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If only all servers could be this easy to configure.
For those who aren't used to setting up streaming servers, the idea is often daunting, especially with multiformat servers that run on Windows, Red Hat Linux, or Mac OS X platforms.
When I started the review process, I set aside several hours to configure the server for basic video on demand (VOD). Yet, once the software was downloaded and installed, and a licence key added, I was able to get the entire VOD setup running for multiple simultaneous devices in less than an hour.
I found 90% of the information I needed for the simple setup in the online self-help guide (www.wowzamedia. com/quickstart_2_l _2.html; also shown in Figure 1). The "Wowza Media Server 2 Quick Start Guide for Version 2.1.2" mimics the included "User Guide" PDF. I chose the online version since I'd downloaded a clean install of the 2.1.2 version, which was released in late July.
Simple Setup
From the quick-start guide, I was able to follow the simple instructions to set up the server for VOD playback within 25 minutes. I then went on to load both Wowza 's included VOD content - an MP4 file and an M4V file - and a few of my own MP4 files into a single content folder.
My test equipment, since I was on the road, was a borrowed desktop machine that fitted the server criteria Wowza recommends, as well as two laptops, an iPhone 3GS, and a Verizon MiFi. The MiFi gives me both limited external connectivity, with enough bandwidth to do a single live stream on Verizon's data network, as well as an integrated five-unit Wi-Fi access point.
Once I had everything set up, I followed the steps to stream Wowza's provided MP4 and M4V content on the iPhone 3GS, a Flash Player 10.1 playback within one laptop's web browser, and an RTSP stream on another Mac via QuickTime Player.
It was too simple, which made me think I might have done something wrong, so I started poking around in the folders of the media server installation (under the root-level Library folder on the Mac) to see what I could find.
Missing Manifests?
What I didn't find confused me a bit more: There...