macOS Installation - Storm Streaming Server

Installing Storm Streaming Server on computers running macOS is very simple thanks to the dedicated installer. This guide will walk you through all the necessary steps of the process and show you the basic server configuration.

If you don't have the installer yet, please visit our Download page.

Running the Installer

Once the volume file has been downloaded, double-click it. A window containing the Storm Streaming Server Installer should appear. Double-click the installer again and wait for it to launch.

Storm Streaming Server Installer

Note

If for some reason the installer does not run, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and check if the option to allow apps from the App Store and identified developers is enabled.

Installer Steps

The installer will now guide you through the following steps:

In the first step, you must accept the software license agreement.

Accept the Software License

In the second step, you will be asked to enter the program license key. If you don't have a license, you can leave this field blank. A developer license will be assigned instead, which allows up to 5 concurrent streams and a total of 10 viewers.

If you have a commercial or non-commercial license for Storm Streaming Server, you can view it on this page: https://www.stormstreaming.com/my-products

Enter the License Key

In this step, you need to provide the admin username and password for Storm's web-based Control Panel.

Provide Username and Password for Storm Control Panel

In the fourth step, select the directory where the application will be installed.

Choose Installation Location

In the final step, you can select a few additional options:

Create a desktop shortcut
Open Storm Control Panel

Optional Settings

Basic Configuration

Now that the Storm Streaming Server application is installed, go to the installation folder you specified in step 4. There are a few things to configure here:

JVM Configuration

In the file Storm Streaming Server.vmoptions, you'll find JVM options that define, among other things, how much RAM should be allocated to the application. The default file content is:

Storm Streaming Server.vmoptions

properties

-server
-Xmx16g
-Xms4g
-XX:+UseG1GC
-XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=100

The -Xms and -Xmx parameters define the minimum and maximum amount of RAM available to the application. You should adjust these values to match your hardware resources. For example, to allocate a maximum of 128 GB and a minimum of 32 GB, change the values to:

Custom RAM allocation

properties

-Xmx128g
-Xms32g

VHost Configuration

The socket configuration for Storm Streaming Server is located in the file config/preferences.xml. By default, it includes the following block:

config/preferences.xml

xml

<VHosts>
    <VHost host="127.0.0.1" isSSL="false" port="1935">
        <Protocols>RTMP</Protocols>
    </VHost>
    <VHost host="127.0.0.1" isSSL="false" port="8080" isControlPanel="true">
        <Protocols>HTTP, WEBSOCKETS</Protocols>
    </VHost>
</VHosts>

This defines two sockets listening on 127.0.0.1 (localhost). Port 8080 handles HTTP and WebSockets connections, and port 1935 handles RTMP. For more information about VHost configuration, including how to enable SSL support, please refer to our VHosts guide.

Important

In order to apply these changes, please restart the server. The following section explains how to stop and start the Storm Streaming Server service.

Managing the Service

You can access the web-based control panel of the application using the 'Storm Control Panel' shortcut. Alternatively, you can open it directly in any web browser at: http://127.0.0.1:8080/cpanel (the IP address and port may vary depending on your VHosts configuration).

The Storm Streaming Server runs as a background service (LaunchDaemon) and is automatically started with the system. Below you'll find basic service management commands:

Stop the server

bash

sudo launchctl stop com.webanatomy.StormStreamingServer

Start the server

bash

sudo launchctl start com.webanatomy.StormStreamingServer

FFMPEG Installation (optional)

If the console shows a message about missing FFMPEG (required for stream transcoding), you can specify its path in the config/preferences.xml file. The configuration is found in the <Transcoder> block, like this:

config/preferences.xml - Transcoder block

xml

<Transcoder>
    <FFMPEG>
        <Path>/opt/homebrew/bin/ffmpeg</Path> <!-- optional -->
        <Command>-nostdin -i {SOURCE_INPUT} {VIDEO_ENCODER} {AUDIO_ENCODER} -f flv {STREAM_OUTPUT}</Command>
    </FFMPEG>
    <TranscodeTaskLimit>10</TranscodeTaskLimit>
    <ThumbGenerateTaskLimit>5</ThumbGenerateTaskLimit>
    <!-- remaining block -->
</Transcoder>

If FFMPEG has been added to the environment variables, you can leave the Path field empty — unless you want to explicitly specify which binaries should be used.

If FFMPEG is not installed at all on your system, you can use a package manager like brew. First, install Homebrew—full instructions are available at https://brew.sh.

Once brew is installed, open a terminal and type:

Install FFMPEG via Homebrew

bash

brew install ffmpeg

Next Step

We encourage you to explore our Storm Streaming Server documentation. It covers individual server configuration elements and provides information about popular protocols such as RTMP, HLS, and more. The samples directory also contains several example video players preconfigured to work with your Storm Streaming Server instance.

For the next step we advise our Quick Start Guide.

Support Needed?

If you have any questions or need assistance, please create a support ticket and our team will help you.