Implementation and automation of WebRTC application deployment in a Cloud Native environment

Abstract

Quarantine restrictions and current trends in the development of IT infrastructures have led to significant interest in streaming technologies. The application and development of WebRTC systems for audio and video conferencing is relevant and in demand today. Web real-time communications (WebRTC) allows Web browsers to interact through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), which are used primarily for audio and video conferencing. Selective Direction Gateway (SFU) and Multipoint Control Gateway (MCU) are technologies that complement WebRTC. SFU and MCU servers are used to improve performance when exposed to environmental inhomogeneities, such as increasing the number of users, specific network equipment. Therefore, due to the specifics of their work, deployment in a Cloud Native environment is a non-trivial task. The article presents an analysis of the implementation and automation of WebRTC SFU gateway deployment in a Cloud Native environment and its feasibility. Emphasis is placed on finding the optimal deployment method. An example of a declarative description of the deployment of a Jitsi SFU gateway is given as code that can be reused for subsequent experiments. Automating the deployment of SFU servers has improved the quantitative and qualitative components of the experiments, reducing the time spent on its preparation and minimizing human error. Method of great potential for further development was proposed and described. The authors also proposed changes to the HELM package through the Github site to improve the handling of dependencies that have been adopted and implemented.