This guide provides step-by-step instructions for updating your licensed Wowza Streaming Engine™ media server software installation to a newer version. When you update Wowza Streaming Engine, your current installation is automatically backed up if you want to remove the update later.
Note: You can't use Wowza Streaming Engine updaters to install a new Wowza Streaming Engine instance. For that, you must use the installer, which you can get on our Downloads webpage.
About Wowza Streaming Engine updates
Updates for Wowza Streaming Engine are packaged in a ZIP archive updater file using the naming convention WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version ].zip, where [version] is the update version.
You must have an active Maintenance and Support contract to receive updaters. The Maintenance and Support contract entitles you to free full upgrades, dot-release updates for Wowza Streaming Engine, and emails to technical support. If you have a valid license for Wowza Streaming Engine, you can create an account on Wowza.com and then sign in to your Account Management page to find available updaters on the Downloads tab.
Before you start
Depending on the version of your base installation of Wowza Streaming Engine and the version you want to update to, you may need to install a supported Java version before you update.
Updating to Wowza Streaming Engine version 4.8.28
Before you begin, review Wowza Streaming Engine support for Java 21.
With Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28, we started the transition towards Java 21. For information about the benefits of this transition, see Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28 Release Notes.
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28 is compiled using Java 11 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2), but new installations include Java 21 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 21.0.3). You can roll back to Java 11 if needed. When using the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28 updater, we respect the same JRE included with your original installation for Java 11 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2).
Complete the following tasks if you're updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.28 from a base installation of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.27 or earlier:
- Install a supported version of Java, such as Java 11, 12, or 21. For Java 11, you can use this OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2 package. For Java 21, download this OpenJDK Java SE JRE 21.0.3 package. Then, instruct Wowza Streaming Engine to use a specific Java version.
Note: Any custom user modules designed for previous Java versions may need to be modified to work in Java version 21.
Updating to Wowza Streaming Engine version 4.8.18 - 4.8.27
Before you begin, review Wowza Streaming Engine support for Java 11-12.
Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 - 4.8.27 is compiled using Java 11 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2) and supports Java versions 11 - 12. Earlier versions of Java aren't supported.
Complete the following tasks if you're updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 - 4.8.27 from a base installation of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.17 or earlier:
- Install a supported version of Java, such as Java 11-12 or the OpenJDK Java SE JRE 11.0.2 installed with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 - 4.8.27. Then, instruct Wowza Streaming Engine to use a specific Java version.
Note: Any custom user modules designed for previous Java versions may need to be modified to work in Java version 11.
Updating to Wowza Streaming Engine version 4.7.8 - 4.8.17
Before you begin, review Wowza Streaming Engine support for Java 9.
Wowza Streaming Engine versions 4.7.8 - 4.8.17 were compiled using Java 9 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4), but they support up to Java version 12. Previous versions of Wowza Streaming Engine (version 4.7.7 and earlier) required Java 8.
Complete the following tasks if you're updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.7.8 - 4.8.17 from a base installation of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.7.7 or earlier:
- Install a supported version of Java, such as Java 9-12 or the OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 installed with Wowza Streaming Engine 4.7.8 - 4.8.17. Then, instruct Wowza Streaming Engine to use a specific Java version.
With Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5, we repackaged the version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 installed with Wowza Streaming Engine. This custom package of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 is not installed with earlier versions of Wowza Streaming Engine but is recommended for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 - 4.8.17.
Additionally, the java.scripting module included in the custom packaged version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 is required for Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.8 - 4.8.17, but it's not added by the Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.8 updater. If you are updating to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 - 4.8.17 from Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.0 or earlier, before you update, install the custom version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4. Then, instruct Wowza Streaming Engine to use that version of Java.
Note: If you are updating to Wowza Streaming Engine versions 4.7.8 through 4.8.5, the winstone.properties file, and any custom configurations specified in it for Wowza Streaming Engine Manager, will be overwritten with the new Apache Tomcat 9.0 file (tomcat.properties). To continue using your custom configurations, you must manually re-add your settings to the tomcat.properties file. For more information, see Stopped using the Winstone servlet container in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager.
Applying an update
Notes:
- Administrator/root privileges are required to apply an update.
