As you may know from the Complete Guide of Migration from AMS to RMS, deleting your Azure Media Services account results in the streaming domain associated with it getting deleted right away. Even if you keep your AMS account active, Microsoft will delete the DNS records associated with it before the end of 2024.

To retain access to your streaming domain, you are about to prepare a custom domain for the CDN in advance. Create a separate CDN endpoint pointed to the RMS streaming endpoint or change the origin for the existing CDN endpoint. 

There are two ways to use a new domain:

1. Create a separate CDN endpoint which is pointed to the RMS streaming endpoint. It is a preferable option.
2. Reuse your existing CDN endpoint (which you use for your AMS account) and map your custom domain to that endpoint. Microsoft gives instructions on how to do this here. After that, your CDN endpoint should look like this:

Second option makes releasing updates more difficult therefore is not recommended. There could be downtime after switching from AMS to RMS and purging the CDN cache. It's recommended to set up and test a separate CDN endpoint first, and then switch all video links to it.

Option 1

Create a separate CDN endpoint that uses RMS as the origin (recommended)

1. Create an endpoint specifying the RMS streaming domain as the origin (it matches the RMS API endpoint domain).
2. Wait for the origin change to propagate in the CDN. This can take a while. To ensure that the new origin is available, you can check the URL in a browser: "https://{your custom CDN domain}/console".
3. To complete migration you need to:
   • Repoint your application to use RMS API instead of AMS;
   • Update existing streaming links in your system to use the new streaming domain.

Option 2

Change the origin for the existing CDN endpoint

You might already have complex settings and keeping the current CDN endpoint is an option. However, after this step, all existing streaming links will be directed to the RMS streaming server. Therefore, incorporate this action into your final migration procedure and include it in your initial release with RMS. In order to do that:

1. Repoint your application to use RMS API instead of AMS. After this step, your application will create all new videos in RMS instead of AMS, but their links will not work from CDN until the next step is completed:
2. Change your CDN origin:

• • Navigate to your AMS Streaming Endpoint CDN profile
  • Select the endpoint routed to your AMS endpoint
  • Change the origin to your RMS streaming domain (it matches the RMS API endpoint domain).
  • Wait for the origin change to propagate in the CDN. This can take a while. To ensure that the new origin is available, you can check the URL in a browser: "https://{your custom CDN domain}/console".

3. Purge your CDN cache. Your CDN stores cached AMS manifests with AMS segment URLs. If any segments are missing from the cache, it will attempt to fetch them from RMS, which does not recognize these URLs. Therefore, please clear your CDN cache to ensure that all your VODs are streamed correctly.

As a result, all video URLs will now be streamed directly from RMS. No need to update existing streaming links similar to Option 1 - it's done automatically.

Specify the CDN domain as a new RMS streaming endpoint hostname

You need to complete this step in any case: whether you selected Option 1 or Option 2.

1. Go to RMS Console -> Manage -> Streaming Endpoints.
2. Save the host name of your RMS streaming endpoint, as you will need to use it as the new origin for your CDN.
3. Specify your CDN domain name (for AMS, it's the AMS streaming endpoint hostname) in the "Host Name" text box, and then click "Save".

If you skip this step, your application might produce streaming links using the RMS origin domain instead of your CDN domain. This happens because the RMS API sends it back to your application as the hostname of the streaming endpoint.

As a result, the  CDN domain will serve content using the RMS streaming domain as its origin. This transition won't require any additional training or redirects for your viewers.