Comprehensive guide to building a scalable live cricket streaming platform for 100M users, covering backend infrastructure, streaming technology, and mobile app implementation.
System Architecture Overview
User Devices -> CDN -> Origin Server -> Encoding -> Video Source API Gateway -> Microservices -> Database/Cache
Backend Infrastructure (AWS Focus)
1. Video Processing Pipeline
Components:
AWS Elemental MediaLive: For live video encoding
AWS Elemental MediaPackage: For packaging and DRM
AWS Elemental MediaStore: For origin storage
Amazon CloudFront: CDN for global distribution
Implementation:
# Terraform example for MediaLive channel resource "aws_medialive_channel" "cricket_stream" { name = "cricket-live-stream" channel_class = "STANDARD" input_specification { codec = "AVC" input_resolution = "HD" maximum_bitrate = "MAX_20_MBPS" } input_attachments { input_attachment_name = "rtmp-input" input_id = aws_medialive_input.cricket_input.id input_settings { source_end_behavior = "CONTINUE" network_input_settings { server_validation = "CHECK_CRYPTOGRAPHY_AND_VALIDATE_NAME" } } } destinations { id = "mediapackage-destination" settings { password_param = "MediaPackagePassword" url = aws_mediapackage_channel.cricket.endpoint_url username = "streamuser" } } }
2. Microservices Architecture
Services:
User Service
Match Service
Streaming Service
Notification Service
Analytics Service
Kubernetes Deployment:
# streaming-service deployment apiVersion: apps/v1 kind: Deployment metadata: name: streaming-service namespace: cricket-app spec: replicas: 10 selector: matchLabels: app: streaming-service template: metadata: labels: app: streaming-service spec: containers: - name: streaming-service image: streaming-service:1.0.0 ports: - containerPort: 8080 env: - name: REDIS_HOST value: "redis-cluster.redis.svc.cluster.local" - name: KAFKA_BROKERS value: "kafka-cluster:9092" resources: requests: memory: "512Mi" cpu: "250m" limits: memory: "1Gi" cpu: "500m" --- apiVersion: autoscaling/v2 kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler metadata: name: streaming-service-hpa namespace: cricket-app spec: scaleTargetRef: apiVersion: apps/v1 kind: Deployment name: streaming-service minReplicas: 10 maxReplicas: 100 metrics: - type: Resource resource: name: cpu target: type: Utilization averageUtilization: 70
3. Database Architecture
Primary Database: Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL (Global Database)
Cache: Amazon ElastiCache (Redis) with cluster mode
Analytics: Amazon Redshift + Amazon Kinesis Data Streams
Mobile App Implementation (.NET MAUI)
1. Project Structure
CricketStreamApp/
├── Services/
│ ├── StreamingService.cs
│ ├── ApiService.cs
│ └── NotificationService.cs
├── Views/
│ ├── LiveMatchPage.xaml
│ ├── LiveMatchPage.xaml.cs
│ ├── MatchListPage.xaml
│ └── MatchListPage.xaml.cs
├── Models/
│ ├── Match.cs
│ ├── StreamQuality.cs
│ └── UserPreferences.cs
└── Utilities/
├── ConnectivityService.cs
└── BitrateCalculator.cs2. Key Implementation Files
StreamingService.cs (Adaptive Bitrate Streaming):
using LibVLCSharp.Shared; using Microsoft.Maui.Controls; namespace CricketStreamApp.Services { public class StreamingService : IDisposable { private LibVLC _libVLC; private MediaPlayer _mediaPlayer; private string _currentStreamUrl; private readonly IConnectivityService _connectivityService; public event EventHandler<MediaPlayerTimeChangedEventArgs> TimeChanged; public event EventHandler<MediaPlayerStateChangedEventArgs> StateChanged; public StreamingService(IConnectivityService connectivityService) { _connectivityService = connectivityService; Core.Initialize(); _libVLC = new LibVLC("--network-caching=3000", "--adaptive-logic=rate"); _mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(_libVLC); _mediaPlayer.TimeChanged += (s, e) => TimeChanged?.Invoke(s, e); _mediaPlayer.StateChanged += (s, e) => StateChanged?.Invoke(s, e); } public void PlayStream(string streamUrl, string quality = "auto") { if (_connectivityService.GetNetworkType() == NetworkType.WiFi) { streamUrl = AdjustStreamQuality(streamUrl, quality); } else { streamUrl = AdjustStreamQuality(streamUrl, "low"); } using var media = new Media(_libVLC, streamUrl, FromType.FromLocation); _mediaPlayer.Media = media; _mediaPlayer.Play(); _currentStreamUrl = streamUrl; } private string AdjustStreamQuality(string url, string quality) { return quality switch { "low" => url + "/low.m3u8", "medium" => url + "/medium.m3u8", "high" => url + "/high.m3u8", "auto" => url + "/adaptive.m3u8", _ => url + "/adaptive.m3u8" }; } public void Pause() => _mediaPlayer.Pause(); public void Stop() => _mediaPlayer.Stop(); public void SetQuality(string quality) { if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(_currentStreamUrl)) { Stop(); PlayStream(_currentStreamUrl, quality); } } public void Dispose() { _mediaPlayer?.Dispose(); _libVLC?.Dispose(); } } }
LiveMatchPage.xaml (Video Player UI):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <ContentPage xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/dotnet/2021/maui" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2009/xaml" xmlns:vlc="clr-namespace:LibVLCSharp.Maui;assembly=LibVLCSharp.Maui" x:Class="CricketStreamApp.Views.LiveMatchPage" Title="Live Match"> <Grid RowDefinitions="*,Auto,Auto"> <!-- Video Player --> <vlc:VideoView x:Name="VideoPlayer" Grid.Row="0" MediaPlayer="{Binding MediaPlayer}" /> <!-- Controls --> <StackLayout Grid.Row="1" Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalOptions="Center" Padding="10" BackgroundColor="#CC000000"> <Button Text="▶" Clicked="PlayButton_Clicked" WidthRequest="60" BackgroundColor="Transparent" TextColor="White"/> <Button Text="⏸" Clicked="PauseButton_Clicked" WidthRequest="60" BackgroundColor="Transparent" TextColor="White"/> <Slider x:Name="PositionSlider" Minimum="0" Maximum="100" Value="0" ValueChanged="PositionSlider_ValueChanged" WidthRequest="200" ThumbColor="Red" MinimumTrackColor="Red"/> <Label x:Name="TimeLabel" TextColor="White" VerticalOptions="Center"/> </StackLayout> <!-- Quality Selector --> <StackLayout Grid.Row="2" Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalOptions="Center" Padding="10" BackgroundColor="#CC000000"> <Label Text="Quality:" TextColor="White" VerticalOptions="Center"/> <Picker x:Name="QualityPicker" Title="Select Quality" SelectedIndexChanged="QualityPicker_SelectedIndexChanged" WidthRequest="150"> <Picker.Items> <x:String>Auto</x:String> <x:String>High</x:String> <x:String>Medium</x:String> <x:String>Low</x:String> </Picker.Items> </Picker> </StackLayout> </Grid> </ContentPage>
LiveMatchPage.xaml.cs (Code Behind):
using CricketStreamApp.Services; using LibVLCSharp.Shared; namespace CricketStreamApp.Views { public partial class LiveMatchPage : ContentPage { private readonly StreamingService _streamingService; private bool _isSeeking; public LiveMatchPage(StreamingService streamingService, string matchId) { InitializeComponent(); _streamingService = streamingService; // Set up event handlers _streamingService.TimeChanged += OnTimeChanged; _streamingService.StateChanged += OnStateChanged; // Load the stream LoadStream(matchId); } private void LoadStream(string matchId) { var streamUrl = $"https://streaming.cricketapp.com/matches/{matchId}"; _streamingService.PlayStream(streamUrl); } private void OnTimeChanged(object sender, MediaPlayerTimeChangedEventArgs e) { if (!_isSeeking) { MainThread.BeginInvokeOnMainThread(() => { PositionSlider.Value = e.Time; TimeLabel.Text = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(e.Time).ToString(@"hh\:mm\:ss"); }); } } private void OnStateChanged(object sender, MediaPlayerStateChangedEventArgs e) { // Update UI based on player state } private void PlayButton_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e) { _streamingService.Play(); } private void PauseButton_Clicked(object sender, EventArgs e) { _streamingService.Pause(); } private void PositionSlider_ValueChanged(object sender, ValueChangedEventArgs e) { if (_isSeeking) { _streamingService.SeekTo(Convert.ToInt64(e.NewValue)); } } private void QualityPicker_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { var picker = (Picker)sender; var selectedQuality = picker.SelectedItem?.ToString()?.ToLower(); if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(selectedQuality)) { _streamingService.SetQuality(selectedQuality); } } protected override void OnDisappearing() { base.OnDisappearing(); _streamingService.Stop(); } } }
