OpenTokRTC

OpenTokRTC is your private web-based video conferencing solution. It is based on the OpenTok platform (now the Vonage Video API) and uses the OpenTok SDKs and API. You can deploy the app on your servers to get your own video conferencing app running on WebRTC.

This repository contains a Node.js server and a web client application.

Table of Contents

• Installation
  • Requirements
  • Installing dependencies
  • Basic configuration
• Runningthe app
• Configuration options
  • OpenTok configuration
  • Screen sharing
  • Phone dial-out
  • Google Authentication for Phone dial-out
  • Archiving
  • Screen sharing
  • Feedback
  • Pre-call test
  • Adobe Analytics
  • ICID tracking
  • Additional configuration options
• Customizing the UI
• Troubleshooting
• Health status check

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Installation

If you want to install OpenTokRTC on your own server, read on. If you want to deploy OpenTokRTC to Heroku, see INSTALL-heroku.md.

Requirements

You will need to install these dependencies on your machine:

• NodeJS v12: This version of OpenTokRTC is tested with NodeJS v12 LTS.
• Redis: A redis server running on localhost.

You will also need these an OpenTok API key and secret. You can obtain these by signing up with OpenTok/Vonage Video API.

Installing dependencies

First, install the dependencies for the server.

If you use nvm, have it use the correct version of Node (v8):

$ nvm use

Then install the Node module dependencies:

$ npm install

Note: You will need to run these commands as a non-root user, else bower will refuse to execute.

Basic configuration

Once all the dependencies are in place, you will need to set some configuration options and install the application's dependencies. At a minimum, you need to set options for the OpenTok API key and secret to be used by the app. You can obtain these from your OpenTok account.

Other features of the app are enabled and configured using more configuration options, described in this README.

There are two ways to set configuration options for the application:

• Using a config.json file
• Setting environment variables

Using a config.json file

First create create a config.json file in the config folder.

$ cd <path-to-opentok-rtc>
$ cp config/example.json config/config.json

Edit the config.json file with the following, and replace <key> and <secret> with your OpenTok API key and the corresponding API secret:

{
    "OpenTok": {
        "apiKey": "<key>"
        "apiSecret": "<secret>"
    }
}

The config/example.json file includes settings for other options, which are described in the Configuration options section below.

Setting environment variables

You can set the TB_API_KEY and TB_API_SECRET to your OpenTok API key and secret. For example, the following shell commands export these values for use by the app (replace <key> and <secret> with your OpenTok API key and the corresponding API secret):

export TB_API_KEY=<key>
export TB_API_SECRET=<secret>

You can set other environment variables to enable and configure other options, which are described in the Configuration options section.

Running the app

Ensure that Redis server is running on localhost. In a terminal, run:

redis-server

Then start the application in foreground by running:

$ node server

This will start the application on port 8123 by default.

To specify a custom port number, use the -p flag when calling node server. For example, to run the application on port 8080, run:

$ node server -p 8080

Additionally, you can start the application as a daemon by passing -d flag, which starts the application and keeps it running in the background so that your terminal is not blocked:

$ node server -d

To start the server with HTTPS enabled, pass -S flag to launch a secure server along with -C <dir> flag to specify a directory that holds SSL certificate files. To quickly start a secure server, run:

$ node server -S -C sampleCerts

The server expects SSL certificate file to be named serverCert.pem and an SSL private key file to be named serverKey.pem. There is a pre-generated, self-signed SSL certificate pair in the ./sampleCerts directory.

For detailed information on available options, run $ node server -h.

Configuration options

You can enable and configure UI settings and other options using a config JSON file or by setting environment variables.

Environment variable settings overwrite any value set with the config JSON file.

The default config JSON file location is config/config.json. This path can be overwritten by setting the DEFAULT_JSON_CONFIG_PATH environment variable.

OpenTok configuration

The required configuration settings for the OpenTok API key and secret are described in the basic configuration section, earlier in this README.

There are other OpenTok configuration settings (each of which are optional):

• Publisher resolution -- You can set the desired resolution of published video. The config.json setting is OpenTok.publisherResolution. The environment variable name is PUBLISHER_RESOLUTION.

