Oracle Video server Manual Download Page 1

 

Oracle Video Server

 

 

Introducing Oracle Video Server

Release 3.0

 

February 1998

Part No.  A53956-02

Summary of Contents for Video server

Page 1: ...Oracle Video Server Introducing Oracle Video Server Release 3 0 February 1998 Part No A53956 02 ...

Page 2: ...s document is subject to change without notice If you find any problems in the documentation please report them to us in writing Oracle Corporation does not warrant that this document is error free If this Program is delivered to a U S Government Agency of the Department of Defense then it is delivered with Restricted Rights and the following legend is applicable Restricted Rights Legend Programs ...

Page 3: ...work Computing Architecture NCA 1 5 Tier 1 Client 1 6 Oracle Video Client 1 6 Oracle Video Server Manager 1 6 Tier 2 Application Server 1 6 Tier 3 Data Server 1 7 Server Layer 1 7 Cartridge Layer 1 7 Communication Layer 1 7 What is a Digital Video Client 1 7 Customizing the Video Client 1 8 What Are the Challenges of Digital Video 1 8 How Is Digital Video Used 1 9 Clips and Logical Content 1 9 Rea...

Page 4: ...terprise Environment 1 18 Scenario 3 Internet Environment 1 19 Beyond the Basics 1 20 Maintaining an OVS System 1 20 Creating Applications 1 21 Chapter 2 System Architecture Oracle Video Server OVS 2 2 Content 2 2 Physical Content 2 2 Compression Formats 2 2 MPEG Motion Pictures Experts Group 2 3 Container Mux Formats 2 3 MPEG 1 System and MPEG 2 Transport 2 3 RKF Raw Key Frame Container Formats 2...

Page 5: ...aphical User Interface 2 15 Oracle Media Net 2 16 Clients and Servers 2 16 Objects Interfaces and Servers 2 17 Scalability and Load Balancing 2 17 Logging Error and Warning Messages 2 17 Oracle Video Client OVC 2 18 Application Development 2 18 Run Time Capability 2 19 OVS System Hardware and Network Architecture 2 20 How the OVS System Communicates 2 21 Circuits 2 21 Sessions 2 21 Sessions in Sym...

Page 6: ... 2 28 Oracle MDS Directory Service 2 28 Oracle MDS Remote File Service 2 29 Oracle MDS FTP Service 2 29 HSM Service 2 29 HSM Transfer Service 2 29 Stream Service 2 29 Video Pump 2 30 Real Time Feed Service 2 30 Content Service 2 30 Broadcast Data Service 2 31 Scheduler Service 2 31 NVOD Exporter Service 2 31 Networking in the OVS System 2 31 PSTN 2 32 LAN 2 32 Ethernet 2 33 Packets 2 33 Bus Broadc...

Page 7: ...itched Ethernet OVS system 1 18 2 1 Logical content and physical content 2 5 2 2 A stripe 2 7 2 3 A striped volume 2 8 2 4 A RAID stripe 2 9 2 5 A RAID set with parity stripes 2 9 2 6 MDS Volume Showing Space Allocations 2 11 2 7 Remote file transfer to MDS through MDS FTP server 2 13 2 8 OVS system hardware 2 20 2 9 Communication in a symmetric network 2 22 2 10 Communication in an asymmetric net...

Page 8: ...viii ...

Page 9: ...orrect Do you need more examples What features did you like most about this manual If you find any errors or have any other suggestions for improvement please indicate the chapter section and page number if available You can send comments to us in the following ways electronic mail omsdoc us oracle com FAX 650 506 7615 Attn Oracle Video Server Documentation Manager postal service Oracle Video Serv...

Page 10: ...x ...

Page 11: ...ll the Oracle Video Server as described in your Oracle Video Server Installation Guide or start and operate it as described in your Oracle Video Server Administrator s Guide and Command Reference The Oracle Video Server system includes these Oracle software products Oracle Video Server Oracle Media Net Oracle Video Client Oracle Video Server Manager This preface discusses this document s intended ...

Page 12: ...tions In examples an implied carriage return occurs at the end of each line unless otherwise noted You must press the Return key at the end of a line of input The following conventions are also used in this document Convention Meaning Vertical ellipsis points in an example mean that information not directly related to the example has been omitted Horizontal ellipsis points in statements or command...

