Use a RAM disk to store temporary HLS video fragment files of your live-stream server

What exactly is a RAM disk?Why would I want to use a RAM disk?How large should the RAM disk be?How to create a RAM disk I’ve posted several articles in the past, most noteably this one, on the subject of live-streaming, so it shouldn’t be a real big surprise that I’m doing another post on it. A RAM disk can enhance your live-stream server, while at the same time increasing …

Home Computer museum in Helmond

Last week, I visited the Home Computer Museum in Helmond (https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl), and I decided to write a post on how I experienced this museum. This was in fact my second visit, since I visited the museum several years ago for a first time. In between my visits, many things have changed, all for the better. I am aware that being a computer geek myself, my opinions on the museum might …

Host a registration page for your private WoW server

This post is an addition to something I posted recently: https://www.ustoopia.nl/games/build-a-private-wow-wotlk-server-with-npc-bots-on-ubuntu-22-04/ So, you have your own private WoW server running now, and you would like to invite some friends to come and play with you on your realm. That is exactly when this tutorial comes in handy! To streamline the process of creating a user account for your realm, we’ll be setting up a simple web page where people can …

Use this script to automate the setup of a live-stream server on Ubuntu 22.04

What the script does, is build a decent live-stream server for you, from scratch, on a machine running on Ubuntu 22.04. The live-stream server will be fully configured and work out-of-the-box, with an RTMP entry to send your stream to, Adaptive bitrate streaming for the viewers in HLS and/or DASH formats. A webpage with a very basic video player is also included, and a simple /stat page can be used to display some data on the live-streams. To top it all off, I included a couple of pointers that will help you on your way in this environment.

Build a private WoW WotLK server with NPC bots on Ubuntu 22.04

This tutorial guides you through setting up a private World of Warcraft server for the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, using TrinityCore on Ubuntu 22.04 with NPC bots. It provides step-by-step instructions, starting from server prerequisites to editing config files and dealing with the databases. The author shares a personal connection with WoW, experiences with the game, and the motivation behind creating the server, highlighting the importance of the game’s social aspect and how innovation from the community has made such setups possible. The tutorial includes detailed technical steps and additional tools like Supervisor to manage the server processes.

Build a Nginx/Ffmpeg adaptive bit rate HLS live-stream server on Ubuntu 22.04

This tutorial is an updated and improved version of a previous tutorial that I wrote. This new tutorial will work 100% on a (fresh) Ubuntu 22.04 system. The tutorial was put together in August 2023. UPDATE: I’ve put together a script that does everything automatically. Check it out here! All throughout this tutorial, I will be using the non-existing domain name: your.hostname.com as an example. You will need to replace …

Really long introduction for a new tutorial

This post is the full introduction that goes together with a new tutorial that I’m posting shortly after this. Initially, this intro was included in the tutorial, until I made it a bit too long by rambling on. I realize this is a long, and perhaps too long post, but it does contain some useful information for anybody who is contemplating building their own live-stream server. If you’re not, you …

Block countries based on Geo data with UFW firewall

I while ago, I wrote this post about how to block all network traffic from-and-to certain countries using UFW firewall based on recent Geo data. The statistics of this website show that this post is still one of the most popular posts here. Many people found their way here through Google searches like: UFW, Geo and Block. If you happen to be one of these people, welcome! You came to …

Important update notice on a very popular post on this website.

My post on how to create a secure adaptive bit-rate HLS stream with Nginx/RTMP/Ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04 is by far the most popular content on my website. About 60% of all visitors come to that page through Google. I have an essential message to everybody who followed this tutorial. You should really edit a couple of lines in your nginx.conf in case you are using adaptive bit rate streams, sooner …

Harden Nginx for WordPress websites

Nginx is the most popular web server alongside of Apache. Personally, I am a huge fan of Nginx. One important reason for this is that Nginx can easily be setup to become a live-stream server. Also, it makes a great reverse proxy that can greatly improve the performance of any website when properly set up. But it can, of course, also host websites. One of the most popular engines to …

What I’ve been working on

In the early summer of 2019 I purchased an Oculus Virtual Reality headset, and this made me discover my passion for 3D. A very popular “game” for the Oculus is VRChat, and in it people are allowed to upload their own worlds and avatars. Obviously, I wanted to try this out myself, so I started searching for a free app that could help me with this. And that is how …

The god(s) of data-storage

I seem to have somehow upset the god(s) of data storage. It feels like I’m being punished, or at least challenged by them as of recently. Specifically the last three months. It feels like this for me because hard drives have been failing to the left and to the right of me, and even directly in front of me. And all within a crazy short amount of time. This is …

The Statue of LiberDre

I made this animation in Blender. I placed a 3D model of my very good-looking head on a model of the Statue of Liberty that I downloaded from Sketchfab. Added a model of New York in the background that was compiled using drone shots. Learned how to create water in Blender, added the water and a bit of mist. And after this was done rendering, I added some audio in …

The Super Bowl halftime show 2022

Yesterday was the yearly American Football Super Bowl event in the US of A, and if it weren’t for the traditionally, anticipated music performance during half-time, I couldn’t care less about it. But I respect everybody that loves the sport and I hope everybody had a good time! The artists that came together for the show this year are Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blidge, Kendrick Lamar and …

A little update

Hi everyone. It’s been a while since I last posted here so this little update is long due. I’ve been getting a LOT of responses to this little post here, and I want to thank specifically a person called James for responding to many comments that I haven’t commented on myself. I’ve not been keeping up with those as good as I should have. Sorry about that. Although I am …

Whoopsie Daisy

I was preparing to post a new blog article until I noticed that I’ve missed a shit-ton of comments on some of my earlier posts. Because the web-server decided to stop sending me notifications on new comments. So, I’m very sorry for not getting back to all those people that left a comment. I’m gonna get right on that after posting this and when I’ve fixed the issue with sending …

Create a secure adaptive bit-rate HLS stream with Nginx/RTMP/Ffmpeg on Ubuntu 20.04 (2021)

6-8-2023 UPDATE: I wrote a new tutorial, suited for Ubuntu 22.04. Go to the new tutorial. 24-07-2023 UPDATE: Before you read/follow this tutorial, I want to inform you of something important. In case you follow this tutorial, there’s a big chance you won’t be able to get the adaptive streams to work correctly. I don’t know exactly why or what has changed, but I believe the audio codec is no …

500 subscribers on YouTube

Today, I’ve reached the mark of 500 subscribers on my YouTube channel. It may not be that much, especially when compared with popular YouTubers. But for me, it’s special nevertheless. So thanks everybody!

Van De Planken – Paul Elstak

Here’s a recording of a podcast with an interview with Dj Paul Elstak. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0S4doh231XMmInvv2HNfxd

Ant Media Server on Ubuntu 18.04

This short guide will show you how to install Ant Media Server (Community Edition) on a Ubuntu 18.04 VPS server. Ant Media Server is a fork of Red5. The community Edition is free, but it does have its limitations that can be unlocked by purchasing a license. It runs on Java, so we’re also installing that on our server. The server that I used in this example has Nginx installed …