flumotion manual

Flumotion manual

Murray Cumming, Flumotion Documentation Team <[email protected]>Thomas Vander Stichele, Flumotion Documentation

Team <thomas at fluendo dot com>Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller, Flumotion

Documentation Team <christian at fluendo dot com>

Flumotion manualby Murray Cumming, Thomas Vander Stichele, and Christian Fredrik Kalager SchallerCopyright © 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008 Fluendo

Abstract

User manual for Flumotion.

Flumotion is a trademark of Fluendo.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), Version1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.You can find a copy of the GFDL at this link [ghelp:fdl] or in the file COPYING-DOCS distributed with this manual.

Many of the names used by companies to distinguish their products and services are claimed as trademarks. Where those names appear in anydocumentation, and the authors are made aware of those trademarks, then the names are in capital letters or initial capital letters.

Some versions of this document appear with navigation icons from the Tango project. These are licensed under the Creative Commons AttributionShare-Alike license.

DOCUMENT AND MODIFIED VERSIONS OF THE DOCUMENT ARE PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THE GNU FREEDOCUMENTATION LICENSE WITH THE FURTHER UNDERSTANDING THAT:

1. DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED,INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES THAT THE DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENTIS FREE OF DEFECTS MERCHANTABLE, FIT FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGING. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TOTHE QUALITY, ACCURACY, AND PERFORMANCE OF THE DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT IS WITHYOU. SHOULD ANY DOCUMENT OR MODIFIED VERSION PROVE DEFECTIVE IN ANY RESPECT, YOU (NOT THE INITIALWRITER, AUTHOR OR ANY CONTRIBUTOR) ASSUME THE COST OF ANY NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.THIS DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY CONSTITUTES AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THIS LICENSE. NO USE OF ANY DOCUMENT ORMODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT IS AUTHORIZED HEREUNDER EXCEPT UNDER THIS DISCLAIMER; AND UNDERNO CIRCUMSTANCES AND UNDER NO LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER IN TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), CONTRACT, OROTHERWISE, SHALL THE AUTHOR, INITIAL WRITER, ANY CONTRIBUTOR, OR ANY DISTRIBUTOR OF THE DOCUMENT ORMODIFIED VERSION OF THE DOCUMENT, OR ANY SUPPLIER OF ANY OF SUCH PARTIES, BE LIABLE TO ANY PERSONFOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY CHARACTER INCLUDING,WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION,OR ANY AND ALL OTHER DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO USE OF THE DOCUMENT AND MODIFIEDVERSIONS OF THE DOCUMENT, EVEN IF SUCH PARTY SHALL HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCHDAMAGES.

ghelp:fdl

ghelp:fdl

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Table of ContentsI. Using Flumotion ............................................................................................................. 1

1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 4Introduction To Streaming ................................................................................... 4Introduction To Flumotion ................................................................................... 4

2. Quick Start ............................................................................................................ 5Installation ........................................................................................................ 5Starting Flumotion .............................................................................................. 6

3. Using The Assistant ............................................................................................... 16Detailed Example .............................................................................................. 16Summary ......................................................................................................... 28

4. Architecture ......................................................................................................... 30Introduction ..................................................................................................... 30Components ..................................................................................................... 30Managers And Workers ..................................................................................... 32

5. Deployment .......................................................................................................... 33Service scripts For Startup .................................................................................. 33Configuration Files ........................................................................................... 34System Users ................................................................................................... 44Multiple Servers ............................................................................................... 45

6. Usage Scenarios .................................................................................................... 46Live Streaming of a Conference .......................................................................... 46On Demand Streaming Of Files ........................................................................... 50

7. Security ............................................................................................................... 53Authentication of Connections ............................................................................ 53Transport Protocol Between Processes .................................................................. 53Firewall Issues ................................................................................................. 54

8. Optimization and Performance ................................................................................. 56Component Locations ........................................................................................ 56Limiting Bandwidth .......................................................................................... 56System Configuration ........................................................................................ 57

9. Debugging and Troubleshooting ............................................................................... 60Debugging Flumotion ........................................................................................ 60Troubleshooting Flumotion ................................................................................. 65

A. Flumotion Services S.A. ........................................................................................ 67B. Installing Extra Dependencies ................................................................................. 68

Installing Python Modules .................................................................................. 68Testing Python Modules ..................................................................................... 69Installing GStreamer plug-ins .............................................................................. 70

C. Under the hood .................................................................................................... 73GStreamer ....................................................................................................... 73Twisted ........................................................................................................... 73

D. Command-line Options .......................................................................................... 74Starting the manager ......................................................................................... 74Starting the worker ........................................................................................... 74

E. The Configuration Assistant .................................................................................... 75Flumotion Connections ...................................................................................... 75The Welcome Page ........................................................................................... 81The Scenario Page ............................................................................................ 82The Production Page ......................................................................................... 83The Test Video Producer Page ............................................................................ 84The Webcam Page ............................................................................................ 85

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The TV Card Page ............................................................................................ 86The Firewire Video Page ................................................................................... 87The Overlay Page ............................................................................................. 88The Test Audio Producer Page ............................................................................ 89The Sound Card Page ........................................................................................ 90The Firewire Audio Page ................................................................................... 91The Encoding Page ........................................................................................... 92The Theora Encoder Page .................................................................................. 93The Dirac Encoder Page .................................................................................... 94The Smoke Encoder Page ................................................................................... 95The JPEG Encoder Page .................................................................................... 96The Vorbis Encoder Page ................................................................................... 97The Speex Encoder Page .................................................................................... 98The Mulaw Encoder Page .................................................................................. 99The Consumption Page .................................................................................... 100The HTTP Streaming Page ............................................................................... 101The HTTP Streamer (Audio and Video) Page ....................................................... 102The HTTP Streamer (Audio Only) Page .............................................................. 103The HTTP Streamer (Video Only) Page .............................................................. 104The Disk (Audio and Video) Page ..................................................................... 105The Disk (Audio Only) Page ............................................................................. 106The Disk (Audio Only) Page ............................................................................. 107The Icecast Streamer (Audio and Video) Page ...................................................... 108The Icecast Streamer (Audio Only) Page ............................................................. 109The Icecast Streamer (Video Only) Page ............................................................. 110The Content License Page ................................................................................ 111The On Demand Page ...................................................................................... 112The Summary Page ......................................................................................... 113The Administration Window ............................................................................. 114

Glossary ................................................................................................................ 116II. Flumotion Components Reference .................................................................................. 118

I. Producer Components ........................................................................................... 120audiotest-producer ........................................................................................... 121firewire-producer ............................................................................................. 122icecast-producer .............................................................................................. 124loop-producer ................................................................................................. 125soundcard-producer .......................................................................................... 126tvcard-producer ............................................................................................... 128videotest-producer ........................................................................................... 130webcam-producer ............................................................................................ 132

II. Converter Components ......................................................................................... 134repeater ......................................................................................................... 135overlay-converter ............................................................................................ 136

III. Combiner Components ........................................................................................ 138av-basic-watchdog-combiner ............................................................................. 139av-switch-combiner .......................................................................................... 141single-switch-combiner ..................................................................................... 143

IV. Encoder Components .......................................................................................... 144dirac-encoder .................................................................................................. 145jpeg-encoder ................................................................................................... 146mulaw-encoder ............................................................................................... 147smoke-encoder ................................................................................................ 148speex-encoder ................................................................................................. 149theora-encoder ................................................................................................ 150

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vorbis-encoder ................................................................................................ 152V. Muxer Components ............................................................................................. 153

multipart-muxer .............................................................................................. 154ogg-muxer ..................................................................................................... 155

VI. Consumer Components ....................................................................................... 156disk-consumer ................................................................................................. 157http-streamer .................................................................................................. 159http-server ...................................................................................................... 163shout2-consumer ............................................................................................. 166

VII. Bouncer Components ........................................................................................ 168htpasswdcrypt-bouncer ..................................................................................... 169ical-bouncer ................................................................................................... 170ip-bouncer ...................................................................................................... 171

VIII. Miscellaneous Components ............................................................................... 172porter ............................................................................................................ 173

III. Flumotion Plugs Reference .......................................................................................... 175IX. AdminAction Plugs ............................................................................................ 177

adminaction-loggerfile ...................................................................................... 178X. Bouncer Plugs .................................................................................................... 179

bouncer-testtoken ............................................................................................ 180bouncer-trivial ................................................................................................ 181

XI. Component Plugs ............................................................................................... 182component-cortado .......................................................................................... 183component-example ......................................................................................... 185

XII. IdentityProvider Plugs ....................................................................................... 186identityprovider-example .................................................................................. 187

XIII. Component Plugs ............................................................................................ 188manager-example ............................................................................................ 189manager-manhole ............................................................................................ 190

XIV. RateController Plugs ........................................................................................ 191ratecontroller-fixed .......................................................................................... 192

XV. RequestLogger Plugs ......................................................................................... 193requestlogger-file ............................................................................................ 194

XVI. StreamData Plugs ............................................................................................ 195streamdataprovider-example .............................................................................. 196

Bibliography ................................................................................................................... 197Index ............................................................................................................................ 198

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List of Figures2.1. Starting the Configuration Assistant ................................................................................. 72.2. Starting a new Manager and Worker ............................................................................ 82.3. Connecting to the new Manager ...................................................................................... 92.4. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page ................................................................... 102.5. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page .................................................................... 112.6. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page, Showing Test Inputs .................................... 122.7. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page .................................................................. 132.8. The Administration Window ......................................................................................... 142.9. Viewing the Streamed Content, Showing Test Inputs ......................................................... 153.1. Starting a new Manager and Worker .......................................................................... 173.2. Connecting to the new Manager .................................................................................. 183.3. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page ................................................................... 193.4. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page .................................................................... 203.5. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page ................................................................. 213.6. The Configuration Assistant's Webcam Page .................................................................... 223.7. The Configuration Assistant's Overlay Page ..................................................................... 233.8. The Configuration Assistant's Sound Card Page ............................................................... 243.9. Choosing Encoders ..................................................................................................... 253.10. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page ................................................................. 263.11. The Administration Window ....................................................................................... 273.12. Viewing the Streamed Content .................................................................................... 284.1. The Flumotion Architecture .......................................................................................... 304.2. The Flumotion Architecture, with the Manager and Workers ............................................... 325.1. Service Configuration in Fedora Linux or Red hat Linux .................................................... 33E.1. The Connection Window ............................................................................................. 76E.2. Connecting to a recently opened Manager ..................................................................... 77E.3. Starting a new Manager and Worker .......................................................................... 78E.4. Starting a new Manager and Worker .......................................................................... 79E.5. Connecting to the new Manager .................................................................................. 80E.6. Authentication for a running Manager .......................................................................... 81E.7. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page .................................................................. 82E.8. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page ................................................................... 83E.9. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page ................................................................ 84E.10. The Configuration Assistant's Test Video Producer Page .................................................. 85E.11. The Configuration Assistant's Webcam Page .................................................................. 86E.12. The Configuration Assistant's TV Card Page ................................................................. 87E.13. The Configuration Assistant's Firewire Video Page ......................................................... 88E.14. The Configuration Assistant's Overlay Page ................................................................... 89E.15. The Configuration Assistant's Test Audio Producer Page .................................................. 90E.16. The Configuration Assistant's Sound Card Page ............................................................. 91E.17. The Configuration Assistant's Firewire Audio Page ......................................................... 92E.18. The Configuration Assistant's Encoding Page ................................................................. 93E.19. The Configuration Assistant's Theora Encoder Page ........................................................ 94E.20. The Configuration Assistant's Dirac Encoder Page .......................................................... 95E.21. The Configuration Assistant's Smoke Encoder Page ........................................................ 96E.22. The Configuration Assistant's JPEG Encoder Page .......................................................... 97E.23. The Configuration Assistant's Vorbis Encoder Page ........................................................ 98E.24. The Configuration Assistant's Speex Encoder Page ......................................................... 99E.25. The Configuration Assistant's Mulaw Encoder Page ...................................................... 100E.26. The Configuration Assistant's Consumption Page .......................................................... 101E.27. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streaming Page ..................................................... 102

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E.28. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Audio and Video) Page ............................. 103E.29. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Audio Only) Page .................................... 104E.30. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Video Only) Page .................................... 105E.31. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Audio and Video) Page ............................................ 106E.32. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Audio Only) Page ................................................... 107E.33. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Video Only) Page ................................................... 108E.34. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Audio and Video) Page ............................ 109E.35. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Audio Only) Page ................................... 110E.36. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Video Only) Page ................................... 111E.37. The Configuration Assistant's Content License Page ...................................................... 112E.38. The Configuration On Demand Page .......................................................................... 113E.39. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page ............................................................... 114E.40. The Administration Window ..................................................................................... 115

Part I. Using Flumotion

2

Table of Contents1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

Introduction To Streaming ........................................................................................... 4Introduction To Flumotion ........................................................................................... 4

2. Quick Start .................................................................................................................... 5Installation ................................................................................................................ 5Starting Flumotion ...................................................................................................... 6

3. Using The Assistant ....................................................................................................... 16Detailed Example ...................................................................................................... 16Summary ................................................................................................................. 28

4. Architecture ................................................................................................................. 30Introduction ............................................................................................................. 30Components ............................................................................................................. 30Managers And Workers ............................................................................................. 32

5. Deployment .................................................................................................................. 33Service scripts For Startup .......................................................................................... 33Configuration Files ................................................................................................... 34System Users ........................................................................................................... 44Multiple Servers ....................................................................................................... 45

6. Usage Scenarios ............................................................................................................ 46Live Streaming of a Conference .................................................................................. 46On Demand Streaming Of Files .................................................................................. 50

7. Security ....................................................................................................................... 53Authentication of Connections .................................................................................... 53Transport Protocol Between Processes .......................................................................... 53Firewall Issues ......................................................................................................... 54

8. Optimization and Performance ......................................................................................... 56Component Locations ................................................................................................ 56Limiting Bandwidth .................................................................................................. 56System Configuration ................................................................................................ 57

9. Debugging and Troubleshooting ...................................................................................... 60Debugging Flumotion ................................................................................................ 60Troubleshooting Flumotion ......................................................................................... 65

A. Flumotion Services S.A. ................................................................................................ 67B. Installing Extra Dependencies ......................................................................................... 68

Installing Python Modules .......................................................................................... 68Testing Python Modules ............................................................................................ 69Installing GStreamer plug-ins ...................................................................................... 70

C. Under the hood ............................................................................................................ 73GStreamer ............................................................................................................... 73Twisted ................................................................................................................... 73

D. Command-line Options .................................................................................................. 74Starting the manager ................................................................................................. 74Starting the worker ................................................................................................... 74

E. The Configuration Assistant ............................................................................................ 75Flumotion Connections .............................................................................................. 75The Welcome Page ................................................................................................... 81The Scenario Page .................................................................................................... 82The Production Page ................................................................................................. 83The Test Video Producer Page .................................................................................... 84The Webcam Page .................................................................................................... 85The TV Card Page .................................................................................................... 86

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The Firewire Video Page ........................................................................................... 87The Overlay Page ..................................................................................................... 88The Test Audio Producer Page .................................................................................... 89The Sound Card Page ................................................................................................ 90The Firewire Audio Page ........................................................................................... 91The Encoding Page ................................................................................................... 92The Theora Encoder Page .......................................................................................... 93The Dirac Encoder Page ............................................................................................ 94The Smoke Encoder Page .......................................................................................... 95The JPEG Encoder Page ............................................................................................ 96The Vorbis Encoder Page ........................................................................................... 97The Speex Encoder Page ............................................................................................ 98The Mulaw Encoder Page .......................................................................................... 99The Consumption Page ............................................................................................ 100The HTTP Streaming Page ....................................................................................... 101The HTTP Streamer (Audio and Video) Page ............................................................... 102The HTTP Streamer (Audio Only) Page ...................................................................... 103The HTTP Streamer (Video Only) Page ...................................................................... 104The Disk (Audio and Video) Page ............................................................................. 105The Disk (Audio Only) Page ..................................................................................... 106The Disk (Audio Only) Page ..................................................................................... 107The Icecast Streamer (Audio and Video) Page .............................................................. 108The Icecast Streamer (Audio Only) Page ..................................................................... 109The Icecast Streamer (Video Only) Page ..................................................................... 110The Content License Page ........................................................................................ 111The On Demand Page .............................................................................................. 112The Summary Page ................................................................................................. 113The Administration Window ..................................................................................... 114

Glossary ........................................................................................................................ 116

4

Chapter 1. IntroductionIntroduction To Streaming

Streaming allows people to watch video or listen to audio without waiting for an entire file to download.For instance, the later parts of a video will download while you are watching the first moments, so yourmedia player always has enough data to continue playing the video without interruption. This is a betterexperience for viewers and a better use of broadcasters' bandwidth and processing power.

Broadcasters typically wish to provide two forms of streaming content: Live streaming and on-demandstreaming. For instance, a radio station might want to broadcast their audio live over the Internet,simultaneously as it is broadcast via FM radio. However, that same radio station might like to provide on-demand access to the archive of their recorded content.

Introduction To FlumotionFlumotion can broadcast your content live or on-demand in a range of popular audio and video formats.It supports a wide range of input hardware thanks to its use of Linux, GStreamer and other open sourcesoftware. You can get started quickly with Flumotion's simple user interface then just place a link to thestreamed content on your website.

Flumotion allows processing to be spread across multiple machines, so your platform can scale to handlemore viewers of more streams in more formats. Its open source architecture makes it more efficient andmore flexible than competing systems, making better use of your hardware.

Flumotion can even stream Flash Video and Windows Media formats, which usually require theirown specific server software. Capture from DVB-S or DVB-T inputs is also possible.

Optional components allow you to require authentication or payment before viewing, or addadvertisements or logos into the streamed content.

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Chapter 2. Quick StartThis chapter will introduce you to Flumotion by showing how you might set up a simple streaming systemon your local machine. In later chapters we will explain how you can customize the configuration.

InstallationEach Linux distribution has a slightly different method for installing software. Here are the installationinstructions for some common Linux distributions.

After installation, Flumotion should be available from the Application → Sound & Video sub-menu onyour panel. In addition, three binaries (flumotion-manager, flumotion-worker and flumotion-admin)should be available in your path.

Installation on Ubuntu Linux

To install Flumotion, open the Synaptic Package Manager from the System → Administration sub-menuon the panel.

First make sure that the Universe repository is enabled, by selecting the Settings → Repositories menuitem.

Then find Flumotion in the package list, click the check box in the first column and select Mark forinstallation from the drop-down menu, and click Apply on the toolbar.

