\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-@documentencoding UTF-8 @settitle ffserver Documentation@titlepage@center @titlefont{ffserver Documentation}@end titlepage @top @contents @chapter Synopsis ffserver [@var{options}] @chapter Description@c man begin DESCRIPTION @command{ffserver} is a streaming server for both audio and video.It supports several live feeds, streaming from files and time shiftingon live feeds. You can seek to positions in the past on each livefeed, provided you specify a big enough feed storage. @command{ffserver} is configured through a configuration file, whichis read at startup. If not explicitly specified, it will read from@file{/etc/ffserver.conf}. @command{ffserver} receives prerecorded files or FFM streams from some@command{ffmpeg} instance as input, then streams them overRTP/RTSP/HTTP. An @command{ffserver} instance will listen on some port as specifiedin the configuration file. You can launch one or more instances of@command{ffmpeg} and send one or more FFM streams to the port whereffserver is expecting to receive them. Alternately, you can make@command{ffserver} launch such @command{ffmpeg} instances at startup. Input streams are called feeds, and each one is specified by a@code{<Feed>} section in the configuration file. For each feed you can have different output streams in variousformats, each one specified by a @code{<Stream>} section in theconfiguration file. @chapter Detailed description @command{ffserver} works by forwarding streams encoded by@command{ffmpeg}, or pre-recorded streams which are read from disk. Precisely, @command{ffserver} acts as an HTTP server, accepting POSTrequests from @command{ffmpeg} to acquire the stream to publish, andserving RTSP clients or HTTP clients GET requests with the streammedia content. A feed is an @ref{FFM} stream created by @command{ffmpeg}, and sent toa port where @command{ffserver} is listening. Each feed is identified by a unique name, corresponding to the nameof the resource published on @command{ffserver}, and is configured bya dedicated @code{Feed} section in the configuration file. The feed publish URL is given by:@examplehttp://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{http_port}/@var{feed_name}@end example where @var{ffserver_ip_address} is the IP address of the machine where@command{ffserver} is installed, @var{http_port} is the port number ofthe HTTP server (configured through the @option{HTTPPort} option), and@var{feed_name} is the name of the corresponding feed defined in theconfiguration file. Each feed is associated to a file which is stored on disk. This storedfile is used to send pre-recorded data to a player as fast aspossible when new content is added in real-time to the stream. A "live-stream" or "stream" is a resource published by@command{ffserver}, and made accessible through the HTTP protocol toclients. A stream can be connected to a feed, or to a file. In the first case,the published stream is forwarded from the corresponding feedgenerated by a running instance of @command{ffmpeg}, in the secondcase the stream is read from a pre-recorded file. Each stream is identified by a unique name, corresponding to the nameof the resource served by @command{ffserver}, and is configured bya dedicated @code{Stream} section in the configuration file. The stream access HTTP URL is given by:@examplehttp://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{http_port}/@var{stream_name}[@var{options}]@end example The stream access RTSP URL is given by:@examplehttp://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{rtsp_port}/@var{stream_name}[@var{options}]@end example @var{stream_name} is the name of the corresponding stream defined inthe configuration file. @var{options} is a list of options specifiedafter the URL which affects how the stream is served by@command{ffserver}. @var{http_port} and @var{rtsp_port} are the HTTPand RTSP ports configured with the options @var{HTTPPort} and@var{RTSPPort} respectively. In case the stream is associated to a feed, the encoding parametersmust be configured in the stream configuration. They are sent to@command{ffmpeg} when setting up the encoding. This allows@command{ffserver} to define the encoding parameters used bythe @command{ffmpeg} encoders. The @command{ffmpeg} @option{override_ffserver} commandline optionallows one to override the encoding parameters set by the server. Multiple streams can be connected to the same feed. For example, you can have a situation described by the followinggraph: @verbatim _________ __________ | | | |ffmpeg 1 -----| feed 1 |-----| stream 1 | \ |_________|\ |__________| \ \ \ \ __________ \ \ | | \ \| stream 2 | \ |__________| \ \ _________ __________ \ | | | | \| feed 2 |-----| stream 3 | |_________| |__________| _________ __________ | | | |ffmpeg 2 -----| feed 3 |-----| stream 4 | |_________| |__________| _________ __________ | | | | | file 1 |-----| stream 5 | |_________| |__________| @end verbatim @anchor{FFM}@section FFM, FFM2 formats FFM and FFM2 are formats used by ffserver. They allow storing a wide variety ofvideo and audio streams and encoding options, and can store a moving time segmentof an infinite movie or a whole movie. FFM is version specific, and there is limited compatibility of FFM filesgenerated by one version of ffmpeg/ffserver and another version offfmpeg/ffserver. It may work but it is not guaranteed to work. FFM2 is extensible while maintaining compatibility and should work betweendiffering versions of tools. FFM2 is the default. @section Status stream @command{ffserver} supports an HTTP interface which exposes thecurrent status of the server. Simply point your browser to the address of the special status streamspecified in the configuration file. For example if you have:@example<Stream status.html>Format status # Only allow local people to get the statusACL allow localhostACL allow 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255</Stream>@end example then the server will post a page with the status information whenthe special stream @file{status.html} is requested. @section How do I make it work? As a simple test, just run the following two command lines where INPUTFILEis some file which you can decode with ffmpeg: @exampleffserver -f doc/ffserver.conf &ffmpeg -i INPUTFILE http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm@end example At this point you should be able to go to your Windows machine and fire upWindows Media Player (WMP). Go to Open URL and enter @example http://<linuxbox>:8090/test.asf@end example You should (after a short delay) see video and hear audio. WARNING: trying to stream test1.mpg doesn't work with WMP as it tries totransfer the entire file before starting to play.The same is true of AVI files. You should edit the @file{ffserver.conf} file to suit your needs (interms of frame rates etc). Then install @command{ffserver} and@command{ffmpeg}, write a script to start them up, and off you go. @section What else can it do? You can replay video from .ffm files that was recorded earlier.However, there are a number of caveats, including the fact that theffserver parameters must match the original parameters used to record thefile. If they do not, then ffserver deletes the file before recording into it.(Now that I write this, it seems broken). You can fiddle with many of the codec choices and encoding parameters, andthere are a bunch more parameters that you cannot control. Post a messageto the mailing list if there are some 'must have' parameters. Look inffserver.conf for a list of the currently available controls. It will automatically generate the ASX or RAM files that are often usedin browsers. These files are actually redirections to the underlying ASFor RM file. The reason for this is that the browser often fetches theentire file before starting up the external viewer. The redirection filesare very small and can be transferred quickly. [The stream itself isoften 'infinite' and thus the browser tries to download it and neverfinishes.] @section Tips * When you connect to a live stream, most players (WMP, RA, etc) want tobuffer a certain number of seconds of material so that they can display thesignal continuously. However, ffserver (by default) starts sending datain realtime. This means that there is a pause of a few seconds while thebuffering is being done by the player. The good news is that this can becured by adding a '?buffer=5' to the end of the URL. This means that thestream should start 5 seconds in the past -- and so the first 5 secondsof the stream are sent as fast as the network will allow. It will thenslow down to real time. This noticeably improves the startup experience. You can also add a 'Preroll 15' statement into the ffserver.conf that willadd the 15 second prebuffering on all requests that do not otherwisespecify a time. In addition, ffserver will skip frames until a key_frameis found. This further reduces the startup delay by not transferring datathat will be discarded. @section Why does the ?buffer / Preroll stop working after a time? It turns out that (on my machine at least) the number of frames successfullygrabbed is marginally less than the number that ought to be grabbed. Thismeans that the timestamp in the encoded data stream gets behind realtime.This means that if you say 'Preroll 10', then when the stream gets 10or more seconds behind, there is no Preroll left. Fixing this requires a change in the internals of how timestamps arehandled. @section Does the @code{?date=} stuff work. Yes (subject to the limitation outlined above). Also note that whenever youstart ffserver, it deletes the ffm file (if any parameters have changed),thus wiping out what you had recorded before. The format of the @code{?date=xxxxxx} is fairly flexible. You should use oneof the following formats (the 'T' is literal): @example* YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS (localtime)* YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (UTC)@end example You can omit the YYYY-MM-DD, and then it refers to the current day. Howevernote that @samp{?date=16:00:00} refers to 16:00 on the current day -- thismay be in the future and so is unlikely to be useful. You use this by adding the ?date= to the end of the URL for the stream.For example: @samp{http://localhost:8080/test.asf?date=2002-07-26T23:05:00}.