MPEG-DASH Streaming Service with OpenTelemetry

This project implements an end-to-end MPEG-DASH streaming service with full observability using OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Jaeger, and Grafana.

Project Structure

• rust-app/: Rust application using GStreamer (dashsink2) to generate DASH content, instrumented with OpenTelemetry Tracing.
• observability/: Docker Compose setup for OTel Collector, Prometheus, Jaeger, and Grafana.
• node-server/: Node.js Express server (HTTPS) serving DASH content and the web player.
• node-server/web-player/: Frontend web player using dash.js with OpenTelemetry JS Metrics instrumentation.

Prerequisites

• GStreamer: Core library and plugins (gst-plugins-good, gst-plugins-bad, gst-plugins-ugly).
• Rust: cargo and rustc.
• Node.js: npm and node.
• Docker: For running the observability stack.

Certificate Setup

To run the Node.js server with HTTPS, you need to generate a self-signed certificate in the node-server/ directory:

cd node-server
mkdir cert
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout cert/key.pem -out cert/cert.pem -sha256 -days 365 -nodes -subj "/CN=localhost"

Getting Started

1. Start the Observability Stack

cd observability
sudo docker compose up -d

• Grafana: http://localhost:3001 - Data sources (Prometheus and Jaeger) are pre-provisioned.
• Prometheus: http://localhost:9090
• Jaeger: http://localhost:16686

2. Start the Node.js Server

Be sure that the folder node-server/dash-content/ exists, otherwise create it. This folder is necessary to serve the DASH segments.

Install dependencies and run the server:

cd node-server
npm install
node server.js

• Server URL: https://localhost:3000
• Web Player: https://localhost:3000/player/index.html

3. Run the Rust Segmenter

cd rust-app
# Run the application with OpenTelemetry tracing enabled
cargo run

This starts generating DASH segments in node-server/dash-content/ and exports telemetry to the OTel Collector.

Observability Features

1. Server-Side (Rust Application)

• Tracing: Visualized in Jaeger. Tracks pipeline lifecycle, state changes, and segment generation via GStreamer tracers and custom spans.

2. Client-Side (Web Player)

The dash.js player is instrumented with the OpenTelemetry JS SDK to export real-time playback metrics:

• dash_buffer_level: Current video buffer depth (seconds).
• dash_bitrate: Current stream bitrate (kbps), using high-accuracy representational switch monitoring.
• dash_dropped_frames: Count of dropped frames.

Visualization Guide

Grafana Dashboards

• URL: http://localhost:3001
• Dashboards:
  • Dash.js Player Metrics: Visualizes playback stability, buffer levels, and bitrate switches.
• Data Sources: Prometheus and Jaeger are automatically configured.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3 (AGPL-3.0). See the LICENSE file for the full text.