Note

Alternatively, just do sudo apt-get install flumotion from the command line Terminal.

Note

If you need a newer version of Flumotion that is not yet packaged officially by UbuntuLinux, you might try using the Flumotion Ubuntu Linux repository, by adding this line toyour /etc/apt/sources.list file, changing hardy appropriately if you are using adifferent version of Ubuntu Linux.

deb http://www.flumotion.net/pkg/ubuntu hardy main

You can add this line in the Synaptic Package Manager by selecting the Settings →Repositories menu item, selecting the Third-Party Software tab, and clicking the Add button.

Installation on Fedora Linux or Red Hat Linux

To install Flumotion, open Add/Remove Software from the System → Administration sub-menu on thepanel.

Then find Flumotion in the package list, in the Servers category, and click the Install button.

Note

Alternatively, as the root user, just do yum install flumotion from the command lineTerminal.

Quick Start

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Note

If you need a newer version of Flumotion that is not yet packaged officially by FedoraLinux, you might try using the Flumotion Fedora Linux repository, by following the Fedoradownload instructions at the gstreamer web site [http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/fedora5.html], which explain how to install new .repo files and import the GPG key.

Starting FlumotionTo start Flumotion, choose the Application → Sound & Video → Flumotion Streaming ServerAdministration menu item on your panel. This starts the Flumotion Connections Assistant.

A Simple Example

This example will show how to start a Flumotion streaming system with the simplest possible defaults,just to demonstrate the basics. You won't even need a camera or microphone because we will use sometest inputs that provide computer-generated video and audio.

When the Flumotion Configuration Assistant first starts, you will see this dialog.

http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/download/fedora5.html




Quick Start

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Figure 2.1. Starting the Configuration Assistant

If you already had a Flumotion system running, then you could use this dialog to connect to it andadminister it. But we will create a new Flumotion system by choosing the Start a new manager and connectto it option.

On the next page, click Forward to start and connect. We will learn more about Managers and Workersin the Architecture chapter.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.2. Starting a new Manager and Worker

After these processes have started, you will see a confirmation page before actually connecting to themanager.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.3. Connecting to the new Manager

You will now see the detailed Configuration Assistant.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.4. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page

Click the Forward button to see the first real page of the assistant, which allows you to choose a commonscenario, such as Stream Live or Stream Files On Demand. We will choose the defaults Stream Livescenario so just click Forward to accept these defaults.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.5. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page

The next page allows you to choose Production inputs. We will use the defaults - Test Video Producerand Test Audio Producer so just click Forward to accept these defaults.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.6. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page, Showing Test Inputs

We don't need to change anything on the remaining pages, so you can now continue to click Forward untilyou reach the last page. You will pass pages for Test Video Producer settings, Overlay settings, Test AudioProducer settings, Encoding settings, Theora Encoder settings, Vorbis Encoder settings, Consumptionsettings (streaming or saving to disk), HTTP Streaming settings, HTTP Streaming (Audio & Video)settings, Content License settings, and then the Summary page.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.7. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page

After you click Apply, the Flumotion Administration window will open, showing all the components inyour chosen Flumotion system. The icon for each component will gradually change as each component isstarted. If any component has a problem then the icon will indicate this and you can click on the componentto see details.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.8. The Administration Window

If you select the http-audio-video component you will see a clickable URL button on the right-hand side, in the Statistics tab. Clicking this button should cause the appropriate client application to openand play the streaming video. For instance, the Totem Movie Player will open on most Linux systems.

If you have no suitable player application, you can instead click on the http-server-audio-videoserver component to see an alternative URL. This plays the streamed content via a client-side CortadoJava applet embedded in an otherwise static web page.

Quick Start

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Figure 2.9. Viewing the Streamed Content, Showing Test Inputs

When you have finished, stop all the components by selecting Manage → Stop All from the menu, thenclose the window.

See the Using The Assistant chapter for more details about the Configuration Assistant. See also theAdministration Window section.

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Chapter 3. Using The AssistantThe Simple Example section briefly showed the Configuration Assistant. In this chapter we will look againin more detail, changing some settings to stream our own video and audio instead of the test inputs. Thisassumes that you have a working camera and a microphone attached to your computer or built in to yourcomputer.

Flumotion uses XML configuration files that tell it what to do. This assistant helps to create a Flumotionconfiguration for simple scenarios such as live streaming of a single camera or on-demand streaming of pre-existing video files. The assistant is not sophisticated enough to create more complex configurations thatare often needed in the real world. For instance, you might need to stream the same video in multiple codecsand at multiple resolutions. However, the assistant should help you to become familiar with Flumotionand can be useful later to generate a fragment of a configuration file.

Detailed ExampleAs in the Simple Example section, choose the Application → Sound & Video → Flumotion StreamingServer Administration menu item on your panel then choose the Start a new manager and connect to itoption.

As the next page of the assistant explains, this starts a Flumotion Manager, and a Flumotion Workerwhich it manages. Clicking Forward will start these and connect to the Manager so we can specifywhat the worker should do. You will learn more about Flumotion Managers and Workers in theArchitecture chapter.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.1. Starting a new Manager and Worker

After these processes have started, you will see a confirmation page before actually connecting to theManager.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.2. Connecting to the new Manager

You will now see the detailed Configuration Assistant.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.3. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page

Click the Forward button to see the first real page of the assistant, which allows you to choose a commonscenario, such as Stream Live or Stream Files On Demand. We will choose the defaults Stream Livescenario so just click Forward to accept these defaults.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.4. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page

The next page allows you to choose Production inputs. Choose Web Camera for Video and SoundCard for Audio. If you don't have a web camera or a sound card then you can choose the test producer foreither of these. Flumotion supports a wide range of audio and video production devices.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.5. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page

Click the Forward button to see the Webcam page, on which you can specify which webcam should beused, with what resolution and frame rate.

The Size and Frame Rate drop-down controls will be filled with the choices supported by your camera. Forthis example, choose a size of 320 x 240 and a frame rate of 15fps or similar because the default settingswould require too much processing power for the average desktop PC.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.6. The Configuration Assistant's Webcam Page

In this screenshot you can also see the worker drop-down choice. This allows you to choose what computerthis component should run on, for instance if the camera is attached to a different computer that is availablevia the network. This allows you to distribute tasks across several server computers. In this case we havejust started a single local worker, so localhost is the only available choice. This assumes that thecamera is attached to your current computer. See the Deployment chapter to learn how to create extraworkers. The Configuration Assistant would then offer these workers in the drop-downchoice after connecting to their manager.

Click the Forward button to see the Overlay page and just click Forward again to accept its default values.The overlay converter allows you to overlay some text on top of the video, such as a broadcaster's name.You may also display some images at the bottom of the video, such as a Creative Commons logo.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.7. The Configuration Assistant's Overlay Page

On the following Sound Card page, you can configure the sound inputs. Choose Microphone from theInput drop-down control. In most cases the other settings will already be correct.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.8. The Configuration Assistant's Sound Card Page

Click the Forward button to see the Encoding page. Encoding compresses your stream to make better useof bandwidth than a raw stream and provides the content in a format expected by client players.

In the Basic version of the Flumotion Streaming Server, we offer a choice of high-quality free codecs.Most are part of the Ogg family of codecs provided by xiph. The full version also supports a wide rangeof licensed proprietary codecs such as Windows Media, MP3 or Adobe Flash, to support commonmedia player software.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.9. Choosing Encoders

On this page, choose the default settings of Ogg, Theora and Vorbis.

We'll use the default Ogg Theora format for Video and Ogg Vorbis for audio, so just click Forwardto accept them.

We don't need to change anything on the remaining pages, so you can now continue to click Forwarduntil you reach the last page. You will pass pages for Theora Encoder settings, Vorbis Encoder settings,Consumption settings (streaming or saving to disk), HTTP Streaming settings, HTTP Streaming (Audio& Video) settings, Content License settings, and then the Summary page.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.10. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page

After you click Apply, the Flumotion Administration window will open, showing all the components inyour chosen Flumotion system. The icon for each component will gradually change as each component isstarted. If any component has a problem then the icon will indicate this and you can click on the componentto see details.

You will see producer components to take audio and video input from your microphone and camera;encoder components to create Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora data from these inputs; a muxercomponent to combine the encoded audio and video data into one synchronized stream; and a http-audio-video streamer component (a http-streamer) to stream that content to viewers via HTTP on port8880.

There is also a non-flow component, porter which simply listens on the port on behalf of the http-audio-video streamer component, allowing multiple streamer components to provide content to thesame port, but via different URLs, perceived by viewers as different pages on the same server.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.11. The Administration Window

As described in the Simple Example section, you can select the http-audio-video component tosee a clickable URL button on the right-hand side, suitable for a streaming client application, or you caninstead click on the http-server-audio-video server component to see an alternative URL witha Java applet.

Using The Assistant

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Figure 3.12. Viewing the Streamed Content

When you have finished, stop all the components by selecting Manage → Stop All from the menu, thenclose the window. Alternatively you could just close the window to leave the streaming server runningand later start Flumotion Streaming Server Administration again to reconnect to the manager, providingthe default user/test username and password login.

SummaryThe Flumotion Configuration Assistant is useful for a simple examples such as this, or togenerate fragments of configuration files with the Export Configuration menu item. A real streamingsystem would often be more complicated and must be defined via XML configuration files. For instance,you may need to supply content for multiple client players (multiple codecs) and different bandwidths(different quality levels). You will also need to set up the Flumotion system as a service to run at start up.You can read more about these issues in the Deployment chapter.

Using The Assistant

29

The Flumotion Administration window also has an Import Configuration menu item. This is only usefulfor viewing the results of your edits to the XML files while creating a full Flumotion configuration. Toadminister a real running system you should instead just connect to a running Manager.

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Chapter 4. ArchitectureIntroduction

A Flumotion system consists of several parts. This section introduces the relevant terminology and explainshow the parts work together. This will help you to Deploy your Flumotion system.

ComponentsA single Flumotion system is called a Planet. It contains several components working together. Someof these are Feed components, for instance to receive data, encode it, and stream it. This group of Feedcomponents is called a Flow. You could imagine it as a flowing river on the surface of the Planet. EachFlow component outputs data that is taken as an input by the next component in the Flow, transformingthe data step by step.

Other components may perform extra tasks, such as restricting access to certain users, or allowing usersto pay for access to certain content (Bouncer components). This group of components is called anAtmosphere. Again, it is part of the Planet.

Note

Flumotion's planet metaphor does not go further than this. It only involves the flow and anatmosphere.

This diagram shows a Planet with Components in both the Atmosphere and Flow.

Figure 4.1. The Flumotion Architecture

Feed ComponentsFeed components are arranged in a flow, connecting to each other in sequence. Each component may bein only one flow and must be connected to another component in the same flow.

There are three types of feed components:

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Producer A producer only produces stream data, usually in a raw format, though sometimesit is already encoded. The stream data can be produced from an actual hardwaredevice (webcam, FireWire camera, sound card, etc), by reading it from a file,by generating it in software (test signals), or by importing external streams fromFlumotion servers or other servers.

A feed can be simple or aggregated. For example an aggregated feed mightproduce both audio and video.

For example, an audio producer component (such as soundcard-producer)provides raw sound data from a microphone or other simple audio input.Likewise, a video producer (such as firewire-producer) provides rawvideo data from a camera.

Converter A converter converts stream data. It can encode or decode a feed. It can combinefeeds or feed components to make a new feed. It can change the feed by changingthe content, overlaying images over video streams, compressing the sound, etc.

For example, an audio encoder component (such as the vorbis-encoder)can take raw sound data from an audio producer component (such as thesoundcard-producer) and encode it, for instance as Ogg Vorbis or MP3.The video encoder component (such as the theora-encoder) can encode datafrom a video producer component (such as the firewire-producer), forinstance as Ogg Theora or MPEG.

Note that combiner converters can take more than one feed. For instance, thesingle-switch-combiner component can take a master feed and a backupfeed. If the master feed stops supplying data then it will output the backup feedinstead. This could show a standard "Transmission Interrupted" page.

Muxers are a special type of combiner component. For instance, the ogg-muxer component combines audio and video (for instance, from vorbis-encoder and theora-encoder) to provide one stream of audiovisual data,with the sound synchronized correctly to the video.

Consumer A consumer only consumes stream data. It might stream a feed to the network,making it available to the outside world, or it could capture a feed to disk.

For example, the http-streamer component can take encoded data (forinstance, from a ogg-muxer component) and serve it via HTTP for viewers onthe Internet.

Other consumers, such as the shout2-consumer component can even makeFlumotion streams available to other streaming platforms, such as IceCast.

Other ComponentsThe other components are part of the Atmosphere. They provide additional functionality to flows andthe manager and are not directly involved in creation or processing of the data stream.

Here are some examples of other components:

Bouncer A bouncer implements an authentication mechanism. It receives authenticationrequests from a component or manager and verifies that the requested action isallowed. A bouncer could be implemented using a standard htpasswd file, anLDAP username/password backend, or any other mechanism.

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For instance, the htpasswdcrypt-bouncer), controlled by an Apache-stylehtpasswd format uese crypted passwords.

Managers And WorkersA Flumotion system consists of a few server processes (daemons) working together. A Worker processcreates processes for the Components, and a Manager process tells the Worker what to do. TheFlumotion administration user interface connects to the Manager, which in turn controls the Workers,telling it to start and stop components.

The components may be split across multiple machines, so there may be multiple Workers - usuallyone per machine. The entire system usually has only one Manager, on one of the machines. However,different arrangements, such as multiple workers and managers on one machine, are possible and may beuseful in some circumstances in order to clearly separate different parts of your Flumotion system.

This diagram shows the Planet again, with specific components grouped into Workers on separatecomputers, and a Manager to manage the workers.

Figure 4.2. The Flumotion Architecture, with the Manager and Workers

After the manager process starts, it starts an internal Bouncer component used to authenticateworkers and components later on. Then it waits for incoming connections from workers. Then it cantell the workers to start their components. Those new components will also log in to the manager.

Note that the Streamer Worker in this example would typically be outside of a corporate firewall, becauseclient users on the Internet must connect to it directly to receive content. See the Firewall section for moredetails.

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Chapter 5. DeploymentThis section describes how to setup and configure Flumotion for a real-world streaming mediaenvironment. See also the Security and Usage Scenario chapters.

Service scripts For StartupYou can start and stop Flumotion using the service script at /etc/init.d/flumotion. For instance,use /etc/init.d/flumotion start to start Flumotion and /etc/init.d/flumotion stop to stop it.

This script tells Flumotion to use the configuration files found in /etc/flumotion/ (see theConfiguration Files section) and to write logs to /var/log/flumotion/.

Your Linux distro probably starts Flumotion using this script at startup time. If it does not then you mayuse your Linux distro's graphical control panel to specify that this should happen, as described here.

The Services control panel in Fedora LinuxOn Fedora Linux or Red Hat Linux you may use the Service Configuration control panel to start and stop

the Flumotion service. Choose System+Administration → Services from your panel. If you start Flumotionin this control panel then it will be started automatically at each system start.

Figure 5.1. Service Configuration in Fedora Linux or Red hat Linux

Specifying Service Startup Using the Command Line

Fedora Linux

Fedora Linux provides the chkconfig command, which helps with the administration of the /etc/rc*.d/ directories, which specify the services that should start at boot time.

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For instance, you can specify that Flumotion should start at boot time with this command, as root: /sbin/chkconfig flumotion on

you can discover whether Flumotion is already specified to start at boot time with this command, as root:/sbin/chkconfig --list flumotion

You can also use the service to start and stop Flumotion manually. For instance: /sbin/service flumotionstart and /sbin/service flumotion stop

Generic Linux

On other Linux systems, such as Ubuntu Linux, you may edit the system's startup files directly. Assumingthat you have a Flumotion service script at /etc/init.d/flumotion, you can cause this to be startedwhen the system reaches a certain run level, by adding a symlink in the appropriate rc*.d/ directory.For instance,

cd /etc/rc2.dln -s /etc/init.d/flumotion S20flumotion

Configuration FilesThe /etc/flumotion directory contains a managers directory and a workers directory, whichshould both contain XML files. These files may be in sub-directories and may be split up into separateXML files. See the Managers and Workers section of the Architecture chapter.

The Manager's ConfigurationThe managers directory typically contains a sub-directory for each manager (usually only one),containing a planet.xml file. This file contains an XML node for the planet. This in turn containsnodes for the Planet's manager, atmosphere and flow, which themselves contain componentnodes.

Note

Alternatively, the manager, flow and atmosphere nodes may be in separate XML files,also with parent planet nodes. These files will then be merged at runtime by Flumotion,without changing the files. This can make the configuration clearer.

In the manager node, you can specify the manager's hostname and the port number and transportprotocol that it should use, but you can usually just use the defaults. You should always use the defaultssl transport protocol, for secure connections, unless you are running Flumotion on an embedded devicewith very restricted resources.

By specifying localhost for the manager's hostname, you can also restrict access to workers thatare running on the same computer, though this would rarely be appropriate for a real Flumotion system.

Components

Each component XML node specifies the component name and type, which worker process it shouldbelong to, and what feeding component it should receive data from, along with the specific properties forthe component type.

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See also the Components section of the Architecture chapter and the Components Reference section.

Eaters and Feeds

Each flow component, apart from producers (and apart from non-flow components such as bouncers),receives data from one or more other components. This data stream is called a Feed. The eater nodespecifies the name of the upstream component that feeds data to the component, in the child feednode. When the feeding component has more than one output (also known as a Feeder), the specificoutput must be named by placing it after the component name, separated by a colon. For instance,<eater><feed>firewire-producer:audio</feed></eater>.

Version

The component node's version attribute is optional. You might use this to specify the exact versionof Flumotion that you are using, if you are using a component whose available properties are likely tochange in a future version of Flumotion If you try to use the XML configuration file with another versionof Flumotion then you will see a warning in the log files and in the administration UI.

Flumotion also uses this version number to help it adapt when using a newer version of Flumotion,choosing to interpret the configuration as it would have been interpreted by the earlier version ofFlumotion. However, you should eventually update the configuration for the new properties supported bythe component.

Project

The component node's project attribute is optional, defaulting to "flumotion". This specifies the setof components from which the component is available, with "flumotion" being the core set. To use acomponent from an additional set, you should specify the name of that set for the project attribute.

Additional components are available from the following sets:

flumotion-bouncer Additional Bouncer components.

flumotion-flash Components for Flash video streaming.

flumotion-windowsmedia

Components for WindowsMedia streaming.

Plugs

Plugs allow extra features to be added to components. Each component may have certain socketswhich allow the component to use appropriate plugs. Likewise, each plug is compatible with a particularsocket.

