How to Setup Jitsi Meet Server on Azure/AWS/GCP (Video Conferencing)

Setup Jitsi Server and Run your own video conferencing solution with Jitsi Meet Server. The best way to install Jitsi Meet is to deploy the marketplace template image from any of the cloud marketplaces in Azure/AWS/GCP.  Click on the links below to setup Jitsi Server into your preferred cloud environment.  Jitsi runs on Ubuntu Server.

Jitsi Meet Video Conferencing Server

Setup Jitsi Meet on Azure

Setup Jitsi Meet on AWS

Setup Jitsi Meet on GCP

Jitsi Server Features:

Secure, Simple and Scalable Video Conferences. A Zoom alternative, Jitsi Meet is an open-source (Apache) WebRTC JavaScript application that uses Jitsi Videobridge to provide high quality, secure and scalable video conferences.

 

  • Jitsi Meet is a fully encrypted solution
  • Share your desktop, presentations, and more
  • Invite users to a conference via a simple, custom URL
  • Edit documents together using Etherpad
  • Pick fun meeting URLs for every meeting
  • Trade messages and emojis while you video conference, with integrated chat.
  • HD audio with Opus
  • No need for an account (Anonymous)
  • with encryption by default (and advanced security settings)
  • Auto-view the active speaker or click on any attendee to see their video
  • Lock a room with a password
  • Streaming a conference to YouTube live
  • Participant talk-time statistics
  • Play a YouTube video to all attendees call
  • Audio-only option
  • Telephone dial-in to a conference (if Jigasi is setup)
  • Dial-out to a telephone participant (if Jigasi is setup)
  • Better quality, lower latency and if you are running your own service, a much more scalable and inexpensive solution.
  • Jitsi is compatible with WebRTC, the open standard for Web communication.

Installing Jitsi Meet Server Video Tutorials

Choose Cloud Platform for Jitsi

3 Videos

Table of Contents

Getting Started with Jitsi Meet

Once your Jitsi server has been deployed, the following links explain how to connect to a Linux VM:

 

 

Once connected and logged in, the following section explains how to configure Jitsi Meet

Setup Jitsi Meet Server

DNS – Set up the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)

You will need to register your application via DNS as this is needed to obtain an SSL certificate to access the Jitsi Meet server, you’ll need to configure your DNS to add an ‘A’ record to point your domain name to the public IP address of your Jitsi server.

 

Note: If you do not use DNS, you will be able to get Jitsi up and running, but you will then have to deal with potential issues with your users having SSL errors in the browser, as well as issues with the webcam and microphone not working.

 

The next first step is to update the localhost file with the domain name you intent to use that users will use to connect to the Jitst Meet server via a URL address. 

 

To add the FQDN in the /etc/hosts file, open up the localhost file, run the following command:

				
					sudo nano /etc/hosts
				
			

Add the Server Public IP address, followed by the domain name you want to use as below:

Then press Ctrl + O to save, then Ctrl + X to exit the hosts editor.

 

Important: Make sure the domain name you are using resolves to the servers IP address before moving to the next step, otherwise you will experience issues with connectivity and performance using Jitsi as the installation relies on resolving the domain name to setup the certificates. It can take some DNS providers upto 48 hours to propagate DNS changes.

 

Note: The LetsEncrypt script will do a reverse lookup and expect to resolve the name of this host from the IP. The process also expects this to be an A record. I have not tried to see what happens if you use an Alias or C record.

 

Before proceeding, make sure that when you do a, nslookup—or whatever your preferred DNS lookup tool might be—that the DNS record you created now resolves to the instance IP address. Do not proceed until this is the case.

 

Next, there are a couple of configuration steps to get Jitsi up and running. From the command line type the following:

Run the following command to set the hostname for your Ubuntu server (Replace mydomain.com with yours):

				
					sudo hostnamectl set-hostname mydomain.com
				
			

Finally on the same machine test that you can ping the FQDN with:

				
					ping "$(hostname)"
				
			

Press Ctrl + C to cancel the continuous ping

Jitsi Required Packages

This Jitsi image comes pre-installed with the required package: Nginx, GNUP2 and Java 11.  

Update all packages:

				
					sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
				
			

Install Prosody

We need to first install the latest Prosody repository so that an up to date Prosody is installed, which is necessary for features including the lobby feature.

				
					echo deb http://packages.prosody.im/debian $(lsb_release -sc) main | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
wget https://prosody.im/files/prosody-debian-packages.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt install lua5.2
				
			

Run an update again:

				
					sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
				
			

Install Jitsi Meet

Next is to run the Jitsi install:

				
					sudo apt-get -y install jitsi-meet
				
			

During the install enter your domain name you want to use that we added in the hostfile previously:

Jitsi Meet Certificate Installation

Next, Select the default to use ‘Self Signed Cert‘, we will update later.

That should now return to the terminal command line. Now we setup the certificate using the following command:

(Note: Make sure the domain name you are using resolves to the servers IP before running the next command to setup the certificates).

				
					sudo /usr/share/jitsi-meet/scripts/install-letsencrypt-cert.sh
				
			

You will be asked to enter an email address.  Then press ‘Enter’.

 

That’s it. Completed!

Access Jitsi Meet Video Conference URL

Now if you go to your domain it should now be live:

 

https://mydomain.com

 

Be sure to put https://

Jitsi Meet Firewall Ports

If you have a firewall on your network/cloud infrastructure or Network Security Group in Azure/AWS/GCP you will need to make sure the following ports are open:

 

TCP 80

TCP 443

TCP 22

UDP 10000

 

To setup AWS firewall rules refer to – AWS Security Groups

To setup Azure firewall rules refer to – Azure Network Security Groups

To setup Google GCP firewall rules refer to – Creating GCP Firewalls

Jitsi Server Support / Documentation

Any questions or help regarding the installation of Jitsi leave a comment below or contact us directly.

 

Jitsi documentatin / user guides can be found on https://github.com/jitsi/jitsi-meet/blob/master/doc/README.md

 

Disclaimer: This video conference solution is built using Jitsi Meet, an opensource software. This solution is Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 .

Jitsi is a registered trademark of its respective owners. No warrantee of any kind, expressed or implied, is included with this software
– Use at your risk, responsibility for damages (if any) to anyone resulting from the use of this software rest entirely with the user
– The author & trademark owners are not responsible for any damage that its use could cause.

Avatar for Andrew Fitzgerald
Andrew Fitzgerald

Cloud Solution Architect. Helping customers transform their business to the cloud. 20 years experience working in complex infrastructure environments and a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert on everything Cloud.

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Brock

Thank you – so far a great solution to Zoom

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