Page 13: ...r Comments form is at the front of the manual at the end of the table of contents We encourage you to use this form to tell us what you like and dislike about this manual or other Oracle manuals If the form is not available please use the following address or FAX number Oracle Video Server Documentation Manager Oracle Corporation 500 Oracle Parkway Box 6OP5 Redwood Shores CA 94065 U S A FAX 650 50...

Page 14: ...xiv ...

Page 15: ...ital representation is recorded onto the disc When you play the laser disc this digital representation is then decoded and the result is the video display that you see Streamed digital video works in much the same way as the digital video you ve already used the video is initially recorded in either traditional analog unbroken continuously varying representation formats or directly into a digital ...

Page 16: ... the videos are stored Digital video is also available as downloaded files but these files present many of the same disadvantages as traditional storage media You must download the entire file before you can view any of the file In contrast you can begin viewing streamed video as soon as the beginning of the stream reaches the client machine The local machine must provide enough storage space to c...

Page 17: ...ivery of a video to begin automatically every few minutes on a different channel For example you might schedule Marvin s Room to begin at 8 00 p m and every 15 minutes thereafter until midnight If customers miss the 8 00 show or have to pause in the middle of the movie they can wait just a few minutes and tune to the appropriate channel to see or resume the movie Traditional digital video media su...

Page 18: ...video files can be very large A 2 hour video in an uncompressed format may require several hundred gigabytes of storage space So before files are stored they are compressed The compressed file size depends on the codec compression decompression software and the compression rate you choose however the same video encoded in the MPEG Motion Pictures Experts Group format at 1 5 Mbps still requires abo...

Page 19: ...in the Network Computing Architecture NCA The OVS system is fully compliant with Oracle s Network Computing Architecture NCA NCA affords multiple computing advantages including a thin client architecture that requires minimal data storage space on the client machine Similarly the Network Computer NC client presents high levels of security and error recovery users need only use any NC client machin...

Page 20: ...rmation about the OVC see the Oracle Video Client Developer s Guide Oracle Video Server Manager The Oracle Video Server Manager VSM is a Java application that provides management console client machines with point and click control over OVS services clients and content VSM need not be installed on every client machine For more information about the VSM see Beyond the Basics on page 1 20 of this do...

Page 21: ...The video client machine is responsible for obtaining decoding and displaying the video stored on the server Most commonly the client machine requests the video from the server In a video on demand configuration video delivery is always a result of requests from the client the server does not send digital video content until specifically requested to do so The video client then uses either softwar...

Page 22: ...ntrol to integrate the video client into applications designed to operate in the Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT operating systems Developers can then deploy the base video client on various machines using these extensions as the means of integrating the client s functionality What Are the Challenges of Digital Video Broadly speaking the challenge of streamed of digital video is to 1 retrieve l...

Page 23: ...r view television and multimedia catalogs These multimedia applications can provide your company with competitive advantages which dramatically improve productivity while reducing costs This section describes some of the interesting ways in which you can use OVS Clips and Logical Content When commercial video subscribers request a feature video the video they actually see will probably also contai...

Page 24: ...ntent within digital video files works in nearly the same way except that a database is required to track all of the many possible combinations of video clips Figure 1 3 shows one possible way in which logical content might be used to assemble a children s cartoon show the basic process will work the same way when any video subscriber chooses a video using logical content capabilities Figure 1 3 L...

Page 25: ...e necessary to encode and deliver each moment of the event Viewers can also pause restart rewind and fast forward the video up to the current live point Where is Digital Video Used Digital video can be used in many environments This section describes some example divided into the broad categories broadband enterprise and Internet Broadband The broadband environment is characterized by high speed d...

Page 26: ...tibility with existing physical networks because ATM is not dependent on a specific type of physical transport In some cases the ATM network is used only for delivery of the video data itself and another network is used to deliver system messages between the client and server The second network often has less bandwidth than the video network for example using Internet Protocol IP over a telephone ...

Page 27: ...et Switched Ethernet like ATM is a highly scalable networking protocol capable of delivering very large amounts of data at high speeds Additionally an Ethernet network can when needed be migrated to an ATM network topography Switched Ethernet as opposed to unswitched or shared Ethernet helps prevent bottlenecks or slow downs in network operation caused by multiple users needing to read every data ...

