I need some help here.. I have a client with quite a few 60+MB of wmv files. It seems to be creating a huge server load when someone is connecting to those wmv files. Can someone give some direction here...

close web access to thier account until they remove the files

Eiv,

Usually, adding more memory will be helpful to transfer some of the loads. What is your system configuration? (if it's ok to know).

HTTP Streaming is the worst thing they ever invented. The protocol just isn't suited for streaming purposes. The just made it to 'avoid' firewalling.

Anyway, yes, indeed it consumes a lot of CPU cycles and ram.

Hmm, CPU cycles, maybe... but memory? I don't think so, it is not like the 60 MB files are loaded in memory every time request come in. HTTP streaming is just like anything else served by HTTP (like HTML pages).

Yes, it is evil to a server. Especially if Microsoft invented it! :eek:

I don't know what all these newbies are babbling about, but there's nothing evil about http streaming. Oh, it's a good way to run up a big bandwidth bill very fast, but as long as the streaming rate is on the same order as "normal" file downloads there should be no practical difference against large file downloads.

But it can be evil to your purse if you are on an evil provider's 95th %tile plan..

Originally posted by MotleyFool
But it can be evil to your purse if you are on an evil provider's 95th %tile plan..

Only if you're running a live broadcast during a small time window. The original poster writes of "60MB wmv files" so presumably his material is not live; consquently, it is reasonable to suppose that the bandwidth usage would be spread throughout the day as per normal traffic.