Load balance Wowza Streaming Engine servers on Google Cloud Platform

This article explains how to balance client connections across Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software edge server virtual machine instances on Google Compute Engine.

A load-balancing configuration uses an origin server virtual machine instance and multiple edge server virtual machine instances in a repeater configuration. One edge server runs the Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn to distribute client connections among the edge server instances.

The configuration described in this article is helpful for streaming video content when you need to scale a live broadcast to reach a large, geographically dispersed audience while maintaining the quality and reliability of the stream. It's particularly useful in situations where a single origin server can't handle the entire audience's load or where you want to optimize the delivery of a live stream across different regions.

Get started

Compute Engine is a Google Cloud Platform (GCP) web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud and virtualizes computing resources as virtual machines. Wowza Media Systems offers pre-configured and tuned Wowza Streaming Engine images that are ready to use with Google Compute Engine.

With Google Cloud Marketplace and an embedded Wowza Streaming Engine license

The pre-built solution in the Google Cloud Marketplace runs on GCP and leverages the core Compute Engine GCP web service. With this approach, the Wowza Streaming Engine license is embedded in the software through the marketplace. Google manages all billing for your running instance time and bandwidth consumption.

Before you can create a Wowza Streaming Engine load-balancing system with a Google Cloud Marketplace image, you must create a new Google Cloud project. Then, you can add a Wowza Streaming Engine image to the project and set up your firewall rules. For more, see Set up Wowza Streaming Engine for Linux on Google Cloud Marketplace.

After creating your Google Cloud project, continue with the tasks on this page. The instructions assume all Google Compute Engine server instances are part of the project you created.

Add and configure the origin server instance

After adding your Google Cloud Platform project, you can create and configure the origin server instance deployed from the Google Cloud Marketplace image.

1. Use the Google Cloud Marketplace to create and deploy an origin server instance in your Google Cloud Platform console project. After you deploy the origin server instance, your origin server should be up and running. 
2. Sign in to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager using the origin server instance and the following URL. The default username is wowza, and the Instance Id for your virtual machine serves as the password. For information about credentials, see Log in to your instance.

http://[gcp-origin-instance-external-ip-address]:8088/enginemanager

3. ​Create a live stream repeater application by adding a liveorigin application on the origin server. For steps, see Configure the origin server.

Add and configure the edge server instance

Next, create and configure an edge server to receive client requests from the load balancer edge server, which we will set up later in the Add and configure the load balancer edge server instance section.

Note: You may need to create multiple edge servers depending on your anticipated load. You can repeat this process to create as many edge servers as necessary.

1. Use the Google Cloud Marketplace to create and deploy an edge server instance in your Google Cloud Platform console project. After you deploy the origin server instance, your edge server should be up and running.
2. Sign in to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager using the edge server instance and the following URL. The default username is wowza, and the Instance Id for your virtual machine serves as the password. For information about credentials, see Log in to your instance.

http://[gcp-edge-instance-external-ip-address]:8088/enginemanager

3. Create a live stream repeater application by adding a liveedge application on the edge server. For steps, see Configure the edge server.

Note: For the Primary Origin URL, enter the URL of the Wowza Streaming Engine origin server. The URL must use one of the following protocol prefixes: wowz://, wowzs://, rtmp://, or rtmps://. In our example, you would use:

wowz://[gcp-origin-instance-external-ip-address]:1935/liveorigin

Install the Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn on the edge server instance

Every edge server instance must run the Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn. To download and install this add-on, follow the instructions in this section.

1. In the Google Cloud Platform console, click the navigation menu icon.
2. Scroll to Compute Engine, and click VM instances.
3. Select your edge server from the list of VM instances.
4. At the top of the selected instance page, click SSH.
    
5. In the SSH Terminal window, copy the load balancer package to the edge server:

sudo wget http://www.wowza.com/downloads/forums/loadbalancer/LoadBalancer_4.0.zip -P /usr/local/

6. Change directory to /usr/local:

cd /usr/local/

7. Unzip the LoadBalancer package:
    

   sudo unzip LoadBalancer_4.0.zip -d/usr/local/LoadBalancer

8. Copy the /usr/local/LoadBalancer/lib/wms-plugin-loadbalancer.jar file to the [install-dir]/lib/ folder in the Wowza Streaming Engine installation:
    

   sudo cp /usr/local/LoadBalancer/lib/wms-plugin-loadbalancer.jar /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/lib/

9. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine:
    

   sudo /etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine restart

10. Close the SSH Terminal window. 

Add the load balancer server listener on the edge server instance

Every edge server instance requires a load balancer server listener. Access to the Server Listeners tab requires an administrative user with advanced permissions. See Enable access to advanced administrative settings for more information.

1. On the edge server in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, click the Server tab.
2. Then click Server Setup in the contents panel.
3. On the Server Setup page, select the Server Listeners tab.
    
