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Agora architecture

Agora is a modular on-prem corporate TV platform. Architecture splits the control plane, video processing plane, and content delivery plane so administration, ingest, transcoding, archive, and playback can scale independently.

Architectural principles

Design principles:

  • all major components can stay inside the customer network;
  • control services are separated from video traffic servers;
  • roles such as Ingress server, origin, vod transcoder, edge servers, and storage may be collocated or split by deployment scale;
  • critical streams support redundancy for sources, servers, and delivery paths;
  • the system can start small and grow distributed without changing the management model.

Logical layout

A typical deployment includes:

  • Controller for centralized management and monitoring;
  • Ingress server in the DMZ for external video sources;
  • origin receiving from Ingress server, studio feeds, HDMI/SDI, and other internal sources, with transcoding when needed;
  • vod transcoder to prepare files and archive clips for publishing;
  • edge servers forming CDN over the corporate network;
  • storage for long-term recordings and material from archive workflows;
  • player for end-user playback.

Simplified interaction:

flowchart LR
    central["controller"] --> config["Config / Audit / Monitoring"]
    central --> ingress["Ingress server"]
    central --> origin["origin"]
    central --> vod["vod transcoder"]
    central --> edge["edge servers"]

    external["External sources"] --> ingress
    ingress --> origin
    studio["Studio / HDMI / SDI / internal IP sources"] --> origin

    origin --> edge
    origin --> storage["storage system"]

    vod --> storage
    vod --> edge

    edge --> player["player"]

    player -.- telemetry -.-> central

Delivery model

Agora delivery is hybrid: some components are software-only, others ship as appliances (hardware-integrated bundles).

Software-only components usually deploy on the customer’s standard server fleet:

  • controller;
  • origin;
  • vod transcoder;
  • edge servers;
  • storage.

Appliances target components that need pre-validated hardware, compatibility, and guaranteed I/O behavior.

Specialized capture cards such as HDMI or SDI typically ship as appliances.

Control plane

The control plane owns configuration, security, and observability.

Controller

The Controller is the central management component. Administrators and operators use it to:

  • configure system nodes;
  • register and monitor server roles;
  • create and change streams;
  • monitor status, metrics, and events;
  • manage recording, delivery, and protection policies;
  • review audit and health-check results.

Architecturally the controller:

  • stores the logical model of streams and servers;
  • exposes a unified management interface;
  • manages accounts, roles, and sessions;
  • aggregates server and stream status;
  • acts as the hub for monitoring and configuration control.

Database

A separate database holds:

  • stream configuration;
  • server and input device descriptions;
  • accounts and roles;
  • sessions;
  • administrative and security event logs.

It is not for raw video. Video archives, DVR, and VOD files live in dedicated storage tiers.

Media processing plane

Ingress server

The Ingress server sits in the DMZ and ingests video from external sources as the controlled entry point for inbound video.

It can accept:

  • IP streams over SRT, RTMP, and other supported protocols;
  • feeds from external sites and contractors;
  • backup external sources.

Main jobs:

  • receive external streams in the DMZ;
  • separate the external perimeter from internal media servers;
  • forward video to origin;
  • provide a monitored, controlled entry point.

Critical channels may use redundant ingress with several independent paths.

origin

origin prepares the stream for delivery to staff and TVs.

It:

  • receives from the Ingress server;
  • takes studio feeds;
  • takes HDMI/SDI and other local sources;
  • transcodes when required;
  • builds the master stream for downstream delivery;
  • sends content to edge servers;
  • can serve clients directly at small scale;
  • sends archive and derived assets to storage.

In Agora, origin combines master aggregation of internal and external sources with transcoding duties.

Archive and asset preparation

Recording provides:

  • live DVR with a limited retention window;
  • saving broadcasts after they end;
  • moving assets into storage and publishing recordings as VOD.

Temporary DVR and short-term archive usually sit near origin; long-term storage uses the storage tier.

vod transcoder

vod transcoder prepares files, broadcast recordings, and archive clips for publishing. It:

  • receives sources from origin or storage;
  • transcodes to the required output profiles;
  • normalizes containers, codecs, and bitrates;
  • writes prepared assets to storage for edge servers to consume.