- You must stop Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager before applying an update. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information about how to do this.
- Applying an update to Wowza Streaming Engine overwrites the [install-dir]/manager/bin/startmgr.sh (Linux) or [install-dir]/manager/bin/startmgr.bat (Windows) file. If you've modified this file and wish to keep the modifications, you must update the new file accordingly.
Apply an update on Windows (video tutorial)
Note: While some images may not be entirely up-to-date, this video describes the general process of applying a Wowza Streaming Engine update on Windows. For additional help, see:
Apply an update on Windows (step-by-step instructions)
You can use these step-by-step instructions to apply a Wowza Streaming Engine update on Windows.
- Extract the updater .zip file contents and then copy the included WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version] folder to your [install-dir]/updates directory, where [install-dir] is the install directory of Wowza Streaming Engine. See Confirm that the install directory is present for more details.
- Stop Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. For more information, see:
- Open an elevated command prompt:
- Click Start, and then in the Search programs and files box type Command Prompt.
- In the search results, right-click on the Command Line program, then click Run as administrator.
- Execute the following command to change the active directory to the location of update.bat:
cd [install-dir]/updates/WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version]/windows
Note: Instead of typing out the file path, you can copy the directory from the Finder window and right-click in the Command Prompt window to paste the selection.
- Execute the following command to apply the update:
update.bat
- Follow the prompts on the command line. You'll see something similar to the following:
update.bat Verifying running as administrative user Locating Wowza Streaming Engine installation directory Running Wowza Streaming Engine update installer Path: This will update your installation at : [install-dir] Currently installed version : Wowza Streaming Engine <version> - Build <#> This will update your installation to : Wowza Streaming Engine <version> - Build <#> Are you sure you want to continue? (y/n) y Wowza Streaming Engine <version> Release Notes Version: Wowza Streaming Engine <new version> This document describes the detailed changes in Wowza Streaming Engine <new version>. For more information about the features and known issues in this version of the server, see the README.txt file in the files directory of this update. ======================================== Changes in <new version> Build <#> ... Press enter/return to continue Detected operating system: windows Checking file versions. Backing up current files. Successfully created backup: [path-to-backup-file] Updating installation. The update process completed successfully. - Restart the services from step 2. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information.
Important: Do not delete the WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version].zip file. You'll need it if you want to remove the update later. Only that version of the update tool will remove that version of the update. See Removing an update for more information about remove (rollback) updates.
Apply an update on Linux (video tutorial)
Note: While some images may not be entirely up-to-date, this video describes the general process of applying a Wowza Streaming Engine update on Linux. For additional help, see:
Apply an update on Linux (step-by-step instructions)
You can use these step-by-step instructions to apply a Wowza Streaming Engine update on Linux.
- Extract the updater .zip file contents. In most cases, extracting the .zip file automatically creates a WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version] folder that contains the .zip file contents where [version] is the Wowza Streaming Engine version number. If not, create a folder with that naming convention and copy the extracted .zip file contents into it.
- Copy the WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version] folder to your [install-dir]/updates directory, where [install-dir] is the install directory of Wowza Streaming Engine. See Confirm that the install directory is present for more details.
- Stop Wowza Streaming Engine and Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. For more information, see:
- Open a Terminal window and execute the following command to change the active directory to the location of update.sh:
cd [install-dir]/updates/WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version]/linux
Note: Instead of typing out the file path, you can drag and drop the folder from Finder into the Terminal window to automatically enter the folder location.
- Change to root or use the sudo command if you have sudo privileges to perform the following commands:
- If you must restore the execute permissions on the initial update scripts, execute the following command:
sudo chmod +x *.sh
- Execute the following command to apply the update:
sudo ./update.sh
- If you must restore the execute permissions on the initial update scripts, execute the following command:
- Follow prompts on the command line. You'll see something similar to the following:
./update.sh Verifying running as administrative user Locating Wowza Streaming Engine installation directory Running Wowza Streaming Engine update installer Path: This will update your installation at : [install-dir] Currently installed version : Wowza Streaming Engine <version> - Build <#> This will update your installation to : Wowza Streaming Engine <version> - Build <#> Are you sure you want to continue? (y/n) y Wowza Streaming Engine <version> Release Notes Version: Wowza Streaming Engine <new version> This document describes the detailed changes in Wowza Streaming Engine <new version>. For more information about the features and known issues in this version of the Server, see the README.txt file in the files directory of this update. ======================================== Changes in <new version> Build <#> ... Press enter/return to continue Detected operating system: [linux]|[osx] Checking file versions. Backing up current files. Successfully created backup: [path-to-backup-file] Updating installation. The update process completed successfully. - Restart the services from step 2. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information.
