I would like to use Wowza VOD origin as a MediaCache source for VOD edge applications. I read all the guides and i know you suggest to use any http storage as a source.
But as long as VOD origin can provide mp4 over http, it can be the source as well? I would like to use Wowza to control edges access to the files in storage and do some other custom job, so using VOD origin looks like an option for me.
How can i achieve it, and is there any serious overhead / advantage / disadvantage?
If its not possible, whats the purpose of VOD origin at all?
With MediaCache, the origin is a web server or a network share, not another Wowza server. In the Engine Manager there is “VOD” and “VOD edge” application types which use the same stream type. The only difference is one gets configured for MediaCache and the other does not.
You can have many edges which can use the same storage location, but that storage location isn’t another Wowza server it’s just a place where the files are stored and nothing more.
It can retrieve content from HTTP-based servers that support HTTP/1.1 range requests, from network-attached file systems, and from cloud data storage services. So it can use a Wowza server as a content storage, but performance will be limited to the disk speed and capacity of the server running Wowza.
Also, you can use this module to move the recordings to the storage location, once they are finished recording:
does it mean that in the scenario where wowza server is recording live streams to a file, we will have to make this file available directly over http, or will have to copy it to the file storage server, before we can serve it with VOD edges?
Is not it a bit inconsistent? We can record using wowza live origin app, we can immediately play it back using wowza vod origin app, but for vod edges we need to upload recently recorded file to the 3rd location?
With MediaCache, the origin is a web server or a network share, not another Wowza server…
…it can use a Wowza server as a content storage…
I’m confused, can MediaCache use another Wowza server or not?
I’m thinking of this scenario: User connects to Wowza Server 1 and tries view a VOD file. WS1 does not have this file, so it looks in its MediaCache sources. WS1 finds this file in Wowza Server 2, and the user is able to view the file.
I’m confused, can MediaCache use another Wowza server or not?
I’m thinking of this scenario: User connects to Wowza Server 1 and tries view a VOD file. WS1 does not have this file, so it looks in its MediaCache sources. WS1 finds this file in Wowza Server 2, and the user is able to view the file.
Is this possible?
Hi jHouseman,
The idea of MediaCache is to get much faster access to VOD content for multiple viewers. The MediaCache system would ideally have a much faster data read speed than the storage on the Wowza Streaming Engine server hardware.
You could setup MediaCache on another machine on your network, it could also have another instance of Wowza Streaming Engine installed, but this would be a hit on the disk read performance of that particular system.
You may find the following resources useful in getting started with utilizing MediaCache to scale VOD viewership.