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Note The most current Cisco documentation for released products is available at Cisco.com at http://www.cisco.com. The online documents may contain updates and modifications made after the hardcopy documents were printed. |
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These release notes contain information about ACNS software, Release 4.1. These release notes describe the following topics:
These release notes describe new features, limitations, caveats, and other important information regarding ACNS software, Release 4.1.
Instructions for installing the hardware and initial installation and configuration of new devices are located in the Cisco Content Delivery Networking Products Getting Started Guide.
Instructions for upgrading and downgrading devices to and from ACNS 4.1 software are located in Chapter 3 of the Cisco ACNS Software Maintenance and Troubleshooting Guide. See the "Related Documentation" section of these release notes for a description of the entire ACNS 4.1 software documentation set.
This section provides information about third-party software supported in the ACNS 4.1 software release.
SmartFilter 3.0.2 for Cisco Content Engine is a URL filtering server that is preinstalled and fully integrated in the Content Engine in ACNS software, Release 4.1. To enable SmartFilter from the Content Engine GUI, select the SmartFilter enable option to download and install a remote SmartFilter GUI (either Solaris, Linux, or Windows) from the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/uce41
Download the appropriate file:
To evaluate SmartFilter, you need an activation key, login ID, and password. You can obtain this information from the following URL:
http://www.smartfilter.com/cisco
The following licensed software programs require the purchase of a license from Cisco:
Refer to the Cisco Content Delivery Networking Products Getting Started Guide for additional license key information.
The following features are now supported in the ACNS software, Release 4.1:
You can now enable licensed programs for Real Proxy, RealSubscriber, WMT, and Digital Fountain clients through the command-line interface (CLI).
An evaluation license is available that allows you to use the licensed software for a limited period. The evaluation license can be invoked only once and does not require a license key. The evaluation period countdown begins once you enable the license evaluation program.
RealServer Version 8.0.1 is supported as an optional component that is used as a streaming media engine. When RealServer software is configured for subscriber-only mode, it is referred to as RealSubscriber.
The device groups feature lets E-CDN system administrators group individual devices by category in order to efficiently apply bandwidth settings across many devices at one time.
Content Engines and the Content Distribution Manager use a specific playback bandwidth when streaming media to user desktops. You can now set the playback bandwidth on the E-CDN GUI between three servers: WMT server, HTTP server, and RealServer.
When you configure transparent caching on the CSS 11000 switch, the switch intercepts and redirects outbound client requests for Internet data to the cache servers on your network. The cache either returns the requested content if it has a local copy or sends a new request to the origin server for the information. If all cache servers are unavailable in a transparent cache configuration, the CSS 11000 switch allows all client requests to progress to the origin servers.
Cisco Systems, Inc. integrates Secure Computing Corporation's SmartFilter 3.0.2 for Cisco Content Engine software into the Cisco Content Engine. SmartFilter software is a network filtering software solution that allows businesses to configure and manage website access across their entire organization. SmartFilter software facilitates consistent and effective implementation of Internet security policies and user guidelines.
SmartFilter software provides Employee Internet Management (EIM) functionality with proxy servers, firewalls, and caching appliances. The integrated Content Engine and SmartFilter product preserves all functionality available in a regular Content Engine. The SmartFilter filtering capability is available as an add-on service on the Content Engine, and the service may be enabled or disabled as desired through the Content Engine CLI or Graphical User Interface (GUI).
The Content Engine can perform URL filtering using an N2H2 server. The Content Engine and the N2H2 server use the Internet Filtering Protocol (IFP) Version 1 to communicate with each other. When the Content Engine receives a URL request, it sends an IFP request to the N2H2 server with the requested URL. The N2H2 server does some necessary lookups for the URL and sends back an IFP response. Based on the N2H2 server's IFP response, the Content Engine either blocks the HTTP request by redirecting the browser to a block page or proceeds with normal HTTP processing.
This format is the Common Log File (CLF) format defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) working group. This format is compatible with many industry-standard log tools. For more information, see the W3C Common Log Format website at http://www.w3.org/Daemon/User/Config/Logging.html .
ACNS 4.1 software supports the following versions of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP):
SNMPv1 and SNMPv2C do not have any security (that is, authentication or privacy) mechanisms to keep SNMP packet traffic on the wire confidential. As a result, packets on the wire can be detected and SNMP community strings compromised.
To solve the security shortcomings of SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c, SNMPv3 provides secure access to Content Engines by authenticating and encrypting packets over the network. In ACNS 4.1 software, SNMPv3 features are added to the SNMP agent in addition to SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c.
