Wowza Streaming Engine is available as a pre-built solution in the Google Cloud Marketplace. Our pre-configured Wowza Streaming Engine for Linux software image runs on the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and leverages the core Compute Engine GCP web service. Compute Engine provides resizable computing capacity in the cloud and virtualizes computing resources as virtual machines, allowing you to launch and manage your deployments as part of the overall GCP platform.
Note: The pre-configured image runs Wowza Streaming Engine 4.9.0. See the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.9.0 Release Notes.
This guide describes how to install and configure a Wowza Streaming Engine image via the Google Cloud Marketplace so it can run on the Google Cloud Platform. We assume basic familiarity with Wowza Streaming Engine and Google Compute Engine. Developer documentation for Google Compute Engine is available on the Google Cloud website.
Before you start
Before you complete the steps in this guide, review these prerequisites for using the Wowza Streaming Engine image for Compute Engine:
- Ensure you have a Google account with access to GCP. A Google account provides online access to the Google Cloud Platform console, including the ability to ingest the Wowza Streaming Engine image into your project. If you don't have one, create a Google account.
- Create a Google Cloud project. See the Creating and managing projects information from Google. Make sure you have access to create virtual machine (VM) instances in your Google Cloud project. For more, see Required roles.
- Download the Google Cloud CLI (optional). Many users find the Google Cloud console and web-based graphical interface easier to utilize when managing Compute Engine resources. However, some tasks may require the Google Cloud CLI. If you need to use the CLI, follow the instructions to Install the gcloud command-line tool.
- Understand product licensing. With the Google Cloud Marketplace offering, 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. Therefore, you don't get a monthly invoice from Wowza for Wowza Streaming Engine usage. Users can access all Wowza Streaming Engine functionality and features, including Transcoder (for 64-bit instances only), Wowza nDVR, and Wowza DRM.
1. Install the gcloud command-line tool (optional)
The Google Cloud SDK includes the gcloud CLI. You can use this command-line tool to add the Wowza Streaming Engine image to your project and to manage Google Compute Engine resources from a command line. This is an alternative approach to using the GCP console.
- Follow these recommended installation instructions from Google.
- After you run gcloud init to initialize the gcloud CLI, sign in to continue using the Google Cloud SDK.
- When a browser window opens, sign in and click Continue.
- Grant access to the Google Cloud SDK. Then click Allow.
- A confirmation page appears that you're now authenticated with the gcloud CLI. The following message displays in your terminal to select a cloud project and continue with the configuration:
Pick cloud project to use:
[1] gcp-marketplace-project-123
[2] gcp-marketplace-project-456
[3] Enter a project ID
[4] Create a new project
Please enter numeric choice or text value (must exactly match list item):
For additional help working with the gcloud CLI, see Google's How-to guides.
2. Configure and deploy your instance
We recommend using the Google Cloud Platform console to configure and deploy your instance. This is the most user-friendly approach to provision a VM on Google Cloud with Wowza Streaming Engine. You can also use the gcloud CLI for the same process. For help with the gcloud tool, see this Cloud SDK reference.
- Using your Google account, sign in to the Google Cloud Platform.
- Go to the Wowza Streaming Engine product listing page, where you can view a product overview, pricing details by month, and support information.
- Click Launch. When you launch the product, you agree to comply with the Google Cloud Marketplace Terms of Service and the Wowza Media Systems Terms of Service.
Note: To view current Wowza Streaming Engine deployments, click View deployments instead.
- On the setup page, select the Terraform tab to create and deploy the instance via the user interface.
- On the Terraform tab, complete these configuration fields:
| Field(s) | Description and instructions |
| Deployment name | Add a unique identifier for the deployment and the Wowza Streaming Engine server you plan to run. |
| Deployment service account | Select an existing service account to pre-populate details or create a new account. The service account or identity used for the deployment must have the necessary roles and permissions to access Google Cloud resources on your behalf. To deploy this product, Infra Manager executes Terraform using the identity of this service account. For more details, see the Google Service Accounts overview information. |
| Zone | Select a specific geographical location where you can host your resources.
We recommend picking the zone closest to the encoder you're using. However, if you're working with an origin/edge configuration, you may need to set up different regions for better CDN coverage. For more, see: |
| Machine type | Specify the number of vCPUs and the amount of memory on Compute Engine allocated to the VM instances running Wowza Streaming Engine for Google Cloud. The smallest hardware requirement we recommend is a c2d-standard-4 instance with 4 vCPUs and 16 GB of memory. The C2D series can be found under the Compute-optimized machine types. Machine types with large scratch disks (or persistent storage) are recommended for on-demand streaming, nDVR, and recording live streams. |
| Boot disk | Specify the boot disk attached to the VM instance running Wowza Streaming Engine for Google Cloud. We recommend the SSD Persistent Disk and a boot disk size of 20 GB. While a standard hard drive is sufficient for live applications, if you're recording, using DVR, or video-on-demand (VOD) in any way, we suggest using SSDs for caching or storing recordings directly on the server. You may also consider configuring the Media Cache feature in Wowza Streaming Engine to store and retrieve content from a Google Cloud Storage resource. For more general information about storage space, see About Persistent Disk. |
| Networking | We recommend using the default network settings from Google. |
| Firewall | Enable streaming and access to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager by creating firewall rules.
