Google Cloud Platform Deployment

Overview

Ant Media Server can be deployed on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) using Compute Engine instances, GCP Marketplace for one-click deployment, or Managed Instance Groups (MIG) for auto-scaling capabilities.

Deployment Methods

GCP Marketplace (Recommended)

Deploy Ant Media Server Enterprise Edition directly from GCP Marketplace:

Enterprise Edition: GCP Marketplace Link

Currently, only the Enterprise Edition is available on GCP Marketplace. Community Edition can be deployed manually on Compute Engine.

Manual Compute Engine Deployment

Deploy on a Compute Engine VM instance with custom configuration.

Managed Instance Groups

Automated scaling using MIG with load balancing for high-traffic scenarios.

Compute Engine Instance Requirements

Machine Types

Development/Testing:

Machine Type: e2-medium or n1-standard-2
vCPUs: 2
Memory: 4 GB
Cost: ~$50-70/month

Production (Recommended):

Machine Type: c2-standard-4 or n2-standard-4
vCPUs: 4
Memory: 8-16 GB
Network: Premium tier
Cost: ~$150-250/month

High-Performance Streaming:

Machine Type: c2-standard-8 or c2-standard-16
vCPUs: 8-16
Memory: 16-32 GB
Network: Premium tier, 10+ Gbps
SSD persistent disk
Cost: ~$300-600/month

Operating System Images

Supported Images:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Debian 11 (Bullseye)
Debian 12 (Bookworm)
CentOS Stream 8/9
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8/9

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or 22.04 LTS from ubuntu-os-cloud project is recommended.

Boot Disk

Size: 30 GB minimum (50 GB recommended)
Type: SSD persistent disk (pd-ssd) for production
Additional Disk: 100-500 GB for stream recordings

Quick Start: GCP Marketplace Deployment

Access GCP Marketplace

Log into Google Cloud Console (https://console.cloud.google.com)
Navigate to Marketplace
Search for “Ant Media Server Enterprise Edition”
Click on the listing

Launch Instance

Click Launch and configure:

Deployment name: antmedia-server
Zone: Select region (e.g., us-central1-a)
Machine type: c2-standard-4 or larger
Boot disk: 30 GB SSD persistent disk

Configure Firewall

Enable firewall rules:

✓ Allow HTTP traffic (port 5080)
✓ Allow HTTPS traffic (port 5443)
Additional ports configured automatically

Deploy

Review configuration
Click Deploy
Wait for deployment (5-10 minutes)
Note the external IP address

Access Web Panel

Open browser to http://EXTERNAL_IP:5080Create admin account on first access

Manual Compute Engine Deployment

Create VM Instance

Using gcloud CLI:

# Set project
gcloud config set project YOUR_PROJECT_ID

# Create instance
gcloud compute instances create antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --machine-type=c2-standard-4 \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \
  --boot-disk-size=30GB \
  --boot-disk-type=pd-ssd \
  --tags=antmedia-server \
  --metadata=startup-script='#!/bin/bash
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/install_ant-media-server.sh
    chmod +x install_ant-media-server.sh
    ./install_ant-media-server.sh'

Create Firewall Rules

Configure firewall (see section below):

gcloud compute firewall-rules create antmedia-allow-http \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --priority=1000 \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:5080,tcp:5443 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=antmedia-server

Connect to Instance

SSH into the instance:

gcloud compute ssh antmedia-server --zone=us-central1-a

Verify Installation

Check service status:

sudo systemctl status antmedia

Get external IP:

gcloud compute instances describe antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --format='get(networkInterfaces[0].accessConfigs[0].natIP)'

Firewall Configuration

Required Firewall Rules

Create firewall rules for all required ports:

Rule Name	Direction	Priority	Ports	Protocol	Source	Target Tags
antmedia-allow-http	Ingress	1000	5080, 5443	TCP	0.0.0.0/0	antmedia-server
antmedia-allow-rtmp	Ingress	1001	1935, 8443	TCP	0.0.0.0/0	antmedia-server
antmedia-allow-webrtc	Ingress	1002	5000-65000	UDP	0.0.0.0/0	antmedia-server
antmedia-allow-ssh	Ingress	1003	22	TCP	YOUR_IP/32	antmedia-server