Use the following link to access all MIBs supported in the ACNS 4.1 software:
ftp://ftp.cisco.com/pub/mibs/v2/.
CiscoWorks2000 (CW2K) is a Cisco product that provides a suite of management applications used to manage most Cisco devices. The Content Engine can interoperate with CiscoWorks2000 without any modification in the following ways:
Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is a device discovery protocol that runs on all Cisco-manufactured devices. With CDP, each device within a network sends periodic messages to all devices within the network. These devices listen to periodic messages sent by others in order to learn about neighboring devices and determine the status of their interfaces.
With CDP, network management applications can learn the device type and the SNMP agent address of neighboring devices. Applications are then able to send SNMP queries within the network.
If a client has a partial copy of an entity in its cache and wishes to have an up-to-date copy of the entire entity in its cache, it could use the Range request header with a conditional GET request (using either or both If-Unmodified-Since and If-Match.) However, if the GET request fails because the entity has been modified, the client would then have to make a second request to obtain the entire current entity.
The If-Range header allows a client to short-circuit the second request. Informally, the meaning of this header is "If the entity is unchanged, send me the part(s) that I am missing; otherwise, send me the entire new entity."
ACNS 4.1 software adds support that allows you to configure a Content Engine as a content routing agent. A content routing agent is used in conjunction with the Cisco Content Router 4430 (CR-4430) running the Content Routing software, Release 1.1. The Content Router redirects a user request to the "closest" (best) replicated-content site, based on network delay and other parameters, using a technology called boomerang.
Boomerang agents support multiple domains, where each agent domain may be associated with a different boomerang server. Other than memory limits, there are no limits to the number of domains supported on the agent
Microsoft Windows Media Technologies (WMT) is a set of streaming solutions for creating, distributing, and playing back digital media files on the Internet. WMT includes the end user application (Windows Media Player) Version 7.01, and the server and distribution application (Windows Media Server). To disseminate live and pre-positioned Windows Media content on a Content Delivery Network (CDN), you need WMT caching proxy and server capabilities on the Content Engine.
The Content Engine acting as a WMT caching proxy supports a basic proxy feature—it accepts incoming WMT streaming requests from clients and acts on behalf of the clients communicating with the origin server. The WMT caching proxy accepts and serves the streaming requests over Microsoft Media Server (MMS) protocol as well as the HTTP protocol. MMS is the protocol that WMT uses for communication between players and servers.
The WMT caching proxy also accepts transparently intercepted requests (through WCCP or Layer 4 redirect) as well as manual proxy requests (clients configured to use an upstream proxy).
The Content Engine splits requests for live streams. That is, a single stream from the origin streaming server is split to serve each client that requested the stream. In the case of the WMT caching proxy, when the client requests a publishing point on a server (without specifying an ASF file), then the WMT caching proxy dynamically creates an alias file that references the remote server. All further requests to that station are served by splitting the stream.
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Note Live splitting is supported for different data packet transport protocols (HTTP, MMS TCP [MMST], MMS UDP [MMSU], and IP multicast). |
The WMT proxy supports both basic and NTLM authentication by the origin server. When a client requests content that needs user authentication, the proxy acts as an agent, conveying the authentication information to and from the client and server to authenticate the client. Once the client is authenticated, the content is streamed as usual. The authentication is performed for both cached content as well as noncached video on demand content.
The following table lists the principal features of the ACNS software Cache application, with the associated command-line interface (CLI) commands.
On a CE-507, the number of streams that RealProxy can serve is limited. This occurs when WMT or RealSubscriber is also enabled on the same system, even though they are not serving any streams.
To view performance characteristics of ACNS 4.1 software, see the document titled ACNS 4.1 Performance Bulletin at the following URL location:
http://www/warp/public/cc/pd/cxsr/ces/prodlit/
When you launch the SmartFilter Administration Console, a series of error messages appears before the Configure Remote Servers window opens. These messages state that the program cannot find paths to the required files. Press OK for each message until the Configure Remote Servers window opens.
When the Configure Remote Servers window opens with its login prompts, enter the remote server name, IP address, and port number. The error messages should cease once the remote server configuration parameters have been entered.
SmartFilter files, including the Control List, in the local1/smartfilter directory will return to their default sizes when the Content Engine disk configuration is changed. After disk reconfiguration, either download a new Control List from the FTP site, or if a backup configuration has been created, restore the Control List from the backup Control List XML file.
