Today's letter in the Networking ABC's is the letter "R".  I could have went with redundancy, RADIUS, rate class, router, or round robin, but I opted for a term that has to do with optimizing media transmission across the network and that's really important for us here at DevCentral as we are all about media!  The word for today is RTSP or Real Time Streaming Protocol

"R" is for RTSP

RTSP

Pronounced: Ahr-Tee-Es-Pee

RTSP, not to be confused with RSTP or SCTP, stands for Real Time Streaming Protocol.  RTSP, developed by the IETF and defined in RFC 2326, is a protocol for use in streaming media systems which allows a client to remotely control a streaming media server, issuing VCR-like commands like "Play" and "Pause" as well as allowing time based access to files on a server.  Unlike the HTTP protocol, RTSP is a stateful protocol.  A session ID is used to keep track of sessions when needed reducing the need for a permanent TCP connection.  RTSP commands include DESCRIBE, SETUP, PLAY, PAUSE, RECORD, and TEARDOWN.  RTSP is supported in many popular streaming media servers including Apple's Quicktime Streaming Server, as well as Microsoft's Windows Media Services.