Secure streaming using FlowPlayer

I have to come up with a solution for secure streaming for the company I’m working for. I decided to choose Wowza 3.5.2 as the media server and FlowPlayer to access the videos. The Wowza Media Server is running on an Ubuntu 12.04 server. I followed the tutorial to set up Video On Demand. Everything works so far. I can access the videos with the FlowPlayer that are stored in the content folder.

Now, I tried to use RTMPE with a secure token. Again I followed the tutorial to set up the module und properties. My Application.xml now looks like this:

<Root>
	<Application>
		<!-- Uncomment to set application level timeout values
		<ApplicationTimeout>60000</ApplicationTimeout>
		<PingTimeout>12000</PingTimeout>
		<ValidationFrequency>8000</ValidationFrequency>
		<MaximumPendingWriteBytes>0</MaximumPendingWriteBytes>
		<MaximumSetBufferTime>60000</MaximumSetBufferTime>
		<MaximumStorageDirDepth>25</MaximumStorageDirDepth>
		-->
		<Connections>
			<AutoAccept>true</AutoAccept>
			<AllowDomains></AllowDomains>
		</Connections>
		<!--
			StorageDir path variables
			
			${com.wowza.wms.AppHome} - Application home directory
			${com.wowza.wms.ConfigHome} - Configuration home directory
			${com.wowza.wms.context.VHost} - Virtual host name
			${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome} - Virtual host config directory
			${com.wowza.wms.context.Application} - Application name
			${com.wowza.wms.context.ApplicationInstance} - Application instance name
			
		-->
		<Streams>
			<StreamType>default</StreamType>
			<StorageDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/content</StorageDir>
			<KeyDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/keys</KeyDir>
			<!-- LiveStreamPacketizers (separate with commas): cupertinostreamingpacketizer, smoothstreamingpacketizer, sanjosestreamingpacketizer, cupertinostreamingrepeater, smoothstreamingrepeater, sanjosestreamingrepeater, dvrstreamingpacketizer, dvrstreamingrepeater -->
			<LiveStreamPacketizers></LiveStreamPacketizers>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/Streams.xml for any streams types loaded by this application -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</Streams>
		<Transcoder>
			<!-- To turn on transcoder set to: transcoder -->
			<LiveStreamTranscoder></LiveStreamTranscoder>
			<!-- [templatename].xml or ${SourceStreamName}.xml -->
			<Templates>${SourceStreamName}.xml,transrate.xml</Templates>
			<ProfileDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/transcoder/profiles</ProfileDir>
			<TemplateDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/transcoder/templates</TemplateDir>
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</Transcoder>
		<DVR>
			<!-- As a single server or as an origin, use dvrstreamingpacketizer in LiveStreamPacketizers above -->
			<!-- Or, in an origin-edge configuration, edges use dvrstreamingrepeater in LiveStreamPacketizers above -->
			<!-- As an origin, also add dvrchunkstreaming to HTTPStreamers below -->
			<!-- To turn on DVR recording set Recorders to dvrrecorder.  This works with dvrstreamingpacketizer  -->
			<Recorders></Recorders>
			<!-- As a single server or as an origin, set the Store to dvrfilestorage-->
			<!-- edges should have this empty -->
			<Store></Store>
			<!--  Window Duration is length of live DVR window in seconds.  0 means the window is never trimmed. -->
			<WindowDuration>0</WindowDuration>
			<!-- Storage Directory is top level location where dvr is stored.  e.g. c:/temp/dvr -->
			<StorageDir>${com.wowza.wms.context.VHostConfigHome}/dvr</StorageDir>
			<!-- valid ArchiveStrategy values are append, version, delete -->
			<ArchiveStrategy>append</ArchiveStrategy>
			<!-- If this is a dvrstreamingrepeater, -->
			<!-- either define the general Application/Repeater/OriginURL below to point back to the origin -->
			<!-- or define this one (which affects only DVR origin-edge).  e.g. [url]http://localhost/dvrorigin[/url] -->
			<Repeater>
				<ChunkOriginURL></ChunkOriginURL>
			</Repeater>
			<!-- Properties for DVR -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</DVR>
		<TimedText>
			<!-- VOD caption providers (separate with commas): vodcaptionprovidermp4_3gpp, vodcaptionproviderttml, vodcaptionprovidersrt, vodcaptionproviderscc -->
			<VODTimedTextProviders>vodcaptionprovidermp4_3gpp</VODTimedTextProviders>
			
			<!-- Properties for TimedText -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>		
		</TimedText>
		
