Learn how to run Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager automatically as system services or manually in standalone mode. Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, which can be controlled separately from the Wowza Streaming Engine server software, is a web-based user interface you can use to configure, manage, and monitor your Wowza Streaming Engine server.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine server software
Wowza Streaming Engine software and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager can run as system services or in standalone mode.
System services start automatically when you start the computer and remain on until you turn them off. By default, Wowza Streaming Engine server software and Streaming Engine Manager install as system services, which means you're running an active instance of Wowza Streaming Engine from the moment of install and any time the host computer is on.
Standalone mode operates independently of the operating system; you start and stop it on demand. As with any standalone software, if you forget or fail to quit the program, you're prompted to do so when you turn off the computer. Standalone mode is required for running Transcoder with accelerated hardware in Windows. It's also useful in testing environments because you can see log output in the console immediately.
You can, however, manually start and stop Wowza software at any time in either operational mode. For example, Subscription license holders might want to turn off the software as a service to avoid being charged for inactive instances of Wowza Streaming Engine.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine as a service (Windows)
Start the service
- Press WIN key + R, type services.msc in the Run dialog box, and then click OK.
- In the Services window, right-click Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28+4 and then click Start.
Stop the service
- Press WIN key + R, type services.msc in the Run dialog box, and then click OK.
- In the Services window, right-click Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28+4 and then click Stop.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine in standalone mode (Windows)
Start the software
To start the software, make sure the Wowza Streaming Engine service is stopped and then do the following:
- Press WIN key + R, type cmd in the Run dialog box, and then press Control + Shift + Enter to open the command prompt as an administrator.
- In the Command Prompt window, execute the following commands:
cd %WMSAPP_HOME%\bin startup.bat
Stop the software
- Press WIN key + R, type cmd in the Run dialog box, and then press Enter.
- In the Command Prompt window, execute the following commands:
cd %WMSAPP_HOME%\bin shutdown.bat
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine as a service (Linux)
Note: The operations in this section must be performed as the root user with sudo access.
Start the service
To start the service, open a Terminal window and enter one of the following commands, depending on your Linux distribution:
sudo systemctl start WowzaStreamingEngine
/etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine start
Stop the service
To stop the service, enter:
sudo systemctl stop WowzaStreamingEngine
/etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngine stop
Note: The Linux services script subsystem doesn't use the full $PATH definition to determine the location of Linux commands. It uses what's known as the init path. This can lead to an issue on Linux distributions where the default installation location for Java can't be found by applying the init path. See Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine in standalone mode (Linux)
Note: The operations in this section must be performed as the root user with sudo access.
Start the software
To start the software, open a Terminal window and enter the following commands:
cd /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin sudo ./startup.sh
Stop the software
To stop the software, enter:
cd /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/bin sudo ./shutdown.sh
Verify that Wowza Streaming Engine is running
To verify that the Wowza Streaming Engine software is running, open a browser and enter the following URL:
Where [wowza-ip-address] is the IP address or domain name of the local or remote Wowza media server. It should return the Wowza Streaming Engine version number. If not, make sure that the server is running and that TCP port 1935 is open on your router, firewall, and/or software firewall (iptables on Linux).
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager
Note: Wowza Streaming Engine server software must be started to use Wowza Streaming Engine Manager.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager as a service (Windows)
Start the service
- Press WIN key + R, type services.msc in the Run dialog box, and then click OK.
- In the Services window, right-click Wowza Streaming Engine Manager 4.8.28+4 and then click Start.
Stop the service
- Press WIN key + R, type services.msc in the Run dialog box, and then click OK.
- In the Services window, right-click Wowza Streaming Engine Manager 4.8.28+4 and then click Stop.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager in standalone mode (Windows)
Start Wowza Streaming Engine Manager
To start Wowza Streaming Engine Manager in standalone mode, make sure that the manager service is stopped and then do the following:
- Press WIN key + R, type cmd in the Run dialog box, and then press Enter.
- In the Command Prompt window, execute the following commands:
cd %WMSAPP_HOME%\manager\bin startmgr.bat
Stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager
- Press WIN key + R, type cmd in the Run dialog box, and then press Enter.
- In the Command Prompt window, execute the following commands:
cd %WMSAPP_HOME%\manager\bin shutdownmgr.bat
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager as a service (Linux)
Note: The operations in this section must be performed as the root user with sudo access.
Start the service
To start the service, enter one of the following commands, depending on your Linux distribution:
sudo systemctl start WowzaStreamingEngineManager
/etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngineManager start
Stop the service
To stop the service, enter:
sudo systemctl stop WowzaStreamingEngineManager
/etc/init.d/WowzaStreamingEngineManager stop
Note: If these instructions don't apply to your Linux distribution, consult your Linux manual.
Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager in standalone mode (Linux)
Start Wowza Streaming Engine Manager
To start Wowza Streaming Engine Manager in standalone mode, open a Terminal window and enter the following commands:
cd /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/manager/bin ./startmgr.sh
Stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager
To stop Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, enter:
cd /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/manager/bin ./shutdownmgr.sh
