Trying IPv6 Multicast with Windows Media

Tadahisa Okimoto
NTT West



I will explain the configuration for video stream multicast on IPv6 network using Windows Media 9. Necessary components are Windows 2003 Server (Windows Media service), Web server, DNS server and a client PC.

Using Multicast

In the system we are building, the browser on the client PC shows the video stream page on the Web server. The page has "Live" button, which provides link to a metafile called asx file. Asx file links to an nsc file, with multicast information embedded.

‹asx version = "3.0"› ‹entry› ‹ref href = "ShowNetTV -ch1.nsc"/› ‹Title›ShowNetTV -ch1‹/Title› ‹Author›‹/Author› ‹Copyright›‹/Copyright› ‹Banner›‹/Banner› ‹/entry› ‹/asx›

Click on the metafile launches Windows Media Player on the client PC. Access to the nsc file enables reference to multicast access information and starts multicast transmission.


Figure 1 Video Stream Multicast through Windows Media


IPv6 Transmission through Windows Media

Windows 2003 Server comes in several packages. You need to choose Enterprise Edition for IPv6 multicast transmission (I have a bitter experience of wasting time trying to do it with Standard Edition). At the install of Windows 2003 Server Enterprise Edition, you should choose Windows Media Services at server configuration. Or you could choose Windows Media Services at server configuration later.

Let me explain IPv6 multicast setting in Windows Media step by step.

First, you go to Start and choose Windows Media Services from Administrative Tool.

Step 1

Right-click Publishing Points item and choose Add Publishing Point (Wizard).



Step 2

On the welcome page, click Next.



Step 3

On the Publishing Point Name page, enter the name for the publishing point. This will be part of the URL.



Step 4

Here, we have entered the name of our publishing point, ShowNetTV-1ch. Click Next.



Step 5

On the Content Type page, choose Encoder.




Step 6

Publishing Point Type page offers two choices: Broadcast publishing point (for live video) and On-demand publishing point. We will choose Broadcast because we will do live transmission.



Step 7

Now you choose delivery options for contents. We need to choose Multicast because we will try multicast transmission. You may want to choose unicast switch option for fall back to unicast when multicast doesn't work.



Step 8

Next, we input live encoder information.



Step 9

On the Unicast Logging page, you choose if you want to log data about unicast transmission.



Step 10

You will see the Publishing Point summary page, for confirming that entered information is correct.



Step 11

This completes the wizard part. You select creation of nsc file and click Finish.



Step 12

We have entered Multicast Announcement wizard.



Step 13

First, choose the file type to create. If you are setting up the server for the first time, I recommend you to create both nsc and asx files. You can also choose automatic creation of simple Web page for streaming.



Step 14

On Retrieving stream format page, you see the encoder information you have input before, so just click Next.



Step 15

For multicast logging, you need to have IIS running. If so, enable logging.



Step 16

Specify file names for asx, nsx, and htm files.



Step 17

Enter URL that nsc file is located.



Step 18

Enter metafile information.



Step 19

Choose if you want to create an archive of your multicast transmission. If you want to archive, specify the archive location.



Step 20

This completes Multicast Announcement wizard.



Step 21

You can conduct test transmission now, but IPv6 multicast transmission is not enabled at this point. You can only do IPv4 multicast transmission.



Step 22

You have added new publishing point information. Select new profile and click on Multicast Streaming at the property.



Step 23

You see the current multicast address in IPv4. Change this to IPv6 multicast address. Change the port number if necessary.



Step 24

Select detailed setting and choose the network interface for IPv6 multicast.



Step 25

For the changes to take effect, you are prompted to launch wizard again. Press OK and choose Announcement.



Step 26

You have launched Multicast Announcement Wizard. You repeat Step 13 and later. But you just need to renew nsc file.



This completes the creation of necessary announcement files (nsc, asx and htm files). Upload them to the Web server with the URL specified in the wizard. Access this URL with your browser, and IPv6 multicast transmission begins.