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Version: 2.12

Stream Failover Playback

The Primary-Backup Stream concept involves using two streams—one as the primary (main) stream and another as the backup (failover) stream to ensure reliability and continuity in live streaming.

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Starting with version 2.13, the Ant Media Server supports the concept of primary and backup stream playback.

  • Primary Stream (Main Stream)

    • The main video/audio stream is sent to the server.
    • Viewers watch this stream under normal conditions.

  • Backup Stream (Failover Stream)

    • A secondary stream is sent simultaneously to the server, but it remains idle unless the primary stream fails.
    • The backup stream could be encoded at the same quality or slightly lower to reduce bandwidth usage.

  • Automatic Failover

    • If the primary stream disconnects (e.g., due to network failure or encoder crash), the AMS web player automatically switches to the backup stream.

How Failover Scenario Works?​

Step-1: Publish the Primary Stream​

Publish the main stream using WebRTC, RTMP, or any other protocol.

For example, publish one RTMP stream with streamId main using the FFMPEG.

ffmpeg -re -i test.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://IP-address/live/primary

Step-2: Publish the Backup Stream​

Publish the main stream using WebRTC, RTMP, or any other protocol.

For example, publish another RTMP stream with streamId backup using the FFMPEG.

ffmpeg -re -i test.mp4 -c copy -f flv rtmp://IP-address/live/backup

Step-3: Test Failover Scenario​

  • AMS Web Player supports the automatic failover, in which the player switches to the backup stream when the primary stream goes down.

  • Suppose you are playing the stream with WebRTC playback with the below URL.

    https://domain:5443/live/play/html?name=primary&playOrder=webrtc

    In this case, it only plays the primary stream and will not switch to the backup stream if primary fails.

  • Now in order to add a backup stream as a failover stream, add the &backupStreamId parameter to the playback URL and pass your backup stream ID.

    In this case, the streamId is backup.

    https://domain:5443/live/play.html?name=primary&backupStreamId=backup&playOrder=webrtc

Now you can stop publishing the primary stream and check that the player will switch to the backup stream within a few seconds.

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The great part is that it works in reverse mode as well. If the backup goes down after some time and primary is up, then the player will switch back to the primary stream.

To learn more about Web Player, check this document.