Install Red5 Pro on Linux, macOS, or Windows Servers

Install Red5 Pro on Linux, macOS, or Windows, configure your license key, run it as a systemd service, and upgrade from previous versions.

A standalone installation places a single Red5 Pro server on one machine. This is the fastest way to get up and running for development, testing, or a single-origin production setup. Follow the instructions below for your operating system, then continue to the license key and upgrade sections as needed.

Prerequisites

• Java 21 (Red5 Pro 14.0.0+) or Java 11 (Red5 Pro 9.0.0–13.x)
• A valid Red5 Pro license key from account.red5.net
• A 64-bit operating system
• unzip available on the system path

Red5 Pro only supports 64-bit operating systems. Attempting to run it on a 32-bit system will fail.

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Install Red5 Pro

Linux (Ubuntu)

Install dependencies

Ubuntu 22.04 is the recommended platform for production deployments. Install Java 21 and the required native libraries:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y openjdk-21-jdk unzip libva2 libva-drm2 libva-x11-2 libvdpau1 jsvc ntp

If you are hosting on AWS, choose the Ubuntu 22.04 AMI rather than the Amazon Linux AMI. Amazon Linux may be missing libraries that Red5 Pro depends on.

For CentOS 8 Stream, run the following instead:

sudo yum -y update
sudo yum -y install java-21-openjdk unzip libva libvdpau

Then edit red5pro/red5.sh and set JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/jre-21".

Download and unzip

1. Download Red5 Pro

   Log in to account.red5.net and download the server ZIP distribution.

2. Transfer to your server

   Copy the ZIP to your server. A common approach is SFTP into the /tmp directory:

   sftp user@your-server:/tmp
   put red5pro-server-x.x.x.zip
   
3. Create the installation directory

   sudo mkdir /usr/local/red5pro
   
4. Unzip the distribution

   sudo unzip /tmp/red5pro-server-x.x.x.zip -d /usr/local/red5pro
   
5. Add your license key

   Your LICENSE.KEY file is included in the root of the ZIP. It is automatically placed at /usr/local/red5pro/LICENSE.KEY. Verify it is present:

   ls /usr/local/red5pro/LICENSE.KEY
   

   If you need to replace it, copy your key file to the same location and restart the server.

6. Start Red5 Pro

   cd /usr/local/red5pro
   sudo ./red5.sh
   

   To keep the process running after you close your terminal:

   sudo ./red5.sh &
   
7. Verify the server is running

   Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:5080. You should see the Red5 Pro landing page.

Run as a systemd service

Running Red5 Pro as a systemd service ensures it starts automatically on reboot. This requires jsvc, which was installed in the dependencies step above.

1. Copy the service file

   The red5pro.service file is included in the root of the server distribution:

   sudo cp /usr/local/red5pro/red5pro.service /lib/systemd/system/
   

   The service file uses these defaults:

   [Unit]
   Description=Red5 Pro
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network.target network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=forking
   User=root
   LimitNOFILE=1000000
   Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-amd64
   Environment=RED5_HOME=/usr/local/red5pro
   WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/red5pro
   ExecStart=/usr/local/red5pro/red5pro.sh start
   ExecStop=/usr/local/red5pro/red5pro.sh stop
   ExecReload=/usr/local/red5pro/red5pro.sh restart
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

   If your JAVA_HOME or RED5_HOME paths differ from the defaults, edit the file before proceeding.

2. Set permissions and reload

   sudo chmod 644 /lib/systemd/system/red5pro.service
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   
3. Enable and start the service

   sudo systemctl enable red5pro.service
   sudo systemctl start red5pro
   
4. Check status

   sudo systemctl status red5pro
   

Common service commands:

sudo systemctl start red5pro
sudo systemctl stop red5pro
sudo systemctl restart red5pro
sudo systemctl status red5pro

When running as a systemd service, console output is suppressed. Server logs are written to /usr/local/red5pro/log/red5.log. To tail logs after starting:

sudo systemctl start red5pro && tail -f /usr/local/red5pro/log/red5.log

OpenSSL compatibility workaround

If you encounter OpenSSL or libcrypto compatibility errors at startup, open conf/network.properties and uncomment this line:

crypto.override=SUNJCE

Then restart Red5 Pro for the change to take effect.

macOS

On macOS, Red5 Pro is distributed as a Docker image. Install Docker Desktop if you have not already, then pull and run the server:

docker pull red5pro/server
docker run -p 5080:5080 -p 443:443 -p 1935:1935 -p 8554:8554 \
  -p 40000-65535:40000-65535/udp \
  red5pro/server

You can find the full image documentation and available tags on the Red5 Pro Docker Hub.

