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Architecture

The Fast Video Cataloger Server runs as a Windows service (FVCWindowsService.exe) that hosts the catalog and serves data to clients. The service starts automatically with Windows, so the server is reachable even when no one is logged in to the host machine.

Components

Windows service -- Hosts the server process. Configuration is read from ServerConfig.xml. For debugging, the same server can be started as a console application via Host.exe, but the Windows service is the recommended way to run it in production.

Catalog service (VideoCatalogService.dll) -- The actual server logic. Manages the .vcat catalog file, handles concurrent access from multiple clients, and processes video uploads.

Built-in HTTP server (new in version 10) -- Serves video files, companion images, and actor photos directly over HTTP, plus a browser-based web interface and a REST API. Authentication uses session tokens, and access can be restricted per user account. With the built-in HTTP server, video files no longer have to share a common root folder — they are streamed by ID and can live anywhere on disk.

Server admin (ServerSetup.exe) -- A GUI for editing ServerConfig.xml and running common server-management tasks. It does not need to be running for the server to operate.

How clients communicate

Desktop clients (Fast Video Cataloger) connect to the server over a SOAP/WCF interface for catalog metadata operations. When the built-in HTTP server is enabled, those same clients also fetch video and image files over HTTP from the server, authenticated with a session token.

External applications and browser clients use the REST API. The full scripting API is exposed through REST, so anything the desktop client can do with a script can also be done over HTTP. See REST API for endpoints and authentication, and Authentication for the user-account and access-control model.

Default network configuration

The server listens on port 8754 by default. Both desktop and HTTP traffic share this port. The port is configurable in ServerConfig.xml — see Serverconfig.xml.

Alternative file-hosting paths

If you do not use the built-in HTTP server, video files can instead be served through:

  • A Windows file share on the local network, or
  • An external web server such as IIS, Apache, or nginx.

These options pre-date version 10 and remain supported. See How to setup the server for guidance on choosing between them.