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Nimble Streamer DRM

Content protection with Digital Rights Management


Nimble Streamer supports Digital Rights Management from a variety of encryption providers including Widevine, Playready, FairPlay with EZDRM, Axinom, BuyDRM and other management platforms. DRM provides the required extra layer of security to ensure that only authorized users can access and view content. This can prevent piracy and unauthorized distribution, which protects the rights of content creators and owners.

DRM capabilities of Nimble Streamer

Nimble Streamer supports DRM CENC encryption for MPEG-DASH and HLS with fMP4 container in the following use cases:

  • Google Widevine™ support to protect MPEG-DASH.
  • Microsoft Playready™ support to protect MPEG-DASH.
  • Apple FairPlay™ support to protect HLS.
  • Multi-key HLS can be protected using both Widevine and FairPlay.
    Read Widevine DRM support for HLS article to learn more.
  • All encryption works for H.264/AVC and H.265/HEVC codecs.
  • AV1 codec is supported for Widevine-encrypted MPEG-DASH streams.
  • EZDRM DRM-as-a-Service support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready. Read the introduction blog post.
  • Axinom support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready. Read setup docs on Axinom website.
  • Cloud DRM is supported for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready. Read the introduction post.
  • BuyDRM KeyOS support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready.
  • castLabs DRMToday support
  • PallyCon support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready. Read introduction blog post about our collaboration.
  • Sigma DRM support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready.
  • Verimatrix VCAS CPIX multi-DRM support for Widevine, FairPlay and Playready.
  • Widevine Cloud Service support with key rotation.

Nimble supports DRM in the following scenarios:

  • Encrypting live streaming output based on any input.
  • DVR encryption for playback of recorded streams.
  • VOD content encryption during playback.

Verimatrix™ VCAS CEI key management is supported to protect live HLS streams with AES encryption.
It’s not supported for DVR and VOD use cases.

Follow these easy steps to start using the DRM feature set:

  1. Set up Nimble Streamer and register Addenda license.
  2. Configure DRM using simple drm.conf file on Nimble Streamer server side.
  3. Test protected streams in your players.

1. Set up Nimble Streamer

1.1 Prerequisites: you need to have the following items to be completed before proceeding with DRM setup.

  1. You have a proper DRM-enabled player set up and tested so you could test the encrypted streams.
  2. You signed up for WMSPanel account.
  3. Latest version of Nimble Streamer was installed and is running.
  4. SSL is properly set up and tested.

1.2 Set up streaming: create and test your streaming scenario without any encryption first.

Overall, you need to make sure you have a separate working test output stream which you’ll try to encrypt.
Once you set up DRM as described below, you’ll be able to apply it to your production environment.

Watch this video tutorial to see the setup and basic usage of pulled Icecast streams.

2. Subscribe and License

2.1 WMSPanel subscription
You need to be subscribed for WMSPanel account, at least for basic minimum subscription. So, once you made sure Nimble Streamer works with non-encrypted use cases you can follow subscription instructions on your profile page.

2.2 Addenda license
Nimble Streamer DRM is part of Nimble Streamer Addenda premium package.
You need to subscribe for Addenda package license for each Nimble Streamer server instance where you want to enable DRM.
Use instruction from Addenda page to obtain and register the license.

3. Configure DRM Settings

All DRM settings are stored in drm.conf file located at the same location as nimble.conf. E.g., on Linux, you need to create /etc/nimble/drm.conf file.

Just add a few lines, re-start Nimble Streamer and you’re all set. You may also apply drm.conf changes by using native API call without Nimble re-start.

General parameters

The config consist of a set of drm{} blocks, each of them contains settings for specified applications.

Show setup details

Mandatory parameters must be included in every block, they are as follows.

  • application defines space-separated list of names of applications where settings will be applied.
  • type parameter defines the type of a key provider server.
  • keyserver parameter defines the URL of a key server for specific key provider.

Optional parameters may be used in case when they are needed in specific cases.
By default Nimble Streamer generates unique content IDs itself, but if you need to override them you can use these parameters.

