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Overview

Ant Media Server can be deployed on Microsoft Azure using Azure Virtual Machines (VMs), Azure Marketplace one-click deployment, or Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) for auto-scaling capabilities.

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Deployment Methods

Deploy Ant Media Server directly from Azure Marketplace:

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Manual VM Deployment

Deploy on a standard Azure VM with custom configuration.

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Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets

Automated scaling using VMSS for high-traffic scenarios.

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Virtual Machine Requirements

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VM Sizes

Development/Testing:
  • VM Size: Standard_B2s or Standard_B2ms
  • vCPUs: 2
  • Memory: 4-8 GB
  • Cost: ~$30-60/month
Production (Recommended):
  • VM Size: Standard_F4s_v2 or Standard_D4s_v3
  • vCPUs: 4
  • Memory: 8-16 GB
  • Network: Accelerated Networking enabled
  • Cost: ~$150-300/month
High-Performance Streaming:
  • VM Size: Standard_F8s_v2, Standard_D8s_v3
  • vCPUs: 8-16
  • Memory: 16-32 GB
  • Network: Accelerated Networking (25 Gbps+)
  • Premium SSD storage
  • Cost: ~$300-600/month

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Operating System Images

Supported Images:
  • Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
  • Debian 11
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • CentOS 8 Stream
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS is recommended for optimal compatibility with Ant Media Server.

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Storage

  • OS Disk: 30 GB minimum (Premium SSD recommended)
  • Data Disk: 100-500 GB for recordings (Premium SSD or Ultra Disk)
  • Disk Type: Premium SSD for production workloads

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Quick Start: Azure Marketplace Deployment

1

Access Azure Marketplace

  1. Log into Azure Portal (https://portal.azure.com)
  2. Search for “Ant Media Server” in the Marketplace
  3. Select Community or Enterprise Edition
  4. Click Create
2

Configure Basics

Fill in the basic configuration:
  • Subscription: Select your Azure subscription
  • Resource Group: Create new or select existing
  • Region: Choose nearest region (e.g., East US, West Europe)
  • VM Name: antmedia-server-01
  • Authentication: SSH public key (recommended) or password
3

Configure VM Size

Select appropriate VM size:
  • Click Change size
  • Filter by compute-optimized (F-series) or general-purpose (D-series)
  • Select Standard_F4s_v2 or larger
  • Enable Accelerated Networking if available
4

Configure Networking

Network settings:
  • Virtual Network: Create new or select existing
  • Subnet: Default or custom subnet
  • Public IP: Create new static IP
  • NIC Network Security Group: Advanced
  • Configure NSG: Add inbound rules (see below)
5

Review and Create

  1. Review all settings
  2. Click Create
  3. Wait for deployment (5-10 minutes)
  4. Navigate to resource once complete
6

Access Web Panel

Get the public IP address:
  1. Go to Virtual Machine resource
  2. Copy Public IP address
  3. Open browser: http://PUBLIC_IP:5080
  4. Create admin account on first access

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Manual VM Deployment

1

Create Virtual Machine

Using Azure CLI:
# Create resource group
az group create --name antmedia-rg --location eastus

# Create VM
az vm create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-server \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_F4s_v2 \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
  --public-ip-sku Standard \
  --accelerated-networking true
2

Connect to VM

SSH into your VM:
# Get public IP
IP=$(az vm show -d -g antmedia-rg -n antmedia-server --query publicIps -o tsv)

# Connect
ssh azureuser@$IP
3

Install Ant Media Server

Download and install:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/install_ant-media-server.sh
chmod +x install_ant-media-server.sh
sudo ./install_ant-media-server.sh
4

Configure Firewall

Open required ports in NSG (see section below)

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Network Security Group (NSG) Configuration

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Required Inbound Rules

Create NSG rules for required ports:
PriorityNamePortProtocolSourceDestinationAction
100Allow-HTTP5080TCPAnyAnyAllow
110Allow-HTTPS5443TCPAnyAnyAllow
120Allow-RTMP1935TCPAnyAnyAllow
130Allow-RTMPS8443TCPAnyAnyAllow
140Allow-WebRTC5000-65000UDPAnyAnyAllow
200Allow-SSH22TCPYour IPAnyAllow

