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OpenVidu High Availability Installation: On-premises with DNS Load Balancing#

Info

OpenVidu High Availability is part of OpenVidu PRO. Before deploying, you need to create an OpenVidu account to get your license key. There's a 15-day free trial waiting for you!

This section provides instructions for deploying a production-ready OpenVidu High Availability setup on-premises, utilizing DNS for load balancing traffic. DNS allows multiple records, even of the same kind, to be registered, enabling the listing of multiple hosts under the same domain name. Such a mechanism allows for the distribution of traffic among the Master Nodes, offering an alternative to Network Load Balancers.

Advantages of DNS Load Balancing:

  • Simplicity: Easier to configure compared to Network Load Balancing.
  • Cost: More cost-effective than Network Load Balancing.

Disadvantages of DNS Load Balancing:

  • Health Checks: Less reliable for health checks compared to Network Load Balancing.
  • Caching Issues: IP addresses of the Master Nodes can be cached, causing issues if the server's IP changes.
  • DNS Round Robin: Some clients may not adhere to DNS Round Robin, potentially leading to uneven traffic distribution.

This is how the architecture of the deployment looks like:

OpenVidu High Availability Architecture with DNS Load Balancing
OpenVidu High Availability Architecture with DNS Load Balancing

  • The Master Nodes act as Load Balancers, managing the traffic and distributing it among the other Master Nodes and Media Nodes.
  • Each Master Node has its own Caddy server acting as a Layer 4 (for TURN with TLS and RTMPS) and Layer 7 (For OpenVidu Dashboard, OpenVidu Call, etc., APIs) reverse proxy.
  • WebRTC traffic (SRTP/SCTP/STUN/TURN) is routed directly to the Media Nodes.

For the Master Node, the following services are configured:

  • OpenVidu Dashboard, a web application interface to visualize your Rooms, Ingress, and Egress services.
  • MinIO as an S3 storage service for recordings.
  • Redis as a shared database for OpenVidu Server PRO and Ingress/Egress services.
  • MongoDB as a database for storing analytics and monitoring data.
  • Caddy as an internal reverse proxy for all services.
  • OpenVidu V2 Compatibility (v2compatibility module) is an optional service that provides an API designed to maintain compatibility for applications developed with OpenVidu version 2.
  • OpenVidu Call (Default Application module), an optional ready-to-use videoconferencing application.
  • Grafana, Mimir, Promtail, and Loki (Observability module) form an optional observability stack for monitoring, allowing you to keep track of logs and deployment statistics for OpenVidu.

For the Media Nodes, the following services are configured:

  • OpenVidu Server PRO (LiveKit compatible).
  • Ingress and Egress services.
  • Prometheus, Promtail, and Loki (Observability module). Used to send metrics and logs to the observability stack.

Prerequisites#

  • At least 6 machines:
    • 4 machines for the Master Nodes.
    • 2 machines for the Media Nodes.
  • Each machine must have:
    • A minimum of 4GB RAM and 4 CPU cores.
    • Linux installed (Ubuntu is recommended).
  • All machines must have their own public IP.
  • Significant disk space in all the Master Nodes, with 100GB recommended, especially if you plan to record your sessions (Egress). Media Nodes require less space; however, account for the space needed for ongoing recordings on these nodes.
  • A Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) pointing to all the public IPs of the Master Nodes. Simply create 4 A records in your DNS provider pointing to the public IPs of the Master Nodes using the same domain name.

Port rules (Master Nodes)#

Ensure all these rules are configured in your firewall, security group, or any kind of network configuration that you have in your Master Nodes:

Inbound port rules:

Protocol
Ports
Source
 Description
TCP 80 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 Redirect HTTP to HTTPS and Let's Encrypt validation.
TCP 443 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 Allows access to the following:
  • Livekit API.
  • OpenVidu v2 Compatibility API
  • OpenVidu Dashboard.
  • OpenVidu Call (Default Application).
  • WHIP API.
  • TURN with TLS.
  • Custom layouts
TCP 1935 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 (Optional) For ingesting RTMP streams using Ingress service.
TCP 9000 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 (Optional) To expose MinIO publicly.
TCP 3000 Master Nodes (Optional) For load balancing requests to Grafana (Observability module).
TCP 5000 Master Nodes For load balancing requests to OpenVidu Dashboard.
TCP 9101 Master Nodes For load balancing requests to MinIO Console.
TCP 7946-7947 Master Nodes (Optional) For Mimir and Loki cluster communication (Observability module).
TCP 9095-9096 Master Nodes (Optional) For Mimir and Loki cluster communication (Observability module).
TCP 3100 Media Nodes (Optional) For Loki (Observability module).
TCP 9009 Media Nodes (Optional) For Mimir (Observability module).
TCP 4443 Master Nodes, Media Nodes (Optional) For OpenVidu V2 compatibility service.
TCP 6080 Master Nodes, Media Nodes (Optional) For OpenVidu Call (Default Application).
TCP 7000-7001 Master Nodes, Media Nodes For internal Redis communication
TCP 9100 Master Nodes, Media Nodes For internal MinIO communication
TCP 20000 Master Nodes, Media Nodes For internal Mongo communication

Outbound port rules:

Typically, all outbound traffic is allowed.