Delivery plane

edge servers

edge servers deliver video to viewers on the corporate network. They may sit:

  • in the user segment of a site;
  • in a branch;
  • close to large viewer groups to offload traffic.

Goals:

  • offload origin;
  • reduce cross-segment traffic;
  • localize client connections;
  • improve resilience when some nodes fail.

Depending on requirements, edge servers may act as:

  • relay servers into branches;
  • multicast or UDP MPEG-TS injection points on the LAN.

player

player is end-user playback. We provide:

  • a web player suitable for embedding in a corporate portal;
  • an Android app for STBs, including appliance STBs we ship;
  • a web app usable on TVs.

Content may be delivered:

  • from origin;
  • via edge servers.

Content storage

Storage splits into:

storage is for long-term video — individual files and clips cut from saved archives.

Operational storage covers:

  • temporary live DVR;
  • short-lived archives on origin;
  • intermediate transcoding files.

Long-term storage covers:

  • broadcast recordings;
  • uploaded videos;
  • prepared VOD assets.

That split lets you choose:

  • fast disks for live workloads;
  • capacity-optimized tiers for archives;
  • different backup and retention policies.

Typical data flows

Live broadcast

Typical live path:

  1. External source feeds the Ingress server, or an internal source goes straight to origin.
  2. origin ingests, transcodes if needed, and builds the master representation.
  3. origin sends content to edge servers.
  4. edge servers serve viewers.
  5. In parallel the feed may be written to DVR/archive.

Publishing a recording

Typical VOD path:

  1. Save the broadcast to a temporary archive.
  2. Move the recording into storage.
  3. Build output profiles and metadata in vod transcoder.
  4. Publish VOD through origin and edge servers.

Deployment patterns

Compact deployment

Small sites may combine roles on one or two servers:

  • Controller;
  • origin;
  • vod transcoder;
  • storage.

Suited to pilots and limited channels/viewers.

Distributed deployment

Corporate production usually separates roles:

  • dedicated Controller;
  • Ingress server in the DMZ;
  • one or more origin nodes;
  • dedicated vod transcoder for file prep;
  • edge servers in user or branch segments;
  • dedicated storage.

With network isolation, external sources only reach the Ingress server, while viewers use edge servers.

High availability

Availability needs differ by role:

  • the management server is critical for administration but not always for ongoing playback;
  • Ingress server and origin matter for external-source live;
  • edge servers matter for mass delivery;
  • vod transcoder matters for VOD prep and archive workflows;
  • storage matters for VOD and archives, not always for every live path.

Main video resilience mechanisms:

  • Cluster Ingest
  • Twincast
  • Double Publish

  • Standby Push

  • redundant ingest via primary/backup sources;

  • paired Ingress server and origin for critical paths;
  • multiple edge servers with balancing and fallback;
  • split between operational and archive storage;
  • backup of configuration, accounts, and audit data;
  • monitoring of server availability, time sync, configuration, and stream quality.

Security and network boundaries

Corporate deployments usually segment:

  • administrative;
  • internal media;
  • storage;
  • user or DMZ delivery segments.

That enables:

  • blocking direct user access to internal master nodes;
  • separating web control from video traffic;
  • placing external ingest on a dedicated Ingress server in the DMZ;
  • centralizing audit and change control;
  • integrating with corporate security tooling.

External system boundaries

Architecturally Agora interacts with:

  • external video sources;
  • corporate directories and access roles;
  • monitoring and SIEM systems;
  • external media players and IPTV devices;
  • corporate portals and player;
  • external publishing and production tools.

Summary

Agora is a layered platform where controller, Ingress server, origin, vod transcoder, edge servers, storage, and player play distinct roles. You can deploy a compact single-site system or a resilient distributed estate with centralized management, protected external ingest, internal master processing, separate VOD preparation, and scalable delivery on the corporate network.