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Ubiq Server

The room and session server. Keeps shared state - avatars, transforms, object ownership - synchronised between connected clients.

A modified version of Ubiq (UCL) (docs · GitHub), extended with the functionality Va.Si.Li-Lab needs.

Source: Ubiq-server/ · Node.js + TypeScript

State only

Ubiq carries no audio or video. In deployments that stream media - such as InterView - that is a separate service, and the two fail independently. A session can have working voice and broken avatars, or the reverse.

Ports

Port Purpose
8009 TCP room server - what the Unity client connects to
8010 Secure WebSocket room server
8011 Status and metrics

Configuration

Configuration is layered by nconf and resolved first-wins:

  1. Files passed as command-line arguments
  2. config/local.json - deployment overrides, not in source control
  3. config/default.json - committed defaults

To change a setting, add it to config/local.json rather than editing the committed defaults.

config/local.json
{
    "roomserver": {
        "tcp": { "port": 8009 },
        "wss": { "port": 8010, "cert": "./cert.pem", "key": "./key.pem" }
    },
    "status": { "port": 8011, "cert": "./cert.pem", "key": "./key.pem", "apikeys": [] },
    "iceservers": [
        { "uri": "turn:turn.example.org:3478", "username": "<user>", "password": "<password>" }
    ]
}

iceservers

Handed to clients when they connect. The committed default is a public Google STUN server, which is enough for clients on permissive networks.

Credentials belong in config/local.json

config/default.json is committed. TURN credentials placed there end up in the repository. Put them in config/local.json, which is not tracked.

Room types

roomserver:roomType, if set, selects the room class the server instantiates. The class must already be imported by the entry point.

Running

cd Ubiq-server
docker build -t ubiq .
docker run -d --restart unless-stopped -p 8009:8009 -p 8011:8011 ubiq

cd Ubiq-server
npm install
node --loader ts-node/esm app.ts

The container runs as an unprivileged user (uid 8877).

Unity client

Create a Ubiq connection definition with this server's host and TCP port and set it as ubiqServer in the client's endpoints configuration (VasiliEndpoints). Without one, the client connects to 127.0.0.1:8009. See Ubiq Server in the Va.Si.Li-Lab documentation.

Citation

@inproceedings{friston2021ubiq,
  title={Ubiq: A system to build flexible social virtual reality experiences},
  author={Friston, Sebastian J and Congdon, Ben J and Swapp, David and Izzouzi, Lisa
          and Brandst{\"a}tter, Klara and Archer, Daniel and Olkkonen, Otto
          and Thiel, Felix Johannes and Steed, Anthony},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 27th ACM symposium on virtual reality software and technology},
  pages={1--11},
  year={2021}
}