		<!-- HTTPStreamers (separate with commas): cupertinostreaming, smoothstreaming, sanjosestreaming, dvrchunkstreaming -->
		<HTTPStreamers>cupertinostreaming,smoothstreaming,sanjosestreaming</HTTPStreamers>
		<SharedObjects>
			<StorageDir></StorageDir>
		</SharedObjects>
		<Client>
			<IdleFrequency>-1</IdleFrequency>
			<Access>
				<StreamReadAccess>*</StreamReadAccess>
				<StreamWriteAccess>*</StreamWriteAccess>
				<StreamAudioSampleAccess></StreamAudioSampleAccess>
				<StreamVideoSampleAccess></StreamVideoSampleAccess>
				<SharedObjectReadAccess>*</SharedObjectReadAccess>
				<SharedObjectWriteAccess>*</SharedObjectWriteAccess>
			</Access>
		</Client>
		<RTP>
			<!-- RTP/Authentication/[type]Methods defined in Authentication.xml. Default setup includes; none, basic, digest -->
			<Authentication>
				<PublishMethod>digest</PublishMethod>
				<PlayMethod>none</PlayMethod>
			</Authentication>
			<!-- RTP/AVSyncMethod. Valid values are: senderreport, systemclock, rtptimecode -->
			<AVSyncMethod>senderreport</AVSyncMethod>
			<MaxRTCPWaitTime>12000</MaxRTCPWaitTime>
			<IdleFrequency>75</IdleFrequency>
			<RTSPSessionTimeout>90000</RTSPSessionTimeout>
			<RTSPMaximumPendingWriteBytes>0</RTSPMaximumPendingWriteBytes>
			<RTSPBindIpAddress></RTSPBindIpAddress>
			<RTSPConnectionIpAddress>0.0.0.0</RTSPConnectionIpAddress>
			<RTSPOriginIpAddress>127.0.0.1</RTSPOriginIpAddress>
			<IncomingDatagramPortRanges>*</IncomingDatagramPortRanges>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/RTP.xml for any depacketizers loaded by this application -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</RTP>
		<MediaCaster>
			<RTP>
				<RTSP>
					<!-- udp, interleave -->
					<RTPTransportMode>interleave</RTPTransportMode>
				</RTSP>
			</RTP>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/MediaCasters.xml for any MediaCasters loaded by this applications -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</MediaCaster>
		<MediaReader>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/MediaReaders.xml for any MediaReaders loaded by this applications -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</MediaReader>
		<MediaWriter>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/MediaWriter.xml for any MediaWriter loaded by this applications -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</MediaWriter>
		<LiveStreamPacketizer>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/LiveStreamPacketizers.xml for any LiveStreamPacketizers loaded by this applications -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</LiveStreamPacketizer>
		<HTTPStreamer>
			<!-- Properties defined here will override any properties defined in conf/HTTPStreamers.xml for any HTTPStreamer loaded by this applications -->
			<Properties>
			</Properties>
		</HTTPStreamer>
		<Repeater>
			<OriginURL></OriginURL>
			<QueryString><![CDATA[]]></QueryString>
		</Repeater> 
		<Modules>
			<Module>
				<Name>base</Name>
				<Description>Base</Description>
				<Class>com.wowza.wms.module.ModuleCore</Class>
			</Module>
			<Module>
				<Name>properties</Name>
				<Description>Properties</Description>
				<Class>com.wowza.wms.module.ModuleProperties</Class>
			</Module>
			<Module>
				<Name>logging</Name>
				<Description>Client Logging</Description>
				<Class>com.wowza.wms.module.ModuleClientLogging</Class>
			</Module>
			<Module>
				<Name>flvplayback</Name>
				<Description>FLVPlayback</Description>
				<Class>com.wowza.wms.module.ModuleFLVPlayback</Class>
			</Module> 
			<Module>
				<Name>ModuleSecureToken</Name>
				<Description>ModuleSecureToken</Description>
				<Class>com.wowza.wms.security.ModuleSecureToken</Class>
			</Module>
		</Modules>
		<!-- Properties defined here will be added to the IApplication.getProperties() and IApplicationInstance.getProperties() collections -->
		<Properties>
			<Property>
				<Name>secureTokenSharedSecret</Name>
				<Value>#ed%h0#w@1</Value>
			</Property>
			<Property>
				<Name>requireSecureConnection</Name>
				<Value>true</Value>
				<Type>Boolean</Type>
			</Property>
		</Properties>
	</Application>
</Root>

The code from the FlowPlayer is as follows (I edited the Minimal Flowplayer setup that comes with the FlowPlayer tutorial):

[HTML]

Minimal Flowplayer setup

View commented source code to get familiar with Flowplayer installation.

<a

href=“landscapes.mp4” class=“player”

style=“display:block;width:520px;height:330px”

id=“wowza”>

[/HTML]

When I now open the FlowPlayer it gives me this error: 201, unable to load stream or clip file, connection failed, clip: [clip]landscapes.mp4

What am I doing wrong?

I’m not sure about this method, I have not tried it, but it is not very secure. The recommended way to use SecureToken is to re-compile the player from its source code with the token. For reference, take a look at this guide for doing this in JW Player:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-add-securetoken-protection-to-jw-player

It won’t be exactly the same for Flowplayer, but it is essentially the same: modifying the NetStatusEvent handler. There is guidance here for re-compiling Flowplayer:

http://flash.flowplayer.org/documentation/developer/development-environment.html

Richard