How to Install Red5 Server on Ubuntu & Debian

The Red5 server is a powerful media streaming server that offers a wide range of features including live streaming, recording, shared objects, and live stream publishing. Here, we will go through the step-by-step process to install Red5 server on Ubuntu and Debian systems.

Before we start, it’s important to note that you need a non-root user account with sudo privileges on your server to perform this installation. Also, ensure your server meets the minimum system requirements.

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Prerequisites

• Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04 or any LTS version) or Debian (10 or newer)
• A non-root user account with sudo privileges
• Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 or higher
• Apache Ant 1.9 or higher

Step 1: Update Your System

First, we should always start by updating the package lists for upgrades and new package installations. Open your terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update -y 
sudo apt-get upgrade -y 

Step 2: Install Java Development Kit (JDK)

Red5 server needs Java Development Kit (JDK) to function. If you do not have JDK installed, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install default-jdk 

Verify the installation with:

java -version 

You should see an output that displays the installed Java version.

Step 3: Install Apache Ant

Red5 also needs Apache Ant, a Java library and command-line tool. To install Apache Ant, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install ant 

Verify the installation with:

ant -version 

Again, this command should return the version of Apache Ant that you installed.

Step 4: Download and Install Red5 Server

Once the required packages are installed, download the latest stable release of Red5 Server from the official GitHub repository. You can download it directly using the wget command followed by the download URL.

At the time of writing, the latest stable release is Red5 Server 1.3.19, You can check the latest Red5 version here and update:

wget https://github.com/Red5/red5-server/releases/download/v1.3.19/red5-server-1.3.19.tar.gz 

After the download is complete, extract the downloaded file using the tar command:

tar xvfz red5-server-1.3.19-release.tar.gz 

Move the extracted files to a suitable directory, /usr/local/ in our case:

sudo mv red5-server /usr/local/red5 

Step 5: Run Red5 Server

Navigate to the Red5 directory:

cd /usr/local/red5 

Start the Red5 server with this command:

./red5.sh & 

The & symbol indicates that the Red5 server should run in the background.

Step 6: Verify Red5 Server Installation

To verify if Red5 server is installed and running correctly, open a web browser and visit http://your_server_ip:5080. You should see the Red5 welcome page, which confirms that your installation was successful.

Step 7: Creating a systemd Service for Red5 Server

To ensure the Red5 server starts automatically on boot, we’ll create a systemd service.

1. Open a new systemd service file in your text editor with root privileges:

   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/red5.service 
   

2. Paste the following content into the editor:
   [Unit] Description=Red5 server After=network.target [Service] ExecStart=/usr/local/red5/red5.sh ExecStop=/usr/local/red5/red5-shutdown.sh User=root Type=simple Restart=on-failure RestartSec=10 KillMode=process [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

   1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

   [Unit] Description=Red5 server After=network.target   [Service] ExecStart=/usr/local/red5/red5.sh ExecStop=/usr/local/red5/red5-shutdown.sh User=root Type=simple Restart=on-failure RestartSec=10 KillMode=process   [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Save and close the file (Ctrl+O, Enter to save and Ctrl+X to exit in nano).

3. Now, you’ll need to reload the systemd manager configuration:

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload 
   

4. Enable the Red5 service to start on boot:

   sudo systemctl enable red5.service 
   

5. You can now start the service:

   sudo systemctl start red5.service 
   

6. To check the status of the service, use the following command:

   sudo systemctl status red5.service 
   

   This should provide some output including the status of the Red5 service, which should be ‘active (running)’.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you should have a working Red5 server installed on your Ubuntu or Debian system. This server can help you implement a variety of rich, interactive multimedia applications, from live streaming services to video conferencing solutions. Remember to keep your Red5 server updated and configure it securely to protect your content and users.