For instance, see the Logging section, or the Limiting Bandwidth section.

Logging

Many components can output log files to disk. This is useful for troubleshooting, monitoring, or billing.

For instance, this example specifies an apachelogger plug for the Logger socket of a http-servercomponent, and specifies the logfile property for that plug.

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<component name="http-server-one" type="http-server" ... <plugs> <plug socket="flumotion.component.plugs.loggers.Logger" type="requestlogger-file"> <property name="logfile">/tmp/flumotion-one.log</property> </plug> </plugs> ...</component>

Inspecting Components and Plugs

You can discover information about a component type, including the list of Feeders that it provides,and the properties that you can set, and the sockets that it has, by using the flumotion-inspect command.This command can also provide information about a plug.

For instance, flumotion-inspect firewire-producer.For instance:

$ flumotion-inspect firewire-producer

Component: firewire-producer Produce feeds from a Firewire/DV device.

Source: flumotion.component.producers.firewire.firewire in flumotion/component/producers/firewire

Eaters: (None)

Feeders: audio video dv

Features: admin/gtk: admin_gtk.py:GUIClass component: firewire.py:Firewire wizard: wizard_gtk.py:FireWireWizardPlugin

Properties: framerate: type fraction, optional The framerate (in fps) guid: type string, optional The GUID of the device (a hexadecimal like 0xhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh) height: type int, optional The height to scale to is-square: type bool, optional Whether to scale to a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio

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scaled-width: type int, optional The width to scale to before correcting width: type int, optional The final width, including correction

Clocking: Needs synchronisation: True Clock priority: 160

Sockets:

Repeaters

A repeater component can avoid excessive use of network bandwidth. For instance, if both a http-streamer and disk-consumer component on a remote computer should use the same ogg-muxercomponent as their feeding component, an intermediate repeater component on the remote machinecan be used as the feeding component instead. This means that the data is sent over the network only once,to the repeater component.

The Manager Bouncer

The manager node contains just one special component, for the manager-bouncer, which controlsaccess to the manager from the worker processes.

Because there is currently only one supported type of Manager Bouncer, the type attribute must behtpasswdcrypt-bouncer.

For the htpasswdcrypt-bouncer, the user name and crypted password can be provided via aproperty node, setting the data property. For instance, this example shows the default username of"user" with the default password of "test"

<component name="manager-bouncer" type="htpasswdcrypt-bouncer"> <property name="data">user:PSfNpHTkpTx1M</property></component>

Alternatively, you may use an external file, by providing the file path as the value of a file propertynode. For instance,

<component name="manager-bouncer" type="htpasswdcrypt-bouncer"> <property name="file">/etc/flumotion/managers/default/htpasswd</property></component>

See the htpasswdcrypt-bouncer reference section.

The workers must specify one of these user name and password combination when logging into themanager. See the Remote Workers Configuration section.

Note

You can create the credentials, including the crypted password, using the htpasswdcommand, as provided by the Apache web server package.

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For example, to create a file containing credentials for username “someone” and password“s3kr3t”, type this command in a terminal:

htpasswd -d -c passwords someone

The program will ask you to type the password twice:

New password:Re-type new password:Adding password for user someone

Check the generated file by typing cat passwords which will show: 1

someone:5jKUrPB0Xbzos

Note that, while it is possible to specify passwords on the command line when creating thisfile, by using the -p option, this is bad for security reasons. The command line is visible toanyone logged in to the machine, as well as recorded in the shell's history.

Other Bouncers

All Flumotion systems should have a Manager Bouncer, as described in the Manager Bouncer section.Some systems may require additional bouncers, for instance to restrict access to the streamer componentto certain users or IP addresses. These bouncer components should be declared in the atmosphere noderather than the flow node.

For instance, you might add a htpasswdcrypt-bouncer component to the atmosphere like so:

<planet> <atmosphere> <component name="streamer-bouncer" project="flumotion" type="htpasswdcrypt-bouncer" version="0.5.2.1" worker="localhost"> <property name="data"><testuser:Z5WEs3ezyz0E2> </property> </component> </atmosphere>

You could then simply specify this bouncer as a property for the streamer components's node, causing theuser's web browser or player to prompt the user for a username and password. For instance:

<component name="http-audio" project="flumotion" type="http-streamer" version="0.5.2.1" worker="localhost">... <property name="bouncer">streamer-bouncer</property">

See the Manager Bouncer section for instructions to create the htpasswd string. You may instead specify afilename as a property, allowing you to update the list of allowed users and passwords from a differentsystem.

There is also an ip-bouncer Bouncer that can allow or deny ranges of IP addresses instead of demandinga password.

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Example

This example was exported from Flumotion's Configuration Assistant after choosing the test audio andvideo inputs. A node for the manager was then added.

Example File [./examples/example_conf_planet_testinputs.xml]

<planet name="example-planet">

<manager name="example-planet-manager">  

 

 

 

<component name="manager-bouncer" type="htpasswdcrypt-bouncer"> <property name="data">user:PSfNpHTkpTx1M</property> </component> </manager>

<atmosphere> <component name="http-server-audio-video" type="http-server" label="http-server-audio-video" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <property name="porter-username">pycBUhaLQlwt</property> <property name="mount-point">/ogg-audio-video/cortado/</property> <property name="porter-password">nWbDPQzKKrMa</property> <property name="type">slave</property> <property name="porter-socket-path">flu-KbVvOp.socket</property> <property name="port">8800</property> <plugs> <plug socket="flumotion.component.plugs.base.ComponentPlug" type="component-cortado"> <property name="has-audio">True</property> <property name="buffer-size">40</property> <property name="stream-url">http://localhost:8800/ogg-audio-video/</property> <property name="framerate">5.0</property> <property name="height">240</property> <property name="codebase">http://localhost:8800/ogg-audio-video/cortado/</property> <property name="width">320</property> <property name="has-video">True</property>

./examples/example_conf_planet_testinputs.xml

./examples/example_conf_planet_testinputs.xml

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</plug> </plugs> </component> <component name="porter-http" type="porter" label="porter-http" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <property name="username">pycBUhaLQlwt</property> <property name="socket-path">flu-KbVvOp.socket</property> <property name="password">nWbDPQzKKrMa</property> <property name="port">8800</property> </component> </atmosphere> <flow name="default"> <component name="producer-audio" type="audiotest-producer" label="producer-audio" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <property name="volume">1.0</property> <property name="rate">44100</property> <property name="frequency">440</property> <clock-master>true</clock-master> </component> <component name="producer-video" type="videotest-producer" label="producer-video" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <property name="pattern">0</property> <property name="framerate">50/10</property> <property name="width">320</property> <property name="height">240</property> <clock-master>false</clock-master> </component> <component name="overlay-video" type="overlay-converter" label="overlay-video" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">producer-video:default</feed> </eater> <property name="show-text">True</property>

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<property name="xiph-logo">True</property> <property name="text">Flumotion</property> <property name="cc-logo">True</property> <property name="height">240</property> <property name="width">320</property> <property name="fluendo-logo">True</property> <clock-master>false</clock-master> </component> <component name="encoder-video" type="theora-encoder" label="encoder-video" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">overlay-video:default</feed> </eater> <property name="keyframe-maxdistance">10</property> <property name="sharpness">0</property> <property name="quality">16</property> <property name="noise-sensitivity">1</property> <clock-master>false</clock-master> </component> <component name="encoder-audio" type="vorbis-encoder" label="encoder-audio" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">producer-audio:default</feed> </eater> <property name="bitrate">64000</property> <clock-master>false</clock-master> </component> <component name="muxer-audio-video" type="ogg-muxer" label="muxer-audio-video" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">encoder-audio:default</feed> <feed alias="default-bis">encoder-video:default</feed> </eater> <clock-master>false</clock-master> </component> <component name="http-audio-video" type="http-streamer" label="http-audio-video"

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worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">muxer-audio-video:default</feed> </eater> <property name="porter-username">pycBUhaLQlwt</property> <property name="mount-point">/ogg-audio-video/</property> <property name="porter-password">nWbDPQzKKrMa</property> <property name="type">slave</property> <property name="porter-socket-path">flu-KbVvOp.socket</property> <property name="burst-on-connect">False</property> <clock-master>false</clock-master> <plugs> </plugs> </component> </flow>

</planet>

The Workers' ConfigurationThe workers directory typically contains an XML file for the worker that runs on the computer,containing an XML node for the worker. This in turn contains nodes for the manager which theworker should login to, and an authentication node which specifies how this login should be done.You can specify the manager's port and transport protocol, but you can usually just use the defaults.

Note

The password is written as plaintext in the worker's configuration file but, as long as yourworker is using the SSL transport protocol it is not actually passed over the network ascleartext.

The actual list of components for the worker, and the properties for those components, is in the manager'sconfiguration. The manager will tell the worker what components to start, with what properties, afterthe worker logs in to the manager. This keeps the majority of the configuration on one computer, wherethe manager runs.

The feederport node specifies an additional range of ports that the worker may use for unencryptedTCP connections, after a challenge/response authentication. For instance a component in the worker mayneed to communicate with components in other workers, to receive feed data from other components.In some cases the worker may open up UDP ports in this range as well, for instance if a component is aclock master, used for synchronization. Two ports are usually enough.

Example

This is an example of the configuration file for a worker.

Example File [./examples/example_conf_worker.xml]

<?xml version="1.0"?><worker>

./examples/example_conf_worker.xml

./examples/example_conf_worker.xml

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<manager> <host>somehost.somedomain</host>  

 - </manager>

<authentication type="plaintext"> <username>user</username> <password>test</password> </authentication>

<feederports>8650-8651</feederports> 

<debug>*:4</debug>

</worker>

Setting Up Remote Flumotion Workers

One of the most powerful features of Flumotion is its ability to distribute work over many separatecomputers. In this section, we cover basic configuration instructions for Flumotion when used in this way.

By default, the installation of Flumotion only allows connections to the manager from the local host, forsecurity reasons. If you want to allow workers or administration clients to log in from other hosts thenyou should change the authentication settings and remove the host node from the manager's configurationfile, usually at /etc/flumotion/managers/default/planet.xml.

You should then tell the Flumotion workers to log into the remote manager by adding theneeded configuration in the workers's configuration file, usually at /etc/flumotion/workers/default.xml. When configured for remote connections this file will look something like this:

<worker> <manager> <host>stream.test.com</host>

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<port>7531</port> </manager>

<authentication type="plaintext"> <username>user</username> <password>test</password> </authentication></worker>

In this example we have used stream.test.com as the example remote server where the manager is runningand we are using the default Flumotion SSL port 7531.

Note

You could also connect the worker directly from the command line by using this syntax:

flumotion-worker -H stream.test.com -P 7531 -u user -p test.

You can get more information on these and other command line parameters by readingthe flumotion-worker man page (type man flumotion-worker) or by running flumotion-worker -h on the command line.

System UsersYou should have a dedicated linux user for the Flumotion services, usually called Flumotion. This usershould be specified when you setup the startup scripts. Make sure that the user has access to the audio andvideo devices for sound and video capture, for instance by making the special Flumotion user a memberof the appropriate groups.

Standard distribution packages, for instance with Ubuntu Linux or Fedora Linux, create this user withappropriate access to system devices.

Note

Some distributions, such as Ubuntu Linux and Debian Linux, make administration easier byhaving special audio, video, and plugdev groups with ownership of hardware devices.Any user which is a member of these groups may access these devices.

However, some distributions, such as Fedora Linux and Red Hat Linux, do not have a sound,video or media group policy. For these Linux distributions, you'll need to do some extraconfiguration.

You need to adjust permissions for these devices: /dev/snd* and /dev/mixer* for OSS(sound), /dev/video* for video devices and /dev/snd/* for ALSA (sound). BecauseFedora Linux uses udev these changes will normally only last until you log out or shutdown,because Fedora only the current user has access to these devices by default.

To make these modified permissions permanent, you may create your own media groupand change the security setup for your distribution to use that group. There are several placesyou need to change for this to work.

You could modify /etc/udev/permissions.d/50-udev.permissions and putyour changes in /etc/udev/permissions.d/10-flumotion.permissions,which will then override the 50-udev.permissions.

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You should also look in /etc/security/console.perms to see what pam_consolechanges on login/logout.

Multiple ServersFlumotion can distribute its work over several computers, making the best use of your hardware andnetwork resources, and making it easier, for instance, to use multiple content inputs from differentlocations.

See the Remote Workers Configuration section to learn how to configure a distributed Flumotion system,and see the Security chapter to be aware of other issues when deploying a distributed Flumotion system.

The Flumotion Services company offers a remote management and support solution for these issues andcan help integrate Flumotion with your existing systems.

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Chapter 6. Usage ScenariosThis chapter describes some common uses of Flumotion, with suggested configurations and some adviceabout working with Flumotion in these situations.

Live Streaming of a ConferenceThis section describes how Flumotion may be used to provide live online video streaming of a conference,allowing talks to be seen even by people not physically attending the conference venue. In addition, thisvideo content can be simultaneously recorded to disk for later viewing. The On Demand section describeshow to stream previously-recorded content from disk.

End User ExperienceYour aim in this situation is to provide a web address for each conference room, usually by providing linkson your organization's website. You can tell people to navigate to this address in their web browser to viewthe content in the appropriate player application. You may also wish to provide alternative web addresses,for people who wish to view the content directly in a web page via the Cortado Java applet.

HardwareFor this example, we will assume that there are two conference rooms. Each conference room requiresthe following hardware:

1. A computer to encode the video. This must be attached to the network, with a fixed IP address anddedicated bandwith. It should have a FireWire input.

2. A video camera with a tripod. Ideally, the video camera will have a line-level audio input andFireWire output. Higher-quality cameras produce clearer images, with less noise, allowing thestream to be encoded more efficiently.

3. A microphone or access to the mixing desk for the room's own audio recording system. If you are usinga mixing desk then you will need a sound cable to take its audio signal.

Naturally, you will need power sockets for all your hardware. For instance, at least one for the cameraand one for the computer. Make sure that the power to the room is not turned off at unexpected times bythe building management.

The audio input should be connected to the video camera, simplifying the synchronization of audio andvideo. The camera should then be connected to the computer via their FireWire ports.

Note

A "line-level" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level] audio input is a strong audio input,as opposed to a weaker microphone-level input. To know if your equipment provides a line-level or microphone-level input you will need to be familiar with your audio hardware, suchas the microphone or mixing desk. You must also know whether your camera expects a line-level or microphone-level input. You may need to configure a mixing desk appropriately, oruse a pre-amplifier or attenuator, being careful to maintain the quality of the audio. Ideally,you can use the room's mixing desk and you have a camera that can take its line-level inputdirectly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_level

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47

You should also have one central networked computer to aggregate the streams from the computers ineach room. This computer will usually be the only one with access to the Internet, allowing it relay thestreams to an external high bandwidth server which will actually serve the content to viewers. You mayrequire two network cards in this computer, using one for the local network and one for the Internet

Note

You will need to talk to the venue's system administrator to arrange for a computer to bypassthe firewall or connect through the firewall. The system administrator will usually alsoprovide the static IP addresses for each computer.

Example ConfigurationRemember that we have two conference rooms. We could create one Flumotion Planet configurationto handle both rooms, with workers for the computers in each room, and one manager on the centralcomputer. But to simplify the configuration we will create two Flumotion Planets, meaning that wehave two managers running on the central computer.

Workers

First we will configure the workers on the computers in each room. As explained in the WorkerConfiguration section, this doesn't require much XML , because we just tell the worker to log in to amanager which will tell it what components to start. Each conference room worker logs into a differentmanager, so it logs in to a separate port, and should have separate feederport ports. For instance:

Example Worker File [./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_worker.xml]

<worker name="room1-worker"> 

 <manager> <host>10.0.0.120</host>

 <port>7530</port> </manager>

<authentication type="plaintext"> <username>flumotion</username> <password>Pb75qla</password> </authentication>

<feederports>8650-8651</feederports>

</worker>

For each conference room, we will also have one worker on the central computer, which will receivedata from the worker in the conference room and stream it to the outside world. This can use much thesame configuration file.

./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_worker.xml

./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_worker.xml

Usage Scenarios

48

Managers

For each room we will create a manager on the central computer, in a separate XML configurationfile. This manager will accept logins from its workers on the same port as specified in the worker'sconfiguration.

Each manager will tell its workers to create components. It will tell the conference room workerto create audio and video producer components and encoder and muxer components, as well as a disk-consumer component to save the archives for later user. It will tell the local worker to create a streamingcomponent, receiving encoded data from the conference room worker.

Note

Instead of archiving the content on each encoding computer, in each conference room, youcould archive the content from all rooms centrally on one computer. However, there is alwaysa risk of local network problems, so it is safer to archive the content where it is created.

For instance:

Example Manager File [./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_manager.xml]

<?xml version="1.0" ?><planet>

<manager name="planet-room1">  <port>7530</port>

<component name="manager-bouncer" type="htpasswdcrypt"> <property name="data">flumotion:dF4wh3SMa4q/2</property> </component> </manager>

<flow name="default">

 <component name="video-producer" project="flumotion" type="firewire-producer" version="0.2.1" worker="room1-worker">  <property name="framerate">25/2</property> <property name="height">288</property> <property name="is_square">False</property> <property name="scaled_width">360</property> <property name="width">360</property> </component>

 <component name="video-overlay" project="flumotion" type="overlay" version="0.2.1" worker="room1-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">video-producer:video</feed> </eater>

./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_manager.xml

./examples/example_conf_usage_conference_manager.xml

Usage Scenarios

49

 <property name="cc_logo">True</property> <property name="fluendo_logo">True</property> <property name="height">288</property> <property name="show_text">True</property> <property name="text">Some Conference</property> <property name="width">360</property> <property name="xiph_logo">True</property> </component>

 <component name="video-encoder" project="flumotion" type="theora-encoder" version="0.2.1" worker="room1-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">video-overlay</feed> </eater>

 <property name="bitrate">360</property> </component>

 <component name="audio-encoder" project="flumotion" type="vorbis-encoder" version="0.2.0" worker="room1-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">video-producer:audio</feed> </eater>

<property name="bitrate">20480</property> <property name="channels">1</property> </component>

 <component name="muxer-audio-video" project="flumotion" type="ogg-muxer" version="0.2.0" worker="room1-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default1">video-encoder</feed> <feed alias="default2">audio-encoder</feed> </eater> </component>

 <component name="http-audio-video" project="flumotion" type="http-streamer" version="0.2.0" worker="streamer-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">muxer-audio-video</feed> </eater>

 <property name="bandwidth_limit">10</property> <property name="burst_on_connect">True</property> <property name="mount_point">/</property>

Usage Scenarios

50

<property name="port">8900</property> <property name="user_limit">1024</property> <property name="logfile">/home/fluendo/conference/room1-worker.log</property> </component>

 <component name="disk-audio-video" project="flumotion" type="disk-consumer" version="0.2.0" worker="room1-worker"> <eater name="default"> <feed alias="default">muxer-audio-video</feed> </eater>

 <property name="directory">/home/fluendo/conference/archive/room1-worker/</property> <property name="rotateType">none</property> </component>

</flow>

</planet>

Suggestions

You may wish to limit the bandwidth used, as described in the Limiting Bandwidth section. You mayalso wish to create a log of all views of your on-demand content, for instance for billing purposes. Seethe Limiting Logging section.

