Online Manual: Overview of Multimedia Edition Click here to exit manual

General Controls Remote Server Setup Virtual Site Settings Reports Support Multimedia Overview

There are five groups of features that are found exclusively in the Multimedia Edition of FireSite. They are described quickly here to give you an idea of some of the things you can do with the Multimedia Edition.

Acceleration of all file types
While the Standard Edition can only accelerate HTML, GIF and JPEG files, FireSite Multimedia Edition can replicate and accelerate any kind of "binary" media file, including Shockwave files, QuickTime movies, MIDI songs, AU, AIFF, and WAV sounds, and almost all "embedded" plug-in media files. The Multimedia Edition also makes sure that your media objects are served correctly from the remote servers.

Features for Ad Banners and Live WebCams
FireSite Multimedia Edition includes special "Finder Label" controls that let you designate individual files with special designations: "FS NoRep" (never replicate this file -- useful preventing replication of large, seldom-hits files), "FS ShowHits" (always show and record the "hits" on this file -- useful for ad banners), and "FS Live" (this is file is "live" media -- do not replicate or cache it; designed for WebCams.) Simply define Finder labels with these names, and then you can label individual files directly in the Finder.

Anti-Hijacking System and "Welcome Mat"
FireSite Multimedia Edition includes an "Anti-Hijacking" system that prevents unauthorized people from loading your graphics or multimedia files onto their Web pages. You can allow 'friendly' sites to use your media files. When a hijacker tries to use load media files from your FireSite server, FireSite automatically substitutes a different picture. (You can choose your own picture!) FireSite also includes a "Welcome Mat" system that can override other people's bookmarks and search engines, and will make sure that all your visitors enter through the Home Page. This feature can be turned on and off at any time, so you may only want to use it when you're announcing something special on your Home Page.

Automatic Management of Multiple Replication Servers (RAIC) If you are running a Web server that experiences very high levels of traffic, you may want to balance the load of "hits" across several Web servers. FireSite Multimedia Edition lets you configure multiple replication servers, and FireSite will automatically replicate your f iles to each server in parallel, and will automatically distribute the load of "hits" based on the number of bytes served by each server, and the speed of each server's Internet link. No special DNS setup is required.

In addition, FireSite Multimedia Edition allows you set create multiple replication servers are different locations around the Internet and around the world. FireSite will will serve graphics and multimedia files to each visitor from the 'closest' replication server to them on the net.

Multimedia "Theme" Controls for Each Virtual Site
One of the fun, media-oriented features of FireSite Multimedia Edition is the ability to set or change the entire color scheme for a Web site from one single place. If you click on the "Color Controls" button in FireSite Multimedia Edition, you will see a page that allows you to set the page background color (or background image), the text color, the hyperlink colors, etc. for the whole site at once. Remember, FireSite's not modifying your disk files, it's just serving your pages with temporary modifications made in RAM. Play around with this one!