Wowza Community

Automatically stop and start incoming streams

Hi, I can’t find out if this is possible, I may just not have understood other threads I have read.

I am going to be running a live stream using a 3G connection so I want to keep bandwidth as low as possible. I will have a permanent live stream that users can log in and view when they need but there will be times when there will be no users connecting to the stream i.e. during the night.

What I would like is after a certain amount of idle time for wowza to stop connecting to the cameras so that they do not upload but will automatically start up again as quickly as possible if someone does log in. Any ideas on this or a link to another article would be very much appreciated.

On a slightly unrelated note, In the monitoring sections of wowza engine all of my graphs for network and connections are blank, any ideas on a fix for that?http://i.imgur.com/G538VnL.png?1

Thanks,

Simon

Hi Simon,

There is nothing built in to do exactly what you are trying to achieve, but it could be done with a little custom work.

You could start with this:

How to monitor content folder for .sdp and .stream files to start publishing streams (ServerListenerStartupStreamsMonitor)

And work out adding and removing .stream files as needed.

Another option would be to utilize this http provide to start/stop the stream (Following the second example here) :

How to parse post or get variables in an HTTPProvider

If you find that you need additional assistance with this implementation, you can post a request to the find a consultant forum

For the graph issue - please check logs for any errors regarding the db files, also check permissions on the stats folder. If nothing checks out there, please zip up your /conf and /log folders and send them to support@wowza.com to open a ticket.

Thank you.

Salvadore

Hi Simon.

Yes, you can use a StreamType of rtp-live, or rtp-live-record (MediaCaster). Using this StreamType streams are started and stopped on demand based on client’s viewing the stream. The publishing process is started the first time a client attempts to view a stream and stops 60 seconds after the last client has stopped viewing the stream.

This will work for RTSP as well as RTMP clients, but for HTTP clients there is no practical or built-in way to do this, because Wowza needs some lead time to start packetizing for HTTP clients.

I hope this helps.

Salvadore

Hi Salvadore,

Thanks very much, I will look into all of it.

Simon.

Hi Salvadore,

I am a bit unsure about something. In the applications and server section to create a new stream file, down the right hand side it has some information. It says that for re-streaming stream file streams the connection will stop if left idle.

The MediaCaster system works on-demand. When the first request is received from a player for the stream file, the source stream referenced in the file is made available to the player. When the last player stops viewing the stream, the MediaCaster system waits for a timeout period. If no other players request the file, the stream is stopped and isn’t available for streaming until another request is made.

I think I must be understanding this wrong as this is why I thought the stream would stop on it’s own. If you can shed some light on this that would be great.

Thanks,

Simon

rtp-live doesn’t exists, there’s another way to do this?

This is where you configure RTP-Live @Roberto Santana Valdés:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-re-stream-video-from-an-ip-camera-rtsp-rtp-re-streaming#configure-a-live-application-in-wowza-streaming-engine-manager