To support a huge number of live viewers you will need to use multiple streaming servers, fed by arepeater component, with some load-balancing system to automatically direct users to an availablestreaming server. The Flumotion Services company offers a solution for this and can help integrateFlumotion with existing systems.

On Demand Streaming Of FilesThis section describes how Flumotion may be used to provide on-demand streaming of archived audioor video files. Unlike live streaming, the user may fast-forward in an on-demand stream, or go directlyto a certain point. Unlike a simple download, the user's client player can do this without downloadingthe content before that point. And unlike a simple download, playing can start before the entire file hasdownloaded, where the file format allows that.

Note

Not all file formats can be streamed on demand, because they require client players todownload the entire file to obtain enough information for the client to start playing. Forinstance, files using the AVI container (usually with an .avi extension) cannot be streamedon demand.

Usage Scenarios

51

End-User ExperienceYour aim in this situation is to provide a web address for each file, usually by providing links on yourorganization's website. You can tell people to navigate to this address in their web browser to view thecontent in the appropriate player application.

HardwareFor on-demand streaming you need only one server, with the audio or video files on that same server.

PreparationYou may wish to provide your content in a variety of streaming formats and several quality levels suitablefor different client bandwidths. However, Flumotion does not yet automatically encode and cache on-demand content so you will need to create the different versions of your files manually.

On Linux there are several utilities to help with this. The Flumotion Services company also offer a serviceto do this.

Note

For Flash Video files (.flv files), you must index the files in order to allow seeking, suchas moving forward or backwards in a file. On Linux, the flvtool2 tool can index these files.See flvtool2

Note

On-demand streaming requires your system to have accurate MIME type information. In theevent of problems you might look at the /etc/mime.types file to check that the fileextension is properly mapped to a correct MIME type. See also the IANA official list ofMIME types [http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/].

Example ConfigurationThis example creates a http-server component, streaming files from a directory specified by its pathproperty. You can view these files in a client player, by opening the URL, which is the hostname plus themount point, plus the file name. For instance, http://localhost/on-demand/test.ogv.

For instance:

Example Manager File [./examples/example_conf_usage_ondemand_manager.xml]

<planet name="admin">

<manager name="planet-room1">  <port>7530</port>

<component name="manager-bouncer" type="htpasswdcrypt"> <property name="data">flumotion:dF4wh3SMa4q/2</property> </component> </manager>

http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/



./examples/example_conf_usage_ondemand_manager.xml

./examples/example_conf_usage_ondemand_manager.xml

Usage Scenarios

52

<atmosphere> <component name="http-server-ondemand" type="http-server" label="http-server-ondemand" worker="localhost" project="flumotion" version="0.5.2.1"> <property name="mount-point">/</property> <property name="port">8800</property> <property name="path">/var/www/</property> <plugs> </plugs> </component> </atmosphere></planet>

SuggestionsYou may wish to limit the bandwidth used, as described in the Limiting Bandwidth section. You mayalso wish to create a log of all views of your on-demand content, for instance for billing purposes. Seethe Limiting Logging section.

To support a huge number of simultaneous viewers you will need to use multiple streaming servers, fed bya repeater component, with some load-balancing system to automatically direct users to an availablestreaming server. For ongoing systems, you will also need some way to automatically create the variousversions of each file. The Flumotion Services company offers a solution for these issues and can helpintegrate Flumotion with existing systems.

53

Chapter 7. SecurityThis chapter explains some of the security concepts used by Flumotion and mentions details that a networkadministrator would want to know or specify, such as port numbers used by Flumotion and the types ofencryption used by network connections. Flumotion uses a secure setup by default but its users shouldbe conscious of the basics of security, and should read this chapter to know how to configure Flumotionfor maximum security.

Remember, while it is possible to use Flumotion in a completely insecure mode, this would require youto actively set the configuration parameters to do so. For example, by default, Flumotion will use an SSLprotocol so no communication is done in cleartext.

Authentication of ConnectionsIn Flumotion, authentication is handled by bouncers components. For instance, the manager bouncerallows workers to log in to their managers and another type of bouncer allows viewers to see protectedcontent via HTTP if a certain token parameter is set.

See also the Remote Workers Configuration section.

The Manager BouncerThe bouncer that handles authentication to the manager is always started as part of the managerconfiguration. It is unlike any other component in the planet, since it's not started by a worker process, butintegrated into the manager daemon itself.

Currently, Flumotion ships with only one supported manager bouncer type (htpasswdcrypt-bouncer), controlled by an Apache-style htpasswd format using crypted passwords. More types willbe added in the future. See the Manager Bouncer Configuration section to learn how to specify allowedhosts, users and passwords.

Transport Protocol Between Processes

Managers, Workers and clientsManagers, workers and administration clients may communicate via one of two supported transportprotocols: either TCP or SSL. By default Flumotion uses SSL, which encrypts the data so it is not easilyreadable by looking at the network traffic. You should use this default wherever possible.

The transport protocol can be specified in the manager's XML configuration file and must then bespecified in each worker's XML configuration file. See the Deployment chapter for more details aboutthis part of the configuration files.

Note

Technically speaking, TCP is the transport protocol in both cases. SSL is a way of encryptingthe actual TCP packets. In the context of Flumotion, however, we refer to both as protocols,where TCP is the standard TCP protocol (with plaintext communication), and SSL usesSecure Socket Layer on top of TCP.

Security

54

TCP is the least secure because any communication using this transport protocol is readable as plaintexton the network. This means that anyone with access to the traffic on your network can see authenticationinformation, remote method calls, and other information exchanged between the various processes.

Warning

Because the TCP communication is visible as plaintext to anyone on the network, you shouldnot use this transport except for testing, or in cases where you secure the communicationthrough some other means (for example, through an SSH channel).

Generating The Certificate

For SSL communication to work, the manager needs a PEM certificate file. On startup, the managerlooks for flumotion/default.pem under the system configuration sysconfdir directory. You canspecify a different file using the --certificate parameter when starting the manager.

When Flumotion is installed from a standard Linux distribution package, a default certificate file isgenerated for you, but at some point you may wish to regenerate this file. For instance, the FedoraLinux package currently just creates a dummy default.pem file using fake data, via openssl'smake-dummy-cert program.

You may generate a real RSA private key and certificate using openssl. For instance:

openssl req -newkey rsa:1024 -keyout private-key.txt -nodes -x509 -days 365 -out certificate.txt

You will be asked to provide some details about yourself and your organization when running thiscommand.

Then combine the private key and the certificate into one default.pem file. For instance,

cat private-key.txt > ${target}echo "" >> default.pemcat certificate.txt >> default.pemrm -f private-key certificate.txt

Components

Components communicate with each other via unencrypted TCP connections because encryption of audioand video data would have a large processor performance cost. You should consider this when designingyour network. See the Firewall Issues section for more information.

Of course, when the components are on the same machine, a localhost network socket is used. Seethe Optimizing component locations chapter for more information about which components should notcommunicate across the network because they would require too much network bandwidth.

Firewall Issues

Security

55

Your network probably uses firewalls to protect computers on your local network from unauthorized accessfrom outside your network. Network administrators should read this section to learn how to configureFlumotion to run on their network, or how to adapt their network for Flumotion

Port Numbers

As described in the See the Manager Bouncer Configuration section, the workers communicate withtheir manager on a certain port. By default this port is 7531 for SSL, though this can be changed in theconfiguration if necessary for your network, or if you are running multiple managers on one machine.See also the Transport Protocols section.

Each worker may also use some (usually a maximum of two) extra feederport ports to exchangeactual unencrypted content data between components (after authentication). This range must be specifiedin the worker's configuration and each worker on the same machine must use a different range offeederport ports.

Clients (viewers or listeners of your content) will also connect to your streaming component (such as ahttp-streamer component) via a port such as 80, just as they would connect to a traditional HTTPweb server such as Apache. Therefore, that worker (containing the streaming component) would typicallybe outside of your firewall, with the minimum necessary services running.

However, the streamer component must connect to an "upstream" feeding component (such as anencoder or muxer) on another machine. Note that, like all downstream components, the streamerconnects to its feeding component, rather than the feeding component connecting to the streamingcomponent. Therefore, the feeding component's port must be open on the firewall. Future versions ofFlumotion might simplify firewall administration by allowing the feeding component to connect to thestreaming component instead, avoiding the need to open the port in the firewall.

Note

You will probably want to stream some content on port 80, because that is the default HTTPport used by web browsers, making the URL simpler. But, as with a traditional web server,port numbers under 1024 may only be used by a root process, and you should not run any partof Flumotion as root. But you may stream on another port, such as 8800 (via the portercomponent, and then redirect to port 80, for instance with iptables.

The porter component thus allows multiple streamer components to serve content on thesame port, such as port 80, via different URLs.

For instance, here is an example entry for iptables:

# Add nat section for redirecting port 80 to 8800:*nat-I PREROUTING -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to 8800COMMIT

56

Chapter 8. Optimization andPerformance

Component LocationsFeeding components provide data to other components. Some components, such as video producers,provide large amounts of raw data. You should avoid sending this raw data over the network wherepossible. For instance, try to place the encoder component on the same computer as the producer, so thatonly the smaller encoded data stream travels over the network. Of course, this is not always possible ifyou are encoding in multiple formats.

The components' properties can affect how much bandwidth they would need to send data across thenetwork. A high bit rate, resolution, and frame rate will generally produce large amounts of data. Forinstance, a firewire-producer component will produce 245 MBit/sec if set to 720x568 pixels, 24bits per pixel, and 25 frames per second (PAL). On the other hand, a firewire-producer componentset to 384x288 resolution (Quarter PAL) will produce only 61 MBit/sec of data.

Higher resolutions and frame rates will also cause a higher processor load so you will need a fast machine toencode high quality streams. However, each component runs in parallel in a separate process, so Flumotionwill make use of multiple CPUs and multiple CPU cores. However, the actual CPU load is dependenton the input signal, because more complicated content will require more processor time to encode. Youshould monitor the load on the CPUs, avoiding a CPU load of over 70%.

Limiting BandwidthThe amount of data served by a streaming component can vary over time depending on the content, becausemore complicated content can not be compressed as much as simple content. It is therefore difficult topredict how much bandwith will be needed even when limiting the number of client users.

However, Flumotion can limit the total bandwidth of a component to prevent it from becoming excessive.This is a helpful guarantee in case your estimates for maximum bandwidth could be incorrect or if youwish to optimize for a more common case.

For instance, this example shows the use of the ratecontroller-fixed plug with a http-servercomponent, to restrict its bandwidth to 200,000 bits per second.

<component name="http-server-one" type="http-server" ... <plugs> <plug socket="flumotion.component.misc.httpserver.ratecontroller.RateController" type="ratecontroller-fixed"> <property name="rate">200000</property> </plug> </plugs> ...</component>

Optimization and Performance

57

System ConfigurationThis section explains how to fine tune some Linux system configuration parameters for improvedperformance.

File DescriptorsThe streaming components use one file descriptor for each active client connection, such as an individualviewing your video. Hence, the limit on the number of file descriptors per process also limits the numberof client connections per process.

A Linux system has a global limit on the number of open file descriptors which is defined in the kernel andglobal system configuration. Linux systems also typically have per-process limits which can be differentfor particular users or groups of users. There is both a soft and hard limit. The hard limit specifies theupper limit to which a process can raise its soft limit. The current limit for your process can be discoveredusing the ulimit -n command in a terminal.

Typically, systems are limited to 1024 open file descriptors for each non-root process. Depending on thesystem you run on, this limit can be changed in various ways.

On most distributions of Linux, such as Fedora Linux, Red Hat Linux, and Ubuntu Linux, , this limit canbe changed like so:

1. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf as root. At the end of the file, add a line that reads

flumotion - nofile 8192

Replace flumotion with the username (or group name, prefixed with @) that the server will rununder.

Replace 8192 with the maximum number of open file descriptors you want to allow.

2. Verify that this works by doing the following:

On Fedora Linux or Red Hat Linux, as root:

su -s /bin/bash -c "ulimit -n" flumotion

On Ubuntu Linux:

sudo su -s /bin/bash -c "ulimit -n" flumotion

This will show the allowed number of open file descriptors:

8192

Note

Due to the way PAM 1 and sshd are set up by default on Fedora Linux and Red Hat Linux,you might not be able to log in to this account any more using ssh. So let's correct that:

1. Edit /etc/pam.d/sshd as root. Make sure this file contains a line that reads


58

session required pam_limits.so

2. Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config as root. Turn off privilege separation by adding thefollowing line

UsePrivilegeSeparation no

3. Restart the ssh daemon:

[root@server root]# service sshd restartStopping sshd: [ OK ]Starting sshd: [ OK ][root@server root]#

4. Verify that it works by trying to log in through ssh as the user:

[flumotion@server flumotion]$ ssh localhostflumotion@localhost's password:[flumotion@server flumotion]$ ulimit -n8192

Memory limitsLike all software, Flumotion and its dependencies can never be completely free of all bugs. In extremecases, GStreamer might cause Flumotion to fail by trying to allocate too much memory, for instancedue to a demuxing error or a programming error.

If you are lucky, the number is sufficiently small and the buffer can be allocated from actual RAM. Ifyou're slightly less lucky, the number is so big that the machine just doesn't have enough RAM and swapto allocate, and the program terminates. (6 hours of CD quality audio is more than 4 GB). If you're reallyunlucky, the number is huge, but in between your available RAM and your available RAM + swap. Inthat case, the allocation will succeed, and this will drive your machine into a huge swap storm as soonas the buffer gets written to.

The same file that controls limits on the number of file descriptors can also control the amount of memorya process of a user is allowed to take. The current virtual memory limit for your process can be inspectedusing ulimit -v in bash(1).

Most Linux distributions have this set to unlimited by default.

Linux systems using PAM

On systems that use PAM, this limit can be changed:

1. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf as root. At the end of the file, add a line that reads

flumotion - as 512000

Replace flumotion with the username (or group name, prefixed with @) that the server will rununder.

Replace 512000 with the maximum number of KB that you want to allow.


59

2. Verify that this works by doing the following as root:

On Fedora Linux or Red Hat Linux, as root:

su -s /bin/bash -c "ulimit -v" flumotion

On Ubuntu Linux:

sudo su -s /bin/bash -c "ulimit -v" flumotion

Which will show the number of KB that a process is allowed to allocate:

512000

60

Chapter 9. Debugging andTroubleshooting

This chapter explains various methods for debugging problems with Flumotion. Though we are alwaysworking to make the server more robust and improve the quality of the feedback through our setup andconfiguration tools, you might sometimes need to do some investigation to diagnose your problem.

Debugging FlumotionMany things can go wrong when streaming. Flumotion depends on a large stack of underlying technologiesto function perfectly for your configuration. There is a huge array of hardware devices, drivers and librariesout there. So when something goes wrong it can be caused by anything from unsupported hardware, brokenhardware, incomplete drivers to untested library versions. Fluendo and the Flumotion community are onlyable to test a small subset of the options available out there, so if you are not running a tested configurationyou might run into problems. This chapter should help you debug such problems, and help you resolvethem.

Debug levelsFlumotion and GStreamer log events at five different levels of increasing verbosity.

• 0: No debug output at all.

• 1: Only errors (default)

• 2: Errors and warnings

• 3: Errors, warnings and info messages

• 4: Errors, warnings, info, and debugging messages

• 5: Everything

Logging of events is also done in different categories. This allows you to log only certain events at a higherdebug level than others. The debug variable can be set to a comma-separated list of category:level pairs.For example, to set the logging to level 3 for all categories, but to 4 for the admin category, component,you could run a workerwith

FLU_DEBUG=*:3,admin:4 flumotion-worker -u user -p test > worker.log 2>&1

Debugging on the Flumotion levelWhen Flumotion fails to run correctly the first place to start looking is, of course, at Flumotion itself. Evenif the failure is caused by something further down the stack, Flumotion's internal error messages mightbe able to tell you what the problem is.

The Flumotion log files are by default placed under the /var/log/flumotion directory. The manager logis by default called 'manager.default.log' and the workerlog is called 'worker.default.log'.

Debugging and Troubleshooting

61

Inside these log files you will see information on the workings of the Flumotion server, with the levelof detail depending on the log level used. By default relatively little information is stored in these filesso in many cases you will need to increase the logging level in order to get enough information to solvethe problem.

There are two ways of increasing the amount of debug information in the log files. The simplest is adding<debug>5</debug> to the top of your default.xml file under /etc/flumotion/workers, just underneath the<worker> tag.

The other way is to set an environment variable, FLU_DEBUG, for your process. This is the equivalent ofsetting <debug>5</debug> in the worker default.xml file.

Debugging GStreamer problemsSometimes Flumotion problems are caused by issues originating from the GStreamer multimediaframework that Flumotion is built upon. And while these issues might not be in GStreamer, but evenfurther down the stack, like the DV camera interfacing library or the video4linux driver for your specificcamera, debugging at the GStreamer level will often help you identify your problem.

Applications like Flumotion can make use of the extensive GStreamer debugging system to debug pipelineproblems. Elements will write output to this system to log what they're doing. It's not used for errorreporting, but it is very useful for tracking exactly what an element is doing, which can come in handywhen debugging Flumotion issues.

The GST_DEBUG environment variable is used to turn on GStreamer debugging.

GST_DEBUG=*:5 flumotion-worker -u user -p test > worker.log 2>&1

Also here the * can be replaced by a component name to get only debugging information related to thatcomponent written. For example, oggmux:5 would turn on debugging for the Ogg muxer element.

If as a result of reading the generated log files, you think that the cause of your problems are GStreamerplugins or elements not working as expected, there is a nice command line tool in GStreamer called gst-launch which you can use to do some manual tests. For instance if you are unsure if the v4l plugin isproviding Flumotion with the needed data flow from your TV card you can test it by running a commandlike this:

gst-launch v4lsrc device=/dev/video0 ! ffmpegcolordec ! ximagesink

This pipeline tries to access the video0 Linux device and run the output through a color space converterthen output it to the x window terminal. If this fails you know that either the GStreamer plugin or the v4ldriver in question is broken somehow; the reported error might even tell you which.