Port rules (Media Nodes)#

Ensure all these rules are configured in your firewall, security group, or any kind of network configuration that you have in your Media Nodes:

Inbound port rules:

Protocol
Ports
Source
 Description
UDP 443 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 STUN/TURN over UDP.
TCP 7881 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 (Optional), only needed if you want to allow WebRTC over TCP.
UDP 7885 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 (Optional). Only needed if you want to ingest WebRTC using WHIP.
UDP 50000-60000 0.0.0.0/0, ::/0 WebRTC Media traffic.
TCP 1935 Master Nodes (Optional). Only needed if you want to ingest RTMP streams using Ingress service. Master Nodes need access to this port to reach Ingress RTMP service and expose it using TLS (RTMPS).
TCP 5349 Master Nodes (Optional). Only needed if you want to expose TURN service with TLS. Master Nodes need access to this port to reach TURN service and expose it using TLS (TURNS).
TCP 7880 Master Nodes LiveKit API. Master Nodes need access to load balance LiveKit API and expose it through HTTPS.
TCP 8080 Master Nodes (Optional). Only needed if you want to ingest WebRTC streams using WHIP. Master Nodes need access to this port to reach WHIP HTTP service.

Guided Installation#

Before the installation, ensure that all your machines meet the prerequisites and the port rules for the Master Nodes and Media Nodes are correctly configured.

To install OpenVidu High Availability, begin by generating the commands required for setting up all nodes in the cluster. This is a simple and straightforward process; simply run the following command on any machine that has Docker installed:

docker run --pull always --rm -it \
    openvidu/openvidu-installer:latest \
    --deployment-type=ha

Note

In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

A wizard will guide you through the installation process. You will be asked for the following information:

  • Write all 'Master Node' Private IPs separated by commas: Write the private IP of each Master Node separated by commas.
  • Write your OpenVidu PRO License: Write your OpenVidu PRO License.

Info

If you don't have a license key for OpenVidu PRO, you can get a 15-day free trial license key by creating an OpenVidu account.

  • Do you want to use an external load balancer?: Select No. It means that you are going to use DNS Load Balancing.
  • Select which certificate type to use:
    • Self Signed Certificate: It will generate a self-signed certificate. It is not recommended for production environments, but it is useful for testing or development purposes.
    • Let's Encrypt: It will automatically generate a certificate for your domain. The Let's Encrypt email is required and will be asked for later in the wizard.
    • ZeroSSL: It will automatically generate a certificate for your domain using ZeroSSL. An API Key is required and will be asked for later in the wizard.
    • Own Certificate: It will ask you for the certificate and key files. Just copy and paste the content of the files when the wizard asks for them.
  • Domain name: The domain name for your deployment. It must be an FQDN pointing to the machine where you are deploying OpenVidu.
  • (Optional) Turn domain name: The domain name for your TURN server with TLS. It must be an FQDN pointing to the machine where you are deploying OpenVidu and must be different from the OpenVidu domain name. Recommended if users who are going to connect to your OpenVidu deployment are behind restrictive firewalls.

  • Select which RTC engine to use: Select the WebRTC engine you want to use. You can choose between Pion (The engine used by Livekit) or Mediasoup (Experimental).

    Warning

    mediasoup integration in OpenVidu is experimental, and should not be used in production environments. There are some limitations that are currently being worked on, expected to be ironed out in the near future.

  • Modules to enable: Select the modules you want to enable. You can enable the following modules:

    • Observability: Grafana stack, which includes logs and monitoring stats.
    • Default App: OpenVidu Call, a ready-to-use videoconferencing application.
    • OpenVidu V2 Compatibility: Compatibility API for applications developed with OpenVidu v2.

The rest of the parameters are secrets, usernames, and passwords. If empty, the wizard will generate random values for them.

