Logging data about unicast streams

To log data about players or servers that receive content as a unicast stream, you can use the WMS Client Logging plug-in. You can enable this plug-in at the server level to provide global logging coverage, or you can enable it at the publishing point level if you want to log data only for a specific publishing point.

Significant changes have been made to the logging tool over previous versions in order to accommodate fast streaming and to gather data from downstream client servers. Because of this, log files can take several different forms and represent a wide range of client data, depending on the nature of the streaming session. Overall, there are two main types of logs: client logs and server logs. Client logs are intended to gather information about player events, while server logs gather data about downstream servers. This section contains the following topics:

• Using client logs
• Using server logs

The log files that are generated are stored in the folder specified in the WMS Client Logging Plug-in Properties dialog box.

Notes

• Windows Media Services does not include a logging plug-in for encoder push scenarios. You can log encoder push broadcast data by creating an event notification plug-in or an event notification script for use with the WMS Active Script Event Handler plug-in on your Windows Media server. For more information about creating a custom plug-in, see the Windows Media Services Software Development Kit (SDK), which can be downloaded from the Windows Media home page at the Microsoft Web site.
• The server does not use your user account to access folders and other resources; it uses the Network Service account by default. If you want to save logging information to a file that is in a folder other than %systemroot%\System32\LogFiles\WMS, ensure that the folder is shared and that the Network Service account has read, write, and modify permissions for the folder. If the Network Service account does not have the appropriate permissions for the folder, the server will not be able to save log information to it. For more information about rights and permissions, see Understanding rights.

Related topics

• Logging data and events