  The format of the string is "widthxheight", where the width and height are represented in pixels. Valid values are "1280x720", "640x480", and "320x240". The published video will only use the desired resolution if the client configuration supports it. Some browsers and clients do not support each of these resolution settings.

  The default resolution for a stream (if you do not specify a resolution) is 640x480 pixels. If the client system cannot support the resolution you requested, the stream will use the next largest setting supported.

• OpenTok.js URL -- By default, the app uses the latest standard line version of OpenTok.js. You can change the OpenTok.js source URL. For example you may want to change this to the enterprise line version of OpenTok.js (https://static.opentok.com/v2/js/opentok.min.js).

  The config.json setting is OpenTok.jsUrl. The environment variable name is TB_JS_URL.

• Session expiration length -- To conserve Redis memory, the app limits how long how long room names are associated with OpenTok session IDs. The app stores the last time a session is used and if when we fetch it from Redis we determine it's older than this max age (in days). This is the key where that value (in days) should be stored. By default, sessions live two days.

  The config.json setting is OpenTok.maxSessionAge. The environment variable name is TB_MAX_SESSION_AGE.

• OpenTok media mode -- You can specify whether the OpenTok sessions will use the OpenTok Media Router ('routed') or not ('relayed'). For more information, see The OpenTok Media Router and media modes. The default value is 'routed'.

The config.json setting is mediaMode. The environment variable name is MEDIA_MODE.

Config.json example:

{
    "OpenTok": {
      "apiKey": "<key>",
      "apiSecret": "<secret>",
      "publisherResolution": "1280x720",
      "jsUrl": "https://static.opentok.com/v2/js/opentok.min.js",
      "maxSessionAge": 7
    },
    "mediaMode": "routed"
}

Environment variable example:

export PUBLISHER_RESOLUTION="1280x720";
export TB_JS_URL="https://static.opentok.com/v2/js/opentok.min.js";
export TB_MAX_SESSION_AGE="7";

Phone dial-out

The app can dial out and add a phone-based end user to the OpenTok session, using the OpenTok SIP API. This app uses Nexmo as the SIP application that connects to OpenTok. (You can also use the OpenTok SIP API to connect to other SIP endpoints.)

To enable this feature:

1. Sign up for a Nexmo/Vonage account.

2. Edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

   • SIP.enabled (config.json) / SIP_ENABLED (environment variable) -- Set this to true.

   • SIP.username (config.json) / SIP_USERNAME (environment variable) -- Set this to the apiKey for the Nexmo account you created.

   • SIP.password (config.json) / SIP_PASSWORD (environment variable) -- Set this to the apiSecret for the Nexmo account you created.

   • SIP.requireGoogleAuth (config.json) / SIP_REQUIRE_GOOGLE_AUTH (environment variable) -- See Google Authentication for Phone dial-out for instructions on how to limit this functionality to users authenticated by their Google account.

Config.json example:

{
    "SIP": {
        "enabled" : true,
        "sipUsername" : "nexmoApiKey",
        "sipPassword" : "nexmoApiSecret",
        "requireGoogleAuth": false
    }
}

Environment variable example:

export SIP_ENABLED=true;
export SIP_USERNAME="nexmoApiKey";
export SIP_PASSWORD="nexmoApiSecret";
export SIP_REQUIRE_GOOGLE_AUTH=false;

Google Authentication for Phone dial-out

You can limit the ability to place outgoing calls to those authenticated by Google. To enable this feature:

1. Create a Google API Console Project and client ID following the steps detailed here: https://developers.google.com/identity/sign-in/web/devconsole-project.

2. Edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• Google.clientId (config.json) / GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID (environment variable) -- Set this to your client ID.

• Google.hostedDomain (config.json) / GOOGLE_HOSTED_DOMAIN (environment variable) -- If you wish to limit sign in to accounts associated with a hosted domain, set the domain here.

• Sip.requireGoogleAuth (config.json) / SIP_REQUIRE_GOOGLE_AUTH (environment variable) -- Set this totrue to require Google authentication for SIP dial-out as detailed in Phone dial-out.

