Live Video, Web2.0, Rich Media, Custom Content
Video Streaming
Red5 Linux Server Optimizations and Tools
Mar 1st
Some java optimizations to add in red5.sh :
export JAVA_OPTS=”-Xrs -Xms128M -Xmx256M -Dsun.rmi.dgc.client.gcInterval=300000 -Dsun.rmi.dgc.server.gcInterval=360000 -Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true -XX:+ExplicitGCInvokesConcurrent -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -Xverify:none”
Assuming red5 was installed in /opt/red5/dist admin will often need to restart it or check if it’s running.
Make sure Red5 restarts: restart.sh
#!/bin/bash
#Restart the process
#First see if running
PID=`ps -eo ‘tty pid args’ | grep ‘red5′ | grep -v grep | grep -v restart | tr -s ‘ ‘ | cut -f2 -d ‘ ‘`
cd /opt/red5/dist
if [ -z "$PID" ]
then
#not running
echo “Red5 was not running at `date`” >> /opt/red5/dist/run-restart.log
else
echo “Red5: $PID”
#shutdown
/opt/red5/dist/red5-shutdown.sh
sleep 6
#make sure
kill $PID >> null
sleep 2
fi
#start
/opt/red5/dist/red5.sh >> /opt/red5/dist/red5.log &
echo “On request restarted Red5 at `date`” >> /opt/red5/dist/run-restart.log
Mare sure Red5 process is running, if not start it: running.sh
#!/bin/bash
#set environment
PID=`ps -eo ‘tty pid args’ | grep ‘red5′ | grep -v grep | grep -v running | tr -s ‘ ‘ | cut -f2 -d ‘ ‘`
if [ -z "$PID" ]
then
#Restart the process
cd /opt/red5/dist
/opt/red5/dist/red5.sh >> /opt/red5/dist/red5.log &
echo “Restarted Red5 at `date`” >> /opt/red5/dist/run-restart.log
else
#do nothing
echo “Red5 is already running with PID=$PID at `date`” >> /opt/red5/dist/run-checked.log
fi
Red5 Services
Red5 Hosting
Red5 installation on VPS & Dedicated Servers (Linux / Windows)
Red5 0.9 Final Released
Feb 1st
Get latest Red5 0.9 Final (27 January 2010) from http://code.google.com/p/red5/.
This final release includes important improvements and bug fixes.
http://code.google.com/p/red5/updates/list
Red5 Tutorials
Red5 Centos Linux Installation
Red5 Unbuntu Linux Installation
Run Red5 & Wowza Flash Media Servers on Same Linux Server
Red5 Services
Red5 Hosting
Red5 installation on VPS & Dedicated Servers (Linux / Windows)
Run Red5 & Wowza Flash Media Servers on Same Linux Server
Jan 13th
This post shows how to install Wowza on a server where there is another RTMP server, already installed, i.e. Red5. Run 2 rtmp servers at same time and allow applications to connect on both simultaneously.
Install ffmpeg mplayer flvtool2 yamdi x264 theora mp3lame vorbis ogg faac
Jan 5th
This is a tutorial to enable video sharing support on Centos servers.
This should install ffmpeg, mplayer, mencoder, flvtool2, yamdi, x264, theora, mp3lame, vorbis, ogg, faac, faad2, xvid . These tools will enable on your server:
- video conversion
- thumbnail generation
- FLV meta injection (flvtool2, yamdi)
- extra codecs (x264, theora, mp3lame, vorbis, ogg, faac, faad2, xvid)
This is functional and we update it each time we configure a new server.
Installation is done using the “root” account.
VideoWhisper Video Recorder
Oct 31st
The video recorder allows site users to record webcam videos easily from website pages. This can be use on various sites to implement online features like:
+ video sharing, on demand video content
+ video messaging, video email
+ video content on member profiles, video teasers, video questionnaires
+ video comments for online posts and items, video discussions, video forums
Videos are recorded as flv files on the rtmp server and can be played trough the rtmp protocol or by http players as on youtube (if published to a web accessible location).
- Live Webcam Preview
- Select webcam/microphone, configure recording resolution, framerate, sound rate
- Record Video
- Timer, Maximum recording time limit
- Accept / Discard recording
- Instant recording preview, Replay preview
For more details check the home page of VideoWhisper web based Video Recorder.
