Video streaming acceleration with Varnish

In this presentation, I'm explaining how video streaming via HTTP works. We'll focus on the HLS standard.

The goal of the presentation is to explain the challenges when delivering video via the web and how Varnish can accelerate that delivery.

See https://feryn.eu/speaking/video-streaming-acceleration-varnish/ for more details

Transcript

1. View Slide

2. VIDEO IS BIG !
   

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3. ONLINE VIDEO IS DOMINATING
   

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4. OVERTTHETOP
   

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5. View Slide

6. PACKAGING
   

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7. HTTP VIDEO PACKAGING FORMATS
   ✓ HLS
   ✓ MPEG-DASH
   ✓ CMAF
   

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8. HTTP LIVE STREAMING (HLS)
   

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9. VIDEO.MP4
   STREAM.M3U8
   STREAM_01.TS
   STREAM_02.TS
   STREAM_03.TS ENCODING & PACKAGING
   VIDEO: H264
   AUDIO: AAC
   

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10. #EXTM3U
    #EXT-X-VERSION:3
    #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:6
    #EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0
    #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_00.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_01.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_02.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_03.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_04.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_05.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_06.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_07.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_08.ts
    #EXTINF:6.000000,
    stream_09.ts
    #EXTINF:5.280000,
    stream_010.ts
    #EXT-X-ENDLIST
    STREAM.M3U8
    

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11. PLAYER NEEDS TO SUPPORT HLS
    

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12. 
    
    
    
    
    setup='{}'>
    
    
    
    
    
    

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13. WHAT TOOL DO WE USE
    TO ENCODE & PACKAGE?
    

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14. View Slide

15. ffmpeg -i video.mp4 \
    -c:v libx264 -crf 21 \
    -preset veryfast -g 25 -sc_threshold 0 \
    -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 \
    -f hls -hls_time 4 -hls_playlist_type vod stream.m3u8
    

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16. View Slide

17. HI, I'M THIJS
    

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18. I'M AN
    EVANGELIST
    AT
    

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19. View Slide

20. View Slide

21. +-5,000,000 WEBSITES
    20% OF THE TOP 10K WEBSITES
    

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22. View Slide

23. I'M @THIJSFERYN
    

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24. View Slide

25. CONTENT DELIVERY CHALLENGES
    

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26. HEAVY COMPUTING
    

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27. NETWORK
    CAPACITY
    

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28. SERVER
    CAPACITY
    

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29. THROWING
    SERVERS
    AT THE PROBLEM
    

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30. MO' MONEY
    MO' SERVERS
    MO' PROBLEMS
    

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31. CACHE
    

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32. DON’T RECOMPUTE
    IF THE DATA
    HASN’T CHANGED
    

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33. REVERSE CACHING PROXY
    

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34. NORMALLY
    USER SERVER
    

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35. WITH REVERSE CACHING PROXY
    USER PROXY SERVER
    

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36. View Slide

37. WHY NOT
    USE A CDN?
    

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38. VARNISH IS CDN SOFTWARE!
    

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39. CDNS WITH MANY
    POINTS OF PRESENCE
    WILL DDOS YOUR ORIGIN
    

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40. VARNISH VARNISH VARNISH
    ORIGIN
    

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41. CDN CDN CDN
    ORIGIN
    VARNISH
    

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42. WHY IS VARNISH
    SO POWERFUL?
    

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43. WHY IS VARNISH SO POWERFUL?
    ✓ EXTREMELY LOW RESOURCE
    ✓ EXTREMELY STABLE
    ✓ 100 GBIT PER SERVER
    ✓ NO DISK ACCESS AT RUNTIME
    ✓ REQUEST COALESCING
    ✓ VARNISH CONFIGURATION LANGUAGE
    ✓ VMODS
    ✓ COMPLIES TO HTTP BEST PRACTICES
    ✓ ENTERPRISE FEATURES*
    

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44. ORIGIN
    VARNISH
    REQUEST
    COALESCING
    

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45. LIVE STREAMING
    VS
    VIDEO ON DEMAND
    

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46. LIVE
    ✓ LOW LATENCY
    ✓ CONSTANT PLAYLIST UPDATES
    ✓ LOW TTL ON PLAYLISTS
    ✓ ONLY THE LAST X SEGMENTS ARE
    REQUIRED
    ✓ SEGMENT SIZE TRADEOFF
    

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47. VOD
    ✓ NO PLAYLIST UPDATES
    ✓ HIGH TTL ON PLAYLISTS
    ✓ ALL SEGMENTS ARE REQUIRED
    ✓ STORAGE REQUIREMENTS
    ✓ PRE-FETCHING POSSIBLE
    

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48. HEAD VS LONG TAIL
    HEAD
    LONG TAIL
    