Config.json example:

{
    "Google": {
        "clientId": "yourClientId.apps.googleusercontent.com",
        "hostedDomain": "yourhosteddomain.com"
    },
    "SIP" : {
        "sipUri" : "sip:phoneumber@sip.nexmo.com",
      "sipUsername" : "nexmoApiKey",
      "sipPassword" : "nexmoApiSecret",
      "requireGoogleAuth": true
    }
}

Environment variable example:

export GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=yourClientId.apps.googleusercontent.com;
export GOOGLE_HOSTED_DOMAIN=yourhosteddomain.com;
export SIP_REQUIRE_GOOGLE_AUTH=true;

Archiving

To enable and configure archiving (recording), edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• Archiving.enabled (config.json) / ENABLE_ARCHIVING (environment variable) -- Set this to true to include the Record button in the UI, allowing the end user to record a session. If you also set the Archiving.archiveAlways / ARCHIVE_ALWAYS to true, each session is recorded automatically and the UI does not include the Record button. The default value is false.

• Archiving.archiveAlways (config.json) / ARCHIVE_ALWAYS (environment variable) -- Whether to record all sessions automatically (without the end user having to click the Record button (which is not displayed if this option is set to true). The default value is false.

• Archiving.pollingInitialTimeout (config.json) / ARCHIVE_TIMEOUT (environment variable -- The initial polling timeout (in milliseconds) for archive status change updates. Set this to 0 to disable polling. The default value is 5000.

• Archiving.pollingTimeoutMultiplier (config.json) / TIMEOUT_MULTIPLIER (environment variable -- The timeout multiplier for archive status updates. If the first archive status update polling fails, subsequent polling intervals will apply this multiplier successively. Set to a lower number to poll more often. The default value is 1.5.

• Archiving.archivingManager.enabled (config.json) / ENABLE_ARCHIVE_MANAGER (environment variable) -- Whether the UI will include a list of archive recordings for the session. The end user can click an archive to view the recording. This setting is only meaningful if Archiving.enabled / ENABLE_ARCHIVING is set to true. The default value is false.

  Note: The OpenTokRTC app retrieves the archive recordings from the OpenTok cloud storage. However, you may choose to have archives uploaded to an Amazon S3 bucket or an Azure container. If you do, you will need to modify the OpenTokRTC code to obtain archive recordings from the chosen storage location. For more information, see Archive storage in the OpenTok developer guides.

Config.json example:

{
    "Archiving": {
        "enabled": true,
        "archiveAlways": true,
        "pollingInitialTimeout": 10000,
        "pollingTimeoutMultiplier": 1,
        "archiveManager": {
            "enabled": true,
        }
    }
}

Environment variable example:

export ENABLE_ARCHIVING=true;
export ARCHIVE_ALWAYS=true;
export ARCHIVE_TIMEOUT=10000;
export TIMEOUT_MULTIPLIER=1;
export ENABLE_ARCHIVE_MANAGER=true;

Screen sharing

To enable and configure screen sharing, edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• Screensharing.enabled (config.json) / ENABLE_SCREENSHARING (environment variable) -- Whether to enable screen sharing. The default value is false.

• Screensharing.chromeExtensionId (config.json) / CHROME_EXTENSION_ID (environment variable) -- The Chrome add-on extension ID for screen sharing. Note: an extension is no longer required for screen sharing in Chrome 72+ and Opera 59+. The browser prompts the end user for access to the screen as it would for access to the camera. Use a screen-sharing extension only if you need to support older versions of Chrome and Opera. The default value is null.

• Screensharing.annotations (config.json) / ENABLE_ANNOTATIONS (environment variable) -- Whether to enable annotations in screen sharing. With annotations enabled, the room toolbar includes an Annotate button is This is only meaningful if screen sharing is enabled. The default value is true.

To learn more about how screen sharing works in OpenTok, see the guide on screen sharing.

