Overview

This article is about VIDIZMO integration with Azure Media Services (AMS). We will explain requirements and necessary steps to configure AMS as the storage and encoding provider in VIDIZMO application to store and process audio/video content.


Scope

The following items fall into the scope of work.

  • Create user account in AAD (Azure Active Directory)
  • Configure role assignments (both AAD and AMS Resource Group)
  • Create resource group in Azure portal
  • Run setup wizard in VIDIZMO app
  • Test content upload
  • Test content processing


Requirements

Below are the requirements for setting up AMS storage and encoding provider in VIDIZMO app.

  1. User account in AAD: This user account would need Application Administrator role assigned in AAD. This user account will be used within setup wizard to configure AMS storage and encoding provider. The application will use this account to do following tasks during the setup wizard process:
    • Create new AMS instance
    • Create and associate storage account with AMS instance
    • Create new streaming media endpoint
    • Create new enterprise app in AAD
    • Assign enterprise app the Contributor role on AMS instance

  2. Owner role assignment on AMS resource group: The AAD user account would need owner role assignment on AMS resource group. This is needed because the AMS setup wizard process will use this account to add role assignment for the service principal (enterprise app) on AMS instance.

Note: The application administrator role in AAD and Owner role on AMS resource group can be safely removed once the setup wizard process is completed.


Note: Once the setup is completed, VIDIZMO application will exchange HTTP/API requests with AMS instance to process upload and content processing jobs. Methods include GET, PUT, POST, etc.


Note: VIDIZMO application will use the AAD service principal (enterprise application) to authenticate and gain API access to the AMS instance.


Azure Configuration

This section explains Azure related configuration. Please see below steps:

  1. Navigate https://portal.azure.com and login with your administrator account.
  2. Go to Azure Active Directory > Users and create new user account for use with AMS setup in VIDIZMO app.
  3. Assign Application Administrator role to this new user account.
  4. Create new Resource Group in your Azure subscription. This resource group is used for AMS instance.
  5. Add Owner role assignment for the new user account on AMS resource group (we created in previous step).

References (MS documentation):


VIDIZMO Configuration

This section explains VIDIZMO related configuration, please see below steps:

  1. Login your VIDIZMO application.
  2. Navigate to Control Panel.
  3. In Control Panel, go to Setup Wizard and click "Run Wizard Again".
  4. Under "Configuration", set VIDIZMO Storage to "AMS" and Encoder to "AMS Standard Encoder".
  5. Click "Next" to move to the next step.
  6. Under "Storage", fill in required fields and click next to move to next step.
  7. Under "Transcoder", fill in required fields and click "Done" to start setup wizard process.


Configuration details

Below are configuration related details for setup wizard (AMS).


Configuration under Step-6 (details):

Login ID: This is the login ID of your AAD user account that has Application Administrator role assigned.

Password: Password of your AAD user account.

Subscription ID: The subscription Id of your Azure Subscription.

Storage Name: The is the name of your storage account. Setup wizard will create this storage account during the process.

Resource Group Name: This is the name of your Resource Group being used for AMS resources.

Location: Select the location/region of your nearest Azure datacenter.

Replication: Select replication type for data redundancy in your Azure storage account. Click HERE for details.

CDN SKU: This is the type of content delivery network to use with AMS. Select from available CDN providers from the list.

Media Service Name: This is the name of AMS instance.

Encoding Units: Media reserved units are used to control encoding concurrency and performance. This is the number of media reserved units allocated to your AMS instance. Click HERE for details.

Encoding Units Type: Select the type of encoding unit for use with your AMS instance (S1, S2 or S3).

Enable DRM: DRM is used to dynamically encrypt/protect your content in AMS. Click HERE to learn more about DRM (Digital Rights Management) in AMS.


Configuration under Step-7 (details):

Description: Provide a brief description about your AMS instance.

Scale Units: Enter the max number of units to allow scaling.

Enable CDN: Enabling this option will allow VIDIZMO to create CDN (streaming media endpoint) during the setup wizard process.

Cache in Secs: This is the time in seconds before the CDN expires cache. It essentially means the time before your content is deleted from AMS streaming media endpoint.

Automatic Processing: Enable this option to allow VIDIZMO automatically process the content when it is uploaded in the system.


Troubleshooting

This section provides guidelines to help you troubleshoot setup wizard if the process is completed with errors or failures.


Please review and ensure below settings before executing the setup wizard process:


  1. The Login Id and Password you enter in setup wizard should validate for successful completion of storage and encoding provider configuration.
  2. The storage account name being used in the process is in fact part of a publicly available DNS name and always unique. Please make sure to validate your storage account name in Azure prior to use it in VIDIZMO app.
  3. The AMS (Azure Media Service) name is also part of DNS name and must be unique. Please validate availability of your AMS instance name before using in VIDIZMO app.
  4. Ensure setting up role assignments accordingly in Azure per instructions provided in the upper sections of this article. This is needed for successful completion of setup wizard process.