General streaming media requirements

License prerequisite

You must have a valid Windows Media^TM (MMS), RealSystem, or QuickTime license code before setting up your NetCache appliance for streaming media.

You can obtain MMS, RealSystem, or QuickTime streaming media licenses from your Network Appliance^TM sales representative or from the Installed Base Group (ibg@netapp.com).

Minimum switch firmware versions

For streaming media deployments, Network Appliance recommends that you use the following switch firmware versions:

Foundry firmware version SLB7.1.02.bin or later for the Foundry ServerIron L4 switch. To obtain the latest Foundry firmware, contact Foundry technical support at support@foundrynet.com.
Extreme firmware version 6.1.X for ExtremeWare. To obtain the latest Extreme firmware, contact Extreme technical support at support@extremenetworks.com.

Streaming media protocols supported by NetCache

NetCache supports streaming media for the following data types:

Microsoft® Media Server (MMS) for Windows Media from Microsoft Corporation
Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) for RealSystem from RealNetworks®
Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) for QuickTime from Apple® Corporation for QuickTime Player and RealSystem

Each of the preceding media types requires a streaming license. See your Network Appliance sales representative for more information.

Note
If you do not purchase a streaming license, NetCache will not cache or split streaming traffic.

Media player versions supported by NetCache

NetCache supports the following media player versions:

Microsoft Windows Media Player 6 and later
RealNetworks RealPlayer® 6.1 (G2) and later
Apple QuickTime Player 4 and later
Note
NetCache does not support the Application layer packet retransmission protocol introduced in QuickTime 5. Therefore, dropped packets are not retransmitted.

RealNetworks and QuickTime players are fully supported for caching and splitting. All other RTSP-based players are proxied by NetCache.