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Requirements

Before installing Flex Video, ensure your system meets these requirements.

Hardware Requirements

Minimum

Component Specification
CPU ARM64 or x86_64, 4 cores
RAM 4 GB
Storage 20 GB available
Network 100 Mbps Ethernet
Component Specification
CPU ARM64 or x86_64, 8+ cores
RAM 8+ GB
Storage 50+ GB SSD
Network 1 Gbps Ethernet

Hardware Acceleration (Optional)

For improved encoding performance:

Platform Acceleration
NVIDIA Jetson NVENC via nvidia-container-toolkit
Intel VAAPI/QSV via /dev/dri
Raspberry Pi V4L2 codec

Software Requirements

Docker Installation

Flex Video runs in Docker containers. Install Docker and Docker Compose:

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# Log out and back in

opkg update
opkg install docker docker-compose

Verify installation:

docker --version
docker compose version

Docker Compose Version

Flex Video requires Docker Compose V2:

# Check version (should be 2.x)
docker compose version

# If using old docker-compose (1.x), upgrade:
sudo apt remove docker-compose
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin

Network Requirements

Ports

Ensure these ports are available:

Port Service Protocol
8080 Web UI HTTP
3539 REST API HTTP
8082 Documentation HTTP
8554 RTSP (MediaMTX) RTSP
1935 RTMP (MediaMTX) RTMP
8731 RTSP (GStreamer) RTSP
35391 GStreamer API HTTP

Firewall

If using a firewall, allow the required ports:

# UFW (Ubuntu)
sudo ufw allow 8080/tcp
sudo ufw allow 3539/tcp
sudo ufw allow 8554/tcp

# firewalld (RHEL/CentOS)
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8080/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=3539/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8554/tcp --permanent
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Multicast (Optional)

For CoT announcements, ensure multicast is enabled:

# Check multicast routing
ip route | grep multicast

# Add if missing
sudo ip route add 239.0.0.0/8 dev eth0

Operating System

Supported Platforms

OS Architecture Status
Debian 12 (Bookworm) ARM64, x86_64 Fully supported
Ubuntu 22.04+ ARM64, x86_64 Fully supported
Raspberry Pi OS ARM64 Fully supported
OpenWrt ARM64 Supported
macOS (Docker Desktop) ARM64 Development only

Kernel Requirements

  • Linux kernel 4.15 or later
  • V4L2 support (for cameras)
  • cgroups v2 (recommended)

Camera Support (Optional)

For V4L2 camera support:

# Install v4l-utils for testing
sudo apt install v4l-utils

# List cameras
v4l2-ctl --list-devices

# Check permissions
ls -la /dev/video*

Ensure your user is in the video group:

sudo usermod -aG video $USER
# Log out and back in

License Requirements

A valid Flex Video license is required for:

  • H.265/HEVC encoding
  • AV1 encoding
  • Multiple concurrent streams (above free tier)

H.264 encoding is available without a license.

Next Steps