Kaltura’s Remote Storage – Configuration Options
While the majority of Kaltura’s customers choose the Kaltura-hosted SaaS solution for its many benefits, some customers are required to comply with specific regulations, have unique architecture considerations, or, have other needs that propel them towards deploying parts of the solution locally in “hybrid variations”. These variations allow customers to meet their unique requirements while providing a cost effective alternative to a fully customer-hosted solution. These variations use the Kaltura SaaS management component to manage video assets and account settings, while storage and delivery components are hosted by the customer.
You can define and set a remote storage and delivery profile for a specific publisher account by checking the Remote Storage option in the Publisher Management Page- Enable Disable Features section. The remote storage and delivery solution can be used to enable storage and delivery of video assets from a network storage location that is external to the Kaltura Platform. This feature is commonly used to leverage a publisher’s CDN network storage solution (for example, Akamai’s NetStorage). Selecting this option will lead you to the Remote Storage Profiles page for creating or editing publisher specific Remote Storage profiles. Access to the remove storage profiles is also possible through the Publisher Management Page- Enable Disable Features Remote Storage feature “config” link.
This article specifies which assets can be stored and served locally, or from the customer’s own CDN, as well as few limitations that are associated with hybrid solution.
Remote Storage – What can be exported and stored on the customer’s storage of choice?
Item | Where can it be stored? |
Video / Audio assets (source, transcoded flavors) | Kaltura’s DC or customer’s storage of choice. |
Image entry | Kaltura’s DC only. |
Thumbnails | Kaltura’s DC only. |
Caption files | Kaltura’s DC only. |
Related files | Kaltura’s DC only. |
Meta-data | Kaltura’s DC only. |
SWF files (players, widget’s, KMC etc.) | Kaltura’s DC or Customer CDN* * Will require advanced settings |
HTML5 library | Kaltura’s DC or Customer CDN* * Will require advanced settings |
API endpoints | Kaltura’s DC via CDN. |
While Kaltura won’t export caption files, thumbnails and related files, it is possible to serve them from a remote location. To do so, the customer should push the content to its final location, and use Kaltura’s API (or XML ingestion) to update the path at Kaltura.
Configuring your own CDN / Streaming Server
It is also possible to configure your own CDN / streaming server instead of using Kaltura’s default CDN account. The elements listed in the following table are served:
Item | How can it be served? |
Video / Audio assets (source, transcoded flavors) | Kaltura’s CDN* ; Customer’s BYO CDN** ; customer’s streaming server**. * Only when using Kaltura’s storage. ** To check if a specific CDN or streaming server is supported, please contact your Kaltura representative, or customer care. |
Image entry | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN |
Thumbnails | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN |
Caption files | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN |
Related files | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN |
SWF files (players, widget’s, KMC etc.) | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN* * Requires advanced configuration |
HTML5 library | Kaltura’s CDN or Customer’s BYO CDN* *Requires advanced configuration |
API endpoints | Kaltura’s CDN. |
If a 3rd party CDN is used, it is applied on all applicable items. Partial set up is not available.
When exporting flavor assets of a video or audio file to a remote storage, Kaltura can keep a copy of the file on its own cloud (for backup, dual delivery, etc.) or delete it after the file was exported to the remote storage.
While it is possible to selectively choose the file formats (flavors) that are exported to the remote storage, the “delete after export” policy is across the entire account.
Storing the Source File
Kaltura recommends keeping the source file stored on Kaltura’s cloud (and not to export and delete it). If you choose not to do so, the following features will not be available:
Re-transcoding / adding new flavors –re-transcoding the entry in case of any issues, or generating additional flavors (formats) in the future. If the source is kept on the remote storage, the source must be re-ingested in order to re-transcode to additional flavors . The source can then be deleted afterwards.
- Distribution connectors - Some distribution connectors require pushing the physical file to an API or to an FTP end point. Setting up those distribution connectors won’t be possible without keeping the relevant physical files in Kaltura.
Analytics
When a customer uses their own storage and/or CDN, analytics information related to storage and bandwidth usage is not updated in the KMC. Other analytical reports such as plays, user engagement etc. work as they should.
Remote Storage Configuration Workflow
The following diagram illustrates a few of the ramifications for the chosen selections:
