The server and client software can be downloaded from the download section. Installation guide for the client software can be found on the install section. Notice that MPEG-I stream requires 1.5 Mbit/sec bandwidth while MP3 audio stream requires 128 kbit/sec bandwidth. Make sure you have enough bandwidth for the streaming services!

Dear friends,

We are very happy to announce the availability and the free software distribution of the "Reliable Multimedia Streaming Services" (RMSS) System. This system was developed by Prof. John C.S. Lui and a group of dedicated students from the Computer Science & Engineering Department at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The purpose of the RMSS is to provide streaming and reliable services for viewing different multimedia contents. This implies that different variable bit rate multimedia objects with vastly different bandwidth requirements can be scheduled under the same box with an intelligent scheduling algorithm. Therefore, you can use our RMSS server to build a streaming server for lecture-on-demand, movie-on-demand, music-jukeboxes, digital library systems.....etc. For example, the following are the sample contents provided the the RMSS server in the CS&E Dept:

1)	entertainment video: Excerpt MPEG video from "23rd Top Ten Chinese Top Songs Award Presentaiton Concert", "From Ashes to Ashes" and "Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday a Celebration". Special thanks to RTHK to provide the two video programmes "The 23rd Top Ten Chinese Top Songs Award Presentation Concert" and "From Ashes to Ashes" for a joint pilot project on RMSS.
2)	entertainment audio: various audios such as instrumental music by Ilan Ashkenazi and Johnny Asia, jazz music by Vida Nova, pop melodies by Amanda Easton and Powerhouse, symphony pieces like Menuet Gothique and Peer Gynt Suite, and tech. music by the LYRIC and Swoon musical groups
3)	Technical Seminar: Sample seminars from the "Distinguished Lecturer Series" in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at CUHK. For example, Professor Simon Lam from University of Texas at Austin on ``Security Services for Internet Flows and Multicasts'', Professor Hui Zhang from Carnegie Mellon University on ``QoS Control and Resource Management in the Internet''.
4)	Lecture-on-demand: Sample live lectures from basic undergraduate courses like ``Introduction to Operating Systems'' to graduate courses like ``Computer System Performance Evaluation''.

The RMSS is a "basic building block" for serving, potentially, tens of thousands of concurrent viewers. Currently, the RMSS server is built on a Linux box (however, we have also successfully configured it on a Sun Solaris machine). The current version of the RMSS has the following features:

1)	Reliable file system with build in error correction to mask out disk failure.
2)	Auto-sensing of disk failure and the RMSS will switch from the normal operational mode into the failure mode. Even in the failure mode, streaming service will still be available to existing users and the switch is totally transparent from the user.
3)	Automatic rebuild of the file system during disk failure.
4)	Efficient I/O scheduler to maximize number of admitted clients.
5)	Full VCR functionalities.
6)	Object synchronization feature (e.g, one important application of this feature is to synchronize between the video lecture and the lecture notes).
7)	Efficient admission control and quality-of-service (QoS) guarantee.
8)	A set of system management tools and documentation.
9)	Platform independent. Client can be on a Solaris, Linux and Window.
10)	Yes, it is FREE! Both the server and the client code are freely distributed under the GPL.

So far, there are research collaborations between our team and people from University of Maryland, Purdue University and University of Massachusetts to further develop the RMSS services.

Currently, the RMSS is running on a Linux box. If a user wants to receive the RMSS service, the user needs to download the client software. For the time being, we have a Linux/Solaris-based client software. The Window-based client software is also available.

Last but not least, it is our intention (both students and the professor) to release our code as a free-software (e.g., under the GPL-license agreement). After so many years of benefiting from the free software community, we believe it is time for us to contribute something back (and hopefully, it is good). If you are doing non-profit, non-commercial project and wish to use our software, we are more than happy to assist. We also welcome any feedback from different end users. We promise to work on the bug as quickly as possible. Also, if you share our vision in the development of free-software and you have some exciting ideas about streaming multimedia services, please feel free to talk to any one of our group. We welcome new and "controversial" ideas.

To download the server and client's code, please refer to:

To view the current RMSS service in the CS&E dept at CUHK, please refer to:

Note: If you cannot access the above RMSS service due to firewall setting, you are MORE THAN WELCOME to contact us to see the demo in the Computer Science & Engineering Department. You may contact Prof. John C.S. Lui (cslui@cse.cuhk.edu.hk.edu) for the demo.