Features Included with Windows Media Services Running on Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Media Services running on Windows Server 2008 R2 offers a plethora of features and functionality:

. Cache/Proxy Management—To bolster presentation experience, a plug-in can be used to provide cache or reverse proxy functionality of digital media content. This new feature reduces network infrastructure costs by decreasing the amount of bandwidth required and used.

. Server Core installation—IT professionals have the option of installing the Windows Media Services components on a Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 R2. A Server Core installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 is a scaleddown version of the installation offering specific administrative roles without the management interfaces and tools, which reduces management and surface area attacks.

. Multicast for Silverlight—Windows Media Services can now deliver multicast streams to Silverlight with the new Silverlight Multicast plug-in.

. Single Installation Package—Unlike Windows Server 2008, a single package is offered to make the deployment of Windows Media Server on Windows Server 2008 R2 much easier.

. Tighter Integration with Hyper-V—Streaming, performance, and manageability has improved when running Windows Media Services on Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2.

. Advanced Fast Start—This new feature associated with Windows Server 2008 R2 leverages the maximum available bandwidth allowed during the initial connection to a stream, resulting in end users being able to see content as soon as they connect. As soon as the playback begins, bandwidth is throttled back to a regular amount.

. Play While Archiving—This new feature, which is only supported when running the Enterprise Edition or Datacenter Edition, allows transmitted content to be archived to a file. It is interesting to note here that the file can be accessed on demand or rebroadcast even before the archiving is finished.

. Advanced FF/RW—When using this feature, independent files are used for fastforward and rewind functionality. Separate files increase performance playback and reduce bandwidth contention.

. Broadcast AutoStart—This feature aims to minimize end-user disruption and downtime. The key is to configure the broadcast publishing points to run automatically so the stream automatically restarts in the event of a disruption.

. Absolute Playlist Time—Leverage this feature if there is a need to start a stream or playlist at a certain time by indicating a specific value for time, such as 12:00 a.m. The time entry is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

. Encoder Failover URL Modifiers—It is possible to leverage more than one encoder to increase reliability and redundancy of the source content. The result is that Windows Media Services can be configured to pull source content from an alternate location in the event of a failure.

Source of Information : Sams - Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed