Working with Channels

Channels provide clients with information such as the IP address and port for a multicast and the stream format of the multicast data.

A NetShow™ channel specifies the destinations for ASF streams and provides the information that clients need to listen to the channel, including information on the format of the stream itself. NetShow channels are analogous to broadcast television channels. Just as TV programs are assigned to channels, programs in NetShow are assigned to channels by specifying that the streams in the program use a particular channel.

Channels provide the flexibility to stream data using multicast and unicast to fit a variety of situations:

To distribute streams via multicast, specify a multicast address.
To distribute streams via unicast, you can specify a unicast server to which clients can connect. This allows clients that are not able to receive the multicast to receive the data.
To distribute data to additional NetShow servers, you can set up a channel for distribution.

After you create a channel, export the channel file to a location where clients can reach the file. Typically, this is a publishing point on your HTTP server. However, it could also be a public share on your corporate network.

NetShow Administrator has four tools for managing channels:

Configure Channels Use this function to create, copy, edit, delete, export, and import channels.
Manage Streams Use this function to view information about individual playing streams and to terminate playing streams.
Manage Connections Use this function to terminate other computer connections, such as other NetShow servers or client computers.
Monitor Events Use this function to observe client, stream, and channel events on any NetShow server.

Note In this release of NetShow, channels support Active Streaming media only. Channels are not used to multicast RTP audio or for file transfers.