Page 28: ...r Internet Service Provider ISP who provides access to the OVS through the Internet Through a single connection the client communicates with the ISP using PPP Point to Point Protocol and with the OVS using either TCP IP or UDP IP Transmission Control Protocol or User Datagram Protocol Internet Protocol Because of its increasing availability and affordability DSL has also become a popular way to ac...

Page 29: ...or video The client device can be A set top box connected to a television set or monitor and to a public or a private network This is a typical client device for use in a broadband delivery environment An NC Network Computer connected to a network Through the network the Network Computer accesses an NC server and the OVS A PC Personal Computer connected to a network 2 Network The network receives ...

Page 30: ...elivery environment The network itself has been somewhat simplified to show a typical configuration actual broadband deployment might involve many more variables in terms of particular hardware used the number of neighborhood hubs and the type and number of ATM multiplexers Tier 1 Client Network Computer Personal Computer NETWORK ATM SWITCHED ETHERNET UDP TCP HTTP Network This portion of the video...

Page 31: ...nsure proper delivery 2 The neighborhood interfaces with an ATM switch serving an area or metropolitan region several hubs 3 The switch forwards client messages to OVS which communicates with the database server and delivers streamed video coming from the server Region or Metropolitan Area OVS Database Video Service Provider Up to 622 Mbits sec Neighborhood Hub ATM Switch Individual Homes To From ...

Page 32: ...ead consist of a corporate wide LAN Local Area Network or WAN Wide Area Network This layer might use such communication protocols as Switched Ethernet CDDI or FDDI Copper or Fiber Data Distributed Interface A Switched Ethernet topology provides optimal throughput and reliability in this environment Figure 1 6 shows a typical configuration for the Switched Ethernet network used for video delivery i...

Page 33: ...ight begin with a clip of the company CEO giving a short speech For a description of the capabilities of logical content see Clips and Logical Content on page 1 9 Scenario 3 Internet Environment In the Internet environment the process of delivering digital video is much the same as in the broadband environment for details see Scenario 1 Broadband Environment on page 1 16 except that The network co...

Page 34: ...ng Starting and stopping the OVS Adding removing and updating content files within your digital video storage Checking and editing the status of clips making up your various logical content titles Registering new or existing content files so that OVS recognizes them and allocates necessary resources for storing and delivering them Defragmenting MDS volumes to minimize unusable empty disk space To ...

Page 35: ...ons in an assortment of platforms including Platform native versions for Microsoft Windows 95 and Microsoft Windows NT Java and JavaScript based versions for deployment on a variety of operating systems a plug in for use in Web pages You can learn more about the OVC and its extensibility in the Oracle Video Client Developer s Guide The server is designed to provide an out of the box solution to yo...

Page 36: ...Beyond the Basics 1 22 Introducing Oracle Video Server ...

Page 37: ... video read Chapter 1 to learn about digital video video servers and the OVS system before reading this chapter to gain in depth understanding of the system architecture The chapter describes these Oracle components that are used in the OVS system Oracle Video Server OVS Oracle Video Server Manager VSM Oracle Media Net Oracle Video Client OVC It also describes OVS System Hardware and Network Archi...

Page 38: ...imedia data Logical Content logical representations of the physical data that you can define to customize the multimedia data your clients can request Physical Content Physical video content files are created from actual video through a process called encoding performed by a third party encoding software or hardware called a codec that is not part of the OVS To create content the encoder uses thes...

Page 39: ...MPEG formats provide a storage compression ratio of 100 to 1 over storing each frame individually reducing the amount of disk space required to store video Container Mux Formats The OVS supports these container or multipexed mux formats MPEG 1 System MPEG 2 Transport RKF Raw Key Frame Container Formats such as AVI WAV MPEG 1 System and MPEG 2 Transport Table 2 1 shows combinations of MPEG codecs a...

Page 40: ...e which parts of the content file to deliver to the client When you use Oracle Video Server Manager VSM to load a content file into the OVS VSM automatically creates a tag file for the content file The OVS also provides utilities to create tag files for MPEG content files convert AVI and WAV files to OSF and create tag files for them create empty tag files for playing video without rate control in...