Live Streaming v2 by VideoWhisper
Sep 11th
VideoWhisper.com upgraded the Live Streaming application bringing several improvements and optimizations requested by users.
Some of the improvements:
- advanced webcam settings (change realtime resolution, framerate, audio rate)
- fullscreen button for video watching interface
- fullscreen on click for embedded plain video stream interface
- generate updated jpg snapshots for each live stream
- timers (displayed on each interface depending on settings) can be used to control access, integrate in pay per view systems
- multiple new options and parameters passed from script side
Also some RTMP application improvements should be mentioned like external player support and live video archiving as FLV for the Red5 application.
Upgrades are available for download on VideoWhisper.com and do not involve any costs for free or paid licenses.
First edition available with the upgrade is the PHP edition. The rest should follow shortly.
Use JW Player to play VideoWhisper application streams
Aug 28th
With the latest VideoWhisper rtmp applications versions, webmasters can enable external player support (both for FMIS and Red5). This can be enabled from RTMP Application Settings.
You need to have allowPlayers=true for FMIS or acceptPlayers=true for Red5 . These settings are turned on by default.
This will allow playing a stream published by a VideoWhisper flash application like Live Streaming with an external player like JW Player.
Demo:
Publish a stream from Live Streaming Demo (i.e. Studio1) and then view it on JW Player. Update channel name in link if you’re using a different one.
Here is the code to embed JW Player:
<?
include(“settings.php”);
$stream=$_GET['n'];
?>
<object id=”player” classid=”clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000″ name=”player” width=”328″ height=”260″>
<param name=”movie” value=”player.swf” />
<param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” />
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” />
<param name=”flashvars” value=”file=<?=urlencode($stream)?>.flv&streamer=<?=urlencode($rtmp_server)?>&autostart=true” />
<object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” data=”player.swf” width=”328″ height=”260″>
<param name=”movie” value=”player.swf” />
<param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” />
<param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” />
<param name=”flashvars” value=”file=<?=urlencode($stream)?>.flv&streamer=<?=urlencode($rtmp_server)?>&autostart=true” />
<p><a href=”http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer”>Get Flash</a> to see this player.</p>
</object>
</object>
Also this code could be used for playing a Studio1 stream broadcaster with VideoWhisper Live Streaming. Make sure you have swobject.js and player-viral.swf in that folder.
<script type='text/javascript' src='swfobject.js'></script>
<div id='mediaspace'>This text will be replaced</div>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var so = new SWFObject('player-viral.swf','mpl','320','320','9');
so.addParam('allowfullscreen','true');
so.addParam('allowscriptaccess','always');
so.addParam('wmode','opaque');
so.addVariable('file','Studio1.flv');
so.addVariable('volume','5');
so.addVariable('streamer','rtmp://your-rtmp-server/videowhisper');
so.addVariable('autostart','true');
so.addVariable('quality','false');
so.write('mediaspace');
</script>
JW Player Demo
Interesting Plugins:
- Adtonomy Text Ads Plugin lets you run your own text ads within the JW FLV Player
- Google Analytics plugin for the JW Player is designed to help you understand how well your video content is performing online
- LongTail’s AdSolution allows you to run pre-roll, overlay mid-roll, and post-roll advertisements in your media player
- LongTail Video’s Adtonomy Plugin lets you run your own FLV advertisements within the JW FLV Player
- Viral, a video distribution plugin, supports three main functions: embed, link, and recommendations
- The D-Related plugin allows you to load in list of the related clips in XML format
Online Video Consultation Solution by VideoWhisper
Aug 26th
VideoWhisper Video Consultation is a premium high definition video communication software designed for online video consultations, trainings, webinars, coaching and online collaboration.
It was designed for few to many 2 way moderated video communication. Moderators control what participant is displayed on main screen (speaker) and can also add an additional participant (inquirer) to ask questions or assist. Participants can change their public status (i.e. request to speak), upload and download room files, text and video chat.
Installing VideoWhisper Video Conference on your Windows Computer
Jul 9th
This was originally posted on http://www.videowhisper.com/forum.php?ftid=58&t=Basic-install by rustynails and explains how to installing VideoWhisper Video Conference and all required servers on your Windows computer.
Installed Red5 0.8 RC3 with JDK 1.6.13 on Linux
Apr 29th
Updated for Red5 0.9.1 Final .