@c man end @chapter Options@c man begin OPTIONS @include fftools-common-opts.texi @section Main options @table @option@item -f @var{configfile}Read configuration file @file{configfile}. If not specified it willread by default from @file{/etc/ffserver.conf}. @item -nEnable no-launch mode. This option disables all the @code{Launch}directives within the various @code{<Feed>} sections. Since@command{ffserver} will not launch any @command{ffmpeg} instances, youwill have to launch them manually. @item -dEnable debug mode. This option increases log verbosity, and directslog messages to stdout. When specified, the @option{CustomLog} optionis ignored.@end table @chapter Configuration file syntax @command{ffserver} reads a configuration file containing globaloptions and settings for each stream and feed. The configuration file consists of global options and dedicatedsections, which must be introduced by "<@var{SECTION_NAME}@var{ARGS}>" on a separate line and must be terminated by a line inthe form "</@var{SECTION_NAME}>". @var{ARGS} is optional. Currently the following sections are recognized: @samp{Feed},@samp{Stream}, @samp{Redirect}. A line starting with @code{#} is ignored and treated as a comment. Name of options and sections are case-insensitive. @section ACL syntaxAn ACL (Access Control List) specifies the address which are allowedto access a given stream, or to write a given feed. It accepts the folling forms@itemize@itemAllow/deny access to @var{address}.@exampleACL ALLOW <address>ACL DENY <address>@end example @itemAllow/deny access to ranges of addresses from @var{first_address} to@var{last_address}.@exampleACL ALLOW <first_address> <last_address>ACL DENY <first_address> <last_address>@end example@end itemize You can repeat the ACL allow/deny as often as you like. It is on a perstream basis. The first match defines the action. If there are no matches,then the default is the inverse of the last ACL statement. Thus 'ACL allow localhost' only allows access from localhost.'ACL deny 1.0.0.0 1.255.255.255' would deny the whole of network 1 andallow everybody else. @section Global options@table @option@item HTTPPort @var{port_number}@item Port @var{port_number}@item RTSPPort @var{port_number} @var{HTTPPort} sets the HTTP server listening TCP port number,@var{RTSPPort} sets the RTSP server listening TCP port number. @var{Port} is the equivalent of @var{HTTPPort} and is deprecated. You must select a different port from your standard HTTP web server ifit is running on the same computer. If not specified, no corresponding server will be created. @item HTTPBindAddress @var{ip_address}@item BindAddress @var{ip_address}@item RTSPBindAddress @var{ip_address}Set address on which the HTTP/RTSP server is bound. Only useful if youhave several network interfaces. @var{BindAddress} is the equivalent of @var{HTTPBindAddress} and isdeprecated. @item MaxHTTPConnections @var{n}Set number of simultaneous HTTP connections that can be handled. Ithas to be defined @emph{before} the @option{MaxClients} parameter,since it defines the @option{MaxClients} maximum limit. Default value is 2000. @item MaxClients @var{n}Set number of simultaneous requests that can be handled. Since@command{ffserver} is very fast, it is more likely that you will wantto leave this high and use @option{MaxBandwidth}. Default value is 5. @item MaxBandwidth @var{kbps}Set the maximum amount of kbit/sec that you are prepared to consumewhen streaming to clients. Default value is 1000. @item CustomLog @var{filename}Set access log file (uses standard Apache log file format). '-' is thestandard output. If not specified @command{ffserver} will produce no log. In case the commandline option @option{-d} is specified this option isignored, and the log is written to standard output. @item NoDaemonSet no-daemon mode. This option is currently ignored since now@command{ffserver} will always work in no-daemon mode, and isdeprecated. @item UseDefaults@item NoDefaultsControl whether default codec options are used for the all streams or not.Each stream may overwrite this setting for its own. Default is @var{UseDefaults}.The lastest occurrence overrides previous if multiple definitions.