Several servers from one panel (cluster)
Updated 23 Oct 2026A server is a machine — physical or virtual — running Castreon with its own license: it has its own channels, sources and outputs and is managed from its own panel. A cluster links several Castreon servers together: one of them, the controller, shows all of them on a single page and lets you work on any of them from the same panel.
Available from Castreon 1.8.0, in the Enterprise edition. Every server in the cluster needs its own Enterprise license. The settings are in Settings → Cluster, and the servers under the Servers menu.
What you get
- The Servers page on the controller: for each server its state, version, CPU and GPU, memory and disk, running channels, alerts, license and certificate.
- Work on any server from the same panel: choose the server in the top bar, and the whole panel — channels, profiles, settings — works on it, through the controller.
- Alerts when a server stops responding, when a certificate was not renewed in time or when the servers run different versions.
- Channel from the cluster: a channel on one server becomes a source on another server, with no addresses, tokens or fingerprints copied by hand (guide Channel from the cluster).
How the servers are linked
The controller holds the cluster’s certificate authority, made when the cluster is created (valid for 10 years). Each server gets its own certificate from it, valid for 30 days, which renews by itself 10 days before it expires.
The servers talk to each other only on the cluster port (default 33444), over TLS 1.3 with certificates on both sides: each end shows its certificate, and a connection without the cluster’s certificate is refused. The panel, the API and delivery to viewers stay on their usual ports.
If the controller fails, every server keeps running on its own, with its channels. The Servers page and remote work come back when the controller comes back.
What you need
- Castreon 1.8.0 or newer on all servers, each with an Enterprise license.
- The cluster port open between the servers, in both directions: the controller connects to the servers for the shared panel, and the servers connect to the controller (and to each other, for “Channel from the cluster”). Open the port only for the addresses of the other servers, not for the whole internet.
- An address at which the other servers reach each server: IP or domain name.
Create the cluster
On the server that will be the controller: Settings → Cluster → Create a cluster.
- Cluster name — the installation’s name, shown on every server (for example “Production”);
- This server’s name — as shown in the server list;
- Address for the other servers — the public IP or domain name of this server (the controller), where the other servers reach it; without
http://and without port. Do not enter the address of the server you want to add: each server enters its own address when it joins, and the controller’s address goes into the enrolment code by itself; - Cluster port — default 33444.
Create the cluster makes the certificate authority and starts the cluster port.
Add a server
- On the controller: Settings → Cluster → Add a server → New enrolment code. The code starts with
CJ1., is single use and valid for one hour. - On the new server: Settings → Cluster → Join a cluster, paste the code, then fill in This server’s name and Address for the other servers — here the IP or domain of the new server, where the other servers reach it → Join the cluster. The controller’s address is not entered: it is already in the code.
The code contains the controller’s address and the cluster’s authority fingerprint: if another server answers at the code’s address, joining stops. Make a new code for each new server.
The enrolment code is a secret: whoever has it can add a server to the cluster while it is valid. Don’t send it over insecure channels.
The Servers page
The Servers menu on the controller shows all servers of the cluster. The servers send the controller a report every 15 seconds; a server without a report for 45 seconds shows as not responding for …, and the values in its row are those from the last report.
Above the list, Problems shows what needs attention:
- Server down — the server no longer reports (stopped, no network or cluster port blocked);
- Certificate not renewed in time — the server’s certificate has less than 9 days left;
- Different versions — the servers run different versions of Castreon.
Problems close by themselves when the server comes back. You also get them by e-mail, Telegram or webhook: Settings → Notifications, the Cluster servers family.
On a server that is not the controller, the Servers page says which cluster it is in and which server is the controller; without Enterprise, it says what the edition offers.
Working on another server
On the controller, Server you work on in the top bar (or Manage on the Servers page) switches the whole panel to the chosen server. A coloured band always shows which server you are working on, with Back to … for the controller.
- The panel’s requests go through the controller, on the cluster port. Your browser talks only to the controller.
- The user’s role on the controller (administrator, operator, viewer) also applies on the chosen server: a Viewer user can only look.
- Changes appear in Audit on the chosen server, as
user@controller, with the type central panel. - Previews, images and live events go through the controller. Browser publishing (WHIP), display links and delivery addresses go straight to the server — your browser must be able to reach it.
Update the servers one at a time: choose the server in the top bar, then Settings → Updates.
Removing a server and dissolving the cluster
- On the controller, Remove from the cluster — the server gets no new certificate and is rejected by the other servers at once. Its channels keep running. On it, Leave the cluster then deletes the cluster data.
- On a server, Leave the cluster tells the controller and deletes the certificate and the cluster data from the server. Joining again needs a new code.
- Dissolve the cluster (on the controller, after you have removed the other servers) deletes the certificate authority. A new cluster will have a different authority.
None of these operations touches the channels.
Common problems
- Joining the cluster fails: the new server does not reach the controller on the cluster port (address, port or firewall), or the code has expired or was already used.
- The server shows “not responding”, although it runs: the controller no longer gets its reports — check the firewall on the cluster port, in both directions.
- “Different versions”: update the servers that are behind, one at a time.