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Frequently Asked Questions

How can I install SSL on an AWS EC2 instance?​

  1. Configure an Elastic IP address.
  2. Add an A record to your Elastic IP address.
  3. Check the new A record exists using dnschecker
  4. Then follow the SSL Setup Tutorial

Where can I download the JavaScript SDK?​

The JavaScript SDK is available for Ant Media Server and can be accessed via http://SERVER_ADDR:5080/LiveApp/js/webrtc_adaptor.js.

Its file location is /usr/local/antmedia/webapps/LiveApp/js/webrtc_adaptor.js and the source code is available here

Can I use Docker to deploy Ant Media Server?​

Yes. Utilizing a Docker image is a very common way of deploying Ant Media Server. Check the Installation and the official Ant Media Server Docker images here

I cannot login to AMS dashboard after upgrading​

Starting from version 2.2, Ant Media stores passwords with MD5 encryption. For this reason, you need to change your passwords to MD5 encryption. You can encrypt your password using any MD5 encryption tool like: hmd5online.org

Here are the steps:

  1. Login to MongoDB
  2. Run the commands below:
use serverdb
db.getCollection('User').find() //Get User details```
db.User.updateOne({"_id": "5e978ef3c9e77c0001228040"}, {$set:{password: "md5Password"}}) //Use User ID in updateOne section and use password with MD5 protection

How can I reset the admin password?​

  • Stop the server using service antmedia stop.
  • Delete the server.db file under /usr/local/antmedia/
  • Start the server using service antmedia start

If you're using mongodb as the database, your password will be stored in the serverdb database under the User collection.

  • Connect to your mongodb server with mongo client.
  • Type use serverdb;
  • Type db.User.find() and it shows you the output like below. { "_id" : ObjectId("5ea486690f09e71c2462385a"), "className" : "io.antmedia.rest.model.User", "email" : "test@antmedia.io", "password" : "1234567", "userType" : "ADMIN" }
  • You can update the password with a command something like below. Change the parameters below according to the your case. db.User.updateOne( { email:"test@antmedia.io" }, { $set: { "password" : "test123" }})
  • Alternatively, you can delete the user with a command something like below. Change the parameters below according to the your case. db.user.deleteOne( { "email": "test@antmedia.io" } )
  • As of version 2.3.2, passwords should be hashed with MD5.

What is HLS?​

The HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) protocol was developed by Apple. The HLS streaming protocol works by chopping MPEG-TS video content into short chunks. On slow network speeds, HLS allows the player to use a lower quality video, thus reducing bandwidth usage. HLS videos can be made highly available by providing multiple servers for the same video, allowing the player to swap seamlessly if one of the servers fails.

How can I reduce the latency for RTMP to HLS streaming​

To reduce the HLS latency, you need to modify a few parameters to achieve a reduced latency of around 8-10 secs.

  • Update the HLS segment time to 2 seconds. You can decrease this value to have lower latency but players start to poll servers more frequently which is a waste of resources.
  • Update the key frame interval to 2 seconds (this value should be consistent with the HLS segment time). Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) sends key frames every 10 seconds by default.

After making these adjustments, the latency should be significantly reduced.

How can I enable SSL for Ant Media Server?​

Follow the SSL Setup Tutorial

How can I remove port forwarding?​

Check that which port forwarding exist in your system with the command below.

sudo iptables -t nat --line-numbers -L

The command above should give an output live as follows:

  Chain PREROUTING (policy ACCEPT)
  num  target     prot opt source               destination         
  1    REDIRECT   tcp  --  anywhere             anywhere             tcp dpt:https redir ports 5443
  2    REDIRECT   tcp  --  anywhere             anywhere             tcp dpt:http redir ports 5080

You can delete any rule in the output by referencing its line number. For instance, in order to delete the rule for port 5080 forwarding, run the below command. Notice the second parameter is the line number.

iptables -t nat -D PREROUTING 2

How can I fix "Make sure that your domain name was entered correctly and the DNS A/AAAA record(s)" error?​

  • First, make sure that A record is entered in your DNS settings and pointed to your server.
  • Check the ports (443 and 80) are not blocked or are not forwarded to any other ports.
  • If you forward 80 or 443 ports to 5080 and 5443, then remove these port forwarding settings as described above.

