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Event ID 350 — Multicast Streaming

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

You can configure Multicast Streaming plug-ins in Windows Media Services to enable the multicast distribution of content. Multicast streaming is a one-to-many relationship between a Windows Media server and the clients receiving the stream. With a multicast stream, the server streams to a multicast IP address on the network, and all clients receive the same stream by subscribing to the IP address. Because there is only one stream from the server regardless of the number of clients receiving the stream, a multicast stream requires the same amount of bandwidth as a single unicast stream containing the same content. For more information, see Delivering content as a multicast stream.

Event Details

Product: Windows Media Services
ID: 350
Source: WMServer
Version: 9.5
Symbolic Name: WMS_EVMSG_MULTICAST_SINK_STOPPED
Message: The multicast broadcast stopped. A socket error occurred.

Resolve

Select a different IP address for multicasting

First, make sure that the local area network (LAN) cable is plugged into the network adapter on the Windows Media server. If the cable is connected, select an alternate IP address from which to multicast.

This procedure requires that you have multiple network interface cards or multiple virtual IP addresses on the Windows Media server.

To select an alternate IP address from which to multicast:

  1. On the Windows Media server, open Windows Media Services. To open Windows Media Services, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Media Services.
  2. In the console tree, right-click the broadcast publishing point for the multicast content, and then click Stop.
  3. In the details pane, click the Properties tab.
  4. In Category, click Multicast streaming.
  5. In Plug-in, right-click WMS Multicast Data Writer, and then click Properties.
  6. In the WMS Multicast Data Writer Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
  7. In IP address of the network interface card to multicast from, select an alternate IP address.
  8. Click OK to save the changes.

Verify

To verify that the multicast stream can be delivered to clients, test the stream by using Windows Media Player:

  1. If you want to test the stream by using Windows Media Player on the computer that is running Windows Media Services, you must install Desktop Experience. For more information, see Installing Desktop Experience.
  2. On the Windows Media server, open Windows Media Services. To open Windows Media Services, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows Media Services.
  3. In the console tree, click the broadcast publishing point that hosts the stream that you want to test.
  4. In the details pane, click the Announce tab.
  5. In the Connect to a multicast stream area, click Run Multicast Announcement Wizard to create a multicast information file (a file with an .nsc file name extension). This file contains information that the Player needs to decode and stream the multicast broadcast. For more information about completing the wizard, see Working with the Multicast Announcement Wizard.
  6. Use the announcement files created by the wizard to access the multicast broadcast in Windows Media Player. For more information, see Testing the announcement file.

Multicast Streaming

Streaming Media Services