Scale Jitsi Meet Horizontally: Step-by-Step Beginner Guide

Want more people on your Jitsi Meet server without bogging things down? Horizontal scaling is your go-to. This guide walks you through it, showing how extra servers can share the workload, making your video calls chug along smoothly. Whether it’s a small club or a growing business, this guide covers every step with real-world tips and advice.

What Does It Mean to Scale Jitsi Meet Horizontally?

Scaling Jitsi Meet this way means you’re running it on multiple servers or virtual machines, rather than just beefing up one server. Here’s why that’s cool:

• More Capacity: It lets more people join calls at once.
• Better Reliability: If one server bites the dust, others keep going.
• Load Spread: Traffic is spread out, so no single server gets slammed.
• Flexibility: You can add or yank servers as needed.

Most video call setups grow like this, and Jitsi Meet is no exception.

Why Choose Horizontal Over Vertical Scaling?

Boosting your current server with more RAM, CPU, or bandwidth is vertical scaling. It’s simpler but hits limits fast and isn’t as foolproof. Horizontal means adding servers, which takes more setup but avoids single points of failure and scales perfectly.

Say your server’s already struggling with 50 users. More RAM might help for now, but for 200? You’ll need multiple Jitsi Meet setups—that’s horizontal scaling.

Understanding Jitsi Meet Components Critical for Horizontal Scaling

To spread Jitsi Meet across servers, get familiar with its guts:

1. Jitsi Videobridge (JVB): Does the heavy lifting by routing video.
2. Jicofo (Jitsi Conference Focus): Manages meetings and assigns tasks to Videobridges.
3. Prosody: Handles the messaging and user presence.
4. Web Frontend: Served via web servers like Nginx or Apache.
5. Load Balancer: Juggles incoming connections spread across many servers.

How These Components Work Together

• Users hit a web front.
• Jicofo picks which Videobridge handles the call.
• Prosody keeps track of who’s in the meeting.
• Videobridge sends streams smoothly.

For horizontal scaling, host multiple JVBs, Jicofos, and Prosody instances behind a load balancer.

Step 1: Set Up Multiple Jitsi Meet Instances

Kick off by installing Jitsi Meet across different servers or containers. Every instance covers:

• Web frontend
• Prosody XMPP server
• Jicofo
• Jitsi Videobridge

But for real scaling, usually one Prosody and Jicofo with clustering works best, while having many JVBs is essential since that’s where the load piles up.

Real-World Tip

In practice, having one Prosody and Jicofo setup (or a small cluster) and stacking on many JVBs makes sense for big video needs.

Step 2: Configure a Load Balancer

You’ll need a load balancer to evenly share user traffic and video load.

Common Load Balancers for Jitsi Meet:

• NGINX or HAProxy for the web requests.
• JVB Load Balancer: Jitsi’s built-in option for directing load to various Videobridges.

Once it’s set:

• The web pages come from any available server.
• JVB traffic splits across nodes.
• No one server gets overwhelmed.

Setting Up NGINX Load Balancing

1. Specify your upstream servers (your web frontends).
2. Set up proxying HTTP(S) requests to those upstreams.
3. Use sticky sessions for that consistent feel.
4. Safeguard with proper TLS certificates.

Example NGINX upstream config snippet:

upstream jitsi_frontend {
    server jitsi1.example.com;
    server jitsi2.example.com;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name meet.example.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass       https://jitsi_frontend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $remote_addr;
        # Additional proxy headers and SSL configs...
    }
}

Step 3: Configure Jitsi Videobridge Clustering

Get Jitsi Videobridges talking to one Jicofo instance. Here’s how:

• Ensure each Videobridge is registered to the same Prosody server.
• Use the JVB discovery through Prosody to list active nodes.
• Jicofo divides the participant load across JVBs.

Every JVB should have its own server or container with the right firewall settings to let UDP and TCP traffic through (default 10000-20000 ports).

Real-Life Example: A University Scaling for More Classes

A college using Jitsi Meet for tons of online courses deploys five separate Videobridge nodes. They run Prosody with a shared database, letting Jicofo handle load balancing. The load balancer directs students to the correct web node, and JVBs ensure smooth streaming.

Step 4: Use a Shared Database for Consistency

To keep things in sync:

• Rely on a common database for Prosody (like SQL).
• Use tools like Ansible or Puppet for consistent setups across servers.
• Automate deployments for easy updates and server management.

Cutting discrepancies lowers errors and eases scaling.

Step 5: Test Your New Setup

Before going big:

• Simulate various loads.
• Monitor CPU, RAM, and network usage.
• Leverage Jitsi’s monitoring tools through Grafana dashboards.
• Check for failover by downing a Videobridge and watching how traffic adjusts.

Performance metrics will show if you’re ready to scale.

Practical Insights & Common Challenges

Bandwidth & Hardware Matter

JVB eats CPU per routed video and demands decent bandwidth. For hefty meetings, opt for servers with reliable CPU and good network outputs.

Secure Your Setup

• Use TLS everywhere.
• Ensure user authentication is robust if it’s public-facing.
• Keep logs checked for any fishy activity.

More instances mean more potential vulnerabilities, so update your software!

Additional Resources for Scaling Jitsi Meet Horizontally

• Official Jitsi Meet Handbook
• Jitsi Videobridge Performance Tips
• Prosody Clustering Documentation
• Community Forums and GitHub Issues

Conclusion

Expanding Jitsi Meet horizontally means more users and better meeting experiences, along with solid reliability and flexibility. Running multiple Videobridge nodes with Jicofo and Prosody via a load balancer lets your setup grow with you.

Just think about the hardware, network, and security parts, and follow the steps confidently. Testing performance is key before going live.

Want Jitsi Meet to grow with you? Horizontal scaling is the way forward.

Call to Action

Ready to amp up Jitsi Meet for your users? Start adding Videobridges and set up a load balancer today. Check your server specs, dive into the Jitsi docs, and try out a test setup. For more help or personal scaling plans, hit up Jitsi specialists or join the Jitsi community to swap insights.

Scaling demands work, but it keeps your meetings seamless, regardless of size.