How can I fix "NotSupportedError" while publishing ?​

To solve this problem you must enable SSL. Follow the SSL Setup Tutorial

WebRTC stream stops after a few seconds.​

This issue is generally caused by closed UDP ports. Please make sure that UDP ports 5000 to 65535 are open.

How can I fix a 403 Forbidden error?​

Please see this document.

How does adaptive bitrate work (ABR)?​

Ant Media Server measures the client's bandwidth and chooses the best quality in the adaptive bitrates according to the bandwidth of the client.

For instance, if there are three bitrates, 2000Kbps, 1500Kbps, 1000Kbps and client's bandwidth is 1700Kbps, then the video with 1500Kbps will be sent to the client automatically.

How to configure auto-scaling and clustering with Ant Media Server?​

Please refer to the auto-scaling documentation here.

What is the difference between the LiveApp and the WebRTCAppEE?​

The only difference between the two applications is the name. For increased flexibility of Ant Media Server, each application has its own options and configurations.

The two applications shipped with Ant Media Server enable you to use two different applications using different settings that may represent two different use cases. Such as enabling H.264 in one app and enabling VP8 in the other.

How can I improve WebRTC bit rate?​

You can set the bandwidth property to any value you want to use in WebRTCAdaptor using the Javascript SDK. This is the maximum bitrate value that WebRTC can use. Its default value is set to 900kbps.

What latencies can I achieve with Ant Media Server Enterprise Edition?​

Latency (seconds)PublishPlayPlatform
0.15WebRTCWebRTCAWS Wavelength
0.5WebRTCWebRTCStandard
0.5-1RTSP / RTMPWebRTCStandard
8-12RTMP / WebRTCHLSStandard

How many different bit rates are possible with Ant Media Server Enterprise Edition?​

There is no soft limit. Generally, it's recommended to use 2 or 3 bitrates for most cases.

The recommended resolutions and corresponding bitrates are:

ResolutionBitrate (Kbps)
240p500
360p800
480p1000
720p1500
1080p2000

Does ultra-low latency streaming support adaptive bit rates?​

Yes. Ant Media Server provides ultra-low latency and adaptive bitrate support at the same time.

Does Ant Media Server have an Embedded SDK?​

Yes. Ant Media Server Enterprise has a native Embedded SDK for ARM, x86 and x64 platforms.

How can I configure the location for MP4 recordings?​

MP4 files are recorded to the streams folder under the web apps. A soft link can be created for that path using this command: ln -s {target_folder} {link_name}.

How to use Self-Signed Certificate on Ant Media Server?​

1.Install OpenSSL package.​

This example is for Ubuntu, but you can install self-signed certificate using yum under CentOS as well.

apt-get update && apt-get install openssl -y

2. Create a self-signed certificate.​

Use the below command to create a self-signed certificate.

ams.crt = your certificate file ams.key = your key file

openssl req -newkey rsa:4096 -x509 -sha256 -days 3650 -nodes -out ams.crt -keyout ams.key

3.Submit the requested​

Submit the information and press the Enter button.

Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:UK
State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:London
Locality Name (eg, city) []:London
Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:Ant Media
Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:Support
Common Name (e.g. server FQDN or YOUR name) []:domain.com
Email Address []: contact@antmedia.io

4. Enable SSL​

The certificate and private key will be created at the specified location. Run the enable_ssl.sh script as below.

/usr/local/antmedia/enable_ssl.sh -f ams.crt -p ams.key -c ams.crt -d ams_server_ip

Enable SSH locally​

If you want to use a domain name with your local network, you need to add the parameter below in /etc/hosts file.

ams_server_ip domain.com

When you add a domain name in your hosts file, you need run enable_ssl.sh script.

/usr/local/antmedia/enable_ssl.sh -f ams.crt -p ams.key -c ams.crt -d domain.com

How can I install a custom SSL by building a chain certificate?​

The most important reason to upload your intermediate certificate with your SSL certificate is that the browser attempts to verify whether your SSL certificate is real or not.

