Overview
VIDIZMO offers a wide range of deployment possibilities and provides solutions to the most commonly faced questions regarding decisions to deploy, such as which geographically dispersed audiences need to be served, how easy is the deployment, what resources are required, and what are the network constraints etc. When deciding upon a deployment option, the architecture used greatly varies on the size and purpose of the deployment.
In this article, we will be covering some of the scenarios in which VIDIZMO can be deployed - from a single, On-Premise Server to a fully-redundant large-scale setup.
Installation Components
A typical VIDIZMO installation consists of the following components:
Content Provider
A local CDN is the content storage of media types on an On-Premise file system. A CDN is an efficient way to serve content to users by their geographic location as it expedites the process of content delivery of websites that have high traffic or massive global reach. All video-on-demand content uploaded for viewing is stored and cached on the same VM so that it can be delivered to users without any buffering issues. In a local CDN, uploaded media types are stored and served by the same content provider.
Encoding Provider
VIDIZMO is encoder agonistic and can be configured to use any standards-based software or hardware encoder. Content processing and encoding are hardware resource-consuming processes and optimally, a dedicated machine is recommended for this purpose which improves the performance of the application more efficiently as compared to the processes which are running on the same server where the application is deployed.
For more topics, click on the links below:
Web Application Server
The Web Server hosts the VIDIZMO application as the main presentation component through which end users interact, access and perform various operations in VIDIZMO. Depending on the permissions, these operations in different layers of the application can vary from simply branding of your portal, to performing advanced analytics or configuring VIDIZMO to conduct live and on-demand streaming.
One of the core components of VIDIZMO is the Services which forms the business layer providing central business rules and restrictions. Based on a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) model, this component provides services to other components via a communications protocol, typically over a network. The principles of SOA are independent of any vendor, product or technology, allowing you to easily integrate and leverage your existing IT investments, build upon VIDIZMO’s platform in the technology of your choice, and host your application and content where you prefer.
Click here to learn How To Set up Application Server For VIDIZMO.
Database Server
A database is required as a prerequisite to setting up the VIDIZMO application for On-Premise deployment. For the database, VIDIZMO supports SQL Server 2017 Build Version which is 14.0.3238.1 or later, SSMS with Mixed Mode.
On-Premise deployment of VIDIZMO also requires Reporting Services which are used in VIDIZMO reports and for which the Web Server Role needs to be configured when setting up the SQL Server.
You can click on the links below to learn more: Database Prerequisites for Installation and How To Install VIDIZMO On-Premise/Private Cloud.
Storage Server
When setting up a Streaming Server in VIDIZMO, a content storage location is required where the application will save the uploaded content. This location can either be a local drive or a network location. Using a Network Storage is an efficient way to manage storage, disaster recovery, and to have the storage available as a Highly Available (HA) storage. Where the deployment involves multiple locations, a Geo-Redundant Storage can also be configured to reroute content storage to a completely different datacenter in one of the locations.
In an on-premise installation, VIDIZMO recommends using any fast and secure Network Storage (SAN/NAS) which can be mapped to a drive for VIDIZMO to store content.
To learn more, see: Understanding Storage Providers.
Streaming Server
Depending on your deployment scenario, VIDIZMO Streaming Server can be implemented as follows:
Standalone: As a standalone server, VIDIZMO Streaming Server provides basic live video streaming capability for live events, by providing a publishing point to live encoders on one hand and a playback URL for VIDIZMO Player on the other. All viewer devices connect to this VIDIZMO streaming server for playback of the live stream. Note that by default in VIDIZMO, on-demand video is streamed directly from the Content Provider which acts as the Origin. This means that a standalone VIDIZMO streaming server is only limited for live streaming.
VIDIZMO ECDN Edge Node/Origin: For customers with geographically dispersed viewers on multiple locations with varying bandwidth limits, VIDIZMO streaming server accelerates the delivery of video content through a process called HTTP caching, where the content is stored on multiple edge nodes of a content distribution network (ECDN). Multiple VIDIZMO streaming servers can be installed as either a central Origin (where all content originates) server or Edge nodes that are installed at each location facing bandwidth challenges. To learn more, please click on Understanding VIDIZMO ECDN.
Deployment Options
Here is a list of flexible deployment options for your VIDIZMO Application that cater to your organizational needs.
