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AWS Elemental MediaTailor

Overview⚓︎

The default Hydrolix dashboard for AWS Elemental MediaTailor combines MediaTailor manifests, ad server decision logs, and service metrics to provide information about your MediaTailor environment. When you add MediaTailor as a data source in the Hydrolix web console, Hydrolix provisions two AWS Data Firehose streams to transport data into your Hydrolix cluster: one stream for logs and another for metrics.

Before you begin⚓︎

Item Description Example value How to obtain this information
AWS Data Firehose stream name The streaming data pipeline which transports MediaTailor log and metric data from AWS into a Hydrolix cluster. hdx-logs-mediatailor-mycluster, my-firehose-stream Hydrolix creates two Firehose streams when MediaTailor is added as a data source through the AWS Marketplace. For self-managed Hydrolix clusters, see Amazon Data Firehose to create a Firehose stream and connect it to a Hydrolix cluster.

Send MediaTailor logs to Hydrolix⚓︎

Use vended logs to export MediaTailor logs to Hydrolix using AWS Firehose. The vended log strategy sends logs to a Firehose stream which are then ingested by the Hydrolix cluster.

If MediaTailor logs are already in CloudWatch, you can forward them to Firehose following the steps in Send CloudWatch Logs to Firehose. Hydrolix recommends using the vended log strategy to send the logs directly to a Firehose stream from MediaTailor to reduce the cost and end-to-end latency.

Configure MediaTailor for vended logs⚓︎

  1. Log in to your AWS MediaTailor console
  2. In the left nav bar, select the MediaTailor configuration for which you want to send the logs to Hydrolix, and click Edit.
  3. Select Vended logs as the logging strategy for the MediaTailor configuration.

  4. Open the Vended Logs tab. Click the Add button on the top right and select To Amazon Data Firehose > In current account.

    MediaTailor vended logs configuration

  5. Under Log type select AD_DECISION_SERVER_LOGS.

  6. Under Destination delivery stream select the Data Firehose stream created in Before you begin.

  7. Click Add.

    MediaTailor add destination

Your MediaTailor logs should now be streaming to your Hydrolix deployment.

Send MediaTailor metrics to Hydrolix⚓︎

MediaTailor metrics are automatically sent to CloudWatch. Configure your MediaTailor, CloudWatch, and Data Firehose services to deliver these metrics to your Hydrolix service.

Export metrics from CloudWatch⚓︎

  1. Log in to your AWS CloudWatch console.
  2. Select Streams from the Metrics section in the left nav.
  3. Click Create metric stream.

  4. Select the Custom setup with Firehose option at the top of the stream setup page.

    CloudWatch custom setup with Firehose

  5. Select the Data Firehose stream created in Before you begin.

  6. In the Change output format - optional dialog, select JSON.

    CloudWatch change output format to JSON

  7. (Optional) Add a Custom metric stream name.

  8. Click Create metric stream.

Your MediaTailor metrics are now streaming to your Hydrolix service.

Additional considerations⚓︎

Automatic provisioning region⚓︎

When you configure MediaTailor as a data source in the Hydrolix web console, either by itself or as part of a Hydrolix solution, Hydrolix automatically creates an AWS Firehose stream in the same region as the Hydrolix cluster.

Confirm which AWS region the Hydrolix cluster is running in on the Product Info page of the Hydrolix web console.

Cross-region data transfer costs⚓︎

If MediaTailor runs in a different AWS region than your Hydrolix cluster, you may incur additional data transfer costs when sending logs to CloudWatch or Firehose. All data streaming service costs appear on your AWS bill and aren't included in your Hydrolix subscription.

Review pricing using the AWS pricing calculator to estimate costs for these services:

Amazon CloudWatch pricing Amazon Data Firehose pricing

Same region minimizes cost⚓︎

If MediaTailor is deployed to multiple regions, ensure you're viewing the intended region after logging into any AWS service console to perform the steps on this page. To minimize data transfer costs, MediaTailor and Hydrolix should be deployed in the same AWS region.

Deactivate the service⚓︎

You can deprovision the CloudWatch and Firehose services provisioned by Hydrolix by selecting de-activate in the Hydrolix web console.