Configuration

Scout is configured via properties in the application’s /usr/local/WowzaStreamingEngine/conf/<appName>/Application.xml.

All Scout properties are set inside the <Properties> element. The module re-reads them only at application startup — a WSE application restart is required to apply changes.

Property syntax

Each property follows the standard WSE format:

<Property>
  <Name>cmsdMqa.example</Name>
  <Value>someValue</Value>
  <Type>String</Type>   <!-- String | Boolean | Integer -->
</Property>

Full example

The following excerpt shows all Scout properties with their defaults. Only the license key is mandatory; all other properties are optional.

<Properties>

  <!-- ── License (required) ───────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>raskenlund.scout.license</Name>
    <Value>YOUR-LICENSE-KEY</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Core ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.enabled</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── MQA input ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <!-- Parse H.264 SEI user_data_unregistered for SVTA2128 MQA scores -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.input.seiParsing</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <!-- Enable the embedded MQA REST receiver (Standard+) -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.input.restApi</Name>
    <Value>false</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.input.restApiPort</Name>
    <Value>8090</Value>
    <Type>Integer</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── CMSD output ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.output.cmsdHeaders</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <!-- Inject CMSD-Static (ot, sf, st, br) -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.output.includeStatic</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <!-- Inject CMSD-Dynamic (vmaf, psnr, ssim) when quality scores are present -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.output.includeDynamic</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Prometheus (Standard+) ────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.enabled</Name>
    <Value>true</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.port</Name>
    <Value>9090</Value>
    <Type>Integer</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.path</Name>
    <Value>/metrics</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Webhook JSON export (Standard+) ───────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.enabled</Name>
    <Value>false</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.url</Name>
    <Value>https://your-endpoint/metrics</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.intervalMs</Name>
    <Value>5000</Value>
    <Type>Integer</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── OpenTelemetry / OTLP (Integration+) ────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.otlp.enabled</Name>
    <Value>false</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <!-- gRPC collector at port 4317; HTTP/protobuf at port 4318 (auto-detected) -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.otlp.endpoint</Name>
    <Value>http://otel-collector:4317</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Kafka (Integration+) ───────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.enabled</Name>
    <Value>false</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.brokers</Name>
    <Value>broker1:9092,broker2:9092</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.topic</Name>
    <Value>cmsd-mqa-metrics</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Alerting (Enterprise) ──────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.alerting.enabled</Name>
    <Value>false</Value>
    <Type>Boolean</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.alerting.webhookUrl</Name>
    <Value>https://your-endpoint/alerts</Value>
    <Type>String</Type>
  </Property>
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.alerting.vmafThreshold</Name>
    <Value>70</Value>
    <Type>Integer</Type>
  </Property>

  <!-- ── Metrics store TTL ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── -->
  <!-- Evict stream entries with no updates for this many seconds -->
  <Property>
    <Name>cmsdMqa.store.scoreTtlSeconds</Name>
    <Value>60</Value>
    <Type>Integer</Type>
  </Property>

</Properties>

Property reference

Core

Property	Description	Default
raskenlund.scout.license	Your Scout license key. Required — the module will not start without it.	—
cmsdMqa.enabled	Set to false to disable the module without removing it from Application.xml.	true

MQA input

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.input.seiParsing	Parse H.264 SEI user_data_unregistered messages for SVTA2128 MQA scores on each live stream. See Media Quality Assessment (MQA).	true
cmsdMqa.input.restApi	Enable the embedded REST receiver that accepts scores pushed by an external tool (Standard+). See Media Quality Assessment (MQA).	false
cmsdMqa.input.restApiPort	TCP port the REST receiver listens on.	8090

CMSD output

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.output.cmsdHeaders	Enable CMSD header injection. Set to false to disable all CMSD headers while keeping the other subsystems (Prometheus, alerting) running.	true
cmsdMqa.output.includeStatic	Inject the CMSD-Static header (ot, sf, st, br fields).	true
cmsdMqa.output.includeDynamic	Inject the CMSD-Dynamic header (vmaf, psnr, ssim fields) when quality scores are available from any ingest source.	true

Prometheus settings

Requires Standard or higher license. See Telemetry.

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.enabled	Enable the Prometheus metrics HTTP endpoint.	true
cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.port	TCP port the endpoint listens on.	9090
cmsdMqa.telemetry.prometheus.path	HTTP path for the metrics endpoint.	/metrics

Webhook settings

Requires Standard or higher license. See Telemetry.

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.enabled	Enable periodic JSON push to a webhook URL.	false
cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.url	Destination URL for webhook pushes.	(none)
cmsdMqa.telemetry.webhook.intervalMs	How often to push, in milliseconds.	5000

OpenTelemetry (OTLP) settings

Requires Integration or higher license. See Telemetry.

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.telemetry.otlp.enabled	Enable OTLP metric export.	false
cmsdMqa.telemetry.otlp.endpoint	Collector endpoint URL. Port 4317 triggers gRPC; port 4318 triggers HTTP/protobuf (auto-detected).	(none)

Kafka settings

Requires Integration or higher license. See Telemetry.

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.enabled	Enable Kafka metric publishing.	false
cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.brokers	Comma-separated Kafka broker list (host:port).	(none)
cmsdMqa.telemetry.kafka.topic	Kafka topic to publish to.	cmsd-mqa-metrics

Alerting settings

Requires Enterprise license. See Quality Alerting.

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.alerting.enabled	Enable quality alerting.	false
cmsdMqa.alerting.webhookUrl	URL to POST alert payloads to.	(none)
cmsdMqa.alerting.vmafThreshold	VMAF score below which an alert fires (0–100).	70

Metrics store

Property	Description	Default
cmsdMqa.store.scoreTtlSeconds	Evict stream entries that have not been updated for this many seconds. Keeps the metrics store from accumulating data for streams that have ended.	60