Install C21 Live Control

What you install

The C21 Live Control product, packaged as a Docker compose stack. The installer brings up the operator UI, the REST API, the WebSocket layer, the MCP server and the bundled database; the result is an instance reachable at https://<host>:9443/.

The host can later be paired with one or more C21 Live Encoder instances (see Install C21 Live Encoder) and a license file (see step 3 below).

Before you start

Verify the host meets the prerequisites described in Prepare the host. Minimum:

• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 24.04 LTS, x86_64
• 2 cores / 4 GiB RAM / 20 GiB free on / (4 cores / 8 GiB RAM recommended)
• HTTPS egress to get.cires21.com and Docker Hub
• Time synced via NTP, public DNS resolution
• Ports 9080, 9443, 3000, 3100 free on the host

Steps

curl -fsSL https://get.cires21.com/livecontrol | sudo bash

sudo livecontrol license info

C21 Live Control — License binding info
========================================
Host fingerprint:        73250bef2e5af1b5deb8e5e4d7506dff
License file:            /opt/livecontrol/data/license.txt
Current license:         (not installed)
Required product slots:  C21LiveControl, C21LiveDeploy, C21LiveEditor (optional), C21LiveDRM (optional)

[C21LiveControl]
Expiration=31-12-3000
Quantity=1
Key=<key-1>
[C21LiveDeploy]
Expiration=31-12-3000
Quantity=1
Key=<key-2>
...

sudo livecontrol license install /path/to/license.txt
sudo livecontrol restart

sudo livecontrol license verify

Supported platform

Installer flags

Environment variables

Non-interactive example

curl -fsSL https://get.cires21.com/livecontrol | sudo bash -s -- --unattended --version 6.10.1

Day-to-day operations

After installation, the livecontrol CLI is available on the host. Always run it with sudo — the configuration and data paths live under /opt/livecontrol with restricted permissions.

Service control

sudo livecontrol status              # Status with health checks
sudo livecontrol start
sudo livecontrol stop
sudo livecontrol restart [service]
sudo livecontrol logs [service]      # Tail; `-f` to follow, `-n N` for N lines
sudo livecontrol version             # Print installed version
sudo livecontrol config              # Current configuration (default: show)
sudo livecontrol config edit         # Edit configuration (`$EDITOR` or nano)
sudo livecontrol activate            # Activate the docker group for the current session

License

sudo livecontrol license info        # Host fingerprint + current status
sudo livecontrol license install <file>
sudo livecontrol license verify      # Status of each slot in the installed file

See Licenses for the full product catalog and the per-license gates.

Backups

sudo livecontrol backup [name]       # Manual backup (auto-named if name is omitted)
sudo livecontrol restore             # List available backups
sudo livecontrol restore <file>      # Restore from a specific backup

The installer schedules an automatic backup daily at 03:00 with a 7-day retention. Backups include the configuration and a database dump; they are stored encrypted at /var/backups/livecontrol/.

Updates

The flow is detailed in Updates. Quick reference:

sudo livecontrol update --check
sudo livecontrol update <version>
sudo livecontrol update <version> --no-backup       # Skip the pre-update backup (not recommended)
sudo livecontrol update <version> --force           # Reinstall the same version and skip prompts

The update runs a pre-update backup, pulls the new images, restarts the stack and rolls back automatically if any step fails.

SSL

sudo livecontrol ssl status
sudo livecontrol ssl info
sudo livecontrol ssl generate [days]                # Generate a self-signed certificate
sudo livecontrol ssl import <cert.crt> <key.pem>    # Import a CA-signed pair

The installer generates a self-signed certificate by default. livecontrol ssl import validates that the certificate and the key correspond before installing them.

Security

sudo livecontrol security status
sudo livecontrol security audit
sudo livecontrol security harden                                  # Default hardening
sudo livecontrol security password <mysql|admin|reset [<user>]>   # Rotate the indicated password

security password reset <user> returns the account to its initial state and forces a change on next login.

Maintenance

sudo livecontrol cleanup [--dry-run]

The installer also schedules weekly automatic maintenance (log rotation, removal of orphaned Docker resources, purge of backups beyond retention).

Uninstall

sudo livecontrol uninstall                          # Interactive — requires typing 'UNINSTALL'
sudo livecontrol uninstall --keep-backups
sudo livecontrol uninstall --keep-data
sudo livecontrol uninstall --force                  # No prompt

The uninstall stops and removes the containers, removes the image set, removes the data volumes (unless --keep-data is used), removes the systemd unit, the cron schedules and the CLI itself.

Cross-links

• Prepare the host — DNS, NTP, ufw, swap before the install.
• Install C21 Live Encoder — pair an encoder with this Control instance.
• Updates — update flow for Control and Encoder.
• Licenses — license catalog, per-feature gates, file format.
• Devices — add a registered Encoder to this instance after onboarding.