Debugging other parts of the systemSometimes neither Flumotion or GStreamer level debug output lets you understand why things are notworking, although they should at least give you a better understanding of where in the stack the problem isto be found. We can not give you lot of general debugging advice for these underlying libraries except tosuggest you look at their documentation and mailing lists for information. Sometimes even just searchingfor Google for information about your hardware device and Linux will turn up information about driverproblems etc., with your specific hardware.


62

Reading log filesHere are some tips to read Flumotion log files. First of all, make sure you are looking at a relevant partof the log file. The log files contain all the accumulated logging from multiple runs. Typically you arejust interested in the current run you are analyzing. The manager, worker and job processes log fourspecific points in their lifetime at level 3 (INFO) that you can search for in the logs:

• The process is starting. This gets logged as early as possible. If you want to check the logs for the lastrun, you go to the end of the log file and search backwards for this marker. Example:

INFO [17204] manager Mar 01 15:37:52 Starting manager 'planet' (flumotion/manager/main.py:253)

• The process has started. From this point on, the process should keep running on its own; any case whereit stops without being told to stop is a bug in the software and should be filed and fixed. Example:

INFO [17226] worker Mar 01 15:41:07 Started worker 'localhost' (flumotion/worker/main.py:315)

• The process has been told to stop, and will now begin cleanup. For example, the workerwill wait forits child jobs to terminate.

INFO [17226] worker Mar 01 15:43:40 Stopping worker 'localhost' (flumotion/worker/main.py:329)

• The process is ready to terminate. This is the last point it logs before exiting.

•INFO [13329] job Mar 01 14:42:26 Stopped job '/default/producer-audio' (flumotion/job/main.py:96)

Look for important errors first. Start by searching for ERROR and WARN. Start with the first ones yousee after the starting point.

Analyzing core dumpsSometimes Flumotion will encounter a bug and core dump. This happens because of a bug in the lowerlayers - GStreamer, the Python interpreter, a support library, ...

It is important for the Flumotion developers to get a good stack trace from this core dump to be able tolocate and fix the bug. To do this, you need to generate a stack trace from the core dump.

When this happens in a component, the UI will show a message like this one:

The component crashed.The core dump is '/var/cache/flumotion/core.21328' on the host running 'localhost'.


63

Posted on Mon 24 Mar 2008 05:58:15 PM CET.

To produce a backtrace, you need to launch gdb on python with the given core file, like this:

# gdb python /var/cache/flumotion/core.21328GNU gdb Red Hat Linux (6.3.0.0-1.122rh)Copyright 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.GDB is free software, covered by the GNU General Public License, and you arewelcome to change it and/or distribute copies of it under certain conditions.Type "show copying" to see the conditions.There is absolutely no warranty for GDB. Type "show warranty" for details.This GDB was configured as "i386-redhat-linux-gnu"...Using host libthread_db library "/lib/libthread_db.so.1".

Core was generated by `/usr/bin/python /usr/bin/flumotion-job /default/video-encoder-ogg /tmp/flumotion'.Program terminated with signal 11, Segmentation fault.

#0 0x4f40388a in _int_free (av=0xb3f00010, mem=0xb3f82230) at malloc.c:44104410 unlink(nextchunk, bck, fwd);(gdb) thread apply all backtrace

Thread 5 (process 28840):#0 0x008b2410 in ?? ()#1 0xbfea3a38 in ?? ()#2 0x00000008 in ?? ()#3 0x00000004 in ?? ()#4 0x4f45ecac in *__GI___poll (fds=0x4f4ceff4, nfds=4, timeout=8) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/poll.c:87#5 0x4f736363 in g_main_context_iterate (context=0xa0935d8, block=1, dispatch=1, self=0x9fc7120) at gmain.c:2849#6 0x4f7366d9 in IA__g_main_loop_run (loop=0xa127bd0) at gmain.c:2751#7 0x006138ec in _wrap_g_main_loop_run (self=0xb7fd4a50) at pygmainloop.c:257#8 0x4f587b72 in PyEval_EvalFrame (f=0xa0ea86c) at Python/ceval.c:3547#9 0x4f588748 in PyEval_EvalCodeEx (co=0xb7d54760, globals=0xb7d4b3e4, locals=0x0, args=0xa1d588c, argcount=1, kws=0xa1d5890, kwcount=0, defs=0xb7c56c18, defcount=1, closure=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:2736#10 0x4f586afb in PyEval_EvalFrame (f=0xa1d5714) at Python/ceval.c:3656#11 0x4f588748 in PyEval_EvalCodeEx (co=0xb7b7f9a0, globals=0xb7b5af0c, locals=0x0, args=0xb7cd0638, argcount=1, kws=0xa1cb6a8, kwcount=0, defs=0x0, defcount=0, closure=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:2736#12 0x4f53a5ae in function_call (func=0xb7affe64, arg=0xb7cd062c, kw=0xb7cfd13c) at Objects/funcobject.c:548#13 0x4f522587 in PyObject_Call (func=0xb7affe64, arg=0xb7cd062c, kw=0xb7cfd13c) at Objects/abstract.c:1795#14 0x4f585c38 in PyEval_EvalFrame (f=0x9f845e4) at Python/ceval.c:3840#15 0x4f588748 in PyEval_EvalCodeEx (co=0xb7f5cda0, globals=0xb7f5b13c, locals=0x0, args=0x9fa08f0, argcount=2, kws=0x9fa08f8, kwcount=0, defs=0x0, defcount=0, closure=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:2736#16 0x4f586afb in PyEval_EvalFrame (f=0x9fa074c) at Python/ceval.c:3656#17 0x4f588748 in PyEval_EvalCodeEx (co=0xb7f5cde0, globals=0xb7f5b13c,


64

locals=0x0, args=0x9f9d8ec, argcount=1, kws=0x9f9d8f0, kwcount=0, defs=0xb7f64718, defcount=3, closure=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:2736#18 0x4f586afb in PyEval_EvalFrame (f=0x9f9d79c) at Python/ceval.c:3656#19 0x4f588748 in PyEval_EvalCodeEx (co=0xb7f5ca20, globals=0xb7fb0824, locals=0xb7fb0824, args=0x0, argcount=0, kws=0x0, kwcount=0, defs=0x0, defcount=0, closure=0x0) at Python/ceval.c:2736#20 0x4f5887d3 in PyEval_EvalCode (co=0xb7f5ca20, globals=0xb7fb0824, locals=0xb7fb0824) at Python/ceval.c:484#21 0x4f5a5538 in run_node (n=Variable "n" is not available.) at Python/pythonrun.c:1265#22 0x4f5a6c48 in PyRun_SimpleFileExFlags (fp=0x9f68008, filename=0xbfea5c4c "/usr/bin/flumotion-job", closeit=1, flags=0xbfea4914) at Python/pythonrun.c:860#23 0x4f5a732a in PyRun_AnyFileExFlags (fp=0x9f68008, filename=0xbfea5c4c "/usr/bin/flumotion-job", closeit=1, flags=0xbfea4914) at Python/pythonrun.c:664#24 0x4f5add55 in Py_Main (argc=3, argv=0xbfea49e4) at Modules/main.c:493#25 0x080485b2 in main (argc=0, argv=0x0) at Modules/python.c:23

Thread 4 (process 28842):#0 0x008b2410 in ?? ()#1 0xb7a1f4e8 in ?? ()#2 0x00000000 in ?? ()

Thread 3 (process 28843):#0 0x008b2410 in ?? ()#1 0xb6d11148 in ?? ()#2 0xffffffff in ?? ()#3 0x00000003 in ?? ()#4 0x4f45ecac in *__GI___poll (fds=0x4f4ceff4, nfds=3, timeout=-1) at ../sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/poll.c:87#5 0x0030e4ef in gst_fdset_wait (set=0xa47bc00, timeout=-1) at gstfdset.c:523#6 0x00312b29 in gst_multi_fd_sink_thread (sink=0xa4a8210) at gstmultifdsink.c:2269#7 0x4f7508ef in g_thread_create_proxy (data=0xa470998) at gthread.c:582#8 0x4f6e23b6 in start_thread (arg=0xb6d11ba0) at pthread_create.c:261#9 0x4f46833e in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6

Thread 2 (process 28846):#0 0x008b2410 in ?? ()#1 0xb4a4e438 in ?? ()#2 0x00000003 in ?? ()#3 0x00000000 in ?? ()

Thread 1 (process 14372):#0 0x4f40388a in _int_free (av=0xb3f00010, mem=0xb3f82230) at malloc.c:4410#1 0x4f40741d in *__GI___libc_free (mem=0xb3f82230) at malloc.c:3447#2 0x00817126 in theora_comment_query () from /usr/lib/libtheora.so.0#3 0x00835910 in theora_decode_header () from /usr/lib/libtheora.so.0#4 0x0082a724 in theora_clear () from /usr/lib/libtheora.so.0#5 0x002f61aa in theora_enc_reset (enc=0xa4a6078) at theoraenc.c:314#6 0x002f838b in theora_enc_chain (pad=0xa1f30e0, buffer=0xa41b510) at theoraenc.c:871#7 0x41044ab9 in gst_pad_chain_unchecked (pad=0xa1f30e0, buffer=0xa41b510)


65

at gstpad.c:3459#8 0x410451ab in gst_pad_push (pad=0xa1f3020, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstpad.c:3625#9 0x004f73c5 in gst_base_transform_chain (pad=0xa1f3560, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstbasetransform.c:1606#10 0x41044ab9 in gst_pad_chain_unchecked (pad=0xa1f3560, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstpad.c:3459#11 0x410451ab in gst_pad_push (pad=0xa1f34a0, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstpad.c:3625#12 0x004f73c5 in gst_base_transform_chain (pad=0xa1f33e0, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstbasetransform.c:1606#13 0x41044ab9 in gst_pad_chain_unchecked (pad=0xa1f33e0, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstpad.c:3459#14 0x410451ab in gst_pad_push (pad=0xa1f3320, buffer=0xa41b510) at gstpad.c:3625#15 0x00152c3a in gst_gdp_depay_chain (pad=0xa1f3260, buffer=0xa46f868) at gstgdpdepay.c:315#16 0x41044ab9 in gst_pad_chain_unchecked (pad=0xa1f3260, buffer=0xa46f868) at gstpad.c:3459#17 0x410451ab in gst_pad_push (pad=0xa1f31a0, buffer=0xa46f868) at gstpad.c:3625#18 0x004f2996 in gst_base_src_loop (pad=0xa1f31a0) at gstbasesrc.c:1601#19 0x4105dd66 in gst_task_func (task=0xb55d4598, tclass=0xa470698) at gsttask.c:192#20 0x4f75236c in g_thread_pool_thread_proxy (data=0xa219c78) at gthreadpool.c:158#21 0x4f7508ef in g_thread_create_proxy (data=0xa343328) at gthread.c:582#22 0x4f6e23b6 in start_thread (arg=0xb544fba0) at pthread_create.c:261#23 0x4f46833e in ?? () from /lib/libc.so.6(gdb)

Create a bug report about the issue, including the output of gdb.

Troubleshooting FlumotionThis chapter will try to list some common issues you might encounter when trying to run Flumotion andprovide solutions and workarounds for them.

Firewire CamerasOne common problem many people encounter is when trying to access their FireWire cameras. Theproblem is that Flumotion is not able to detect your FireWire device because the device creation forFireWire does not work on many current distributions. Check if you have a /dev/raw1394 device. Ifnot create, it by using this command:

[root@server root]# mknod -m 666 /dev/raw1394 c 171 0

Flumotion worker refuse to startA problem you might encounter after Flumotion has been stopped in an uncontrolled way, for instancedue to a software crash, server failure, or you killing the Flumotion processes, is that the Flumotion


66

workerrefuses to start. A common reason for this is that the pid file of the old process is still present.You need to manually remove it before you are allowed to restart the Flumotion worker. You can find thepid files in /var/run/flumotion. Make sure all Flumotion processes are stopped/removed before deletingthe pid files manually.

device node /dev/raw1394 does not existSome udev based distributions like Fedora Core do not properly detect and create the needed device forFirewire cameras to work. This issue have been reported upstream and is being fixed. While waiting forthe fix to be introduced you can solve it by running this command as root.

mknod -m 666 /dev/raw1394 c 171 0

GStreamer error: Could not open device xy for readingand writing

Some distributions, like Fedora Core, do not have permissions set up to allow Flumotion, when run undera separate user, to have read and write access to the needed devices like /dev/dsp*, /dev/mixer*, /dev/video* and so on. You can change this by running chmod commands as root. For example:

chmod +rw /dev/dsp*

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Appendix A. Flumotion Services S.A.Flumotion Services S.A. is the company that develops and maintains the Flumotion software. They canhelp you deploy and administer Flumotion systems, providing additional Flumotion components andutilities where necessary, and integrating with your existing systems.

For large customers, their Flumotion Streaming Platform deals with issues encountered whenstreaming a large amount of content to a large number of users, controlling access to content and dealingwith billing for the users. For instance, when streaming a popular sporting event.

The Flumotion Streaming Platform use clustering and load balancing software to distribute theload over several worker computers, allowing more simultaneous viewers than would be possible with asingle streaming server.

The Flumotion Streaming Platform can also transcode content automatically, simplifyingon-demand streaming when you wish to provide the content in many formats and many quality levels.Transcoding is also available as a separate service via FTP.

See flumotion-services

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Appendix B. Installing ExtraDependencies

Installing Python Modules

Installing Python modules on Fedora LinuxOn Fedora Linux, most Python modules are available in packages whose names start with python-. Youcan use yum to search for matching packages available to install. For example, if you want to install thedateutil module:

# yum search dateutilLoaded plugins: refresh-packagekit============================== Matched: dateutil ===============================python-dateutil.noarch : Powerful extensions to the standard datetime module

If it is available, you can install it (as root):

# yum install -y python-dateutilLoaded plugins: refresh-packagekitfedora | 2.4 kB 00:00 updates | 2.3 kB 00:00 Setting up Install ProcessParsing package install argumentsResolving Dependencies--> Running transaction check---> Package python-dateutil.noarch 0:1.2-2.fc9 set to be updated--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

============================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size =============================================================================Installing: python-dateutil noarch 1.2-2.fc9 fedora 165 k

Transaction Summary=============================================================================Install 1 Package(s) Update 0 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 165 kDownloading Packages:

Installing Extra Dependencies

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(1/1): python-dateutil-1.2-2.fc9.noarch.rpm | 165 kB 00:00 Running rpm_check_debugRunning Transaction TestFinished Transaction TestTransaction Test SucceededRunning Transaction Installing : python-dateutil [1/1]

Installed: python-dateutil.noarch 0:1.2-2.fc9Complete!

Installing Python modules on Ubuntu LinuxOn Ubuntu Linux, most Python modules are available in packages whose names start with python-.You can use the Synaptic Package Manager to search for matching packages available to install.

On the command-line you may also use apt and apt-search. For example, if you want to install thedateutil module:

$ apt-cache search dateutilpython-dateutil - powerful extensions to the standard datetime module

If it is available, you can install it:

$ sudo apt-get install python-dateutilReading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency tree Reading state information... DoneThe following NEW packages will be installed: python-dateutil0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.Need to get 0B/211kB of archives.After this operation, 422kB of additional disk space will be used.Selecting previously deselected package python-dateutil.(Reading database ... 366470 files and directories currently installed.)Unpacking python-dateutil (from .../python-dateutil_1.3-1_all.deb) ...Setting up python-dateutil (1.3-1) ...

Testing Python ModulesOnce you have installed the package that provides the python module, you can test the installation bystarting a Python interpreter and trying to import the module by hand.

If the module is properly installed then you will be able to import it without any errors:


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$ pythonPython 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Jun 15 2008, 18:24:56) [GCC 4.3.0 20080428 (Red Hat 4.3.0-8)] on linux2Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.>>> import dateutil>>>

If the module is not properly installed, then you will see an error when trying to import it:

$ pythonPython 2.5.1 (r251:54863, Jun 15 2008, 18:24:56) [GCC 4.3.0 20080428 (Red Hat 4.3.0-8)] on linux2Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.>>> import dateutilTraceback (most recent call last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>ImportError: No module named dateutil>>>

Installing GStreamer plug-ins

Installing GStreamer plugins on Fedora LinuxOn Fedora Linux, most gstreamer plugins are available in packages whose names start with gstreamer-plugins-. You can use yum to search for matching packages available to install. For example, if youwant to install the schroedinger plugin:

# yum search schroedingerLoaded plugins: refresh-packagekit============================ Matched: schroedinger =============================gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger.i386 : GStreamer Plugins that implement Dirac : video encoding and decodingschroedinger.i386 : Portable libraries for the high quality Dirac video codecschroedinger-devel.i386 : Development files for schrodinger

If it is available, you can install it (as root):

# yum install -y gstreamer-plugins-schroedingerLoaded plugins: refresh-packagekitSetting up Install ProcessParsing package install argumentsResolving Dependencies--> Running transaction check---> Package gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger.i386 0:1.0.3-2.fc9 set to be updated--> Processing Dependency: libschroedinger-1.0.so.0 for package: gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger


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--> Running transaction check---> Package schroedinger.i386 0:1.0.3-2.fc9 set to be updated--> Finished Dependency Resolution

Dependencies Resolved

============================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size =============================================================================Installing: gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger i386 1.0.3-2.fc9 updates 40 kInstalling for dependencies: schroedinger i386 1.0.3-2.fc9 updates 211 k

Transaction Summary=============================================================================Install 2 Package(s) Update 0 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s)

Total download size: 250 kDownloading Packages:(1/2): gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger-1.0.3-2.fc9.i386.r | 40 kB 00:00 (2/2): schroedinger-1.0.3-2.fc9.i386.rpm | 211 kB 00:00 Running rpm_check_debugRunning Transaction TestFinished Transaction TestTransaction Test SucceededRunning Transaction Installing : schroedinger [1/2] Installing : gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger [2/2]

Installed: gstreamer-plugins-schroedinger.i386 0:1.0.3-2.fc9Dependency Installed: schroedinger.i386 0:1.0.3-2.fc9Complete!

Installing GStreamer plugins on Ubuntu LinuxOn Ubuntu Linux, most GStreamer plugins are available in packages whose names start withgstreamer0.10-plugins-. You can use the Synaptic Package Manager to search for matchingpackages available to install.

