Bridges - AWS Elemental MediaConnect
Bridge typesBridge sourcesBridge outputsCreating a MediaConnect Gateway bridge

Bridges

A bridge is a connection between your data center's instances and the AWS Cloud. Depending on the selected bridge type, a bridge can be used to send content from the AWS Cloud to your data center or from your data center to the AWS Cloud.

Bridge types

AWS Elemental MediaConnect Gateway supports two types of bridges. Each bridge type serves a different purpose and determines if you will be contributing content to the AWS Cloud or distributing content to a physical location. The following are the two types of bridges and their different functions:

Ingress bridge: A ground-to-cloud bridge. On an ingress bridge, the content originates at your premises and is delivered to the AWS Cloud.

Egress bridge: A cloud-to-ground bridge. On an egress bridge, the content comes from an existing MediaConnect flow and is delivered to your premises.

Bridge sources

Each bridge requires you to create a minimum of one source. The source is the content that will be ingested by the MediaConnect Gateway. The origin of the source content will be different depending on the bridge type you select. If you create multiple bridge sources, you can enhance the resiliency of your bridge by activating failover during the creation process. The following are the two types of sources:

  • Ingress bridge source: For an ingress bridge, the content originates at your premises and is delivered to the cloud. When creating an ingress bridge source, you will need to select the protocol (RTP, RTP-FEC, or UDP) and enter the multicast IP address and port of the content originating in your premises.

  • Egress bridge source: For an egress bridge, the content originates as an existing MediaConnect flow and is delivered to your premises. When creating an egress bridge source, you will need to select the MediaConnect flow that you would like to send to your premises. You don't need to select the protocol. The source will use the same protocol as the existing flow.

Bridge source failover

If you create multiple bridge sources, you can enhance the resiliency of your bridge by activating failover during the creation process. The failover configuration determines how AWS Elemental MediaConnect Gateway behaves in the event of source input loss. The bridge type will determine which of the two failover modes are available. The following are the two failover modes:

  • Failover: This mode allows switching between a primary and a backup source. You can specify a source as the primary source. The second source serves as the backup. The service switches to the backup source if the primary source fails, and switches back to the primary source as soon as it is reliable.

  • Merge: This mode combines the sources into a single stream, allowing a graceful recovery from any single-source loss. In merge mode, if a source is missing a packet the service pulls the missing packet from the other source.

Bridge outputs

Each bridge requires you to create a minimum of one output. The following are the two types of outputs:

  • Ingress bridge output: For an ingress bridge, the content originates at your premises and is delivered to the cloud. You do not need to configure outputs for ingress bridge types. When you create a MediaConnect flow using the ingress bridge as a source, the output is automatically created when the flow is started.

  • Egress bridge output: For an egress bridge, the content originates as an existing MediaConnect flow and is delivered to your premises. When you create an egress bridge output, you will need to configure the IP and protocol information that will be delivered to your premises. Egress bridge outputs support RTP, RTP-FEC, and UDP protocols.

Creating a MediaConnect Gateway bridge

After you have registered at least one instance to your Gateway, you can create a bridge. The process for creating a bridge will vary depending on the bridge type you select in step 4.

To create an ingress bridge

  1. Open the MediaConnect console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/mediaconnect/.

  2. From the navigation pane, select Gateways. In the Gateways section, select the gateway you want to create the bridge on.

  3. On the gateway Details page, select the Bridges tab. Select Create bridge.

  4. On the Create bridge page, complete the following steps in the Details section:

    1. Enter a Name for the bridge.

    2. For Bridge type, select Ingress bridge.

    3. Enter the Maximum bitrate for the content you will transport over the bridge.

    4. Enter the Maximum outputs for the bridge.

  5. Next, complete the following steps in the Sources section. The source of an ingress bridge is multicast content that originates at your premises. To create a source:

    1. Enter a Name for the bridge source.

    2. Select a Network. This is a network you created during the gateway setup process.

    3. Select the Protocol of the source content.

    4. Enter the Multicast IP and the Port of the source.

  6. If you add more than one source, you can setup failover in the Failover configuration section.

    1. Select the Failover mode: Failover or Merge

    2. If you select Failover as the mode, select one of the sources you configured in step 5 to be the Primary source.

  7. Select Create bridge.

  8. After the bridge is created, you can start the bridge by selecting Start on the bridge's Details page.

To create an Egress bridge

  1. Open the MediaConnect console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/mediaconnect/.

  2. From the navigation pane, select Gateways. In the Gateways section, select the gateway you want to create the bridge on.

  3. On the gateway Details page, select the Bridges tab. Select Create bridge.

  4. On the Create bridge page, complete the following steps in the Details section:

    1. Enter a Name for the bridge.

    2. For Bridge type, select Egress bridge.

    3. Enter the Maximum bitrate for the content you will transport over the bridge.

  5. Next, complete the following steps in the Sources section:

    1. Enter a Name for the bridge source. For an Egress bridge, the source is the content coming from a MediaConnect flow and delivered to your premises.

    2. Select a Network. This is a network you created during the gateway setup process.

    3. Select the Flow ARN. This is the ARN of the MediaConnect flow you will use as a source.

    4. If this flow uses a VPC interface, select it.

  6. If you add more than one source, you can setup failover in the Failover configuration section.

    1. When you select an egress bridge, the only available Failover mode is Failover. Merge cannot be selected.

    2. Select one of the sources you configured in step 5 to be the Primary source.

  7. The final section in egress bridge creation is Outputs. Complete the following steps.

    1. Enter a Name for the bridge output.

    2. Select a Network. This is a network you created during the gateway setup process.

    3. Select the transport Protocol you want to use for the output.

    4. Enter an IP address for the output. This must be an IP that is compatible with your local network.

    5. Enter the Port for the output. This must be a port that is compatible with your local network.

    6. Enter a TTL (time-to-live) for the output.

  8. Select Create bridge.

  9. After the bridge is created, you can start the bridge by selecting Start on the bridge's Details page.