Microsoft NetShow Road Kit

The Pros and Cons

One of the benefits of having content based on ASF is that ASF is by nature a streaming file format. That means that content can stream from a NetShow server, a file server, or even a standard HTTP server like Microsoft's Internet Information Server. In many cases, this means that a company currently using HTTP servers can test and start to deploy NetShow content even before they have started rolling out Windows NT Server® and the NetShow server company-wide.

The advantage of running NetShow content on an HTTP server is that it might be convenient if you've already got an HTTP server up and running and you want to be able to quickly host and test the content. There are a few disadvantages to this approach, though. First, for the client, they cannot take advantage of live or multicast feeds, since these require the NetShow server. So streaming NetShow content from an HTTP server is really most appropriate for stored unicast content. However, when doing this, the client is unable to use markers or fast forward or rewind the stream. In order to do that, communication is required between the client and the NetShow server. Also, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the administration and stream management tools that come with the NetShow server. However, for standard ASF files that don't require markers or the other features mentioned above, it's easy to host content on HTTP servers.

How to Host NetShow Content on an HTTP Server

Place the ASF file on the HTTP server.
Create an ASX file for each ASF and host them on the HTTP server.
Author the HTML pages to link to the ASX from either a standard anchor tag or from an embedded object tag.
Register the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) type for ASF and ASX on your HTTP server. More information on registering MIME types follows.

Setting MIME Types

The generic settings are:
MIME type: video/x-ms-asf
Extensions: asf,asx

Setting NetShow MIME Types

Microsoft Internet Information Server
Apache
NCSA HTTPd
CERN HTTPd
Roxen Challenger/Spinner
Netscape Web Servers
O'Reilly Website
Webstar/Webstar PS
EMWAC
Glaci HTTPd

Microsoft Internet Information Server

If you are running Windows NT and IIS and wish to configure the MIME types, you can create a .REG file with the following text by copying it into Notepad and saving it with a .REG extension. To add the entries to your registry, double-click on the file.

		REGEDIT4
		

		[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/InetInfo/Parameters/MimeMap]
		"video/x-ms-asf,asf,,5"=""
		"video/x-ms-asf,asx,,5"=""

You will need to stop all IIS services, and then restart them, after you have done this.

Apache

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <apache_root>/httpd/conf. Edit the file "srm.conf".
Add the following line to the end of the file or to where the other AddType video/* entries are found:
```
          AddType video/x-ms-asf asf asx
```
If you add it to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

NCSA HTTPD

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <httpd_root>/conf . Edit the file "mimes.types".
Add the following line to the end of the file or to where the other video/* entries are found:
```
          video/x-ms-asf asf asx
```
If you add it to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

O'Reilly Website

Click on the ORA Website yellow gear icon ( right by the clock on the Taskbar ). Select Server Properties.
Choose the Mapping tab.
In the List Selector section, choose the Content Types radio button.
In the File Extension (class) field, type ".asf".
In the MIME Content Type field, enter "video/x-ms-asf".
Click Add.
Click Apply.
In the File Extension (class) field, type ".asx".
In the MIME Content Type field, enter "video/x-ms-asf".
Click Add.
Click Apply.
Click OK.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

CERN HTTPD

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <httpd_root>/conf. Edit the file "mimes.types".
Add the following lines to the end of the file or to where the other AddType ... video/* entries are found:
```
          AddType  .asf video/x-ms-asf binary
```
```
          AddType  .asx video/x-ms-asf binary
```
If you add it to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

Roxen Challenger/Spinner

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <webserver_root>/etc . Edit the file "extensions".

Add the following lines to the end of the file:

          asf    video/x-ms-asf

          asx    video/x-ms-asf

Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

Netscape Web Servers

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <netscape-server_root>\config. Edit the file "mime.types".
Add the following line to the end of the file or to where the other type=video/* entries are found:
```
type=video/x-ms-asf    exts=asf,asx
```
If you add it to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

EMWAC (NT)

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Open the HTTP server Control Panel applet.
Click on the "New Mapping" button.
Type the extension "ASF" into the extension field. Enter the NetShow MIME type:
```
          video/x-ms-asf
```
in the text box for MIME type.
Select OK.
Click on the "New Mapping" button.
Type the extension "ASX" into the extension field. In the text box for MIME type, enter the NetShow MIME type:
```
          video/x-ms-asf
```
Select OK.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.

Webstar/Webstar PS (Mac)

Open the WebSTAR Admin application.
Open the "Configure" menu and select "Suffix Mapping".
Set Action to BINARY. Set File Suffix to ".asf". Set File Type to "*". Set MIME type to "video/x-ms-asf". Set Creator to "*".
Click on Add to add the new suffix mapping.
Set Action to BINARY. Set File Suffix to ".asx". Set File Type to "*". Set MIME type to "video/x-ms-asf". Set Creator to "*".
Click on Add to add the new suffix mapping.
Click on Update to apply the changes.

Glaci HTTPd (NetWare)

Ensure that you have server administration privileges. If you do not, and cannot get these privileges, just send this information to your server administrator and ask them to do it for you.
Change directories to <glaci_root> ( usually sys:\etc ). Edit the file "mimetype.cdf".
Add the following line to the end of the file or to where the other video/* entries are found:
```
          video/x-ms-asf asf asx
```
If you add it to the end of the file, make sure that the file ends with a blank line.
Quit the editor and save changes.
Restart the Web server.