This feature requires an Enterprise account.
In this article:
- What is Vimeo Enterprise eCDN
- What devices & browsers are compatible?
- What happens on incompatible devices/browsers?
- What ports and domains should be whitelisted?
- How do you handle VPN?
- What is Subnet Matching?
- How do I know if it’s working?
- How can I troubleshoot?
What is Vimeo Enterprise eCDN?
Vimeo Enterprise eCDN is a peer-to-peer delivery system that will allow you to stream your event across your network of users with minimal local bandwidth consumption. It’s easy to implement since it’s browser-based and doesn’t require any plugins, workstation software, or hardware to install. The appeal of the eCDN is the ability to deliver a high-quality live stream within a network, without overusing or bottlenecking bandwidth. Streaming via eCDN is a great solution to ensure high-quality video delivery without impacting the corporate network or risking network health. It works with single sign-on (SSO), and is ideal for a corporate setting, such as an internal broadcast or training. This also means lower bandwidth usage—which leads to cost savings.
Enterprise eCDN is only available for Vimeo Enterprise-level members—if you are not currently affiliated with an Enterprise account, but would like to know more, feel free to contact our Enterprise team for more information. The most used eCDN provider is Kollective.
eCDN is adding the ability to be utilized for VOD playback. We are adding eCDN provider Hive as another provider integration.
Note: The current basic eCDN provider Streamroot will still only be for live streaming and has not been yet expanded to VOD.
Below you’ll find some commonly asked questions about Vimeo Enterprise eCDN.
What devices & browsers are compatible?
- Operating systems: Windows, MacOS, Linux
- Mobile devices: Android (with Chrome)
- Browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge 20.1024+, Safari 11+
- For MS Edge and Chrome, additional Whitelisting of URLs can be required.
- Enterprise eCDN is not compatible with Internet Explorer 11.
What happens on incompatible devices/browsers?
Vimeo eCDN is a fully hybrid solution: on workstations that do not support Vimeo eCDN technology, delivery automatically falls back to full server-based delivery (no peer-to-peer is done) without any interruptions to playback or the video experience.
What ports and domains should be whitelisted?
For browser-based peering using Kollective, the browser policy should be checked via chrome://policy or edge://policy.
- Provide the private IP (highly recommended) with the Vimeo application URL set e.g. “http://*.vimeo.com”.
- WebRTC uses a port range UDP 49152-65535 on most operating systems.
- Browser policies can be configured by Windows Group Policy, Mac Preferences or via Chrome Cloud Browser Management and similar.
- If the 'am I ready to peer' tests indicate a problem, see Kollective’s peering compatibility page.
- The port number is configurable and is typically TCP 31017. The eCDN provides service to the browser via the loopback on TCP 31014-31015.
The network your viewers are connected to should have the following ports open:
- All ports between UDP 50000 and 64000 (allows for peer-to-peer connection)
- UDP 19302 (WebRTC stun servers connect via this port)
In addition, their network should whitelist the following domains:
- *.streamroot.io
- backend.dna-delivery.com
How do you handle VPN?
In most situations, it’s desirable to not have VPN users peering at content through the VPN concentrator. In this case, the recommendation is to enable subnet matching and create a site that covers the VPN subnets. Within this site, peering can be disabled. Other options may include allowing split-tunnelling for video traffic or handling it operationally by requiring users to disconnect from VPN to consume the video.
What is Subnet Matching?
Subnet matching is a feature of the Vimeo eCDN that gives network operations teams more control over the behaviour of how the peer mesh forms. It helps network operators better handle the traffic inside their network.
By defining public and private pairings of IPs and subnets, users are able to define sites within their network, and thus limit peer exchanges to within the desired subnet ranges. This helps optimize the mesh formation and limits network traffic flowing over WAN links between customer sites.
If you are interested in subnet matching, reach out to your Account Manager.
How do I know if it’s working?
The technology is entirely based on standard web browser technology, and as such, it’s probably already working in your environment. The easiest way to tell what is and isn’t working is to use our test page: Vimeo eCDN Compatibility Test.
This diagnostic page shows you real-time statistics on the peering as well as a checklist that demonstrates if all services are reachable by the browser and functioning correctly. Please note that if you want to test peer-to-peer sharing, you have to simulate additional users. You can do this either by testing with other members of your team or by opening the test page in additional browser tabs.
How can I troubleshoot?
The same diagnostic page can be used to test your specific account and event by modifying the URL. Simply add the stream ID of your live event to the end of the diagnostic URL, and you’ll be able to view all the same peering statistics and capability checklists with your event as the source. For example, if your live event URL is:
https://vimeo.com/1234567890
You’ll be able to monitor the event through the eCDN diagnostic page if you make the URL:
https://player.vimeo.com/ecdn-test/1234567890
.
The origin of the requesting URL needs to be whitelisted. Read more about that here in Google's documentation.