Config.json example:

{
    "Screensharing": {
        "enabled": true,
        "chromeExtensionId": "cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb",
        "annotations": {
            "enabled": true
        }
    } 
}

Environment variable example:

export ENABLE_SCREENSHARING=true;
export CHROME_EXTENSION_ID=cfhdojbkjhnklbpkdaibdccddilifddb;
export ENABLE_ANNOTATIONS=true;

Feedback

The app lets the developer POST feedback data to an endpoint on your HTTP server. To enable and configure this, edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• Feedback.url (config.json) / FEEDBACK_URL (environment variable) -- The URL to send a POST request with feedback data. Leave this as an empty string or undefined to disable issue reporting. The default value is ''.

• Feedback.reportIssueLevel (config.json) / REPORT_ISSUE_LEVEL (environment variable) -- The audio and video scores in the feedback form are between 1 (awful) and 5 (excellent). When the feedback form is submitted, if an audio or video score is less than or equal to the report issue level, the app calls OT.reportIssue(). This reports an issue, which you can view in OpenTok Inspector. For more information, see Reporting an issue in the OpenTok developer guides. Set this to 0 to disable issue reporting. The default value is 3.

Config.json example:

{
    "Feedback": {
        "url": "https://my-app.com/feedback-endpoint/",
        "reportIssueLevel": 3
    }
}

Environment variable example:

export FEEDBACK_URL="https://my-app.com/feedback-endpoint/";
export REPORT_ISSUE_LEVEL=3;

Instead of posting feedback to an endpoint on your HTTP server, you can use Hotjar to collect feedback. Edit the following options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• Feedback.hotjarId (config.json) / HOTJAR_ID: (Optional, default value: null) The unique site ID for the application. This helps Hotjar tracking code to collect feedback data.

• Feedback.hotjarVersion (config.json) / HOTJAR_VERSION: (Optional, default value: null) Version of the Tracking Code using with hjsv.

• Feedback.enableFeedback (config.json) / ENABLE_FEEDBACK (environment variable) -- Set this to true when using Hotjar for feedback.

• Feedback.reportIssueLevel (config.json) / REPORT_ISSUE_LEVEL (environment variable) -- This setting is ignored when using Hotjar for feedback.

• Feedback.url (config.json) / FEEDBACK_URL (environment variable) -- This setting is ignored when using Hotjar for feedback.

Config.json example:

{
     "Feedback": {
         "hotjarId": "your-hotjar-id",
         "hotjarVersion": "your-hotjar-version",
         "enableFeedback": true,
     }
}

Environment variable example:

export HOTJAR_ID=your-hotjar-id;
export HOTJAR_VERSION=your-hotjar-version;
export ENABLE_FEEDBACK=true;

Pre-call test

Set the the TB_PRECALL_API_KEY and TB_PRECALL_API_SECRET environment variables to the the OpenTok API key and secret to use for the test session used by the precall-test. Or set these in the config.json file:

Config.json example:

{
    "precallTest": {
        "apiKey": "46049502",
        "apiSecret": "0f4a63f629cec64ebdc5552974fe2566d2eb2835"
    }
}

These are optional. If you do not set these, the pre-call test will use the same API key and secret that is used for the main OpenTok session used in the room.

You can disable the pre-call test by setting the ENABLE_PRECALL_TEST environment variable to false. Or you can disable it using the config file:

Config.json example:

{
    "precallTest": {
        "enabled": false
    }
}

Adobe Analytics

The app lets the developer configure Adobe Analytics to track user information. To configure this, edit options in the config/config.json file or set environment variables:

• adobeTracking.url (config.json) / ADOBE_TRACKING_URL (environment variable) -- The URL to download the custom embed code. The default value is ''.

• adobeTracking.primaryCategory (config.json) / ADOBE_TRACKING_PRIMARY_CATEGORY (environment variable) -- The value that will be included in Adobe Analytics object field: digitalData.page.pageInfo.primaryCategory. The default value is ''.

• adobeTracking.siteIdentifier (config.json) / ADOBE_TRACKING_SITE_IDENTIFIER (environment variable) -- The value that will be included in Adobe Analytics object field: digitalData.page.pageInfo.siteIdentifier. The default value is ''.

• adobeTracking.functionDept (config.json) / ADOBE_TRACKING_FUNCTION_DEPT (environment variable) -- The value that will be included in Adobe Analytics object field: digitalData.page.pageInfo.functionDept. The default value is ''.