  • widevine_hls_enabled = trueenables Widevine protection for HLS streams.
    Read Widevine DRM support for HLS article to learn more.
  • content_id defines content ID for applications covered by current “drm” block.
  • stream_name_to_content_id = truesets content ID to be generated based on individual stream names.
  • content_ids defines the set of exact content IDs for each stream.
    Here’s an example.
    content_ids { stream1 = Se52m_stream1_id_0mVQ== stream2 = Se52m_stream2_id_0mVQ== stream3 = Se52m_stream3_id_0mVQ== }

Other parameters are specific to the key provider, they’ll be described in each section.

EZDRM

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft Playready using EZDRM key servers.
Watch step-by-step tutorial showing the setup of Nimble Streamer with EZDRM Widevine for live, DVR and VOD.
Notice that EZDRM resource ID can be specified using content_id parameter.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_ezdrm
  type = ezdrm
  user = [email protected]
  password = 12yourpassword34&*@#
}

Mandatory parameters define EZDRM access credentials:

  • user is user name in EZDRM
  • password is that user’s password

Axinom

Nimble can use Axinom service to encrypt content with Widevine, FairPlay and Playready.
You need to go to Axinom portal / My Mosaic and go to DRM section to get configuration details and read setup manual in Axinom knowledge base.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_drm
  type = axinom
  axinom_tenant_id = <Key Service Tenant ID>
  axinom_management_key = <Key Service Management Key>
  content_id = <put your Content ID here>
  content_ids {
    stream1 = 1232345-8602-11ea-b04b-7fccdabcdef2
    stream2 = 1232345-8602-11ea-b04b-7fccdabcdef3
  }
}

A specified Content ID (an UUID) is used in SPEKE request as both the Content ID (content_id) and Key ID (kid).
Multiple Key IDs for a single stream are currently not supported.
content_id is a default value for the whole application. If you want to set a specific key for a specific stream, you can use content_ids option and specify the stream-specific values.

Mandatory parameters define Axinom access credentials:

  • axinom_tenant_id is Key Service Tenant ID
  • axinom_management_key is Key Service Management Key
  • content_id and content_ids are required for respective content encryption, see above

Cloud DRM

Nimble can use DRM.cloud service to encrypt content with Widevine, FairPlay and Playready.
You need to register to obtain Cloud DRM login and password, they are mandatory. SPEKE 2 API URL should be copied from configuration page.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_drm
  type = cloud_drm
  keyserver = <SPEKE 2 API URL>
  cloud_drm_login = <basic_auth_login>
  cloud_drm_password = <basic_auth_password>
  content_id = 1232345-8602-11ea-b04b-7fccdabcdef1
  content_ids {
    stream1 = 1232345-8602-11ea-b04b-7fccdabcdef2
    stream2 = 1232345-8602-11ea-b04b-7fccdabcdef3
  }
}

Mandatory parameters define Cloud DRM access credentials:

  • keyserver is SPEKE 2 API URL
  • cloud_drm_login and cloud_drm_password are user and password
  • content_id and content_ids are required for respective content encryption

BuyDRM KeyOS

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft Playready using BuyDRM KeyOS.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_keyos
  type = keyos
  keyos_user_certificate_file = /home/user/keyos/conf/keyos_user.crt
  keyos_user_key_file = /home/user/keyos/conf/keyos_user.key
}

Mandatory parameters define KeyOS access credentials:

  • keyos_user_certificate_file is an end user’s public x509 certificate
  • keyos_user_key_file is an end user’s x509 private key file

Optional content IDs. You may set content_id and content_ids parameters like in other cases but they must be set in UUID format, e.g.
content_id = 2193eb5b-544b-1234-abcd-1e94b0f778b8

PallyCon

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft Playready using PallyCon key servers.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_pally
  type = pallycon
  pallycon_kms_token = yourtoken
}

Mandatory parameter define access token:

  • pallycon_kms_token is a token for accessing PallyCon

Sigma DRM

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft Playready using Sigma DRM key servers.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_sigma
  type = sigma_drm
  sigma_drm_token = <token>
  sigma_drm_merchant_id = <merchant_id>
  sigma_drm_app_id = <app_id>
}

Mandatory parameter define access token:

  • sigma_drm_token is a token to access Sigma DRM CPIX API
  • sigma_drm_merchant_id is a merhant ID with Sigma DRM
  • sigma_drm_app_id is an application ID with Sigma DRM

castLabs DRMToday

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay and Microsoft Playready using castLabs DRMToday key servers.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_drmtoday vod_drmtoday
  type = drmtoday

  drmtoday_user = <user_name>
  drmtoday_password = <user_password>
  drmtoday_merchant_id = <organization UUID>
  drmtoday_cpix_config_id = <CPIX config ID>

  content_id = movie
  content_ids {
    stream1 = movie1
    stream2 = movie2
  }
}

In order to get user_name and user_password, you need to create API account (without DRMToday dashboard access) in “Members / Users” section.

