[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Akamai CDN: Getting RTMP URL From XML File

Where I work, my company uses Akamai as the CDN for all properties. Initially our company used non-RTMP downloadable URL from Akamai, but, later after some struggling (in May 2008 or so) I was able to figure out how to extract RTMP from Akamai's XML File.

Akamai Provides two URLs for each File:

1. Downloadable FLV URL
   Returns the actual FLV File. The URL Format of this file is:
   

   http://[your_company_name].edgeboss.net/download/[your_company_name]/[path_to_file]/

2. Streaming URL
   Returns an XML File. The URL Format of this file is:
   

   http://[your_company_name].edgeboss.net/flash/[your_company_name]/[path_to_file]/

#1 is self-explanatory, when you visit that URL, you get the RAW FLV File. so, I will talk on #2.

#2. Streaming URL: When you try visiting the streaming URL. It returns an XML File like below:

<FLVPlayerConfig>
  <serverName>cp49576.edgefcs.net</serverName>
  <fallbackServerName>cp49576.edgefcs.net</fallbackServerName>
  <appName>ondemand</appName>
  <streamName>
    flash/streamfile/.uid.ManyRzefr9384ec84.anti
   </streamName>
   <isLive>false</isLive>
   <bufferTime>2</bufferTime>
</FLVPlayerConfig>

To get the RTMP URL, all you need to do is concat the node value of serverName, appName and streamName. That's it. So, basically:

rtmp://[serverName]/[appName]/[streamName]

So, for the above case, the rtmp URL would be:

rtmp://cp49576.edgefcs.net/ondemand/flash/streamfile/.uid.ManyRzefr9384ec84.anti

Now the above RTMP URL can be used on popular Flash Players like JWPlayer.

I usually use PHP DomDocument and DomXPath to get the RTMP URL. The code would be simple and straight-forward like below:

$dom   = new DomDocument($akamaiURL);
$xpath = new DomXPath($dom);

$rtmpURL = 'rtmp://'.$xpath->query('/FLVPlayerConfig/serverName')->item(0)->nodeValue .'/'. $xpath->query('/FLVPlayerConfig/appName')->item(0)->nodeValue . '/' . $xpath->query('/FLVPlayerConfig/streamName')->item(0)->nodeValue;

I hope it helps.

Please Note that: In this article, I didn't cover the Akamai URL that requires Authentication Token, which is a separate issue.