Adding publishing points

The publishing points on your server are listed in the console tree. By clicking a publishing point in the list, you can modify or view its settings in the details pane. By clicking Publishing Points in the console tree, you can view a list of all existing publishing points in the details pane. You can also perform basic tasks such as adding, configuring, and removing publishing points.

When you install Windows Media Services, a broadcast and an on-demand publishing point are set up automatically. You can use these initial publishing points as they are provided, modify them to suit your needs, or remove them and add your own publishing points. The on-demand publishing point is designated as the default. A client connecting to a Windows Media server typically must use the server and publishing point names as part of the address. If no publishing point name is given, the Windows Media server will direct the request to the Default publishing point.

The following information is required to add a publishing point:

• Type of publishing point. Broadcast or on-demand. The type of publishing point you use depends on the scenario you are implementing.
• Name for the publishing point. The name, which will become part of the URL a client uses to access content. Use a meaningful name, such as the type of content to be streamed from the publishing point (for example, MusicCDs). The name is not case-sensitive.
• Source location. The source of a publishing point, which can be a file, a directory of files, a playlist, a stream from an encoder, a publishing point on a remote Windows Media server, or a local publishing point. You must specify the location and name of the source. For example, you could specify a directory of files as %systemdrive%\Wmpub\Wmroot or as \\RemoteServer\Wmpub\Wmroot.
• Delivery method. When adding a broadcast publishing point, you have the choice of unicast streaming or multicast streaming. Multicast streaming offers a unicast rollover feature that allows clients to connect to your broadcast even if they are unable to receive multicast streams.

Windows Media Services provides two methods for adding a publishing point: the Add Publishing Point Wizard and the Add Publishing Point (Advanced) dialog box. In addition to gathering this primary information, the wizard also helps you configure the publishing point. For example, with the wizard, you can create an announcement file, create a wrapper playlist, add media elements to a playlist and immediately start a broadcast publishing point after the wizard finishes. For advanced users, the Add Publishing Point (Advanced) dialog box can be a faster alternative to the wizard when you are creating simple publishing points. For more information about announcement files, see Streaming from publishing points.

After adding a publishing point, you can configure publishing point properties, and modify your publishing point settings further. The Monitor, Source, Advertisement, Publish, and Properties tabs contain the tools with which you can make modifications and view settings. For more information, see Configuring publishing points.

You can also perform the following tasks with publishing points:

• Duplicating a publishing point. By duplicating a publishing point, you create a copy on the same server that includes all of the settings of the original publishing point, such as the source path, plug-in configuration, and property settings. This feature can help you set up your system more efficiently. For example, if you are planning to implement the same policies on all of the publishing points on your server, but want to specify different sources for each, you can make copies of your basic setup, then change the sources on each of the copies.
• Renaming a publishing point. The publishing point name is part of the address that the client uses to connect to the publishing point. If you rename a publishing point, keep in mind that announcement files and Web pages that referenced the old name will need to be updated.
• Removing a publishing point. When a publishing point is no longer needed, it is a good idea to remove it in order to avoid clutter and confusion with more current publishing points. When you remove a publishing point, only the publishing point and its settings are deleted. Source content such as files, directories, playlists, and any related data such as announcement files and log files are not removed or changed.

This section contains the following topics:

• About the Default publishing point
• Protecting the Default publishing point

Notes

• When naming a publishing point, avoid names that are identical to those of directories on your Windows Media server. A publishing point with the same name as a directory may interfere with another publishing point that sources from that directory.
• The server does not use your user account to access folders and other resources; it uses the Network Service account by default. If you are sourcing from a location other than C:\WMPub and its subdirectories, make sure that the folder is shared and that the Network Service account has at least read permissions for the folder. If the Network Service account does not have permissions for a folder, the server will not be able to stream content from it. For more information about rights and permissions, see Understanding rights.
• Multicast streaming and the WMS Multicast Data Writer plug-in are available only if Windows Media Services 9 Series is running on the following editions of the operating system: Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition. If you are running Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, these features are not supported.

Related topics

• About publishing point types
• Sourcing from playlists, files, and encoders
• To access the Add Publishing Point Wizard
• To add a publishing point using the advanced method
• Understanding publishing points