Page 41: ...cal content to customize the multimedia data your clients can request Figure 2 1 shows how you can define a logical content title representing a television feature containing advertisements based on individual physical content files containing the feature and the advertisement Figure 2 1 Logical content and physical content Tag files Physical content files Logical Physical Feature with Ads Second ...

Page 42: ... logical content definitions are stored in a database defining logical content does not create new physical content files or modify existing ones Storage The OVS stores physical content in the Oracle MDS Media Data Store a real time file system for storing and delivering uninterrupted video in real time This section describes the MDS The OVS optionally stores logical content in an Oracle database ...

Page 43: ...eant to be a general purpose file system with nested hierarchical subdirectories to search and browse Logical content provides that level of interaction Each volume has a table of contents that lists the files in the volume and their locations on disk Striping Striping means dividing a file into pieces and storing each piece on a different disk Striping a file distributes access to the file across...

Page 44: ...ped file appears logically as one contiguous sequence of bytes RAID Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks Protection RAID protection means storing data redundantly so it remains accessible in the event of a disk failure The RAID protection implemented for the MDS is similar to hardware based RAID protection but also guarantees on time delivery even if a disk or controller fails RAID is similar to ...

Page 45: ...e in each RAID stripe to store parity information technically the bitwise exclusive OR of the other stripes The disk containing the parity stripe rotates from one RAID stripe to the next as shown in Figure 2 5 Figure 2 5 A RAID set with parity stripes The amount of data contained in a RAID stripe is stripesize x RAIDsize Since one of the stripes in the RAID stripe stores parity information the amo...

Page 46: ...s The MDS writes sequentially across disks in the RAID set writing one stripe on each disk After filling a RAID stripe the MDS writes sequentially across the first RAID stripe in the next RAID set and so on When the MDS reaches the last disk in the last RAID set it returns to the first RAID set and proceeds to write to the second RAID stripe The last RAID stripe allocated for the file may not be c...

Page 47: ... a spare disk the OVS cannot deliver video while the failed disk is replaced and rebuilt Spare disks are unnecessary on video server computers that support hot swapping disks ÀÀÀ ÀÀÀ QQQ QQQ ÀÀÀ ÀÀÀ QQQ QQQ ÀÀÀ ÀÀÀ QQQ QQQ ÀÀÀ ÀÀÀ QQQ QQQ A 1 A 2 B 1 B 2 B 6 B 3 B 7 B 3 B 3 B 3 B 6 B 6 B 6 B 2 B 2 B 2 B 1 B 1 B 1 B 4 C 1 C 1 C 1 C 1 C 2 C 2 C 2 C 2 C 3 C 3 C 3 C 3 C 4 C 4 C 4 C 4 C 5 C 5 C 5 B 4 B...

Page 48: ...g system supports hot swapping disks or to rebuild data from a failed disk onto a spare disk from redundantly stored data while the MDS plays video or to take the OVS offline replace a failed disk and rebuild data onto the replacement MDS utilities accept wildcard specifications as general operating system command line utilities do HSM Hierarchical Storage Management The MDS is part of the HSM hie...

Page 49: ...utility would require an additional copy operation Delivery The OVS can deliver a video stream to a client in real time on demand A stream of video is played by the client as it is delivered by the OVS rather than completely downloaded by the OVS and then played by the client Requesting Video A client can request the OVS play video by requesting it In a request a client identifies video with an as...

Page 50: ...u to schedule a logical content title to begin playing on a specific network channel at a specific time Clients can then tune in to see the title they want with no signals required from the client to the OVS Scheduling enables you to implement regularly scheduled television broadcasting pay per view NVOD near video on demand NVOD near video on demand enables a client to view a film from the beginn...

Page 51: ...clients VSM enables you as the administrator to perform tasks including starting and stopping instances of the OVS viewing the status of critical OVS services create and manage logical content titles and clips monitoring MDS disks and files HSM tertiary storage tapes real time feeds clients of the OVS defragment MDS volumes loading and registering physical content files scheduling and playing vide...

Page 52: ...ich applications transparently make requests and receive responses Oracle Media Net abstracts the network for the application developer and the network protocols underlying Oracle Media Net are transparent to the components using it You can create an application once and deploy it on many different platforms without changing its Oracle Media Net calls Oracle Media Net also automatically bridges co...

