ReelPortal Server Security Best Practices

ReelPortal Server: A Complete Setup GuideReelPortal Server is a scalable, media-focused server platform designed to host, stream, and manage video content with low latency and high reliability. This guide walks you through the entire setup process — from system requirements and installation to configuration, optimization, security, and monitoring — so you can deploy a production-ready ReelPortal Server tailored to your needs.

What you’ll need

A server (cloud or on-prem) with at least:
- 4 CPU cores (8+ recommended for production)
- 8 GB RAM (16+ GB recommended)
- 100 GB SSD (or larger depending on media storage)
- 1 Gbps network interface for streaming-heavy workloads
OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (this guide uses Ubuntu; steps for other distributions are noted where relevant)
Root or sudo access
Domain name with DNS control (for TLS)
SSL certificate (Let’s Encrypt recommended)
Optional: hardware GPU for transcoding (NVIDIA with NVENC) for performance

1. Architecture overview

ReelPortal Server typically has the following components:

Ingest endpoints: receive uploads, live streams, or batch imports.
Storage: local filesystem, object storage (S3-compatible), or hybrid.
Transcoding: convert to multiple bitrates/resolutions (CPU/GPU).
CDN edge or origin: deliver content with caching.
Authentication & API: manage users, tokens, and programmatic access.
Monitoring & logging: metrics, alerts, and logs for operations.

This guide covers a single-node production-capable setup with recommendations for scaling to multi-node and CDN-backed deployments.

2. Preparing your server

Update and install essentials:

sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y sudo apt install -y curl wget git ufw build-essential  ca-certificates software-properties-common

Create a dedicated user:

sudo adduser --system --group --no-create-home reelportal

Set up swap (if needed):

sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile sudo chmod 600 /swapfile sudo mkswap /swapfile sudo swapon /swapfile echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

Configure firewall (example with UFW):

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH sudo ufw allow 80/tcp sudo ufw allow 443/tcp sudo ufw enable

3. Install dependencies

ReelPortal Server requires several components: a database (PostgreSQL), a media processing toolchain (FFmpeg), Redis for caching/queues, and a web server (Nginx). Install them:

PostgreSQL:

sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib sudo -u postgres createuser --pwprompt reelportal_user sudo -u postgres createdb -O reelportal_user reelportal_db

Redis:

sudo apt install -y redis-server sudo systemctl enable --now redis-server

FFmpeg (for transcoding):

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-4 sudo apt update sudo apt install -y ffmpeg

Nginx:

sudo apt install -y nginx sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

For GPU-accelerated transcoding with NVIDIA:

Install NVIDIA drivers and nvidia-docker (if using containers), and the NVIDIA Video Codec SDK or configure FFmpeg with nvenc support. Specifics depend on GPU and OS.

4. Install ReelPortal Server

Note: ReelPortal Server may be distributed as a binary, Docker image, or package. This guide covers a Docker-based install for portability.

Install Docker & Docker Compose:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh sudo sh get-docker.sh sudo usermod -aG docker $USER sudo apt install -y docker-compose

Create a project directory and a docker-compose.yml (example): “`yaml version: ‘3.8’ services: db: image: postgres:14 environment: POSTGRES_USER: reelportal POSTGRES_PASSWORD: your_strong_password POSTGRES_DB: reelportal volumes:
```
 - db_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data 
```
redis: image: redis:7 volumes:
```
 - redis_data:/data 
```
reelportal: image: reelportal/server:latest environment: DATABASE_URL: postgres://reelportal:your_strong_password@db:5432/reelportal REDIS_URL: redis://redis:⁄₀
SECRET_KEY: replace_with_a_strong_random_value STORAGE_PATH: /media volumes:
```
 - ./media:/media 
```
ports:
```
 - "8000:8000" 
```
depends_on:
```
 - db  - redis 
```
volumes: db_data: redis_data: “`
Start services:
```
docker-compose up -d 
```

Run database migrations and create an admin user (commands depend on ReelPortal tooling — common examples):

docker-compose exec reelportal reelportal manage migrate docker-compose exec reelportal reelportal manage createsuperuser --username admin --email [email protected]

5. Configure Nginx as a reverse proxy and TLS

Create Nginx site config (/etc/nginx/sites-available/reelportal):

server { listen 80; server_name your.domain.example; location / {     proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;     proxy_set_header Host $host;     proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;     proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;     proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme; } location /static/ {     alias /path/to/reelportal/static/; } }

Enable site and reload Nginx:

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/reelportal /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ sudo nginx -t sudo systemctl reload nginx

Obtain TLS certificates with Certbot:

sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx sudo certbot --nginx -d your.domain.example

6. Storage options and configuration

Local filesystem: simple, fast for single-node deployments. Ensure disk I/O and available space.
S3-compatible object storage: recommended for scalability. Configure ReelPortal to use S3 by setting environment variables (AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, S3_BUCKET, S3_ENDPOINT).
Hybrid: store originals in S3, keep frequently accessed derived files on local SSD.

