[Icecast] Relay Planning (many questions)

[Michael Smith]

On 6/16/05, