Glossary for Mediaserver
The Glossary section contains highly specialized terms used in the Mediaserver documentation. Its goal is intended to enhance understanding of both the terms themselves and their use within the documentation.
Access
Access is a function that determines the level of access to administering and configuring mediaservers.
Depending on the access level, different types of authorization are implemented:
Public. An access function that allows any internet user who knows the stream's URL to view its content.
Private. An access function where the stream is protected and only accessible to authorized users.
Protected. An access function that filters incoming viewing requests based on the source IP address. Protected mode enhances stream security by restricting access to specific networks or subnets.
Whitelist: A list of IP networks or subnets that are allowed to view streams without authorization.
API
API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules, standards, and functions that allows different software applications to interact with each other.
Audio codec
An audio codec is a computer program or hardware device used for encoding or decoding audio data.
The Mediaserver audio codecs include:
PCMA
PCMU
G721x
AAC
Archive duplication
The process of moving or simultaneously recording an archive to long-term storage. This is done to create a backup, ensure data safety, and free up space for the current use of the primary archive.
Callback
A callback function is a piece of code that you give to another function. This other function will execute your callback function once it has completed a particular job.
Ceph
Ceph is an open-source, software-defined distributed file system. It is a data storage solution that enables the creation of fault-tolerant clusters scalable to petabytes. Ceph provides reliable data storage and replication, as well as load balancing, ensuring high availability and performance.
Cloud
Cloud is a virtual storage space located on remote servers and accessible over the Internet.
Cluster
A server operating in cluster mode provides failover for stream capture, ensuring uninterrupted service even if the primary server or other components fail. In a two-server setup, the secondary server automatically takes over primary functions, maintaining system reliability.
Control Panel (CPanel)
Control Panel is a web-based tool that allows users to manage their servers and services provided by their hosting provider.
DVR
DVR is a technology that enables the recording of live video streams from a camera for subsequent storage on physical devices. The primary functions of a DVR include saving content and playing it back.
Encryption
A method of protecting video streams during transmission and reception.
fMP4
fMP4 – is a method of playing video via HLS.
HLS
HLS is a protocol for streaming media data over the Internet, allowing for both live and on-demand playback.
IDR
IDR (Instantaneous Decoder Refresh) – IDR frames are a specific type of key frames. IDR frames are complete and self-contained frames that do not rely on any other frames for decoding. They contain all the necessary information to represent a full frame of video.
Live
Live is a function that enables real-time display of the camera's image. This is also used for the Camera preview function.
Multicast
Multicast is a network communication method that allows a single data packet to be sent to multiple recipients, reducing bandwidth consumption.
ONVIF
ONVIF is a streaming protocol that allows IP cameras to communicate with software applications.
Playback
This function enables streaming of camera footage to the user in either HLS or RTSP format. It also implements server-side authorization to ensure secure access and includes a mechanism for automatic reconnection in case the connection between the server and camera is interrupted.
Reconnect
Reconnect is a function that re-establishes the connection to the stream.
Preview
Typically refers to the process of viewing a segment or a specific frame of a video stream. This could be the last frame or any other specific part of the stream.
RTP
The Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) is an application-level network protocol used for the transmission of real-time traffic.
RTSP
RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol) is a command protocol from a subset of the HTTP protocol, a control protocol used to manage media streams. It operates on a subset of HTTP, primarily for establishing connections and issuing commands to control streaming content. RTSP allows users to interact with both stored and live media, enabling actions like play, pause, seek, and more.
RTSP TCP
RTSP TCP is an implementation of RTSP stream capture using the TCP protocol, which is one of the primary protocols for data transmission on the Internet.
RTSP UDP
RTSP UPD is an implementation of capturing an RTSP stream over the UDP protocol (a user datagram protocol that is part of a set of Internet protocols).
SSL/TLS
SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security) are cryptographic protocols that establish secure communication channels between two parties over a network. TLS, the successor to SSL, provides a secure tunnel for data transmission, protecting it from eavesdropping and tampering. SSL/TLS are widely used in various applications, but are particularly prevalent in web traffic, where they are combined with HTTP to create the HTTPS protocol, ensuring secure data exchange between web browsers and servers.
S3
S3 is an object storage service designed to store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the network. The principle behind S3 storage is creating containers and adding files, represented as objects, to those containers. This means that everything within a container can be viewed, moved, or deleted. The containers themselves can also be deleted if needed.
Streaming
Streaming is the delivery of video, audio, and other data in a continuous flow over the internet. This means that the content is played as it is received, without the need to download an entire file first.
Stream capture
Capturing and saving a stream to a storage device for later use. Stream capture (streaming video) is the process of converting a video signal from an external source into a digital video stream and recording it into a video file for subsequent processing, storage, or playback.
TCP
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is a communication protocol that establishes a connection between devices on a network before data transmission begins. It ensures reliable data delivery by requesting retransmission of lost data and discarding duplicate packets.
UDP
UDP is a communication protocol that does not require a pre-established connection before sending packets. This means that data can be lost, corrupted, or delivered out of order.
Video codec
A video codec is a technology for compressing video for subsequent transmission over a protocol, a program/algorithm for compressing video data and restoring compressed data.
Video compression methods:
H.264 and H.265 that are video codecs.
MJPEG is frame-by-frame video compression method, which is characterized by compressing each individual frame of the video stream using the JPEG image compression algorithm.
VSaaP
Video Surveillance as a Platform is a project designed to create a flexible and scalable video surveillance system built on a microservices architecture. This includes the development of individual components such as Media Servers, Video Management Systems (VMS), and Analytics modules.