Troubleshoot common AWS CloudFormation deployment issues for CDN and MediaTailor integrations - AWS Elemental MediaTailor
AWS CloudFormation deployment issuesPlayback and ad insertion issues

Troubleshoot common AWS CloudFormation deployment issues for CDN and MediaTailor integrations

AWS Elemental MediaTailor deployment issues can occur even with automation during deployment or playback. As a broadcast professional, understanding how to troubleshoot these issues will help you maintain a reliable streaming service with ad insertion.

If you encounter issues with your AWS CloudFormation deployment or the resulting MediaTailor and CloudFront integration, refer to these common problems and solutions:

AWS CloudFormation deployment issues

Stack creation fails with "Resource creation failed" error

Possible causes:

  • Invalid content origin domain name format

  • Insufficient permissions to create resources

Solution: Check the specific resource error in the AWS CloudFormation events tab. Verify that the content origin domain name is correctly formatted without protocol prefixes or paths. Ensure your IAM role has sufficient permissions to create all required resources.

CloudFront distribution takes a long time to deploy

Cause: CloudFront distributions typically take 15-30 minutes to fully deploy.

Solution: This is normal behavior. Wait for the distribution to reach the "Deployed" state before testing.

Playback and ad insertion issues

Content plays but no ads are inserted

Possible causes:

  • Ad decision server not responding or returning empty VAST

  • Content does not contain ad markers

Solution: Verify that your ad server is accessible and returning valid VAST responses. Check that your content has proper ad markers (SCTE-35 markers for live content or ad break tags for VOD).

403 Forbidden errors when accessing content

Possible causes:

  • Origin access control not configured correctly

  • Origin bucket or endpoint permissions issues

Solution: For Amazon S3 origins, verify that the bucket policy allows access from the CloudFront distribution. For MediaPackage origins, check that the origin access control is properly configured and that the endpoint is accessible.

Playback errors or buffering

Possible causes:

  • Cache behavior path patterns not matching content paths

  • Incorrect origin domain configuration

Solution: Verify that your cache behaviors have the correct path patterns to route requests to the appropriate origins. Check CloudFront logs to see which origin is handling the requests and confirm it's the expected one.

For broadcast professionals, these additional troubleshooting tips may help:

  • Use the Amazon CloudWatch Logs Insights to search for specific error patterns in MediaTailor logs

  • Test with a simple VAST ad server first (like the default one provided in the template) before using your production ad server

  • Verify your content's ad markers using the MediaTailor manifest inspector tool in the console

  • Check network traffic in your browser's developer tools to see if requests to the ad server are being made correctly

For additional troubleshooting, check the CloudWatch logs for both MediaTailor and CloudFront to identify specific errors.