Deploy Red5 Pro to AWS, GCP, or Azure with Terraform

Deploy a scalable Red5 Pro cluster to AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean, or OCI using official Terraform modules — Stream Manager and node groups included.

Red5 Pro provides official Terraform modules for deploying fully configured clusters on major cloud platforms. Terraform automates the provisioning of all required infrastructure — virtual machines, networking, security groups, and load balancers — so you get a reproducible, version-controlled deployment without manual cloud console work.

A typical deployment provisions a Stream Manager plus a node group consisting of origin, edge, and relay nodes. The Stream Manager URL is printed as a Terraform output at the end of the apply step.

If you prefer a fully managed experience without operating your own infrastructure, consider Red5 Cloud, the hosted version of Red5 Pro.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Terraform (version 1.x or later) installed on your workstation. Download from developer.hashicorp.com/terraform.
• Cloud provider credentials configured in your environment. For AWS this means an IAM user with programmatic access; for GCP a service account JSON key; for Azure a service principal.
• A valid Red5 Pro license key from account.red5.net.
• Sufficient cloud quota for the instance types you plan to use.

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General Terraform workflow

Regardless of which cloud provider you target, the deployment process follows the same five steps:

1. Find the module on the Terraform Registry

   All Red5 Pro modules are published at registry.terraform.io/modules/red5pro/red5pro. Each cloud provider has its own module with dedicated documentation.

2. Create a Terraform configuration file

   Create a main.tf (or clone the example from the registry) and reference the module, then create a terraform.tfvars file with your specific values:

   # terraform.tfvars example — replace all placeholder values
   red5pro_license_key = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
   aws_region          = "us-east-1"
   ssh_key_name        = "my-key-pair"
   # ... additional variables per the module's documentation
   
3. Initialize the working directory

   terraform init
   

   This downloads the module and any provider plugins.

4. Preview the planned changes

   terraform plan
   

   Review the output to confirm the resources Terraform will create before you apply anything.

5. Apply and deploy

   terraform apply
   

   Type yes when prompted. Terraform provisions all resources and prints the Stream Manager URL when complete:

   Outputs:
   
   stream_manager_url = "https://sm.your-domain.com:443"
   

Store your Terraform state in a remote backend such as S3, GCS, or Terraform Cloud so that multiple team members can manage the same deployment safely.

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Cloud provider modules

AWS

The AWS module deploys Red5 Pro into a VPC with an autoscaling node group managed by Stream Manager.

Module: registry.terraform.io — AWS

Minimum terraform.tfvars variables to configure:

red5pro_license_key        = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
aws_region                 = "us-east-1"
ssh_key_name               = "my-aws-keypair"
stream_manager_instance_type = "t3.medium"
node_origin_instance_type  = "t3.medium"
node_edge_instance_type    = "t3.medium"

Use the Ubuntu 22.04 AMI for all instances. The Amazon Linux AMI is not supported and may be missing libraries required by Red5 Pro.

GCP

The GCP module provisions Compute Engine instances, firewall rules, and a load balancer in your chosen region.

Module: registry.terraform.io — GCP

Minimum terraform.tfvars variables to configure:

red5pro_license_key        = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
gcp_project_id             = "my-gcp-project"
gcp_region                 = "us-central1"
gcp_zone                   = "us-central1-a"
stream_manager_machine_type = "n2-standard-2"
node_origin_machine_type   = "n2-standard-2"
node_edge_machine_type     = "n2-standard-2"

DigitalOcean

The DigitalOcean module creates Droplets, a VPC, and firewall rules in your chosen region.

Module: registry.terraform.io — DigitalOcean

Minimum terraform.tfvars variables to configure:

red5pro_license_key        = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
digitalocean_region        = "nyc3"
stream_manager_droplet_size = "s-2vcpu-4gb"
node_origin_droplet_size   = "s-2vcpu-4gb"
node_edge_droplet_size     = "s-2vcpu-4gb"

OCI

The OCI module deploys Red5 Pro on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure using Compute instances and Virtual Cloud Networks.

Module: registry.terraform.io — OCI

Minimum terraform.tfvars variables to configure:

red5pro_license_key        = "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY"
oracle_region              = "us-ashburn-1"
oracle_tenancy_ocid        = "ocid1.tenancy.oc1..xxx"
oracle_user_ocid           = "ocid1.user.oc1..xxx"
oracle_fingerprint         = "xx:xx:xx:xx"
oracle_private_key_path    = "~/.oci/oci_api_key.pem"
stream_manager_shape       = "VM.Standard.E4.Flex"

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What gets deployed

A complete Red5 Pro Terraform deployment provisions:

• Stream Manager — orchestrates autoscaling and routes streams between nodes. Accessible via HTTPS on port 443.
• Origin nodes — receive inbound streams from publishers.
• Edge nodes — distribute streams to viewers, scaling horizontally as concurrent connections increase.
• Relay nodes (optional) — bridge streams between geographic regions.
• Security groups / firewall rules — opens the required ports for RTMP, WebRTC, and RTSP.

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Tear down the deployment

To remove all provisioned resources:

terraform destroy

terraform destroy permanently deletes all infrastructure created by the module, including any recorded stream data on the instances. Back up any data you need to keep before running this command.