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Webcasting Clipstream™ Live from behind a router or firewall
takes a bit of network configuration. Here's what you need to
know.
Clipstream™ Live is a virtual webserver
Clipstream™ Live is a virtual
webserver, meaning that it is a program that must allow
connections from other computers to the webcasting computer. When
the webcasting computer is in a LAN environment it is usually part
of a network of computers that connect to the Internet through a
device called a router.
A common router The router (also called a Gateway) helps route
Internet traffic to and from the outside, allowing or disallowing
connections. A router is used so that many computers can use one
access point to interact with the Internet and also for security
purposes such as to prevent hacking.
In order for Clipstream™ Live to work, the
network administrator (or whoever is familiar and authorized to
configure the router) must allow access from outside viewers to
see the Live stream being webcast from the PC behind the router.
When viewers successfully connect to a PC broadcasting from behind
a router, their request is being forwaded by the router to the PC.
What Clipstream™ Live needs
Clipstream™ Live needs two things to be done
by the network admin:
1. The router must have its own public IP address.
2. Clipstream™ Live on the PC behind the router must have
requests to it forwaded to it by the router.
3. A port must be authorized so that the Clipstream™ Live
stream is not blocked and so that abnormal traffic doesn't upset
network security.
Private / Public IP forwarding
A private IP is an IP address
that can only be reached by other computers in a local area network.
A public IP is an IP address that can be reached
by computers throughout the Internet. In order for computers outside
a LAN to reach computers inside a LAN their requests to connect
to the local computer must be forwarded by the router admin software.
Your router will have a public IP but your local computer likely
will not.
How do I know if I have
a Private or Public IP?
There are several ways to find this out.
- In Clipstream™ Live to to the Live Streams
menu and then choose View Web Page.
If you are able to view your Web Page successfully, your computer
is accessible from the Internet and you have a public IP address.
- Go to your Start button, select Run
and type in "cmd" to enter your DOS command line prompt. Then
type the following:
ipconfig
And press "Enter".
You will see something like this:
End numbers obscured for security reasons.
Your numbers will be different. You will see two lines that
say IP Address. The one at the top is the IP address of your
PC. If your number begins with a 192., 10., 172. these are
common private IP addresses. The lower IP Address is the IP
address of the router or gateway. It is a public address.
If you have any kind of virtual server software running correctly,
simply typing in that lower IP address should connect to that
software. This is what you are trying to achieve by following
the steps in this page.
Configuring your router
Each router is different so you will need to access your router
documentation. The steps we list here are general so you will
need to find the specific steps for your particular model.
- In your router documentation, look for steps to set up
a "Virtual Server" (also: port forwarding,
port mapping, service port or
service name).
- Access your router administration controls. A common way
of doing this is by opening up a browser and then typing in:
In most router manufacturers this will work. However, your
router documentation will tell you the correct address to
type in.
- Sign into the router admin with your username and password
(the default is usually a blank username and password: "admin").
- Once in your router admin web page, find the section that
pertains to virtual server, port
forwarding, port mapping, service
port or service name.
Individual manufacturer router setup:
Linksys: http://www.linksys.com/faqs/default.asp?fqid=38
SMC: http://www.smc.com,
search for "special applications"
Dlink: http://support.dlink.com/faq/view.asp?prod_id=1093&question=service+port
Portforwarding.com has support pages for nearly every other brand of router.
- In each of these you will be shown a list of fields that
start with the private IP address of a service or virtual
server to be entered (in this case: Clipstream™ Live).
ex.
Example from Linksys's setup screen.
Example from SMC's setup screen.
- If the setup allows a name for the service or program,
enter in "Clipstream™ Live".
- Make sure that TCP is chosen.
- Enter in a port number. A common one we use for Clipstream™
Live is 8080. If there are fields for both "private"
and "public" ports, make sure they match.
- Make sure Enabled is checked.
- Save or apply these settings and quit your router setup.
Configure Clipstream™ Live for broadcasting
through the router
Now that you have enabled access through your
router, you have to set up Clipstream™ Live to accept requests.
- Launch Clipstream™ Live.
It will detect an IP.
- Go to the Settings menu and choose Server
Settings.
- In the Server Settings window make sure that Specify
IP for Codebase is checked.
- Then enter in the public IP address of your router as
shown above when you type in ipconfig in your cmd prompt.
- Make sure that the number in the Port field
matches what you specified in your router configuration.
ex.
- Press OK
- Quit Clipstream™ Live and then restart.
Test it
Now test it in your browser.
- Make sure Clipstream™ Live is running and the webcast
started.
- Launch a browser.
- Type in the public IP address of your gateway followed by
a colon ":" and the Port number you specified.
ex. http://64.141.83.15:80
- Press Enter.
A web page with Clipstream™ Live embedded in it should
open and start playing.
Associated help pages:
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