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Using Azure CLI

# Create NSG
az network nsg create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-nsg

# Add rules
az network nsg rule create --resource-group antmedia-rg --nsg-name antmedia-nsg \
  --name Allow-HTTP --priority 100 --source-address-prefixes '*' \
  --destination-port-ranges 5080 --protocol Tcp --access Allow

az network nsg rule create --resource-group antmedia-rg --nsg-name antmedia-nsg \
  --name Allow-HTTPS --priority 110 --source-address-prefixes '*' \
  --destination-port-ranges 5443 --protocol Tcp --access Allow

az network nsg rule create --resource-group antmedia-rg --nsg-name antmedia-nsg \
  --name Allow-RTMP --priority 120 --source-address-prefixes '*' \
  --destination-port-ranges 1935 --protocol Tcp --access Allow

az network nsg rule create --resource-group antmedia-rg --nsg-name antmedia-nsg \
  --name Allow-WebRTC --priority 140 --source-address-prefixes '*' \
  --destination-port-ranges 5000-65000 --protocol Udp --access Allow

az network nsg rule create --resource-group antmedia-rg --nsg-name antmedia-nsg \
  --name Allow-SSH --priority 200 --source-address-prefixes 'YOUR_IP' \
  --destination-port-ranges 22 --protocol Tcp --access Allow
Restrict SSH (port 22) to specific IP addresses for security. Replace ‘YOUR_IP’ with your actual IP address.

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Public IP Configuration

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Create Static Public IP

# Create static public IP
az network public-ip create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-public-ip \
  --sku Standard \
  --allocation-method Static

# Associate with VM
az network nic ip-config update \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --nic-name antmediaVMNic \
  --name ipconfig1 \
  --public-ip-address antmedia-public-ip

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Configure DNS Label

# Add DNS name
az network public-ip update \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-public-ip \
  --dns-name antmedia-server

# Access via: antmedia-server.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com

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Update Server Configuration

sudo nano /usr/local/antmedia/conf/red5.properties
Set your domain or public IP: 
server.name=antmedia-server.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com
Restart: 
sudo systemctl restart antmedia

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Virtual Machine Scale Sets (Auto-Scaling)

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Create VMSS with Azure CLI

# Create scale set
az vmss create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-vmss \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --vm-sku Standard_F4s_v2 \
  --instance-count 2 \
  --admin-username azureuser \
  --ssh-key-values ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \
  --public-ip-per-vm \
  --load-balancer antmedia-lb \
  --backend-pool-name antmedia-pool \
  --upgrade-policy-mode Automatic

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Configure Auto-Scaling Rules

# Scale out when CPU > 75%
az monitor autoscale create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --resource antmedia-vmss \
  --resource-type Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachineScaleSets \
  --name antmedia-autoscale \
  --min-count 2 \
  --max-count 10 \
  --count 2

az monitor autoscale rule create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --autoscale-name antmedia-autoscale \
  --condition "Percentage CPU > 75 avg 5m" \
  --scale out 2

# Scale in when CPU < 30%
az monitor autoscale rule create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --autoscale-name antmedia-autoscale \
  --condition "Percentage CPU < 30 avg 5m" \
  --scale in 1

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Custom Script Extension

Automate Ant Media Server installation on VMSS: 
az vmss extension set \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --vmss-name antmedia-vmss \
  --name CustomScript \
  --publisher Microsoft.Azure.Extensions \
  --version 2.1 \
  --settings '{"fileUris": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/install_ant-media-server.sh"], "commandToExecute": "bash install_ant-media-server.sh"}'

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Load Balancer Configuration

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Create Application Gateway

For advanced load balancing with SSL termination: 
# Create Application Gateway
az network application-gateway create \
  --name antmedia-appgw \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_v2 \
  --public-ip-address antmedia-gateway-ip \
  --vnet-name antmedia-vnet \
  --subnet gateway-subnet \
  --capacity 2 \
  --http-settings-cookie-based-affinity Disabled \
  --http-settings-port 5080 \
  --http-settings-protocol Http \
  --frontend-port 80

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Health Probe Configuration

Configure health probes for backend pool: 
az network application-gateway probe create \
  --gateway-name antmedia-appgw \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-health \
  --protocol Http \
  --host-name-from-http-settings true \
  --match-status-codes 200-399 \
  --path / \
  --interval 30 \
  --timeout 30 \
  --threshold 3

