[Icecast] How do I group icecast servers

[oddsock at oddsock.org]

> Hi There,
>
> Is there a way to group icecast servers, so they are found as one
> announcement on the YP directory lists and al servers will give all
> servers in there m3u.
>
> regards,
>
> Dennis Heerema
>
There are two different ways to group servers together on the YP.

The first is referred to as "server grouping".  Streams that have the same
Server Name and are listed from the same IP are "grouped" together into
one logical directory listing.  An example of this can be seen here :
http://dir.xiph.org/index.php?sgenre=&stype=&search=Wicked

In this grouping, there are many streams listed, but all are grouped into
a single logical listing.  Note that each stream can have a separate
Server description (Server description is separate from Server name).

The second type of grouping is what's called "clustering".  Clusters are
grouped together in a single actual listing and are meant mostly for
listing streams and their relays together in a single physical listing. 
>From your question, it seems that this is the type you are interested in. 
An example of this can be seen here :
http://dir.xiph.org/index.php?sgenre=&stype=&search=Ropin

In this case, there is only a single listing, but when a listener clicks
on the listen link, they are served an m3u containing all clustered
servers.

In order to "cluster" servers together, you MUST use the cluster password
feature of Icecast 2.2.  This is a mount specific setting and the docs
should help you out in figuring out where it goes.  All streams with the
same cluster password and server name will be clustered together into a
single listing.  Note that clusters can span across multiple listing IPs
(as most relays do).

hopefully that clears it up a bit...

oddsock