Organization UUID can be obtained in API endpoints in DRMToday dashboard

CPIX config ID can be created in “Configuration -> Ingest settings”

If Nimble is working in DRMToday staging environment then you need to add the following

keyserver = https://fe.staging.drmtoday.com/
drmtoday_auth_url = https://auth.staging.drmtoday.com/cas/v1/tickets

content_id / content_ids is the Asset ID in DRMToday dashboard.

Widevine Cloud Service

Nimble can encrypt content with Google Widevine and use key rotation.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_wv1 live_wv2 live_wv3
  keyserver = https://license.uat.widevine.com/cenc/getcontentkey/widevine_test
  type = widevine
  widevine_signer = widevine_test
  widevine_aes_signing_key = 1ae8ccd0e7985cc0b6203a55855a1034afc252980e970ca90e5202689f947ab9
  widevine_aes_signing_iv = d58ce954203b7c9a9a9d467f59839249
}

Mandatory parameters define Widevine-specific behavior:

  • widevine_signer, widevine_aes_signing_key, widevine_aes_signing_iv

Optional parameters describe key rotation:

  • key_rotation_interval parameter defines the interval for rotating keys where it’s applicable. It’s defined in seconds. If it’s set to “0”, then keys will not be rotated.
  • key_count parameter defines how many keys will be taken from a key server at once for further rotation.

Verimatrix VCAS CPIX

Nimble can encrypt content using Verimatrix multi-DRM with Widevine, Playready and FairPlay.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_vcas
  keyserver = http://key_server_ip:8058
  type = vcas_cpix
}

Optional parameters may be used in case when they are needed in specific cases.

  • key_id defines key ID for applications covered by current “drm” block.
  • key_ids defines the set of exact key IDs for each stream.
    Here’s an example.
    key_id = 54f7d90a-bc2f-bc9b-08d4-bbeac4ccf08b key_ids { stream1 = 7dfb3eb6-677e-11eb-a5a9-b754f57205c9 stream2 = 82ea16f4-677e-11eb-81e0-6f945b12648a }

Verimatrix VCAS CEI

Nimble can encrypt HLS content with AES encryption using Verimatrix VCAS key servers.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_vcas
  keyserver = http://key_server_ip:8058
  type = vcas_cei
}

Verimatrix allows using key rotation, it’s optional:

  • key_rotation_interval parameter defines the interval for rotating keys where it’s applicable. If it’s set to “0”, then keys will not be rotated.
  • key_count parameter defines how many keys will be taken from a key server at once for further rotation.

Verimatrix has other optional parameters like this one:

  • vcas_encoder_token parameter defines the token for certain cloud scenarios.

HLS AES-128 encryption

Nimble can make per-application HLS AES encryption of HLS content.

Show setup details
drm {
  application = live_aes
  type = hls_aes128
  key = 78E9A33351234FBDD0EF6C233B310F55
}

This feature has optional parameter:

  • key_url parameter defines the URL for key if it’s not handled by Nimble Streamer.

4. Test Encrypted Streams and Troubleshoot

Once you re-start Nimble Streamer, you may use your player to test the encrypted live stream to make sure the setup is correct. On Android, you may use Larix Player free app to play content encrypted via MPEG-DASH with Widevine and PlayReady in live, DVR and VOD modes.

Make sure you use SSL for your streams’ playback.

If the stream doesn’t play, then disable corresponding DRM section in drm.conf and re-start Nimble Streamer instance. This will let you determine if the DRM setup is the root cause of the problem. Notice that you may apply drm.conf changes by using this this Nimble native API call.

If you have issues after making fixes to configuration, contact our support. We will need your drm.conf file, a live stream to test, and a web page with that stream and DRM-enabled player.

Free trial of WMSPanel included