Question:

Can I join my SnapStream systems to our domain?

Answer:

Yes.  However, there are some considerations that you need to take into account. 

Windows Updates:  We suggest that you make sure that any policies regarding the automatic installation of windows updates be taken into consideration.  We purposefully disable the auto install of Windows updates in our systems to prevent the system from restarting unexpectedly and interrupting your recording schedule.
NOTE:  Windows updates can still be installed manually by default.

Firewall Rules:  Please make sure that you don't have any policies to that will result in the blocking of the ports necessary for SnapStream to work.  Please see our Network Configuration article for more information.

Anti-Virus Exceptions:  It is not uncommon for there to be an anti-virus software requirement when joining a new system to an organization's domain.  Please make sure that the SnapStream recommended anti-virus exceptions have been implemented.

SnapStream Encoders: If you decide that you want to join your SnapStream Encoders to your domain, the Autologon process will need to be taken into consideration.  If your domain is configured to have an Interactive Logon message come up before Windows logon, it will interfere with that autologon process, and prevent the encoder from working until someone manually clicks OK after the encoder has been rebooted for any reason.  For this reason, you will likely need to make some additional adjustments to your domain policies so that any domain welcome message screens do not interfere with this auto logon process on these encoders. Please see our knowledgebase article on Intel Quick Sync (QSV) for more information.

Additional Notes:

The most common issues we see when a customer joins their SnapStream systems to their domain are below.

• Windows Update policies are enabled resulting in automatic reboots of the encoder causing the video streams to be halted during that reboot process.
  
  
• After a SnapStream encoder has been rebooted, the video streams fail to start back up because the domain welcome message is halting the autologon process.
  
  
• Someone unknowingly remote desktops to the SnapStream encoder with another user account, and unintentionally logs off the active desktop session that the autologon user had open.  This results in the video streams on that encoder halting.