Pipeline – Ned Wilson

Setting up an RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) streaming server on a Raspberry Pi can be done using a software package like NGINX with the RTMP module. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

Requirements:

A Raspberry Pi (preferably a 3B, 3B+, or 4 for better performance)
Raspbian or Raspberry Pi OS installed
Internet connection

Step 1: Update Your System

Open a terminal and update your system packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Dependencies

You need to install the required dependencies to build NGINX from source:

sudo apt install -y build-essential libpcre3 libpcre3-dev libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libpcre3 libpcre3-dev openssl libssl-dev

Step 3: Download NGINX and the RTMP Module

You will need to download both NGINX and the RTMP module:

cd ~
wget http://nginx.org/download/nginx-1.25.2.tar.gz
wget https://github.com/arut/nginx-rtmp-module/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

Unpack the files:

tar -zxvf nginx-1.25.2.tar.gz
unzip master.zip

Step 4: Build and Install NGINX with RTMP Module

Navigate to the NGINX source directory and configure the build:

cd nginx-1.25.2
./configure --with-http_ssl_module --add-module=../nginx-rtmp-module-master

Compile and install:

make
sudo make install

Step 5: Configure NGINX for RTMP

Edit the NGINX configuration file located at /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf:

sudo nano /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf

Add the following RTMP configuration to the nginx.conf file:

worker_processes  1;

events {
    worker_connections  1024;
}

http {
    include       mime.types;
    default_type  application/octet-stream;
    sendfile        on;
    keepalive_timeout  65;
    server {
        listen       80;
        server_name  localhost;

        location / {
            root   html;
            index  index.html index.htm;
        }
    }
}

rtmp {
    server {
        listen 1935;
        chunk_size 4096;

        application live {
            live on;
            record off;
        }
    }
}

Save the file and exit.

Step 6: Start NGINX

You can now start NGINX using the following command:

sudo /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx

Step 7: Test Your RTMP Server

To test your RTMP server, you can use a streaming software like OBS Studio:

Open OBS Studio and go to Settings.
Under Stream, select Custom.
Enter the RTMP server URL: rtmp://<Your-Raspberry-Pi-IP>/live
Set the stream key to whatever you like.

Step 8: Verify Your Stream

To view your stream, you can use a media player like VLC:

Open VLC and go to Media > Open Network Stream.
Enter: rtmp://<Your-Raspberry-Pi-IP>/live/<stream-key>.

Optional: Enable NGINX on Boot

To have NGINX start automatically on boot, add it to your rc.local:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Add the following line before exit 0:

/usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx

Save and exit.

You’re Done!

Your Raspberry Pi is now set up as an RTMP streaming server. You can stream video content to it and serve it to multiple clients.

I put together a pretty simple daemon which has been compiled for and tested on MacOS 10.9.1 Mavericks. It is designed to run in the background, and at pre-set intervals check the system idle time. When that idle time meets or exceeds a pre-configured value, the daemon runs an executable. When the user moves the mouse or presses any key on the keyboard, the daemon will execute another program.

This can be incredibly useful if you would like workstations to participate in a render farm if they are idle for a certain amount of time, but remove themselves from the farm when they are being used by an artist.

To use, start by downloading the installer:

idleexecd

Or, if you would like to see how I did it, build it yourself, or use the code for something else:

idleexecd.src

Configuring the daemon involves two mandatory steps, and one optional one.

First, edit the configuration file, located at /Library/Preferences/org.n3d.idleexecd.config.plist. I originally wrote this to put machines on a Deadline render farm, so it is configured to do just that. The config file looks like this:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>
<plist version=”1.0″>
<array>
<dict>
<key>Process Name</key>
<string>DeadlineSlave</string>
<key>Run As</key>
<string>farm</string>
<key>Idle Time Launch Delay</key>
<integer>15</integer>
<key>Startup Command</key>
<string>/Applications/Thinkbox/Deadline6/DeadlineLauncher.app/Contents/MacOS/DeadlineLauncher -slave -nogui</string>
<key>Shutdown Command</key>
<string>/Applications/Thinkbox/Deadline6/DeadlineSlave.app/Contents/MacOS/DeadlineSlave -shutdown</string>
</dict>
</array>
</plist>

For process name, choose any value that is appropriate. Run as is the user that the process will execute as. Pick any valid user besides root. The idle time launch delay is the idle time, in minutes, that the daemon will wait before it executes the startup command. The startup command will be executed when the machine has gone idle for the set amount of time. When the user moves the mouse or hits a key on the keyboard, the shutdown command will be executed. To add multiple commands to execute, simply copy and paste everything between <dict> and </dict> including the tags, and enter new command specifications.

If you wish to edit configuration parameters for the daemon, such as log file destination, edit /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.n3d.idleexecd.plist. The -p 1 command line argument is the polling interval, in seconds. Leaving this default will cause the daemon to check the idle time every second. This can be increased to 10 seconds, but when the user interacts with the machine, they may have to wait up to 10 seconds before the daemon responds to the input. The -v argument specifies verbose logging. The default location for logging is /var/log/idleexecd.log.

Last, reboot your machine for the changes to take effect.

TL;DR: Download and install idleexecd to have your OSX 10.9 workstation participate in a Deadline 6 render farm after it has been idle for 15 minutes.

Category: Pipeline

Setting up a RTMP Server on a RPi