Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - HBO Max achieves scale and performance with Amazon CloudFront (NET312)

Summary

• Introduction: Tal Shalom, a principal product manager with Amazon CloudFront, introduces the session and is joined by Jay Boyesrank, director of engineering for video backend systems at Warner Brothers Discovery, and Vikrant Kelkar, staff software engineer at Warner Brothers Discovery.
• Media Delivery Optimization: Tal discusses the evolution of media consumption, the importance of performance, scale, and availability in network connectivity, and AWS's investment in expanding Amazon CloudFront's network.
• CloudFront Configuration: Tal explains how to set up CloudFront for media delivery, including origin configuration, origin failover, origin shield, and caching strategies for manifests and video segments.
• Low Latency and HTTP/3: The session covers the benefits of low latency live video, segment length considerations, and the advantages of using HTTP/3 and QUIC for faster connection setup and improved packet loss recovery.
• Edge Compute: Tal introduces Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions for shifting functionality from the origin to the edge.
• CloudFront Continuous Deployment: A new feature that allows testing of new configurations in a staging environment before applying them to production.
• Support for Live Events: AWS Elemental Media Event Management team offers specialized support for CloudFront, assisting with event setup and post-event analysis.
• HBO Max's Journey with CloudFront: Jay and Vikrant share HBO Max's use of CloudFront in their multi-CDN strategy and preparation for large-scale events like "House of the Dragon."
• HBO Max's Infrastructure and CDN Strategy: Vikrant details HBO Max's video delivery architecture, the importance of a robust CDN, and their journey with CloudFront starting with HBO Go and HBO Now.
• Metrics and Performance: Vikrant presents key metrics monitored by HBO Max to ensure a high-quality user experience, including video start failure, rebuffering ratio, video startup time, and average bitrate.
• Traffic Patterns and Event Management: Vikrant shows traffic patterns for live sports events and high-profile releases, discussing the importance of capacity planning and CDN pre-warming.
• Future Roadmap: Jay outlines HBO Max's focus on merging with Discovery+ and enhancing the user experience, as well as looking forward to CloudFront's configuration management improvements.

Insights

• Multi-CDN Strategy: HBO Max's use of a multi-CDN strategy, including CloudFront, is critical for managing global traffic and ensuring content delivery during peak demand.
• Performance Metrics: The detailed metrics HBO Max monitors highlight the complexity of delivering a high-quality streaming experience and the importance of real-time data analysis for operational decisions.
• HTTP/3 and QUIC: The adoption of HTTP/3 and QUIC protocols significantly improved user experience metrics, demonstrating the value of staying current with networking technologies.
• Event Preparedness: The semi-automated pre-warming process and close partnership with AWS teams underscore the level of preparation required for successful delivery of high-profile streaming events.
• Continuous Deployment: The introduction of CloudFront's continuous deployment feature reflects a growing need for safe, incremental changes in production environments, reducing the risk of impacting the user experience.
• Edge Computing: The use of Lambda@Edge and CloudFront Functions for edge computing tasks illustrates the trend towards distributed computing models to reduce latency and offload processing from central origins.