Infinix OTT Platform Setup Guide

Welcome to the official local development installation and production VPS hosting guide for the Infinix OTT Platform.

Infinix is a high-performance video-on-demand (VOD), Live TV, and micro-drama streaming system. To guarantee a smooth, low-latency streaming experience for web and Smart TV users, the codebase is split into three main components: an Express REST API backend, a customer web frontend client, and a dedicated admin management console dashboard.

Direct Media Offloading Tip

Videos processed in Infinix are segmented into HLS adaptive bitrate chunks (.m3u8 playlists and .ts files). By setting up Nginx on your VPS to serve these static files directly, you bypass Node.js process load, drastically reducing VPS memory and CPU usage!

System Architecture

Express REST API

Node.js TypeScript server which manages business logic, users, subscriptions, video transcoding queues, and admin data.

REST API & Socket.io

Next.js Web Client

High-end customer web portal featuring dynamic content sliders, profiles, content filtering, and optimized adaptive video players.

Next.js SSR Frontend

Next.js Admin Panel

Robust administrative dashboard enabling administrators to manage banners, upload movies/seasons, track analytics, and manage settings.

Next.js App Console

Prerequisites & Hardware Specifications

For smooth video rendering and responsive REST transactions, ensure your systems meet these specifications.

Requirement	Local Development Environment	Production VPS (High Load)
Operating System	macOS, Windows 10/11, Linux	Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 LTS (x64)
Runtime Engine	Node.js v20.x LTS (with npm)	Node.js v20.x LTS
Database	MySQL 8.0+ / Local Server	MySQL 8.0 Server instance
Video Processor	FFmpeg binaries installed globally	FFmpeg package (system-level)
RAM Capacity	8 GB RAM (minimum)	8 GB or 16 GB RAM (for FFmpeg encoding)
Disk Space	20 GB SSD storage	100 GB+ NVMe SSD (highly scalable for assets)

Local Setup Step 1: Prep Environment

To begin developing locally, you must install the runtime engine Node.js (v20 LTS), MySQL Server, and FFmpeg.

1

Install Node.js Locally

Download and install Node.js 20 LTS from the official website (nodejs.org), or install via Node Version Manager (NVM):
bash
```
# Install and switch to Node 20
nvm install 20
nvm use 20
node -v
```
2

Install MySQL Server Locally

Download MySQL Community Server from the MySQL downloads portal and run it as a service locally. Ensure you configure a root user password.

3

Install FFmpeg Locally

FFmpeg must be installed system-wide so the Express transcoding pipelines can run properly.

bash

# On macOS (using Homebrew)
brew install ffmpeg

# On Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)
sudo apt install ffmpeg -y

# On Windows
# Download from Gyan.dev, extract, and add to system Environment variables PATH

Local Setup Step 2: Provision Database

Create a local MySQL database instance and dedicated user credentials specifically for development tasks.

1

Log in to Local MySQL Command Line
bash
```
mysql -u root -p
```

2

Execute SQL Provisioning Commands

Create database schemas and provision local developer account privileges:

SQL

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `infinix_dev` CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'infinix_dev_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'DevPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `infinix_dev`.* TO 'infinix_dev_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

Local Setup Step 3: Run Express Server

Initialize the server codebase, install dependencies, establish environment configurations, and spin up the backend API local runner.

1

Install Server Dependencies
bash
```
cd server
npm install
```

2

Configure Local Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the server root directory and set the values to match local settings:

server/.env

PORT=5007
NODE_ENV=development

# Database Configuration (MySQL local)
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_USER=infinix_dev_user
DB_PASSWORD=DevPassword123!
DB_NAME=infinix_dev

# JWT & URL Configurations
APP_URL=http://localhost:5007
FRONTEND_URL=http://localhost:3000
JWT_SECRET=local_development_jwt_token_secret_key_string
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=local_development_jwt_refresh_token_secret_key_string
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=7d
JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN=30d

# SMS & E-mail Configurations (Optional for development)
SMTP_HOST=smtp.mailtrap.io
SMTP_PORT=2525
SMTP_USER=test_user
SMTP_PASSWORD=test_pass

3

Run Local Express Development Server

Launch the server in development hot-reload mode using the TypeScript runner script:
bash
```
npm run dev
```
The server will boot, automatically sync models to database tables, and start listening on: http://localhost:5007.

