The MediaCP On-Premise is designed for Broadcasters and Hosting Providers to set-up or resell streaming services on their own equipment, starting from as little as $24/mo.
In 3 easy steps, we’ll take you through how to launch your own streaming audio or video platform. This guide includes the following steps:
- Step 1 – Launch VPS to install the MediaCP software on;
- Step 2 – Domain Name that points to your MediaCP Installation;
- Step 3 – MediaCP Software installation
Step 1: Launch a VPS
A VPS is a great way to get started quickly and affordably, we recommend using Linode, Vultr, Digital Ocean, or AWS.
If just starting out, we recommend choosing a small 2GB Memory instance and growing with your client base. Cloud providers such as the ones listed above all offer an almost instant one-click upgrade at any time.
Which Provider should I choose?
The VPS providers listed here are all top-tier offering excellent stability, security, and customer service. You can’t go wrong with a choice of any of the below listed providers.
DigitalOcean: Competitive $12/mo 2GB VPS with a simple friendly interface and platform and competitive.
Linode: Also offering an affordable $12/mo 2 GB Instance as a great way to get started.
Vultr: Entry level 2GB starts at $20/mo and provides high‑performance servers across many regions at competitive prices, though its support can be limited.
AWS: Delivers the most stable platform with the highest uptime, yet its complexity and multitude of pricing metrics make it a more expensive and daunting choice.
Which VPS do I choose?
The System Requirements page provides some great information on getting started with Audio or Video. Below are the minimum requirements, which is all you will need for getting started.
Minimum Audio
Recommended Requirements10 services
5 AutoDJ
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Disk: 25 GB
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Disk: SATA
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CPU: 1 CPU
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RAM: 2 GB
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Network: 100 Mbps
Minimum Video
250 Connections25 Live / Ondemand Streaming
5 TV Stations
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Disk: 80-100 GB
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Disk: SSD
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CPU: 2 Core +
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RAM: 4 - 8 GB
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Network: 100-200 Mbps
Choose a VPS provider from the below selection and follow the simple steps to get up and running, if unsure, Digital Ocean is very beginner friendly.
Digital Ocean is a VPS provider that offers a great platform globally. For either Audio or Video streaming we recommend starting with the Basic – Regular – $24 /mo plan. Keep in mind that it is possible to upgrade to a larger instance at any time so you can start small and upgrade further as required.
How to purchase a VPS from Digital Ocean
- Register an account at the Digital Ocean website using this link and you will receive a $100 to $200 starting credit.
- Once you login to Digital Ocean, click on the big green Create button on the top right of the screen and press Droplets.
- Select your Region, considering which will be close to you and your customers.
- Choose your operating system, ensuring it is listed in our supported operating systems, we recommend the latest Debian release.
- We recommend selecting the Shared CPU – Basic option, from there select the instance size of your preference.
- Set a secure Root Password. Note the root password down as it will be needed for installation and administration.
- enter in the domain name that you will be using (in our example streaming.mediacp.net), then you can press the Create Droplet button.
- The VPS may take a few minutes before it is ready. Once ready copy the IP address provided to somewhere safe, we’ll be using this to point our domain name to the server.
Linode is a VPS provider that offers a great platform globally. For either Audio or Video streaming we recommend starting with the Shared CPU – Linode 4 GB. Keep in mind that it is possible to upgrade to a larger instance at any time so you can start small and upgrade further as required.
How to purchase a VPS from Linode
- Register an account at the Linode website using this link and you will receive a $100 starting credit.
- Once you login to Linode, click on the big blue + Create button on the top right of the screen and press Linode under Compute.
- Select your Region, considering which will be close to you and your customers
- Choose your operating system, ensuring it is listed in our supported operating systems, we recommend the latest Debian release.
- We recommend selecting the Shared Compute option, from there select the instance size of your preference.
- In the Linode Label field enter in the domain name that you will be using (in our example streaming.mediacp.net) and set a secure Root Password. Note the root password down as it will be needed for installation and administration.
- Finally, then you can press the Create Linode button.
- The VPS may take a few minutes before it is ready. Once ready copy the IP address provided to somewhere safe, we’ll be using this to point our domain name to the server.
Vultr is a VPS provider that offers a great platform globally. For either Audio or Video streaming we recommend starting with the Regular Performance – 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM. Keep in mind that it is possible to upgrade to a larger instance at any time so you can start small and upgrade further as required.