On the command-line you may also use apt and apt-search. For example, if you want to install theschroedinger plugin:

$ apt-cache search schroedingergstreamer0.10-schroedinger - GStreamer plugin for encoding/decoding of Dirac video streamslibschroedinger-1.0-0 - library for encoding/decoding of Dirac video streamslibschroedinger-dev - library for encoding/decoding of Dirac video streams (development files)


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libschroedinger-doc - library for encoding/decoding of Dirac video streams (documentation)oggconvert - Convert media files to free formats

If it is available, you can install it:

$ sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-schroedingerReading package lists... DoneBuilding dependency tree Reading state information... DoneThe following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: python-kiwi librrd2 python-rrd flumotion-flashplayer cortadoUse 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.The following NEW packages will be installed: gstreamer0.10-schroedinger0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.Need to get 0B/35.4kB of archives.After this operation, 160kB of additional disk space will be used.Selecting previously deselected package gstreamer0.10-schroedinger.(Reading database ... 367640 files and directories currently installed.)Unpacking gstreamer0.10-schroedinger (from .../gstreamer0.10-schroedinger_1.0.1-2_i386.deb) ...Setting up gstreamer0.10-schroedinger (1.0.1-2) ...

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Appendix C. Under the hoodFlumotion uses two technologies to pull everything together. The distributed nature and networkabstraction is provided by Twisted. 1 The streaming and data handling is handled by GStreamer. 2

GStreamerThe processing and streaming of large amounts of data is what takes up the most processing power. Henceit needs to be very optimized. GStreamer is written in C and has been tested extensively in a number ofprojects.

GStreamer has a pipeline-based architecture, where elements are linked to handle a media flow throughthe pipeline. The parts used by Flumotion are suitably optimized to run as efficiently as possible, so thatFlumotion can handle large volumes of data and clients.

TwistedAll functionality not directly used to stream, but related to the streams, is written in Python using Twisted.Since processes like session setup, client connection, or authentication are not continuous and relativelylight-weight, Python is ideally suited as a language to implement them in.

Furthermore, Twisted, which is a Python framework, provides a very good network abstraction layeras well as a lot of additional functionality. Twisted makes the distribution of components over multipleworkers easy.

Every component gets executed as a Twisted process, running from a main loop in an actual process.Currently each component gets its own main loop. Twisted is event-based, and the various componentsare all written to integrate with the main loop.

1 Twisted is a framework, written in Python, for writing networked applications. See twisted-home.2 GStreamer is a multimedia framework written in C. See gstreamer-home.

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Appendix D. Command-line OptionsStarting the manager

You may start a flumotion Manager with the flumotion-manager command, and then use ps to checkthat it is up and running. For instance:

[root@server root]# flumotion-manager -d 3 path/to/planet.xml 2> manager.log &[root@server root]# ps -ef|grep flumotion-managerroot 7188 7148 1 18:24 pts/2 00:00:01 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/flumotion-manager /etc/flumotion/managers/default/planet.xml

This command does four things:

• It starts the manager with logging output. All informational, warning and error messages will beoutput.

• It starts the manager with the configuration as specified in planet.xml. An example configurationfile is included with the source distribution.

This file describes the configuration of the planet to be managed. Among other things, this specifies theauthentication information for components logging in to the manager. 1

• All output is redirected to a manager.log log file. This allows you to see all the log messages themanager generates using a standard text viewer.

• The manager process is started in the background using &.

Starting the workerThe next step is starting a worker. For instance:

[root@server root]# flumotion-worker -d 3 -u user -p test > worker.log &[root@server root]# ps -ef|grep flumotion-workerroot 8316 8072 19 18:36 pts/2 00:00:01 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/flumotion-worker -u user -p test

In this example, you provide authentication information in the form of a username and a password on thecommand line. This information must match the corresponding authentication information with which themanager was started. This information can also be specified in a configuration file for the worker.

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Appendix E. The ConfigurationAssistant

Flumotion uses XML configuration files that tell it what to do. The configuration assistant helps to create aFlumotion configuration for simple scenarios such as live streaming of a single camera or free on-demandstreaming of pre-existing video files. The assistant is not sophisticated enough to create more complexconfigurations that are often needed in the real world. For instance, you might need to stream the samevideo in multiple codecs and at multiple resolutions. However, the assistant should help you to becomefamiliar with Flumotion and can be useful later to generate a fragment of a configuration file.

This section describes each stage of the configuration assistant. The assistant pages are not described inany particular order because not all assistant pages will appear, depending on the choices made in previouspage. See also the See the Simple Example and Detailed Example sections.

Flumotion Connections

This window allows you to connect to a running Flumotion manager to administer that Flumotion system,or to start a new manager and worker and then configure them via the configuration assistant. Choosean option and then click Forward.

The Configuration Assistant

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Figure E.1. The Connection Window

The Open recent connection option allows you to specify a running Manager and connect to it by selectingthe manager from a list of previously opened Managers. After you click Forward, the FlumotionAdministration window will open, showing the chosen components int the running Flumotion system.


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Figure E.2. Connecting to a recently opened Manager

The Connect to a running manager option allows you to specify a running Manager and connect to it byentering a hostname and port for the Manager. After you click Connect, the Flumotion Administrationwindow will open, showing the chosen components int the running Flumotion system.


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Figure E.3. Starting a new Manager and Worker

The Start a new manager and connect to it option starts a Flumotion Manager, and a Flumotion Workerwhich it manages. Clicking Forward will start these and connect to the Manager so you can specify whatthe worker should do via the Configuration Assistant. You can learn more about Flumotion Managersand Workers in the Architecture chapter.


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Figure E.4. Starting a new Manager and Worker

Starting New Processes

If you chose to start new processes then you will see a confirmation page before actually connecting to theManager. After clicking Forward you will see the detailed Configuration Assistant.


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Figure E.5. Connecting to the new Manager

Authentication

If you chose to connect to a recent or running processes then you will see an authentication page beforeactually connecting to the Manager. After entering the Username and Password correctly, click Forwardto see the detailed Configuration Assistant.


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Figure E.6. Authentication for a running Manager

The Welcome PageThis is the first page of the Configuration Assistant. The configuration assistant helps to create a Flumotionconfiguration for simple scenarios such as live streaming of a single camera or free on-demand streamingof pre-existing video files. Click the Forward button to see the first real page of the assistant.


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Figure E.7. The Configuration Assistant's Welcome Page

The Scenario PageThis page allows you to choose a common scenario, such as Stream Live or Stream Files On Demand.After choosing an option, click Forward to see the next page. After this point you will see different pagesdepending on which option you chose, starting with either the On Demand page, or the Production page.


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Figure E.8. The Configuration Assistant's Scenario Page

The Production Page

This page allows you to choose Production inputs for audio and video, such as Web Camera for Videoand Sound Card for Audio. This is the raw data that will be combined, encoded, and then streamed bysubsequent components. Flumotion supports a wide range of audio and video production devices.

If you wish to stream only audio or video then you may deselect the Audio or Video option.

When you click Forward, the following pages will be different, depending on your choices for the theinputs here. Those following pages will allow you to provide more specific details.


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Figure E.9. The Configuration Assistant's Production Page

The Test Video Producer PageThis page allows you to specify details for the test video signal.

Use the Width and Height to specify the video dimensions, in pixels.

The Frame Rate fields specifies how many frames per second should be provided by the video signal.

The Pattern drop-down choice lets you choose the content of the test signal. For instance, you may choosethe familiar SMTPE color bars, a Random simulation of TV "snow", or a simple black screen.

The worker drop-down choice allows you to choose what computer this component should run on, forinstance if the camera is attached to a different computer that is available via the network. This allowsyou to distribute tasks across several server computers. See the Deployment chapter to learn how to createextra workers. The Configuration Assistant would then offer these workers in the drop-down choice after connecting to their manager.

See also the videotest-producer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.10. The Configuration Assistant's Test Video Producer Page

The Webcam Page

On this page you can specify which webcam should be used to provide the raw video data, with whatresolution and frame rate. Remember that a higher resolution and higher frame rate will produce moredata, requiring more processing power and more network bandwidth.

After a short delay, while Flumotion checks what webcams are connected to the worker computer, theSize and Frame Rate drop-down controls will be filled with the choices supported by your camera.

The Device drop-down choice lets you choose a different webcam. If no such webcam exists then youwill see a warning on this page. If a valid webcam device is chosen then a description of that camera willbe shown on this page.

The Size drop-down choice lets you choose a resolution supported by the selected webcam. Flumotionwill then take raw video data from the webcam at that resolution.

The Frame Rate drop-down choice lets you choose the number of frames per second supported by theselected webcam at the selected resolution.


See also the webcam-producer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.11. The Configuration Assistant's Webcam Page

The TV Card Page

On this page you can specify which TV card should be used to provide the raw video data, with whatresolution and frame rate. Remember that a higher resolution and higher frame rate will produce moredata, requiring more processing power and more network bandwidth.

The TV Norm field allows you to choose to receive either PAL or NTSC data from the TV card.

The Video Source field allows you to choose between multiple inputs, if the TV card supports more thanone. For instance, you may see choices for Television, Composite or S-Video.

The Device drop-down choice lets you choose a different TV card. If no such TV card exists then youwill see a warning on this page. If a valid TV card device is chosen then a description of that TV cardwill be shown on this page.

The Size drop-down choice lets you choose a resolution supported by the selected TV card. Flumotionwill then take raw video data from the TV card at that resolution.

The Frame Rate drop-down choice lets you choose the number of frames per second supported by theselected TV card at the selected resolution.



87

See also the tvcard-producer component reference documentation.

Figure E.12. The Configuration Assistant's TV Card Page

The Firewire Video Page

On this page you can specify which Firewire/DV device should be used to provide the raw video data,with what resolution and frame rate. Remember that a higher resolution and higher frame rate will producemore data, requiring more processing power and more network bandwidth.

The Scaled Height field allows you to scale the video resolution down in case the default Firewireresolution would require more bandwidth or processing than you wish to use.

The Convert To Square Pixels option allows you to optimize the output for your intended client players. or data does not use perfectly square pixels, but square-pixel content is clearer on monitors that displaysquare pixels, such as most non-widescreen monitors.

The Width Correction options allow you to optimize the raw data for your intended encoder, which mayrequire the video's width and height to be a multiple of 8. If you need width correction then Pad is usuallythe best choice because it just adds additional black space at the edge of the video, instead of distortingthe main content by stretching.

The Frame Rate fields lets you choose the number of frames per second for the raw video data producedby the Firewire device.


88


See also the firewire-producer component reference documentation.

Figure E.13. The Configuration Assistant's Firewire Video Page

The Overlay Page

This page allows you to overlay some text on top of the video, such as a broadcaster's name. You may alsodisplay some images at the bottom of the video, such as a Creative Commons logo.

To overlay text over the video, select the Show text in the upper left corner option and enter your textin the field.

Select the Show logos in the bottom right corner option to overlay Creative Commons and Flumotionlogos over the video.


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See also the overlay-converter component reference documentation.

Figure E.14. The Configuration Assistant's Overlay Page

The Test Audio Producer Page

This page allows you to specify details for the test audio signal, which is a simple constant audio tone.

You may specify the Frequency (in Hertz) and Volume of the tone, as well as its Sample Rate in Herz.Remember that a higher sample rate will produce more data, requiring more processing power and morenetwork bandwidth.


See also the audiodtest-producer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.15. The Configuration Assistant's Test Audio Producer Page

The Sound Card Page

On this page you can configure the sound inputs. For instance, you might choose the Microphone fromthe Input drop-down control. This page is rather technical, and may depend on the correct configurationof your computer's sound system.

The Sound System drop-down choice lets you choose between the ALSA and OSS sound systems. Unlessyou have a good reason not to, you should use the default ALSA sound system.

In case you have multiple sound cards, you may choose the appropriate card from the Device drop-downchoice. If no such device exists then you will see a warning on this page.

The Input drop-down choice lets you choose which of the inputs to use from your sound card. For instance,your sound card may have inputs for a microphone or CD.

The Channels drop-down choice lets you choose either a Mono or Stereo sound input.

The Sample Rate and Bit-depth drop-down choices let you specify the quality of the raw sound input.Remember that a higher sample rate and bit-depth will produce more data, requiring more processingpower and more network bandwidth.



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See also the soundcard-producer component reference documentation.

Figure E.16. The Configuration Assistant's Sound Card Page

The Firewire Audio Page

This page has no configuration parameters, so you can simply click Forward to move to the next page.


See also the firewire-producer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.17. The Configuration Assistant's Firewire Audio Page

The Encoding Page

On this page you can specify how your stream should be encoded, making best use of bandwidth andproviding the content in a format expected by client players.

In the Basic version of the Flumotion Streaming Server, we offer a choice of high-quality free codecs.Most are part of the Ogg family of codecs provided by xiph. The full version also supports a wide rangeof licensed proprietary codecs such as Windows Media, MP3 or Adobe Flash, to support commonmedia player software.

The Format drop-down choice lets you choose a container format for the stream. When you select a Format,the Video and Audio drop-down choices will be filled with the encodings supported by the chosen Format.

The Video drop-down lets you specify a video encoding for your stream.

The Audio drop-down lets you specify an audio encoding for your stream.


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Figure E.18. The Configuration Assistant's Encoding Page

The Theora Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw video data should be encoded with the Theora codec, choosingeither a target Bit Rate or a target Quality.

Most people prefer to target a bit rate because it makes bandwith consumption more predictable. However,targeting quality instead allows the encoder to choose a relatively constant quality level for the videostream, irrespective of the bit rate or other properties of the stream.

For example, increasing the width and height in the producer while keeping the bit rate constant willdecrease the end quality of the stream. But keeping the quality constant, while changing width and height,will increase the bitrate of the stream, but keep the same quality.

The Bit Rate field may take a number of Kilobits per second. It is very hard to recommend a suitable bitratebecause it depends on a number of factors, including the width and height of the video, and the amount ofmovement in the content, as well as your total available bandwidth and the bandwidth of your viewers.

The Quality field may take a value between 0 and 63, with higher values meaning higher quality withless loss of detail.



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See also the theora-encoder component reference documentation.

Figure E.19. The Configuration Assistant's Theora Encoder Page

Advanced SettingsClick the Advanced expander to see additional settings. You might edit these fields to adjust the streamfor particular content or clients, if you are very familiar with the behavior of the Theora codec.

The Time Between Key Frames field allows you to reduce playback latency by specifying a shorter timebetween key frames, at the cost of a higher bit rate or lower quality.

The Noise Sensitivity field allows more precise control of this aspect of the quality. Smaller values causeincreased quality, at the cost of a higher bit rate.

The Sharpness field allows you to request sharper images, at the cost of a higher bit rate. See also theQuality field.

The Dirac Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw video data should be encoded with the Dirac codec.

The Bit Rate field may take a number of Kilobits per second. It is very hard to recommend a suitable bitratebecause it depends on a number of factors, including the width and height of the video, and the amount ofmovement in the content, as well as your total available bandwidth and the bandwidth of your viewers.

The worker drop-down choice allows you to choose what computer this component should run on, forinstance if the camera is attached to a different computer that is available via the network. This allows


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you to distribute tasks across several server computers. See the Deployment chapter to learn how to createextra workers. The Configuration Assistant would then offer these workers in the drop-down choice after connecting to their manager.

See also the dirac-encoder component reference documentation.

Figure E.20. The Configuration Assistant's Dirac Encoder Page

The Smoke Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw video data should be encoded with the Smoke encoder, whichgenerates JPEG frames and delta frames.

You may enter percentage values in the Minimum Quality and Maximum Quality fields. Higher qualitylevels will require more network bandwidth.

The Threshold fields specifies how much each 16x16 block of pixels may differ before a new block isgenerated. A higher value will cause more blocks to stay the same for more frames, decreasing bandwidthusage, but producing less accurate output.

The Time Between Key Frames field allows you to reduce playback latency by specifying a shorter timebetween key frames, at the cost of a higher bit rate or lower quality.



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See also the smoke-encoder component reference documentation.

Figure E.21. The Configuration Assistant's Smoke Encoder Page

The JPEG Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw video data should be encoded with the JPEG encoder.

The Quality field takes a percentage value. A higher quality levels will require more network bandwidth.

The Frame Rate field takes a number of frames per second. A higher frame rate will require more networkbandwidth.


See also the jpeg-encoder component reference documentation.


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Figure E.22. The Configuration Assistant's JPEG Encoder Page

The Vorbis Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw audio data should be encoded with the Vorbis codec, choosingeither a target Bit Rate or a target Quality.

Most people prefer to target a bit rate because it makes bandwith consumption more predictable. However,targeting quality instead allows the encoder to choose a relatively constant quality level for the audiostream, regardless of the bit rate or other properties of the stream.

The Bit Rate field may take a number of Kilobits per second. It is very hard to recommend a suitablebitrate because it depends on a number of factors, including the sounds in the content, as well as your totalavailable bandwidth and the bandwidth of your viewers.

The Quality field may take a value between 0 and 1.0, with higher values meaning higher quality withless loss of detail.


See also the vorbis-encoder component reference documentation.


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Figure E.23. The Configuration Assistant's Vorbis Encoder Page

The Speex Encoder Page

On this page you can specify how your raw audio data should be encoded with the Speex codec, choosinga target Bit Rate.

The Bit Rate field may take a number of Kilobits per second. It is very hard to recommend a suitablebitrate because it depends on a number of factors, including the sounds in the content, as well as your totalavailable bandwidth and the bandwidth of your viewers.


See also the speex-encoder component reference documentation.


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Figure E.24. The Configuration Assistant's Speex Encoder Page

The Mulaw Encoder Page

The Mulaw encoder has no configuration parameters, so you can simply click Forward to move to thenext page.


See also the mulaw-encoder component reference documentation.


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Figure E.25. The Configuration Assistant's Mulaw Encoder Page

The Consumption Page

On this page you can specify how the encoded (and combined) audio and video should be consumed, forinstance by viewers as a HTTP stream.

You may choose the Stream Over HTTP, Save To Disk, or Stream to Icecast2 options, choosing morethan one option if necessary.

If you chose both audio and video on the Production page, then you may now select an option here toprovide either Audio & Video, Audio only or Video only. Again, you may choose more than one option,to provide multiple streams or files.



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Figure E.26. The Configuration Assistant's Consumption Page

The HTTP Streaming Page

On this page you can specify how the audio and video should be streamed via HTTP, for instance bysetting upper limits for simultaneous users and bandwith use.

The Port field specifies the network port on which the content will be served.

Select the User Limit option to specify the maximum number of clients that may simultaneously viewthe stream.

Select the Bandwidth Limit option to specify the maximum Megabits per second that may be streamedby all clients in total.

