Hi there everyone, I thought this email might be of some interest to those setting up OM on an AWS EC2 instance using Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.15.0-1063-aws x86_64). There are lots of tutorials online regarding how to setup an AWS EC2 instance, so there is no need for me to talk about that. I am assuming you have this up and running.
However there are lots of *free* AMIs (Amazon Machine Images) in AWS that can be automatically installed which will install a LAMP image (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP setup) and the one I used was: “ubuntu/images/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-bionic-18.04-amd64-server-20190212.1 (ami-0a313d6098716f372)” I will have to update my PHP version at some stage though. My AWS Setup is as follows: Instance type: t3a.large (8 gigs Ram , 2 vCPUS), I was previously using a t3a.medium (4 gigs Ram , 2 vCPUS)… which seemed to run okay… but needed to elimate any doubts I had by cranking up the RAM. Some of you may decide to go for lower or higher instances depending on your budget and desired performance levels etc. It is also important to note that I am using an Elastic IP address, which basically means the IP address of my domain will never change and as a result my registered domain name, for example “ABC.COM” will be directed to this IP address…. Even if I “stop” my server to save money. I am also using a “AWS load balancer” which also entitles me to a free certificate which automatically renews every 12 months when set up (again lots of info on the internet about this) - which is an IMPORTANT POINT as I am not using LetsEncrypt… AND AS A RESULT DEVIATE FROM ALVARO’S WONDERFUL INSTRUCTIONS. Let’s begin… If you are setting up a clean install… simply follow Alvaro’s instructions via this link: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OPENMEETINGS/Tutorials+for+installing+OpenMeetings+and+Tools?preview=/27838216/140774282/Installation%20OpenMeetings%205.0.0-M3%20on%20Ubuntu%2018.04%20LTS.pdf Again, this is for OM 5.0.0-M3. If you wish to update to further snapshots please refer to the official website, forums and links. Please note the current version of Alvaro’s PDF… at the time of writing it was v6. (Assuming you have already got an AWS certificate: you can setup your domain as https… redirecting all http to https…. I recommend you do this before). NEXT STAGE – SETTING UP THE TURN SERVER. I had originally used a free TURN server service… using https://numb.viagenie.ca/ whereby you can setup an account… and had tested it… and it seemed to be okay…. But I don’t like to be dependent on a 3rd party… especially when it comes to testing… I decided to set up my own… on the same AWS EC2 instance. Please refer to Alvaro’s additional setup regarding “Installation SSL certificates and Coturn for OpenMeetings 5.0.0-M3”… via the following link --- BUT PLEASE NOTE WE ARE NOT GOING TO FOLLOW ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OPENMEETINGS/Tutorials+for+installing+OpenMeetings+and+Tools?preview=/27838216/148644256/Installation%20SSL%20certificates%20and%20Coturn%20for%20OpenMeetings%205.0.0-M3.pdf As I am using an AWS certificate, I am going to bypass / ignore all references to “letsencrypt”… and here is the why… with AWS certificates you have no control over them… you cannot download the certificate and store it on your server… you cannot download files, like in “letsencrypt” in Alvaro’s example … you have no access to “fullchain.pem”, “privkey.pem”. These files are stored elsewhere in AWS... but are automatically detected and enforced by AWS… (you could use Letsencrypt as an alternative certificate source but this is not what this email is all about… and I haven’t had the need to test it.) SKIP PARTS 1,2,3 AND 4 of Alvaro’s tutorial in “Installation SSL certificates and Coturn for OpenMeetings 5.0.0-M3”… and go straight to part (5)… do as instructed. In part (6) of the tutorial I decided not to change the user name in the following as I had already set up the user name in the original OM 5.0.0 M3 instructions (“nobody”): so instead of making the change: *user=kurento:a_new_password* I changed it to user=nobody:a_new_password making all the other changes in part (6) as stated. I *DID NOT *implement changes in part (7) regarding DAEMON_USER="kurento"… I left it as "nobody" However, I did make changes to the /opt/open503/webapps/openmeetings/WEB-INF/classes/applicationContext.xml as follows: <!-- Kurento --> <bean id="kurentoHandler" class="org.apache.openmeetings.core.remote.KurentoHandler" init-method="init" destroy-method="destroy" p:kurentoWsUrl="ws://127.0.0.1:8888/kurento" p:checkTimeout="10000" p:watchThreadCount="10" p:turnUrl="*PUBLIC IP ADDRESS OF AWS SERVER*:3478" p:turnUser="*nobody*:*PASSWORD*" p:turnSecret="*LONG GENERATED PASSWORD*" p:turnMode="rest" p:turnTtl="60" p:objCheckTimeout="200" /> Remember we are still in part (7)… after saving the changes to the above (applicationContext.xml), I *DID NOT* make changes to sudo chown -R kurento /opt/open503 I decided to keep it the same as per the original 5.0.0 M3 setup… (keeping it as “nobody”) I *DID NOT* modify: sudo nano /etc/init.d/tomcat3 (i.e. changing “nobody” to “kurento”) *AND FINALLY I MADE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE* – NOT IN THE STEPS: /etc/kurento/modules/kurento/WebRtcEndpoint.conf.ini turnURL=* nobody*:*PASSWORD* @* PUBLIC IP ADDRESS OF AWS SERVER*:3478 Reboot the AWS server… through SSH… SUDO REBOOT Wait a few minutes and do the following: sudo /etc/init.d/coturn start sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start sudo /etc/init.d/kurento-media-server start sudo /etc/init.d/tomcat3 start *RESULT:* Everything works fine… ish… please refer to my “*Notes and Observations*” below. Reboot the AWS server… through SSH… SUDO REBOOT Wait a few minutes and do the following: sudo /etc/init.d/coturn start sudo /etc/init.d/mysql start sudo /etc/init.d/kurento-media-server start sudo /etc/init.d/tomcat3 start *FINALLY – NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS* … and you might get a laugh out of this… I had been testing all of this with 3 laptops at home… when I was using a free public TURN server (stated above) … and then setup my own… just in case it was not reliable. I rotated user accounts on all laptops… but on one particular laptop (HP), the user’s cam and audio dropped (it could be after 3, 5 8, 15 mins… no pattern)… my main testing laptop!!!… the laptop uses a HP TRUEVISION webcam… I had been testing everything on Google Chrome for months thinking Chrome sets the standard…. But no, the camera and audio continued to drop… the user remains in the room and can still see and hear everybody else and can interact via the whiteboard… I thought it was an OM problem… until I used the latest version of Firefox on that computer… and the camera didn’t drop. I was so curious that I logged in on an older HP laptop and the same thing happened on Chrome… downloaded Firefox… and the camera/audio was not disconnected. Now while you might say… you are all on the same home network… I decided to test it with my sister in Canada and my brother in Ireland…. and once I was logged on in Firefox on my HP laptop… we had a perfect connection… no errors etc. But I did notice the following: I can upload docs, videos etc on Chrome without a problem and they are converted as expected… but when I do the same thing on Firefox…. Sometimes it “hangs” and gives and “internal error”. For now… on my HP laptop I upload my files on Chrome and give my classes on Firefox. Either way, I can give a class online. I do know that while Chrome’s main update was in mid-February of this year…. Another update was available today… which I have not tested. But my experience with the HP TRUEVISION cam is a strange one… and as a result it might be a good idea for users to state what they are testing OM on... rather than just their server specs. Just a thought. Thank you Maxim for all your support. Hopefully this will help some AWS users. If anyone has questions I am happy to answer them… but for now I am off to bed as it is 3.15am on my side and will check in in a few hours. All the best, stay safe and well. Denis <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>