@end table @section Feed section A Feed section defines a feed provided to @command{ffserver}. Each live feed contains one video and/or audio sequence coming from an@command{ffmpeg} encoder or another @command{ffserver}. This sequencemay be encoded simultaneously with several codecs at severalresolutions. A feed instance specification is introduced by a line in the form:@example<Feed FEED_FILENAME>@end example where @var{FEED_FILENAME} specifies the unique name of the FFM stream. The following options are recognized within a Feed section. @table @option@item File @var{filename}@item ReadOnlyFile @var{filename}Set the path where the feed file is stored on disk. If not specified, the @file{/tmp/FEED.ffm} is assumed, where@var{FEED} is the feed name. If @option{ReadOnlyFile} is used the file is marked as read-only andit will not be deleted or updated. @item TruncateTruncate the feed file, rather than appending to it. By default@command{ffserver} will append data to the file, until the maximumfile size value is reached (see @option{FileMaxSize} option). @item FileMaxSize @var{size}Set maximum size of the feed file in bytes. 0 means unlimited. Thepostfixes @code{K} (2^10), @code{M} (2^20), and @code{G} (2^30) arerecognized. Default value is 5M. @item Launch @var{args}Launch an @command{ffmpeg} command when creating @command{ffserver}. @var{args} must be a sequence of arguments to be provided to an@command{ffmpeg} instance. The first provided argument is ignored, andit is replaced by a path with the same dirname of the @command{ffserver}instance, followed by the remaining argument and terminated with apath corresponding to the feed. When the launched process exits, @command{ffserver} will launchanother program instance. In case you need a more complex @command{ffmpeg} configuration,e.g. if you need to generate multiple FFM feeds with a single@command{ffmpeg} instance, you should launch @command{ffmpeg} by hand. This option is ignored in case the commandline option @option{-n} isspecified. @item ACL @var{spec}Specify the list of IP address which are allowed or denied to writethe feed. Multiple ACL options can be specified.@end table @section Stream section A Stream section defines a stream provided by @command{ffserver}, andidentified by a single name. The stream is sent when answering a request containing the streamname. A stream section must be introduced by the line:@example<Stream STREAM_NAME>@end example where @var{STREAM_NAME} specifies the unique name of the stream.Lines 1–500 of 923. Load more
\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*- @documentencoding UTF-8 @settitle ffserver Documentation @titlepage @center @titlefont{ffserver Documentation} @end titlepage @top @contents @chapter Synopsis ffserver [@var{options}] @chapter Description @c man begin DESCRIPTION @command{ffserver} is a streaming server for both audio and video. It supports several live feeds, streaming from files and time shifting on live feeds. You can seek to positions in the past on each live feed, provided you specify a big enough feed storage. @command{ffserver} is configured through a configuration file, which is read at startup. If not explicitly specified, it will read from @file{/etc/ffserver.conf}. @command{ffserver} receives prerecorded files or FFM streams from some @command{ffmpeg} instance as input, then streams them over RTP/RTSP/HTTP. An @command{ffserver} instance will listen on some port as specified in the configuration file. You can launch one or more instances of @command{ffmpeg} and send one or more FFM streams to the port where ffserver is expecting to receive them. Alternately, you can make @command{ffserver} launch such @command{ffmpeg} instances at startup. Input streams are called feeds, and each one is specified by a @code{<Feed>} section in the configuration file. For each feed you can have different output streams in various formats, each one specified by a @code{<Stream>} section in the configuration file. @chapter Detailed description @command{ffserver} works by forwarding streams encoded by @command{ffmpeg}, or pre-recorded streams which are read from disk. Precisely, @command{ffserver} acts as an HTTP server, accepting POST requests from @command{ffmpeg} to acquire the stream to publish, and serving RTSP clients or HTTP clients GET requests with the stream media content. A feed is an @ref{FFM} stream created by @command{ffmpeg}, and sent to a port where @command{ffserver} is listening. Each feed is identified by a unique name, corresponding to the name of the resource published on @command{ffserver}, and is configured by a dedicated @code{Feed} section in the configuration file. The feed publish URL is given by: @example http://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{http_port}/@var{feed_name} @end example where @var{ffserver_ip_address} is the IP address of the machine where @command{ffserver} is installed, @var{http_port} is the port number of the HTTP server (configured through the @option{HTTPPort} option), and @var{feed_name} is