Locate a DAI session ID or debug key

Every user stream is given a session ID, which is saved for 48 hours after an event. Monitored sessions are saved for 60 days. You can enter the session ID into the "Sessions identifier" field of the stream activity monitor (SAM). The search results allow you to see details about the user ad requests to troubleshoot a video stream.

We'll cover the following ways to find a sessions ID:

• Find a session ID in an app that uses the IMA SDK
• Find a session ID when you inspect HTTP traffic
• Find a session ID from an emulated HTTP request
• Find a session ID in an SSB stream request

Use a debug key to view activity or troubleshoot a video stream ^(Beta) 

Alternately, you can use a debug key to see activity or troubleshoot a video stream.

You can set or pass a unique key for any stream or session to be able to debug the stream using SAM. If you use the same key across sessions, only the most recent session is searchable and available to debug.

• Streams requested with the IMA SDK: refer to the SDK documentation for API call to set the key.
• Streams requested without IMA SDK (SSB): pass a debug key using the dai-sam-id parameter.

  _{For example: https://dai.google.com/linear/hls/event/.../master.m3u8?dai-sam-id=abcdef-0a1b-12a3}

Keys cannot contain any personally-identifiable information.

Find a session ID in an app that uses the IMA SDK

When you use the IMA SDK to create a video stream, you can call a method to obtain the session ID. See details about how to obtain the ID on each platform’s SDK:

• Android SDK
• iOS SDK
• tvOS SDK
• HTML5 SDK
• Chromecast SDK
• Roku SDK

Many application developers choose to capture the session ID and log it so that it’s available for stream troubleshooting.

Because the session ID is essential to review details about ad delivery in a user’s stream, it's helpful to implement a method or hidden feature in your application to easily display the ID.

Find a session ID when you inspect HTTP traffic

You can monitor HTTP requests in a proxy tool from an application that uses the IMA SDK.

When you use the IMA SDK to request a Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) video stream, there are two HTTP requests:

• The HTTP POST, which should return with a 201 status, indicating that a new stream has been created.
• The HTTP GET request to the URL in the stream_manifest field. *

Additional information is returned in a JSON structure, including the stream_id. This is the session ID you should enter into the "Sessions identifier" field.

Find a session ID from an emulated HTTP request

You can emulate an SDK HTTP request sequence using curl from a command-line prompt, with the content ID and video ID from a video-on-demand stream URL.

For example, using a content ID of 12345 and video ID of sample-video:

1. Type the following from a command-line prompt:

   curl --data "" "http://dai.google.com/ondemand/hls/content/12345/vid/sample-vide/streams"

2. (Optional) Pipe to  python -mjson.tool to view in pretty print.

Sample output *

{
"duration": 784,
"stream_id": "19b40be0-7942-44ca-97e0-fc7b27f14029",
"stream_manifest": "https://dai.google.com/ondemand/hls/content/12345/vid/sample-video/CHS/streams/19b40be0-7942-44ca-97e0-fc7b27f14029/master.m3u8",
"stream_type": "on_demand",
"subtitles": [ ... ],
"time_events_url": "https://dai.google.com/ondemand/hls/content/12345/vid/sample-video/CHS/streams/19b40be0-7942-44ca-97e0-fc7b27f14029/time-events.json"
}

^{* You may be able to use the stream_manifest URL to test playback in an HLS player (for example, the Safari web browser).}

Find a session ID in an SSB stream request

When you use SSB to request a Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI) video stream, there are two HTTP requests:

1. The HTTP GET request, which should return with a 302 status, indicating a redirect.
2. The HTTP GET request to the redirected URL. This URL contains the "session ID" which you should enter into the "Sessions identifier" field.

You can also find a session ID when you monitor HTTP requests in a proxy tool from a mobile or OTT application.

Find a session ID for an SSB stream request using Chrome

1. Load the content stream URL in a browser.

   For example, using a content ID of 12345 and video ID of sample-video, load:
   http://dai.google.com/ondemand/hls/content/12345/vid/sample-video/master.m3u8

2. In Chrome, load Developer Tools.
3. Navigate to the Network tab of Developer Tools.
4. Filter for requests that include dai.google.com.

5. The first two requests to the "dai.google.com" domain should be for a file named "master.m3u8":

   First request: The 302 response

   

   Second request: The URL with the session ID

   
6. Copy the session ID and enter it into the Sessions identifier field.

For any issues related to DAI troubleshooting or outages, contact publisher support.