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49. STORAGE
    

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50. WHERE VARNISH STORES ITS OBJECTS
    ✓ MEMORY
    ✓ DISK
    ✓ MASSIVE STORAGE ENGINE (ENTERPRISE ONLY)
    

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51. MEMORY MEMORY
    ORIGIN
    ORIGIN
    MEMORY MEMORY MEMORY MEMORY MEMORY
    

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52. MEMORY MEMORY
    ORIGIN
    ORIGIN
    DISK DISK DISK
    

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53. ADAPTIVE BITRATE STREAMS
    

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54. STREAM_0.M3U8
    STREAM_01.TS
    STREAM_02.TS
    STREAM_03.TS
    STREAM_1.M3U8
    STREAM_11.TS
    STREAM_12.TS
    STREAM_13.TS
    MASTER.M3U8
    LOW BITRATE HIGH BITRATE
    ADAPTIVE BITRATE STREAMS
    

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55. #EXTM3U
    #EXT-X-VERSION:3
    #EXT-X-STREAM-
    INF:BANDWIDTH=1020800,RESOLUTION=1080x1920,CODECS="avc1.640028,mp4a.40.2"
    stream_0.m3u8
    #EXT-X-STREAM-
    INF:BANDWIDTH=2890800,RESOLUTION=1080x1920,CODECS="avc1.640028,mp4a.40.2"
    stream_1.m3u8
    MASTER.M3U8
    

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56. ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -g 25 -sc_threshold 0 \
    -map v:0 -c:v:0 libx264 -b:v:0 800k \
    -map v:0 -c:v:1 libx264-b:v:1 2500k \
    -map a:0 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 \
    -f hls -hls_time 6 hls_playlist_type vod \
    -master_pl_name master.m3u8 \
    -var_stream_map "v:0,a:0 v:1,a:0" stream_%v.m3u8
    

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57. LIVE STREAMING
    

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58. ffmpeg -listen 1 -i rtmp://0.0.0.0/live/stream \
    -threads 0 -preset veryfast -g 25 -sc_threshold 0 \
    -map v:0 -c:v:0 libx264 -b:v:0 800k \
    -map v:0 -c:v:1 libx264 -b:v:1 2500k \
    -map a:0 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 \
    -f hls -hls_time 6 -hls_flags delete_segments \
    -hls_list_size 5 -hls_delete_threshold 1 \
    -master_pl_name master.m3u8 \
    -var_stream_map "v:0,a:0 v:1,a:1" /storage/hls/live/
    stream_%v.m3u8
    

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59. FFMPEG WEBSERVER VARNISH
    RTMP STREAM
    HLS FILES HTTP HTTP
    GOPRO
    

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60. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT
    

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61. $ openssl rand 16 > enc.key
    $ openssl rand -hex 16
    230f26620bfafa3cd420cb68c0647415
    ENC.KEYINFO
    /live/enc.key
    /storage/hls/live/enc.key
    230f26620bfafa3cd420cb68c0647415
    

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62. ffmpeg -listen 1 -i rtmp://0.0.0.0/live/stream \
    -threads 0 -preset veryfast -g 25 -sc_threshold 0 \
    -map v:0 -c:v:0 libx264 -b:v:0 800k \
    -map v:0 -c:v:1 libx264 -b:v:1 2500k \
    -map a:0 -c:a aac -b:a 128k -ac 2 \
    -f hls -hls_time 6 -hls_flags delete_segments \
    -hls_list_size 5 -hls_delete_threshold 1 \
    -master_pl_name master.m3u8 \
    -hls_key_info_file /storage/hls/live/enc.keyinfo \
    -var_stream_map "v:0,a:0 v:1,a:1" /storage/hls/live/
    stream_%v.m3u8
    

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63. #EXTM3U
    #EXT-X-VERSION:3
    #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:5
    #EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:15
    #EXT-X-KEY:METHOD=AES-128,URI="/live/
    enc.key",IV=0x230f26620bfafa3cd420cb68c0647415
    #EXTINF:3.200000,
    stream_015.ts
    #EXTINF:4.800000,
    stream_016.ts
    #EXTINF:3.200000,
    stream_017.ts
    #EXTINF:4.800000,
    stream_018.ts
    #EXTINF:1.088000,
    stream_019.ts
    #EXT-X-ENDLIST
    STREAM_0.M3U8
    PLAYER
    SUPPORTS DRM
    

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64. .TS FILES ARE ENCODED AND
    CAN ONLY BE DECODED BY THE PLAYER
    

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65. ENC.KEY SHOULD BE PROTECTED
    

