Every HTML5 browser supports the ability for players to seek to not-yet-downloaded portions of a video. This functionality, often referred to as pseudo-streaming, is great for any video longer than a few minutes.
Unfortunately, this functionality is not available by default when playing videos in Flash. A work-around is usually provided by each content host provider or CDN in the form of a query "start" parameter which is appended to the video URL.
FortiDirector can take any custom or CDN start parameter and on-the-fly remap it to the appropriate named parameter for the applicable CDN. This allows you to program your website in a standardized way, without knowledge of which CDN the FortiDirector service may send the end user to.
Below is the translation table that FortiDirector uses for generating the query parameter rewrites between the various CDNs:
CDN | File | Type | Param | AKA | AKA (VIP) | AKA HD | LIM | LEV | EDG | BTG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AKA | FLV | seconds | aktimeoffset | " | " | " | - | - | - | starttime |
AKA (VIP) | FLV | seconds | aktimeoffset | " | " | " | - | - | - | starttime |
AKA HD | FLV | seconds | aktimeoffset | " | " | " | - | - | - | starttime |
LIM | FLV | bytes | fs | - | - | - | " | start | ec_seek | ap_start |
LEV | FLV | bytes | start | - | - | - | fs | " | ec_seek | ambiguous |
LEV | MP4 | seconds | start | - | - | - | - | " | ec_seek | ambiguous |
EDG | FLV | bytes | ec_seek | - | - | - | fs | start | " | ambiguous |
EDG | MP4 | seconds | ec_seek | - | - | - | - | start | " | ambiguous |
BTG | FLV | seconds | starttime | aktimeoffset | aktimeoffset | aktimeoffset | - | - | - | " |
BTG | FLV | bytes | ap_start | - | - | - | fs | start | ec_seek | " |
BTG | MP4 | seconds | starttime | - | - | - | - | start | ec_seek | " |
Key:
Additionally:
URL transforms are enabled by adding items to the "URL Transforms" section when editing a Network Resource*
You can define any custom URL transforms , or if the Network Resource Type is a Content Delivery Network (CDN), you can pre-pick from a list of known transformations (namely the start and seek parameters) for psuedo-streaming videos across multiple CDNs using the CDN-to-CDN Wizard at the bottom of the Drop Down list.
To establish a new URL transform, select any existing HTTP Network Resource, and click “edit”. At the bottom of that page you will find the URL Transform Builder. Here you can setup the transforms for matrix of Resources (e.g. CDNs) that you are using.
Note: you will need to make sure you setup each directional transform for every Network Resource combination. E.g. if you want full bi-directional transforms between 3 CDNs: (A,B,C), then you’ll need to setup the following transforms:
Additionally, the FortiDirector order of evaluation becomes:
I am using both Edgecast and Level 3 CDNs, and have the same videos replicated on both, with the same sub-directory structure. I need to be able to, based on FortiDirector rules, serve from both CDNs. My 1st CDN was Edgecast, so my developers have already programmed all of our Flash embeds using Edgecast syntax, such as:
http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/00XXXX/videos/example.mp4?ec_seek=958692
I'm now using FortiDirector and want to add Level 3.
Edgecast (Large)
http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/00XXXX/
Level 3
http://lvl3.mycompany.com/
Level 3 to Edgecast (Large)
.http://fd.mycompany.com
That's it. Once you start using your FD ruleset, the following will occur:
http://fd.mycompany.com/videos/example.mp4?ec_seek=958692
http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/00XXXX/videos/example.mp4?ec_seek=958692
http://lvl3.mycompany.com/videos/example.mp4?start=958692
* Assigning the transforms to the Network Resource allows for rules to be executed without other processing, and then once the Network Resource delivery is determined, the transformations are applied. It also means that if you are using the same Network Resource in multiple Rulesets, you will not have to update every ruleset each time.
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