If the local1 directory becomes full, new configurations cannot be applied, nor can a new Control List be downloaded. However, old configuration files, including the Control List, are preserved. After the local1 directory becomes full, it is also possible that the caching process will become unresponsive.
This section lists and describes caveats that were resolved in ACNS software, Release 4.1, and caveats that are still open in this release.
Caveats describe unexpected behavior in ACNS software, Release 4.1. Severity 1 caveats are the most serious; severity 2 caveats are less serious. Severity 3 caveats are moderate caveats.
Symptom: If you repeatedly click NEXT (10-15 times) from the GUI or the API while the playlist is in PLAY mode, the video server may pause indefinitely. The video monitor flickers for awhile as it attempts to play the next file and then it pauses indefinitely.
Condition: This symptom occurs on systems running the E-CDN application, Release 3.0 and 4.0.
Workaround: The E-CDN application must stopped and restarted to clear the error condition. Follow these steps:
1. Wait for an automatic restart; this may take up to 60 minutes (all versions).
2. Disable and then enable the E-CDN application (for the E-CDN Release application, Release 4.0 and later).
3. Reboot the system (all versions).
4. Use Telnet to access the system and use the vbox stop and the vbox start commands (Version 3.0).
This pause only occurs when you click the NEXT button several times a second because the problem is the frequency of clicking and not the actual click count. You can avoid the pause by clicking NEXT at a slower pace, and pausing for a second or two between clicks.
Symptom: Under very rare circumstances, a Content Engine (CE-5xx) may display messages as shown below when saving the running-config to the startup-config, when performing an upgrade or downgrade, or when the Content Engine is booting up:
Condition: This most likely occurs because you have a defective Flash device.
Workaround: There is no known workaround. Contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) to have the system returned for further analysis.
Symptom: NTLM authentication fails if either of the following occurs:
Condition: This occurs in ACNS software, Release 4.1.
Workaround: Users can enter a hidden CLI config command to set the NetBIOS name for the primary domain controller. In global configuration mode, enter:
ntlm server pdc-netbios-name xxxxx
Symptom: Although the copy disk ftp command functions normally, it does not display any output data.
Condition: This occurs in ACNS software, Release 4.x.
Workaround: Enter the username and password properly even though the user prompt is not shown.
Symptom: An error message, such as the following, may appear in the syslog.txt file:
Jan 20 18:30:34 bfc9000 Diamond: KERNEL: assertion (req->sk == NULL) failed at tcp_ipv4.c(780):tcp_v4_search_req
Condition: This happens only on a CE-7320 and when WCCP is enabled. It does not appear to have any adverse effect on system functionality. WCCP continues to work as expected.
Workaround: There is no known workaround.
Symptom: HTTPS performance over the Content Engine is much slower than without the Content Engine.
Condition: Occasionally, this is due to a duplex mismatch between the Content Engine and the switch. Sometimes it is due to slowness in the HTTP implementation inside the Content Engine.
Workaround: For the first condition, check the duplex setting on both the Content Engine and the switch. For the second condition, upgrade to the latest Content Engine software.
Symptom: The CPU usage data shown with the show statistics http usage command is different from the data shown with the show processes cpu command.
Condition: This occurs in ACNS software, Release 4.x.
Workaround: There is no workaround. The CPU usage data shown when you use the
show processes cpu command is the CPU average usage since the last time the system was rebooted. The CPU usage data shown when you use the show statistics http usage command is the current CPU usage and peak CPU usage in history.
Symptom: The cache process fails and then restarts.
Condition: This happens under high load conditions when the SmartFilter feature is enabled. It occurs on CE-7320 hardware only.
Workaround: Currently the only workaround is to disable the SmartFilter feature.
Symptom: When you try to downgrade from ACNS software Release 4.1 to E-CDN Release 3.x software on a system where the disk config command has been used to assign non-ecdnfs storage, the downgrade sometimes fails.
Condition: Downgrade code requires that an ecdnfs file system be present on disk00. This is not always the case after the disk config command has been run.
Workaround: Before installing the downgrade image, ensure that the device in question has an ecdnfs file system on disk00. This can be done by inspecting the output of show disk details. If there is no ecndfs file system on disk00, you can create it by entering the disk config command as follows:
Following a reboot, every drive in the system will have an ecdnfs file system on it, and the downgrade will succeed.
Symptom: When you do a programmatic import into a channel on the Content Distribution Manager, if the status return field is HTML or MX (E-CDN application proprietary format), then the status is not returned.