Single Server Deployment
This is the smallest architecture VIDIZMO uses for an On-Premise deployment, which comprises of a single server hosting the web application, content storage as well as the encoder all on the same machine. An On-Premise deployment allows users to leverage their existing servers, take advantage of the available bandwidth and deploy behind your firewall. This also gives users full control over the servers letting them decide on the system configuration, upgrades and licensing thus lowering the total cost of ownership (TCO).
Single Server Deployment with Network Storage and Streaming Server
Similar to the small-scale deployment as described in Section #1 above, this architecture employs an On-Premise single server hosting the web application, database and the encoder on the same machine, and a network storage. For streaming, instead of using the VIDIZMO streaming engine, this setup uses Wowza as the streaming engine.
Users who wish to leverage their cloud-based infrastructure, VIDIZMO offers the option to use their streaming server to stream to large audiences or to geographically dispersed viewers. Cloud-based streaming allows users to use speed and performance of the globally available CDNs to seamlessly scale deployment, take care of security and latency, effectively managing bandwidth costs, all the while letting them concentrate more on the quality of the content.
Dual Server Deployment
In this configuration, the Content Storage and the Encoder are on the same server, while the Database is hosted on a separate server.
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server VIDIZMO Deployment.
Dual Server Deployment with Network Storage and Streaming Server
This type of deployment has the following configuration:
- The Application and the Encoder are on the same server
- The Database is on a separate server
- Uses a Network Storage
- Uses Wowza as the Streaming Server
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server VIDIZMO Deployment with Network Storage and Streaming Server.
High Availability (HA) Deployments
Enterprises capable of meeting demands for 24/7 availability, whether On-Premise or Private Cloud, must be prepared to handle different loads and different failures with minimal or no downtime. To avoid unscheduled downtimes, high availability databases are used. These databases are configured in such a way that single points of failure (SPOF) are eliminated and the databases are optimized to ensure that the end user does not experience an interruption in service or a degradation in user experience on hardware or network failure. In short, HA is continuously operational or which provides at least 99.9% uptime.
Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage
For customers requiring optimal operational performance, even at times of high loads, VIDIZMO offers a configuration based on a Highly Available architecture with the following components:
- The Application, Encoder and Content Provider are on a dedicated server
- The Database on a Separate Server
- Uses a Network Storage (SAN/NAS)
- Integration with customer's IDP for Single Sign-On (SSO)
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server HA VIDIZMO Deployment with Network Storage.
Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage and Streaming Server
Similar to the deployment architecture described in the previous step, this deployment offers integration with a third-party, cloud-based content provider. In the diagram below, Wowza is used as the content provider and has the following components:
- The Application and Encoder are on a dedicated server
- Content Provider is Wowza
- The Database is on a separate server
- Uses a Network Storage (SAN/NAS)
- Integration with customer's IDP for Single Sign-On (SSO)
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server HA VIDIZMO Deployment with Network Storage and Streaming Server.
Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage and VIDIZMO ECDN for Caching
For customers who wish to serve their geographically dispersed audiences over a secure network, VIDIZMO can be set up as a dual server, highly available deployment using VIDIZMO ECDN with a streaming server on one location and a caching node on the other location. This type of architecture uses the following components:
- The Application, Encoder and Content Provider are on a dedicated server
- Edge Node: VIDIZMO Streaming and Caching Engine on a separate server
- The Database is on a separate Server
- Uses a Network Storage (SAN/NAS)
- Integration with customer's IDP for Single Sign-On (SSO)
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage and VIDIZMO ECDN for Caching.
Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage and VIDIZMO ECDN for Multicasting
This configuration is similar to the setup described in Step 5.3 above but it has an additional component for Multicast Streaming. The components used in this deployment are as follows:
- The Application, Encoder and Content Provider are on a dedicated server
- VIDIZMO Streaming Server and Windows Media Server (Multicast) on a separate machine
- Edge Nodes are Multicast Streaming and Caching enabled
- The Database is on a separate server
- Uses a Network Storage (SAN/NAS)
- Integration with customer's IDP for Single Sign-On (SSO)
To learn more about this configuration, click here on On-Premise Dual Server HA Deployment with Network Storage and VIDIZMO ECDN for Multicasting.
