[Enhancement] RTMP Server for vShare

I have decided to fork a new thread from the original topic (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4241) so that people who wish to take advantage of this enhancement can do so easily without having to read through two different threads. With that being said...

This enhancement will allow for you to be able to stream your videos to your visitors using the RTMP protocol (true video streaming). RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) is a proprietary protocol developed by Adobe Systems for streaming audio and video over the Internet between the server and the flash player. Streaming offers several key benefits over the current download method provided with a standard installation of vShare. These benefits include:

• 1. Save on bandwidth - Because streaming does not actually download the video (rather it streamed from the server), you only use up the amount of bandwidth that is actually watched. This simply means that if you have a 50MB video and your visitor watches have of it, you have only consumed 25MB of bandwidth versus the entire 50MB that you would have consumed normally.
  
  2. Near-instant Starting - Videos start their playback nearly instantly and is more dynamic to the visitor's bandwidth.
  
  3. True multi quality support - While watching HD video will always be bandwidth intensive, streaming servers allow for bandwidth detection and can down sample higher quality videos to match the users' bandwidth. This happens even before the file is downloaded.
  
  4. True fast forward and rewind - With a streaming server, you can fast forward or rewind your videos while they are playing... without having to download the video first, regardless of the videos' size. This means that a person can start watching a long video and can skip through it without having to wait for their browser to download the part that they want to see.
  
  5. Live Video - With a streaming server, you can actually broadcast live video and audio, if you care to do that sort of thing.

This setup and configuration is NOT for everyone. Only serious vSharer's who have medium to high traffic sites need to attempt this. Due to the complexities involved with setting this up (different server OS's, different configurations, etc), there is no "follow this and do this" approach. Rather, I will be providing you with the overview of what you would need to be able to do this. Also, there are two files that you will need (custom written by myself). I will provide these files to you for free, but you will need to request the files here in this thread. I will send them to you via PM.

Basic Server Requirements

Rather than giving you specific numbers, I will tell you what you will need to accomplish this. You will need your own dedicated server (this cannot be done on shared hosting). For light traffic users (less than 50 concurrent visitors at any given moment), you can use a VPS/VDS. However, your VPS/VDS must still meet the following requirements (as do dedicated servers). Your server must contain at least two logical processors (a single dual-core processor or two single-core processors) at the minimum. You will need at least 1GB of RAM. For high traffic sites (100+ concurrent users at any given moment), it is HIGHLY recommended that you setup your streaming server on a separate server from your site. This would mean that you would have your site on one server and the video files (along with streaming server) on another box. The scripts that I have written support the standard multiserver features of vShare so all you would have to do is setup streaming on those servers and do some configuration changes.

Software

• 1. Red5 - For the RTMP server, you will need to setup and install Red5 (http://osflash.org/red5). Red5 is an open-source Java based RTMP server. Follow the instructions on their website (or use Google) on how to install Red5. Once you have Red5 installed, you will need to install the oflademo application from the Red5 application installation screen. After installing this, you will have a new application in the Red5 webapps folder (oflaDemo). From your shell prompt, navigate into this folder and rename the streams directory to something else. Then, create a new symbolic link (ln -s) called streams and link it to the directory that contains your flash video files. By using a symbolic link, this allows for you to have your streaming server stream the videos from the directory that vShare uploads your videos to by default versus having to change where vShare stores the files. After you do this, I recommend that you test your installation to make sure that it is working. I will send you a test page that you can use to test upon request.
  
  2. JW Player 4+ - You will need to upgrade to the latest version of the JW player. Please note that this also works with Agriya Player. If you are wanting to do this with Agriya, please post and I will send you configuration files for Agriya.
  
