Installation details get a little hairy
 
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Before SDA can be truly functional, the VSM application must be installed on a dedicated server running Red Hat Linux Version 7.1. Vividon provides a CD-ROM with Red Hat Linux to install on your server if it is not currently running 7.1 software. This took longer than expected because of some conflict between the image on the CD and the Compaq ML330e server ordered for the testing. After nearly six hours of troubleshooting using Vividon's excellent online customer support system and telephone conferences, and guaranteeing that there was no hardware failure, we switched to a Dell server with Linux 7.1 preinstalled.
The VSM install utility installs VSM software on the Linux computer. Among other tasks, the installation automatically creates a staging directory where you can add content files to distribute to the SDAs in the network. VSM examines and converts all streaming media content into a format the SDAs can manipulate and deliver with maximum efficiency. Nearly all subsequent tasks on VSM are performed in a Web graphical user interface (GUI), making it not only easier for a non-Linux user, but also accessible from any secure IP-connected location.
Ultimately, the security of the SDA network depends on the security of this Linux server that acts as the service manager. Vividon has password-level support at several levels, and the VSM GUI is a secure Web interface that (via Secure Sockets Layer certificates) encrypts and deciphers all communications.
Once the VSM software has been installed, is ready and its operator runs the register_sda utility, the system integrator or installer installs a utility and configures the SDA for the enterprise network. Familiar to Unix users, the proprietary operating system's command-line interface prompts the installer for 59 different specifics, ranging from the elementary SDA host name and logon information to dozens of streaming media-related parameters, such as ping interval, connection idle timeouts for each media format and what to do if the system reaches various benchmarks such as HTTP bandwidth maximums. Eighty percent of these have defaults suggested and the user would find it much easier to have them preloaded by Vividon in the register utility.
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Perey is president of Perey Research & Consulting in Placerville, Calif. She can be reached at cperey@perey.com.
Perey is also a member of the Network World Global Test Alliance, a cooperative of the premier reviewers in the network industry, each bringing to bear years of practical experience on every review. For more Test Alliance information, including what it takes to become a member, go to www.nwfusion.com/alliance.
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