Implement multi-Region resilience for MediaTailor with MQAR - AWS Elemental MediaTailor
How MQAR worksStep 1: Verify MQAR requirementsStep 2: Configure your encoders for MQARStep 3: Configure MediaPackage for MQARStep 4: Configure CloudFront for MQARStep 5: Configure MediaTailor for MQARStep 6: Test your MQAR configurationNext steps

Implement multi-Region resilience for MediaTailor with MQAR

AWS Elemental MediaTailor multi-Region resilience is enhanced through Media Quality-Aware Resiliency (MQAR), an advanced Amazon CloudFront feature that helps MediaTailor deliver the best possible streaming experience. It automatically selects the origin with the highest quality score when you have multiple origins in different AWS Regions. This feature is particularly valuable for live streaming where you need uninterrupted service.

How MQAR works

MQAR enables CloudFront to select the origin with the highest quality score automatically. This ensures that viewers receive the best possible streaming experience. When configured properly, MQAR provides these benefits:

  • Automatic selection of the highest quality origin

  • Seamless failover between AWS Regions during outages

  • Improved viewer experience with minimal interruptions

  • Real-time quality monitoring and adaptation

Step 1: Verify MQAR requirements

Before implementing MQAR, verify that your infrastructure meets these requirements. MQAR works by comparing quality scores from multiple origins, so you need identical content available in multiple AWS Regions.

  • Encoders sending aligned ingest streams to all MediaPackage channels using epoch-locked CMAF ingest streamsets

  • Two identical MediaPackage channels in different AWS Regions, with identical origin endpoints

  • CMAF ingest for MediaPackage channels (enabled by default)

  • CloudFront distribution configured to support MQAR

  • MediaTailor configurations for each MediaPackage endpoint

Step 2: Configure your encoders for MQAR

Your encoders need to produce consistent, synchronized outputs across all Regions for MQAR to work effectively. This consistency allows CloudFront to make accurate quality comparisons between origins.

Configure your MediaLive outputs with these settings:

  • Ensure all video framerates in the CMAF output group are consistent (all fractional or all integer framerates).

  • Avoid transitions between fractional and integer framerates across encoding sessions.

  • Configure output segment sequence numbers so they never go backward across encoding sessions.

  • Use identical encoder output names across all Regions.

For more information about configuring MediaLive for MQAR, see Working with MQCS in the MediaLive user guide.

Step 3: Configure MediaPackage for MQAR

Set up your MediaPackage channels and endpoints with these configurations:

To configure MediaPackage for MQAR

  1. Create identical channel and endpoint configurations in each AWS Region.

  2. Use CMAF as the channel input type.

  3. For the primary MediaPackage origin, enable Force endpoint error configuration with these settings:

    • Stale multivariant playlists, media playlists, or MPDs

    • Incomplete multivariant playlist, media playlist, or MPD

    • Slate input

  4. For back-up MediaPackage origins, do not enable these error configurations to maximize chances of successful failover.

For more information about configuring MediaPackage for MQAR, see Leveraging media quality scores by using AWS Elemental MediaPackage in the MediaPackage user guide.

Step 4: Configure CloudFront for MQAR

In the CloudFront configuration, you enable MQAR and define how it selects between your origins. Create an origin group with the Media quality score option enabled.

To configure CloudFront for MQAR

  1. Create a CloudFront distribution with origins pointing to your MediaTailor endpoints.

  2. Create an origin group that includes these origins.

  3. In the origin group settings, enable the Media quality score option.

  4. Configure failover criteria to include 404 Not Found response codes. You can optionally include other 4xx/5xx codes.

  5. Create separate cache behaviors for each channel's path pattern. This prevents mixing scores when the same origin group serves multiple channels.

Note

MQAR is not available when using Lambda@Edge functions in origin-facing triggers (origin request and origin response) that are associated with your distribution's cache behavior.

For more information about configuring CloudFront for MQAR, see Media quality-aware resiliency in the CloudFront developer guide.

Step 5: Configure MediaTailor for MQAR

To complete your MQAR setup, configure MediaTailor in each Region to work with your multi-Region architecture. This ensures consistent ad insertion regardless of which origin CloudFront selects.

To configure MediaTailor for MQAR

  1. Create identical MediaTailor configurations in each Region, pointing to the corresponding MediaPackage endpoints.

  2. Configure the CDN content segment prefix to use your CloudFront distribution domain.

  3. Ensure that the ad decision server configurations are identical across Regions.

This setup ensures that regardless of which origin CloudFront selects based on quality scores, MediaTailor can continue to personalize ads consistently.

Step 6: Test your MQAR configuration

After setting up MQAR, test your configuration to ensure it works as expected:

To test your MQAR configuration

  1. Request content through your CloudFront distribution.

  2. Monitor real-time logs to verify that CloudFront is selecting origins based on quality scores.

  3. Simulate a failure in your primary AWS Region to test failover behavior.

  4. Verify that ad insertion continues to work correctly during failover.

Next steps

After implementing MQAR, consider these next steps: