Monitor, start, and stop .sdp and .stream files in a Wowza Streaming Engine live application

Use the Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software ServerListenerStartupStreamsMonitor server listener to monitor a live application's content folder for added and deleted .sdp and .stream files. When a new file is detected, the stream manager starts the stream. When a file is removed, the stream manager stops the stream. This article describes the configuration.

Edit [install-dir]/conf/Server.xml and make the following changes:

1. Add the following <ServerListener> to the <ServerListeners> list:

   <ServerListener>
       <BaseClass>com.wowza.wms.serverlistener.ServerListenerStartupStreamsMonitor</BaseClass>
   </ServerListener>

2. Add the following properties to the <Properties> container at the bottom of the file:

   <!-- Pipe (|) delimited list of application names for which to monitor: [vhost-name]:[application-name]/[app-instance] -->
   <!-- This can be shorted to [application-name] assuming using _defaultVHost_ and _definst_ as the vhost and application instance names -->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorApplicationList</Name>
       <Value>live1|live2</Value>
   </Property>
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorStreamPrefix</Name>
       <Value>mp4</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- MediaCaster type. Valid values are: rtp, rtp-record, shoutcast, shoutcast-record, liverepeater -->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorMediaCasterType</Name>
       <Value>rtp</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- Pipe  (|) delimited list of file extensions for which to search -->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorExtensionFilter</Name>
       <Value>.stream|.sdp</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- The following property is only available in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.1.1 or later -->
   <!-- Enable the detection of modified files. If enabled, affected streams will be stopped and restarted when modifications are detected.-->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorFileModification</Name>
       <Value>true</Value>
   </Property>

   Note: Modify the properties as needed for your streaming setup.

Next, edit [install-dir]/conf/[application-name]/Application.xml and make the following changes:

1. Create a non-shared content folder for your application by setting the Streams/StorageDir property as follows:

   <StorageDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/applications/${com.wowza.wms.context.Application}/content</StorageDir>

2. Add the following properties to the <Properties> container at the bottom of the Application.xml file; be sure to get the correct <Properties> container as there are several in the file:

   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorStreamPrefix</Name>
       <Value>mp4</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- MediaCaster type. Valid values are: rtp, rtp-record, shoutcast, shoutcast-record, liverepeater -->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorMediaCasterType</Name>
       <Value>rtp</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- Pipe delimited list of file extensions for which to search -->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorExtensionFilter</Name>
       <Value>.stream|.sdp</Value>
   </Property>
   <!-- The following property is only available in Wowza Streaming Engine 4.1.1 or later -->
   <!-- Enable the detection of modified files. If enabled, affected streams will be stopped and restarted when modifications are detected.-->
   <Property>
       <Name>startupStreamsMonitorFileModification</Name>
       <Value>true</Value>
   </Property>

   Notes:

   • Modify the properties as needed for your streaming setup.
      
   • The values specified here override the values specified in [install-dir]/conf/Server.xml.
3. Create the folder [install-dir]/applications/[application-name]/content. This folder will be monitored for new .sdp and .stream files.
    
4. Start Wowza Streaming Engine.