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1-12 Sun MediaCenter Server Administrator’s Guide • December 1997
delivery support output only. The MSM Client API has calls that allow you to
specify an ultimate destination, but do not, for example, allow you to set any
parameters on that destination, which would imply the ability of the receiver to
confirm a setting.
1.8 Design Benefits
The Sun MediaCenter server is more than simply a standard server with large
amounts of memory and disk space. It is the Sun MediaCenter software—the MFS in
combination with network drivers optimized for video output—that distinguishes
the Sun MediaCenter server from its standard counterpart. This software provides
the following advantages over a standard server:
■ A Sun MediaCenter server can guarantee a certain specified level of stream
delivery, with defined limits to jitter and drift. This means that, unless server
hardware fails, a Sun MediaCenter server will continue to deliver video bit
streams, up to its maximum output bandwidth, at the rate specified in those
streams.
■ Because the Sun MediaCenter server is dedicated to and optimized for video-bit-
stream delivery, the server can support more bit streams for the same amount of
hardware resources (memory, disk space, and network interfaces), as compared to
a standard server. This means that a Sun MediaCenter server has a lower cost per
stream than a comparably equipped standard server that is used as a video
server.
■ Because the MFS is tailored to high I/O bandwidth applications, the Sun
MediaCenter server can guarantee average-case disk I/O. Servers that rely on
standard file systems can guarantee only worst-case disk I/O. The MFS ensures
that whether users request different bit streams, up to maximum bandwidth, or
use up the maximum bandwidth with requests for the same bit stream, the
server’s guarantee of timely delivery is not affected. With a file system not
optimized for video, certain user requests, such as multiple requests for the same
bit stream, are disruptive of server performance.