Example env for S3:

AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=AKIA…
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=…
S3_BUCKET=reelportal-media
S3_REGION=us-west-2
S3_ENDPOINT=https://s3.amazonaws.com

7. Transcoding pipelines

Define profiles for resolutions/bitrates (e.g., 1080p/6 Mbps, 720p/3 Mbps, 480p/1.2 Mbps).
Use FFmpeg with H.264/H.265 and AAC. For HLS/DASH, create segmenting and manifest steps.

Example FFmpeg command for HLS:


ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -preset fast -b:v 3000k -maxrate 3180k -bufsize 6000k  -vf "scale=-2:720" -g 48 -sc_threshold 0  -c:a aac -b:a 128k  -f hls -hls_time 6 -hls_playlist_type vod  -hls_segment_filename "720p_%03d.ts" 720p.m3u8

For GPU NVENC replace -c:v libx264 with -c:v h264_nvenc and tune parameters accordingly.

8. Authentication, API keys, and webhooks

Use strong secrets for API tokens and SECRET_KEY.
Implement short-lived access tokens for ingest and playback where possible.
Use webhooks to notify external systems when uploads finish, transcodes complete, or CDN purges are necessary.
Rotate API keys periodically and log usage.

9. Security hardening

Keep OS and packages updated.
Run services with least privilege; avoid running as root.
Use HTTPS everywhere; HSTS configured in Nginx.
Limit upload sizes and validate input file types to avoid malicious content.
Configure rate limiting in Nginx to mitigate brute force and DoS.
Regular backups of database and object storage.
Use fail2ban to block suspicious SSH attempts.

Example Nginx rate-limiting:

http {     limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=one:10m rate=10r/s;     ... } server {     location /api/ {         limit_req zone=one burst=20 nodelay;         proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:8000;     } }

10. Monitoring, logging, and alerts

Metrics: Prometheus + Grafana for app, system, and FFmpeg/transcoder metrics.
Logs: centralize with Loki, Elasticsearch, or a hosted log provider. Ship container logs.
Alerts: CPU, memory, disk usage, queue backlogs, and failed transcodes.
Health checks: configure Kubernetes/Docker health checks for service restarts.

Prometheus node exporter and cAdvisor are useful for container metrics.

11. Scaling and CDN integration

Horizontal scale: separate web, worker (transcode), and storage services. Use a message queue (Redis/RabbitMQ) for task distribution.
Use object storage as the single source of truth for media files.
Place a CDN (Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS CloudFront) in front of static HLS/DASH endpoints for low-latency delivery and to offload origin.
For live streaming, use an ingest cluster (RTMP/SRT) and fragmented CMAF/HLS output to CDNs.

12. Backup and disaster recovery

Regular DB dumps (pg_dump) with offsite storage.
Versioned backups for S3 (enable bucket versioning).
Test restores periodically.
Keep infrastructure-as-code (Terraform/Ansible) to redeploy quickly.

Example cron for daily DB dump:

0 2 * * * pg_dump -U reelportal_user reelportal_db | gzip > /backups/reelportal-$(date +%F).sql.gz

13. Troubleshooting common issues

Service won’t start: check container logs (docker-compose logs), ensure DB reachable, inspect env vars.
Slow transcoding: check CPU/GPU utilization, tune FFmpeg presets, add more worker nodes or use GPU.
Playback buffering: inspect network, CDN cache settings, manifest correctness, and segment durations.
Disk fills up: configure automatic cleanup for temp/transcode directories and use lifecycle rules for object storage.

14. Example production checklist

[ ] Use a dedicated domain and valid TLS certs.
[ ] Secrets stored in a secrets manager (Vault/Secret Manager).
[ ] Monitoring & alerting in place.
[ ] Backups configured and tested.
[ ] CDN enabled for media delivery.
[ ] Rate limiting and firewall configured.
[ ] Transcoder autoscaling or GPU instances available.

15. Further enhancements

Add DRM support (Widevine/FairPlay) for protected content.
Implement adaptive bitrate ladder automation based on content analysis.
Use machine learning for thumbnail selection, scene detection, or automatic captions.
Integrate analytics for viewership and quality metrics.

If you want, I can: set up a tailored docker-compose.yml for your environment, write Nginx configs for multiple domains, or produce FFmpeg pipelines for specific target bitrates/resolutions.