Schedule a transcoder with the Wowza Streaming Cloud REST API

Learn how to use the REST API to schedule a transcoder in the Wowza Streaming Cloud™ service to start and stop once, or on a repeating schedule.

Create a live stream or transcoder

---

1. Using the Wowza Streaming Cloud REST API, create a live stream or a transcoder that receives video from a source encoder and delivers the stream to a hosted page or the transcoded output to a target. For instructions, see the following tutorials:

• Create an ABR stream and send it to a target with the Wowza Streaming Cloud REST API
   
• Pass a stream through the transcoder to a target with the Wowza Streaming Cloud REST API
   
• Get started with Wowza Streaming Cloud using the REST API

2. Make note of the live_stream_id or transcoder_id that Wowza Streaming Cloud creates for your stream. You'll need it to schedule the broadcast.

Create a schedule

---

Create a schedule to start and stop the live stream or transcoder. 

When specifying the start time, allow a few minutes for Wowza Streaming Cloud to launch the stream or transcoder. If your event begins at 9:00, for example, set the start time for 8:55. The minimum run time for a scheduled live stream or transcoder is 5 minutes, but we recommend scheduling at least 10 minutes between start and stop.

Schedule parameters

Example requests

Notes:

• To authenticate API requests, use HMAC authentication for production environments. For testing or proof of concept purposes only, use API key and access key authentication.
• The curl examples below use environment variables. See Using cURL for more information on how to set these up.

A schedule to start a transcoder once

The following request generates schedule that starts transcoder 1234abcd at 8pm UTC (20:00) on December 26, 2015.
 

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "start",
     "name": "StartOneTimeSchedule",
     "recurrence_type": "once",
     "start_transcoder": "2015-12-26 20:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

The request creates a schedule with an id parameter. By default, the schedule state is enabled. The details of the configured schedule are listed in the response, which should look something like this:
 

{
  "schedule": {
    "action_type": "start",
    "created_at": "2015-11-25T11:53:28.508",
    "id": "5678efgh",
    "name": "StartOneTimeSchedule",
    "recurrence_type": "once",
    "start_transcoder": "2015-12-26T12:00:00.000",
    "state": "enabled",
    "transcoder_id": "1234abcd",
    "updated_at": "2015-11-25T11:53:28.508"
  }
}

A schedule to stop a transcoder once

The following request generates a schedule that stops transcoder 1234abcd at 9pm UTC (21:00) on December 26, 2015, an hour after the transcoder starts.
 

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "stop",
     "name": "StopOneTimeSchedule",
     "recurrence_type": "once",
     "stop_transcoder": "2015-12-26 21:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

The request creates a schedule with an id parameter. By default, the schedule state is enabled. The details of the configured schedule are listed in the response, which should look something like this:
 

{
  "schedule": {
    "action_type": "stop",
    "created_at": "2015-11-25T11:54:28.508",
    "id": "9123wxyz",
    "name": "StopOneTimeSchedule",
    "recurrence_type": "once",
    "state": "enabled",
    "stop_transcoder": "2015-10-26T13:00:00.000",
    "transcoder_id": "1234abcd",
    "updated_at": "2015-11-25T11:54:28.508"
  }
}

A schedule to start and stop a transcoder for a one-time stream

The following request generates schedule that starts transcoder 1234abcd at 1pm UTC (13:00) on February 10, 2016 and stops the transcoder three hours later, at 4pm UTC (16:00) on February 10, 2016.
 

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "start_stop",
     "name": "ThreeHourTour",
     "recurrence_type": "once",
     "start_transcoder": "2016-02-10 13:00:00",
     "stop_transcoder": "2016-02-10 16:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

A schedule to start a transcoder on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two weeks

The following request generates schedule that starts transcoder 1234abcd at 1pm UTC (13:00) every Tuesday and Thursday for the first two weeks of January 2016.
 

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "start",
     "end_repeat": "2016-01-14",
     "name": "tuesday-thursday",
     "recurrence_data": "tuesday,thursday",
     "recurrence_type": "recur",
     "start_repeat": "2016-01-01",
     "start_transcoder": "2016-01-05 13:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

A schedule to stop a transcoder every day for a week

The following request generates schedule that stops transcoder 1234abcd at 2pm UTC (14:00) every day for seven days starting on February 10, 2016.
 

curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "action_type": "stop",
     "end_repeat": "2016-02-17",
     "name": "OneWeekInFeb",
     "recurrence_data": "wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday,monday,tuesday",
     "recurrence_type": "recur",
     "start_repeat": "2016-02-10",
     "stop_transcoder": "2016-02-10 14:00:00",
     "transcoder_id": "1234abcd"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules"

Enable or disable a schedule

---

By default, the state of every new schedule is enabled, which means the schedule will run automatically at the date and time specified. You can, however, disable and enable any schedule at any time.

Disable a schedule:

curl -X PUT \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]/disable"

Enable a schedule:
 

curl -X PUT \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]/enable"

Related requests

---

View a schedule's state:
 

curl -X GET \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]/state"

Possible schedule states are enabled, disabled, and expired.

View the details of a schedule:

curl -X GET \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]"

Update a schedule's configuration:
 

curl -X PATCH \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
-d '{
   "schedule": {
     "name": "DifferentScheduleName"
   }
 }' "${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]"

Delete a schedule:
 

curl -X DELETE \
-H "wsc-api-key: ${WSC_API_KEY}" \
-H "wsc-access-key: ${WSC_ACCESS_KEY}" \
"${WSC_HOST}/api/${WSC_VERSION}/schedules/[schedule_id]"