You want to setup a multi-server FCS cluster to stream on-demand video to hundreds of thousand of people and have it all tie into your back-end reporting systems but have no clue of where to start? Here is what you will need to do:
Note: The time estimates below are VERY ROUGH estimates. Time will vary depending on how complex your application, systems, and ingest process is.
| Tasks |
Task description |
Estimated time |
Skill set necessary |
| Application System Architecture |
Design and specify the complete system - from video ingest, indexing and metadata, storage, publishing, stream delivery, and reporting. Outline all necessary SAN, Web Servers, App Servers, FCS servers. |
5-10 days |
- System Architect
- Flash / FCS developer |
| Ingest |
|
|
|
Setup ingest and encoding process
|
This can be something as simple as installing an encoder on a workstation for manual encoding or installing an automated (e.g., Squeeze or Agility) system |
1-3 days |
- Technical video producer / IT Engineer |
| Client UI |
|
|
|
Design the client UI look and feel
|
Can be done parallel to system architecture and other tasks |
1-3 days |
- Flash designer |
Build client logic
|
Use code from Macromedia Video Dev Center for to speed this up |
1-3 days |
- Flash / FCS developer |
| FCS setup (single machine) |
|
|
|
Install and configure FCS server single machine
|
Map virtual directories to your content repository |
1 day |
- IT engineer |
Build FCS VoD application
|
Use code from Macromedia Video Dev Center for features such as bandwidth detection |
2-4 days |
- Flash / FCS developer |
Client and FCS VoD Unit Testing (single server)
|
Unit testing for the client and FCS app |
4-10 days |
- QA engineer |
| FCS cluster setup |
|
|
|
Replicate FCS and VoD app to clustered machines
|
Maintain same configuration, map virtual directories as appropriate |
1 day |
- IT engineer |
Build FCS round robin load balancer application
|
Assumption: All users initially connect to a FCS round robin app which then distributes the load to individual FCS servers |
1-2 days |
- FCS developer |
Build monitoring and admin UI
|
Create a Flash (or FLEX) application for server monitoring using the FCS APIs. |
1-2 days |
- FCS developer |
Cluster Testing and Load Testing
|
Unit testing for the client and FCS app |
4-10 days |
- QA engineer |
| Reporting Integration |
|
|
|
Build reporting UI
|
There are three primary options here (from least labor intensive to most):
1. Have FCS spit out raw log files and then use standard tools to read those logs
2. Integrate FCS stream data with an existing system via FCS APIs
3. Build a reporting UI in Flash or FLEX using the FCS APIs
|
2-6 days |
- IT engineer / FCS developer |
Reporting testing
|
Unit testing for the reporting |
2-6 days |
- QA engineer |
| Final System Testing |
Test the entire system |
5-10 days |
- QA engineer |
