Installation Process and Pre-requisites: #
Download and install the Java Development Kit (jdk) from here (I used
the rpm version of JDK 6 Update 2):
http://java.sun.com/javase/dow
Download and extract Apache ant from here:
http://archive.apache.org/dist
Copy the extracted apache-ant-1.6.5 folder to /usr/local/ant
Setup the environment variables to include the path for java and ant
by typing the following at the shell
prompt:PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin:/u
export PATHThen also remember to add this to /etc/profile so the
settings don’t get lost the next time you login
Download and extract the Red5 server from here: http://osflash.org/red5
cd to the Red5 directory you just extracted and type the following at
the shell prompt to allow java to retrieve the files it needs from
the net and compile and run the server as a background process (the
module retrieval is automatic and only has to be done once):ant server
Then that’s it it’s running. In my case I needed to kill the ant/java
processes running the server after the java modules were initially
retrieved and the server built for the first time, but the second time
it was fine even though it did take about 30 seconds to fully startup
– this may just be a glitch on my system as I have a lot of other
stuff also going on.
The final step is to test it. This can be done by moving the contents
of the webapps/root/demos/ folder from the extracted Red5 directory
to a webserver somewhere (I don’t think it hast to be the same
machine) and then viewing the list of demos in the index.html file.I
started off by using the port tester to make sure the demo apps could
actually connect to the server on the ports they were meant to
(basically rtmp port 1935) and then moved onto testing the video
streaming app and then tried a proper live broadcast through the
server using the simpleBroadcaster app to two friends who were logged
on using the simple subscriber app. All worked well especially as far
as the video was concerned though the audio was a little crackly on my
live broadcast – this could just be the quality of home connections
however.The only last not is just a simple reminder that when running
the test apps you’ll need to specify the server they need to connect
to – the apps are setup to access rtmp://localhost/[APP_NAME] but if
you’re not running these apps as a local user you will need to change
localhost to the name or ip of the server Red5 is installed on
So far I’m quite happy with Red5 as a free (very important)
alternative to FMS2, but should you be looking for a commercial
product as this is not quite up your street (that is a cheaper than
FMS2), then take a look at this instead:
http://www.wowzamedia.com/inde
Wowza only requires java to run and is like a very polishedÂ
commercial version of the Red5 server (it was actually through
installing Wowza that I worked out what to do with the web apps for
Red5Â – having had no previous experience in flash streaming other than
literally installing FMS2)Â which has a very reasonable price tag in
comparison to the cost of FMS2
