Could someone suggest an open source (preferably on Linux) scalable network engine for my multimedia streaming server. This engine should do : security/NAT handling/load balancing/handling many(thousands) clients etc.
I guess Network games too require such components , right ? But could they fit into streaming use case ?
links towards scalable server designs would also be helpful.
experience of network games developers too would be helpful here.
What type of data are you looking to stream? If data is fixed and delivered on-demand (each client controls the delivery) the best approach is to use client initiated download instead of "streaming". Client can still play data as it arrives from the server, but you can run simple web server as your server.
This approach would also work if data dynamic but you can tolerate 2-10 seconds delay. The only time when you really need a server if you are looking for close-to-realtime type communication.