What Are the Software Requirements?

You must have a few things in place before you get started.

Make sure you also have Flash MX installed before putting the Communication Server on the same workstation. If you use Flash MX on the Mac, you can develop Communication Server Applications. You will not, however, be able to test your application without a Windows-based server. Version 1.0 of the Flash Communication Server is available for Windows platforms only. The manual process to install the Communication Components on your Mac will be discussed later in this chapter. Here are the requirements to get started:

• Flash Communication Server (any edition)

• Macromedia Flash MX (trial or full version on Windows or Mac OS)

• Macromedia ColdFusion (any version; you'll use this in the Flash Remoting MX examples)

• Sorenson Squeeze (trial or purchased version)

• The most recent version of the Flash player

• Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, or Windows NT 4.0 Workstation SP6 or later

• Windows Web Services IIS (recommended, but not required)

• A web browser with Flash Player 6 installed (Microsoft Internet Explorer is recommended)

• Multimedia hardware: web camera (or live video source), microphone, and headphones or speakers for each "connected" computer

Having a web server installed is also a good idea, but is not required. If you do want to run the Communication Server with a web server, set up the server before you install the Communication Server.

If you are considering using the Flash Communication Server for a one-time event or application and don't want to worry about managing the server, bandwidth, or licensing, you can use a Shared Hosting company to supply you with Flash Communication Server access. Since Macromedia released the Flash Communication Server, many Internet Hosting companies have started to offer Flash Communication Server Hosting as part of their shared service. One company, NI Solutions Group , Inc. (http://www.nisgroup.com), offers Flash Communication Server hosting at very reasonable rates. They are also hosting all the example applications that are presented in this book (http://flashcom.PangaeaNewMedia.ca).