Updated for JDK 1.6.20 .
Updated for ANT 1.8.1 .
Here is how we installed latest Red5 and JDK on a server with Linux CentOS . These hints can help you install on many linux VPS or Dedicated enviroments. We mainly do software development and work from windows, so we use WinSCP and PuTTy (free software). We browsed a lot of tutorials and web pages to get instructions that installed latest versions.
First, we made sure we have all prerequisites to install the rpm:
yum install rpm-build redhat-rpm-config
Allow required ports (not necessary if already opened): 3690 (svn), 5080, 1935, 1936, 8088. See more details at the end of this tutorial.
JAVA INSTALLATION
We installed latest JDK from http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp .
Use uname -a to see if you need to download a 64 bits version.
Went to root/tmp folder for downloads:
cd /root/tmp
We got Java SE Development Kit, JDK 6 Update 13. We selected linux multilanguage, right clicked > properties on the jdk-6u13-linux-i586-rpm.bin and downloaded it with wget url on the server. It downloaded with a big name with parameters (ls to see after download). We use WinSCP so we right clicked, refreshed from there and then renamed the new file that showed up in the root home directory.
You can also rename it from shell. Make sure you use mv “old_long_name” new_name for the long name as it uses special characters.
Make sure you install JDK and not JRE.
Made it executable and executed it:
chmod a+x jdk-6u13-linux-i586-rpm.bin
./jdk-6u13-linux-i586-rpm.bin
Press space or enter to scroll terms and when it asks you type yes and hit enter.
If needed confirm Java DB update, yes ENTER.
We installed it on multiple servers and had to change some shortcuts on ones that already had an older java, so it runs the new one. Usually if preinstalled it’s located in a java or jdk folder in /usr or /usr/local .
Make sure the shortcuts in /usr/local point to the new locations (/usr/local/jdk to /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_14 and /usr/local/jre to /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_14/jre) .
ln -s /usr/java/latest /usr/local/jdk
ln -s /usr/java/latest/jre /usr/local/jre
Also /usr/bin/java shortcut should point to /usr/java/latest (not /etc/alternatives/java):
rm /usr/bin/java
ln -s /usr/java/latest/bin/java /usr/bin/java
export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/latest/
Make sure this is the one used if you also have older versions installed:
java –version
ANT INSTALLATION
Downloaded ant (can be done from any mirror – see http://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi), unpacked it, moved it to a good location and added variable, shortcut.
Get ANT
wget http://www.apache.org/dist/ant/binaries/apache-ant-1.8.1-bin.tar.gz
tar zxvf apache-ant-1.8.1-bin.tar.gz
mv apache-ant-1.8.1 /usr/local/ant
If older ANT is preferred get latest from http://archive.apache.org/dist/ant/binaries/ .
i.e. ANT 1.7.1
wget http://www.apache.org/dist/ant/binaries/apache-ant-1.7.1-bin.tar.gz
tar zxvf apache-ant-1.7.1-bin.tar.gz
mv apache-ant-1.7.1 /usr/local/ant
Configure
export ANT_HOME=/usr/local/ant
ln -s /usr/local/ant/bin/ant /usr/local/bin/ant
Replace old ant
rm /usr/bin/ant
ln -s /usr/local/ant/bin/ant /usr/bin/ant
Checked ant version:
ant –version
If this can’t find java, make sure you run export JAVA_HOME=/usr/java/latest/.
Error: JAVA_HOME is not defined correctly.
We cannot execute /usr/local/jdk/bin/java
SUBVERSION INSTALLATION
yum install subversion
If that doesn’t work maybe this can help:
Fix: Install perl uri:
wget ftp://rpmfind.net/linux/dag/redhat/el2.1/en/i386/dag/RPMS/perl-URI-1.17-1.el2.rf.noarch.rpm
rpm –i perl-URI-1.17-1.el2.rf.noarch.rpm
Fix: This time got “Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: atrpms. Please verify its path and try again” .
Solution: yum –disablerepo=atrpms install subversion .
RED5 BUILD AND INSTALLATION
Then we downloaded Red5:
svn co http://red5.googlecode.com/svn/java/server/trunk red5
Update1: This downloads latest Red5. On this installation (update1) Red5 0.9 was downloaded.
If latest trunk has bugs or does not work fine with your required software you can download other versions from http://red5.googlecode.com/svn/java/server/tags/ .
