Ant Media Server on Ubuntu 18.04

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This short guide will show you how to install Ant Media Server (Community Edition) on a Ubuntu 18.04 VPS server. Ant Media Server is a fork of Red5.

The community Edition is free, but it does have it’s limitations that can be unlocked by purchasing a license. It runs on Java so we’re also installing that on our server.

The server that I used in this example has Nginx installed and running with the additional RTMP module on port 1935. Ant Media Server will also require this port so to avoid any conflicts we need to stop Nginx before anything else. I also choose to disable it temporary but you don’t need to do this.

systemctl stop nginx
systemctl disable nginx

Another option you have to avoid conflicts is to change the port Nginx uses for RTMP by changing it in your /etc/nginx/nginx.conf file as shown on the image.

Let’s start by installing the default java (version 8) for Ubuntu.

apt install -y openjdk-8-jdk openjdk-8-jre
java -version

You must have to set JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME environment variables, which is used by many of the Java applications to find Java libraries during runtime. You can set these variables in /etc/environment file using the following command.

cat >> /etc/environment <<EOL JAVA_HOME= /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64 JRE_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-openjdk-amd64/jre EOL
wget https://github.com/ant-media/Ant-Media-Server/releases/download/ams-v2.0.0/ant-media-server-2.0.0-community-2.0.0-20200504_1842.zip
unzip ant-media-server-2.0.0-community-2.0.0-20200504_1842.zip
cd /opt/ant-media-server
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/install_ant-media-server.sh && chmod 755 install_ant-media-server.sh
sudo ./install_ant-media-server.sh ant-media-server-2.0.0-community-2.0.0-20200504_1842.zip
service antmedia status

http://SERVER_IP_ADDRESS:5080

In order to server run properly you need to open some network ports.

  • TCP:1935 (RTMP)
  • TCP:5080 (HTTP)
  • TCP:5443 (HTTPS)
  • UDP:5000-65000 (WebRTC)
  • TCP:5000-65000 (You need to open this range in only cluster mode for internal network. It should not be open to public.)
sudo ufw allow 1935/tcp
sudo ufw allow 5080/tcp
sudo ufw allow 5443/tcp

CLUSTER MODE ONLY
sudo ufw allow 5000:65000/udp

We’re done for now. Everything should be working now. A logical next step would be to install certificates and enable secure live-streaming. More about that on this page: https://github.com/ant-media/Ant-Media-Server/wiki/SSL-Setup

There’s a well written Wiki on the project’s github pages. You can use this if you run in to any issues. No need to click the link below at this moment because then you will see that I basically copy / pasted this whole page. In other words: I stole content. Sue me.. At least I’m honest about it.

https://github.com/ant-media/Ant-Media-Server/wiki/Installation

Fix the Nginx module in Webmin (Ubuntu 18.04)

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For a long time now, the Nginx plugin that exists for Webmin did not work after installing it on Ubuntu/Debian. I never got around to figure out how to fix this but today I did. Here’s how to fix the Nginx plugin in Webmin on a Ubuntu server.

Now in all honesty I have no idea what step of all the steps below did the trick of actually getting it to work, but I’m guessing it had something to do with the brackets in the config file. I still need to try this out on a different server without installing the Perl modules first. You’re free to experiment yourself if you dare. If so, let me know what the specific fix was.

First of course you need to install the Nginx module for Webmin. It’s a third party module so add it using the correct option on the screen you see here.

Search for Nginx, select it and install it. Once it is installed you will find the tab on the left under Servers. If not, refresh your modules first. Chances are very likely that you will see a page with some errors that are Perl related. If this is the case continue to follow these steps.

In webmin open the Others tab, and then Perl Modules. Choose “From CPAN, named” and search for DBD::mysql and installit. Do the same thing for all of the following:

HTML::Entities
DBI
GD
DBD::mysql

If you run into any problems you can alternatively install the plugin through the command line. To start first use this command:

perl -MCPAN -e shell

Now you can install any plugin by entering:

i HTML::Entities

When it’s installed optionally do a “reload cpan” or install more plugins. Use te “quit” command to exit the perl inputline. If you’re running the earlier mentioned command for the first time you might also want to start of with “install CPAN” and “reload CPAN”

Next step may seem difficult but it really isn’t. We need to add some \ to a config file. So edit the following file and make the changes I placed below.

nano /usr/share/webmin/nginx/nginx-lib.pl

Go to line 199 and add a backslash before the opening bracket.

if ($if ($line =~ /server \{$/) {

Do not forget to add a backslash before the closing bracket on line 202.

if ($line =~ /\}$/) {

Save the file and now it should work after refreshing the Webmin Nginx page.

