video accelerator

[johng231]

Is there any documentation on setting this up? The video accelerator and license are enabled. I have setup a windows media server (wms) in my lab. I'm using windows media player for my client to connect to the wms via a url. The core waas is reporting TGDL on the connection and the branch side is reporting TDL. The wms is actually behind the branch waas.

WAAS version 4.2.1

Core WAE = 7341

Branch WAE = 574

Core side output

98358    x.x.x.x:1323    172.16.205.165:554 00:26:55:ad:5c:cc TGDL 87.4%

VIDEO:

   Global Statistics
   -----------------

Time elapsed since "clear statistics": 14days 22hr 55min 11sec

Video Connections
==================================================================

Connections handled                          num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total handled                                3         100.00
Windows-media live accelerated               0         0.00
Un-accelerated pipethrough                   3         100.00
Un-accelerated dropped due to config         0         0.00
Error dropped connections                    0         0.00

Windows-media active sessions                current   peak 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Outgoing (client) sessions                   0         0
Incoming (server) sessions                   0         0
Sessions waiting for timeout                 0        

Unaccelerated Connections                    num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Unaccelerated                          3         100.00
Unsupported player                           0         0.00
Unsupported transport                        0         0.00
Unsupported protocol                         0         0.00
Windows-media VoD                            3         100.00
Max stream bitrate exceeded                  0         0.00
Max aggregate bitrate overload               0         0.00
Max concurrent sessions overload             0         0.00
Other                                        0         0.00

Error dropped connections                    num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total errors                                 0         0.00
Client timeouts                              0         0.00
Server timeouts                              0         0.00
Client stream errors                         0         0.00
Server stream errors                         0         0.00
Other errors                                 0         0.00

Windows-media byte savings
==================================================================
% Bytes saved       Incoming(server) bytes   Outgoing(client) bytes  
0.00                0 B                      0 B                     

Windows-media aggregate bitrate         current        max  
==================================================================
Total bitrate                           0 bps          0 bps
Outgoing(client) bitrate                0 bps          0 bps
Incoming(server) bitrate                0 bps          0 bps



   Policy Engine Statistics       
   -------------------------      
   Session timeouts: 0,  Total timeouts: 0
   Last keepalive received 00.4 Secs ago
   Last registration occurred 14:22:55:17.5 Days:Hours:Mins:Secs ago
   Hits:                        3, Update Released:                      0
   Active Connections:          0, Completed Connections:                3
   Drops:                       0
   Rejected Connection Counts Due To: (Total: 0)
      Not Registered      :          0,  Keepalive Timeout   :          0
      No License          :          0,  Load Level          :          0
      Connection Limit    :          0,  Rate Limit          :          0
      Minimum TFO         :          0,  Resource Manager    :          0
      Global Config       :          0,  Server-Side         :          0
      DM Deny             :          0,  No DM Accept        :          0


   Auto-Discovery Statistics      
   -------------------------      
   Total Connections queued for accept:  3
   Connections queuing failures:         0
   Socket pairs queued for accept:       3
   Socket pairs queuing failures:        0
   AO discovery successful:              0
   AO discovery failure:                 0

Branch side output

99726    x.x.x.x:1323    172.16.205.165:554 00:21:5e:75:ff:74 TDL   86.3%

VIDEO:

   Global Statistics
   -----------------

Time elapsed since "clear statistics": 0days 0hr 10min 17sec

Video Connections
==================================================================

Connections handled                          num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total handled                                0         0.00
Windows-media live accelerated               0         0.00
Un-accelerated pipethrough                   0         0.00
Un-accelerated dropped due to config         0         0.00
Error dropped connections                    0         0.00

Windows-media active sessions                current   peak 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Outgoing (client) sessions                   0         0
Incoming (server) sessions                   0         0
Sessions waiting for timeout                 0        

Unaccelerated Connections                    num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Unaccelerated                          0         0.00
Unsupported player                           0         0.00
Unsupported transport                        0         0.00
Unsupported protocol                         0         0.00
Windows-media VoD                            0         0.00
Max stream bitrate exceeded                  0         0.00
Max aggregate bitrate overload               0         0.00
Max concurrent sessions overload             0         0.00
Other                                        0         0.00

Error dropped connections                    num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total errors                                 0         0.00
Client timeouts                              0         0.00
Server timeouts                              0         0.00
Client stream errors                         0         0.00
Server stream errors                         0         0.00
Other errors                                 0         0.00

Windows-media byte savings
==================================================================
% Bytes saved       Incoming(server) bytes   Outgoing(client) bytes  
0.00                0 B                      0 B                     

Windows-media aggregate bitrate         current        max  
==================================================================
Total bitrate                           0 bps          0 bps
Outgoing(client) bitrate                0 bps          0 bps
Incoming(server) bitrate                0 bps          0 bps