Condition: This occurs in ACNS software, Release 4.1.
Workaround: There is no known workaround.
Symptom: The HTTP proxy stops accepting new requests.
Condition: The sysfs (/local/local1) partition is full.
Workaround: Delete some unused files on the sysfs to free some disk space, and then reboot the system.
Symptom: The Cache application unexpectedly reloads on a CE-7320 when initializing service.
Condition: The problem happens very rarely. It occurs on the CE-7320 during HTTP cache service initialization because of an internal system error.
Workaround: There is no workaround. The Content Engine's internal system monitoring facility detects the crash and restarts the Cache application automatically so that normal HTTP service will resume.
Symptom: TACACS authentication does not work when authenticating for Secure Shell (SSH) sessions.
Condition: This occurs when you attempt to log on to SSH on a Content Engine that has TACACS authentication enabled.
Workaround: The user must use the local username and password authentication on the Content Engine if you want to use SSH sessions.
Symptom: The Storage Array 6 (SA-6) is not recognized by the Content Engine.
Condition: The LED on the defective drive flickers once per second. The SA-6 is not recognized and does not appear in the df command display.
Workaround: Remove the corrupted drive to allow the remaining drives to come on line and be recognized by the Content Engine.
Symptom: The Cache application unexpectedly reloads on a CE-7320 platform when this platform is overstressed.
Condition: The problem happens on an overstressed CE-7320 platform that is serving HTTP traffic at 1600 transactions per second with some rules turned on and minimal WMT streaming traffic going through. The Cache Engine's HTTP cache becomes overloaded and runs out of memory buffer, with the result that the system unexpectedly reloads.
Workaround: There is no known workaround. The Content Engine's internal system monitoring facility detects the unexpected reload of the cache process and restarts the cache process automatically so that the Content Engine resumes normal functioning.
Symptom: The system slows when using rules that do regular expression (regex) matching.
Condition: This situation occurs when rules that do regex matching are configured.
Workaround: There is no workaround. However, removing some noncritical rules and rewriting certain rules may improve performance.
Symptom: The HTTP proxy unexpectedly reloads.
Condition: This happens very rarely. A rare combination of URL characters may cause this problem.
Workaround: There is no workaround.
Symptom: The cache clear command sometimes does not finish. Instead, a message appears that includes the text "verifier error." Cache service is not interrupted. However, cfs volumes may have been cleared, while other volumes may not have been cleared. The show statistics cfs command shows which volumes were cleared (low count of bytes in use) and which were not cleared (high or unchanged count of bytes in use).
Condition: This situation occurs when the CE-7320 is running ACNS 4.1.x software (and possibly other versions) and actively passing traffic. The may or may not happen on other Content Engine platforms.
Workaround: Run the cache clear command when the Content Engine is not accepting any new traffic and all requests have been serviced. You can also try using the cache clear force command.
Symptom: The web server unexpectedly reloads when transitioning from an SNMP page to a SNMPv3 GUI page.
Condition: This occurs when the SNMP community string is longer than 27 characters. This string is set in the SNMP GUI page or through the CLI.
Workaround: Change the community string to be less than 27 characters, for example,
snmp-server host [host_ip_address] [community_string]
Symptom:A configuration command such as hostname or ip address may return the following error message:
touch:/sonoma/state/setup-flags/manual-netrcm-config:No such file or directory
Condition:The error condition does not affect the configuration and can be ignored. These messages occur when an ECDNFS partition is not configured. This error condition has been observed in ACNS 4.1 software.
Workaround:If preserving data on the disk drives is not a concern, repartition the disk drives and create a nonzero-size ECDNFS partition with the disk config EXEC command.
If you try to import media files in a Netscape browser by clicking the computer name in the Using PC Folders for Importing section of the Media Importer page, you see a Login Incorrect error message.
A Content Distribution Manager is connected to two Content Engines, A and B. The Content Distribution Manager and Content Engine A are on one subnet, and Content Engine B is on another subnet. If the Content Distribution Manager and Content Engine A are rebooted, a file imported on a multicast channel is replicated only to Content Engine A.
If the user sets the timeout value through the Multicast Server page on the Content Distribution Manager GUI and if the Digital Fountain server is overloaded, then the files that the Digital Fountain server has not started serving may never be served.
A change in the multicast timeout on the Content Distribution Manager is ignored if the change is made after the Digital Fountain client on the Content Engine has already begun downloading the content.