Build a live-stream server

andre28 Comments

This guide will show you step by step how to install Nginx webserver & Certbot SSL certificates, the RTMP module, Ffmpeg on a Ubuntu 18.04 VPS server. It will then will also explain how to setup HLS live-streaming and create a webpage with Video.JS to show the live-stream.
I decided to write this guide after receiving a lot of questions and responses on a video or two that I made a while ago. HLS and SSL related mostly. So hopefully this guide will clear up all of those questions for you all. If not, please leave any questions at the bottom of this page or as comment on the Youtube page.

This guide contains 7 steps. I strongly advice to read through them all beforehand so you’ll know what you’re doing in stead of just blindly start copy/pasting everything, because that rarely works out like it should, in my experience. This looks like a long-ass guide, and it is in a way, but you could do this all in under 25 minutes. Anyways, it’s too long for this blog’s layout so click on the continue reading link below to read the full article and to see the video.

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Corona Drones!

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When I heard about these Corona drones on the news I immediately imagined a scene similar to what you see in the video… And I couldn’t sleep until I actually finished creating this video. I have no idea why, since it’s not even funny. Ah well, at least it kept me inside the house for the whole evening, and Corono outside, so that’s something. Right?

Breaking Bad Again

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My dad still hasn’t seen Breaking Bad but never mind that right now. I watched the whole series for the 4th or maybe 5th time now. Seems like the more you watch it the better it gets. It’s just indescribable so I’m not going to try again. But I do want to talk about the episode that comes before the series finale episode. I noticed today that it gives me a shitload of goosebumps still. Even though I’ve seen that scene over 20 times already by now. To help you remember what I’m talking about here’s where we are in the series. If you haven’t seen the show yet don’t click on continue reading because SPOILER ALERT!

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Block all traffic from a Geo-located country with UFW firewall on Ubuntu

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I was noticing some really strange requests in my web server’s log files on a VPS that I manage. Requests that seem to be focused on finding vulnerabilities or exploits. Turns out most of the originating IP addresses are from China. Since the VPS is not behind a router or otherwise managed firewall device, I decided to investigate if I could just block all traffic from China to my VPS. Turns out the software “Uncomplicated Firewall” or better know as UFW, that I already had running can do this easily. If you’re new to UFW have a look at this very comprehensive page showing how to set it up.

Here are two examples showing how to setup your UFW firewall to block IP addresses or ports based on Geo location. This should work on any system running UFW but in this case I did it on a headless Ubuntu 18.04 system. Click on Read more to view the rest of this article.

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Banjo Guy Ollie

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It’s been a while, but I’ve stumbled across a Youtuber that I got very exited about during my most recent Youtube-binge-watch, or rather said; my most recent descent in to the dark abyss that I call my personal “Recommended list” on Youtube.

But I made it back!! I’m here, I’m doing ok. There’s nothing to worry about. For now at least…

I realize that this guy has probably been an internet celebrity for years already and that I’m perhaps one of the last few that hadn’t discovered it yet but hey, I just discovered it for the first time, and I’m enthusiastic right now so there you go.

This Youtuber calls himself Banjo Guy Ollie and among a variety of other things, he also plays retro game-tunes / theme-songs on a range of instruments but mainly the Banjo, and he, himself and him, make really fun video’s by editing them with him playing all the instruments, performing these 8-bit tunes that are forever stored in the back of the brains of most people from my generation. That generation of old farts by now, that grew up during a time in which video gaming or the whole concept of it was only just emerging. Interesting times, especially now in retrospect.

I can already see myself rambling on from this point on so to prevent this from happening I’m just gonna stop my train of thoughts and provide you with the link to this awesome video that shows Ollie nailing the Mega man 2 tune. Enjoy!