How to purchase a VPS from Vultr
- Register an account at the Vultr website using this link and you will receive a $100 starting credit.
- Once you login to Vultr, click on the big blue plus icon on the right of the screen and press Deploy New Server
- We recommend selecting the Cloud Compute option and directly under this the intel Regular Performance.
- Select your preferred deployment location from the list provided.
- Select the Debian 12 x64 option (our recommended)
- Select the instance size of your preference
- Finally, scroll all the way down the page and you will see “Server Hostname & Label” at the bottom. Enter in the domain name that you will be using (in our examlpe streaming.mediacp.net) then you can press the Deploy button
- The VPS may take a few minutes before it is ready. Once ready copy the IP address provided to somewhere safe, we’ll be using this to point our domain name to the server.
AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a popular hosting provider due to it’s stability and extensive features. It has a great track record of uptime and security as well as advanced features and performance. The cost is significantly higher than other VPS providers but is a premium option for businesses seeking reliable cloud hosting services.
You can use EC2 (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud) to deploy an instance of Linux and install Media Control Panel. We have a dedicated Video Guide that you can follow here, as well as a full write up in our Blog: How to Deploy MediaCP on AWS
Step 2: Your Domain Name
A Domain Name is required to access to the MediaCP software securely. The top-level domain name (i.e., yourdomain.com) is typically used to point to your own website so we recommend using a sub-domain such as streaming.yourdomain.com.
You can purchase a domain name from $6/year at Namecheap.com, or any domain registrar of your choice.
- Purchase your new domain name, or skip this step if you already have one;
- Connect the domain name to your VPS created in Step 1 following steps below
- Login to Namecheap
- Click on the Manage button next to your domain name
- Click on the Advanced DNS tab near the top of the page
- Click on the + ADD NEW RECORD button
- Enter the first part of your sub-domain into the Host field. For example, in relation to streaming.mediacp.net we’ll enter only “streaming” into the Host Field. When ready, press the green tick to save the changes.
- Your domain name is now ready to be used with the MediaCP
If your domain name servers are pointing to Cloudflare then you will need to add an A record within Cloudflare. It is important to not enable the proxy, since it could cause problems with access to your services.
- Login to Cloudflare
- Select the DNS item from the left side menu
- Click on +Add record
- Now fill out the following details, where “streaming” is the first part of our domain “streaming.mediacp.net”
- Type: A
- Name: streaming
- IPv4 address: (paste from vultr)
- Proxy status: (OFF) DNS only
- TTL: Auto
Step 3: MediaCP Software
The MediaCP Support team provide a free installation service for all new trials, and also paid licenses. This is the best way to get started and ensure everything is running optimally. Alternatively, if you would like to install the product yourself it is also fairly straight forward and we have provided instructions below.
Installation services are typically completed within the next business day, please note this excludes weekends.
- Open the Installation Service Request Form
- Copy and paste the IP Address and Root Password from Vultr into the form as shown in the image below.
- Read and agree to the Terms & Conditions then press the Submit Installation Request.
- A ticket requesting to install the MediaCP software will now be created and you will receive an email confirmation.
- Download and install Putty for Windows
- Open Putty and enter the IP address for your new VPS into the Hostname field then press the Open button at the bottom.
- Enter the username of ‘root’ and press return.
- Enter the root password you have been provided from Vultr and press return
- Install curl in case it was not already installed by default
apt -y install curl;
- Copy and paste the following to begin the MediaCP installation process
su -c "$(curl -sSL http://install.mediacp.net)"
- Enter your MediaCP license when prompted, then press return.
- You will be presented with a list of options, enter “1” and press return to begin installation of the MediaCP
- Enter your domain name when requested, in our example we used streaming.mediacp.net
- You may be asked about installing a Video Engine, for Audio Streaming it is not required; and this guide does not cover this so enter “3” and press return which selects [3] Do not install
- The installation process will now continue and may take 15-20 minutes to install all components.
- Once completed, copy and paste the URL presented into your browser to finalise the install.
- Enter your preferred username, password, email address and timezone settings. Don’t worry, all of this can be changed at a later date also. Press save to continue.
- Continue through the prompts to complete the installation, for most users the default options are OK.