Inconsistent behavior occurs between the Internet Explorer 5.0 and Netscape Navigator 4.7.7 browsers. A Digital Fountain server that appears as online when you use Internet Explorer 5.0 appears as offline when you use Netscape Navigator 4.7.7.
FIN packets, which are harmless to the operation of Content Engine as well as to the network in general, are present on the customer network.
Deleting a channel with a large number of items causes the Content Distribution Manager GUI to freeze.
Deleting a channel with a large number of items takes a very long time.
If connection to the Content Distribution Manager is lost, then all the devices attached to the Content Distribution Manager send frequent TCP SYN messages to the Content Distribution Manager. If more devices are attached to this Content Distribution Manager, this may cause a SYN storm. This symptom also occurs with a Content Engine that has lost its network connection, and has many children attached to its hierarchy.
RADIUS authentication fails if a username or password length is greater than the maximum length of 20 characters for a RADIUS username and 16 characters for a password.
Removing a channel from the Content Distribution Manager GUI while the Content Engine is off line leaves the contents on the Content Engine. The contents stay on the Content Engine even after it comes on line again.
The Content Distribution Manager GUI is very slow or unusable.
When you perform Content Distribution Manager GUI operations, requests for content from clients are processed slowly.
The Content Distribution Manager restarts itself internally during very heavy operations.
After the Content Router 4430 IP address is changed, the Device Console shows it as green (online), but with the old IP address. Even though the System page shows the new IP address, Content Engines try to contact the Content Router using the old IP address.
While the Content Distribution Manager is attempting to import files, not all files are imported.
The search facility on the Content Distribution Manager is unpredictable and is difficult to use. When a search for devices is done on the Content Distribution Manager using a substring, it can return duplicate results for the Content Engine and miss Content Engines that are meant to be listed.
In a network where Content Engines are behind a firewall (in a private address space), the Content Distribution Manager is able to route a request behind the firewall, but a Content Router is not. When there is no firewall, no problem occurs.
The Content Distribution Manager reboots if the user exits the Backup/Restore Utility through the close box without starting the restore procedure.
When a playlist is defined but no audio/video card is present or it is no longer detected by the MPEG decode driver, the video server attempts playback. This causes an event record to be written and an exception.
After the HTTP port is changed and the Content Distribution Manager is rebooted, the HTTP server listens on the new port, but all Content Engines go off line. This symptom occurs with regard to changing the Alternate IP Port setting as well.
If a user disables the E-CDN application, uses the CLI to change network settings, and then enables the E-CDN application within 40 seconds, the following symptoms may occur:
1. The changes are lost and are replaced with old network settings stored in the library of the E-CDN application.
2. The E-CDN application pauses indefinitely in an "IP missing" state.
The upgrade/downgrade manager may be blocked from servicing FTP requests if the E-CDN application is enabled.
Even with automatic hierarchy disabled, there will still be router requests sent by every Content Engine every 30 seconds for every channel on each of those Content Engines.
Certain commands generate a spurious diagnostic error in configuration mode, including host name and IP default gateway, but there is no impact on the command itself:
touch: /sonoma/state/setup-flags/manual-netrcm-config: no such file or directory in the session output
The cache process may restart on a Content Engine 7320.
In certain circumstances, downgrading from ACNS 4.0.3 software to E-CDN 3.x software can hang the system. This occurs only if the Content Engine, Content Router, or Content Distribution Manager console port is connected to a console server, a Cisco 2500 Series server, for instance, and if there is no active session on the serial port of the console server to which the device is connected.
The cache process may fail if healing mode is enabled.
Deleting several messages using Microsoft Hotmail or Microsoft Outlook Express Version 6 fails.
If no name server has been configured, the cache process exits while serving a request that requires name resolution.
The Windows Media Technologies (WMT) service stops working if it is under extremely high load for a long period. In this case, WMT traffic will be refused by the Content Engine.
The cache process may fail if healing mode is enabled.
Rebooting with a communications server connected to the console brings a Content Engine into rescue mode.
The static bypass list does not support more than 32 entries.
If an HTTPS request is directed to the Content Engine on port 443 with the URL filtering feature enabled, it may cause the cache process to crash.
When you downgrade from ACNS 4.0 software to Cache 3.x software, Cache 3.x software detects a problem with the software file system (swfs) and decides to reformat it.
When you use the disk add CLI command to incorporate newly added disks with the E-CDN file system (ecdnfs) allocated on them, the E-CDN application does not make use of the additional storage partitions. E-CDN-fill happens continuously, sometimes causing the E-CDN application not to start.
The ACNS 4.x to Cache 2.x software downgrade fails, rebooting the system continuously.