Important: Do not delete the WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version].zip file. You'll need it if you want to remove the update later. Only that version of the update tool will remove that version of the update. See Removing an update for more information about remove (rollback) updates.
Removing an update
Notes:
- Administrator/root privileges are required to remove an update.
- You must stop Wowza Streaming Engine before removing an update. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information.
- Wowza Streaming Engine 4.7.8 - 4.8.17 is compiled using Java 9 and Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 and later are compiled using Java 11. If you're removing an update to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.18 or later and reverting to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.7.8 - 4.8.17, you need to manually change your Java version back to Java 9. For more information, see Manually install and troubleshoot Java on Wowza Streaming Engine.
Remove an update on Windows (step-by-step instructions)
You can use these instructions to remove an update of Wowza Streaming Engine on Windows.
- Extract the updater .zip file contents. Then copy the included WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version] folder to your [install-dir]/updates directory if you don't already have it there from applying the update.
- Open an elevated command prompt:
- Click Start, and then in the Search programs and files box type Command Prompt.
- In the search results, right-click on the Command Line program, then click Run as administrator.
- Execute the following command to change the active directory to the location of update.bat:
cd [install-dir]/updates/WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version]/windows
Note: Instead of typing out the file path, you can copy the directory from the Windows Explorer window and right click in the Command Prompt window to paste the selection.
- Execute the following command to remove the update:
update.bat -u
- Follow the prompts on the command line. You'll see something similar to the following:
update.bat -u Verifying running as administrative user Locating Wowza Streaming Engine installation directory Running Wowza Streaming Engine update installer Path: This will uninstall Wowza Streaming Engine <update version> - Build <#> from your system. This will be removed from your installation at : [install-dir] Detected operating system: windows Found backupfile. [backup-file-name] Restoring from detected backup: [path-to-backup-file] Restoring to version: Wowza Streaming Engine <old version> - Build <#> Are you sure you want to continue? (y/n) y Restoring from [path-to-backup-file] Restoration complete.
- Restart the server. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information.
Remove an update on Linux (step-by-step instructions)
You can use these instructions to remove an update of Wowza Streaming Engine on Linux.
- Extract the updater .zip file contents. Then copy the included WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version] folder to your [install-dir]/updates directory if you don't already have it there from applying the update.
- Open a Terminal window and execute the following command to change the active directory to the location of update.sh:
cd [install-dir]/updates/WowzaStreamingEngine-Update-[version]/linux
Note: Instead of typing out the file path, you can drag and drop the folder from Finder into the Terminal window to automatically enter the folder location.
- Change to root or use the sudo command if you have sudo privileges to perform the following commands:
- If you must restore the execute permissions on the initial update scripts, execute the following command:
sudo chmod +x *.sh
- Execute the following command:
sudo ./update.sh -u
- If you must restore the execute permissions on the initial update scripts, execute the following command:
- Follow the prompts on the command line. You'll see something similar to the following:
update.sh -u Verifying running as administrative user Locating Wowza Streaming Engine installation directory Running Wowza Streaming Engine update installer This will uninstall Wowza Streaming Engine <version> - Build <#> from your system. This will be removed from your installation at: [install-dir] Detected operating system: [linux]|[osx] Found backup file: [backup-file-name] Restoring from backup:[install-dir]/updates/backup/[backup-file-name] Restoring to version: Wowza Streaming Engine <old version> - Build <#> Are you sure you want to continue? (y/n) y Restoring from backup: [install-dir]/updates/backup/[backup-file-name] Restoration complete.
- Restart the server. See Start and stop Wowza Streaming Engine for more information.
