Red5 Pro Installation: Standalone, Cloud, and Cluster

Install Red5 Pro as a standalone server, deploy to the cloud with Terraform, or set up a scalable cluster — with prerequisites and upgrade guidance.

Red5 Pro is a self-hosted live streaming server built on the open-source Red5 platform. You install and operate it on your own infrastructure — whether that is a single Linux server, a Windows machine, or a multi-node cluster spread across a cloud provider. This section walks you through every installation path so you can choose the approach that fits your use case.

Prerequisites

Before you install Red5 Pro, make sure you have the following:

• Java 21 (required for Red5 Pro 14.0.0 and later). Install OpenJDK 21 on Linux or the Oracle JDK on Windows. Earlier versions of Red5 Pro require Java 11 (versions 9.x–13.x) or Java 8 (versions 8.x and earlier).
• A valid license key. Red5 Pro will not start without one. Log in to your account at account.red5.net to find your key. Your LICENSE.KEY file is also bundled in the server ZIP download.
• A 64-bit operating system. Red5 Pro only supports 64-bit platforms.
• Required inbound ports open on your server or firewall:

Port	Protocol	Purpose
5080	TCP	HTTP access and WebSocket for WebRTC
443	TCP	HTTPS and secure WebSocket for WebRTC
1935	TCP	RTMP streaming
8554	TCP	RTSP
40000–65535	UDP	WebRTC ICE / TURN / STUN

If you plan to use Let’s Encrypt to obtain a free SSL certificate, you must also open port 80 temporarily during certificate issuance. You can close it again once the certificate is installed.

Choose an installation path

Standalone

Install Red5 Pro directly on Linux, macOS (via Docker), or Windows. Best for development, testing, or single-server production deployments.

Cloud with Terraform

Deploy a full Red5 Pro cluster to AWS, GCP, Azure, DigitalOcean, Linode, or OCI using official Terraform modules. Best for scalable production environments.

SSL configuration

Secure your server with an SSL certificate. Required for WebRTC — browsers will not grant camera or microphone access over plain HTTP.

Stream Manager

Configure Stream Manager 2.0 to orchestrate origin, edge, and relay nodes in an autoscaling cluster.

Upgrading from a previous version

If you are running an older version of Red5 Pro, refer to the upgrade notes in the standalone installation guide before replacing your server binaries. Key points:

• v14.0.0 and later require Java 21. If you are upgrading from v13.x, you must install Java 21 before starting the upgrade.
• Do not copy configuration files from your old installation into the new one. Re-apply your changes manually to avoid overwriting new defaults.
• SSL configuration changed in v14.0.0. Versions before 14.0.0 required editing both red5.properties and jee-container.xml. From v14.0.0 onward, SSL is controlled entirely through conf/red5.properties.

For a quick, automated deployment on Linux, use the Red5 Pro Installer available on GitHub.