4. Click Edit and then click Add Server Listener.
    
5. In the Base Class field of the Add Server Listener modal, enter the fully qualified class name com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.general.LoadBalancerServer.
6. Click Add to save and close the modal.
7. Click Save and then restart Wowza Streaming Engine.

Add load-balancing properties to the edge server instance

Every edge server instance requires specific load-balancing properties. This task configures the minimum required set of properties for the edge server listener. For more information about these and other load-balancing properties, see the Wowza Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn User's Guide.

The next two tabs describe how to set up load-balancing properties for the edge server using either Wowza Streaming Engine Manager or via XML. To view the steps, toggle between the tabs and select the best method.

Wowza Streaming Engine Manager

To set up the load-balancing properties for the edge server in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, use the following steps.

1. On the edge server instance in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, click the Server tab.
2. On the Server Setup page, select the Properties tab.
3. Click Custom in the Quick Links section.
    
   Note: Access to the Properties tab is limited to administrators with advanced permissions. For more information, see Enable access to advanced administrative settings.
4. In the Custom section, click Edit.
    
5. Click Add Custom Property.
6. Specify the following settings in the Add Custom Property modal. For each property, the Path is always set to /Root/Server. Click Add to save each property.

7. Click Save and restart Wowza Streaming Engine to apply the changes.

XML

Alternatively, you can add the load-balancing properties directly to the Server.xml file for the edge server instance.

1. In the Google Cloud Platform console, click the navigation menu icon.
2. Scroll to Compute Engine, and click VM instances.
3. Select the edge server from the list of VM instances.
4. At the top of the instance page, click SSH.
5. In a text editor, edit the [install-dir]/conf/Server.xml  and insert the following properties in the <Properties> list at the bottom of the file:
    

   <!-- Properties defined here will be added to the IServer.getProperties() collection -->
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceType</Name>
       <Value>Client</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceKey</Name>
       <Value>[eight-character key]</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceServerIP</Name>
       <Value>[Load balancer (not this server) IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)]</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceServerPort</Name>
       <Value>1935</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceBandwidthEnable</Name>
       <Value>On</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceBandwidthLimit</Name>
       <Value>50000</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceConnectionEnable</Name>
       <Value>On</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceConnectionLimit</Name>
       <Value>100</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>

   Note: See the Wowza Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn User's Guide for details about these and other properties.

6. Modify the loadbalancerServerIP and loadbalanceKey properties to use the appropriate IP address and key. The other properties can be used without modification or can be updated as needed.
    
7. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine:
    

   sudo /etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine restart

8. Close the SSH Terminal window.

Add and configure the load balancer edge server instance

A load-balancing configuration requires a Wowza Streaming Engine load balancer edge server that directs client connections to the various Wowza Streaming Engine edge servers that handle the connections. The edge servers periodically send load and status information to the load balancer so the load balancer can track edge server load and availability. All communication between the edge servers and the load balancer is encrypted and signed.

The load balancer server is another edge server with different server properties and two HTTP providers. To create and configure the load balancer server, start with these steps.

1. Repeat the steps to add a new load balancer edge server instance with a liveedge application.
2. Repeat the steps to install the Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn on the load balancer edge server.
3. Repeat the steps to add the load balancer server listener to the load balancer edge server.
4. Then, continue with the following tasks to add the load-balancing server properties and the HTTP provider to the load balancer edge server instance.

Add load-balancing properties for the load balancer edge server instance

This task configures the minimum required properties for the load balancer edge server listener. For more information about these and other load-balancing properties, see the Wowza Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn User's Guide.

The next two tabs describe how to set up load-balancing properties for the edge server using either Wowza Streaming Engine Manager or via XML. To view the steps, toggle between the tabs and select the best method.

Wowza Streaming Engine Manager

To set up the load-balancing properties for the load balancer edge server in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, use the following steps.

1. On the load balancer edge server instance in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, click the Server tab.
2. On the Server Setup page, select the Properties tab,
3. Click Custom in the Quick Links section.
    
   Note: Access to the Properties tab is limited to administrators with advanced permissions. For more information, see Manage credentials.
4. In the Custom section, click Edit.
    
5. Click Add Custom Property.
6. Specify the following settings in the Add Custom Property modal. For each property, the Path is always set to /Root/Server. Click Add to save each property.

7. Click Save and restart Wowza Streaming Engine to apply the changes.

XML

Alternatively, you can add the load-balancing properties directly to the Server.xml file for the load balancer edge server.

