A Jukebox in NetWare

NetWare 5.1–the latest NetWare upgrade–has a component

called Multimedia Server. This adds multimedia-streaming capabilities to your

NetWare server, and you can use it to stream RM (RealMedia), MP3, and WAV files.

You can thus use your server as a jukebox from where clients can play songs,

stream multimedia tutorial files, or store and display audio/video presentations

over your network. Here, we’ll explain how to have a multimedia server up and

running.

Configuring the server

When you install NetWare 5.1 afresh, the multimedia server

comes up as an option. You can add it here, or later after everything’s set

up. For this, you’ll need your NetWare 5.1 installation CD. Adding new

components in NetWare has become easier with the new GUI front-end. Choose

Install from the Start menu bar, and a list of all uninstalled components pops

up. Now, you just need to click any component you want to set up.

When you choose Multimedia Server, another component–the

NetWare Web Manager–also gets selected. This is a Web-based administration

utility for several NetWare 5.1 components, which lets you administer these

components using a Web browser.

After the multimedia server is installed, go to the server

console and type "media" to start the service. If you have

insufficient resources on your server, such as a slow processor, or less memory,

you can give the command "protect media". This loads the server in

limited memory space, which also limits its functionality.

The multimedia server is now ready for some action.

By default, all files you want to stream over your network are placed in the

SYS:\PUBLIC\MEDIACONTENT directory. If you’d like to change this location,

open the Media.cfg file in the SYS:\ETC directory. You can also limit the number

of clients who can use this service to any number between 1 and 50. After making

changes in this file, you have to unload (use the command "umedia" to

unload the server) and load the multimedia server for the changes to take

effect. Copy

all files you want to stream into this directory.

The client

You need RealPlayer G2, version 6 or above, to use the

multimedia server. The player is freely downloadable from www.real.com. To play

MP3 and WAV files, you need to install DirectShow 6.x. The streaming takes place

using a protocol called RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol), which is meant to

stream multimedia over IP networks.

To open a file using RealPlayer, choose Open Location, and

type the following:

rtsp://server_name/filename

Here, server_name is the name or IP address of your NetWare

server and filename is the name of the file you want to play. One drawback here

is that you have to know the name of the file you want streamed–RealPlayer

doesn’t give you a list of files to choose from. If you go to file location

and double click on one, it won’t be streamed through RTSP. So, you have to

type the name of the file in RealPlayer.

One way out is to create playlists. To do this, create a text

file containing all the files you want to play as follows:

rtsp://server_name/FILE1.MP3

rtsp://server_name/FILE2.WAV

rtsp://server_name/FILE10.RM

Save this file with any extension and it will work. You can

create multiple playlists like this.

It takes about five seconds to start streaming a file that

you select. When you play a WAV or MP3 file for the first time, RealPlayer will

automatically prompt you to download a 68 kB plug-in, without which it won’t

play the file.

Happy listening.

Sachin Makhija and Sanjay Majumdar