MediaTailor parameter routing for ADS and origins - AWS Elemental MediaTailor

MediaTailor parameter routing for ADS and origins

AWS Elemental MediaTailor routes query parameters to different destinations based on their prefix and purpose. Understanding parameter routing is essential for implementing origin-specific functionality like time-shifted viewing with MediaPackage.

Parameter routing rules

MediaTailor uses the following routing rules for query parameters:

  • Origin parameters (no prefix): Parameters without a specific prefix are passed through to the origin server for origin-specific functionality

  • ADS parameters (ads. prefix): Parameters prefixed with ads. are sent to the Ad Decision Server

  • Manifest parameters (manifest. prefix): Parameters prefixed with manifest. are used for CDN routing and authorization

Example Parameter routing example

The following session initialization demonstrates parameter routing:

POST /v1/session/123456789/originId/index.m3u8 { "adsParams": { "param1": "value1", "param2": "value2" }, "manifestParams": { "auth_token": "abc123" } }

In this example:

  • param1 and param2 are sent to the ADS

  • auth_token is used for CDN routing and authorization

  • Parameters without prefixes would be passed to the origin server

Origin server parameter behavior

Parameters passed to origin servers enable origin-specific functionality such as time-shifted viewing, content filtering, and authentication.

Common origin parameter use cases

Origin parameters are commonly used for:

  • Time-shifted viewing: start and end parameters for MediaPackage time-shifted content

  • Content authentication: Authentication tokens required by the origin server

  • Content filtering: Parameters that control which content variants are returned

  • Origin-specific features: Any parameters that the origin server uses for content processing

Important

Parameters are processed at session initialization and maintained throughout the session. To modify parameters like time-shift windows, you must create a new session with updated values.