Use Amazon S3 to store video files without EC2

[system]

Hi,

I don’t know if I’m in the good place but my subject is in relation with Amazon EC2 and S3.

So I want to convert my actual site with basic progressive download for a wowza media server to allow real streaming video.

I take the decision to store my video files on Amazon S3 because I can’t find a non expensive hosting provider to have enought bandwitch.

So I already have some dedicated servers, I prefer to use them for run Wowza.

I would like to know if it’s possible to have my WMS in a server and the videos files store in S3 ? The website and wowza server would be managed by my servers and the visitors will download the videos from S3.

I have seen the persistentFS project in the forum but I don’t know if I can use it to do my project.

And finally for the package wowza pro + amazon EC2, do I have to buy a license or it’s a kind of rent with the service ?

[Dave_Stubenvoll]

Video on demand streaming requires fast and reliable disk access. The performance is directly related to disk I/O. Using Amazon S3 as storage for a Wowza Pro hosted somewhere else is not advisable. It is best to use local storage.

Wowza Media Systems has teamed with Amazon Web Service to make billing quick, easy, and secure for the combination of Wowza Media Server Pro, machine time with various EC2 instances and bandwidth. Go to http://www.wowza.com/ec2 for more information and to request access.

When running Wowza Pro for EC2, it is best to use the local storage of the EC2 instance. However, the new Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), provides persistent storage for your Amazon EC2 instances and could be a great way to store your video files for use with Wowza Pro for EC2.

[Charlie_Good]

Yes, the new vods3 streaming in the most recent EC2 instance make streaming directly from S3 through Wowza now possible.

We will work harder to make our information more clear.

Charlie

[Richard_Lanham]

The benefit is reduced latency.

Previously EC2 instances were able to access temporary storage as part of the compute instance, or persistent storage only on S3 - the Amazon online storage service. The difference between EBS and S3 is that EBS allows block-level access, so that it can be mounted just like any other local storage device from within EC2 and can be accessed across servers and between instances. S3 is accessed as a web service, so performance for latency sensitive applications was never optimal (such as running a database store). EBS provides a much higher level of performance comparable to high-grade local storage in terms of both access times and availability.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/21/amazon-boosts-storage-features-in-ec2/

[Davy_NESTOR]

I understand you want to sell your package but technically it’s possible to map an Amazon S3 account like a simple local storage.

So for you, if I want to buy a complete WMSP license I must use a single server to run the server and to store the videos.

There is no solution to store them in Amazon S3 and then redirect the visitors to the Amazon S3 vidfeo’s location.

On a Amazon EC2 instance, the files are stored in S3. So what can be the benefits for use EBS ?

[Davy_NESTOR]

Ok, So the difference is the way that the point of stockage is accessed.

With S3, we use a webservice and with EBS it’s always stocked on S3 but the way to access files is very short ?

[Conor_O_Leary]

I was wondering if some of the information in this thread has been superseded by the following information:

New Feature - Stream Media Directly from S3

Now you can use Wowza Pro for EC2 to stream media directly from Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). Wowza Pro employs a read through local disk cache to improve the performance of streaming media from S3. The configuration of the caching mechanism is done automatically and is adjusted based on the AMI instance type being used (m1-small, m1-large, m1-xlarge). This feature requires that you use “Wowza Pro DevPay AMI ID v EC2 1.1.9” or greater. See the Wowza Pro Unlimited for Amazon EC2 User’s Guide (below) for more information.

On a side-note, it’s a pity Wowza don’t date their articles - to say something is ‘new’ is ambivalent, particularly regarding technology:).

Source:

http://www.wowza.com/ec2.php