How to setup a secure video chat on WordPress
In this article we are going to learn how to setup a secure video chat with WordPress and the Community Pro video chat plugin in four easy steps.
Step 1: Make sure you have a media server
First, in order to run a video chat service on any website you need a media server. Think of the media server as the home of the video chat software. If you have a VPS all you need to do is install a media server software like Red5 and you’re all set.
If you don’t have a VPS you can purchase one with Red5 pre-installed from just $15/month here.
Step 2: Get the software
Download the video chat software (you can try it for free for 15 days by clicking here) and the wordpress plugin (free version from wordpress.org or pro version).
Step 2.5: Security
AVChat 3 has advanced built-in security features like protection against capturing the video streams, watermarks, rtmps support for secure communication between users, protection from malicious connections, SWF verification and encrypted room passwords.
We’ve been working with our clients for years and we’ve had to deal with all sorts of security concerns so we understand the importance of securing your installation.
This is why we’re including all these features in our software free of charge.
However for any number of reasons some customers want ultimate security so for them we also offer a hands on security service.
Step 3: Install AVChat & the AVChat plugin
Once you download and extract the AVChat software archive, you’ll notice it contains four folders. If you’re on Red5 just copy the content of the Red5 folder (it’s just a folder called avchat30) to your media server in /opt/red5/webapps/. If you have a different media server take a look at our installation instructions.
After moving the avchat30 folder to the media server, make sure that its permissions are set to 777.
The WordPress plugin is easy to install: first upload the archive to WordPress->Plugins->Add New. Don not click on Activate yet.
Now take the avchat30 folder you previously uploaded to the media server and copy it to your WordPress installation as well, here:
/wp-content/plugins/avchat-3-pro/
Once you copied it, enter it and change the permission of the uploadedFiles folder to 777.
Last step before activating the plugin: create a new empty folder tokens in the avchat3-pro directory and set its permissions to 777. It should look like this:
/wp-content/plugins/avchat-3-pro/tokens
Done. Now activate the plugin.
Step 4: Connect the WordPress plugin to the media server
Go to your WordPress dashboard and in the left sidebar you’ll now see the Video Chat PRO menu. Go to the Settings submenu . Now enter the rtmp Connection string. It should look like this:
rtmp://my-media-server.com/avchat30/_definst_
where my-media-server.com is the domain name or IP address of your server where your media server is installed.
All done! You just learned how to easily set up a secure video chat on WordPress in 4 steps. Now to embed the chat just insert
in any post or page where you want the video chat to appear. Have fun chatting!