Delete application if don't have root access on managed server?

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

Wowza process apparently runs as root on my managed dedicated server, so when create new /application sub-directories, then Wowza creates sub-directories under mine (e.g. sharedobject) which are owned by root.

Since I don’t have root access, this means I have to file a support ticket with my host provider in order to delete the /application sub-directory which I created.

The “solution” (work-around) my host offered is to run a script on cron that chown’s to my userid, all sub-directories in the hierarchy under /application. The caveats cause tsuris:

  1. The sub-directories won’t be writable or deletable by me for up to the max period of the cron cycle.

  2. Some SFTP clients (e.g. at least the older version of VanDyke’s SecureFX I am using) may cache the owner id and permission bits, so I will actually have to remember to close the open connection window (not just disconnect) and re-connect, if I had already been “Access denied” in that session on a Wowza process created sub-directory delete (rename, etc).

  3. Have to remember to transport this cron script to any new server. Adds to the number of little things that have to be remembered.

  4. Is a burden on every managed host, especially if they do not yet know about this issue and will have to field a support ticket, figure it out, then contemplate a solution.

Is it possible to arrive at a more correct solution for managed hosting? Could the Wowza process chown to the owner of the parent directory? And/or, could there be some admin tool?

Speaking of need for admin tools:

https://www.wowza.com/forums/showthread.php?10887-HTTP-admin-and-%28real-time-amp-history%29-statistics-interface&p=53517#post53517

P.S. note I am not referring to a shared server, as that would require a separate Wowza directory for each user.

2

There is the option to run the server as a named user. See the User Guide section by that name, “Run Server as Named User”

https://www.wowza.com/resources/WowzaMediaServer_UsersGuide.pdf

Richard

3

I suggest that you hosting company learns how to use the chown & chmod command correctly. Specifically using chmod g+s to set the group name on sub dirs. Also, if it is a dedicated server then they should give you root access or at least sudo access.

Is the API documentation is only available in a PDF file? That makes it extremely tedious to jump around quickly and get a feel for the API. I like .chm help files the best for APIs. I think perhaps they are now cross-platform, not only Window Help files. See the documentation downloads for PHP as an example.

The API documentation is available as html javadocs in the Wowza installation packages.

Even this reply box on the forum is only 5 lines tall, I can barely see what I am writing here. It says “Quick Reply” above and if I click “Go Advanced” button at bottom it opens a box with 12 lines height, but the box doesn’t expand vertically as a type, instead a scrollbar appears. Forum sites these days have figured out how to let the textarea height grow instead of showing a scrollbar.

Look on the right hand side of the Quick Reply box. There are a couple of arrows which will change the size of the text area.

4

Thank you, I will forward to my host support.

I suggest you put a direct link on the quick start HTML pages and installation overview:

https://www.wowza.com/resources/WowzaMediaServer_UsersGuide.pdf#page66 (unfortunately PDF intra-page links don’t work so well)

I was thinking there was no way you could not have that feature (I did scan the User Guide and read numerous pages), but frankly speaking, it is very tedious to read narrow (8.5" x 11" format) PDF files on a wide-screen monitor, because they do not reflow their inline text width, so one can only read a few lines vertically. I wish you had all of those converted to HTML pages, even a downloadable .zip. I even searched the PDF but it was not found (unless verbatim including case), because the PDF search is not nearly as good as Google. HTML is much more powerful and friendly.

Is the API documentation is only available in a PDF file? That makes it extremely tedious to jump around quickly and get a feel for the API. I like .chm help files the best for APIs. I think perhaps they are now cross-platform, not only Window Help files. See the documentation downloads for PHP as an example.

Even this reply box on the forum is only 5 lines tall, I can barely see what I am writing here. It says “Quick Reply” above and if I click “Go Advanced” button at bottom it opens a box with 12 lines height, but the box doesn’t expand vertically as a type, instead a scrollbar appears. Forum sites these days have figured out how to let the textarea height grow instead of showing a scrollbar.

5

I suggest that you hosting company learns how to use the chown & chmod command correctly. Specifically using chmod g+s to set the group name on sub dirs.

I will pass that along to them. Thank you.

I suggest that the Wowza documentation make it as easier to find such information.

Also, if it is a dedicated server then they should give you root access or at least sudo access.

Afaics for now, I do not think they should give me (a naive Linux user) root access. The manage choice is an option, and it actually costs me more.

The API documentation is available as html javadocs in the Wowza installation packages.

What is javadocs?

And I can view that on the website with one click and Google search it exactly how?

Look on the right hand side of the Quick Reply box. There are a couple of arrows which will change the size of the text area.

Thanks, another thing I have to remember. It should just work automatically when I reach the bottom of the box, it would grow. It is a 1 line JavaScript.

6

Hope you take my feedback constructively, I wasn’t trying to say all negative things. Just loving the concept of Wowza and the apparent achievements you have made, and shame to see those great efforts reduced by documentation tsuris.

Afaik, PDFs are most applicable for printing (and viewing on Amazon Kindle?). Thus they are apparently important. But afaik, they are not optimal for the generalized www viewing and searching. PDFs are good for sequential reading, e.g. a novel, not for haphazard reading order and cross-referencing, e.g. technical documents.

And javadocs may be great for something (sorry didn’t have a chance to google them yet), but afaik they don’t really address the first level experience at the website.

I do hope we have many positive exchanges going forward. Apologies if my initial 2 forum threads came across as negative. I been sleepless lately trying to push a new project out the door. I was generally frustrated with that GC bug and I couldn’t figure out why my stream wasn’t publishing, and so the documentation tsuris of Wowza was adding to my frustration, because I couldn’t quickly eliminate “is the server not configured, e.g. what does do?”. In hindsight, it was purely my bug and I should have been able to deduce that (had I not been so overworked to sleepless past weeks).

I had the extra issue that I am using HaXe instead of Flash Builder 4 (not because it is free, but because it is more orthogonal, Flash Builder forces clutter on me and Flash Builder doesn’t run on Linux), so I wasn’t sure if the bug I was seeing (now fixed) was due to HaXe, Wowza, or my own code. So very frustrating not to be able to quickly find a specification for Application.xml, etc…

Please take into consideration, that even though I am not a frequent Flash developer, I am coding my own custom ActionScript (using HaXe) so I am fairly sophisticated. Heck I even wrote a JPEG compression and decompression algorithm in ActionScript/HaXe. And I will soon have to write Java to my own custom server security (will be commenting to your forum on this, as I see your current methods are flawed). So the point is, if I am getting frustrated at the start, just imagine the more novice programmer’s potential experience with Wowza. If they are just using a pre-built .swf and then it is fairly straight forward, but realize there are many complex elements in the Flash equation (the player, which I had to figure out how to install and use the debug version, also different procedure in Google Chrome, etc), the compiler, the ActionScript, the Flex or no Flex issue, the server, the application folder on the server, the configuration file on the server, etc, etc…

So the documentation needs to be most accessible and quick to navigate. No downloads (ok as an option), etc. Clickable by section and topic and then searchable by Google, because it is HTML published to the public www.