the name of the corresponding feed defined in the configuration file. Each feed is associated to a file which is stored on disk. This stored file is used to send pre-recorded data to a player as fast as possible when new content is added in real-time to the stream. A "live-stream" or "stream" is a resource published by @command{ffserver}, and made accessible through the HTTP protocol to clients. A stream can be connected to a feed, or to a file. In the first case, the published stream is forwarded from the corresponding feed generated by a running instance of @command{ffmpeg}, in the second case the stream is read from a pre-recorded file. Each stream is identified by a unique name, corresponding to the name of the resource served by @command{ffserver}, and is configured by a dedicated @code{Stream} section in the configuration file. The stream access HTTP URL is given by: @example http://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{http_port}/@var{stream_name}[@var{options}] @end example The stream access RTSP URL is given by: @example http://@var{ffserver_ip_address}:@var{rtsp_port}/@var{stream_name}[@var{options}] @end example @var{stream_name} is the name of the corresponding stream defined in the configuration file. @var{options} is a list of options specified after the URL which affects how the stream is served by @command{ffserver}. @var{http_port} and @var{rtsp_port} are the HTTP and RTSP ports configured with the options @var{HTTPPort} and @var{RTSPPort} respectively. In case the stream is associated to a feed, the encoding parameters must be configured in the stream configuration. They are sent to @command{ffmpeg} when setting up the encoding. This allows @command{ffserver} to define the encoding parameters used by the @command{ffmpeg} encoders. The @command{ffmpeg} @option{override_ffserver} commandline option allows one to override the encoding parameters set by the server. Multiple streams can be connected to the same feed. For example, you can have a situation described by the following graph: @verbatim _________ __________ | | | | ffmpeg 1 -----| feed 1 |-----| stream 1 | \ |_________|\ |__________| \ \ \ \ __________ \ \ | | \ \| stream 2 | \ |__________| \ \ _________ __________ \ | | | | \| feed 2 |-----| stream 3 | |_________| |__________| _________ __________ | | | | ffmpeg 2 -----| feed 3 |-----| stream 4 | |_________| |__________| _________ __________ | | | | | file 1 |-----| stream 5 | |_________| |__________| @end verbatim @anchor{FFM} @section FFM, FFM2 formats FFM and FFM2 are formats used by ffserver. They allow storing a wide variety of video and audio streams and encoding options, and can store a moving time segment of an infinite movie or a whole movie. FFM is version specific, and there is limited compatibility of FFM files generated by one version of ffmpeg/ffserver and another version of ffmpeg/ffserver. It may work but it is not guaranteed to work. FFM2 is extensible while maintaining compatibility and should work between differing versions of tools. FFM2 is the default. @section Status stream @command{ffserver} supports an HTTP interface which exposes the current status of the server. Simply point your browser to the address of the special status stream specified in the configuration file. For example if you have: @example <Stream status.html> Format status # Only allow local people to get the status ACL allow localhost ACL allow 192.168.0.0 192.168.255.255 </Stream> @end example then the server will post a page with the status information when the special stream @file{status.html} is requested. @section How do I make it work? As a simple test, just run the following two command lines where INPUTFILE is some file which you can decode with ffmpeg: @example ffserver -f doc/ffserver.conf & ffmpeg -i INPUTFILE http://localhost:8090/feed1.ffm @end example At this point you should be able to go to your Windows machine and fire up Windows Media Player (WMP). Go to Open URL and enter @example http://<linuxbox>:8090/test.asf @end example You should (after a short delay) see video and hear audio. WARNING: trying to stream test1.mpg doesn't work with WMP as it tries to transfer the entire file before starting to play. The same is true of AVI files. You should edit the @file{ffserver.conf} file to suit your needs (in terms of frame rates etc). Then install @command{ffserver} and @command{ffmpeg}, write a script to start them up, and off you go. @section What else can it do? You can replay video from .ffm files that was recorded earlier. However, there are a number of caveats, including the fact that the ffserver parameters must match the original parameters used to record the file. If they do not, then ffserver deletes the file before recording into it. (Now that I write this, it seems broken). You can fiddle with many of the codec choices and encoding parameters, and