Inspecting applications



    View applications

    After connecting to a server or virtual host, the Administration Console displays a panel that lists the currently running application instances. From here, the state of an application can be monitored.

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    Use the View Applications panel to view, load, or unload application instances.

    Note: If you add an application while the Administration service is running and the new application doesn't appear in the Administration Console, move to another panel and then back to refresh the console.

    Manually load an application instance in the Administration Console

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Enter the name and address of the server or virtual host to which you want to connect.

    3. Enter the administrator user name and password.

    4. Click View Applications.

    5. Click New Instance.

    6. Select the application from the pop-up menu. (The application must already be configured on the server.)

    7. The Administration Console adds a default instance _definst_, which can be edited. Press Enter to submit the name and start the application instance. To cancel, press Shift+Escape.

    Reload an application instance in the Administration Console

    Reload an application instance to reload the server-side scripts for the instance or to disconnect all of its users while immediately allowing new connections.

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Select an application from the list.

    4. Click Reload (circular arrow icon to the right of the Performance tab).

    View information about an application

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Select the application from the list. The following information is listed for the application on the different tabs:

      • Log messages generated by the application instance on the server

      • A list of clients connected to the application instance

      • A list of active shared objects for the application instance

      • A list of active streams for the application instance

      • Information about the overall state of the selected application instance, such as total uptime or number of users

    Sort applications list

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. In the applications list, do one of the following:

      • Click the Name column header to sort the applications list by name.

      • Click the Clients column header to sort by client.

    End an application instance

    When an application instance is ended, all users are disconnected and all instance resources are released.

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Select an application from the list.

    4. Click Unload (stop icon to the right of the Performance tab)

    Viewing log messages for an application

    The Administration Console Live Log panel displays log messages and trace() statements from server-side scripts for the selected application instance. The information in this panel is updated whenever the application instance generates a log message. (If the console refresh feature is paused, log messages are still received.)

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    Live Log panel

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Click Live Log.

    4. Select an application from the list.

    5. Type text in the Find text box and click Find Next. Use the Find Previous and Clear Log buttons as necessary.

    Viewing active streams

    Use the Administration Console Streams panel to view information about streams and to play streams.

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    Streams panel

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Click Streams.

    4. Select an application from the list. The Streams panel displays the following information:

      • Name: For NetStream streams, the name is the NetStream ID (a server-generated number). For a live stream being published, the entry displays the live stream name. For a recorded steam, the entry displays the FLV or MP3 filename; for example, flv:stream2.flv or mp3:sound.mp3. If a client requests the stream2.flv, there will be two entries: one for flv:stream2.flv (stored) and one for the actual network stream going to the client.

      • Type: A string that describes the type of stream, either stored, live, or NetStream.

    5. Select a stream to view its properties. The values of the properties are as follows:

      • Name: The actual stream name, not streamID.

      • Status: States if the stream is publishing, playing live, or playing recorded.

      • Client: The client ID playing the stream.

      • Time: The time that the client started playing the stream.

      Note: If the stream type is available for debugging, the Administration Console displays its properties in the adjoining panel. If the type is not available for debugging, an error message is displayed.

    6. Click Play Stream to start playing the selected stream in a separate window that is the size of the selected stream. (The Play Stream button appears only if a debug connection is possible. Only named streams can be played.)

    Viewing active clients

    The Administration Console Clients panel lists detailed information about all clients connected to an application.

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    Clients panel

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Click Clients.

    4. Select an application from the list. The following information is displayed:

      • Client ID: The internal ID of the client; this represents a server-generated number that Flash Media Server uses to identify each client.

      • Protocol: The connection protocol that the client uses, such as RTMP.

      • Bytes In and Bytes Out: The average bytes per second being sent to and from the server. The Administration Console calculates this ratio by dividing the total number of bytes received in the most recent 15 seconds by 15. When the panel first appears, these figures appear as pending because there is only one data point to start with; figures appear after the panel is open for 15 seconds.

      • Connection Time: The date and time the client connected.

      • Messages In and Messages Out: The number of messages sent to or from the client. Messages In reflects update requests sent from clients to the server; Messages Out reflects notification of successful updates sent from the server to connected clients.

      • Drops: The number of messages dropped since the client connected. For live streams, audio, and video, messages may be dropped; for recorded streams, only video messages are dropped. Command messages are never dropped.

    Viewing active shared objects

    The Administration Console Shared Objects panel lists the active shared objects for an application and can be useful when debugging an application. The information is automatically refreshed every 5 seconds, or click Refresh to refresh at any time. The Administration Console displays the name, type (persistent or temporary), and connections (number of users subscribed) of each shared object.

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    Shared Objects panel

    Note: The Administration Console was built using ActionScript 2.0 and cannot understand AMF3 data. Therefore, the Administration Console cannot display data in remote shared objects in applications built in ActionScript 3.0 unless the application sets the NetConnection.objectEncoding property to AMF0.

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Click Shared Objects.

    4. Select an application from the list.

    5. To display information about a shared object, click the object. The number of users currently connected to and using the shared object is displayed, along with the data properties assigned to the shared object.

    View performance information

    The Administration Console Performance panel shows information about the overall state of the application instance. The information is automatically refreshed every 5 seconds, or click Refresh to refresh at any time.

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    Performance panel

    1. Follow the steps in Connect to the Administration Console.

    2. Click View Applications.

    3. Click Performance.

    4. Select an application from the list. The following information is displayed:

      • Clients: Information about clients connected to this application instance, including the total number of clients who connected to the application instance since it started, active clients, and the number of users whose attempts to connect to the application instance were rejected. (To determine why connections may have failed, look at the Live Log panel under View Applications.)

      • Lifespan: The length of time the application instance has been running and the date and time it began to run.

      • Messages Per Second: The average number of messages (video frames, audio packets, and command messages) sent per second.

      • Bytes Per Second: The average number of bytes sent per second for this application instance. The Administration Console calculates this ratio by determining the total number of bytes received in the most recent 15 seconds and dividing that value by 15. When the panel first appears, these figures appear as pending because there is only one data point to start with; figures appear after the panel is open for 15 seconds.

      • Active Connections: The number of users currently connected to the application instance.

      • Bandwidth: The amount of data that the application instance manages, including data sent, data received, and the combined amount of data traffic.

      • CPU and Memory Usage: The percentage of CPU and memory used by Flash Media Server.

    5. Select and deselect checkboxes to customize the information displayed on the graphs. For example, in the Bandwidth graph, select Total and deselect In and Out to show only the total amount of bandwidth used.