Chapter 1: Getting Started; Overview - Adobe 65029121 - Flash Media Streaming Server Developer's Manual

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Chapter 1: Getting started

Adobe® Flash® Media Server offers a combination of streaming media and social interactivity for building rich media
applications. Flash Media Server offers instant start, live video streams, and variable streaming rates based on the
user's bandwidth.
There are three editions of Flash Media Server:
The full-featured edition of the server.
Flash Media Interactive Server
A development version of Flash Media Interactive Server. Supports all the same
Flash Media Development Server
features but limits the number of connections.
Supports the live and vod streaming services only. This server edition does not
Flash Media Streaming Server
support server-side scripting or stream recording.
Note: It's a good idea to read Adobe Flash Media Server Technical Overview before using this guide.

Overview

Client-server architecture
Flash Media Server is a hub. Applications connect to the hub using Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP and its
variants, for more information, see The application URI), and the server can send data to and receive data from many
connected users. A user can capture live video or audio using a webcam or microphone attached to a computer
running Adobe Flash Player and publish it to a server that streams it to thousands of users worldwide. Users
worldwide can participate in an online game, with all moves synchronized for all users.
Users connect to the server through a network connection. A connection is similar to a large pipe and can carry
many streams of data. Each stream travels in one direction and transports content between one client and the server.
Each server can handle many connections concurrently, with the number determined by your server capacity.
An application that runs on Flash Media Server has a client-server architecture. The client application is developed
in Adobe Flash or Adobe Flex and runs in Flash Player, AIR, or Flash Lite 3. It can capture and display audio and
video and handle user interaction. The server application runs on the server. It manages client connections, writes
to the server's file system, and performs other tasks.
The client must initiate the connection to the server. Once connected, the client can communicate with the server
and with other clients. More specifically, the client connects to an instance of the application running on the server.
An example of an application instance is an online game with different rooms for various groups of users. In that
case, each room is an instance.
Many instances of an application can run at the same time. Each application instance has its own unique name and
provides unique resources to clients. Multiple clients can connect to the same application instance or to different
instances.