Configure Apache for Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming and Apple HTTP Live Streaming

    Configure the HTTP modules

    Apache HTTP Server that installs with Flash Media Server is configured by default for Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (to Flash Player and AIR) and Apple HTTP Live Streaming (to iOS and Mac OS). The Flash Media Server Apache installation includes three custom modules that handle HTTP streaming:

    • jithttp_module—just-in-time on-demand Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS).

    • f4fhttp_module—live HDS; on-demand HDS packaged offline

    • hlshttp_module—live and on-demand Apple HTTP Live Streaming

    The configuration of the modules determines the format of the URL that the player requests from the server, the location of the content, the content fragmentation settings, and other settings. Configure the settings at the server-level in the Apache httpd.conf file located at rootinstall/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf. You can also configure some settings at the application level, event level, and stream level. For complete details, see Configuring HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming in the Flash Media Server Developer’s Guide.

    For information about configuring ports for HTTP Streaming, see Configure ports for HTTP streaming.

    Logging for HTTP streaming

    All HTTP access requests are logged in the Apache access_log file in the \logs directory. The HTTP Origin Module doesn’t add any logging directives. All access requests are logged through the standard Apache HTTP Server log module.

    All errors are logged in the Apache error_log file in the \logs directory. The following table shows the response codes that the HTTP Origin Module returns.

    Response code

    Error message

    Description

    200

    None

    No error occurs, and a response has been returned successfully.

    304

    None

    The HTTP Origin Module supports "If-Modified-Since" in the request header and returns 304 if the file has not been modified."If-Modified-Since" is not support in requests for manifest files of live events.

    400

    mod_f4fhttp [400]: Syntax error in %s

    mod_hlshttp [400]:Syntax error in %s

    Error occurs while parsing the URI request. The variable %s is the URI string. For example, the request URI http://servername/media/sample- is missing a fragment number. For example, in the request http://example.com/hls-vod/sample.f4vNumX.ts, the ts fragment name format is not correct.

    400

    mod_hlshttp [400]: %1 is a invalid file

    Error occurs while reading the information in a file, where %1 is the URI string. For example, the manifest file is wrong or the bootstrap is invalid or the .stream file is not valid.

    403

    mod_f4fhttp [403]: No access to %s

    mod_hlshttp[403]: No access to %s

    mod_f4fhttp [403]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    mod_hlshttp[403]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    An error occurs when accessing the file. The variable %s is the file path. For example, the request URI is http://servername/media/sample.fmf and the module doesn’t have permission to read the file sample.f4m.

    An error occurs when the library fails to access a file. The variable %1 is the error code from the library, %2 is error description, and %3 is the url string.

    404

    mod_f4fhttp [404]: %s does not exist

    mod_hlshttp[404]: %1 does not exist

    mod_f4fhttp [404]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    mod_hlshttp[404]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    An error occurs when the request file is not found. The variable %s is the file path. For example, the request URI is http://servername/media/sample.fmf but the file sample.f4m does not exist.

    Error occurs when the library fails to find a file. The variable %1 is the error code from the library, %2 is the error description, and %3 is the url string.

    500

    mod_f4fhttp [500]: Unknown exception when processing %1

    mod_hlshttp [500]: Unknown error when processing %1

    mod_f4fhttp [500]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    mod_hlshttp [500]: Internal error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    mod_hlshttp[500]: Packaging error %1 (%2) when processing %3

    An unknown error occurs when processing a request, where %1 is the URL string. For example, http://servername/media/sampleSeg1-Frag1, sampleSeg1.f4f is not a corrupted file.

    An unknown error occurs when processing a request, where %1 is the URI string. The module fails, where %1 is the error code, %2 is error description, and %3 is the URI string.

    Error occurs while packaging a ts segment, where %1 is the error code for diagnostic purposes, %2 is the error description and %3 is the URI being processed. An example of an error description is, "Audio format is not supported".

    A packaging error indicates that something went wrong while packaging the stream data into a ts segment. An internal error indicates that something went wrong while reading stream data from the recorded f4f fragments. An internal error is more likely to occur due to a recording failure than to a play back failure.

