live555ProxyServerEx

This is improved version of LIVE555 Proxy Server that supports configuration files.

The "LIVE555 Proxy Server" is a unicast RTSP server - built from the "LIVE555 Streaming Media" software - that acts as a 'proxy' for one or more 'back-end' unicast or multicast RTSP/RTP streams (i.e., served by other server(s)).

The key feature of a proxy server is that it reads each 'back-end' stream only once, regardless of how many separate clients are streaming from the proxy server. This makes the proxy server ideal, for example, for streaming from a RTSP-enabled video camera (which might not be able to handle more than one connection at a time).

                                                      --> [RTSP client1]
[back-end RTSP/RTP stream] --> [LIVE555 Proxy Server] --> [RTSP client2]
                                                      ...
                                                      --> [RTSP clientN]

For more information see the official documentation.

Build instructions

(only linux-64bit is supported now)

• Install latest version of vanilla LIVE555:

  • Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt-get install livemedia-utils liblivemedia-dev
  • Arch Linux: sudo pacman -S live-media
  • from source (2018.09.10 was tested):
    • build using the official documentation: http://www.live555.com/liveMedia/#config-unix
    • install *.a libraries using sudo make install (you can put custom DESTDIR in your live555 config file (not proxy config file!) or use something like checkinstall)
    • put LIBRARIES_DIR = /usr/local/lib to your config file
    • use LIB_SUFFIX = a in your config file

  Make sure the development files (e.g. /usr/include/liveMedia or /usr/local/include/liveMedia) are available

• Copy config-example.linux-64bit to config.linux-64bit and edit it. You may want to replace LIBRARIES_DIR and INCLUDES_PREFIX or change the compiler (see also example for Ubuntu 18.04 with gcc: config-example-ubuntu.linux-64bit)

  • Use LIB_SUFFIX = a for static linking
  • Use LIB_SUFFIX = so for dynamic linking

• Generate Makefile using ./genMakefiles linux-64bit

• make

• Then live555ProxyServerEx executable file will be available

Configuration file

While you can use command-line arguments as with vanilla live555ProxyServer, you also can create a configuration file and load it using -c config.cfg option. It has INI format.

[general] section describes global options:

• verbosity: 0 is default, 1 is equivalent to -v, 2 is equivalent to -V;

• stream_rtp_over_tcp (boolean) is equivalent to -t;

• try_standard_port_numbers (boolean): if 1 (default), then proxy server tries to use port 554 or 8554 if rtsp_server_port failed;

• server_tunneling_over_http (boolean): if 1 (default), then proxy creates a HTTP server for RTSP-over-HTTP tunneling;

• server_tunneling_over_http_port (0..65535): if 0 (default), then proxy tries to use port 80, 8000 or 8080 for RTSP-over-HTTP tunneling; a non-zero value means the use of a specific port;

• rtsp_server_port (1..65535, default 554) is equivalent to -p;

• register_requests (boolean) is equivalent to -R;

• username_for_register and password_for_register are equivalent to -U username password;

• single_stream_name: name of the stream if there is only one proxied URL (default proxyStream);

• multiple_stream_name: names of the streams if there are multiple proxied URLs, must have %d for stream number (default proxyStream-%d);

• out_packet_max_size (unsigned integer): changes OutPacketBuffer::maxSize value. If you see something like The total received frame size exceeds the client's buffer size or The input frame data was too large for our buffer size, you can try to increase this value (default is 2000000 — 2 megabytes).

[auth] section is a list of usernames and passwords. If this is not empty, then proxy server will require authentication. Example:

[auth]
username = admin
password = 123456

username = alice
password = 777bob777

[streams] section is a list of proxied streams. Every stream must have URL and stream name. Example:

[streams]
url = rtsp://192.168.69.100:554/onvif1
name = office

url = rtsp://10.0.2.66:38888/h264_ulaw.sdp
name = android_ipwebcam

These streams will be proxied as rtsp://[proxy_ip]:[proxy_port]/office and rtsp://[proxy_ip]:[proxy_port]/android_ipwebcam.

[streamparams] section has additional options for [streams] section. These options does not affect other config files or command-line arguments:

• username and password are used for connection to proxied streams;

• tunnel_over_http_port is equivalent to -T.

-u and -T command-line options affects only command-line streams.

[include] allows you to use multiple config files. They will be loaded in the specified order. Example:

[include]
path = proxyserver.d/auth.cfg
path = proxyserver.d/office.cfg
path = proxyserver.d/android_ipwebcam.cfg

Configuration in the files that were read later has higher priority. (Note that [auth] sections will be merged and [streamparams] section affects only current file.)

Command-line arguments have higher priority than any config files.