3. API Service Implementation
ApiService.cs:
using System.Text.Json; namespace CricketStreamApp.Services { public class ApiService { private readonly HttpClient _httpClient; private const string BaseUrl = "https://api.cricketapp.com/v1"; public ApiService() { _httpClient = new HttpClient(); _httpClient.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("User-Agent", "CricketStreamApp/1.0"); } public async Task<List<Match>> GetLiveMatches() { try { var response = await _httpClient.GetAsync($"{BaseUrl}/matches/live"); response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync(); return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<List<Match>>(content); } catch (Exception ex) { // Handle error return new List<Match>(); } } public async Task<MatchDetail> GetMatchDetail(string matchId) { try { var response = await _httpClient.GetAsync($"{BaseUrl}/matches/{matchId}"); response.EnsureSuccessStatusCode(); var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync(); return JsonSerializer.Deserialize<MatchDetail>(content); } catch (Exception ex) { // Handle error return null; } } public async Task<bool> UpdateUserPreferences(UserPreferences preferences) { try { var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(preferences); var content = new StringContent(json, Encoding.UTF8, "application/json"); var response = await _httpClient.PostAsync($"{BaseUrl}/user/preferences", content); return response.IsSuccessStatusCode; } catch (Exception ex) { // Handle error return false; } } } }
Infrastructure Setup Guide
1. AWS Setup
Create Media Services:
Set up AWS Elemental MediaLive channels for each stream
Configure AWS Elemental MediaPackage for packaging
Set up CloudFront distribution for MediaPackage endpoints
Kubernetes Cluster:
Create EKS cluster with auto-scaling node groups
Deploy microservices with horizontal pod autoscaling
Set up Redis cluster for caching
Database:
Create Aurora Global Database with read replicas
Set up connection pooling with PgBouncer
Monitoring:
Implement CloudWatch for logging and metrics
Set up AWS X-Ray for distributed tracing
Configure Elastic Load Balancing with health checks
2. CI/CD Pipeline
# GitHub Actions example name: Deploy to Production on: push: branches: [ main ] jobs: deploy: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v2 - name: Set up .NET uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v1 with: dotnet-version: '7.0.x' - name: Restore dependencies run: dotnet restore - name: Build run: dotnet build --configuration Release --no-restore - name: Test run: dotnet test --no-restore --verbosity normal - name: Publish run: dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish - name: Deploy to EKS uses: aws-actions/amazon-eks-deploy@v1 with: aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }} aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }} aws-region: us-west-2 cluster-name: cricket-app-cluster manifest-file: k8s-deployment.yaml
Scaling for 100M Users
1. CDN Strategy
Use multiple CDN providers (CloudFront, Akamai, etc.)
Implement multi-CDN failover strategy
Set up CDN analytics for traffic optimization
2. Database Scaling
Use read replicas for read-heavy operations
Implement database sharding by region/user
Use connection pooling to handle many connections
3. Caching Strategy
Implement Redis cluster with sharding
Use CDN caching for static assets
Implement client-side caching where appropriate
4. Monitoring and Alerting
Set up real-time monitoring of all services
Implement automated scaling policies
Create incident response procedures
Cost Optimization
Use spot instances for non-critical workloads
Implement auto-scaling to scale down during off-peak hours
Use reserved instances for baseline capacity
Implement data transfer optimization between regions
Security Considerations
Implement DRM for video content
Use HTTPS for all communications
Implement DDoS protection (AWS Shield)
Regular security audits and penetration testing
This architecture provides a robust foundation for a cricket streaming app serving 100M users, with scalability, reliability, and performance built into every layer. The .NET MAUI implementation provides a cross-platform solution with native performance characteristics.