We initially enable ports most commonly used for RTMP, HTTP, and RTSP streaming. See Configure ports in Wowza Streaming Engine for information about port usage. Ports 8086 through 8088 are reserved for Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. By default, these options are selected in GCP:
|
- Click Deploy to begin the installation. The deployment status is displayed on the Resources tab of the Solution deployments page. As soon as the deployment is finished, you will start to accrue hardware and software charges.
- Select the Details tab on the Solution deployments page and scroll to the Suggested next steps section. Continue with the Register for technical support section.
3. Register for technical support
Wowza Streaming Engine includes email-based technical support. After you've launched your VM instance, follow the suggested next steps on the Details tab of the Solution deployments page in GCP to register for Wowza support. You only need to sign up for the support portal if you're launching your first Wowza Streaming Engine instance.
Creating this Wowza account gives you access to our support portal and ensures you're eligible to receive technical support emails when you purchase the software through Google Cloud Marketplace. You must also complete this step to get help with StreamLock Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates.
4. Log in to your instance
Make sure you've completed the steps in the previous sections. After the deployment finishes, it appears on the Solution deployments page. To test your instance and log in to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, follow these instructions.
- From the Solution deployments page in GCP, go to the Details tab to get the site URL for your Wowza Streaming Engine instance. This is the Admin Url listed in the Outputs section.
Notes:
- The Admin Url initially delivers your site over HTTP. To create a secure and encrypted connection over HTTPS, you can set up an SSL/TLS certificate with assistance from Wowza technical support. For more about SSL/TLS and network encryption, see Understanding SSL/TLS and Get SSL/TLS certificates from the Wowza Streaming Engine StreamLock service.
- The Admin Url works the first time you spin up your VM instance. If you're using ephemeral IP addresses, they're released when you stop or delete the resource. Each time you stop and restart your Wowza Streaming Engine instances, confirm and use the External IP address for you instance instead. For more, see Ephemeral and static IP addresses.
- Then, go to the Resources tab on the Solution deployments page. Click the resource name for the VM in the Compute Engine product row.
- On the VM instances page, note the Instance Id in the Basic information section. This is the password to use when logging in to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager.
- In your web browser, go to the Admin Url you obtained in step 1 of this section. Navigate past the welcome page.
- Sign in to Wowza Streaming Engine. The default username is wowza. Use the Instance Id from step 3 of this section as the password. To create your own credentials, see Manage credentials.
5. Test playback
Once your VM instance is running and you've logged in to Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, you can test playback. To confirm video-on-demand (VOD) streaming from Wowza Streaming Engine, use the built-in VOD application and the sample.mp4 file installed in the default content directory [install-dir]/content.
For more details about testing playback for VOD streams, see Set up video-on-demand streaming in Wowza Streaming Engine.
Confirm HTTP playback
The HTTP playback URL for the sample.mp4 file is as follows:
http://[instance-ip-address]:1935/vod/mp4:sample.mp4/playlist.m3u8
To confirm successful HTTP playback, open the previous link in the VLC media player using the Menu > Open Network Stream option. See these Prepare the VLC player instructions for additional details.
Confirm HTTPS playback
If you have StreamLock and SSL set up for your Wowza Streaming Engine instance, you can use the following HTTPS playback URL for the sample.mp4 file:
https://[instance-ip-address]:1935/vod/mp4:sample.mp4/playlist.m3u8
To confirm successful HTTPS playback, open the previous link using our Test Players page.
6. Stop and delete your instance
When you delete an instance, you lose all changes or files on the server. If there's any data you don't want to lose, save it to a persistent drive before deleting. Then, delete the instance using the Google Cloud Platform console or the gcloud command-line tool.
Caution: Google recommends you confirm the machine reaches the stopped state before you sign out. You'll continue to be charged for instances that don't shut down correctly.
- From your Compute Engine dashboard in GCP, click VM instances.
- Select the Wowza Streaming Engine instance you would like to stop.
- Click to Stop the instance and end any billing for usage. At this point, you can also start or resume the instance again. The next step to delete the instance is optional.
- To completely remove the instance, click Delete.
