Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why does StreamPulse need to run as a desktop application, and not as service? Flash Media Player requires that the output stream be directed to a visual display.  Unfortunately, this 'visual display' is not available when it is ran as an Adobe Air App or NT service.  Hence, it is necessary to run StreamPulse as a desktop application.     2. What is the HTTP port that StreamPulse listens on, and how can I change it? The default port number for StreamPulse is 5052.  To change this, simply edit the file config.xml and change the settings.      3. It is not possible to connect to port 5052, do I need to configure anything? Please make sure to open the firewall port (Default: 5052) on the StreamPulse host.     4. The monitoring infrastructure that we use times out even before StreamPulse completes it's test, how do we go about this? Configure the monitoring solution to have a longer timeout period than the duration defined in the test request (http). Example: setup nagios to have a 40 second timeout when requesting StreamPulse to test for 30 seconds (For Nagios, check parameter service_check_timeout).   6. How many concurrent streams can be tested at the same time? The application can handle testing 20 concurrent streams at any given time.  Once the number of test windows/forms are in use, StreamPulse returns HTTP 503 "Server Temporarily Unvailable" until another form is available.  This should be considered when configuring Nagios or any monitoring infrastructure's check interval frequency.   This can be configured in the file [config.xml for AIR] or [StreamPulse.exe.config for Windows] (make sure you have enough RAM to test).     <!-- Number of Test Forms --> <config>   <numberOfPlayer>20</numberOfPlayer> </config>       7. How can I configure the plugin for nagios? Here is a barebones example on how to configure Nagios.  Please download the StreamPulse Nagios Plugin here.   ############### ### COMMAND ### ############### define command {     command_name check_streampulse     command_line $USER1$/check_streampulse -h $HOSTADDRESS$         -p $ARG1$ -testurl $ARG2$ -testtime $ARG3$ -fcsubscribe $ARG4$ } ############ ### HOST ### ############ define host{     use generic-host     host_name streampulse     address REPLACE_STREAMPULSE_IP     contacts nagiosadmin     max_check_attempts 5     check_command check_tcp!5052 } ################ ### SERVICES ### ################ define service{     name streampulse     use generic-service     host streampulse     normal_check_interval 10     register 0 }   define service{     name stream-1     service_description stream-1     use streampulse     check_command check_streampulse!5052!         rtmp://REPLACE_STREAMING_SERVER/vod/sample.flv!20!n }     8. Does StreamPulse work with PRTG?   Check out this forum link from Laurie Collins: http://www.paessler.com/knowledgebase/en/topic/8733-how-do-i-monitor-a-video-stream-rtmp-via-wowza     9. How come my streaming URL doesn't play?   StreamPulse internally uses the OSMF (open source media framework) library from Adobe.  There are some tricks on playing certain URLs:   For FLV streams (remove .flv extension on the filename): http://127.0.0.1:5052/check?url=rtmpe://domain.com:1935/folder1/folder2/test.flv&time=30   For MP4 streams (add mp4: as a prefix to the filename): http://127.0.0.1:5052/check?time=45&url=rtmp://127.0.0.1/vod/mp4:sample.mp4'