

                             ---------------------------------------------


By Type of Content

------------------

             Live content:          2               50.00%

        On-Demand Content:          2               50.00%


By Transport Protocol

---------------------

                     MMSU:          4              100.00%

                     MMST:          0                0.00%

                     HTTP:          0                0.00%


By Source of Content

--------------------

                    Local:          0                0.00%

               Remote MMS:          4              100.00%

              Remote HTTP:          0                0.00%

                Multicast:          0                0.00%


Unicast Bytes Statistics

========================

Total unicast outgoing bytes: 51089546

---------------------------------

                                         Total     % of Total Unicast

                                                    Outgoing Bytes

                              --------------------------------------------


By Type of Content

------------------

             Live content:             50721284          99.28%

        On-Demand Content:               368262           0.72%


By Transport Protocol

---------------------

                     MMSU:             51089546         100.00%

                     MMST:                    0           0.00%

                     HTTP:                    0           0.00%


Unicast Savings Statistics

==========================

Total bytes saved: 353256

--------------------------

                                         Total       % of Total Bytes

                                                            Saved

                              --------------------------------------------

By Pre-positioned content:                    0           0.00%

        By Live-splitting:                    0           0.00%

             By Cache-hit:               353256         100.00%


                                         Total         % of Total

                                                  Incoming Live Bytes

                              --------------------------------------------

Live Splitting

--------------

           Incoming bytes:             50750993         100.00%

           Outgoing bytes:             50721284         100.00%

              Bytes saved:                    0           0.00%


                                         Total       % of Bytes Cache

                                                           Total

                              --------------------------------------------

Caching

-------

         Bytes cache-miss:                15006           4.07%

          Bytes cache-hit:               353256          95.93%

        Bytes cache-total:               368262         100.00%


     Bytes cache-bypassed:                    0


                                         Total         % of Req Cache

                                                           Total

                              --------------------------------------------


Cacheable requests

------------------

           Req cache-miss:                    0           0.00%

            Req cache-hit:                    2         100.00%

    Req cache-partial-hit:                    0           0.00%

          Req cache-total:                    2         100.00%


       Req cache-bypassed:                    0


Objects not cached

------------------

           Cache bypassed:                    0

          Exceed max-size:                    0


Multicast statistics

====================


Total Multicast Outgoing Bytes: 0


Aggregate Multicast Out Bandwidth (Kbps)

-----------------------------------------------

        Current:     0.000

            Max:     0.000


Number of Concurrent Active Multicast Sessions

-----------------------------------------------

        Current:         0

            Max:         0


List of All Configured Multicast Stations

-----------------------------------------------

Total Number of Configured Multicast Stations: 0



Usage Summary

=============

Concurrent Unicast Client Sessions

----------------------------------

        Current:         1

            Max:         1


Concurrent Active Multicast Sessions

------------------------------------

        Current:         0

            Max:         0


Concurrent Remote Server Sessions

---------------------------------

        Current:         1

            Max:         1


Concurrent Unicast Bandwidth (Kbps)

-----------------------------------

        Current:   107.125

            Max:   107.125


Concurrent Multicast Out Bandwidth (Kbps)

-----------------------------------------

        Current:     0.000

            Max:     0.000


Concurrent Bandwidth to Remote Servers (Kbps)

---------------------------------------------

        Current:    50.343

            Max:   107.125


Error Statistics

================

                    Total request errors:         0


  Errors generated by this box

                   Reach MAX connections:         0

                     Reach MAX bandwidth:         0

                      Reach MAX bit rate:         0

                         MMSU under wccp:         0

                        MMSU not allowed:         0

                        MMST not allowed:         0

                      MMSU/T not allowed:         0

                        HTTP not allowed:         0

   1st tcp pkt error, possible port scan:         0

                             Illegal url:         0

                               No socket:         0

                          Cannot connect:         0

                     Authentication fail:         0

                     Remote server error:         0

                            Client error:         0

                          Internal error:         0

                Local vod file not found:         0

         Local vod file header corrupted:         0

           Local vod file data corrupted:         0

                           Unknown error:         0

Errors generated by remote servers

                   Reach MAX connections:         0

                     Reach MAX bandwidth:         0

                      Reach MAX bit rate:         0

                             Illegal url:         0

                         Invalid request:         0

                               No socket:         0

                          Cannot connect:         0

                       Connection refused:        0

                             Access deny:         0

                     Invalid stream type:         0

                     Remote server error:         0

                          Remote timeout:         0

                      Remote proxy error:         0

                          File not found:         0

                   File header corrupted:         0

                     File data corrupted:         0

                    Remote unknown error:         0


  Authentication Retries from Clients:            0