This guide provides instructions to migrate Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software from one server instance to another. You may need to migrate, for example, to move Wowza Streaming Engine settings and content to a newer version of Wowza Streaming Engine on the same computer, to different server hardware, or to a virtualized platform.
Before you start
Read all of these instructions carefully before you start. To get an overview of the process, watch the video tutorial in the next section.
Video tutorial: Migrate Wowza Streaming Engine to a new instance
Migrate Wowza Streaming Engine to a new instance
This process assumes you're moving to a new server instance with an identical setup. If you have any questions, you can open a support ticket. Technical support is included with all active subscriptions and maintenance and support contracts.
Migrate with a check-in license key
These instructions apply only for check-in license keys. For considerations related to non-check-in license keys, such as USB keys, see Migrate with a USB license key.
- On the old Wowza Streaming Engine instance that you're migrating FROM, stop the Wowza Streaming Engine services. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for instructions on how to stop services on your operating system.
Important:
- You should stop Wowza Streaming Engine services to avoid being charged for a second instance (for Subscription keys) or to avoid a startup error (for Perpetual keys) when you create the new server instance to which you'll migrate your content and settings.
- Do not uninstall Wowza Streaming Engine for the old server instance yet.
- Create a backup of the Wowza Streaming Engine installation folder ([install-dir]) for the old instance.
Important:
- Remove the [install-dir]/conf/jmxremote.access file from the backup.
- If installing the new Wowza Streaming Engine instance using an alternative key, such as a trial licensing key or an R&D (Research & Development) licensing key for testing, exclude the Server.license file.
- Install a new Wowza Streaming Engine instance using the latest Wowza Streaming Engine software and your current license. See Install and configure Wowza Streaming Engine if you need installation instructions.
Notes:
- If you install a new Wowza Streaming Engine instance on the same computer as the old instance, you'll be prompted by Wowza Streaming Engine Setup to choose the instance to activate after installation is complete. Choose the latest Wowza Streaming Engine software instance.
- You can request a temporary license and use this license key when you install Wowza Streaming Engine for the new instance. This enables you to run the old and new instances at the same time. You can then thoroughly test the new server software before migrating files from your backup.
- Copy the following folders (or files within the folders as indicated) from your backed-up Wowza Streaming Engine instance to the new Wowza Streaming Engine instance:
- [install-dir]/applications: All application folders.
- [install-dir]/conf: Server configuration files.
- Important: Do not copy the [install-dir]/conf/jmxremote.access file from your backup.
- If installing the new Wowza Streaming Engine instance using an alternative key, such as a trial licensing key or an R&D licensing key, do not copy the [install-dir]/conf/Server.license file.
- [install-dir]/content: On-demand video files, caption files, stream files, etc.
- [install-dir]/keys: Encryption key files if your media server is integrated with Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems.
- [install-dir]/lib: Important: Copy only your customized module (.jar) files to the new instance.
- [install-dir]/logs: Copy if needed (for example, for client billing).
- [install-dir]/manager/conf: Wowza Streaming Engine Manager configuration files.
- [install-dir]/transcoder: Copy custom Transcoder template files.
- On the new Wowza Streaming Engine instance, delete the [install-dir]/conf/Server.guid and [install-dir]/conf/Admin.guid files.
- Start (or restart) the Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager services for the new instance and test your new configuration.
Notes:
- If your migrated content files included sidecar captions for on-demand streams, you must re-enable closed captioning on the new instance. For details, see Use external caption files with Wowza Streaming Engine video-on-demand streams.
- If you need to roll back to your previous configuration, shut down the new instance and start the Wowza Streaming Engine services again on the old instance.
Migrate with a USB license key
If you used a USB license key with your old server instance, check the [install-dir]/lib-license folder for your previous Wowza Streaming Engine installation. Make sure that the wms-license-usb-st.jar file is present.
When you create your backup in step 2 of the previous section, make sure to include the [install-dir]/lib-license folder as well.
Then, copy the [install-dir]/lib-license folder from the old server to the same location on your new server. Without this, the USB key can't authenticate the license, and Wowza Streaming Engine can't start.
Uninstall the old Wowza Streaming Engine instance
After you've successfully started Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager on the new server instance, and fully tested the basic functionality and applications, you can uninstall your old Wowza Streaming Engine instance.
- Windows – Go to the Programs and Features Control Panel, click Wowza Streaming Engine [old-instance-version], and then click Uninstall.
- OS X – Go to /Applications/Wowza Streaming Engine [old-instance-version] and double-click Wowza Streaming Engine Uninstall.
- Linux – Run the following commands:
cd /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine-[old-instance-version] sudo ./uninstall
Important: If the computer is running on Windows and you migrated your Wowza Streaming Engine settings and content to a newer version of the server software on the same computer, you must back up Wowza Streaming Engine environment variables. After you uninstall the old Wowza Streaming Engine instance, restore the environment variables from the backup to allow your new Wowza Streaming Engine server instance to continue to work.
- Open an elevated Command Prompt and run the SET command to export Wowza system variables to a file. For example:
C:\> set | find "WMS" > myWowzaVars.txt
The previous command exports all Wowza system variable names and their values to a file named myWowzaVar.txt in Windows drive C.- Uninstall the old Wowza Streaming Engine instance, and then restart the one.
- Open the System Properties dialog box (click Start, click Run, and in the Run dialog box, enter SystemPropertiesAdvanced), and then click the Environment Variables button.
- Under System variables, click New, and then in the New System Variable dialog box, copy a variable name and its value from the Wowza system variables that you exported into Variable name and Variable value, and then click OK. Repeat this step for all of the Wowza variables (WMSAPP_HOME, WMSCONFIG_HOME, WMSINSTALL_HOME, WMSJAVA_HOME, and WMSMGR_HOME).
- Click OK to close the Environment Variables and System Properties dialog boxes, and then restart the media server.
