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This article introduces the media connector (preview) in Azure IoT Operations. The media connector makes images and video from media sources such as IP cameras available to other Azure IoT Operations components. The media connector is secure and performant.
Media source types
The media connector can connect to various sources, including:
| Media source | Example URLs | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Edge attached camera | file://host/dev/video0file://host/dev/usb0 |
No authentication required. The URL refers to the device file. Connects to a node using USB, FireWire, MIPI, or proprietary interface. |
| IP camera | rtsp://192.168.178.45:554/stream1 |
JPEG over HTTP for snapshots, RTSP/RTCP/RTP/MJPEG-TS for video streams. An IP camera might also expose a standard ONVIF control interface. |
| Media server | rtsp://192.168.178.45:554/stream1 |
JPEG over HTTP for snapshots, RTSP/RTCP/RTP/MJPEG-TS for video streams. A media server can also serve images and videos using URLs such as ftp://host/path or smb://host/path |
| Media file | http://camera1/snapshot/profile1nfs://server/path/file.extension file://localhost/media/path/file.mkv |
Any media file with a URL accessible from the cluster. |
| Media folder | file://host/path/to/folder/ftp://server/path/to/folder/ |
A folder, accessible from the cluster, that contains media files such as snapshots or clips. |
Task types
The media connector supports the following task types:
| Task type | Description |
|---|---|
| snapshot-to-mqtt | Captures a snapshot from a media source and publishes it to an MQTT topic. |
| clip-to-fs | Saves a video clip from a media source to the file system. |
| snapshot-to-fs | Saves a snapshot from a media source to the file system. |
| stream-to-rtsp | Proxies a live video stream from a media source to an RTSP endpoint. |
| stream-to-rtsps | Proxies a live video stream from a media source to an RTSPs endpoint. |
Example uses
Example uses of the media connector include:
Capture snapshots from a video stream or from an image URL and publish them to an MQTT topic. A subscriber to the MQTT topic can use the captured images for further processing or analysis.
Save video streams to a local file system on your cluster. Use Azure Container Storage enabled by Azure Arc to provide a reliable and fault-tolerant solution for uploading the captured video to the cloud for storage or processing.
Proxy a live video stream from a camera to an endpoint that an operator can access. For security and performance reasons, only the media connector should have direct access to an edge camera. The media connector uses a separate media server component to stream video to an operator's endpoint. This media server can transcode to various protocols such as RTSP, RTCP, SRT, and HLS. You need to deploy your own media server to provide these capabilities.
How does it relate to Azure IoT Operations?
The media connector is part of Azure IoT Operations. The connector deploys to an Arc-enabled Kubernetes cluster on the edge as part of an Azure IoT Operations deployment. The connector interacts with other Azure IoT Operations elements, such as: