Hi,

Does anybody know whether some Operating System is better to host streaming server?

I am most familiar with Linux so I would want to go with it, but apparently I kind of curious so I guess I'll check with you guys.

The question might be changed to does CPU architecture Intel works better than SPARC for this purpose?

Any opinions?

Thank you.

What are you streaming?

Though my answer is going to be "No" in any event, it's almost certainly not going to matter.

Are you talking about a video server like Adobe FMS/Interactive Server, not easy to setup initially since most run Windows Server (why I don't know)...

I would recommend a physical server, (not a virtual machine), unless you have an ultra fast SAN (dedicated like SSD or RAM-SAN).

I spec'd out the servers for our needs, high-end Intel dual processors with dual socket quad core cpu's, RAID1 set for the OS CentOS5.7 x86_64 and RAID10 for video 4-6 drives, 24G of ram, high end nics along with drac and other options.

If I remember right it is a Dell R710 and it was pretty expensive, however it is running several LIVE streams with 500-1000 connections to it. The servers have never missed a beat, bandwidth is not a problem -- ISP.

Your hardware is going to make or break you, RAID10 for the video data location is a must. I setup /opt in the RAID10 Logical Volume and the I/O is amazing!

Ah okay, thanks for the input.

We will stream audio files mostly and some videos in RTSP.

Hmm.. Actually Adobe FMS is too expensive so I really think I should skip it from the list. The options are VLC, Darwin Streaming Server and wowza.

This statement brings me up another questions. Do I need a high spec Video Card for streaming server? Will it have any impact?


Yes, thank you for the suggestion.

No need to worry about the video card in the server, our clients (customers) will be connect to the server via the RTMP protocol (our setup). (not familar with RTSP protocol)

Also, this server need to be public_facing the Internet, no hardware firewalls in front of it. All of the servers at the ISP are all public_facing, just use netfitler and create some ipchains to protect them.

I over spec'd the server (first one) inititially, however it paid off as it has seen increased connections and live streaming traffic (interactive server).

For your VOD (content), I created a shared pool on the vid servers in which I used options in vsftpd to restrict listing content, ownership, downloading, ect... (I can post my config in another thread if needed, create a new thread on vsftpd restrictions).

With paying customers and advertising dollars at risk, you DO NOT want to be diagonsing I/O problems and/or a server dropping connections. I think the servers have pushed up to 500M or more.

The quad core (dual socket) Intel high end processors with live streaming events and/or VOD without any problems.

Plus, I think I put 24G of memory in them, memory is CHEAP when spec'd out on the front end and get HIGH-END nic cards as well, let them do the heavy lifting/processing.

Wowza looks like a GREAT product, I was told originally to setup the FMS and it was purchased so that is why we have it.

There is also Red5 as well, it is open_source as well and very popular.

I am still learning on video, it is still murky to me as I had a quick learning curve getting it going.

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