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Storage Configuration

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Attach Managed Disk

# Create managed disk
az disk create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-data-disk \
  --size-gb 100 \
  --sku Premium_LRS

# Attach to VM
az vm disk attach \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --vm-name antmedia-server \
  --name antmedia-data-disk
Mount the disk: 
# Inside VM
sudo fdisk -l
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdc
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/streams
sudo mount /dev/sdc /mnt/streams
echo '/dev/sdc /mnt/streams ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
sudo chown -R antmedia:antmedia /mnt/streams

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Azure Blob Storage Integration

Configure blob storage for recordings: 
# Create storage account
az storage account create \
  --name antmediastorage \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --location eastus \
  --sku Standard_LRS

# Create container
az storage container create \
  --name recordings \
  --account-name antmediastorage \
  --public-access off

# Get connection string
az storage account show-connection-string \
  --name antmediastorage \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg
Configure in application settings via web panel.

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Database Configuration (Enterprise)

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Azure Cosmos DB (MongoDB API)

# Create Cosmos DB account
az cosmosdb create \
  --name antmedia-cosmos \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --kind MongoDB \
  --server-version 4.2 \
  --default-consistency-level Session

# Create database
az cosmosdb mongodb database create \
  --account-name antmedia-cosmos \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia

# Get connection string
az cosmosdb keys list \
  --name antmedia-cosmos \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --type connection-strings

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Configure Cluster Mode

sudo /usr/local/antmedia/change_server_mode.sh cluster "mongodb://antmedia-cosmos:[email protected]:10255/?ssl=true&replicaSet=globaldb&retrywrites=false&maxIdleTimeMS=120000"

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SSL/TLS Configuration

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Using Application Gateway with SSL

  1. Upload SSL certificate to Azure Key Vault
  2. Configure Application Gateway listener with certificate
  3. Set up HTTP to HTTPS redirect

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Using Let’s Encrypt on VM

sudo /usr/local/antmedia/enable_ssl.sh -d yourdomain.com -e [email protected]

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Monitoring with Azure Monitor

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Enable VM Insights

az vm extension set \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --vm-name antmedia-server \
  --name AzureMonitorLinuxAgent \
  --publisher Microsoft.Azure.Monitor \
  --enable-auto-upgrade true

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Create Alerts

# CPU alert
az monitor metrics alert create \
  --name HighCPU \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --scopes /subscriptions/SUB_ID/resourceGroups/antmedia-rg/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/antmedia-server \
  --condition "avg Percentage CPU > 80" \
  --window-size 5m \
  --evaluation-frequency 1m

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Backup and Disaster Recovery

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Azure Backup

# Create Recovery Services vault
az backup vault create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-vault \
  --location eastus

# Enable backup for VM
az backup protection enable-for-vm \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --vault-name antmedia-vault \
  --vm antmedia-server \
  --policy-name DefaultPolicy

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Snapshot-based Backup

# Create disk snapshot
az snapshot create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d) \
  --source antmedia-server_OsDisk_1

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Cost Optimization

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Reserved Instances

Purchase Azure Reserved VM Instances for up to 72% savings on production workloads.

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Auto-Shutdown Schedule

az vm auto-shutdown \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-server \
  --time 2300 \
  --timezone "Eastern Standard Time"

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Spot Instances

For non-critical workloads: 
az vm create \
  --resource-group antmedia-rg \
  --name antmedia-spot \
  --image Ubuntu2204 \
  --size Standard_F4s_v2 \
  --priority Spot \
  --max-price -1 \
  --eviction-policy Deallocate

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Troubleshooting

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VM Not Accessible

  1. Check NSG rules in Azure Portal
  2. Verify VM is running
  3. Check public IP association
  4. Review boot diagnostics logs

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Performance Issues

  1. Check Azure Monitor metrics
  2. Verify accelerated networking is enabled
  3. Check disk IOPS and throughput
  4. Review application logs

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WebRTC Connection Issues

  1. Verify UDP ports 5000-65000 in NSG
  2. Check public IP configuration
  3. Ensure server.name is correctly set
  4. Test with STUN servers

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Next Steps

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