This command will output the following instructions, which you should follow:

  1. Firewall Configuration for 'Master Nodes': These rules are the same as the ones specified in the instructions. Depending on the modules you have selected, some rules defined at Port rules (Master Nodes) may not appear (Optional ports). Double-check them and modify them if you see something that can be enabled/disabled in your current port rules.

  2. Installation Commands for 'Master Nodes': This is the command needed to install your Master Node. It should look like this:

    sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_master_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --deployment-type='ha' \
    --node-role='master-node' \
...

    Note

    In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

    Execute that command on all your Master Nodes to install them. When the installation process finishes, you will see the following output:

    > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <
>                                                                             <
>  🎉🎉 OpenVidu HA 'Master Node' Installation Finished Successfully! 🎉🎉    <
>                                                                             <
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <

    The Master Node will be installed in /opt/openvidu and configured as a systemd service. To start the service, use the following command:

    systemctl start openvidu

    Your Master Nodes will be ready once all of them have been started.

  3. Firewall Configuration for 'Media Nodes': These rules are the same as the ones defined previously as with Master Nodes. Double-check the Port rules (Media Nodes) and modify them if you see something that can be enabled/disabled in your current port rules.

  4. Installation Commands for 'Media Nodes': This is the command needed to install your Media Nodes. It should look like this:

    sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_media_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --deployment-type='ha' \
    --node-role='media-node' \
...

    Note

    In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

    Execute that command on your Media Nodes to install them. When the installation process finishes, you will see the following output:

    > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <
>                                                                             <
>  🎉 OpenVidu HA 'Media Node' Installation Finished Successfully! 🎉         <
>                                                                             <
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <

    The Media Node on each machine will be installed at /opt/openvidu and configured as a systemd service. You can start the service with the following command:

    systemctl start openvidu

If everything goes well, all containers will be up and running without restarts, and you will be able to access any of the following services:

OpenVidu Server PRO URL (LiveKit compatible) will be available also in:

Configure your Application to use the Deployment#

To point your applications to your OpenVidu deployment, check the file at /opt/openvidu/.env of any Master Node. All access credentials of all services are defined in this file.

Your authentication credentials and URL to point your applications would be:

  • Applications developed with LiveKit SDK:

    • URL: The value in /opt/openvidu/config/cluster/openvidu.env of DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP as a URL. It could be wss://openvidu.example.io/ or https://openvidu.example.io/ depending on the SDK you are using.
    • API Key: The value in /opt/openvidu/config/cluster/openvidu.env of LIVEKIT_API_KEY
    • API Secret: The value in /opt/openvidu/config/cluster/openvidu.env of LIVEKIT_API_SECRET

  • Applications developed with OpenVidu v2:

    • URL: The value in /opt/openvidu/config/cluster/openvidu.env of DOMAIN_OR_PUBLIC_IP as a URL. For example, https://openvidu.example.io/
    • Username: OPENVIDUAPP
    • Password: The value in /opt/openvidu/config/cluster/openvidu.env of LIVEKIT_API_SECRET

Non-interactive installation#

To automate the installation process, you just need to execute the specified command in the Guided Installation section and execute the generated commands.

Each installation command for each type of node looks like this:

The Master Node can be configured with multiple kinds of certificates. Here are the examples for each type of certificate:

Example using Let's Encrypt certificates:

sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_master_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --node-role='master-node' \
    --master-node-private-ip-list='10.5.0.1,10.5.0.2,10.5.0.3,10.5.0.4' \
    --openvidu-pro-license='xxxxx' \
    --domain-name='openvidu.example.io' \
    --enabled-modules='observability,v2compatibility,app' \
    --rtc-engine='pion' \
    --turn-domain-name='turn.example.io' \
    --livekit-api-key='xxxxx' \
    --livekit-api-secret='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --redis-password='xxxxx' \
    --minio-access-key='xxxxx' \
    --minio-secret-key='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-replica-set-key='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --certificate-type='letsencrypt' \
    --letsencrypt-email='example@example.io'

Note

In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

Notes:

  • --openvidu-pro-license is mandatory. You can get a 15-day free trial license key by creating an OpenVidu account.
  • Depending on the RTC engine, the argument --rtc-engine can be pion or mediasoup.
  • --master-node-private-ip-list is the list of private IPs of all Master Nodes separated by commas. It should not change and Media Nodes should be able to reach all Master Nodes using these IPs.

