WCS on AWS - Certs and DNS

[Rahul Mittal]

I'd like to begin with a thanks for this splendid product. I am currently running trial instance on AWS and my organization is very happy with the choice so far.
I understand that we'll need to add an SSL to AWS instance as well as web client for it to properly work without browser warnings.

1. I have added SSL to web client
2. I can buy SSL for AWS instance and install that ok. But I'd like to buy that for wcs.<organization domain> vs ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.compute-1.amazonaws.com. And that's where my question lies.
I can configure wcs.<organization-domain> to point to ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.compute-1.amazonaws.com using CNAME in our master DNS.
But what changes will I need to do in my WCS installation on AWS, if any?

Apologies if this is a very basic question or more in the domain of AWS vs WCS. I am a relative newbie to both AWS and WCS so some help will be appreciated.

 

[Max]

Hello
You need at least two files
1. cert.pem (or .crt)
2. privkey.pem
If you have certificate files and the private key file you can upload these wiles over WCS dashboard.
Dashboard - Security - Certificates
Of course your DNS A or CNAME record should point to your WCS server.

Here you can see how it looks on our demo server:
We use SSL certificates from Let'sencrypt.
This is files fullchain.pem and privkey.pem

 

[Rahul Mittal]

Thanks @Max.
I have wildcard SSL from GoDaddy, generated using CSR from my Plesk Server. So, I reckon I'll need to make .pem file using Private Key from Plesk. I think I can manage that now thanks to your clarification.

Primary question is regarding the wcs host name.
"I have added a CNAME entry in my PLESK server for wcs.<organization domain> to ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.compute-1.amazonaws.com. But I am sure I'll need to make some host name changes in EC2 instance as well. That's the part am not sure about. Will it be standard Apache host name entries? Or some specific config in WCS installation there as well?"
Thanks

 

[Max]

As I know, you don't need to change the host name.

Assume your domain is
wcs.mycompany.com and CNAME to ec2-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Then you import certificates for wcs.mycompany.com via WCS dashboard.
And then your WCS server is available as https://wcs.mycompany.com:8888

If it does not work, try to add DNS A record wcs.mycompany.com >> 52.12.2.2
Here 52.12.2.2 - external IP address of your AWS server.

 

[Rahul Mittal]

Thanks @Max. It all worked wonderfully well.

But I have another problem, which comes randomly:
From the android app, at times, the local stream hangs as soon as it starts, on the first frame. And the status turns to Failed. Any pointers?

 

[Max]

Hello,

Could you please clarify the following details?
- "local stream hangs" - i.e. publishing fails?
- Android version, and what Android application is used
- Can the issue be reproduced with the demo server wcs5-eu.flashphoner.com?

 

[Rahul Mittal]

Hi Max
Thanks for continually amazing support. I am overwhelmed.

1. Hangs
Yes, publishing fails. The local video box shows the stream but only for a second and freezes there and the publishing status is Failed.
2. Android
It's a small app I developed using wcs-android-sdk from your website. Have tested on Android Marshmallow and Nougat.
3. Demo server at wcs5-eu.flashphoner.com
Not sure.

Anyways, what's basically happening is:
Same code and setup gives this issue at random times, say 2 out of 10 times we use the application. I suspect that it is due to "resource issues" on AWS considering that am currently using the smallest micro instance under Free Tier. Has anybody reported anything like this before?

 

[Max]

Make sure you have latest available version on your AWS instance.
Run this command over ssh to update to the latest available build:

sudo service webcallserver update

Try also with our demo server and our reference Android app
1) Demo server
wss://wcs5-eu.flashphoner.com:8443
2) Android app
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flashphoner.wcsexample.two_way_streaming
3) Web page for testing of web sample
https://wcs5-eu.flashphoner.com/cli...ming/two_way_streaming/two_way_streaming.html