In this section: |
This page provides the necessary instructions for installing and configuring a Wowza media server for use with the EchoSystem.
You can install Wowza on the same server as the ESS or on a separate server. Both configurations are referred to as "external" because you will select "External Flash Server" in the Streaming Settings section of the System Settings page on the ESS. "Internal" configurations are only available for existing customers who are upgrading; the instructions on this page do not apply to internal configurations.
For performance and scalability, we highly recommend using a dedicated server solely for the purpose of streaming Flash content that the EchoSystem produces.
If you already have an existing External Wowza configuration but are upgrading to Wowza 4, you will need to make the following change to the server.xml file for Wowza 4 to work properly with EchoSystem 5.5:
See the Configuring Wowza section below for additional configuration instructions. |
Please note that all licensing for your Wowza server is provided through Wowza. Echo360 no longer provides licensing for the Wowza server. Please see the following communications: |
EchoSystem 5.5 requires the use of Wowza v3.5, v3.6 or v4. Be sure the server you will be using meets Wowza's specifications. Refer to the Wowza FAQs page for details and installation recommendations.
For Linux users: After installation, be sure to configure Wowza to run as a named user. This user should be same user (or in the same group) as the ESS user (the user that ESS is configured to run as). For more information, refer to the Wowza forums for Linux at the following URLs:
For Windows users: The Wowza service should be run as the same domain user as the ESS server. |
The next section provides instructions on configuring the content storage location that Wowza will use. The flash content does NOT need to be in the same location as the program files.
The ESS System Settings allow you to identify the specific location where the ESS is to deposit the Flash content it generates. This location can be either a local volume or a UNC-addressable path. The location is represented as the "Flash Folder" field in the Streaming Settings section of the System Settings configuration.
In order for the Wowza server to find and stream the Flash content delivered by the ESS, that content must be stored on a volume that the Wowza application has read and write access to. This can be a local drive (that the ESS writes to via a network share), a mounted SMB/CIFS file share, or mounted NAS/SAN storage.
Consult your operating system’s documentation for configuring file shares, or contact Echo360 Technical Support for guidance.
For on-demand Echoes and Apreso content, Echo360 has created an archive that contains the proper directory structure needed inside the Wowza application directory, along with the required files for configuration. For reference, the directory structure required is shown in the Configuring Wowza section below.
These steps are only necessary if you are configuring an external Wowza server for the first time.
For live content and the chat and presence features, Echo360 has created a script that automatically installs the proper directory structure needed inside the Wowza application directory, and adds the required files for configuration as well as additional required Java libraries.
The following steps are required if you are configuring an external Wowza server for the first time, OR if you have an existing external Wowza server that you want to configure for live streaming.
If you are using Live, be advised that features such as live chat require the Collaboration and Statistics service (also called HEMS). For other live requirements see Specifications for Live Webcasting. |
Wowza Media Server relies on virtual servers, called applications, to serve the correct content based on the document root given in URL requests. These applications are configured by creating directory structures and XML documents at specific locations within the Wowza instance’s installation folder.
Both live and on-demand streaming, along with their supporting components, are configured as separate Wowza applications with distinct parameters. There are four applications in total:
Installing the On-Demand and Live Streaming bundles, covered in the above sections, creates the necessary application folders and provides the Application.xml files and Java libraries needed for Wowza to deliver ESS streaming content.
Once those steps are completed, use the below information to verify the proper folder structure and customize the Application.xml files for your system.
Within the installation root, the directory structure should appear as follows, noting that if you did not install the Live bundle, you will not see the /echolive/ or /echotextchat/ folders:
WowzaMediaServer --- applications --- apreso --- echo --- keys --- _definst_ --- sharedobjects --- _definst_ --- echolive --- sharedobjects --- _definst_ --- echotextchat --- conf --- apreso --- echo --- echolive --- echotextchat |
StorageDir
in the first Streams stanza near the top of the file:
<StorageDir>C:\Echo360\FlashStreaming</StorageDir>
StorageDir
tags with the location that corresponds (or will correspond) to the Flash Folder defined on your ESS System Settings page. As defined above this is the location where the ESS will deposit the Flash content it generates, and can be either a local volume or a UNC-addressable path.The /echotextchat/ Application.xml file is different. Near the bottom of the file, this document contains a set of property values encoded as follows:
<Properties> <Property> <Name>objectstoragedirectory</Name> <Value> ${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/echotextchat/rso </Value> </Property> <Property> <Name>chatlogstoragedirectory</Name> <Value> ${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/echotextchat/chatlogs </Value> </Property> <Property> <Name>echosystemdirectory</Name> <Value> ${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/ </Value> </Property> </Properties> |
StorageDir
in the other three Application.xml files BUT leave the appended paths (where this string precedes the path values) in place.Changing this last property value identifies the echosystemdirectory
as the storage or Flash Folder directory. This tells Wowza to write its chat and presence logs to a location accessible to the ESS, in a subfolder called "content" beneath the Flash storage root.
Finally, if you are using Wowza v4, make the following change to the server.xml file located in the /conf/ folder of the Wowza installation root:
Before proceeding, ensure that you have followed the steps above and modified the Application.xml file for each of the four applications (echo, echolive, echotextchat and apreso).
As of EchoSystem 5.2, iOS streaming is supported for live presentations. However for this to work as expected, you must edit the Server.xml file located in the /conf/ folder of the Wowza installation root as follows.
Open the Server.xml file for editing, and do the following:
Insert the following entry in the <ServerListeners>
section of the Server.xml file:
<ServerListener> <BaseClass>com.echo360.streaming.live.MediaCaster</BaseClass> </ServerListener> |
Insert the following entries at the bottom of the Server.xml file, placing them after the final <Properties> tag and before the final </Properties> tag (creating properties within the last Properties tag):
<Property> <!-- the directory that contains the streams.txt file --> <Name>StreamMonitorDir</Name> <Value> ${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/monitor</Value> </Property> <Property> <!-- the wowza application that the streams will be activated on. Default is echolive --> <Name>EchoLiveApplication</Name> <Value>echolive</Value> </Property> <Property> <!-- time the thread waits between checks of the streams.txt file. Default is 5 seconds --> <Name>WaitInterval</Name> <Value>5000</Value> </Property> |
StorageDir
in the Application.xml files.For your reference, a file named example-Server.xml is included with the Live Bundle files, that shows this change made to the file. This file contains a basic Wowza server configuration along with all of the necessary changes for iOS live streaming. It is not automatically installed as a part of the bundle (otherwise, it would have overwritten your existing Server.xml file).
Once all the configuration files have been edited and saved according to these instructions, restart your Wowza service.
There are five especially important fields in the Streaming Settings section of your ESS System Settings that you will need to validate before the ESS can provision your configured Wowza server to stream content. The information shown below is also contained in the Streaming Settings section of the System Settings configuration page.
rtmp://fqdn.of.wowza.server/echo/_definst_
rtmp://fqdn.of.wowza.server/echolive/_definst_
The ESS is now configured to direct your viewers’ browsers to call the external Wowza streaming server when playing live and on-demand Echo content.