Page 53: ...objects defined there Scalability and Load Balancing If demand for a server such as an OVS service increases you can start additional instances of the server to better handle it Oracle Media Net can distribute requests for a server across available instances to balance the load among them If one instance fails Oracle Media Net can redistribute new requests across the remaining instances Logging Er...

Page 54: ...mand line Oracle Video ActiveX Control The Oracle Video ActiveX Control is an ActiveX control that enables you to embed video in compliant 32 bit multimedia applications such as Microsoft Visual Basic Developer 2000 Oracle Forms and Oracle Power Objects that start stop and seek locations within video streams from the OVS Oracle Video Web Plug in The Oracle Video Web Plug in enables World Wide Web ...

Page 55: ...ta OVC software applications can receive and display video content using Microsoft s ActiveMovie framework and ActiveMovie compliant decoders The decoder requires smooth reliable video delivery and the network may sometimes deliver packets late or out of order OVC software ensures proper decoder operation by re ordering packets properly and buffering a small amount of data so the decoder is consis...

Page 56: ...deo Server Computer Oracle Media Net Oracle Video Server Database Server Computer Oracle Server PC or NC or set top box that to store and deliver multimedia data Runs the OVS accepts user input requests data from the OVS receives data and displays it for the user Carries video and control messages between servers and clients and can be symmetric upstream and downstream traffic use the same physica...

Page 57: ... Circuits Sessions and discusses these processes How Client Devices Connect to the OVS How the OVS Delivers Video Circuits A circuit is a path of communication between the client and the OVS A circuit can be one of these types upstream carrying control messages such as requests for video from the client to the OVS downstream carrying control messages such as acknowledgments of requests and video f...

Page 58: ... contains two circuits a bidirectional circuit that carries control messages between the client and the OVS a downstream circuit that delivers video from the OVS to the client Figure 2 9 shows a client and its session with the OVS Figure 2 9 Communication in a symmetric network All IP Internet Protocol networks are symmetric by definition Video Server Computer Control Messages Video Client Device ...

Page 59: ...s a Media Net address from the OVS This address allows the client to communicate with components of the OVS through Oracle Media Net 2 OVC establishes a session with the OVS that includes one or more circuits so that the OVS can send and receive control messages to and from the client and deliver video to the client Some broadband networks contain a service provider called a level 1 gateway L1GW t...

Page 60: ... Net Oracle Video Server Network 1 User requests content titles from client application 2 Oracle Media Net carries request to OVS 5 Oracle Media Net returns list of titles to client application 6 Client application displays titles for user 7 User requests a title to play 12 Client application receives video decodes video displays video 4 Oracle Server reads titles and 10 Oracle Server maps title t...

Page 61: ... and Oracle Media Net process can accommodate multiple clients depending on the type of video server computer For large numbers of clients the Oracle Video Server can run multiple instances of most processes Figure 2 12 shows only one instance of each process Figure 2 12 Components of Oracle Video Server and Oracle Media Net Oracle Video Server Oracle Media Net name server From Clients event loggi...

Page 62: ...mon Oracle Media Net Name Server The Oracle Media Net name server maps the names of ORB daemons to their Media Net addresses When an ORB daemon is started it registers its name and Media Net address with the name server An OVS system can run only one name server Do not confuse the name server with the Oracle Media Net CORBA naming service discussed later in this section Oracle Media Net Address Se...

Page 63: ... daemon to log specific information about components You can configure the maximum size of a log file After filling a log file the event logging daemon automatically begins writing to a new one Oracle Media Net Event Log Reader The Oracle Media Net event log reader interprets and displays information written to the logfile by the Oracle Media Net event logging daemon to make this information easie...

Page 64: ...ice may consult a third party component called a channel manager when allocating a circuit for a client The channel manager has specific network implementation information that is not available to the session and circuit service After allocating a circuit the session and circuit service sends it to the channel manager for approval The channel manager can approve the circuit or suggest another one ...

Page 65: ... listens for requests on a different dedicated port HSM Service The HSM hierarchical storage management server controls access to files in tertiary storage and manages their layout in a way similar to how the MDS directory server manages files in the MDS HSM Transfer Service The HSM transfer service copies files between tertiary storage and MDS volumes on disk when requested by an HSM utility Stre...