Select the Burst on Connect option send buffered data to new clients. This reduces the delay beforeplayback starts but increases the latency.


See also the http-streamer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.27. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streaming Page

The HTTP Streamer (Audio and Video) Page

On this page you can specify extra details for the HTTP Stream. You will see this page if you selectedAudio and Video HTTP Streaming on the Consumption Page.

The Mount Point field specifies the second part of the URL from which the files will be available.>For instance, on the www.example.com server, with an /ogg-audio-video/ mount point, onport 8880, the stream would then be available from the http://www.example.com:8800/ogg-audio-video/ URL.

Select the Publish embedded java player page option to serve an additional HTTP page containing aCortado java player applet, avoiding the need for your users to install a suitable client player. This willbe available at a /cortado/ URL at your mount point.




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Figure E.28. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Audio and Video)Page

The HTTP Streamer (Audio Only) Page

On this page you can specify extra details for the HTTP Stream. You will see this page if you selectedAudio Only HTTP Streaming on the Consumption Page.

The Mount Point field specifies the second part of the URL from which the files will be available. >Forinstance, on the www.example.com server, with an /ogg-audio/ mount point, on port 8880, thestream would then be available from the http://www.example.com:8800/ogg-audio/ URL.





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Figure E.29. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Audio Only) Page

The HTTP Streamer (Video Only) Page

On this page you can specify extra details for the HTTP Stream. You will see this page if you selectedVideo Only HTTP Streaming on the Consumption Page.

The Mount Point field specifies the second part of the URL from which the files will be available. >Forinstance, on the www.example.com server, with an /ogg-video/ mount point, on port 8880, thestream would then be available from the http://www.example.com:8800/ogg-video/ URL.





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Figure E.30. The Configuration Assistant's HTTP Streamer (Video Only) Page

The Disk (Audio and Video) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be archived to disk. You will see this page ifyou selected Save To Disk and Audio & Video on the Consumption Page.

The Choose Location field should contain the path to the directory to which the files should be saved.Note that this is the directory path on the specified worker's computer, which is not necessarily the samecomputer on which this configuration assistant is running.

Select the Rotate Entry option to specify when a new file should be started, entering either a maximumnumber of hours or a maximum file size.

Select the Record at Startup option to start recording as soon as Flumotion starts, when you have finishedwith this assistant. You can then stop recording by clicking the Stop button in the Filename tab afterclicking on the component named disker-audio-video. If you leave Record at Startup unselectedthen you can click the Start New File button there to start recording.


See also the disk-consumer component reference documentation.


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Figure E.31. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Audio and Video) Page

The Disk (Audio Only) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be archived to disk. You will see this page ifyou selected Save To Disk and Audio Only on the Consumption Page.







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Figure E.32. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Audio Only) Page

The Disk (Audio Only) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be archived to disk. You will see this page ifyou selected Save To Disk and Video Only on the Consumption Page.







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Figure E.33. The Configuration Assistant's Disk (Video Only) Page

The Icecast Streamer (Audio and Video) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be streamed to an Icecast server usingshout2. You will see this page if you selected Stream to Icecast2 and Audio & Video on theConsumption Page.

You should specify the Server Hostname and Server Port of an existing Icecast server. That Icecast serverwill then stream the content further to client players.

The Mount Point field specifies the second part of the URL from which the files will be available.For instance, a Flumotion www.example.com server, with an /icecast/ mount point, on port8000 would serve its stream (to the Icecast server) from the http://www.example.com:8000/icecast/ URL.

You may password-protect your stream by entering something in the Password field. Users must then enterthis password in their shoutcast client players in order to receive your content.

You may specify a Name and Description for your stream, as well as an Associated URL where peoplecan find more information. These will then appear in the shoutcast client player.



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See also the shout2-consumer component reference documentation.

Figure E.34. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Audio and Video)Page

The Icecast Streamer (Audio Only) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be streamed to an Icecast server using shout2.You will see this page if you selected Stream to Icecast2 and Audio Only on the ConsumptionPage.





The worker drop-down choice allows you to choose what computer this component should run on, forinstance if the camera is attached to a different computer that is available via the network. This allows


110

you to distribute tasks across several server computers. See the Deployment chapter to learn how to createextra workers. The Configuration Assistant would then offer these workers in the drop-down choice after connecting to their manager.


Figure E.35. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Audio Only) Page

The Icecast Streamer (Video Only) Page

On this page you can specify details of how the stream will be streamed to an Icecast server using shout2.You will see this page if you selected Stream to Icecast2 and Video Only on the ConsumptionPage.






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Figure E.36. The Configuration Assistant's Icecast Streamer (Video Only) Page

The Content License Page

On this page you can specify the license of your content, choosing between Creative Commons orCommercial licenses.



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Figure E.37. The Configuration Assistant's Content License Page

The On Demand Page

This page allows you to configure your on-demand video server.

The Directory field should contain the path to the directory that will contain your video files. Note thatthis is the directory path on the specified worker's computer, which is not necessarily the same computeron which this configuration assistant is running.

The Port field specifies the network port on which the files will be served.

The Mount Point field specifies the second part of the URL from which the files will be available.

For instance, a test.ogv file may be in the /home/someone/ondemand_files/ directory, onthe www.example.com server, with an /ondemand/ mount point, on port 8080. The file would thenbe available from the http://www.example.com:8080/ondemand/test.ogv URL.



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Figure E.38. The Configuration On Demand Page

The Summary PageThis page summarizes your previous choses. It is an opportunity to review the configuration before startingthe components when clicking the Forward button. After you click Apply, the Flumotion Administrationwindow will open, showing the chosen components int the running Flumotion system.


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Figure E.39. The Configuration Assistant's Summary Page

The Administration Window

The Flumotion Administration window lists all the components in your chosen Flumotion system, showingwhether their status and allowing you to examine their configuration details. If you have just started aFlumotion system then the icon for each component will gradually change as each component is started.If any component has a problem then the icon will indicate this and you can click on the component tosee details.


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Figure E.40. The Administration Window

For instance, if you select an http-streamer component you will see a clickable URL button on the right-hand side, in the Statistics tab. Clicking this button should cause the appropriate client application to openand play the streaming video. For instance, the Totem Movie Player will open on most Linux systems.

You can stop all the components by selecting Manage → Stop All from the menu, then close the window.

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GlossaryGlossaryaggregated An aggregated feed is a feed that represents a signal with more than one

component. For example, a signal from a DV camera with both audio and videorepresents an aggregated feed.See Also simple.

archiver A consumer that stores a stream to disk.See Also consumer.

atmosphere An atmosphere is part of a planet It contains components providing servicesto the manager or to other components in flows or the atmosphere. Theseservices include authentication, through bouncers.See Also planet.

bouncer A component that implements authentication on behalf of other components orthe manager. Used for example by a streamer to determine if a client is allowedaccess to a stream. See the Bouncer Components Reference section.See Also component, streamer.

capturer A producer that captures a physical signal using external devices. Devices usedcould be webcams, cameras, sound cards, ...See Also producer.

component A basic grouping block for the Flumotion system. Components are combined toform a complete flow that tells the Flumotion system what to do.See Also producer, converter, consumer, bouncer.

consumer A component that only consumes feeds. It exports streams out of the Flumotionsystem, for example by serving them to clients or storing them to disks. See theConsumer Components Reference section.See Also archiver, streamer.

converter A component that both consumes one or more feeds and produces one or morefeeds. For example, an encoder or a video mixer.See Also component.

cooked A type of feed in an encoded data representation. For example, Theora video orVorbis audio.See Also raw.

feed The digitized representation of a signal, as produced by a producer. A feed canbe raw or cooked, depending on whether the data is in a raw data format or anencoded format. A feed can be simple or aggregated.See Also signal, raw, cooked, simple, aggregated.

generator A producer that generates a stream. This is typically used for testing.See Also producer.

flow A complete topology of connected feed components. A flow contains a networkof components completely separated from components of other flows. A flowcan use multiple producers, converters and streamers.

Glossary

117

See Also component.

importer A producer that imports a stream from outside of Flumotion. This stream isproduced by another server.See Also producer.

manager A server-side process that manages all Flumotion objects. It manages one or moreFlumotion flows, the components that are part of the flow, and the workersthat create these components.See Also worker.

planet A planet is the combination of a manager, an atmosphere and aset of flows. The flows contain the feed components. The managermanages the atmospherecomponents, flow components, and workers. Theatmospherecontains components providing services to flow components andmanager.See Also atmosphere, flow, manager.

producer A component that only produces feeds. It imports streams into the Flumotionsystem, for example by capturing them, generating them, or importing them fromother systems. See the Producer Components Reference section.See Also component, capturer, importer, generator.

raw A type of feed in a raw data representation. For example, raw RGB frames or rawinteger audio.See Also cooked.

signal The conceptual entity represented by a feed.

simple A simple feed is a feed that represents a signal with only one component. Forexample, a signal with only audio results in a simple feed.See Also aggregated.

stream A stream is a feed as sent to a consumer. It is a processed data stream ready forconsumption.See Also consumer.

streamer A consumer that streams to the outside world.See Also consumer.

sysconfdir The directory where your system configuration files are stored. When you arecompiling from source, this is decided by the --sysconfdir argument toconfigure, or inherited from --prefix by appending etc. The argument thusdefaults to /usr/local/etc.

When installed from packages, this directory is found as /etc.

worker A daemon process on a machine that connects to the manager and waits forrequests to start components.See Also manager.

Part II. FlumotionComponents Reference

119

Table of ContentsI. Producer Components ................................................................................................... 120

audiotest-producer ................................................................................................... 121firewire-producer ..................................................................................................... 122icecast-producer ...................................................................................................... 124loop-producer ......................................................................................................... 125soundcard-producer .................................................................................................. 126tvcard-producer ....................................................................................................... 128videotest-producer ................................................................................................... 130webcam-producer .................................................................................................... 132

II. Converter Components ................................................................................................. 134repeater ................................................................................................................. 135overlay-converter .................................................................................................... 136

III. Combiner Components ................................................................................................ 138av-basic-watchdog-combiner ..................................................................................... 139av-switch-combiner .................................................................................................. 141single-switch-combiner ............................................................................................. 143

IV. Encoder Components .................................................................................................. 144dirac-encoder .......................................................................................................... 145jpeg-encoder ........................................................................................................... 146mulaw-encoder ....................................................................................................... 147smoke-encoder ........................................................................................................ 148speex-encoder ......................................................................................................... 149theora-encoder ........................................................................................................ 150vorbis-encoder ........................................................................................................ 152

V. Muxer Components ..................................................................................................... 153multipart-muxer ...................................................................................................... 154ogg-muxer ............................................................................................................. 155

VI. Consumer Components ............................................................................................... 156disk-consumer ......................................................................................................... 157http-streamer .......................................................................................................... 159http-server .............................................................................................................. 163shout2-consumer ..................................................................................................... 166

VII. Bouncer Components ................................................................................................ 168htpasswdcrypt-bouncer ............................................................................................. 169ical-bouncer ........................................................................................................... 170ip-bouncer .............................................................................................................. 171

VIII. Miscellaneous Components ....................................................................................... 172porter .................................................................................................................... 173

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Producer Components

121

audiotest-produceraudiotest-producer — Produces an example audio signal without using a device.

Properties

volume

The volume of the test signal (0.0 - 1.0).

Type: float

Optional property. Single values only.

rate

The Sample rate (in Hz).

Type: int


frequency

The frequency of the test signal (in Hz).

Type: int


drop-probability

The fraction of buffers to drop (0.0 - 1.0). Only useful for debugging.

Type: float


122

firewire-producerfirewire-producer — Produces feeds from a Firewire/DV device.

Properties

is-square

Whether to scale to a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio.

Type: bool


scaled-width

The width to scale to before correcting.

Type: int


guid

The GUID of the device (a hexadecimal such as 0xhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

Type: string


framerate

The framerate (in fps).

Type: fraction


width

The final width, including correction.

Type: int


height

firewire-producer

123

The height to scale to.

Type: int


124

icecast-producericecast-producer — A producer that produces a stream from an Icecast server.

Properties

url

The URL of the Icecast stream from which to produce.

Type: string

Required property. Single values only.

125

loop-producerloop-producer — Produces a raw audio/video feed from an Ogg file, looping continuously.

Properties

width

The width to scale the video to.

Type: int


framerate

Framerate to output

Type: fraction


location

The location of the source file to loop.

Type: string


height

The height to scale the video to.

Type: int


126

soundcard-producersoundcard-producer — Captures a raw audio feed from a soundcard.

Properties

channels

The Number of channels to capture (default 2).

Type: int


rate

The Sample rate to capture at (in Hz. default: 44100).

Type: int


input-track

The label of the input track to be used for recording (the default is to use whatever is currently set).

Type: string


device

The device property to use for the the source element.

Type: string


depth

The bit depth to use (default 16).

Type: int


source-element

soundcard-producer

127

The GStreamer element factory to use as the source.

Type: string


128

tvcard-producertvcard-producer — A producer that captures a raw video feed from a TV card.

Properties

hue

The hue of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


saturation

The saturation of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


brightness

The brightness of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


signal

The signal type (PAL/SECAM/NTSC/...).

Type: string


framerate

The frame rate of the produced video.

Type: fraction


height

tvcard-producer

129

The height of the produced video.

Type: int


width

The width of the produced video.

Type: int


channel

The input channel (TV/Composite1/S-Video/...).

Type: string


device

The path to the device node.

Type: string


contrast

The contrast of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


130

videotest-producervideotest-producer — Produces an example video signal without using a device.

Properties

format

Video format

Type: string


pixel-aspect-ratio

The video pixel aspect ratio as numerator/denominator.

Type: fraction


framerate

The video frame rate as numerator/denominator.

Type: fraction


height

The height in pixels.

Type: int


width

The width in pixels.

Type: int


overlay-timestamps

videotest-producer

131

Whether to overlay buffer timestamps.

Type: bool


pattern

Thhe test pattern to show (smpte/snow/black/...).

Type: int


drop-probability

The fraction of buffers to drop (0.0 - 1.0). Only useful for debugging.

Type: float


132

webcam-producerwebcam-producer — Produces a raw video feed from a webcam.

Properties

hue

The hue of the video (0-65535)

Type: int


saturation

The saturation of the video (0-65535)

Type: int


format

The Colorspace fourcc to capture in.

Type: string


brightness

The brightness of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


framerate

The frame rate of the video to capture.

Type: fraction


height

webcam-producer

133

The height of the video to capture.

Type: int


width

The width of the video to capture.

Type: int


mime

The Mime type of video to produce (e.g. video/x-raw-yuv).

Type: string


element-factory

The element factory from which to instantiate the capture element. Defaults to 'v4lsrc'

Type: string


device

The path to the device node from which to capture.

Type: string


contrast

The contrast of the video (0-65535).

Type: int


134

Converter Components

135

repeaterrepeater — A component that simply repeats the feed without any processing. This is useful to transporta feed to a different worker before feeding it to many other eaters.

Properties

drop-probability

The fraction of buffers to drop (0.0 - 1.0).

Type: float


136

overlay-converteroverlay-converter — Overlays text and images onto a raw video feed.

Properties

show-text

Whether to show text.

Type: bool


width

The width of the overlaid image.

Type: int


xiph-logo

Whether to show a Xiph logo.

Type: bool


fluendo-logo

Whether to show a Fluendo logo.

Type: bool


text

Text to show

Type: string


cc-logo

overlay-converter

137

Whether to show a Creative Commons logo.

Type: bool


height

The height of the overlaid image.

Type: int


138

Combiner Components

139

av-basic-watchdog-combinerav-basic-watchdog-combiner — A basic audio/video watchdog component.

Properties

video-pixel-aspect-ratio

If set, the pixel aspect ratio of the outgoing video.

Type: fraction


video-framerate

If set, the framerate of the outgoing video.

Type: fraction


video-width

If set, the width of the outgoing video.

Type: int


audio-channels

If set, the number of channels of the outgoing audio.

Type: int


ical-schedule

If set, an iCalendar that decides when to switch. The switcher will switch to the backup stream during anyevent scheduled in the iCalendar file.

Type: string


audio-samplerate

av-basic-watchdog-combiner

140

If set, the samplerate of the outgoing audio.

Type: int


video-height

If set, the height of the outgoing video.

Type: int


141

av-switch-combinerav-switch-combiner — An audio/video switching component.

Properties

video-pixel-aspect-ratio

If set, the pixel aspect ratio of the outgoing video.

Type: fraction


video-framerate

If set, the framerate of the outgoing video.

Type: fraction


video-width

If set, the width of the outgoing video.

Type: int


audio-channels

If set, the number of channels of the outgoing audio.

Type: int


ical-schedule


Type: string


audio-samplerate

av-switch-combiner

142

If set, the samplerate of the outgoing audio.

Type: int


video-height

If set, the height of the outgoing video.

Type: int


143

single-switch-combinersingle-switch-combiner — A switcher switching between two input feeds of the same stream type.

Properties

ical-schedule


Type: string


144

Encoder Components

145

dirac-encoderdirac-encoder — Encodes a raw video feed using BBC's Dirac codec.

Properties

bitrate

The bit rate to encode at (in bps).

Type: int


146

jpeg-encoderjpeg-encoder — Encodes raw video feed to JPEG frames.

Properties

quality

The quality of the JPEG encoding (from 0 to 100 %).

Type: int


framerate

The Frame rate at which to encode.

Type: fraction


147

mulaw-encodermulaw-encoder — Encodes raw audio to mu-law.

Properties

148

smoke-encodersmoke-encoder — An encoder using JPEG frames and delta frames.

Properties

threshold

The motion estimation threshold (0 - 10000000. default: 3000).

Type: int


qmin

The minimum JPEG quality (0-100 %. default: 10 %).

Type: int


keyframe

How often a key frame should appear (in frames. default: 20)

Type: int


qmax

The maximum JPEG quality (0-100 %. default: 85 %).

Type: int


149

speex-encoderspeex-encoder — Encodes a raw audio feed using the Speex speech codec.

Properties

bitrate


Type: int


150

theora-encodertheora-encoder — Encodes a raw video feed using Xiph's Theora codec.

Properties

keyframe-maxdistance

The maximum distance between key frames (in frames).

Type: int


quality

The encoding quality (0-63, if not using bitrate).

Type: int


quick-compress

Whether to use quick, lower-quality compression.

Type: bool


bitrate


Type: int


keyframe-mindistance

The minimum distance between key frames (in frames).

Type: int


sharpness

theora-encoder

151

The sharpness encoder parameter: 0, 1, or 2.