Local Setup Step 4: Run Client Web

Initialize client portal variables pointing to your local Express API base URL and spin up the hot-reloading Next.js dev server.

1

Install Client Dependencies
bash
```
cd ../client
npm install
```
2

Set Local Environment File

Create a .env file inside the client root folder and set the backend API endpoint address to localhost:
client/.env
```
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5007/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_local_google_oauth_client_id_if_needed
```
3

Run Local Web Server
bash
```
npm run dev
```
The Next.js customer web frontend will start locally on: http://localhost:3000.

Local Setup Step 5: Run Admin Panel

Boot up the local administrator control center to configure video catalogs, channels, and platform settings.

1

Install Admin Panel Dependencies
bash
```
cd ../admin
npm install
```
2

Set Environment Configuration

Create a .env file in the admin dashboard root folder pointing to the localhost server API:
admin/.env
```
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=http://localhost:5007/api
```
3

Run Admin Development Server
bash
```
npm run dev
```
The Next.js admin console dashboard will launch locally on: http://localhost:3001.

VPS Setup Step 1: DNS & Domain Configuration

Before installing packages on your server, map your domains in your domain registrar's DNS settings. This acts as the backbone for public access, proxying, and SSL certificate provision.

1

Map DNS A Records to VPS Public IP

Navigate to your domain registrar's DNS management control panel (e.g. GoDaddy, Hostinger, Cloudflare, Namecheap) and create the following A records:

Record Type	Host / Name	Points To	Purpose
A Record	`@` (or blank)	`YOUR_VPS_IP_ADDRESS`	Points primary domain to client frontend website
A Record	`api`	`YOUR_VPS_IP_ADDRESS`	Points API subdomain to Express API server
A Record	`admin`	`YOUR_VPS_IP_ADDRESS`	Points Admin subdomain to management dashboard

Wait for DNS propagation (typically taking 5-15 minutes before running the next step).

VPS Setup Step 2: Prepare VPS Environment

Connect to your VPS server using SSH, update system packages, and install Node.js, Nginx, MySQL Server, FFmpeg, and the PM2 daemon globally.

1

Connect & Update Package Lists

bash

ssh root@YOUR_VPS_IP_ADDRESS
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2

Install Node.js 20 LTS

Fetch and install the official NodeSource distribution script for Node.js 20:
bash
```
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
node -v
```
3

Install Nginx, MySQL Server, & FFmpeg

Install server elements. Enabling Nginx and MySQL ensures they auto-start on server boot:
bash
```
sudo apt install -y mysql-server nginx ffmpeg build-essential
sudo systemctl enable nginx
sudo systemctl enable mysql
```
4

Install PM2 Globally

PM2 is a robust Node.js process manager ensuring our backend API and web client servers remain online 24/7, auto-restarting on crashes or server reboots.
bash
```
sudo npm install -g pm2
pm2 --version
```

VPS Setup Step 3: Provision VPS Database

Secure your production database and set up a dedicated MySQL database and user account using custom configurations.

1

Log in to MySQL Terminal
bash
```
sudo mysql -u root
```

2

Create Database & Database User

Execute the SQL commands below to define your database, set credentials, and secure permissions. Note: Custom fields in the commands below dynamically match your Sidebar configurations!

SQL (MySQL Terminal)

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `infinix` CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS 'infinix_user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongDBPassword123!';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `infinix`.* TO 'infinix_user'@'localhost';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
EXIT;

VPS Setup Step 4: Deploy Backend Live

Upload your `server` code directory onto the VPS (e.g. inside /var/www/infinix/server). Next, initialize environment configurations and launch it using PM2.