  3. (For JW Player Users) Updated Player.inc and new Player Config file - After you get everything installed, updated your player, and tested everything to make sure that things work, post in the forum and I will PM you an updated Player.inc file and a player_config.php file. These files are multiserver compatible and will allow for vShare to use your new RTMP installation. The files use a token key setup that will prevent people from being able to look at your config php file and trying to directly link to your RTMP stream. Please do note, however, that this token approach does not prevent people from using RTMP stream capturing software to download the stream to their local computer. It helps against hotlinking, but does not prevent people from being able to actually download the file to their local computers. This feature is coming soon.
  
  4. New .htaccess file for your flvideo directory - You will also receive a new .htaccess file for your flvideo directory. This file will prevent people from linking to or downloading files from your flvideo directory (by denying all connections through Apache). This .htaccess file does not prevent your streaming server from working.
  

That's it. Please post in the thread when you are ready to receive the files and I will PM them to you. If you have any questions, just post them and I will try to answer them (please do not ask for a step-by-step because, as I have stated before, it will take WAY too much time for me to create a document on how to install Red5 on every possible server OS, especially since Red5 has already done it on their site. Just follow their instructions or use Google). Lastly, if you have no technical skill whatsoever and would like for me to install this for you, PM me and we can discuss this possibility.

As stated before, this is not a setup for everyone. Only those who have the server and traffic for this need to attempt this. For the rest of you who either do not have the traffic base or do not have the right type of server but would still like to be able to save a little bit on bandwidth and get the fast forward and rewind functions, I would recommend that you setup pseudo-streaming using lighttpd.

Nice work. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bplex

I would recommend that you setup pseudo-streaming using lighttpd.

---

This mean that we have to remove lighttpd :?: if we like to use RTMP steaming.

No, you do not need to remove lighttpd to use RTMP.

Hi bplex, can you tell me how to In -s streams to /home/xxx/html/flvideo ?

Hey bplex, thanks for this.

Could you give us a step-by-step tutorial for installing Red5? (ha-ha just kidding - figure someone's going to ask at some point, like those who ask for de-zended vshare files) :twisted:

I understand the concept of streaming the videos from vshare as opposed to just serving them for download. But at the risk of sounding stupid, does this setup let one use vshare to do live streaming video in any way, or would one need some other software interface to accomplish this?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bkfrog

Hi bplex, can you tell me how to In -s streams to /home/xxx/html/flvideo ?

---

Are you needing a command syntax or something? Because you just described what you want to do.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mersh

Could you give us a step-by-step tutorial for installing Red5? (ha-ha just kidding - figure someone's going to ask at some point, like those who ask for de-zended vshare files)

---

Yeah, someone is bound to ask it for real in which the response would be... go back and read my post, lol.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mersh

I understand the concept of streaming the videos from vshare as opposed to just serving them for download. But at the risk of sounding stupid, does this setup let one use vshare to do live streaming video in any way, or would one need some other software interface to accomplish this?

---

Yes and no. Yes, Red5 will allow for you to do live video streaming. No, you cannot do it out of the box. Typically, you need two components. Red5 will provide you the web component, which is the ability to serve the stream over the web. You would still, however, need a program to actually broadcast the video to your server.

yes bplex, I need the ssh command. Can you pm me the player.inc and config.xml /config.php? I'm using JW player 4.29. Thanks

But... you just typed the ssh command (ln -s)?!?

As for the files, PM me and I'll send them to you.

Hello,
Please send me the free scripts for RTMP support with VSahre. I have a dedicated server with FMS 3.5 licensed version installed.
Regards,
Kamalakannan
[email protected]

The script only works for Red5. It doesn't work with FMS.

Hi

We are trying to set up multiple video streaming server to reduce the bandwidth used
and to serve fast we also plan to set up some load balancing do this and kindly send me the scripts in email as well as any help in setting up the load balancing will be really helpful

Thanks
Arun Nehru

Hi

We are trying to set up multiple video streaming server to reduce the bandwidth used
and to serve fast we also plan to set up some load balancing do this and kindly send me the scripts in email as well as any help in setting up the load balancing will be really helpful

Thanks
Arun Nehru

Sorry, but this is no longer offered due to lack of interest (and hefty requirements)