Video Streaming Network Changes

SimCapture is making a change to how we stream video to make configuring this connection easier and more secure. There is no action you need to take immediately; however, you should make your IT team aware of this change so they can be prepared to make any changes on their end prior to July 1, 2023.

These new services will be deployed in phases to limit impact to existing customers, while still providing benefits to new customers while the rollout is in progress.

Phase 1

May 1, 2023

New customers as of May 1^st, 2023, are instructed to allow new ports and addresses, as shown in the Connection and port requirement article.

• Tasks for new customers: As of May 1^st, 2023, new customers will allow new ports and addresses as listed in the New outbound addresses and port required section of the Connection and port requirement article.
• Tasks for existing customers: None. Old TURN servers and WebRTC signaling channels will remain online for existing customers. 

Phase 2

July 1, 2023

Existing customers are diverted to new services as they complete networking rule changes, if necessary. We can remotely determine which CaptureNodes and viewers do not have access to these services and will not update individual customers until access is confirmed. 

• Tasks for existing customers: Allow new ports and addresses on SimCapture network by July 1^st, 2023. Do not remove network rules for old TURN servers until phase 3. 

Phase 3

July 15, 2023

Old TURN servers and WebRTC signaling services are shut down after July 15^th, 2023. 

• Tasks for existing customers: Customers can remove network rules for old TURN servers if they choose 

More Information

What are TURN servers?

SimCapture serves live video and audio to browsers using WebRTC. In many cases, video is streamed directly from CaptureNodes to viewers with a direct peer-to-peer connection. However, network configuration or topology may prevent this type of communication. In those cases, media is relayed through TURN servers so live viewing is still possible. Further reading.

What is changing?

We are moving our TURN servers behind AWS Global Accelerator and improving our load balancing scheme. Global Accelerator can improve the latency of live video, especially in cases where users are far from our datacenters.

Why does this require so many ports?

We can run one TURN server on each port. Granting access on 100 ports allows us to add additional capacity without requiring any new ports or IPs for the foreseeable future. This scheme also allows us to run all our TURN servers on a single, static IP address and hostname that will not change.

Why not use a conventional load balancer or some other kind of proxy?

TURN servers are not typical cloud appliances and cannot be deployed like most webservices. We use CoTURN, the most common open-source TURN server, which has significant drawbacks when deploying behind a conventional load balancer. CoTURN must know its public IP address at startup and cannot be deployed at a URL path (i.e., reverse proxy).

SimCapture Microservices

What new services are using this address?

Initially, the only service running on platform.simcapture.com will be the WebRTC signaling service. As SimCapture continues to add functionality, we may run additional SimCapture microservices at this address in the future. Deploying SimCapture components as microservices provides many advantages, like increased reliability across the platform.

What is WebRTC signaling?

WebRTC is a complicated protocol built to operate effectively among varying networking conditions and media formats. Signaling is an exchange of metadata between peers to determine how the live media connection should be completed and how video and audio should be encoded and transmitted.

Why is WebRTC signaling moving to a new address?

Signaling is a necessary prerequisite to showing live video to SimCapture users. By moving this to a dedicated service behind AWS Global Accelerator we can decrease round-trip time on signaling messages. In many cases this can improve the initial connection time of live video.