For a 30-day trial, register an account at account.red5.net. Trial licenses support up to 10 concurrent connections.

Windows

Red5 Pro is supported on Windows for development purposes. For production WebRTC workloads, Linux is strongly recommended due to CPU and memory performance differences.

Install dependencies

1. Download and install Java SE Development Kit 21.
2. Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable:
   • Open System Properties → Advanced System Settings → Environment Variables
   • Under System variables, click New
   • Variable name: JAVA_HOME
   • Variable value: the path to your JDK, for example C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-21
3. Install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables — required for WebRTC support.

Install and start

1. Download Red5 Pro

   Log in to account.red5.net and download the server ZIP.

2. Extract the distribution

   Copy the ZIP to your chosen directory (for example, C:\Program Files) and extract it. Rename the extracted folder to red5pro for convenience.

3. Verify your license key

   Confirm that C:\Program Files\red5pro\LICENSE.KEY exists. If it is missing, download it from your account overview page and place it in the root of the installation directory.

4. Start Red5 Pro

   Double-click red5.bat. A Command Prompt window opens and displays startup logs. Do not run it as administrator — simply double-click the file.

5. Verify the server is running

   Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:5080.

To stop the server, either close the Command Prompt window or double-click red5-shutdown.bat.

If the Command Prompt window closes immediately when you run red5.bat, open the file in a text editor and add pause on the final line. This keeps the window open so you can read any error messages.

Required ports on Windows

Open these ports on both the Windows Firewall and your cloud security group (if applicable):

Port	Purpose
5080	HTTP / WebSocket for WebRTC
443	HTTPS / secure WebSocket
1935	RTMP
8554	RTSP
3939	Windows Remote Desktop (cloud-hosted only)
40000–65535 UDP	WebRTC ICE

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License key

Red5 Pro will not start without a valid license key. Your LICENSE.KEY file is bundled in the server ZIP and is automatically placed in the root of the installation directory. You can also view and download your key from the account overview page.

If you replace the license key file, restart Red5 Pro for the new key to take effect.

In an autoscaling deployment, the LICENSE.KEY file must be baked into the AMI or image used for node provisioning. See the Stream Manager documentation for details.

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Upgrade from a previous version

Do not unzip the new distribution into the same directory as the running server. Unzip it to a separate location first.

1. Copy the new distribution to your server

   Upload the new ZIP to /tmp or another staging directory.

2. Unzip to a separate directory

   sudo unzip /tmp/red5pro-server-x.x.x.zip -d /usr/local/
   
3. Copy custom web applications

   If you have custom apps in red5pro/webapps/, copy them from the old installation to the new one.

4. Re-apply configuration changes

   Do not copy configuration files wholesale. Instead, open each modified config in the old installation and apply the same changes to the corresponding file in the new distribution. Common files to check:

   • conf/red5.properties — SSL settings, port overrides
   • conf/red5-common.xml — FLV-to-MP4 and S3 storage
   • conf/cluster.xml — clustering
   • conf/webrtc-plugin.properties — WebRTC settings
   • conf/simple-auth-plugin.properties and simple-auth-plugin.credentials
   • webapps/live/WEB-INF/red5-web.xml
   • webapps/api/WEB-INF/red5-web.properties
5. Stop the old server

   sudo systemctl stop red5pro
   
6. Swap directories

   sudo mv /usr/local/red5pro /usr/local/red5pro-old
   sudo mv /usr/local/red5pro-x.x.x /usr/local/red5pro
   
7. Update Java if upgrading to v14+

   If you are upgrading to v14.0.0 or later and were previously on v13.x, update JAVA_HOME in the service file to point to Java 21:

   sudo cp /usr/local/red5pro/red5pro.service /lib/systemd/system/
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   
8. Start and verify

   sudo systemctl start red5pro
   

   Open http://your-server-ip:5080 and confirm the new version number appears in the top-left corner.

Java version requirements by release:

Red5 Pro version	Required Java
14.0.0 and later	Java 21
9.0.0–13.x	Java 11
8.x and earlier	Java 8

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Reduce server footprint by disabling unneeded OS services

After installing Red5 Pro on Ubuntu or Debian, you can disable background OS services that are not needed to improve performance and reduce attack surface. Verify each service against your organization’s requirements before disabling.

sudo systemctl disable --now unattended-upgrades
sudo systemctl disable --now fwupd-refresh.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now apt-daily.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now apt-daily-upgrade.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now snapd.snap-repair.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now apport-autoreport.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now motd-news.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now update-notifier-download.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now update-notifier-motd.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now ua-timer.timer
sudo systemctl disable --now snapd

Disabling snapd will prevent Snap packages from running. If you installed certbot via Snap for SSL, leave snapd enabled or use an alternative certbot installation method.