MACROMEDIA FLASH MEDIA SERVER 2-USING FLASH MEDIA SERVER EDGE SERVERS Use Manual page 7

Such constraints may prompt the Flash Media Server and network administrators to consider
a different deployment strategy. The strategy involves configuring Flash Media Server to
redistribute the load on system and bandwidth resources by running some virtual hosts as
edge servers and other virtual hosts as origin servers.
Rather than forwarding every request to the origin server and consuming resources for such
repetitive tasks, the edge server collects the requests from a large number of clients and
aggregates them into one connection to the origin server. All communications between edge
and origin servers happen transparently to the users.
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
End User
To distribute the demands on network and system resources, administrators can assign the
users in a geographical region or functional area of the organization to a specific edge server.
For example, one edge server might aggregate and forward requests from users in Tokyo and
another might aggregate and forward requests from Paris. The edge servers in Paris and Tokyo
gather the requests from their clients and forward them to the origin server located in another
secured location, such as Chicago.
Edge Server
Tokyo
Edge Server
Paris
Origin Server
Chicago
Introducing edge servers 7