ICID tracking

You can set ICID query string values for the end (/thanks) page URLs with these settings:

• icid.startBuiliding (config.json) / START_BUILDING_ICID (environment variable) -- The ICID for the "How to make this app better" and "Start building for free" links. The default value is ''.

• icid.contactUs (config.json) / CONTACT_US_ICID (environment variable) -- The ICID for the "Contact us" link. The default value is ''.

Additional configuration options

• appName (config.json) / APP_NAME (environment variable) -- The name of the application displayed in the precall widget, in the top of the room page, and in the end (/thanks) page. The default value is 'Vonage Video Conferencing'.

• introText (config.json) / INTRO_TEXT (environment variable) -- The text displayed under the application name in the precall widget. The default value is 'Welcome to Video Conferencing'.

• introFooterLinkText (config.json) / INTRO_FOOTER_LINK_TEXT (environment variable) -- The text for the optional link displayed under the intro text in the precall widget. If no value is specified (or if it is set the an empty string), no link is displayed. The default value is ''.

• introFooterLinkUrl (config.json) / INTRO_FOOTER_LINK_URL (environment variable) -- The URL for the optional link displayed under the intro text in the precall widget. The default value is ''.

• helpLinkText1 (config.json) / HELP_LINK_TEXT_1 (environment variable) -- The text for the first help link displayed after "Need help?" at the top of the precall widget. If you do not set this option, the "Need help" section is omitted.

• helpLinkUrl1 (config.json) / HELP_LINK_URL_1 (environment variable) -- The URL for the first help link the precall widget.

• helpLinkText2 (config.json) / HELP_LINK_TEXT_2 (environment variable) -- The text for the second help link displayed after "Need help?" at the top of the precall widget. If you do not set this option, second help link is omitted.

• helpLinkUrl2 (config.json) / HELP_LINK_URL_2 (environment variable) -- The URL for the second help link the precall widget.

• showTos (config.json) / SHOW_TOS (environment variable) -- Whether the app will display the terms of service dialog box and require the user to agree to the terms before joining a room. The default value is false.

• meetingsRatePerMinute (config.json) / MEETINGS_RATE_PER_MINUTE (environment variable) -- Determines the maximum amount of new meetings that can be created in a minute. Users will be allowed to join a meeting that already exists. Otherwise a message will appear telling them that the service is not available at the moment. If the value is set to any negative number, rate limiting will be turned off and all meetings will be allowed. If this value is set to 0, all new meetings will be rejected. The default value is -1.

• minMeetingNameLength (config.json) / MIN_MEETING_NAME_LENGTH (environment variable) -- The minimum length of meeting names created. The default value, 0, indicates that there is no minimum length. (You can set this in the config file using the minMeetingNameLength setting.) The default value is 0.

• allowIframing (config.json) / ALLOW_IFRAMING (environment variable) -- Controls the server-side restriction on allowing content to load inside an iframe. The allowed values are:

  • 'always' -- Allow iframing unconditionally (note that rtcApp.js should also be changed to reflect this, this option only changes what the server allows)

  • 'never' Set X-Frame-Options to 'DENY' (Deny loading content in any iframe)

  • 'sameorigin': Set X-Frame-Options to 'SAMEORIGIN' (Only allow iframe content to be loaded from pages in the same origin)

  We don't allow restricting iframe loading to specific URIs because it doesn't work on Chrome. The default value is 'never'.

• useGoogleFonts (config.json) / USE_GOOGLE_FONTS (environment variable) -- Whether the client app will load the Open Sans font (the main font used in the user interface) from the Google font library (fonts.googleapis.com) or not. The default value is true.

• jqueryUrl (config.json) / JQUERY_URL (environment variable) -- Route of the CDN that will be used to load JQuery scripts. The default value is 'https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/'.

• oneTrustCookieConsentUrl (config.json) / ONE_TRUST_COOKIE_CONSENT_URL (environment variable) -- Route of the OneTrust cookie consent URL. Leave blank or unset to turn the feature off. This setting is unset by default.

• enableMuteAll (config.json) / ENABLE_MUTE_ALL (environment variable) -- Whether to show the Mute All control in the top menu of the room. (You can set this in the config file using the enableMuteAll setting.) The default value is true.