The HTTP proxy service crashes.
The backup and restore functionality on a Content Distribution Manager 4650 with ACNS 4.0.3 software and with total channel size of more than 40 GB does not go through successfully.
The cache process crashes when end-to-end NTLM authentication is triggered and the connection between the Content Engine and the browser is lost before the connection between the
Content Engine and the web server is closed.
The icp server remote-client CLI command is now limited to eight entries.
Because of a limitation on the total cache file system (cfs) storage space supported, the cfs mount CLI command is now limited to seven entries.
Clicking the Update button in the Cache software GUI after modifications have been made saves changes only to the running configuration, but does not write changes to the startup configuration in NVRAM. Upon reboot, all GUI changes are lost.
The cache process stops servicing requests that need a DNS lookup.
The following information updates several sections in the ACNS software, Release 4.1 documentation set.
The following information updates the "RealSubscriber License Commands" and the "Using the Distributed Licensing Feature" sections of the Cisco Content Delivery Networking Products Getting Started Guide. This information also updates the "Splitting Live RealServer Broadcasts" section of Chapter 3 of the Cisco Application and Content Networking Software E-CDN Administrator's Guide.
The statement that "RealServer is licensed by default to serve 10 simultaneous streams" is not a true statement. All streams have to be purchased.
The following information updates the "Splitting Live WMT Broadcasts" section of Chapter 3 of the Cisco Application and Content Networking Software E-CDN Administrator's Guide, Release 4.1.
Note that the name for the broadcast station must end in an .asf suffix.
The following information updates the "RADIUS HTTP Request Preloading" section of Chapter 10 of the Cisco Application and Content Networking Software Caching Configuration Guide, Release 4.1.
The redirect option of the radius-server command redirects an authentication response to a different authentication server if an authentication request using the RADIUS server fails.
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Note The rule command is relevant to RADIUS authentication only if the redirect option as been configured. |
The following information updates the "Configuring Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.01" section of Chapter 13 of the Cisco Application and Content Networking Software Caching Configuration Guide, Release 4.1
Based on the capabilities and the limitations of the network, a Content Engine can receive and deliver WMT streaming content through IP multicast. This multicast feature enables you to distribute streaming media efficiently by allowing different devices on the IP multicast to receive a single stream of media content simultaneously. This can save significant network bandwidth consumption because a single stream is sent to many devices, rather than sending a single stream to just a single device every time this stream is requested.
Enable the multicast feature by setting up a multicast address in the Content Engine to which different devices, configured to receive content from the same channel, can subscribe. The delivering device sends content to this multicast address, from which it becomes available to all subscribed receiving devices.
Use the wmt multicast {schedule-start name minute hour day month | station-configuration name dest_addr dest_port media_source [play-forever]} command to enable WMT multicasting on the Content Engine. The schedule-start name minute hour day month option creates a scheduling option to allow the Content Engine to start a multicast at a specified time. This option only works if you have configured a multicast station first.
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Note You must enable WMT on the Content Engine before you can use the wmt multicast command. See the "Enabling WMT on the Content Engine" section on page 13-6 for more information on this feature. |
The station-configuration name dest_addr dest_port media_source option specifies a multicast station name, an IP address, port number and media source for the multicast station created. One station needs a multicast IP address. You must enter a valid class D IP address multicast address in the range 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255, except for the reserved IP ranges based on RFC 1700 and related documents as follows:
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Note You must choose a multicast IP address that does not conflict internally within the same multicast-enabled network configuration. This multicast IP address is not related to the IP address of the Content Engine. |
The allowed multicast port range defined by the dest_port option is 1 through 65535. However, the multicast-enabled network may impose certain restrictions on your choice of port. Normally port numbers below 1024 should be avoided, but the Content Engine does not enforce any restrictions. The media_source option determines the source of the multicast. The source can be any valid WMT URL. In other words, if you can play the URL on your Windows Media player, then you can make this URL the source of your multicast.
The Content Engine can support the following multicast scenarios:
The unicast input can be from a video- on-demand (VOD) publishing point, a live unicast publishing point, an encoder, or a streaming media source from a local disk. The asf header obtained from the unicast input and a configured multicast-out IP address are used to create the multicast description .nsc file. The clients use this easily accessible file to subscribe and request the multicast.
To enable WMT multicasting in this scenario with CLI commands, follow these steps:
In this example a station named test1 that acts as the multicast source file is configured. Its class DIP address is 233.33.33.33 and the multicast port is 3333. The play-forever option is used. This option automatically restarts the stream from the beginning once the end of the multicast has been reached.
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Note This source file can be located on any WMT server, including a Windows server, or the Content Engine, assuming that the source device and the requesting clients are on the same subnet. In the case of the Content Engine, pre-positioned media files should be stored in the /local1/wmt_vod directory. In this scenario, the media source is represented by mms://CEIPaddress/wmt_vod/sourcefile.nsc. |
Step 2 Start the multicast from the source file. Use the wmt command in EXEC mode.
Step 3 Open your WMT player and choose File > Open URL. Enter the following:
Step 4 Click OK. The WMT player should connect to the MMS media source specified in Step 1.
In this multicasting scenario, another description file *.nsc is created that is accessible through multicast out to clients. The clients use this file to subscribe and to request the multicast. Use the steps described in the "Enabling WMT Multicasting in the Unicast in and Multicast out Scenario" section to add another multicasting station and play the multicast request through the requesting WMT player.
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Note The initial delivery of the requested file is through unicast out. However, once a single client has access to this file, other clients can join the multicast group and receive the same content. |
In this scenario a unicast-out publishing point is created to deliver the incoming stream live to requesting clients.
To enable WMT multicasting in this scenario with CLI commands, follow these steps:
In this step a unicast station with an alias name unicast-station is configured with a multicast source station.nsc file.
Step 2 Open your WMT player and choose File > Open URL. Enter the following URL:
Click OK. The WMT player should connect to the MMS media source specified in Step 1.
The following information updates the "Actions and Patterns" section of Chapter 15 of the Cisco Application and Content Networking Software Caching Configuration Guide, Release 4.1.
There is a predefined order of execution among rule actions and rule patterns. In other words, a group of rules with the same action will always be executed either before or after another group of rules with a different action. See the "Rule Action Execution Order" section for the order of rule action execution. This order is not affected by the order in which the rules are entered using CLI commands.
Among rules of the same action, there is also predefined execution order among the rule patterns. This means that within a group of rules of the same action, one group of rules with the same pattern will always be executed either before or after another group of rules with a different pattern. See the "Rule Pattern Execution Order" section for the order of rule pattern execution. This order is not affected by the order in which the rules are entered using CLI commands.
The order of rule action execution is as follows:
1. No-Auth—Before authentication using RADIUS/LDAP/NTLM
4. Redirect—Before cache lookup
5. Rewrite—Before cache lookup
7. Freshness-factor—On cache hit
10. Use-proxy-failover—On cache miss
12. TOS/DSCP server—On cache miss
13. TOS/DSCP client—On cache miss
15. Selective-cache—On cache miss
|
Note The commands rule no-proxy, rule use-proxy-failover, and rule use-proxy take precedence over https proxy outgoing, http proxy outgoing, and ftp proxy outgoing commands. |
During a request using the Rules Template CLI commands, rule actions 1 through 4 use the original URL request for pattern matches. After a URL rewrite (rule action 5), rule actions 6 through 15 use the transformed URL for rule executions.
The commands rule reset, rule block, rule rewrite, and rule redirect support the following additional patterns for Rule Templates requesters:
The order of rule pattern execution is as follows:
1. Dst-port—Destination port check
2. Src-ip—Source IP address check
5. Dst-ip—Destination IP address check
6. MIME-type—MIME-type regex check
|
Note Because the MIME type exists only in the response, only the actions freshness-factor, refresh, no-cache, and selective-cache apply to a rule of MIME type. |
A search for a rule match with the remaining pattern will not be performed if a match has already been found. For instance, if a match for the rule block action is found with a url-regex request, then the remaining patterns domain, dst-ip, or mime-type are not searched.
Rules are ORed together. Multiple rules may all match a request; then all actions are taken, with precedence among conflicting actions. Each rule contains one pattern; patterns cannot be ANDed together. In future releases, ANDed patterns may be supported.
It is possible to circumvent some rules. For example, to circumvent a rule with the domain pattern, enter the web server IP address instead of the domain name in the browser. A rule may have unintended effects. For instance, a rule with the domain pattern specified as "ibm" that is intended to match "www.ibm.com" can also match domain names like www.ribman.com.
A src-ip rule may not apply as intended to requests that are received from another proxy because the original client IP address is in an X-forwarded-for header.
If a rule pattern match occurs, then the rest of the patterns are not searched. If the server has already marked an object as noncacheable, no-cache rules are not checked at all, since the server already recognizes that this object is not cached. Any no-cache rule checks are performed only for cacheable requests.
