Getting Started (on Azure)
OpenShot Cloud API is easy to install and configure. Launch your own private virtual machine using Azure Marketplace, or by following this link: https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps/openshotstudiosllc.openshot-cloud-api. The following video walks you though the configuration process.
This tutorial video covers the basics of how to configure an OpenShot Cloud API instance, and walks you through the process of creating your first video project. This video uses AWS, so a few steps might be different on Azure and Google Cloud, but generally, the process is very similar.
Launch an Instance
After you launch a virtual machine instance of the OpenShot Cloud API, it is initially configured to run as both a web server (server) and a video renderer (worker). Once you have started your instance, you can access the web server on port 80, however we need to configure a few things before OpenShot Cloud API is ready to use.
NOTE: Azure requires you to specify a username and SSH key. Be sure to use the following information, or you will be unable to config the instance correctly. - SSH Username: ubuntu - SSH Public Key: Your own public SSH key
Access your new instance in a web browser. Use its public DNS or IP address. http://YourInstanceIP/
Architecture
This diagram illustrates the basic architecture of OpenShot Cloud API. A server listens for video editing commands using a HTTP REST API, and stores project data in a local PostgreSQL database. When a video needs to be exported / rendered, it then sends those tasks to an available worker. A worker processes each video project (one at a time), rendering a final video. When a worker is done, it can optionally POST to a webhook URL, upload the video to cloud storage, or the video file can be manually downloaded. All servers and workers share files using HTTP for accessing source assets (i.e. video, audio, image files) and for sharing the final rendered output video. NOTE: You can run the entire architecture on a single virtual machine instance, or optionally separate the workers (which allows for auto-scaling the pool of workers).
The server should be configured with a large enough disk / volume to handle all files you intend to store. When you are done with a project (after exporting/rendering), it is best practice to move the final rendered video to cloud storage and delete the project (which will delete all project-related source files automatically and help manage disk space).
REST: Representational State Transfer
REST is a design pattern for web services modeled around HTTP requests. Each operation uses its own HTTP method:
Method |
Description |
|---|---|
GET |
Get data from the API (i.e. request a project, clip, or export) |
POST |
Create data on the API (i.e. create a project, clip, or export) |
PUT |
Update existing data from the API (i.e. update a project, clip, or export) |
PATCH |
Update partial existing data from the API (i.e. update only a Clip’s position) |
DELETE |
Delete existing data from the API (i.e. delete a project, clip, or export) |
Before You Begin
OpenShot Cloud API uses an Azure Storage account and access key credentials to access Blob and Queue storage.
Before you begin, you will need to create (or locate) an Azure Storage Account. Look for the Access Keys
link on your storage account page.
- The following details will be required:
- Azure Storage Account
Access Key
Storage Account Name (all lowercase)
- Queue
Create a storage queue named openshotcloudapi
OpenShot Cloud API will not work without this configuration, so please verify you have things configured correctly before moving forward.
Server Settings
To configure the settings of your new instance, SSH into the instance using your private key and the ubuntu user:
ssh -i private-key.pem ubuntu@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
If you connect with a different user, be sure to switch to the ubuntu user.
sudo su ubuntu
Run the following command to configure your server for the first time. NOTE: Please use the ubuntu user when running the following command, otherwise you will encounter errors.
config-openshot-cloud
When setting up your first instance, it is recommended to configure it as BOTH a server
and worker, by choosing the first option: (B)oth.
Choose a ROLE for this instance.
(B)oth - Runs both the HTTP API, DB, and video processing
(S)erver - Runs only the HTTP API and the DB (no video processing)
(W)orker - Runs only the video processing tasks
When configuring your server, it is very important to provide the following Azure settings. If these settings are invalid, OpenShot Cloud API will fail to process video exports, and Azure Blob features will throw errors.
# Required Azure Settings
Azure Storage Account Name?
Azure Storage Access Key?
Azure Storage Queue Name? (openshotcloudapi)
Manage Server Files
It is also important to delete old projects and related files to prevent OpenShot Cloud API from running out of disk space. You can do this manually by issuing a HTTP DELETE request once you are done with a project, or you can schedule automatic clean-up of old projects. Enter a value for the # of days a project should remain on the server, before being automatically deleted.
Schedule Clean-Up: Automatically delete Projects older than X days?
This will automatically delete OLD projects and related data:
files, clips, effects, and exports. (0 = never delete)
Auto-Delete Projects After # of Days? (0)
Worker Settings
If you are only running a single instance (server and worker), you can skip this section. If you are launching additional worker instances, this section covers how to connect them back to the OpenShot Cloud API server.
To configure the settings of your new worker instance, SSH into the instance using your private key and the ubuntu user:
ssh -i private-key.pem ubuntu@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Run the following command to configure your worker for the first time, and choose the second option: (W)orker.
config-openshot-cloud
For each worker instance you launch, you will be prompted to provide the Cloud API URL of the server (which can be an internal IP address) and to provide Azure Settings (for Queue and Blob - same as configuring the server above). This allows the worker to watch the Azure Storage Queue for new video export tasks/jobs, download and upload files from Azure Blob Storage, and use the API URL to update the export record with progress, status, and the final rendered video file.
NOTE: The worker must be able to communicate over port 80 with the API server.
Now that you have configured your worker instance, it should be listening for new tasks from the server, and updating the Export record on the server when it completes tasks. Each Export record contains the hostname of the worker that processed it. So, create a test Project and then create an Export, and you will see the hostname of the worker added to the Export record.
Manage Worker Files
It is also important to delete old exports and related project files to prevent OpenShot Cloud API from running out of disk space on your worker instance. You can schedule automatic clean-up of these temporary files used during an export. Enter a value for the # of minutes to keep files for a completed video export (0 = never delete).
Schedule Clean-Up: [Worker-Only] Automatically delete Project-related files
older than X minutes? This does NOT affect the server or in-progress exports,
only the *temporary* files downloaded on this worker required for video exports.
(0 = never delete, 60 = default)
Auto-Delete Project Files After # of Minutes? (60)
Verify Azure Configuration
When config-openshot-cloud has completed, it will try and verify your Azure configuration, and will let you know if anything went wrong. If you see a failure, please double check your Azure settings, credentials, and queue name and run config-openshot-cloud again. You can also access http://YourInstanceIP/settings/azure/validate/ at any time to verify your Azure configuration.
Admin Interface
A full admin interface is available at http://YourInstanceIP/cloud-admin/, which allows you to create additional user logins, manage your video projects, and search your data.