streaming video metrics

[Mark Haney]

We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP) that are 
looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites. 
One of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are 
there any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to 
doing it?

I'm not a streaming video newbie, but metrics are a new thing for me.

-- 
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!


Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
[phone]

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support

[Ed Greshko]

Mark Haney wrote:
>  Ed Greshko wrote:
> > Mark Haney wrote:
> >> Ed Greshko wrote:
>  
> >
> > OK....so this is OT.
> >
> > But, could you try rephrasing the question such that it is generic?  I
> > still
> > don't have the foggiest idea of what you are asking.
> >
> > Yes, it is late in the day here in Taiwan....but I am a fan of the KISS
> > principle.  What do you want to know?
> >
>  
>  I'm really looking for either a tool, package, other that will track
>  video views, bandwidth usage, etc for a customer who is starting get
>  into 'viral marketing' (I hate that term, but there you have it) and
>  want to track video views like page views.  Does that make more sense? 
Yes, that does make much more sense.  Sorry, I can be dense at times.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any tools for that usage.  I'll
mull it over a bit and if I run into something I'll let you know.

>  I was really hoping for general input to that since googling came up
>  with not a whole lot.

[Ed Greshko]

Mark Haney wrote:
>  Ed Greshko wrote:
> >> We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP) that are
> >> looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites. One
> >> of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are there
> >> any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to
> >> doing it?
> >>
> >> I'm not a streaming video newbie, but metrics are a new thing for me.
> >
> > I'm sorry....is there a Fedora related question?
> >
> > What are you trying to determine and how does that relate to a Fedora
> > question?
> >
>  
>  Well, it does and it doesn't relate, yes it's off-topic should have been
>  marked as such (my bad), but it does relate in that they will all be
>  using Fedora 8, since we're their ISP and their services group. 
OK....so this is OT.

But, could you try rephrasing the question such that it is generic?  I still
don't have the foggiest idea of what you are asking.

Yes, it is late in the day here in Taiwan....but I am a fan of the KISS
principle.  What do you want to know?

[Ed Greshko]

>  We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP) that
> are
>  looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites. One
>  of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are there
>  any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to doing it?
>  
>  I'm not a streaming video newbie, but metrics are a new thing for me. 
I'm sorry....is there a Fedora related question?

What are you trying to determine and how does that relate to a Fedora question?

[Les Mikesell]

Rick Stevens wrote:
>  
>  There's no simple way to track "views" of a stream other than parsing
>  the log files from the server and tracking them that way.  You must look
>  for (at least) start events, stop events, pause events, and resume
>  events with the same session ID.  You can compute the view time from
>  those.  It ain't easy.  We process literally millions of log events
>  every day.
>  
>  As far as bandwidth, you can use the log entries (doesn't generally
>  cover the overhead--only the active streams), RRD/Cacti, or if you use
>  Cisco gear, Netflow (you'll have to write programs to analyze that). 
Ntop/nprobe might be good for this: http://www.ntop.org/nProbe.html

--
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell(a)gmail.com

[Rick Stevens]

On Sat, 2007-12-01 at 07:11 +0800, Ed Greshko wrote:
>  Mark Haney wrote:
>  > Ed Greshko wrote:
>  >> Mark Haney wrote:
>  >>> Ed Greshko wrote:
>  > 
>  >>
>  >> OK....so this is OT.
>  >>
>  >> But, could you try rephrasing the question such that it is generic?  I
>  >> still
>  >> don't have the foggiest idea of what you are asking.
>  >>
>  >> Yes, it is late in the day here in Taiwan....but I am a fan of the KISS
>  >> principle.  What do you want to know?
>  >>
>  > 
>  > I'm really looking for either a tool, package, other that will track
>  > video views, bandwidth usage, etc for a customer who is starting get
>  > into 'viral marketing' (I hate that term, but there you have it) and
>  > want to track video views like page views.  Does that make more sense?
>  
>  Yes, that does make much more sense.  Sorry, I can be dense at times.
>  
>  Off the top of my head, I can't think of any tools for that usage.  I'll
>  mull it over a bit and if I run into something I'll let you know.
>  
>  > I was really hoping for general input to that since googling came up
>  > with not a whole lot. 
I founded one of the largest streaming companies around.  This is an
issue that's always been a problem.

There's no simple way to track "views" of a stream other than parsing
the log files from the server and tracking them that way.  You must look
for (at least) start events, stop events, pause events, and resume
events with the same session ID.  You can compute the view time from
those.  It ain't easy.  We process literally millions of log events
every day.

As far as bandwidth, you can use the log entries (doesn't generally
cover the overhead--only the active streams), RRD/Cacti, or if you use
Cisco gear, Netflow (you'll have to write programs to analyze that).

We use all of those and then some, but we're a commercial outfit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Principal Engineer             rstevens(a)internap.com -
- CDN Systems, Internap, Inc.                http://www.internap.com -
-                                                                    -
-                      LOOK OUT!!! BEHIND YOU!!!                     -
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[OT]Re: streaming video metrics

[Mark Haney]

Lamar Owen wrote:
>  On Friday 30 November 2007, Mark Haney wrote:
> > We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP) that are
> > looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites.
> > One of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are
> > there any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to
> > doing it?
>  
>  Hey, Mark, let's talk next week about this.  (disclosure; ERC is one of my 
>  ISP's).  I have seen a few things you may find interesting. 
You know, I probably should have thought to ping you about this. 
Somehow I'm not surprised you might have some ideas.


-- 
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!


Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
[phone]

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support

[OT]Re: streaming video metrics

[Lamar Owen]

On Friday 30 November 2007, Mark Haney wrote:
>  We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP) that
> are
>  looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites.
>  One of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are
>  there any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to
>  doing it? 
Hey, Mark, let's talk next week about this.  (disclosure; ERC is one of my 
ISP's).  I have seen a few things you may find interesting.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Chief Information Officer
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
[phone]
www.pari.edu

[Mark Haney]

Ed Greshko wrote:
>  Mark Haney wrote:
> > Ed Greshko wrote: 
>  
>  OK....so this is OT.
>  
>  But, could you try rephrasing the question such that it is generic?  I still
>  don't have the foggiest idea of what you are asking.
>  
>  Yes, it is late in the day here in Taiwan....but I am a fan of the KISS
>  principle.  What do you want to know?
>   
I'm really looking for either a tool, package, other that will track 
video views, bandwidth usage, etc for a customer who is starting get 
into 'viral marketing' (I hate that term, but there you have it) and 
want to track video views like page views.  Does that make more sense?

I was really hoping for general input to that since googling came up 
with not a whole lot.



-- 
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!


Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
[phone]

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support

[Mark Haney]

Ed Greshko wrote:
> > We have a couple of our customers (we're a non-profit ISP)
> that are
> > looking to start offering streaming/flash video from their websites. One
> > of their questions has been about metrics of those videos.  Are there
> > any tools that track that specifically, or possibly any tricks to doing it?
> >
> > I'm not a streaming video newbie, but metrics are a new thing for me.
>  
>  I'm sorry....is there a Fedora related question?
>  
>  What are you trying to determine and how does that relate to a Fedora question?
>   
Well, it does and it doesn't relate, yes it's off-topic should have been 
marked as such (my bad), but it does relate in that they will all be 
using Fedora 8, since we're their ISP and their services group.



-- 
Recedite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!


Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
[phone]

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support