Deploying Wowza Streaming Engine
Choose the best deployment option.
Flexible and extensible, Wowza Streaming Engine™ server software fits with nearly any streaming architecture and allows you to seamlessly scale from simple to more robust deployments as your streaming needs—and audiences—evolve and grow.
With Wowza Streaming Engine You Choose How to Deploy
On Premises
Run Wowza Streaming Engine on one or more servers at your physical location, on your hardware, and across your Internet connection.
Operating Systems:
Linux (including silent install from Red Hat)
Windows
Mac OS
Applications:
Bare metal
Virtual machines
Private clouds
Using containers
In the Cloud
Partner with a platform-as-a-service provider to quickly spin up prebuilt machine images for high-quality delivery over reliable, robust infrastructure.
Amazon Web Services (EC2)
Microsoft Azure
Alibaba Cloud
Google Cloud Platform
Rackspace
Watch how Wowza provides choice across the Clouds
Quickly deploy a Wowza Streaming Engine image in the cloud or on premises using a Docker container.
Wowza Streaming Engine Deployment Examples
The number of Wowza Streaming Engine™ server instances you need depends on many factors, including how many live stream inputs or concurrent viewers you expect, whether viewers access the videos on a LAN or a public network, as well as network and hardware performance. Here are some examples to give you a general idea of what you should plan for. This information is also available in PDF. (Please note: No commitment is made regarding requirements or performance. Your requirements and results may vary.)
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On-Premises Scenarios
Run Wowza Streaming Engine on one or more servers at your physical location, on your hardware, across your Internet connection. Simply pay for each active instance and run multiple Wowza instances on multiple servers using a single subscription license key.
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Few Inputs, Few Viewers
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Wowza Streaming Engine Instances Required: 1
Purchase one Basic Monthly Subscription, and install as many instances as you need. Choose Basic Annual for greater savings.Basic Subscription
Add to CartApprox. Input Count (# of live streams)
- Up to 100 inputs without transcoding and limited recording (VOD usage requires additional hardware)
- Up to 2 transcoded inputs
- Please contact us with questions about additional features (VOD, CDN delivery, etc.)
Approx. Reach: LAN (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
Up to 800 viewers in one location, or LAN segment depending on network infrastructure.
Example:- Up to 800 in a head office with 1 Gbps
- Up to 400 in a regional office with 500 Mbps
- Up to 80 in a small office with 100 Mbps
Approx. Reach: Public Network (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- Up to 800 viewers for each 1 Gbps*
- Up to 80 concurrent viewers at 100 Mbps
- Up to 8 concurrent viewers at 10 Mbps
- Add more instances as audience size increases
Additional Requirements and Information
Video on demand (VOD): no limit on the number of files (although your VOD output will be limited by storage performance)
Use Cases
Small enterprise, internal broadcasting, large church with single live input, community-college sports, single-instructor fitness company, etc.
Notes
* Systems must be placed in major Internet data centers with 10 Gbps uplink or more (when each stream is compressed to less than 1 Mbps)
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Lots of Inputs, More Viewers
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Wowza Streaming Engine Instances Required: 10-15
Purchase one Basic Monthly Subscription, and install as many instances as you need. Choose Basic Annual for greater savings.Basic Subscription
Add to CartApprox. Input Count (# of live streams)
- 10 instances provide 70–105 transcoded SD (non-HD) inputs from IP cameras
- Please contact us with questions about additional features (VOD, CDN delivery, etc.)
Approx. Reach: LAN (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- 10–100 viewers with unicast
Approx. Reach: Public Network (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- Up to 1,000 viewers nationwide
- Up to 5 dedicated high-bitrate links for broadcast
Additional Requirements and Information
- For multiple instances, you will need to deploy a load-balancing solution
Use Cases
- Security cameras, traffic cameras, ski racing, weather cameras, etc.
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One Input, Lots of Viewers
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Wowza Streaming Engine Instances Required: 2-5
Purchase one Basic Monthly Subscription, and install as many instances as you need. Choose Basic Annual for greater savings.Basic Subscription
Add to CartApprox. Input Count (# of live streams)
- Get 1 transcoded input from a video mixer †
- >Please contact us with questions about additional features (VOD, CDN delivery, etc.)
Approx. Reach: LAN (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- Up to 15,000 viewers
Approx. Reach (# of concurrent viewers on public network)
- Up to 15,000 viewers nationwide (Each system must have five 1 Gbps network connections)
- Add more instances as audience size increases
Additional Requirements and Information
- Maximum of 10,000 concurrent connections per instance
- Maximum of 5 Gbps output per instance
- Video on demand (VOD): no limit on number of files (although your VOD output will be limited by storage performance)
- For multiple instances, you will need to deploy a load-balancing solution
Use Cases
- Keynote speaker, small concert, large church, regional-college sports, etc.