Example:
svn co http://red5.googlecode.com/svn/java/server/tags/0_8_0/ red5
or
svn co http://red5.googlecode.com/svn/java/server/tags/0_9rc1/ red5
Built red5 :
cd red5
ant prepare
ant dist
On upgrade, copy webapps to new build.
cp -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/* /root/tmp/red5/dist/webapps/
Then rename old red5 (backup).
You could also remove sample applications if you don’t plan to use these:
rm -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/live
rm -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/vod
rm -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/installer
rm -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/root/demos
rm -rf /opt/red5/dist/webapps/root/WEB-INF
Moved Red5 from home folder:
cd ..
mv red5 /opt/red5
Started Red5:
cd /opt/red5/dist
./red5.sh > start.log &
The > start.log is to have it output the logs in the file and & is to keep it running in the background.
Verified that Red5 was running:
ps aux | grep red5
This should report a long line with java and many options and this command. Check start.log if it failed to start.
We added these lines to to /etc/rc.d/rc.local so it starts on each server start:
cd /opt/red5/dist
/opt/red5/dist/red5.sh > restart.log &
Make sure your run it from the right folder. The one in /opt/red5 will not work – you must run it from /opt/red5/dist/ .
When Red5 is running you should be able to access http://your-server-domain-or-ip:5080/ .
If it works first thing go to http://your-server:5080/installer/and install admin. Then to http://your-server:5080/admin/register.html and register an username and password. Then you can check application statistics anytime from http://your-server:5080/admin/ with server ip and the registered username, password.
RED 5 RESTART
Restart Red5 anytime you update files in the /opt/red5/dist/webapps folder – where all applications should be installed.
Usually these should work and should be used each time you add a new application.
1. Check if red5 is running:
ps aux | grep red5
2. Go to its folder and shut red5 down:
cd /opt/red5/dist
./red5-shutdown.sh
3. See if it’s still running or not:
ps aux | grep red5
4. Restart it, and also make it output the logs into a file of your choice:
./red5.sh > start.log &
5. Make sure it’s back online:
ps aux | grep red5
We also noticed that red-shutdown.sh sometimes does not close it down to allow restart when webapps are added or updated. This usually occurs when red5 freezes becasue it encounters errors like running out of memory. So we run ps aux | grep red5 to see process id (first number: PID) and then run kill process id if it’s still alive.
ALLOWING PORTS
On some systems root cannot bind ports above the early 1000’s so red5 must be run from another account.
Verify that Red5 is listening on port 5080 if you can’t get http://yourserver:5080/:
netstat -anp | grep 5080
If using iptables enable these ports:
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -—dport 3690 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp —-dport 5080 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -—dport 1935 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp —-dport 1936 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -—dport 8088 -j ACCEPT
Sometimes ports need to be configured in a hardware firewall. Contact server provider / administrator for more details about enabling ports.
This info provided by a host could also be helpful.
Please be advised that custom iptables rules should be placed in the directory listed below.
/etc/sysconfig/iptables-customThe software firewall rule is listed as follows:
# cat /etc/sysconfig/iptables-custom/99Red5 *filter-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 1935 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 1936 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 5080 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp –dport 8088 -j ACCEPTCOMMIT
RED5 & VIDEOWHISPER
This was done for the installation of VideoWhisper applications. To do that just download the latest videowhisper rtmp application, unzip it on your computer and copy the videowhisper folder and all its contents to/opt/red5/dist/webapps . As verification, check that you have a /opt/red5/dist/webapps/videowhisper/WEB-INF/ folder on your server. After copying/updating this, restart the Red5 server (as explained above) and you can install the videowhisper video conferencing / live streaming scrips to use the new rtmp application.
The Red5 VideoWhisper RTMP Application has some cool settings, like enabling access with external players / archiving of all video streams as flv files / limiting access to certain domains / setting absolute paths for live streams and recordings to be able to share videos with other applications (i.e. video sharing). Edit all these in WEB-INF/red5-web.properties and restart the Red5 server.
If we forgot to mention something here, or you have any questions about this submit your inquiries on Video Whisper Contact Page or comment below.
An alternative to doing the red5 installation yourself would be to order red5 installation .
If you don’t have the time and experience to run your own server or vps, you should use managed red5 hosting .
Video Conference
Video Broadcast
