# Configuration Overview

Before you begin processing a file or stream, you must create a configuration that instructs Media Server how to process the media.

You cannot configure ingestion, analysis, encoding, data transformation, event stream processing, or output in the Media Server configuration file (`mediaserver.cfg`). Instead, pass a task configuration to Media Server in the `process` action, when you start processing. This allows you to process media from different sources and run different analysis tasks for different types of media.

To pass a configuration to Media Server in the `process` action, you can:

- Create a configuration and save the file in the directory specified by the `ConfigDirectory` parameter, in the `[Paths]` section of the Media Server configuration file. When you run the `process` action to start processing, use the `ConfigName` action parameter to specify the name of the configuration file to use.
- Create a configuration and save the file somewhere that is accessible to Media Server. When you run the `process` action to start processing, use the `ConfigPath` action parameter to specify the path of the configuration file to use.
- Base-64 encode the configuration and send it with the `process` action when you start processing. Use the `Config` action parameter to include the base-64 encoded data.

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