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66. vcl 4.1;
    import http;
    backend default {
    .host = "1.2.3.4";
    .port = "80";
    }
    sub vcl_recv {
    if(req.url ~ "^/live") {
    if (req.http.Authorization != "Basic YWRtaW46YWRtaW4=") {
    return (synth(401, "Restricted"));
    }
    }
    unset req.http.Authorization;
    }
    sub vcl_backend_response {
    if(bereq.url ~ "^/live/stream_[0-9]+\.m3u8$" || bereq.url == "/live/master.m3u8") {
    set beresp.grace = 0s;
    set beresp.ttl = 1s;
    }
    }
    sub vcl_synth {
    if (resp.status == 401) {
    set resp.http.WWW-Authenticate =
    {"Basic realm="Restricted area""};
    }
    }
    

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67. View Slide

68. VARNISH ENTERPRISE
    ✓ CLIENT SSL TERMINATION
    ✓ BACKEND SSL CONNECTIONS
    ✓ PARALLEL ESI
    ✓ MASSIVE STORAGE ENGINE
    ✓ ENCRYPTION
    ✓ THROTTLING
    ✓ RATE LIMITING
    ✓ PREFETCHING
    ✓ GEOLOCATION
    ✓ AUTHENTICATION
    ✓ EDGESTASH
    ✓ CUSTOM STATISTICS
    ✓ ADMIN MODULE
    ✓ SUPPORT
    ✓ HIGH AVAILABILITY
    

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69. HTTPS://AWS.AMAZON.COM/QUICKSTART/ARCHITECTURE/VARNISH/
    

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70. MASSIVE STORAGE ENGINE
    

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71. MSE
    ✓ MIX OF MEMORY AND DISK
    ✓ SMARTER LRU
    ✓ LESS DISK FRAGMENTATION
    ✓ INTELLIGENT STORAGE ROUTING
    ✓ MODULAR
    

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72. MEMORY MEMORY
    ORIGIN
    ORIGIN
    DISK DISK DISK
    

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73. env: {
    id = "myenv";
    memcache_size = "100G";
    };
    ENVIRONMENT
    CONFIGURATION
    

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74. env: {
    id = "myenv";
    memcache_size = "100G";
    books = ( {
    id = "book1";
    directory = "/var/lib/mse/book1";
    database_size = "1G";
    stores = ( {
    id = "store-1-1";
    filename = "/var/lib/mse/stores/disk1/store-1-1.dat";
    size = "1T";
    }, {
    id = "store-1-2";
    filename = "/var/lib/mse/stores/disk2/store-1-2.dat";
    size = "1T";
    } );
    }
    };
    

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75. HIGH PERFORMANCE HTTP LOGIC BOX
    

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76. NO MORE ORIGIN
    

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77. vcl 4.1;
    import file;
    backend default {
    .host = "origin";
    .port = "80";
    }
    sub vcl_init {
    new root = file.init("/var/www/html/");
    }
    sub vcl_backend_fetch {
    set bereq.backend = root.backend();
    }
    sub vcl_backend_response {
    if(bereq.url ~ "^/live/stream_[0-9]+\.m3u8$" || bereq.url == "/live/master.m3u8") {
    set beresp.grace = 0s;
    set beresp.ttl = 1s;
    }
    }
    

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78. DEVICE DETECTION &
    BITRATE LIMITATION
    

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79. vcl 4.1;
    import xbody;
    include "devicedetect.vcl";
    backend default {
    .host = "origin";
    .port = "80";
    }
    sub vcl_recv {
    call devicedetect;
    set req.http.X-UA-Device-Prefix = regsub(req.http.X-UA-Device,"(\w+)\-.*","\1");
    }
    sub vcl_backend_response {
    if(bereq.url == "/live/master.m3u8" ){
    set beresp.http.vary = "X-UA-Device-Prefix";
    if(bereq.http.X-UA-Device-Prefix == "mobile") {
    xbody.regsub("\#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2890800.*\nstream_.*", "");
    }
    }
    }
    

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80. VIDEO SEGMENT PREFETCHING
    

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81. vcl 4.1;
    import http;
    import std;
    backend default {
    .host = "origin";
    .port = "80";
    }
    sub vcl_recv {
    if (req.url ~ "^/(live|vod)/.+\.ts$") {
    http.init(0);
    http.req_set_max_loops(0,1);
    http.req_copy_headers(0);
    http.req_set_method(0, "HEAD");
    set req.http.x-next-url = http.prefetch_next_url();
    std.log("Prefetching " + req.http.x-next-url);
    http.req_set_url(0, req.http.x-next-url);
    http.req_send_and_finish(0);
    }
    }
    

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82. THE VMOD ECOSYSTEM
    HTTPS://VARNISH-CACHE.ORG/VMODS/
    HTTPS://DOCS.VARNISH-SOFTWARE.COM/VARNISH-CACHE-PLUS/VMODS/
    

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83. DEMO TIME?
    

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84. View Slide

85. View Slide

86. HTTPS://FERYN.EU
    HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/THIJSFERYN
    HTTPS://INSTAGRAM.COM/THIJSFERYN
    

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