there are a bunch more parameters that you cannot control. Post a message to the mailing list if there are some 'must have' parameters. Look in ffserver.conf for a list of the currently available controls. It will automatically generate the ASX or RAM files that are often used in browsers. These files are actually redirections to the underlying ASF or RM file. The reason for this is that the browser often fetches the entire file before starting up the external viewer. The redirection files are very small and can be transferred quickly. [The stream itself is often 'infinite' and thus the browser tries to download it and never finishes.] @section Tips * When you connect to a live stream, most players (WMP, RA, etc) want to buffer a certain number of seconds of material so that they can display the signal continuously. However, ffserver (by default) starts sending data in realtime. This means that there is a pause of a few seconds while the buffering is being done by the player. The good news is that this can be cured by adding a '?buffer=5' to the end of the URL. This means that the stream should start 5 seconds in the past -- and so the first 5 seconds of the stream are sent as fast as the network will allow. It will then slow down to real time. This noticeably improves the startup experience. You can also add a 'Preroll 15' statement into the ffserver.conf that will add the 15 second prebuffering on all requests that do not otherwise specify a time. In addition, ffserver will skip frames until a key_frame is found. This further reduces the startup delay by not transferring data that will be discarded. @section Why does the ?buffer / Preroll stop working after a time? It turns out that (on my machine at least) the number of frames successfully grabbed is marginally less than the number that ought to be grabbed. This means that the timestamp in the encoded data stream gets behind realtime. This means that if you say 'Preroll 10', then when the stream gets 10 or more seconds behind, there is no Preroll left. Fixing this requires a change in the internals of how timestamps are handled. @section Does the @code{?date=} stuff work. Yes (subject to the limitation outlined above). Also note that whenever you start ffserver, it deletes the ffm file (if any parameters have changed), thus wiping out what you had recorded before. The format of the @code{?date=xxxxxx} is fairly flexible. You should use one of the following formats (the 'T' is literal): @example * YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS (localtime) * YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ (UTC) @end example You can omit the YYYY-MM-DD, and then it refers to the current day. However note that @samp{?date=16:00:00} refers to 16:00 on the current day -- this may be in the future and so is unlikely to be useful. You use this by adding the ?date= to the end of the URL for the stream. For example: @samp{http://localhost:8080/test.asf?date=2002-07-26T23:05:00}. @c man end @chapter Options @c man begin OPTIONS @include fftools-common-opts.texi @section Main options @table @option @item -f @var{configfile} Read configuration file @file{configfile}. If not specified it will read by default from @file{/etc/ffserver.conf}. @item -n Enable no-launch mode. This option disables all the @code{Launch} directives within the various @code{<Feed>} sections. Since @command{ffserver} will not launch any @command{ffmpeg} instances, you will have to launch them manually. @item -d Enable debug mode. This option increases log verbosity, and directs log messages to stdout. When specified, the @option{CustomLog} option is ignored. @end table @chapter Configuration file syntax @command{ffserver} reads a configuration file containing global options and settings for each stream and feed. The configuration file consists of global options and dedicated sections, which must be introduced by "<@var{SECTION_NAME} @var{ARGS}>" on a separate line and must be terminated by a line in the form "</@var{SECTION_NAME}>". @var{ARGS} is optional. Currently the following sections are recognized: @samp{Feed}, @samp{Stream}, @samp{Redirect}. A line starting with @code{#} is ignored and treated as a comment. Name of options and sections are case-insensitive. @section ACL syntax An ACL (Access Control List) specifies the address which are allowed to access a given stream, or to write a given feed. It accepts the folling forms @itemize @item Allow/deny access to @var{address}. @example ACL ALLOW <address> ACL DENY <address> @end example @item Allow/deny access to ranges of addresses from @var{first_address} to @var{last_address}. @example ACL ALLOW <first_address> <last_address> ACL DENY <first_address> <last_address> @end example @end itemize You can repeat the ACL allow/deny as often as you like. It is on a per stream basis. The first match defines the action. If there are no matches, then the default is the inverse of the last ACL statement. Thus 'ACL allow localhost' only allows access from localhost. 