1

Enter Server Directory & Install Dependencies
bash
```
cd /var/www/infinix/server
npm install
```

2

Configure Backend .env File

Create the .env file with proper port and SQL configurations. Use the custom command box below which includes your custom values:

nano .env

# Admin Setup Credentials
ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@inficom.com
ADMIN_PASSWORD=Admin@123

# Database Setup (MySQL)
DB_HOST=localhost
DB_PORT=3306
DB_USER=infinix_user
DB_PASSWORD=StrongDBPassword123!
DB_NAME=infinix

# Application Configurations
NODE_ENV=production
PORT=5007
APP_URL=https://api.infinixdigitalott.com
FRONTEND_URL=https://infinixdigitalott.com

# JWT Secret Keys
JWT_SECRET=infinix_jwt_secret_production_key_change_me_$(openssl rand -hex 16)
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=infinix_jwt_refresh_production_key_$(openssl rand -hex 16)
JWT_EXPIRES_IN=365d
JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN=365d

# SMS & E-mail Configurations
SMTP_HOST=smtp.hostinger.com
SMTP_PORT=465
SMTP_USER=support@infinixdigitalott.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=Vix@Digital26

3

Start Server Process with PM2

TypeScript files are executed dynamically on the VPS. Start the daemon job with the PM2 module:

bash

# Start Server using TSX directly through PM2 fork mode
pm2 start npx --name "infinix-api" -- tsx index.ts

# Configure PM2 to auto-start on server reboots
pm2 save
pm2 startup

VPS Setup Step 5: Nginx Proxy & SSL Setup

Route external HTTP queries securely to internal Express and Next.js applications using reverse proxy servers, static media direct offloading, and SSL encryption.

High-Performance Direct Static Offloading

In the config below, Nginx serves static video chunks directly from /var/www/infinix/server/uploads. This bypasses Express execution for media streaming, ensuring maximum performance!

Create an Nginx configuration file: /etc/nginx/sites-available/infinixdigitalott.com.

Nginx site-available config

# 1) Customer Frontend Web (domain.com)
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name infinixdigitalott.com;
    client_max_body_size 2000M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

# 2) Administrator Dashboard (admin.domain.com)
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name admin.infinixdigitalott.com;
    client_max_body_size 2000M;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3001;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

# 3) Express REST API Backend (api.domain.com)
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name api.infinixdigitalott.com;
    client_max_body_size 2000M;

    # Media bypass rule to offload large transcode file reads directly to Nginx disk
    location ~* ^/(api/)?uploads/(.*)$ {
        alias /var/www/infinix/server/uploads/$2;
        expires 365d;
        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable";
        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*";
        add_header Access-Control-Allow-Methods "GET, OPTIONS";
        try_files "" =404;
    }

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:5007;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
    }
}

1

Deploy Custom Nginx Config

Write the above site virtual configurations using nano inside your server directory: /etc/nginx/sites-available/infinixdigitalott.com.

2

Enable Symbolic Links & Restart Nginx

Enable symbolic linking to publish the config file, run syntactical checks, and restart the Nginx router daemon:

bash

# Link to enabled sites
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/infinixdigitalott.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/

# Verify config syntax
sudo nginx -t

# Restart proxy daemon
sudo systemctl restart nginx

3

Acquire Let's Encrypt SSL Certificates

Secure all subdomains using a Let's Encrypt SSL certificate via Certbot:
bash
```
sudo apt install -y certbot python3-certbot-nginx
sudo certbot --nginx -d infinixdigitalott.com -d admin.infinixdigitalott.com -d api.infinixdigitalott.com
```
Certbot automatically intercepts Nginx files to redirect HTTP transactions directly to HTTPS. Once active, your live API runs securely at: https://api.infinixdigitalott.com.

VPS Setup Step 6: Connect Frontends & Run

Now that the database is configured, the Express server is online, and domain names are routed with HTTPS, we can connect the web client and admin portals by editing their environment parameters, compiling the Next.js assets, and launching them with PM2.

Critical Connection Step

Next.js embeds environment variables prefixing NEXT_PUBLIC_ into compiled client bundles during build time. You **must** create these .env files before running npm run build, ensuring the browser calls the correct live production URL: https://api.infinixdigitalott.com/api.