Using gcloud CLI

# HTTP/HTTPS
gcloud compute firewall-rules create antmedia-allow-http \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --priority=1000 \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:5080,tcp:5443 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=antmedia-server

# RTMP/RTMPS
gcloud compute firewall-rules create antmedia-allow-rtmp \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --priority=1001 \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:1935,tcp:8443 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=antmedia-server

# WebRTC UDP
gcloud compute firewall-rules create antmedia-allow-webrtc \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --priority=1002 \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=udp:5000-65000 \
  --source-ranges=0.0.0.0/0 \
  --target-tags=antmedia-server

# SSH (restrict to your IP)
gcloud compute firewall-rules create antmedia-allow-ssh \
  --direction=INGRESS \
  --priority=1003 \
  --network=default \
  --action=ALLOW \
  --rules=tcp:22 \
  --source-ranges=YOUR_IP/32 \
  --target-tags=antmedia-server

Restrict SSH access (port 22) to specific IP addresses for security. Replace YOUR_IP with your actual IP address.

Static External IP

Reserve Static IP

# Reserve static IP
gcloud compute addresses create antmedia-static-ip \
  --region=us-central1

# Get the IP address
gcloud compute addresses describe antmedia-static-ip \
  --region=us-central1 \
  --format='get(address)'

# Assign to instance
gcloud compute instances delete-access-config antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --access-config-name="external-nat"

gcloud compute instances add-access-config antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --access-config-name="external-nat" \
  --address=STATIC_IP_ADDRESS

Configure Server Name

sudo nano /usr/local/antmedia/conf/red5.properties

Set your static IP or domain:

server.name=YOUR_STATIC_IP_OR_DOMAIN

Restart:

sudo systemctl restart antmedia

Managed Instance Groups (Auto-Scaling)

Create Instance Template

# Create startup script
cat > startup.sh <<'EOF'
#!/bin/bash
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/install_ant-media-server.sh
chmod +x install_ant-media-server.sh
./install_ant-media-server.sh
EOF

# Create instance template
gcloud compute instance-templates create antmedia-template \
  --machine-type=c2-standard-4 \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud \
  --boot-disk-size=30GB \
  --boot-disk-type=pd-ssd \
  --tags=antmedia-server \
  --metadata-from-file=startup-script=startup.sh

Create Managed Instance Group

# Create MIG
gcloud compute instance-groups managed create antmedia-mig \
  --base-instance-name=antmedia \
  --size=2 \
  --template=antmedia-template \
  --zone=us-central1-a

# Configure autoscaling
gcloud compute instance-groups managed set-autoscaling antmedia-mig \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --max-num-replicas=10 \
  --min-num-replicas=2 \
  --target-cpu-utilization=0.75 \
  --cool-down-period=90

Create Load Balancer

# Create health check
gcloud compute health-checks create http antmedia-health-check \
  --port=5080 \
  --request-path=/ \
  --check-interval=30s \
  --timeout=10s \
  --unhealthy-threshold=3 \
  --healthy-threshold=2

# Create backend service
gcloud compute backend-services create antmedia-backend \
  --protocol=HTTP \
  --health-checks=antmedia-health-check \
  --global

# Add instance group to backend
gcloud compute backend-services add-backend antmedia-backend \
  --instance-group=antmedia-mig \
  --instance-group-zone=us-central1-a \
  --global

# Create URL map
gcloud compute url-maps create antmedia-lb \
  --default-service=antmedia-backend

# Create HTTP proxy
gcloud compute target-http-proxies create antmedia-http-proxy \
  --url-map=antmedia-lb

# Create forwarding rule
gcloud compute forwarding-rules create antmedia-forwarding-rule \
  --global \
  --target-http-proxy=antmedia-http-proxy \
  --ports=80

Persistent Disk Configuration

Create and Attach Disk

# Create persistent disk
gcloud compute disks create antmedia-data-disk \
  --size=100GB \
  --type=pd-ssd \
  --zone=us-central1-a

# Attach to instance
gcloud compute instances attach-disk antmedia-server \
  --disk=antmedia-data-disk \
  --zone=us-central1-a