   Policy Engine Statistics       
   -------------------------      
   Session timeouts: 0,  Total timeouts: 0
   Last keepalive received 01.1 Secs ago
   Last registration occurred 10:16.5 Mins:Secs ago
   Hits:                        3, Update Released:                      0
   Active Connections:          0, Completed Connections:                0
   Drops:                       0
   Rejected Connection Counts Due To: (Total: 3)
      Not Registered      :          1,  Keepalive Timeout   :          0
      No License          :          0,  Load Level          :          0
      Connection Limit    :          0,  Rate Limit          :          0
      Minimum TFO         :          0,  Resource Manager    :          0
      Global Config       :          0,  Server-Side         :          2
      DM Deny             :          0,  No DM Accept        :          0


   Auto-Discovery Statistics      
   -------------------------      
   Total Connections queued for accept:  0
   Connections queuing failures:         0
   Socket pairs queued for accept:       0
   Socket pairs queuing failures:        0
   AO discovery successful:              0
   AO discovery failure:                 0

[Bhavin Yadav]

Hi John,

Video accelerator accelerates Windows Media live video broadcasts that use RTSP over TCP. The video accelerator automatically splits one source video stream from the WAN into multiple streams to serve multiple clients on the LAN. The video accelerator automatically causes a client requesting a UDP stream to do a protocol rollover to use TCP (if both the client and server allow TCP).

Here is the documentation link: Configuring Video Acceleration

For reporting: Video

You may want to enable log forwarding option to forward windows media logs to window media server.

Please also note that default predefined traffic policies to optimize video traffic are using port 18888 , 1755, 554, 8554, 7000

Link: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/app_ntwk_services/waas/waas/v421/configuration/guide/apx_apps.html

Please also make sure video accelerator is enabled on both sides of WAAS appliance.

Hope this helps.

Regards.

PS: Please mark this as Answered, if this answers your question.

[Kenneth Lanzillo · Accepted solution]

Hmmm... You say your WMS is behind your branch WAE. That means, for the purposes of video acceleration, your "branch" is really the core and the "core" is really the branch.  Video acceleration only occurs on the branch WAE when it detects a stream suitable for stream splitting. Your core WAE correctly identified three live streams but they were not suitable for stream splitting and the default generic optimization was applied (TGDL). So now you need to determine why the streams were not suitable. Suitable streams have the pragma x-wms-stream-type="broadcast". You can check it by doing a wireshark packet capture of the incoming stream. See the pic below:

I suspect that it is not a stream type broadcast and that you are actually trying to stream a VoD. To correct it you will need to set up a true live event on your WMS. This can be done using a VoD as a "rebroadcast".

-ken

[johng231]

Thanks for the response.

ok it looks like I have  it working now,  but I'm not seeing it split the streams. I see 2  sessions for the incoming server, not 1.

Core side

99567    x.x.x.x:1178    172.16.205.165:554 00:26:55:ad:5c:cc TV    00.0%

99633      x.x.x.x:1718    172.16.205.165:554 00:26:55:ad:5c:cc TV    00.0%

VIDEO:

   Global Statistics
    -----------------

Time elapsed since "clear statistics": 0days 0hr 16min 38sec

Video Connections
==================================================================

Connections handled                          num       %    
------------------------------------------------------------------
Total handled                                2         100.00
Windows-media live accelerated               2         100.00
Un-accelerated pipethrough                   0         0.00
Un-accelerated dropped due to config         0         0.00
Error dropped connections                    0         0.00

Windows-media active sessions                current   peak 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Outgoing (client) sessions                   2         2
Incoming (server) sessions                   2         2

Windows-media byte savings
==================================================================
% Bytes saved       Incoming(server) bytes   Outgoing(client) bytes  
0.00                37.26 MB                 37.26 MB                
labwaascore1#

Branch side

100935    x.x.x.x:1178    172.16.205.165:554 00:21:5e:75:ff:74 T     00.0%

101001      x.x.x.x:1718    172.16.205.165:554 00:21:5e:75:ff:74 T     00.0%

[Kenneth Lanzillo · Accepted solution]

The most common reason for this is that the two request urls are not EXACTLY the same. I use caps for emphasis because WAAS is caps sensitive. This is not the same as this.

-ken

[johng231]

The matching of the URL did it. I had one machine connected via the shortname and the other one which couldn't resolve the shortname used the IP Address. That fixed that problem. The 2nd problem now I ran into is when you close media player then go back into it, shows up now as 2 streams instead of 1 stream. The TCP connection is still showing connected on the WAAS, even though I closed it out. It's not tearing it down fast it enough. This could be a common issue when users are noticing the video freezing and decide to close out their sessions then go back in it again.

First 2 PCs connected

Windows-media active sessions                current   peak 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Outgoing (client) sessions                   2         3
Incoming (server) sessions                   1         2

Closed 1 session then re opened it

Windows-media active sessions                current   peak 
------------------------------------------------------------------
Outgoing (client) sessions                   2         3
Incoming (server) sessions                   2         3