Published by Anthony<\/strong><\/a> on 14th April 2020<\/h4>\n\n\n\nI\u2019m writing these notes up, mainly as a reference for me in the future \u2013 but they might just help others looking to do similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Issue:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
During the Coronavirus season, our church, like many, ventured into the world of streaming services, primarily to YouTube but with an eye to multiplexing to both YouTube and Facebook at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially, the plan was to stream from OBS Studio to an intermediate platform, restream.io<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We tested with OBS sending the stream to restream and for the first week, everything worked fine.
Then, the second week about 10 minutes before due to go live restream.io suffered an outage. Fortunately, we were quickly able to flip to sending our stream directly to YouTube and our broadcast worked successfully.
However, for me, an issue with a shared service leaves a sour taste and so began the journey to discover what would be involved in running our own RTMP server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It turns out the solution has been relatively straightforward\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our solution:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, we signed up for a new VPS with vultr.com
We opted for a 1 x vCPU, 2GB RAM, High-Frequency machine with 64GB SSD storage, and 2TB monthly bandwidth. Research suggested that RTMP streaming\/multiplexing is not particularly CPU\/RAM intensive and is more about bandwidth consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once the VPS was provisioned, we selected the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS install image. The machine was duly created and connected via SSH to its IP shown in the portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Basic Installation:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Update all packages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@hostname# sudo apt-get update<\/pre>\n\n\n\nroot@hostname# sudo apt-get upgrade<\/pre>\n\n\n\nThen install NGINX:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt-get install nginx<\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo apt install libnginx-mod-rtmp<\/pre>\n\n\n\nAt this point you can test that NGINX has been installed correctly by testing with your browser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
http:\/\/<your-servers-IP-address><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If successful, you should see the NGINX default page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubdub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/welcome-screen-e1450116630667.png?w=910&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nConfiguration for YouTube<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Now, on to adding the RTMP config.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edit the nginx.conf file as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nano \/etc\/nginx\/nginx.conf<\/pre>\n\n\n\nAdd a section at the bottom of the file as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
rtmp {\n server {\n listen 1935;\n chunk_size 4096;\n\n application live { \n live on; \n record off; \n # Edit and enable line below to push incoming stream to YouTube \n # push rtmp:\/\/x.rtmp.youtube.com\/live2\/<your-Stream-Key-Copied-From-YouTube>; \n }\n }\n}<\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf you aren\u2019t familiar with YouTube Live stream settings the key can be obtained from the following screens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubdub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screenshot-2020-04-14-at-22.08.11-1024x799.png?resize=910%2C710&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubdub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screenshot-2020-04-14-at-22.08.43-1024x992.png?resize=910%2C882&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSave the nginx.conf file (Ctrl +X ) and start the NGINX service<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@hostname# systemctl restart nginx<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Best practice would suggest installing a firewall package on your VPS to minimise its exposure to the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, the second week about 10 minutes before due to go live restream.io suffered an outage. Fortunately, we were quickly able to flip to sending our stream directly to YouTube and our broadcast worked successfully.
However, for me, an issue with a shared service leaves a sour taste and so began the journey to discover what would be involved in running our own RTMP server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We opted for a 1 x vCPU, 2GB RAM, High-Frequency machine with 64GB SSD storage, and 2TB monthly bandwidth. Research suggested that RTMP streaming\/multiplexing is not particularly CPU\/RAM intensive and is more about bandwidth consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@hostname# sudo apt-get upgrade<\/pre>\n\n\n\nThen install NGINX:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sudo apt-get install nginx<\/pre>\n\n\n\nsudo apt install libnginx-mod-rtmp<\/pre>\n\n\n\nAt this point you can test that NGINX has been installed correctly by testing with your browser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
http:\/\/<your-servers-IP-address><\/p>\n\n\n\n
If successful, you should see the NGINX default page:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Configuration for YouTube<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Now, on to adding the RTMP config.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Edit the nginx.conf file as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nano \/etc\/nginx\/nginx.conf<\/pre>\n\n\n\nAdd a section at the bottom of the file as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
rtmp {\n server {\n listen 1935;\n chunk_size 4096;\n\n application live { \n live on; \n record off; \n # Edit and enable line below to push incoming stream to YouTube \n # push rtmp:\/\/x.rtmp.youtube.com\/live2\/<your-Stream-Key-Copied-From-YouTube>; \n }\n }\n}<\/pre>\n\n\n\nIf you aren\u2019t familiar with YouTube Live stream settings the key can be obtained from the following screens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Save the nginx.conf file (Ctrl +X ) and start the NGINX service<\/p>\n\n\n\n
root@hostname# systemctl restart nginx<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Best practice would suggest installing a firewall package on your VPS to minimise its exposure to the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubdub.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Screenshot-2020-04-14-at-22.18.05-1024x385.png?resize=910%2C342&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n