Step by step guide to setup a Media Server using Red5
In this guide, we are about to see how to install a media server using open source software Red5. It comes under the Apache License 2.0. The initial release of Red5 was in 2005 and the latest release of Red5 is (Red5 1.0.9) by June 2017. If you are looking to build a chat server or live streaming video platform Red5 will help to get one.
It supports a variable number of protocols like RTMP, RTMPE, RTMPS which include to stream audio and video formats like FLV, MP4, 3GP, Mp3, M4A, AC. If we are not affordable to pay for Adobe and Wowza the only option it’s better to stick with a Red5 server and live stream videos free of cost. It’s very easy to set up one within a few minutes. By following the below guide you are about to set up a fully functional Red5 Media Server.
Step 1: Installation server Setup:
Below is our test environment setup, Set the hostname name and IP to static.
# hostnamectl set-hostname red5.oel7.local # hostnamectl status # ip a | grep -i inet | grep -v '127.0\|inet6'
hostname details
The operating system we are about to use in this guide will be Centos 7.5. By following the same guide you can set up the same in RedHat Enterprise Linux 7.x server, Fedora Linux, Scientific Linux, Oracle Enterprise Linux Server 7.x.
# cat /etc/redhat-release
Step 2: Update the Server:
Before we are starting with Red5 installation let us update our operating system to latest packages.
# yum update -y
updated with latest packages
Step 3: Installing Java
By following we required to install with JDK 8 or latest version. Navigate to below URL to start the download by choosing “Accept the Licence Agreement”.
Download with RPM package it may come around 160 MB in Size. Install and verify the version.
# java -version
Java version
Step 4: Download and extract Red5:
Once done with Java installation by following we need to set up with Red5. To install with any specific required version, we can navigate to below URL.
In this guide we are using with 1.0.10, Let us download using “wget“.
# wget https://github.com/Red5/red5-server/releases/download/v1.0.10-M9/red5-server-1.0.10-M9.tar.gz
Downloaded with the red5 package
Extract the downloaded tar.gz red5 package under /opt/.
# tar -zxvf red5-server-1.0.10-M9.tar.gz -C /opt/
Step 5: Add firewalld rules:
If we are in a small environment we are required to setup with firewalld rules for Red5 ports.
By default, Red5 uses Port 5080. Enable the port and reload the firewalld to take effect for the newly added rule.
# firewall-cmd --add-port=5080/tcp --permanent # firewall-cmd --reload # firewall-cmd --list-all
Enable traffic for 5080/tcp
list the firewall rules
For the confirmation, we can use the “netstat” command to list out the ports.
# netstat -tunlp
Step 6: Configure Red5 to expose out of the box:
To access the Red5 out of the box we required to add Red5 server IP or hostname under below file.
# vi /opt/red5-server/webapps/installer/WEB-INF/red5-web.properties
webapp.virtualHosts=localhost, localhost:5080,192.168.107.243:5080
Save and exit.
Append with required IP address
Step 7: Start Red5 Service:
At last, we are good to start the Red5 service by running red5.sh script. If we need to run the service in the background simply add a “&” at the end of the command.
# cd /opt/red5-server/ # ./red5.sh &
Starting red5 service
Step 8: Access Red5 test Operation Page from Browser:
Open any one of your favourite web browsers with flash support and navigate to Red5 server IP. In this setup, we have used red5.oel7.local or we can use the IP and port 192.169.07.243:5080
Test page for red5 operation
Click on “Install a ready-made application” if need to test whether every setup looks fine.
Install demos
By default, few demo apps will be listed.
OFLA demo installation
Click on any one of App to install with it.
Completed with demo installation
That’s it we have done with a standard installation of Red5 server.
If you face any challenges during setup ask your queries in below comment section. We are happy to assist you.
To download with any previous release versions Click Here to list all available versions.
In case you found any bug or need any improvement suggestion you can raise an issue under Github by the following URL.
