Schedules in the Wowza Video™ service speed production workflows by allowing you to automatically start and stop live streams at a predetermined date and time. For example, you can use a schedule to automatically stop a live stream that ends at a specific time, so you don't accidentally leave it running. Another time a schedule might be useful is to automatically start a live stream at the same time every day.
To learn about other live stream or transcoder settings you might see in the user interface, see Live Stream Setup page in Wowza Video or Transcoder Setup page in Wowza Video.
You'll need to choose which workflow you'll use, live stream or transcoder, before you begin this task. See Decide between a live stream or transcoder workflow for more information about these workflows.
Before you start
You should complete the following tasks:
- Create a live stream or a transcoder with output renditions. View our Connect to Wowza Video topics to learn how to create a live stream or transcoder for your encoder or IP camera.
1. Schedule the stream
You can configure a schedule to start or stop the live stream just once, or to repeat the start or stop action on a daily basis for an extended period of time.
- On the detail page for your live stream or transcoder, click the Schedules button for your stream in the Selected panel.
- On the Schedules page for your stream, click Add Schedule.
- On the Add Schedule page, enter schedule details:
- Schedule Name - A short, descriptive identifier for the schedule. The Schedule Name can't be longer than 255 characters. If you leave Schedule Name blank, Wowza Video assigns a name based on the name of the live stream or transcoder, the type of schedule (start, stop, or start and stop), and the start and stop times you specify.
- Schedule Status - A schedule must be enabled in order to run. Select Enabled to make the schedule active as soon as you create it. If you don't select Enabled when you create the schedule, you can enable it at a later time.
- Schedule Recurrence - A schedule can run once or it can repeat at a regular frequency. Select Run once to create a schedule that runs the live stream or transcoder one time only, at the specified Start and Stop Times. To create a schedule that recurs, select Repeat and then select the day or days of the week on which you want the schedule to run. Then, tell Wowza Video the time range that the schedule should run by selecting From and To dates. Finally, specify the Start and Stop Times that the live stream or transcoder should run during the repeating schedule's time range.
Note: You can't change the Recurrence option after the schedule is created, but you can edit when a schedule repeats and runs. - Start and Stop Times - A schedule can either start, stop, or start and stop a live stream or transcoder. Select Start this [live stream/transcoder] to create a schedule that starts a live stream or transcoder. Select Stop this [live stream/transcoder] to create a schedule that stops a live stream or transcoder. Select both options to create a schedule that starts and stops a live stream or transcoder.
- Time Zone - The time zone that applies to the schedule.
- Start Time - The time of day that the live stream or transcoder should start. For a schedule that runs once, also specify the Start Date that live stream or transcoder should run.
Tip: When specifying the start time, allow a few minutes for Wowza Video to launch the stream or transcoder. If your event begins at 9:00, for example, set the start time for 8:55. The minimum run time for a scheduled live stream or transcoder is 5 minutes, but we recommend scheduling at least 10 minutes between start and stop. - Stop Time - The time of day that the live stream or transcoder should stop. For a schedule that runs once, also specify the Stop Date that live stream or transcoder should stop running.
- Click Add.
Wowza Video creates the schedule and displays the Schedules page for the live stream or transcoder.
2. Run the schedule
The schedule won't actually run until it's enabled. If you enabled the schedule when you created it, you're done. Otherwise, enable the schedule now.
- On the Schedules page for the live stream or transcoder, in the Actions column for the schedule that you want to run, click Enable.
- When prompted to confirm that you want to enable or disable the schedule, click OK.
The Status column updates to reflect the change, and the enabled schedule runs at the designated date and time.
Important: When a schedule starts a live stream or transcoder, the Idle Timeout feature is disabled. In other words, Wowza Video doesn't stop the started live stream or transcoder automatically after 20 minutes of idle processing time. Instead, the started live stream or transcoder runs until you manually stop it, or until a schedule stops it.
