Deploying Ant Media Server Live Video Streaming on Ubuntu 24.04

Ant Media Server is an open-source live video streaming engine that handles WebRTC, RTMP, HLS, and DASH for ultra-low-latency broadcasts. This guide deploys Ant Media Server Community Edition using Docker Compose with Traefik handling automatic HTTPS for the management panel and RTMP exposed on port 1935, following live video streaming deployment practices documented in Vultr Docs.

Set Up the Directory Structure

1. Create the project directory:

$ mkdir -p ~/ant-media-server
$ cd ~/ant-media-server

2. Create the environment file:

$ nano .env

DOMAIN=ant.example.com
LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=admin@example.com

3. Download the community release archive and Dockerfile:

$ wget https://github.com/ant-media/Ant-Media-Server/releases/download/ams-v2.16.2/ant-media-server-community-2.16.2.zip
$ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ant-media/Scripts/master/docker/Dockerfile_Process -O Dockerfile

Deploy with Docker Compose

1. Create the Docker Compose manifest:

$ nano docker-compose.yaml

services:
  traefik:
    image: traefik:v3.6
    container_name: traefik
    command:
      - "--providers.docker=true"
      - "--providers.docker.exposedbydefault=false"
      - "--entrypoints.web.address=:80"
      - "--entrypoints.websecure.address=:443"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.to=websecure"
      - "--entrypoints.web.http.redirections.entrypoint.scheme=https"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge=true"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.httpchallenge.entrypoint=web"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.email=${LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL}"
      - "--certificatesresolvers.letsencrypt.acme.storage=/letsencrypt/acme.json"
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "443:443"
    volumes:
      - "letsencrypt:/letsencrypt"
      - "/var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro"
    restart: unless-stopped

  antmedia:
    build:
      context: ./
      dockerfile: ./Dockerfile
    container_name: antmedia
    entrypoint: /usr/local/antmedia/start.sh
    ports:
      - "1935:1935"
    labels:
      - "traefik.enable=true"
      - "traefik.http.routers.antmedia.rule=Host(`${DOMAIN}`)"
      - "traefik.http.routers.antmedia.entrypoints=websecure"
      - "traefik.http.routers.antmedia.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
      - "traefik.http.services.antmedia.loadbalancer.server.port=5080"
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  letsencrypt:

2. Build the Ant Media image with the downloaded release:

$ docker compose build --build-arg AntMediaServer=ant-media-server-community-2.16.2.zip

3. Start the services:

$ docker compose up -d

4. Verify the services are running:

$ docker compose ps
$ docker compose logs

Access the Management Panel

Open https://ant.example.com in a browser. Create the administrator account on first launch, then create an application (default applications: LiveApp, WebRTCAppEE). Ingest streams via RTMP at rtmp://SERVER_IP/LiveApp/STREAM_KEY.

Next Steps

Ant Media Server is running with HTTPS for the panel and RTMP ingest exposed. From here you can:

• Configure WebRTC publishing/playback from the sample pages under /LiveApp

• Enable HLS and DASH playback for browser-friendly delivery

• Upgrade to Enterprise Edition for adaptive bitrate, recording, and SFU/MCU

For the full guide with additional tips, visit the original article on Vultr Docs.