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Set Up a Remote Server for the Streaming Media Performance Assessment

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 8, Windows 8.1

The Streaming Media Performance assessment includes an option to run the assessment on 2 computers. In this scenario, an HTTP streaming server application that's installed on a second or remote computer streams content to the computer that's running the assessment. This topic describes how to set up the streaming server.

Note

Any computer that has the Windows® Assessment Toolkit installed can act as a streaming server and can provide the media files that were installed via the Windows Assessment Toolkit to any requesting client. For this assessment, a workload is a .mp4 file and a corresponding .html file that the assessment uses together as streaming media. For example, 720p.mp4 and 720p.html together form a 720p workload. To use those media workloads in your 2-computer assessment scenario, complete the following steps.

To set up a server for the Streaming Media Performance assessment

  1. On the remote server, install the Windows Assessment Toolkit. For instructions, see Windows Assessment Console Step-by-Step Guide or Windows Assessment Services Step-by-Step Guide.

  2. Open a command prompt.

  3. Depending on the computer type, browse to the StreamingMediaAssessmentServer.exe file:

Note

The preceding paths assume that you have installed the Windows Assessment Toolkit in its default location. 

  - For an x86-based computer, type this:  
      
    
        C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\Content Based Assessments\x86

  - For an x64-based computer, type this:  
      
    
        C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\Content Based Assessments\amd64

  1. At the command prompt, type this:

    StreamingMediaAssessmentServer.exe -ContentPath <path_to_streaming_content>  [-PopulateCache <file_name_list>] [-Port <number>]

    The following table describes the parameters in the preceding command-line text.

Setting Description

ContentPath<path_to_streaming_content>

Type the path that contains the media and corresponding HTML pages that the server will stream. By default, this path is:

%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Kits\8.0\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\Content based Assessments\Content\Streaming Media Assessment

You can specify an absolute path for the media and corresponding HTML pages.

PopulateCache<file_name_list>

Type the file names that the server will cache into memory. List all files, separated by commas. This example contains the media files that the assessment uses by default:

-populatecache 360p.mp4,360p.html,480p.mp4,480p.html,720p.mp4,720p.html,1080p.mp4,1080p.html,1080p60.mp4,1080p60.html

The assessment searches for all these file names in the path that the ContentPath setting has specified. If any of the files aren't present, the assessment logs a missing file event, but the assessment continues to run the normal process by using files that it finds in the path.

Port<number>

Specify a port if you don't want to use the default of port 80. The default port may or may not be specified on the client. If you must use a different port number, make sure that you specify it on both the remote server and the client.

Important
Before specifying which port to use, verify that Windows Firewall is not blocking communication. For more information, see Windows Firewall from start to finish.

The PopulateCache list of files shown previously is the default set of files that the assessment uses as workloads. The local computer where you run the Streaming Media Performance assessment requests these files from the remote server during the assessment process. The remote server caches any file that the PopulateCache parameter has specified and provides them to the local computer for performance measurement.

See Also

Concepts

Streaming Media Performance
Assessments

Other Resources

Windows Assessment Console Technical Reference