Managing a JackTrip Server
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      Unmanaged JackTrip Audio Servers

      This article steps you through the process of setting up your own server to host audio-only sessions

      JackTrip Studio Sessions are normally powered by cloud computing servers managed by JackTrip Labs. This is completely transparent so that no IT skills are required, but availability is limited to certain locations worldwide. Unmanaged JackTrip servers utilize infrastructure that you provide, which can be located anywhere in the world.  You have two options available to do this:

      1. running a full-featured JackTrip studio server. This requires more setup but includes video, recording, livestreaming, real-time DSP effects, backing tracks, latency synchronization, etc.
      2. running a bare bones JackTrip audio server. This does not support video or any other features, but can be as simple as just running a single command.

      This article is for the second option: running a bare bones audio server. Instructions to run a full-featured studio server are available here.

      Most things you need to set up your own unmanaged server is bundled into our  jacktrip/jacktrip container image. If you are not familiar with containers or cloud-native computing, we recommend starting with Docker's Getting Started Guide.

      You can run the container directly from a command line using one of the examples provided here. 

      Basic Requirements

      1. You must have a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) with DNS pointing to your server, or use a dedicated (static) IP address that is all participants are able to route to.
      2. Your server must have a Linux container runtime available. A modern Linux server distribution is strongly recommended, but not strictly required. When using other operating systems, virtualization is likely to get in the way of realtime CPU priorities, resulting in additional audio glitches.
      3. Your server should have the following resources available:
        1. 2-4 vCPUs for each 5 participants. More compute is used for recording, live streaming, etc.
        2. About 2GB memory.
        3. About 2GB disk space. This is only used while recording and live streaming.
        4. Enough network capacity for all participants (a few Mbps each).
      4. Your firewall must allow direct access to your server from the Internet (and your own computer, in case it is on the same LAN/WAN) via the following ports:
        1. TCP port 4464
        2. UDP ports 50000-50099 (at least one for each participant)

      Migrating Your Studio

      The first thing that you will need to do is create a new studio, if you haven't already done so. Next, follow these steps to update your studio to use an unmanaged server. This will allow anyone to find and easily connect to it using the desktop app.

      Registering unmanaged servers with JackTrip.com does not require a paid subscription.

      Troubleshooting

      You can tail all logs for the studio container by running:

      docker exec -it jacktrip journalctl -f

      It can sometimes be helpful to narrow things down to a specific service. For example , you can tail logs for just the "jacktrip" audio server by running:

      docker exec -it jacktrip journalctl -u jacktrip -f

      If you have a paid subscription, please feel free to file a support ticket for help.