Example using self-signed certificates:

sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_master_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --node-role='master-node' \
    --master-node-private-ip-list='10.5.0.1,10.5.0.2,10.5.0.3,10.5.0.4' \
    --openvidu-pro-license='xxxxx' \
    --domain-name='openvidu.example.io' \
    --enabled-modules='observability,v2compatibility,app' \
    --rtc-engine='pion' \
    --turn-domain-name='turn.example.io' \
    --livekit-api-key='xxxxx' \
    --livekit-api-secret='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --redis-password='xxxxx' \
    --minio-access-key='xxxxx' \
    --minio-secret-key='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-replica-set-key='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --certificate-type='selfsigned'

Note

In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

  • --openvidu-pro-license is mandatory. You can get a 15-day free trial license key by creating an OpenVidu account.
  • Depending on the RTC engine, the argument --rtc-engine can be pion or mediasoup.
  • --master-node-private-ip-list is the list of private IPs of all Master Nodes separated by commas. It should not change and Media Nodes should be able to reach all Master Nodes using these IPs.

Example using custom certificates:

CERT_PRIVATE_KEY=$(cat privkey.pem | base64 -w 0)
CERT_PUBLIC_KEY=$(cat fullchain.pem | base64 -w 0)

# Optional, only if you want to enable TURN with TLS
CERT_TURN_PRIVATE_KEY=$(cat turn-privkey.pem | base64 -w 0)
CERT_TURN_PUBLIC_KEY=$(cat turn-fullchain.pem | base64 -w 0)

sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_master_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --node-role='master-node' \
    --master-node-private-ip-list='10.5.0.1,10.5.0.2,10.5.0.3,10.5.0.4' \
    --openvidu-pro-license='xxxxx' \
    --domain-name='openvidu.example.io' \
    --enabled-modules='observability,v2compatibility,app' \
    --rtc-engine='pion' \
    --turn-domain-name='turn.example.io' \
    --livekit-api-key='xxxxx' \
    --livekit-api-secret='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --dashboard-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --redis-password='xxxxx' \
    --minio-access-key='xxxxx' \
    --minio-secret-key='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --mongo-replica-set-key='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --grafana-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-password='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-user='xxxxx' \
    --default-app-admin-password='xxxxx' \
    --certificate-type='owncert' \
    --owncert-private-key="$CERT_PRIVATE_KEY" \
    --owncert-public-key="$CERT_PUBLIC_KEY" \
    --turn-owncert-private-key="$CERT_TURN_PRIVATE_KEY" \
    --turn-owncert-public-key="$CERT_TURN_PUBLIC_KEY"

Note

In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

  • Note that you just need to pass --owncert-private-key and --owncert-public-key with the content of the private and public key files in base64 format. The installation script will decode them and save them in the proper files.
  • --openvidu-pro-license is mandatory. You can get a 15-day free trial license key by creating an OpenVidu account.
  • Depending on the RTC engine, the argument --rtc-engine can be pion or mediasoup.
  • --master-node-private-ip-list is the list of private IPs of all Master Nodes separated by commas. It should not change and Media Nodes should be able to reach all Master Nodes using these IPs.
  • --turn-owncert-private-key and --turn-owncert-public-key are optional. You only need to pass them if you want to enable TURN with TLS.

To install a Media Node, you can use the following command:

sh <(curl -fsSL http://get.openvidu.io/pro/ha/latest/install_ov_media_node.sh) \
    --no-tty --install \
    --node-role='media-node' \
    --master-node-private-ip-list='10.5.0.1,10.5.0.2,10.5.0.3,10.5.0.4' \
    --enabled-modules='observability,v2compatibility,app' \
    --redis-password='xxxxx'

Note

In case you want to deploy a specific version, just replace latest with the desired version. For example: 3.0.0.

  • --master-node-private-ip must be the same list of private IPs of all Master Nodes separated by commas. It should not change and Media Nodes should be able to reach all Master Nodes using these IPs.
  • If no media appears in your conference, reinstall specifying the --public-ip parameter with your machine's public IP. OpenVidu usually auto-detects the public IP, but it can fail. This IP is used by clients to send and receive media. If you decide to install the Media Node with --public-ip, you must reinstall the Master Node with --force-media-node-public-ip.

You can run these commands in a CI/CD pipeline or in a script to automate the installation process.

Some general notes about all commands:

  • The argument --turn-domain-name is optional. Define it only if you want to enable TURN with TLS in case users are behind restrictive firewalls.
  • In the argument --enabled-modules, you can enable the modules you want to deploy. You can enable observability (Grafana stack), app (Default App - OpenVidu Call), and v2compatibility (OpenVidu v2 compatibility API).

To start each node, remember to execute the following command in each node:

systemctl start openvidu

Configuration and administration#

Once you have OpenVidu deployed, you can check the Administration section to learn how to manage your OpenVidu High Availability deployment.