VOD with Multiple FirstSpot - One login

[adahary]

Hi,

I'm planning to operate a VOD service with several streaming servers in different locations on the public Internet (not closed networks).

I found the FirstSpot authentication process very useful (use it in my hotspots) and want to adapt it to my VOD operation.

The idea is to have each streaming server connected to the public interface of the FS PC. The routing to the streaming server will be forced to pass via the FS private interface.
When a potential customer will request to view a movie (url post on some web portal) he will be redirected to the one of the streaming server but since the routing goes via the FS he will be presented with the FS login page (captive portal on the private interface). Once authenticated the FS will redirect him to the final URL via the public interface.

All FS will point to the same mySQL DB over the open Internet.

My questions are:

1. The FS private interface is defined as a single network address (class b,c) so what will be the setup if my customers are coming from all over the Internet?

2. The redirected URL is of form of mms//<server>/abc.mov or rtsp//<server>/abc.mp4. Should the FS handle it or it is only responding to html// URLs?

3. Would a customer who already login in FS#1 will be forced to re-authenticate on FS#2 (he choose another movie which resides on different Streaming Server/FS pair) ? Should the FS#2 let him pass through since FS #1 which shares the same DB/fsusr table already registers his IP address?

5. Since all videos streaming will be passing through the FS (concurrent x100s of 500kbps streams), is there a limit on the FS load (private&public interface are Gbps) ?
5a) If FS will be setup to NO NAT then the origin IP request will be passed to the streaming server as it is so the streaming server could route the stream around the FS on its other interface and therefore reduce the load on the FS. Is my assumption OK ? shouldn't the traffic stream pass through the FS for monitoring?

6. Is it possible to install FS on a WIN2003 server where WMS9 service is activated?

I hope that my VOD service will be able to benefit from the FS great capabilities and make things easier and cost-effective for me.

Regards

Assaf

[alan]

1) He can access the login page explicitly. See http://www.patronsoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1088 for details.

2) FirstSpot will only redirect http or https type of requests

3) So you want have several FirstSpot sharing a user directory? At this moment, this is only supported in RADIUS Authentication Mode (see Scenario 2 in chapter 4 of firstspot_guide.pdf). Note that this requires re-login every time a user attached to another FirstSpot server.

5) There is really no limit on FirstSpot load.
a) Yes, you can setup the network so that FirstSpot is bypass for return traffic. See http://patronsoft.com/firstspot/FirstSpot_Scenario3b.ppt for a similar situation. Note that you need to turn off NAT within FirstSpot.

6) It should work as long as there is no port conflict. But you might want to put your streaming server in a different machine to spread the load (and make a troubleshoot a bit easier too).
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[adahary]

Alan,

2) Can I redirect the user to FS with a HTML page and after authentication (user's ip is already registered) make FS send a redirection url with mms// or rtsp// ? (this time no authentication will be needed)

Or, can the FS replace the first requested HTML (which triggers FS) with a mms/rtsp url and only then redirect it to the streaming server?

3) I assumed that when a requested HTML page arrives to to the FS it then makes a lookup request only in the DB/fsusr whethere its IP is registered and based on the query result let it pass through. Should each FS holds user login info status outside the DB (in its cach) and therefore cannot share it with another FS?

Regards

Assaf

[alan]

2) Yes. See http://www.patronsoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3855#3855 (BTW, the upcoming v5 you can do that in Configuration Manager instead of customizing PHP directly)

3) It is more complicated than that. FirstSpot relies on driver to determine whether to block a particular client IP/MAC instead of querying the database. User information stored in the database is only for user session logging.
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