Among rules of the same action and the same pattern, the order of execution of rules is in the reverse order from which the rules are entered. For instance, if use-proxy commands are entered in the following order:
then a request to abc.abc.com is sent to proxy 2.3.4.5 because the use-proxy 2.3.4.5 *.abc.com command is entered last and evaluated first. However, if the same commands are entered in the reverse order as follows:
then a request to abc.abc.com is sent to proxy 1.2.3.4, because the use-proxy 1.2.3.4 abc.abc.com command is entered last and evaluated first.
Your product shipped with a minimal set of printed documentation, as well as a Documentation CD. The printed documentation provides enough information for you to install and initially configure your product. The CD contains additional product documentation (user guides, configuration manuals, and so forth), which you can access and print out.
In addition to these release notes, the product documentation set includes:
Refer to the Documentation Guide for a complete documentation roadmap and URL documentation links for this product.
The following sections explain how to obtain documentation from Cisco Systems.
You can access the most current Cisco documentation on the World Wide Web at the following URL:
Translated documentation is available at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/public/countries_languages.shtml
Cisco documentation and additional literature are available in a Cisco Documentation CD-ROM package, which is shipped with your product. The Documentation CD-ROM is updated monthly and may be more current than printed documentation. The CD-ROM package is available as a single unit or through an annual subscription.
Cisco documentation is available in the following ways:
http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/order/order_root.pl
http://www.cisco.com/go/subscription
If you are reading Cisco product documentation on Cisco.com, you can submit technical comments electronically. Click Leave Feedback at the bottom of the Cisco Documentation home page. After you complete the form, print it out and fax it to Cisco at 408 527-0730.
You can e-mail your comments to bug-doc@cisco.com.
To submit your comments by mail, use the response card behind the front cover of your document, or write to the following address:
Cisco Systems
Attn: Document Resource Connection
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Cisco provides Cisco.com as a starting point for all technical assistance. Customers and partners can obtain documentation, troubleshooting tips, and sample configurations from online tools by using the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) Web Site. Cisco.com registered users have complete access to the technical support resources on the Cisco TAC Web Site.
Cisco.com is the foundation of a suite of interactive, networked services that provides immediate, open access to Cisco information, networking solutions, services, programs, and resources at any time, from anywhere in the world.
Cisco.com is a highly integrated Internet application and a powerful, easy-to-use tool that provides a broad range of features and services to help you to
You can self-register on Cisco.com to obtain customized information and service. To access Cisco.com, go to the following URL:
The Cisco TAC is available to all customers who need technical assistance with a Cisco product, technology, or solution. Two types of support are available through the Cisco TAC: the Cisco TAC Web Site and the Cisco TAC Escalation Center.
Inquiries to Cisco TAC are categorized according to the urgency of the issue:
Which Cisco TAC resource you choose is based on the priority of the problem and the conditions of service contracts, when applicable.
The Cisco TAC Web Site allows you to resolve P3 and P4 issues yourself, saving both cost and time. The site provides around-the-clock access to online tools, knowledge bases, and software. To access the Cisco TAC Web Site, go to the following URL:
All customers, partners, and resellers who have a valid Cisco services contract have complete access to the technical support resources on the Cisco TAC Web Site. The Cisco TAC Web Site requires a Cisco.com login ID and password. If you have a valid service contract but do not have a login ID or password, go to the following URL to register:
http://www.cisco.com/register/
If you cannot resolve your technical issues by using the Cisco TAC Web Site, and you are a Cisco.com registered user, you can open a case online by using the TAC Case Open tool at the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/tac/caseopen
If you have Internet access, it is recommended that you open P3 and P4 cases through the Cisco TAC Web Site.
The Cisco TAC Escalation Center addresses issues that are classified as priority level 1 or priority level 2; these classifications are assigned when severe network degradation significantly impacts business operations. When you contact the TAC Escalation Center with a P1 or P2 problem, a Cisco TAC engineer will automatically open a case.
To obtain a directory of toll-free Cisco TAC telephone numbers for your country, go to the following URL:
http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/687/Directory/DirTAC.shtml
Before calling, please check with your network operations center to determine the level of Cisco support services to which your company is entitled; for example, SMARTnet, SMARTnet Onsite, or Network Supported Accounts (NSA). In addition, please have available your service agreement number and your product serial number.
This document is to be used in conjunction with the documents listed in the "Related Documentation" section.
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Posted: Mon Mar 24 20:04:12 PST 2003
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