You are able to provide intermediate certificates from the certificate provider web page.

The order of the certificate should be as follows.

Root Certificate
Intermediate Certificate

To give an example for Comodo:

cat COMODORSAAddTrustCA.crt COMODORSADomainValidationSecureServerCA.crt AddTrustExternalCARoot.crt > chain.crt

Now, your full chain certificate is chain.crt

How can I change the default HTTP port (5080)?​

If you need to run Ant Media Server on a HTTP port that's not the default 5080, you need to update a setting in the server configuration file.

Change the value of the http.port setting in the file located at /AMS-FOLDER/conf/red5.properties. For example, to change the default port of 5080 to 8080, use the below setting.

http.port=8080 // the value has been updated from 5080 to 8080

After the server configuration file has been changed, it's necessary to change the RequestDispatherFilter parameter in the file located at /AMS-FOLDER/webapps/root/WEB-INF/web.xml as shown below:

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>RequestDispatherFilter</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>io.antmedia.console.servlet.ProxyServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>targetUri</param-name>
    <param-value>http://localhost:8080/{_path}</param-value>  // value has changed from 5080 to 8080
  </init-param>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>log</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>forwardip</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </init-param>
</servlet>

Where can I get WebRTC viewers information?​

Ant Media Server doesn't get any information for WebRTC viewers on the server side. However, you can set this data in plain text format for each client in your application. This information may be a unique id, IP address, location or similar.

This data is involved in the return of the webrtc-client-stats REST method and also in Grafana reports.

You should pass this information by setting the viewerInfo field of WebRTCAdaptor object in your WebRTC player.

For example, to assign IDs to viewers according to the time, you can add viewerInfo : "test_"+Date.now() in player.html.

Then make an API request to the REST method to see the result:

http://AMS_URL/APP_NAME/rest/v2/broadcasts/STREAM_ID/webrtc-client-stats/0/5

How to set Apache Reverse Proxy settings for Ant Media Server?​

Use the below configuration to setup an Apache virtual host as a reverse proxy.

<VirtualHost *:80>
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*)$
    RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%1$1 [R=Permanent,L,QSA]
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName yourdomain.com
    SSLEngine On
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/yourdomain.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.key
    SSLCertificateChainFile /etc/apache2/ssl/yourchain.crt
    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*)           ws://localhost:5080/$1 [P,L]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} !=websocket [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*)           http://localhost:5080/$1 [P,L]
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:5080/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:5080/
</VirtualHost>

How can I install the Ant Media Server on Ubuntu 18.04 with ARM64?​

First, build glibc 2.29.

sudo apt install build-essential bison wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/glibc/glibc-2.29.tar.gz tar -xf glibc-2.29.tar.gz cd glibc-2.29/ mkdir build cd build ../configure --prefix=/opt/glibc-2.29 make sudo make install

Run the server as an init.d service.

sudo systemctl stop antmedia sudo systemctl disable antmedia sudo rm /etc/systemd/system/antmedia.service sudo cp /usr/local/antmedia/antmedia /etc/init.d/ sudo update-rc.d antmedia defaults sudo update-rc.d antmedia enable

Add LD_PRELOAD to the init.d script.

sudo nano /etc/init.d/antmedia

ADD the following line before the line case "$1" in

export LD_PRELOAD="/opt/glibc-2.29/lib/libm.so.6"

Save and exit the editor. Run the following commands.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo service antmedia stop sudo service antmedia start

How can I use Web Player or Javascript SDK in Next.js?​

Next.js is a server-side rendering React framework. To integrate Ant Media Server JavaScript SDKs into a Next.js project, you must specify that your component should be client-side rendered.

1- Add the line use client at the very beginning of the component where you import the web player or WebRTCAdaptor.

2-When importing a component that uses WebRTCAdaptor or Web Player in a Next.js page or component, use dynamic import with SSR disabled.

import dynamic from "next/dynamic";
const VideoPlayerComponent = dynamic(
   () => import("../videoplayer/VideoPlayerComponent"),
   {
     ssr: false,
   }
 );

Now you shouldnt get any errors and SDK should work as expected.