1. In the Google Cloud Platform console, click the navigation menu icon.
2. Scroll to Compute Engine, and click VM instances.
3. Select the load balancer edge server from the list of VM instances.
4. At the top of the instance page, click SSH.
5. In a text editor, edit the [install-dir]/conf/Server.xml file and insert the following properties in the <Properties> list at the bottom of the file:

   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceType</Name>
       <Value>Server</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceKey</Name>
       <Value>1234abcd</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceServerIP</Name>
       <Value>[Load Balancer IP address (x.x.x.x)]</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceServerPort</Name>
       <Value>1935</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceDecisionOrder</Name>
       <Value>Bandwidth,Connection</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceIgnoreClients</Name>
       <Value>OBS</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceBandwidthEnable</Name>
       <Value>On</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceBandwidthLimit</Name>
       <Value>50000</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceConnectionEnable</Name>
       <Value>On</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceConnectionLimit</Name>
       <Value>100</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>loadbalanceAllowRemoteClientShutdown</Name>
       <Value>On</Value>
       <Type>String</Type>
   </Property>

   Note: See the Wowza Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn User's Guide for details about these and other properties.

6. Modify the loadbalancerServerIP and loadbalanceKey properties to use the appropriate IP address and key. The other properties can be used without modification or can be updated as needed.
    
7. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine:
    

   sudo /etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine restart/

8. Close the SSH Terminal window.

Add the HTTP providers to the load balancer edge server instance

Finally, add the LoadBalancerInterface, LoadBalancerInformation (optional), and LoadBalancerPublicInterface HTTP providers to the load balancer edge server instance.

The LoadBalancerInformation HTTP provider lets you see connected edge servers and the bandwidth and countries allocated for them. It also allows you to shut down edge servers, removing them from the configuration while leaving other connected edge servers unaffected. 

1. In the Google Cloud Platform console, click the navigation menu icon.
2. Scroll to Compute Engine, and click VM instances.
3. Select the load balancer edge server from the list of VM instances.
    
4. At the top of the instance page, click SSH.
    
5. In a text editor, edit the [install-dir]/conf/VHost.xml file and add the following HTTP providers to the top of the <HTTPProviders> list for the default streaming host port. Make sure these HTTP providers are the first entries in the <HTTPProviders> list:
    

   <HTTPProvider>
        <BaseClass>com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.http.LoadBalancerInterface</BaseClass>
        <RequestFilters>*loadbalancerInterface</RequestFilters>
        <AuthenticationMethod>none</AuthenticationMethod>
   </HTTPProvider>
   <!-- Add to view balancer statistics interface in web browser -->
   <HTTPProvider>
        <BaseClass>com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.http.LoadBalancerInformation</BaseClass>
        <RequestFilters>*loadbalancerInfo</RequestFilters>
        <!-- Check [install-dir]/conf/admin.password file for default authentication type -->
        <AuthenticationMethod>admin-bcrypt</AuthenticationMethod>
   </HTTPProvider>
   <HTTPProvider>
        <BaseClass>com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.http.LoadBalancerPublicInterface</BaseClass>
        <RequestFilters>redirect*</RequestFilters>
        <AuthenticationMethod>none</AuthenticationMethod>
   </HTTPProvider>
   
   

   After the LoadBalancerInformation HTTP provider is added, you can view the connected servers and their status in a web browser with this URL:

   http://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/loadbalancerInfo

   The load balancing server is listening to any connections in the Locations column. There's a Remove Client button for each server that you can remove from the configuration. Removing a server takes about a minute. The status page displays STOP in the statistics information panel until it's completely removed.

   

   Note: See the Wowza Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn User's Guide for details about these HTTP providers and for an example that shows the VHost.xml configuration for the load balancer.

6. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine:
    

   sudo /etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine restart/

7. Close the SSH Terminal window.

Add RTMP and RTSP redirection to the load balancer edge server instance

RTMP and RTSP redirection requires adding an application and a redirection module to the load balancer server edge instance.

The redirection module returns an RTMP or RTSP redirect to clients that connect to the load balancer edge server, except for those that are configured to be ignored in the loadbalanceIgnoreClients property in the Server.xml file. Wowza edge servers that connect to a load balancer that's also an origin server in a live stream repeater (origin/edge) configuration are also ignored.

Wowza Streaming Engine Manager

To set up RTMP and RTSP redirection functionality for the load balancer edge server in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, use the following steps.

1. On the load balancer edge server in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, click the Applications tab.
2. Then click Add Application in the contents panel.
3. On the Add Application page, click the Live button to select that application type.
4. In the New Application box, name the application redirect and then click Add.
5. On the details page for the redirect application, click the Modules tab.

Notes:

• Access to the Modules tab requires an administrator user with advanced permissions. Enable access to advanced administrative settings.
• Be sure to add the module after the last module in the Modules list.

5. Click Edit and then click the Add Module button.
6. In the Add New Module dialog box, complete the required fields:
    
   • Name – Enter Redirect.
   • Description – Provide additional, useful information about the module. Not used in any operations.
   • Fully Qualified Class Name – Enter com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.redirect.ClientConnections.
7. Click Add.
8. Click Save, and then restart the application.

