Configuring Caching Settings
The Cache tab enables you to specify storage space locations and limits. (See Figure 35.)
A proxy/cache server will attempt to store as much information as
possible to reduce load on the origin server. The default settings do
not include any limits on caching, but if you are caching data for a
large amount of content, it is recommended that you set some limits.
The Caching Speed
section specifies how quickly data will be pulled from the origin
server. If you select Maximum Available Bandwidth, the proxy/cache
server will attempt to transfer content from the origin server as
quickly as possible and will then cache it locally. The Content Bit Rate
option specifies that data will be transferred from the origin server
at the same rate as the bandwidth of the file. This option is useful if
there are many caching servers that are accessing the same origin
server.
The
Prestuff tab provides options related to populating the proxy/cache
server’s media cache, even when users are not requesting content. (See Figure 36.)
It is useful when you want to populate server content initially before
it goes into production (when the load will be significantly higher).
The first option is to pull the information from a stream. This option
requires the full URL to a publishing point that is located on the
origin server. You can also limit the amount of bandwidth consumed for
the prestuff operation.
To reduce network load
when transferring large amounts of data, you can also load the prestuff
data from a file. The Content Path setting can be a local file system
location or a network path. The Stream URL validates the files from an
existing publishing point. To start the prestuff operation, click the
Prestuff button.
More Info: Testing your Windows Media Services infrastructure
When you are planning to
stream media to a large number of users, it helps to generate a sample
load to test your Windows Media Services infrastructure. Microsoft has
provided the Windows Media Load Simulator for Windows Media Services 9
Series as a free tool for generating load and simulating user activity.
You can find this and other downloads on the Windows Media Services 9
Series Tools and Add-ins page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/forpros/serve/tools.aspx.