Mount the Disk

# Inside the VM
sudo lsblk
sudo mkfs.ext4 -m 0 -F -E lazy_itable_init=0,lazy_journal_init=0,discard /dev/sdb
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/streams
sudo mount -o discard,defaults /dev/sdb /mnt/streams
sudo chmod a+w /mnt/streams

# Add to fstab
echo UUID=`sudo blkid -s UUID -o value /dev/sdb` /mnt/streams ext4 discard,defaults,nofail 0 2 | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

# Change ownership
sudo chown -R antmedia:antmedia /mnt/streams

Cloud Storage Integration

Create Storage Bucket

# Create bucket
gsutil mb -l us-central1 gs://antmedia-recordings/

# Set lifecycle policy (optional - auto-delete old files)
cat > lifecycle.json <<EOF
{
  "lifecycle": {
    "rule": [
      {
        "action": {"type": "Delete"},
        "condition": {"age": 30}
      }
    ]
  }
}
EOF

gsutil lifecycle set lifecycle.json gs://antmedia-recordings/

Configure Service Account

# Create service account
gcloud iam service-accounts create antmedia-storage \
  --display-name="Ant Media Storage Access"

# Grant storage access
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding YOUR_PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:antmedia-storage@YOUR_PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role="roles/storage.objectAdmin"

# Create key
gcloud iam service-accounts keys create antmedia-key.json \
  --iam-account=antmedia-storage@YOUR_PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

Database Configuration (Enterprise)

Cloud Firestore (MongoDB Alternative)

For serverless NoSQL database option, use Cloud Firestore in native mode.

MongoDB Atlas on GCP

Deploy MongoDB Atlas cluster on GCP for managed MongoDB:

Create MongoDB Atlas account
Deploy cluster in same GCP region
Configure network peering or IP whitelist
Get connection string

Configure Cluster Mode

sudo /usr/local/antmedia/change_server_mode.sh cluster "mongodb://username:password@mongodb-host:27017/antmedia"

Cloud SQL (Alternative)

For managed relational database needs (not for Ant Media Server primary DB, but for custom integrations).

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Let’s Encrypt

# With domain name
sudo /usr/local/antmedia/enable_ssl.sh -d stream.yourdomain.com -e admin@yourdomain.com

Using Google-Managed SSL Certificates

For load balancer SSL termination:

# Create SSL certificate
gcloud compute ssl-certificates create antmedia-ssl \
  --domains=stream.yourdomain.com

# Create HTTPS proxy
gcloud compute target-https-proxies create antmedia-https-proxy \
  --url-map=antmedia-lb \
  --ssl-certificates=antmedia-ssl

# Create forwarding rule
gcloud compute forwarding-rules create antmedia-https-forwarding \
  --global \
  --target-https-proxy=antmedia-https-proxy \
  --ports=443

Monitoring with Cloud Monitoring

Enable Cloud Monitoring Agent

# Inside VM
curl -sSO https://dl.google.com/cloudagents/add-google-cloud-ops-agent-repo.sh
sudo bash add-google-cloud-ops-agent-repo.sh --also-install

Create Alert Policies

# High CPU alert
gcloud alpha monitoring policies create \
  --notification-channels=CHANNEL_ID \
  --display-name="High CPU Usage" \
  --condition-display-name="CPU > 80%" \
  --condition-threshold-value=0.8 \
  --condition-threshold-duration=300s \
  --condition-filter='resource.type="gce_instance" AND metric.type="compute.googleapis.com/instance/cpu/utilization"'

Custom Metrics

Send custom Ant Media Server metrics to Cloud Monitoring using the API.

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Snapshot Schedule

# Create snapshot schedule
gcloud compute resource-policies create snapshot-schedule antmedia-daily-backup \
  --region=us-central1 \
  --max-retention-days=7 \
  --on-source-disk-delete=keep-auto-snapshots \
  --daily-schedule \
  --start-time=02:00

# Attach schedule to disk
gcloud compute disks add-resource-policies antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --resource-policies=antmedia-daily-backup

Manual Snapshot

gcloud compute disks snapshot antmedia-server \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --snapshot-names=antmedia-snapshot-$(date +%Y%m%d)

Multi-Region Deployment

Deploy in multiple regions for disaster recovery:

Primary: us-central1
Backup: europe-west1
Use Cloud DNS for failover

Cost Optimization

Committed Use Discounts

Purchase 1-year or 3-year committed use contracts for up to 57% discount.