1

Configure Next.js Client Environment File

Navigate to client code directory /var/www/infinix/client and populate production variables. This links your client frontend to the live HTTPS API domain:

bash

cd /var/www/infinix/client
npm install

# Write production variables (Points client browser to live SSL API subdomain)
cat << 'EOF' > .env
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.infinixdigitalott.com/api
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_production_google_oauth_client_id_here
EOF

2

Build Next.js Client Production Bundle

Compile static optimization elements and TypeScript files. This compiles the live API URL straight into client scripts:
bash
```
npm run build
```
3

Launch Web Client Daemon using PM2

Launch client rendering bundles on Next port 3000 using the PM2 daemon runner:
bash
```
pm2 start npm --name "infinix-client" -- start -- -p 3000
pm2 save
```

4

Configure Next.js Admin Panel Environment File

Navigate to admin codebase directory /var/www/infinix/admin and edit API endpoint parameters:

bash

cd /var/www/infinix/admin
npm install

# Write production variables (Points admin panel to live SSL API subdomain)
cat << 'EOF' > .env
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://api.infinixdigitalott.com/api
EOF

5

Compile Next.js Admin Panel Production Bundle

Compile static files for the administration dashboard interface:
bash
```
npm run build
```
6

Launch Admin Panel Daemon using PM2

Deploy the dashboard bundle on port 3001 using PM2 process configuration tools:
bash
```
pm2 start npm --name "infinix-admin" -- start -- -p 3001
pm2 save
```
7

Configure PM2 Save Status & Startup Configuration

Save all running daemons and build system scripts to auto-start applications on hardware reboots:
bash
```
pm2 save
pm2 startup
```

Interactive Setup Progress Tracker

Track your installation checkpoints below. Checkboxes save automatically to your browser storage, and complete step cards will display line strikethrough markers in the step navigation panels above.

Troubleshooting & FAQ

Encountering deployment hurdles? Check these common errors, verified configuration parameters, and production solutions.

Ensure your Nginx configuration points to the exact absolute folder path of the Express server uploads directory (typically /var/www/infinix/server/uploads). Also verify that Nginx includes the header:

add_header Access-Control-Allow-Origin "*";

Additionally, confirm that user-permissions on the uploads folder allow Nginx to read them: sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/infinix/server/uploads.

You must ensure PM2 startup configurations are registered. Run the command:

pm2 startup

Copy the systemd command output generated on your screen, paste it into the terminal, execute it, and then save the active processes using:

pm2 save

By default, Nginx limits uploads to 1MB. To fix this, you must edit your Nginx virtual block configurations and place this directive inside the server block context:

client_max_body_size 2000M;

Then execute sudo systemctl restart nginx.

Verify that MySQL is up and running: sudo systemctl status mysql.

Ensure your backend database configuration inside .env matches your database user, password, and port. Our database sync logic uses Sequelize, which automatically populates tables on bootstrap. If alterations fail, verify your database user has ALL PRIVILEGES granted.

Ensure your credentials on Google Cloud Console contain the live production redirection URIs under "Authorized JavaScript Origins" (e.g. https://infinixdigitalott.com) and "Authorized redirect URIs" (e.g. https://api.infinixdigitalott.com/api/auth/google/callback). Also check that the OAuth client ID inside the client .env file matches exactly.

Infinix OTT Platform Setup Guide

Direct Media Offloading Tip

System Architecture

Express REST API

Next.js Web Client

Next.js Admin Panel

Prerequisites & Hardware Specifications

Local Setup Step 1: Prep Environment

Local Setup Step 2: Provision Database

Local Setup Step 3: Run Express Server

Local Setup Step 4: Run Client Web

Local Setup Step 5: Run Admin Panel

VPS Setup Step 1: DNS & Domain Configuration

VPS Setup Step 2: Prepare VPS Environment

VPS Setup Step 3: Provision VPS Database

VPS Setup Step 4: Deploy Backend Live

VPS Setup Step 5: Nginx Proxy & SSL Setup

High-Performance Direct Static Offloading

VPS Setup Step 6: Connect Frontends & Run

Critical Connection Step

Interactive Setup Progress Tracker

Deploy Progress Checklist

Local Development Checklist

VPS Production Checklist

Troubleshooting & FAQ