Web Playlists SDK for IIS 7.0: Quick Start Guide

Troubleshooting Common Issues in Web Playlists SDK for IIS 7.0

1. Installation fails or SDK components missing

• Check prerequisites: Ensure IIS 7.0 and required Windows components (Windows Media Services / Media Server components if applicable) are installed.
• Run installer as Administrator: Right-click installer → Run as administrator.
• Verify file integrity: Compare installer checksum or re-download from a trusted source.
• Check Event Viewer: Look under Windows Logs → Application/System for installer or MSI errors.

2. ⁄₄₀₃ errors accessing playlist endpoints

• Confirm virtual directory and handler mappings: Ensure the Web Playlists application is deployed under the correct site and that extensions (e.g., .asx, .wax, .wpl) are mapped to the appropriate handlers/modules.
• Check Request Filtering: In IIS Manager, verify file name extensions aren’t blocked.
• Permissions: Ensure the application pool identity and filesystem ACLs have Read access to playlist files and app folders.
• Authentication settings: Verify anonymous authentication is enabled if public access is required, or that the expected auth method is configured.

3. Playback fails or streams not delivered

• Firewall / ports: Confirm firewall allows required ports (HTTP/S and media streaming ports used by the SDK or Windows Media Services).
• MIME types: Ensure MIME types for playlist and media formats (.asx, .wpl, .mp3, .wma, etc.) are configured in IIS.
• Bandwidth/throttling settings: Check IIS connection limits and any SDK-specific throttles.
• Media server connectivity: If playlists reference a media server, confirm that server is reachable and serving streams.

4. Playlist generation or API errors

• Inspect logs: Check application logs for stack traces or SDK-specific logs (enable verbose logging if available).
• Validate input data: Ensure URLs, metadata, and parameters passed to SDK APIs are well-formed and use correct encodings.
• API version mismatch: Confirm the deployed SDK version matches documentation and any client libraries.
• Exception handling: Add try/catch around SDK calls and log error codes/messages.

5. Performance issues under load

• Profile resource usage: Monitor CPU, memory, and network on the web server and media server.
• Optimize caching: Enable output caching for static playlists where appropriate and use client-side caching headers.
• Scale out: Use web farm or load balancing for high request volumes; offload media streaming to a dedicated media server.
• Connection limits and timeouts: Tune IIS connection and application pool settings.

6. SSL/TLS and mixed-content problems

• Certificate validity: Confirm server SSL cert is valid and trusted by clients.
• Mixed content blocking: Ensure playlist resource URLs (media and manifest files) use HTTPS when delivered over HTTPS.
• Cipher suites / protocol support: Verify server supports modern TLS versions required by clients.

7. Debugging tips & tools

• Browser dev tools: Inspect network requests, status codes, and response bodies for playlist files.
• Fiddler/Wireshark: Capture HTTP and streaming traffic to analyze headers, redirects, and content.
• IIS Failed Request Tracing: Enable FREB to capture detailed request lifecycle for problematic endpoints.
• Event Viewer and IIS logs: Correlate timestamps between IIS logs, application logs, and system events.

Quick checklist (apply before opening support tickets)

• IIS site and handler mappings correct
• File system and app pool permissions set
• Required MIME types and ports open
• SDK version matches documentation
• Logs collected (IIS, application, Event Viewer)
• Repro steps and sample playlist/request prepared

If you want, I can produce a step-by-step FREB configuration and example trace interpretation for a specific error code (e.g., 404.7 or 500.19).