Page 66: ...a pool of physical content files and writes the encoded content to one file after another The real time feed service deletes the oldest files as they become out of date and writes new ones The real time feed service also maintains a single tag file for all physical content files in the pool Content Service The content service maintains information that maps logical content to physical content in t...

Page 67: ...appropriate exporter service such as the NVOD exporter service when a broadcast event is scheduled to occur NVOD Exporter Service The NVOD exporter service plays a scheduled logical content title on a scheduled channel when notified by the schedule service You can use this service to handle any scheduled video including NVOD pay per view or regular TV broadcasting Networking in the OVS System The ...

Page 68: ...ient IP address to the communication channel between the hub and the client The switched Ethernet hub examines the IP address of each packet as it moves through the hub and routes it directly to its destination segment ensuring that data in the communication channel between the hub and a client is destined for that client Each client views only its data and does not spend time examining packets ad...

Page 69: ...ksum information in their headers If a packet is missing or has been corrupted the receiver requests that the sending computer resend the packet and waits for its return before reassembling the data for the user Bus Broadcast Topology The most common type of Ethernet topology is a bus topology in which all computers on the network are connected to the same communication channel When one computer w...

Page 70: ...ot easy to deliver on a shared Ethernet network because All data traffic from one computer to another is read by all computers on the network Video cannot be delivered as a continuous string of packets but as multiple individual packets that compete equally with other applications for network resources The large number of packets needed to deliver video consumes network resources For example 20 vi...

Page 71: ...vironment one broadband network delivers video from the OVS to clients and another carries messages in both directions between clients and the OVS The network may use various protocols such as ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode or X 25 for control messages only depending on the network protocol ...

Page 72: ...Networking in the OVS System 2 36 Introducing Oracle Video Server ...

Page 73: ...amming language 2 17 channel manager 2 28 circuits asymmetric connections 2 23 broadband networks 2 23 defined 2 21 symmetric connections 2 22 client defined 2 16 client applications 2 30 client connections 2 23 multiple 2 25 client requests 2 26 2 29 codecs 2 2 to 2 4 defined 2 2 supported types 2 2 command line utilities 2 12 communications 2 21 to 2 23 compressing video data 2 2 2 19 compressio...

Page 74: ...0 disk errors 2 6 disk failures 2 8 2 10 disk space allocation 2 10 disk volumes 2 7 2 10 RAID Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks protection 2 8 reclaiming space 2 10 spare disks 2 11 downstream circuits 2 21 E encoding 2 2 2 4 2 30 encoding software 2 2 enterprise environments 1 13 environments broadband 1 11 enterprise 1 13 error logs 2 17 2 27 errors 2 6 Ethernet cards 2 32 to 2 34 best effo...

Page 75: ...DS utilities 2 12 MDS volumes 2 7 2 10 RAID protection 2 8 reclaiming space 2 10 spare disks 2 11 messages 2 16 MPEG container formats 2 3 storage compression ratio 2 3 multimedia applications 2 18 See also applications multi platform connections 2 16 multiplexing 2 2 N name server 2 26 naming service 2 28 Near Video on Demand NVOD 1 3 networking infrastructure 2 16 networks asymmetric connections...

Page 76: ...PSTN systems 2 32 public service announcements 2 14 public switched telephone network PSTN 2 32 Q queries 2 17 2 30 R RAID Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks protection 2 8 to 2 10 sets 2 8 2 10 size 2 8 stripes 2 9 2 10 labeling 2 10 noncontiguous 2 10 reads 2 30 MDS files 2 28 real time feed server 2 30 real time feeds 2 14 real time processing 2 4 2 5 rebuild utility 2 10 2 12 rebuilding fil...

Page 77: ...s 2 12 tertiary storage 2 12 third party encoding software 2 2 time based delivery 2 34 U upstream circuits 2 21 utilities 2 12 See also specific V variance 2 6 video data compressing 2 2 2 19 delivering 2 24 Ethernet cards 2 34 multiplexing 2 2 nonsupported playback formats 2 4 playback rate control 2 4 2 14 searches 2 5 video files 2 4 delivering 2 13 to 2 14 reading 2 30 storing 2 3 2 10 video ...

Page 78: ...Index 6 ...

Reviews: