This guide describes how to obtain and install binary packages for the Microsoft Azure Speech Synthesis (SS) plugin to the UniMRCP server on Red Hat-based Linux distributions. The document is intended for system administrators and developers.
Instructions provided in this guide are applicable to the following versions.
UniMRCP 1.5.0 and above
UniMRCP Azure SS Plugin 1.0.0 and above
The plugin supports the following Speech Service endpoints.
Service Endpoint | Availability |
---|---|
Speech Service (regional) | Azure SS 1.5.0 and above |
Custom Speech Service (regional) | Azure SS 1.7.0 and above |
Speech Service (containerized) | Azure SS 1.12.0 and above |
Custom Speech Service (containerized) | Azure SS 1.12.0 and above |
Speech Service (private) | Azure SS 1.15.0 and above |
Custom Speech Service (private) | Azure SS 1.15.0 and above |
UniMRCP RPMs are currently available for x86_64 (64-bit) architecture only.
Operating System | Released | End of Support |
---|---|---|
Red Hat / Cent OS 7 | April 2018 | TBA |
Red Hat / Cent OS 8 | January 2021 | TBA |
Packages for other distributions can be developed and made available in the scope of an annual maintenance agreement.
UniMRCP binary packages are available to authenticated users only. In order to register a free account, please visit the following page.
A newly registered account needs to be verified by the user and then activated by the administrator prior further proceeding.
Account verification and activation.
The account credentials can be used to log in to the following websites.
Using the Yellowdog Updater, Modifier (yum), a command-line package management utility for Red Hat-based distributions, is recommended for installation of UniMRCP binary packages.
Configure a repository by creating a file /etc/yum.repos.d/unimrcp.repo with the following content.
[unimrcp]
name=UniMRCP Packages for Red Hat / Cent OS-$releasever $basearch
baseurl=https://username:password@unimrcp.org/repo/yum/main/rhel$releasever/$basearch/
enabled=1
sslverify=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://unimrcp.org/keys/unimrcp-gpg-key.public
[unimrcp-noarch]
name=UniMRCP Packages for Red Hat / Cent OS-$releasever noarch
baseurl=https://username:password@unimrcp.org/repo/yum/main/rhel$releasever/noarch/
enabled=1
sslverify=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://unimrcp.org/keys/unimrcp-gpg-key.public
The username and password fields included in the HTTPS URI must be replaced with the corresponding account credentials.
Account credentials.
In order to verify that yum can properly connect and access the UniMRCP repository, the following command can be used.
yum repolist unimrcp
yum repolist unimrcp-noarch
where unimrcp and unimrcp-noarch are names of the sections set in the yum configuration file above.
In order to retrieve a list of packages the UniMRCP repository provides, the following command can be used.
yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="unimrcp" list available
yum --disablerepo="*" --enablerepo="unimrcp-noarch" list available
In order to install the Azure SS plugin, including all the dependencies, use the following command.
yum install unimrcp-azure-ss
In order to install the additional data files for the sample client application umc, the following command can be used.
yum install umc-addons
This package is optional and provides additional data to be used for validation of basic setup.
UniMRCP RPM packages can be installed manually using the rpm utility. Note, however, that the system administrator should take care of package dependencies and install all the packages in appropriate order.
The RPM packages have the following naming convention:
$packagename-$universion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
where
packagename is the name of a package
universion is the UniMRCP version
packageversion is the RPM release version
rhelversion is the Red Hat version
arch is the architecture (x86_64, i686, …)
The following is a list of UniMRCP RPM packages required for the installation of the Azure SS plugin.
Package Name | Description |
---|---|
unimrcp-azure-ss | Azure SS plugin to the server. |
unilibevent | UniMRCP edition of the libevent library. |
umc-addons | Sample en-US data files used with umc. [Optional] |
unilicnodegen | Node information retrieval tool, required for license deployment. |
unimrcp-server | Shared library and application of the server. |
unimrcp-client | Shared libraries and sample applications of the client. [Optional] |
unimrcp-demo-plugins | Set of demo plugins to the server. [Optional] |
unimrcp-common | Data common for the client and the server. |
uniapr | UniMRCP edition of the Apache Portable Runtime (APR) library. |
uniapr-util | UniMRCP edition of the Apache Portable Runtime Utility (APR-Util) library. |
unisofia-sip | UniMRCP edition of the Sofia SIP library. |
Note that all the RPM packages provided by UniMRCP are signed by a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key. Before starting the installation, you may need to import the public key in order to allow the rpm utility to verify the packages.
rpm --import https://unimrcp.org/keys/unimrcp-gpg-key.public
Packages for the APR, APR-Util and Sofia-SIP libraries must be installed first.
rpm -ivh uniapr-$aprversion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
rpm -ivh uniapr-util-$apuversion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
rpm -ivh unisofia-sip-$sofiaversion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
Then, a package containing common data for the client and the server, and a package for the server should follow.
rpm -ivh unimrcp-common-$universion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
rpm -ivh unimrcp-server-$universion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
Next, a package containing the utility tool unilicnodegen, required for license deployment.
rpm -ivh unilicnodegen-$toolversion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
Next, a package containing the libevent library.
rpm -ivh unilibevent-$libeventversion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
Finally, a package containing the Azure SS plugin should follow.
rpm -ivh unimrcp-azure-ss-$universion-$packageversion.el$rhelversion.$arch.rpm
The Azure SS plugin to the UniMRCP server is a licensed software.
In order to obtain a trial license, node information must be retrieved and submitted for license generation.
Use the installed tool unilicnodegen to retrieve the node information.
/opt/unimrcp/bin/unilicnodegen
As a result, a text file uninode.info will be saved in the current directory.
Consider the following procedure to place an order.
- Navigate to https://unispeech.io/azss.
- Under the section Obtain License, select
- License Variation: Trial
- License Term: 30-day
- License Type: Node-bound
- License Quantity: 2
- Click Add to cart and then View cart.
- Click Proceed to checkout and then Place order.
- Attach the retrieved uninode.info file to the placed order.
Ther orders are normally processed within one business day. A license file will be provided as a result.
The license file needs to be placed into the directory /opt/unimrcp/data.
cp umsazuress_*.lic /opt/unimrcp/data
Instructions provided in this section are applicable to Azure SS 1.6.0 and above. Support for the old format remains in-tact, but is no longer documented.
In order to utilize either the deprecated Bing Speech API or the new Speech Service API, a corresponding service subscription key and an authentication endpoint need to be retrieved from the Microsoft Azure portal and further installed to the UniMRCP server.
Navigate to the Microsoft Azure dashboard and create a new resource.
- Navigate to the Dashboard.
- Create a new resource (+).
- Type ‘Speech’ in the text box. (Note: for the deprecated Bing service, type ‘Bing Speech’)
- Select and create the resource by filling out all the required parameters based on your needs.
- Go to the created resource.
- Collect one of the two keys (1) and the region-based authentication endpoint (2).
Create a text file cognitive.subscription.key in the directory /opt/unimrcp/data.
nano /opt/unimrcp/data/cognitive.subscription.key
Proceed with the instructions for one of:
Speech Service
Place the collected key and the authentication endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the service endpoint empty by default.
{
"auth-endpoint": "*******************************",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": ""
}
The field auth-endpoint is composed based on the following pattern.
Authentication Endpoint | URI |
---|---|
Speech Service (regional) | https://$region.api.cognitive.microsoft.com/sts/v1.0/issuetoken |
The field service-endpoint is implicitly composed based on the following pattern.
Service Endpoint | URI |
---|---|
Speech Service (regional) | https://$region.tts.speech.microsoft.com/cognitiveservices/v1 |
Where $region is one of westus, eastus, westeurope and others. See Speech Service Regions.
Custom Speech Service
Place the collected key and the authentication endpoint in the following JSON format. Note that the field service-endpoint is supported since Azure SS 1.7.0 and must be explicitly specified when a custom speech endpoint is used.
{
"auth-endpoint": "*******************************",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
Speech Service Container
Speech Service containers are supported since Azure SS 1.12.0.
Install and run a container per instructions available in this guide. Collect and place the container service endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the auth endpoint and key empty.
{
"auth-endpoint": "",
"auth-key": "",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
The field service-endpoint is composed based on the following pattern.
Service Endpoint | URI |
---|---|
Speech Service (containerized) | http://host:5000/speech/synthesize/cognitiveservices/v1 |
Private Speech Service
The Private Speech Service endpoints are supported since Azure SS 1.15.0.
Place the collected key and the private service endpoint in the following JSON format. Leave the authentication endpoint empty.
{
"auth-endpoint": "",
"auth-key": "*******************************",
"service-endpoint": "*******************************"
}
In order to load the Azure SS plugin into the UniMRCP server, open the file unimrcpserver.xml, located in the directory /opt/unimrcp/conf, and add the following entry under the XML element <plugin-factory>. Disable other synthesizer plugins, if available. The demo plugins for other resources can also be disabled.
<!-- Factory of plugins (MRCP engines) -->
<plugin-factory>
<engine id="Demo-Synth-1" name="demosynth" enable="false"/>
<engine id="Azure-SS-1" name="umsazuress" enable="true"/>
</plugin-factory>
In order to enable log output from the plugin and set filtering rules, open the configuration file logger.xml, located in the directory /opt/unimrcp/conf, and add the following entry under the element <sources>.
<source name="AZURESS-PLUGIN" priority="INFO" masking="NONE"/>
The configuration file of the plugin is located in /opt/unimrcp/conf/umsazuress.xml. Default settings should be sufficient for generic use.
Validate your setup by using the sample UniMRCP client and server applications on the same host. The default configuration and data files should be sufficient for a basic test.
Launch the UniMRCP server application.
cd /opt/unimrcp/bin
./unimrcpserver
In the server log output, check whether the plugin is normally loaded.
[INFO] Load Plugin [Azure-SS-1] [/opt/unimrcp/plugin/umsazuress.so]
Next, check for the license information.
[NOTICE] UniMRCP AZURESS License
-product name: umsazuress
-product version: 1.0.0
-license owner: -
-license type: trial
-issue date: 2017-10-26
-exp date: 2017-11-25
-channel count: 2
-feature set: 0
The optional package umc-addons must be installed for this test to work.
Launch the sample UniMRCP client application umc.
cd /opt/unimrcp/bin
./umc
Run a typical speech synthesis scenario by issuing the command run bss1 from the console of the umc client application.
run bss1
This command sends a SPEAK request to the server and then records synthesized stream into a PCM file stored in the directory /opt/unimrcp/var.
Visually inspect the log output for any possible warnings or errors.