Real Player HELP
   
   

 

What is a firewall?

Many companies and organizations have connected their local area networks, wide area networks, and the Internet together in what is commonly referred to as a global area network. While extremely beneficial in terms of communication and access to information, this interconnectivity can expose a company's network and mission critical information to unauthorized entry and access. A firewall is used to prevent unauthorized accesses.

Firewalls are security devices used to protect companies from unauthorized access to their servers. Many companies use firewalls to control access to their networks and proprietary information. The firewall's role is to ensure that all communication between an organization's network and the Internet conform to the organization's security policies.

How do I use the RealAudio Player behind a firewall?

5.0 & G2 Player

Auto Configuration

RealPlayer 5.0 & G2 has two ways it can configure itself. During the installation process, RealPlayer looks for HTTP Proxy information setup for Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer and uses that information to setup the RealPlayer Proxy information.

If your configuration changes, you can run Auto-Configure by:

  1. In your RealPlayer RealPlayer 5.0 & G2, click Preferences from the View menu (Windows) or the Edit menu (Macintosh).
  2. In the Preferences window, click the Transport tab.
  3. Click the Automatically Select Most Efficient Transport option.
  4. Click the Auto-Configure button. The Automatic Transport Configuration window appears.
  5. Run the Auto-Configure by clicking the OK button.
 

Note: If the Auto-Configure program finds an HTTP Proxy setup for Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer, it uses that information to setup the HTTP Proxy information.

Receive UDP Through a Single Port

The UDP option may offer better sound quality than TCP, so TCP-only may not be desirable. The RealPlayer 5.0 & G2 also offers the ability to limit those inside a firewall to receive UDP on only one port, which makes router configuration easier.

To configure the RealPlayer 5.0 & G2 to receive UDP through a single port:

  1. In your RealPlayer 5.0 & G2, click Preferences from the View menu (Windows) or the Edit menu (Macintosh).
  2. In the Preferences window, click the Transport tab.
  3. Click Use Specific UDP Port and enter the UDP port where you want to receive the UDP streams.
  4. Click the OK button on the Preferences window to save your changes.

Receive TCP-Only

RealPlayer 5.0 & G2 automatically selects the most efficient transport for your network without any intervention. You should only change this setting if you are experiencing problems receiving RealAudio and RealVideo clips or you have been notified by your network administrator that you should change this setting.

To configure the RealPlayer G2 to use only TCP to stream audio (no UDP):

  1. In your RealPlayer 5.0 & G2, click Preferences from the View menu (Windows) or the Edit menu (Macintosh).
  2. In the Preferences window, click the Transport tab.
  3. In the Network Transport box, you can specify the network transports you want RealPlayer to use to receive RealAudio and RealVideo clips. If you click the Automatically select most efficient transport option, RealPlayer determines the transport method based on your connection. You should use this setting if you are not aware of any problems that require you to specify a transport method.

    Click the Use specified transports option if your computer has problems using some network transports. (Consult your network administrator for the appropriate setting.)

  1. If you click the Use specified transports option, then click the Change Settings button to access the Specify Transports window where you can specify the modes with which you can receive data. When you are finished with the Specify Transports window, click the OK button.
  2. Click the OK button on the Preferences window to save your changes.

Receive Content Through HTTP-Only

The HTTP-Only option allows almost all Players behind a firewall to access RealAudio and RealVideo content.

To configure the RealPlayer 5.0 & G2 to receive content through HTTP-Only:

  1. In your RealPlayer 5.0/G2, click Preferences from the View menu (Windows) or the Edit menu (Macintosh).
  2. In the Preferences window, click the Transport tab.
  3. Click the Use Specified Transport option.
  4. Click the Specify Transports button. The Specify Transports window appears:
  5. Click the Use HTTP Only option.
  6. Click the OK button on the Preferences window to save your changes.