Applicability of other NetCache features to streaming

Settings for dedicated streaming media caches

If you do not want your streaming media cache to carry any traffic other than RTSP or MMS traffic, you should disable ports for other protocols.

Note
If you disable HTTP, the streaming media cache will not be able to respond to HTTP-encapsulated client requests for streaming media.

Web filtering settings might not always apply

Currently, the SmartFilter control list does not contain any restrictions for URLs beginning with the rtsp: or mms: prefix. This means that you cannot enable SmartFilter to specifically restrict access to these types of URLs. If clients enter an MMS or RTSP URL in their media players or click directly on a streaming media link, SmartFilter category restrictions will not apply.

However, if your clients' Web requests are directed to a Web cache, you can still block access to MMS or RTSP links by setting the SmartFilter categories on the Web cache to block the Web pages containing the restricted streaming media links.

In addition, you can restrict access to specific streaming media URLs by entering the appropriate rule in the Streaming ACL option. For example, the following access control rule denies access to the specified URL:

deny url rtsp://badsite.com/bad_content

Windows Media does not support the redirect access control rule

The redirect action rule does not apply to Windows® Media^TM clients. Windows Media players do not respond to the 302 Moved Temporarily redirect message and do not reissue a connection request for the new location. Therefore, NetCache interprets the redirect action rule as "deny" for Windows Media.

The redirect rule works properly for QuickTime and RealNetworks clients; they are redirected to the URL specified in the redirect rule.

User access and cacheability rules for HTTP-encapsulated streaming media

When streaming media service is enabled, streaming requests using HTTP encapsulation are controlled by the same user access and caching behavior rules as all other streaming requests. The Streaming ACL option controls user access to streaming requests using HTTP encapsulation, and the options on the Splitting and Caching Behavior page (Setup tab > Streaming > Splitting and Caching Behavior) control how NetCache caches streams fetched for HTTP-encapsulated requests.

If Web service is enabled and streaming media service is disabled, HTTP-encapsulated streaming requests are controlled by the user access controls and cacheability options set for HTTP (Setup tab > HTTP).

ICAP not supported

The Internet Content Adaption Protocol (ICAP) is not supported for use with streaming media. Note, however, that the metafiles (.asx files, .ram files, and so on) that direct players to streaming content are HTTP objects and might pass through an ICAP server.

Hierarchy limitations

Hierarchies are supported for streaming media caching. All hierarchy members handling MMS and RTSP must be identified as a parent. You cannot configure a streaming media cache as a neighbor. (A neighbor is a logical role that can be assigned to hierarchy members on a Web cache.)

See the hierarchy chapter in the Administration Guide for information about hierarchies.