XML

Alternatively, you can add the module directly to the redirect application's Application.xml file:

1. In the Google Cloud Platform console, click the navigation menu icon.
2. Scroll to Compute Engine, and click VM instances.
3. Select the load balancer edge server instance.
4. At the top of the selected instance page, click SSH.
5. In a text editor, edit the [install-dir]/conf/redirect/Application.xml file, and add the following module. Make sure to add it after the last module in the <Modules> list:
    

   <Module>
       <Name>Redirect</Name>
       <Description>Redirect</Description>
       <Class>com.wowza.wms.plugin.loadbalancer.redirect.ClientConnections</Class>
   </Module>

6. Restart Wowza Streaming Engine:
    

   sudo /etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine restart

7. Close the SSH Terminal window.

Publish the source stream

After configuring the origin, edge, and load balancer edge server instances, publish a live stream to the application on the Wowza Streaming Engine origin server. To verify that the Wowza Streaming Engine origin server is receiving the published stream, check that the stream displays on the Incoming Streams page for your liveorigin application.

Refer to the following resources for help with publishing a live stream from various cameras and encoders:

• Connect live sources
• Re-stream with Wowza Streaming Engine

Note: When re-streaming, playback on the edge server fails if a .stream file on the edge server has an identical name to the source .stream file on the origin server. Therefore, ensure that there are no .stream files on the edge server with the same name as .stream files on the origin server.

How redirection works

Wowza Streaming Engine load-balancing configurations support redirection over HTTP, RTMP, and RTSP.

The load-balancing redirection interface on the load balancer edge server lets you provide a single, absolute URL to users so they can predictably access your video from any location. The load balancer intercepts the request and forwards it to the least-busy or closest server with the video content.

For the viewer, it's just a direct link to the content, and they don't have to worry about which server or backend system is delivering the video. For example, you can give a URL using this basic structure:

[protocol]://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/redirect/[application-name]/[stream-name]?scheme=[http-transmission-scheme]

• The load-balancer-ip-address is the IP address of the load balancer server instance.
• The scheme URL query specifies the manifest file format in the redirect URL that's returned to clients. For example, for HLS delivery, set scheme=m3u8. The scheme query parameter is used only for HTTP redirection and not for RTMP or RTSP redirection.

With the previous URL, a client is redirected to an available load-balanced edge server whose URL has the form:

[protocol]://[load-balanced-server-ip-address]:1935/[application-name]/_definst_/[stream-name]/[manifest-file]

• Depending on system load, the load-balanced-server-ip-address is either the load balancer server itself or one of the other load-balancing edge servers you configured. 
• When the loadbalanceType property is set to Server,Client on the load balancer server, it's also a load-balancing server that can fulfill the client request if it isn't overloaded. Setting this property value to Server means that the load balancer will redirect all client requests to connected load-balancing edge servers.

HTTP redirection examples

The HTTP redirection interface lets you provide a single URL that redirects clients to an available load-balancing server without any additional configuration.

Note: HTTP clients are redirected using the HTTP 302 response status code. Your client must support the HTTP 302 code for load balancing to work. RTMP clients that use HTTP requests must support the returned XML.

HLS redirection URL example

The following URL:

http://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/redirect/[application-name]/[stream-name]?scheme=m3u8

Sends Apple HLS clients to:

http://[load-balanced-server-ip-address]:1935/[application-name]/_definst_/[stream-name]/playlist.m3u8

RTMP redirection URL example

Note: Not all RTMP clients support XML redirection over HTTP.

The following URL:

http://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/redirect/[application-name]/[stream-name]/loadbalancer.smil

Returns XML similar to the following to RTMP clients using HTTP requests:

<smil>
    <head>
        <meta base="rtmp://[load-balanced-server-ip-address]:1935/[application-name]/_definst_"/>"
    </head>
    <body>
        <switch>
            <video src="[stream-name]"/>
        </switch>
    </body>
</smil>

RTMP and RTSP redirection examples

Note: Not all RTMP clients support redirection via the RTMP protocol.

RTMP redirection URL example

The following URL:

rtmp://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/redirect/[application-name]/[stream-name]

Sends RTMP clients to:

rtmp://[load-balanced-server-ip-address]:1935/[application-name]/[stream-name]

RTSP redirection URL example

The following URL:

rtsp://[load-balancer-ip-address]:1935/redirect/[application-name]/[stream-name]

Sends RTSP clients to:

rtsp://[load-balanced-server-ip-address]:1935/[application-name]/[stream-name]

More resources

• Get the Dynamic Load Balancing AddOn for Wowza Streaming Engine
• About load balancing in Wowza Streaming Engine
• Configure a live stream repeater in Wowza Streaming Engine
• Set up Wowza Streaming Engine for Linux on Google Cloud Marketplace