Preemptible VMs

For non-critical workloads (up to 80% discount):

gcloud compute instances create antmedia-preemptible \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --machine-type=c2-standard-4 \
  --preemptible \
  --image-family=ubuntu-2204-lts \
  --image-project=ubuntu-os-cloud

Custom Machine Types

Optimize vCPU and memory ratio:

gcloud compute instances create antmedia-custom \
  --zone=us-central1-a \
  --custom-cpu=4 \
  --custom-memory=12GB

Troubleshooting

Instance Not Accessible

Check firewall rules: gcloud compute firewall-rules list
Verify instance is running: gcloud compute instances list
Check serial port output: gcloud compute instances get-serial-port-output antmedia-server --zone=us-central1-a

Performance Issues

Check Cloud Monitoring dashboards
Verify machine type is appropriate
Check disk performance metrics
Review application logs: gcloud compute ssh antmedia-server --zone=us-central1-a --command="sudo journalctl -u antmedia -n 100"

WebRTC Connection Issues

Verify UDP firewall rules
Check external IP configuration
Ensure server.name is set correctly
Test STUN/TURN connectivity

​Overview

​Deployment Methods

​GCP Marketplace (Recommended)

​Manual Compute Engine Deployment

​Managed Instance Groups

​Compute Engine Instance Requirements

​Machine Types

​Operating System Images

​Boot Disk

​Quick Start: GCP Marketplace Deployment

​Manual Compute Engine Deployment

​Firewall Configuration

​Required Firewall Rules

​Using gcloud CLI

​Static External IP

​Reserve Static IP

​Configure Server Name

​Managed Instance Groups (Auto-Scaling)

​Create Instance Template

​Create Managed Instance Group

​Create Load Balancer

​Persistent Disk Configuration

​Create and Attach Disk

​Mount the Disk

​Cloud Storage Integration

​Create Storage Bucket

​Configure Service Account

​Database Configuration (Enterprise)

​Cloud Firestore (MongoDB Alternative)

​MongoDB Atlas on GCP

​Configure Cluster Mode

​Cloud SQL (Alternative)

​SSL/TLS Configuration

​Using Let’s Encrypt

​Using Google-Managed SSL Certificates

​Monitoring with Cloud Monitoring

​Enable Cloud Monitoring Agent

​Create Alert Policies

​Custom Metrics

​Backup and Disaster Recovery

​Snapshot Schedule

​Manual Snapshot

​Multi-Region Deployment

​Cost Optimization

​Committed Use Discounts

​Preemptible VMs

​Custom Machine Types

​Troubleshooting

​Instance Not Accessible

​Performance Issues

​WebRTC Connection Issues

​Next Steps

Overview

Deployment Methods

GCP Marketplace (Recommended)

Manual Compute Engine Deployment

Managed Instance Groups

Compute Engine Instance Requirements

Machine Types

Operating System Images

Boot Disk

Quick Start: GCP Marketplace Deployment

Manual Compute Engine Deployment

Firewall Configuration

Required Firewall Rules

Using gcloud CLI

Static External IP

Reserve Static IP

Configure Server Name

Managed Instance Groups (Auto-Scaling)

Create Instance Template

Create Managed Instance Group

Create Load Balancer

Persistent Disk Configuration

Create and Attach Disk

Mount the Disk

Cloud Storage Integration

Create Storage Bucket

Configure Service Account

Database Configuration (Enterprise)

Cloud Firestore (MongoDB Alternative)

MongoDB Atlas on GCP

Configure Cluster Mode

Cloud SQL (Alternative)

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Let’s Encrypt

Using Google-Managed SSL Certificates

Monitoring with Cloud Monitoring

Enable Cloud Monitoring Agent

Create Alert Policies

Custom Metrics

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Snapshot Schedule

Manual Snapshot

Multi-Region Deployment

Cost Optimization

Committed Use Discounts

Preemptible VMs

Custom Machine Types

Troubleshooting

Instance Not Accessible

Performance Issues

WebRTC Connection Issues

Next Steps