    503

    None

    The HTTP Origin Module returns a 503 code so the client and the proxy servers don’t cache the response.

    In a live event, the file can be growing and a fragment could be missing in one origin server but not missing on another origin server. The HTTP response header includes an "X-mod_f4fhttp" field to provide more details. The following is a sample response header:

    Date Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:20:20 GMT Server Apache/2.2.9 (Win32) Content-Length 432 Last-Modified Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:43:25 GMT Keep-Alive timeout=5, max=100 Connection Keep-Alive Content-Type video/f4f X-mod_f4fhttp 1, error 71

    There are two parameters in the X-mod_f4fhttp field delimited by a comma. The first parameter is a status code and the second parameter is the error code from the library.

    There are two status codes: 1 - The requested fragment number is larger than the last fragment in the file (the corresponding error is 71). 2 - The requested fragment number is a missing fragment (the corresponding error is 34).

    Use an external Apache HTTP Server for HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming

    To use an installation of Apache HTTP Server other than the one that installs with Flash Media Server, do the following:

    1. Install Flash Media Server so you can extract the Apache modules.

    2. Copy the following files from Flash Media Server to your Apache modules folder:

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/adbe_dme.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/adbe_license.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/asneu.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/hds.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/libeay32.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/libexpat.dll

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/mod_f4fhttp.so

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/mod_hlshttp.so

      • rootinstall/Apache2.2/modules/mod_jithttp.so

    3. Edit your httpd.conf file to load the following modules:

      • For live Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming, add the following:

        LoadModule f4fhttp_module modules/mod_f4fhttp.so 
<IfModule f4fhttp_module> 
<Location /hds-live> 
    HttpStreamingEnabled true 
    HttpStreamingLiveEventPath "../applications" 
    HttpStreamingContentPath "../applications" 
    HttpStreamingF4MMaxAge 2 
    HttpStreamingBootstrapMaxAge 2 
    HttpStreamingFragMaxAge -1 
    HttpStreamingDrmmetaMaxAge 3600 
    Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks 
</Location> 
</IfModule>

      • For live Apple HTTP Live Streaming, add the following:

        LoadModule hlshttp_module modules/mod_hlshttp.so 
<IfModule hlshttp_module> 
<Location /hls-live> 
    HLSHttpStreamingEnabled true 
    HttpStreamingLiveEventPath "../applications" 
    HttpStreamingContentPath "../applications" 
    HLSMediaFileDuration 8000 
    HLSSlidingWindowLength 6 
    HLSFmsDirPath ".." 
    HLSM3U8MaxAge 2 
    HLSTSSegmentMaxAge -1 
    Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks 
</Location>

      • For on-demand Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming, packaged in just-in-time, add the following:

        LoadModule jithttp_module modules/mod_jithttp.so 
<IfModule jithttp_module> 
<Location /hds-vod> 
    HttpStreamingJITPEnabled true 
    HttpStreamingContentPath "../webroot/vod" 
    JitFmsDirPath ".." 
    Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks 
</Location> 
</IfModule>

      • For on-demand Apple HTTP Live Streaming, add the following:

        LoadModule hlshttp_module modules/mod_hlshttp.so 
<IfModule hlshttp_module> 
<Location /hls-vod> 
    HLSHttpStreamingEnabled true 
    HLSMediaFileDuration 8000 
    HttpStreamingContentPath "../webroot/vod" 
    HLSFmsDirPath ".." 
    Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks 
</Location> 
</IfModule>

    4. In the directives that you entered in your httpd.conf file, edit the following:

      • HttpStreamingLiveEventPath and HttpStreamingContentPath—set to the Flash Media Server applications folder, for example:

        C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flash Media Server 4.5\applications

      • JitFmsDirPath and HLSFmsDirPath—set to the location of your Flash Media Server installation, for example:

        C:\Program Files\Adobe\Flash Media Server 4.5

    5. For information about ports, see Using a third-party web server.