'ACL deny 1.0.0.0 1.255.255.255' would deny the whole of network 1 and allow everybody else. @section Global options @table @option @item HTTPPort @var{port_number} @item Port @var{port_number} @item RTSPPort @var{port_number} @var{HTTPPort} sets the HTTP server listening TCP port number, @var{RTSPPort} sets the RTSP server listening TCP port number. @var{Port} is the equivalent of @var{HTTPPort} and is deprecated. You must select a different port from your standard HTTP web server if it is running on the same computer. If not specified, no corresponding server will be created. @item HTTPBindAddress @var{ip_address} @item BindAddress @var{ip_address} @item RTSPBindAddress @var{ip_address} Set address on which the HTTP/RTSP server is bound. Only useful if you have several network interfaces. @var{BindAddress} is the equivalent of @var{HTTPBindAddress} and is deprecated. @item MaxHTTPConnections @var{n} Set number of simultaneous HTTP connections that can be handled. It has to be defined @emph{before} the @option{MaxClients} parameter, since it defines the @option{MaxClients} maximum limit. Default value is 2000. @item MaxClients @var{n} Set number of simultaneous requests that can be handled. Since @command{ffserver} is very fast, it is more likely that you will want to leave this high and use @option{MaxBandwidth}. Default value is 5. @item MaxBandwidth @var{kbps} Set the maximum amount of kbit/sec that you are prepared to consume when streaming to clients. Default value is 1000. @item CustomLog @var{filename} Set access log file (uses standard Apache log file format). '-' is the standard output. If not specified @command{ffserver} will produce no log. In case the commandline option @option{-d} is specified this option is ignored, and the log is written to standard output. @item NoDaemon Set no-daemon mode. This option is currently ignored since now @command{ffserver} will always work in no-daemon mode, and is deprecated. @item UseDefaults @item NoDefaults Control whether default codec options are used for the all streams or not. Each stream may overwrite this setting for its own. Default is @var{UseDefaults}. The lastest occurrence overrides previous if multiple definitions. @end table @section Feed section A Feed section defines a feed provided to @command{ffserver}. Each live feed contains one video and/or audio sequence coming from an @command{ffmpeg} encoder or another @command{ffserver}. This sequence may be encoded simultaneously with several codecs at several resolutions. A feed instance specification is introduced by a line in the form: @example <Feed FEED_FILENAME> @end example where @var{FEED_FILENAME} specifies the unique name of the FFM stream. The following options are recognized within a Feed section. @table @option @item File @var{filename} @item ReadOnlyFile @var{filename} Set the path where the feed file is stored on disk. If not specified, the @file{/tmp/FEED.ffm} is assumed, where @var{FEED} is the feed name. If @option{ReadOnlyFile} is used the file is marked as read-only and it will not be deleted or updated. @item Truncate Truncate the feed file, rather than appending to it. By default @command{ffserver} will append data to the file, until the maximum file size value is reached (see @option{FileMaxSize} option). @item FileMaxSize @var{size} Set maximum size of the feed file in bytes. 0 means unlimited. The postfixes @code{K} (2^10), @code{M} (2^20), and @code{G} (2^30) are recognized. Default value is 5M. @item Launch @var{args} Launch an @command{ffmpeg} command when creating @command{ffserver}. @var{args} must be a sequence of arguments to be provided to an @command{ffmpeg} instance. The first provided argument is ignored, and it is replaced by a path with the same dirname of the @command{ffserver} instance, followed by the remaining argument and terminated with a path corresponding to the feed. When the launched process exits, @command{ffserver} will launch another program instance. In case you need a more complex @command{ffmpeg} configuration, e.g. if you need to generate multiple FFM feeds with a single @command{ffmpeg} instance, you should launch @command{ffmpeg} by hand. This option is ignored in case the commandline option @option{-n} is specified. @item ACL @var{spec} Specify the list of IP address which are allowed or denied to write the feed. Multiple ACL options can be specified. @end table @section Stream section A Stream section defines a stream provided by @command{ffserver}, and identified by a single name. The stream is sent when answering a request containing the stream name. A stream section must be introduced by the line: @example <Stream STREAM_NAME> @end example where @var{STREAM_NAME} specifies the unique name of the stream.