Notes
- † Input recorded to local hard drive for later playback. Need multiple bonded uplink connections for extra bandwidth and reliability.
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Lots of Inputs, Lots of Viewers
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Wowza Streaming Engine Instances Required: 15-25
Purchase one Basic Monthly Subscription, and install as many instances as you need. Choose Basic Annual for greater savings.Basic Subscription
Add to CartApprox. Input Count (# of live streams)
- 35 transcoded HD inputs from satellite receiver
- Please contact us with questions about additional features (recording, CDNs, etc.)
Approx. Reach: LAN (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- Typically 10 internal viewers for Q/A monitoring
Approx. Reach: Public Network (Estimated # of concurrent viewers)
- Reach up to 50,000 viewers nationwide‡
- Add more instances as audience size increases
Additional Requirements and Information
- Max. of 5 Gbps output per instance
- Max. of 10,000 concurrent connections per instance
- Live streams can be recorded for playback
- For multiple instances, you will need to deploy a load-balancing solution
Use Cases
- Over-the-top TV, single-country OTT live TV, etc.
Notes
- ‡ Recommended five 1 Gbps connections per instance. Use the system OS for bonding.
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Other Scenarios
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Special Requirements?
Do you need:
- Support for industry-standard IP multicast traffic
- Server-side recording
- International distribution
- Connections with CDNs
- VOD
- nDVR
- DRM
- More?
We’d love to talk to you about your streaming needs. Contact Us
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Cloud Scenarios
Deploying Wowza™ software in the cloud means streaming your content from high-performance virtual machines hosted remotely by a third-party provider. Wowza Streaming Engine works with virtually all cloud-hosting services.
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Few Inputs, Few Viewers
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Cloud-Hosted Server Instance
Purchase directly from Amazon MarketplaceEC2: m3.medium
Buy NowCloud Provider
Cloud Provider Instance Type
- m3.medium
Approx. Max. Network Performance
- 150 Mbps max. network I/O
Approx. Input Count (# of live streams)
- Fewer than 10 inputs per EC2 instance*
- Larger instance sizes recommended for transcoding
Approx. Reach (Estimated number of concurrent viewers on a public network)
- Up to 120 viewers per EC2 instance†
Additional Information and Suggestions
- For multiple instances, deploy a load-balancing solution
Notes
- * Virtual system transcoder performance is limited by EC2 CPU resource limits
- † Virtual system output performance is limited by max. I/O
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Many Inputs, More Viewers
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Cloud-Hosted Server Instance
Purchase directly from Amazon MarketplaceEC2: m3.large
Buy NowCloud Provider
Cloud Provider Instance Type
- m3.large
Approx. Max. Network Performance
- 350 Mbps max. network I/O
Approx. Input Count (# of live streams)
- Fewer than 30 inputs per EC2 instance*
- Larger instance sizes recommended for transcoding
Appox. Reach (Estimated number of concurrent viewers on a public network)
- Up to 300 viewers per EC2 instance†
Additional Information and Suggestions
- For multiple instances, deploy a load-balancing solution
Notes
- * Virtual system transcoder performance is limited by EC2 CPU resource limits
- † Virtual system output performance is limited by max. I/O
- For more detail, visit the Wowza forum thread EC2 Instance Performance.
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Many Inputs, Many Viewers
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Cloud-Hosted Server Instance
Purchase directly from Amazon MarketplaceEC2: m3.xlarge
Buy NowCloud Provider
Cloud Provider Instance Type
- m3.xlarge
Approx. Max. Network Performance
- 700 Mbps max. network I/O
Approx. Input Count (# of live streams)
- Fewer than 50 inputs per EC2 instance*
- Larger instance sizes recommended for transcoding
Approx. Reach (Estimated number of concurrent viewers on a public network)
- Up to 550 viewers per EC2 instance†
Additional Information and Suggestions
- For multiple instances, deploy a load-balancing solution
Notes
- * Virtual system transcoder performance is limited by EC2 CPU resource limits
- † Virtual system output performance is limited by max. I/O
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Lots of Inputs, Lots of Viewers
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Cloud Provider
Cloud Provider Instance Type
- C3.8XLarge
Appox. Max. Network Performance
- 1.73 Gbps max. network I/O
Approx. Input Count (# of live streams)
Number of processed live inputs per EC2 instance:*
- H.264 720p @ 5.588 Mbps => 7 can be transrated
- H.264 1080p @ 9.720 Mbps => 5 can be transrated
- MPEG-2, 720p @ 3.0 Mbps => 5 can be transrated
Approx. Reach (Estimated number of concurrent viewers on a public network)
- Up to 1,400 viewers per EC2 instance†
Additional Requirements and Suggestions
- Outputs are assumed to be for 4 bitrates each (720p, 360p, 240p, 160p)
- All outputs are using H.264
Notes
- *Virtual system transcoder performance is limited by EC2 CPU resource limits
- † Virtual system output performance is limited by max. I/O
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