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Expanded Use of Plug-ins

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Expanded Use of Plug-ins

You must use plug-ins to control basic server functionality and to read and write digital media content. The only plug-ins included in Windows Media Services version 4.0 were authentication plug-ins and event notification and authorization plug-ins. The new Windows Media Services supports the following plug-in categories.

  • Authentication plug-ins identify clients.
  • Authorization plug-ins authorize client access to digital content.
  • Cache proxy plug-ins specify policies that are used by the server to cache and proxy content. The server supports but does not include a cache proxy plug-in.
  • Control protocol plug-ins interpret client requests to the server and server responses to the client.
  • Data sink plug-ins write content to specific locations such as a file, a network, a device, or some other resource.
  • Data source plug-ins retrieve binary data from a source such as a file, a network, or Windows Media Encoder.
  • Event notification plug-ins react to event notices raised by the server in response to server or client activity.
  • Logging plug-ins are specialized event notification plug-ins that write client and server information to a log file.
  • Media parser plug-ins interpret and packetize the digital data retrieved by a data source plug-in.
  • Playlist parser plug-ins create playlist objects in memory. These objects are used by the server to determine what content to send to a client.

Some of the preceding plug-in types can be custom made. For more information, see Programming Custom Plug-ins.

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