> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://red5.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Red5 Cloud Architecture: Console, Nodes, and Regions

> Understand Red5 Cloud components: the Management Console, Stream Manager 2.0, five node types, and ten global regions that power your deployments.

Red5 Cloud combines a web-based Management Console, a powerful Stream Manager, and a global network of specialized streaming nodes to give you a fully managed live-streaming platform. Understanding how these pieces fit together helps you make better decisions about regions, node scaling, and deployment topology.

## Management Console

The Red5 Cloud Management Console is your primary interface for everything in Red5 Cloud. From a single dashboard you can create and manage deployments, inspect real-time analytics, access developer resources, and control account settings.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Deployments" icon="server">
    Spin up new streaming environments, monitor their state, and adjust settings to match your performance and scale requirements.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Dev Resources" icon="code">
    Access ready-made publisher and subscriber code snippets, your Stream Manager URL, and admin credentials for API access.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Monitoring & Analytics" icon="chart-line">
    Track real-time metrics including latency, bandwidth usage, and viewer engagement to optimize your streaming strategy.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Account Management" icon="user">
    Update profile information, manage billing, review invoices, and control your subscription from one place.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Default Region

When you sign up for Red5 Cloud, you choose a **default region**. This is where your Stream Manager is deployed and acts as the central hub for your streaming infrastructure.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Latency and performance">
    Choosing a default region close to your primary audience minimizes initial connection times and reduces round-trip latency for publishers and viewers alike.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Scalability and redundancy">
    You can extend your deployment to additional regions at any time. A multi-region setup improves both reliability and geographic reach without changing your default region.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Regulatory compliance">
    Different regions are subject to different data-privacy and content-delivery regulations. Selecting an appropriate default region helps you stay compliant with local laws.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Available Regions

Red5 Cloud operates across 10 strategically located regions worldwide.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Asia / Pacific" icon="globe">
    * **Australia East** — Sydney, New South Wales
    * **Singapore** — Singapore
  </Card>

  <Card title="Europe" icon="globe">
    * **Europe Central** — Frankfurt, Germany
    * **Europe West** — London, United Kingdom
  </Card>

  <Card title="Middle East" icon="globe">
    * **Middle East West** — Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  </Card>

  <Card title="North America" icon="globe">
    * **Canada East** — Toronto, Ontario
    * **Mexico Central** — Querétaro, Mexico
    * **United States East** — Ashburn, Virginia
    * **United States West** — San Jose, California
  </Card>

  <Card title="South America" icon="globe">
    * **Brazil South** — São Paulo, Brazil
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Stream Manager 2.0

Stream Manager 2.0 is the orchestration engine behind every Red5 Cloud deployment. It automates the tasks that would otherwise require manual infrastructure management, so you can focus on delivering content.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Node management" icon="sitemap">
    Stream Manager dynamically allocates and deallocates streaming nodes in response to real-time demand, keeping your service responsive at any scale.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Load balancing" icon="scale-balanced">
    Incoming traffic is distributed across multiple nodes and regions so no single node becomes a bottleneck and viewers receive a consistent experience.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Auto-scaling" icon="arrows-up-down">
    As viewer counts rise and fall, Stream Manager adds or removes nodes automatically — optimizing cost while maintaining performance.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Failover" icon="shield-check">
    When a node fails, Stream Manager reroutes traffic to healthy nodes and replaces the failed one, keeping streams live without manual intervention.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Geo distribution" icon="earth-americas">
    Multi-region deployments bring content physically closer to your viewers, reducing latency and improving playback quality globally.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Node Types

Each node in a Red5 Cloud deployment has a defined role. Stream Manager selects and coordinates the right combination of nodes based on load, geography, and network conditions.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Origin — stream ingest">
    Origin nodes receive and process incoming streams from your encoder. They handle initial video and audio reception, ensuring content is encoded correctly before it moves through the rest of the pipeline. Origin node capacity scales with the number of concurrent publishers in your deployment settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Edge — viewer distribution">
    Edge nodes deliver streams to your viewers. By positioning Edge nodes close to your audience, Red5 Cloud minimizes buffering and improves playback quality. Edge capacity scales with the number of concurrent subscribers in your deployment settings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Relay — optimized routing">
    Relay nodes sit between Origin and Edge nodes and handle stream routing when a direct connection is impractical due to distance or network constraints. They keep data flowing efficiently across your deployment topology.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Transcoder — adaptive bitrate (ABR)">
    Transcoder nodes convert an incoming stream into multiple resolutions and bitrates simultaneously, enabling adaptive bitrate (ABR) playback. Viewers receive the quality tier that best matches their current network conditions and device. Transcoding is available on Startup, Growth, and Enterprise plans.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Mixer — multi-source composition">
    Mixer nodes combine multiple video and audio sources — different camera angles, overlays, audio tracks — into a single output stream in real time. They are particularly useful for live events, video conferences, and any application requiring synchronized multi-input composition.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>