Azure Deployment - Ant Media Server

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.

Deployment Methods

Azure Marketplace (Recommended)

Deploy Ant Media Server directly from Azure Marketplace:

Community Edition: Azure Marketplace Link
Enterprise Edition: Azure Marketplace Link

Manual VM Deployment

Deploy on a standard Azure VM with custom configuration.

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets

Automated scaling using VMSS for high-traffic scenarios.

Virtual Machine Requirements

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

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.

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

Quick Start: Azure Marketplace Deployment

Access Azure Marketplace

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

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

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

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)

Review and Create

Review all settings
Click Create
Wait for deployment (5-10 minutes)
Navigate to resource once complete

Access Web Panel

Get the public IP address:

Go to Virtual Machine resource
Copy Public IP address
Open browser: http://PUBLIC_IP:5080
Create admin account on first access

Manual VM Deployment

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

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

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

Configure Firewall

Open required ports in NSG (see section below)

Network Security Group (NSG) Configuration

Required Inbound Rules

Create NSG rules for required ports:

Priority	Name	Port	Protocol	Source	Destination	Action
100	Allow-HTTP	5080	TCP	Any	Any	Allow
110	Allow-HTTPS	5443	TCP	Any	Any	Allow
120	Allow-RTMP	1935	TCP	Any	Any	Allow
130	Allow-RTMPS	8443	TCP	Any	Any	Allow
140	Allow-WebRTC	5000-65000	UDP	Any	Any	Allow
200	Allow-SSH	22	TCP	Your IP	Any	Allow

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.

Public IP Configuration

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

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

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

Virtual Machine Scale Sets (Auto-Scaling)

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

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

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"}'

Load Balancer Configuration

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

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

Storage Configuration

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

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.

Database Configuration (Enterprise)

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

Configure Cluster Mode

sudo /usr/local/antmedia/change_server_mode.sh cluster "mongodb://antmedia-cosmos:PASSWORD@antmedia-cosmos.mongo.cosmos.azure.com:10255/?ssl=true&replicaSet=globaldb&retrywrites=false&maxIdleTimeMS=120000"

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Application Gateway with SSL

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

Using Let’s Encrypt on VM

sudo /usr/local/antmedia/enable_ssl.sh -d yourdomain.com -e admin@yourdomain.com

Monitoring with Azure Monitor

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

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

Backup and Disaster Recovery

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

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

Cost Optimization

Reserved Instances

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

Auto-Shutdown Schedule

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

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

​Overview

​Deployment Methods

​Azure Marketplace (Recommended)

​Manual VM Deployment

​Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets

​Virtual Machine Requirements

​VM Sizes

​Operating System Images

​Storage

​Quick Start: Azure Marketplace Deployment

​Manual VM Deployment

​Network Security Group (NSG) Configuration

​Required Inbound Rules

​Using Azure CLI

​Public IP Configuration

​Create Static Public IP

​Configure DNS Label

​Update Server Configuration

​Virtual Machine Scale Sets (Auto-Scaling)

​Create VMSS with Azure CLI

​Configure Auto-Scaling Rules

​Custom Script Extension

​Load Balancer Configuration

​Create Application Gateway

​Health Probe Configuration

​Storage Configuration

​Attach Managed Disk

​Azure Blob Storage Integration

​Database Configuration (Enterprise)

​Azure Cosmos DB (MongoDB API)

​Configure Cluster Mode

​SSL/TLS Configuration

​Using Application Gateway with SSL

​Using Let’s Encrypt on VM

​Monitoring with Azure Monitor

​Enable VM Insights

​Create Alerts

​Backup and Disaster Recovery

​Azure Backup

​Snapshot-based Backup

​Cost Optimization

​Reserved Instances

​Auto-Shutdown Schedule

​Spot Instances

​Troubleshooting

​VM Not Accessible

​Performance Issues

​WebRTC Connection Issues

​Next Steps

Overview

Deployment Methods

Azure Marketplace (Recommended)

Manual VM Deployment

Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets

Virtual Machine Requirements

VM Sizes

Operating System Images

Storage

Quick Start: Azure Marketplace Deployment

Manual VM Deployment

Network Security Group (NSG) Configuration

Required Inbound Rules

Using Azure CLI

Public IP Configuration

Create Static Public IP

Configure DNS Label

Update Server Configuration

Virtual Machine Scale Sets (Auto-Scaling)

Create VMSS with Azure CLI

Configure Auto-Scaling Rules

Custom Script Extension

Load Balancer Configuration

Create Application Gateway

Health Probe Configuration

Storage Configuration

Attach Managed Disk

Azure Blob Storage Integration

Database Configuration (Enterprise)

Azure Cosmos DB (MongoDB API)

Configure Cluster Mode

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Application Gateway with SSL

Using Let’s Encrypt on VM

Monitoring with Azure Monitor

Enable VM Insights

Create Alerts

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Azure Backup

Snapshot-based Backup

Cost Optimization

Reserved Instances

Auto-Shutdown Schedule

Spot Instances

Troubleshooting

VM Not Accessible

Performance Issues

WebRTC Connection Issues

Next Steps