• enableStopReceivingVideo (config.json) / ENABLE_STOP_RECEIVING_VIDEO (environment variable) -- Whether to show the Stop Receiving Video control in the top menu of the room. The default value is true.

• maxUsersPerRoom (config.json) / MAX_USERS_PER_ROOM (environment variable) -- The maximum number of users allowed in a room at the same time. Set this to 0, the default, to allow any number of users. The default value is 0.

• enableRoomLocking (config.json) / ENABLE_ROOM_LOCKING (environment variable) -- Whether or not to include the Lock Meeting command to users in the options menu. This command allows users to prevent new participants from joining a meeting. The default value is true.

• autoGenerateRoomName (config.json) / AUTO_GENERATE_ROOM_NAME (environment variable) -- Whether or not to auto-generate the room name on behalf of the user. If this setting is turned on, we will use haikunator to generate room names for new rooms. If turned off, users will be prompted to enter a room/meeting name when they visit the landing page and won't be allowed to move forward until they do so. The default value is true.

• enableEmoji (config.json) / ENABLE_EMOJI (environment variable) -- Whether or not to enable emoji support in the text chat widget.

Customizing the UI

For information on how to customize the OpenTokRTC UI, see CUSTOMIZING-UI.md.

Troubleshooting

"ServerPersistence: Timeout while connecting to the Persistence Provider! Is Redis running?

Ensure Redis server is running on localhost (run redis-server in the command line) and restart OpenTokRTC.

OpenTokRTC does not work when served over HTTP.

Browser security policies require HTTPS for WebRTC video communications. You will need to set up the app to be served over HTTPS. You can set up a secure reverse-proxy to your OpenTokRTC port using Nginx. For details, read this post.

UI looks broken

UI assets are compiled as part of the build process when installing application dependencies using npm install. If the web application UI still looks broken, run the following commands in the root directory of the application:

$ bower install
$ npm run clientBuild

We recommend that you run the application as a non-root user. However, if you are running the application as the root user, you will additionally need to tell bower to allow the root user to install dependencies, else bower will refuse to work:

$ bower install --allow-root

Health status check

There is a health status check endpoint at /server/health. You can load this URL to check whether the app is able to connect to all required external services. On success, this health check endpoint sends a response with the HTTP status code set to 200 and the JSON like the following:

{
  "name": "opentok-rtc",
  "version": "4.1.1",
  "gitHash": "312903cd043d5267bc11639718c47a9b313c1663",
  "opentok": true,
  "googleAuth": true,
  "status": "pass"
}

The JSON includes the following properties:

• name -- "ot-embed"

• version -- The version number deployed (from package.json)

• git_hash -- The git commit deployed

• opentok -- Whether the OpenTok API check passed. The app uses the OpenTok Node.js SDK, which connects to the OpenTok API server to create OpenTok sessions.

• googleAuth -- Whether the Google Authentication check passed. This check is only run if the app uses Google Authentication for making outbound SIP calls. (See Google Authentication for Phone dial-out.)

• status -- "pass" (if all checks pass) or "fail" (if any check fails)

On failure, the health status check endpoint returns a response with the HTTP status code set 400 and JSON like the following:

{
  "name": "opentok-rtc",
  "version": "4.1.1",
  "git_hash": "312903cd043d5267bc11639718c47a9b313c1663",
  "opentok": false,
  "error": "OpenTok API server timeout exceeded.",
  "status": "fail"
}

Note that upon failure, the status property is set to "fail" and the error property is set to an error message. Also, the property for the failing test, such as opentok, will be set to false. If a test fails, the health check will not run subsequent tests.

Development and Contributing

Interested in contributing? We ❤️ pull requests! See the Contribution guidelines.

Getting Help

We love to hear from you. If you have questions, comments or find a bug, let us know:

• Open an issue on this repository https://github.com/opentok/opentok-rtc/issues.

• See https://support.tokbox.com/ for support options.

• Tweet at us! We're @VonageDev on Twitter.

• Or join the Vonage Developer Community Slack.

Further Reading

Check out the OpenTok documentation at https://tokbox.com/developer/.