Type: int


noise-sensitivity

The noise sensitivity (defaults to 1)

Type: int


152

vorbis-encodervorbis-encoder — An audio encoder that encodes to Vorbis.

Properties

channels

The number of audio channels to encode.

Type: int


bitrate


Type: int


quality

The quality to encode at (from -0.1 to 1.0). This is only used if bitrate is not set.

Type: float


153

Muxer Components

154

multipart-muxermultipart-muxer — Muxes encode feeds into a Multipart feed.

Properties

155

ogg-muxerogg-muxer — Muxes encode feeds into an Ogg feed.

Properties

156

Consumer Components

157

disk-consumerdisk-consumer — A consumer that archives a stream to disk.

Properties

symlink-to-last-recording

If set, this symlink will be created and will point to the latest finished recording.

Type: string


start-recording

Whether to start recording when the component starts (defaults to True).

Type: bool


stream-marker-filename-prefix

The formatting template for the program id (default '%03d.').

Type: string


filename

If set, the given template will be used to decide filenames for recordings. The template will be expandedaccording to strftime(3).

Type: string


react-to-stream-markers

Whether to start/stop the disker when stream marker events are received.

Type: bool


time

disk-consumer

158

The maximum duration of each file (in seconds).

Type: long


directory

The directory to which to save the archives.

Type: string


rotate-type

'size', 'time', or 'none' (default 'none').

Type: string


ical-schedule

If set, the given iCalendar schedule will be used to decide when to record. Every event defined indicatesa recording, and the event description will be used as the filename template.

Type: string


symlink-to-current-recording

If set, this symlink will be created and will point to the latest started recording.

Type: string


size

The maximum size of each file (in bytes).

Type: long


159

http-streamerhttp-streamer — A consumer that streams over HTTP.

Properties

burst-time

How much data to burst (in seconds).

Type: float


description

A description of the stream.

Type: string


domain

The domain of the server for authentication.

Type: string


duration

How long to keep clients connected (in seconds).

Type: float


ip-filter

The IP network-address/prefix-length to filter out of logs.

Type: string

Optional property. Multiple values allowed.

porter-socket-path

http-streamer

160

The path to the socket to communicate with the porter.

Type: string


burst-on-connect

Whether to burst old data on client connection (reduces buffering time).

Type: bool


porter-username

The username to authenticate to the porter.

Type: string


mount-point

The mount point on which the stream can be accessed.

Type: string


issuer-class

The Python class of the Keycard issuer to use.

Type: string


hostname

The server's host name to display.

Type: string


bouncer

The name of a bouncer in the atmosphere to authenticate against.

http-streamer

161

Type: string


porter-password

The password to authenticate to the porter.

Type: string


port

The port to listen on (if type is 'master').

Type: int


bandwidth-limit

The maximum bandwidth usage allowed in bits per second.

Type: int


burst-size

How much data to burst (in KB).

Type: int


client-limit

The maximum number of clients allowed.

Type: int


type

'master' to listen on a port, or 'slave' to slave to a porter (default master).

Type: string

http-streamer

162


redirect-on-overflow

A URL to redirect clients to if either of the limits have been reached.

Type: string


163

http-serverhttp-server — An on demand HTTP server.

Properties

porter-username


Type: string


description

The _description of the server.

Type: string


mount-point

The mount point on which the stream can be accessed.

Type: string


issuer-class

The Python class of the Keycard issuer to use.

Type: string


hostname

The server's host name to display.

Type: string


bouncer

http-server

164

The name of a bouncer in the atmosphere to authenticate against.

Type: string


port

The port to listen on (if type is 'master').

Type: int


type

'master' to listen on a port, or 'slave' to slave to a porter (default master).

Type: string


path

The base path to map to the mount-point

Type: string


ip-filter

The IP network-address/prefix-length to filter out of logs.

Type: string


porter-socket-path

The path to the socket to communicate with the porter.

Type: string


porter-password

The password to authenticate to the porter

http-server

165

Type: string


166

shout2-consumershout2-consumer — A consumer that can stream to Icecast servers using shout2

Properties

short-name

A short name for the stream.

Type: string


description

A description for the stream.

Type: string


mount-point

The mount point on which to publish the stream.

Type: string


url

A URL to associate with the stream.

Type: string


ip

The IP address of the Icecast server.

Type: string


password

shout2-consumer

167

The password to authenticate to the the Icecast server.

Type: string


port

The port on which the Icecast server is listening.

Type: int


168

Bouncer Components

169

htpasswdcrypt-bouncerhtpasswdcrypt-bouncer — A bouncer using htpasswd and crypted keycards.

Properties

data

In-line htpasswd data to use as a backend.

Type: rawstring


filename

An htpasswd file to use as a backend.

Type: string


170

ical-bouncerical-bouncer — A bouncer that allows access to a stream when there is an event in the iCalendar file.

Properties

file

The path to an iCalendar file to use.

Type: string


171

ip-bouncerip-bouncer — A bouncer that authenticates based on remote IP address.

Properties

deny

A match rule for denying authentication. This uses the same syntax as the allow rules.

Type: string


deny-default

Whether to default to denying authentication. Defaults to True, which is equivalent to Apache's 'OrderAllow,Deny'

Type: bool


allow

A match rule for allowing authentication. Match rules are IP blocks, such as 127.0.0.1/32.

Type: string


172

Miscellaneous Components

173

porterporter — A component that listens to a network port on behalf of other components (like http-streamerand http-server).

Properties

username


Type: string


socket-path

The socket path to use to connect to the porter.

Type: string


protocol

The porter protocol to use (defaults to flumotion.component.misc.porter.porter.HTTPPorterProtocol').

Type: string


iptables-port

The network port for the porter to report (useful when using iptables to redirect incoming 80 to 8800).

Type: int


interface

The IP address or hostname associated with the interface we want to listen on.

Type: string


password

porter

174

The password to authenticate to the porter.

Type: string


port

The network port for the porter to listen on.

Type: int


Part III. Flumotion Plugs Reference

176

Table of ContentsIX. AdminAction Plugs .................................................................................................... 177

adminaction-loggerfile .............................................................................................. 178X. Bouncer Plugs ............................................................................................................ 179

bouncer-testtoken .................................................................................................... 180bouncer-trivial ........................................................................................................ 181

XI. Component Plugs ....................................................................................................... 182component-cortado .................................................................................................. 183component-example ................................................................................................. 185

XII. IdentityProvider Plugs ............................................................................................... 186identityprovider-example .......................................................................................... 187

XIII. Component Plugs .................................................................................................... 188manager-example .................................................................................................... 189manager-manhole .................................................................................................... 190

XIV. RateController Plugs ................................................................................................ 191ratecontroller-fixed .................................................................................................. 192

XV. RequestLogger Plugs ................................................................................................. 193requestlogger-file .................................................................................................... 194

XVI. StreamData Plugs .................................................................................................... 195streamdataprovider-example ...................................................................................... 196

177

AdminAction Plugs

178

adminaction-loggerfileadminaction-loggerfile — Logs all actions made by admin clients to a log file.

Properties

logfile

Path to log file to which to log admin actions.

Type: string


179

Bouncer Plugs

180

bouncer-testtokenbouncer-testtoken — A test bouncer plug that only allows one token.

Properties

authorized-token

The token that is authorized

Type: string


181

bouncer-trivialbouncer-trivial — A bouncer plug that always accepts authentication requests.

Properties

182

Component Plugs

183

component-cortadocomponent-cortado — Serves the embedded Cortado Java player.

Properties

has-audio

Whether audio should be streamed.

Type: bool


index

The name of the index file. The default is index.html.

Type: string


height

The height of the cortado applet.

Type: int


stream-url

The URL to the stream we are displaying.

Type: string


html-template

A HTML template to use to serve the cortado applet.

Type: string


framerate

component-cortado

184

The frame rate used in the cortado applet.

Type: float


buffer-size

The size of the buffer in the cortado applet.

Type: int


codebase

The base URL used to fetch the cortado applet code.

Type: string


width

The width of the cortado applet.

Type: int


has-video

Whether video should be streamed.

Type: bool


185

component-examplecomponent-example — Shows how a component plug works by printing to console.

Properties

186

IdentityProvider Plugs

187

identityprovider-exampleidentityprovider-example — Shows how an identityprovider plug works.

Properties

188

Component Plugs

189

manager-examplemanager-example — Shows how a manager plug works by printing on console.

Properties

190

manager-manholemanager-manhole — Creates a manhole to a manager to which you can log in over telnet or ssh.

Properties

initially-open

Whether the SSH port is open from the start

Type: bool


ssh-authorized-keys-file

Path to a file containing authorized keys for SSH login

Type: string


port

The port to listen on for incoming manhole connections

Type: int


191

RateController Plugs

192

ratecontroller-fixedratecontroller-fixed — Rate controls on demand streaming using a fixed bitrate.

Properties

rate

The average rate to send all files at, in bits per second.

Type: int


initial-level

The initial amount of data that can be sent at full speed, in bits.

Type: int


max-level

The maximum amount of data to send at full rate at any given moment, in bits.

Type: int


193

RequestLogger Plugs

194

requestlogger-filerequestlogger-file — Logs all stream requests to a W3C-compatible log file.

Properties

logfile

Path to log file to which to log requests.

Type: string


195

StreamData Plugs

196

streamdataprovider-examplestreamdataprovider-example — Shows how a streamdataprovider plug works.

Properties

description

Description of the stream

Type: string


197

Bibliography[pam-home] Pluggable Authentication Module homepage http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/index.html

[gstreamer-home] GStreamer homepage http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/

[twisted-home] Twisted homepage http://www.twistedmatrix.com/products/twisted

[xiph] Xiph.org homepage http://www.xiph.org

[linux1394] IEEE 1394 for Linux homepage http://www.linux1394.org/

[flvtool2] flvtool2 Flash Video Indexer http://www.inlet-media.de/flvtool2

[flumotion-services] Flumotion Services http://www.flumotion.com/

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/libs/pam/index.html

http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/

http://www.twistedmatrix.com/products/twisted

http://www.xiph.org

http://www.linux1394.org/

http://www.inlet-media.de/flvtool2

http://www.flumotion.com/

198

IndexAadminaction-loggerfile:logfile, 178adminaction-loggerfile:properties, 178Administration Window, 114Architecture, Atmosphere, 30, 31, 32atmosphere, 116audiotest-producer:drop-probability, 121audiotest-producer:frequency, 121audiotest-producer:properties, 121audiotest-producer:rate, 121audiotest-producer:volume, 121av-basic-watchdog-combiner:audio-channels, 139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:audio-samplerate, 139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:ical-schedule, 139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:properties, 139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:video-framerate, 139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:video-height, 140av-basic-watchdog-combiner:video-pixel-aspect-ratio,139av-basic-watchdog-combiner:video-width, 139av-switch-combiner:audio-channels, 141av-switch-combiner:audio-samplerate, 141av-switch-combiner:ical-schedule, 141av-switch-combiner:properties, 141av-switch-combiner:video-framerate, 141av-switch-combiner:video-height, 142av-switch-combiner:video-pixel-aspect-ratio, 141av-switch-combiner:video-width, 141

BBouncer, 31, 32, 35bouncer-testtoken:authorized-token, 180bouncer-testtoken:properties, 180bouncer-trivial:properties, 181

CCertificate, 54component-cortado:buffer-size, 184component-cortado:codebase, 184component-cortado:framerate, 183component-cortado:has-audio, 183component-cortado:has-video, 184component-cortado:height, 183component-cortado:html-template, 183component-cortado:index, 183component-cortado:properties, 183component-cortado:stream-url, 183component-cortado:width, 184component-example:properties, 185

Components, 30, 32Connections, 75Consumer, 31Consumption, 100Content License, 111Converter, 31

DDebugging, Deployment, Dirac Encoder, 94dirac-encoder:bitrate, 145dirac-encoder:properties, 145disk-consumer:directory, 158disk-consumer:filename, 157disk-consumer:ical-schedule, 158disk-consumer:properties, 157disk-consumer:react-to-stream-markers, 157disk-consumer:rotate-type, 158disk-consumer:size, 158disk-consumer:start-recording, 157disk-consumer:stream-marker-filename-prefix, 157disk-consumer:symlink-to-current-recording, 158disk-consumer:symlink-to-last-recording, 157disk-consumer:time, 157

EEncoding, 92Encyrption, 54

FFeed, 30, 30, 32file descriptor, 57Firewall, 54Firewire, 87, 91firewire-producer:framerate, 122firewire-producer:guid, 122firewire-producer:height, 122firewire-producer:is-square, 122firewire-producer:properties, 122firewire-producer:scaled-width, 122firewire-producer:width, 122Flash, 4, 24, 35, 51, 92Flow, 30, 32Flumotion Services S.A., flumotion-admin, 5flumotion-inspect, 36flumotion-manager, 5, 74, flumotion-worker, 5, 44flvtool2, 51

Hhtpasswd, 37

Index

199

htpasswdcrypt-bouncer:data, 169htpasswdcrypt-bouncer:filename, 169htpasswdcrypt-bouncer:properties, 169HTTP Streaming, 101, 102, 103, 104http-server:bouncer, 163http-server:description, 163http-server:hostname, 163http-server:ip-filter, 164http-server:issuer-class, 163http-server:mount-point, 163http-server:path, 164http-server:port, 164http-server:porter-password, 164http-server:porter-socket-path, 164http-server:porter-username, 163http-server:properties, 163http-server:type, 164http-streamer:bandwidth-limit, 161http-streamer:bouncer, 160http-streamer:burst-on-connect, 160http-streamer:burst-size, 161http-streamer:burst-time, 159http-streamer:client-limit, 161http-streamer:description, 159http-streamer:domain, 159http-streamer:duration, 159http-streamer:hostname, 160http-streamer:ip-filter, 159http-streamer:issuer-class, 160http-streamer:mount-point, 160http-streamer:port, 161http-streamer:porter-password, 161http-streamer:porter-socket-path, 159http-streamer:porter-username, 160http-streamer:properties, 159http-streamer:redirect-on-overflow, 162http-streamer:type, 161

Iical-bouncer:file, 170ical-bouncer:properties, 170Icecast Streaming, 108, 109, 110icecast-producer:properties, 124icecast-producer:url, 124identityprovider-example:properties, 187Installation Dependencies, ip-bouncer:allow, 171ip-bouncer:deny, 171ip-bouncer:deny-default, 171ip-bouncer:properties, 171

JJPEG Encoder, 96

jpeg-encoder:framerate, 146jpeg-encoder:properties, 146jpeg-encoder:quality, 146

Lloop-producer:framerate, 125loop-producer:height, 125loop-producer:location, 125loop-producer:properties, 125loop-producer:width, 125

MManager, 32manager, 117manager-example:properties, 189manager-manhole:initially-open, 190manager-manhole:port, 190manager-manhole:properties, 190manager-manhole:ssh-authorized-keys-file, 190memory limit, 58MP3, 24, 92Mulaw Encoder, 99mulaw-encoder:properties, 147multipart-muxer:properties, 154

NNTSC, 87

Oogg-muxer:properties, 155On Demand Streaming, 112openssl, 54Optimization, Overlay, 88overlay-converter:cc-logo, 136overlay-converter:fluendo-logo, 136overlay-converter:height, 137overlay-converter:properties, 136overlay-converter:show-text, 136overlay-converter:text, 136overlay-converter:width, 136overlay-converter:xiph-logo, 136

PPAL, 87Performance, Planet, 30, 32planet, 117porter:interface, 173porter:iptables-port, 173porter:password, 173porter:port, 174porter:properties, 173

Index

200

porter:protocol, 173porter:socket-path, 173porter:username, 173Ports, 55Producer, 31Production, 83

Rratecontroller-fixed:initial-level, 192ratecontroller-fixed:max-level, 192ratecontroller-fixed:properties, 192ratecontroller-fixed:rate, 192repeater:drop-probability, 135repeater:properties, 135requestlogger-file:logfile, 194requestlogger-file:properties, 194

SSecurity, shout2-consumer:description, 166shout2-consumer:ip, 166shout2-consumer:mount-point, 166shout2-consumer:password, 166shout2-consumer:port, 167shout2-consumer:properties, 166shout2-consumer:short-name, 166shout2-consumer:url, 166single-switch-combiner:ical-schedule, 143single-switch-combiner:properties, 143Smoke Encoder, 95smoke-encoder:keyframe, 148smoke-encoder:properties, 148smoke-encoder:qmax, 148smoke-encoder:qmin, 148smoke-encoder:threshold, 148Sound Card, 90soundcard-producer:channels, 126soundcard-producer:depth, 126soundcard-producer:device, 126soundcard-producer:input-track, 126soundcard-producer:properties, 126soundcard-producer:rate, 126soundcard-producer:source-element, 126Speex Encoder, 98speex-encoder:bitrate, 149speex-encoder:properties, 149SSL, 34, 42, 53, 54, 55streamdataprovider-example:description, 196streamdataprovider-example:properties, 196Streaming to Disk, 105, 106, 107

TTCP, 53, 54

Test Audio, 89Theora Encoder, 93theora-encoder:bitrate, 150theora-encoder:keyframe-maxdistance, 150theora-encoder:keyframe-mindistance, 150theora-encoder:noise-sensitivity, 151theora-encoder:properties, 150theora-encoder:quality, 150theora-encoder:quick-compress, 150theora-encoder:sharpness, 150Transport Protocol, 53TV Card, 86tvcard-producer:brightness, 128tvcard-producer:channel, 129tvcard-producer:contrast, 129tvcard-producer:device, 129tvcard-producer:framerate, 128tvcard-producer:height, 128tvcard-producer:hue, 128tvcard-producer:properties, 128tvcard-producer:saturation, 128tvcard-producer:signal, 128tvcard-producer:width, 129

Vvideotest-producer:drop-probability, 131videotest-producer:format, 130videotest-producer:framerate, 130videotest-producer:height, 130videotest-producer:overlay-timestamps, 130videotest-producer:pattern, 131videotest-producer:pixel-aspect-ratio, 130videotest-producer:properties, 130videotest-producer:width, 130Vorbis Encoder, 97vorbis-encoder:bitrate, 152vorbis-encoder:channels, 152vorbis-encoder:properties, 152vorbis-encoder:quality, 152

WWebcam, 85webcam-producer:brightness, 132webcam-producer:contrast, 133webcam-producer:device, 133webcam-producer:element-factory, 133webcam-producer:format, 132webcam-producer:framerate, 132webcam-producer:height, 132webcam-producer:hue, 132webcam-producer:mime, 133webcam-producer:properties, 132webcam-producer:saturation, 132

Index

201

webcam-producer:width, 133Windows Media, 4, 24, 35, 92Worker, 32worker, 117

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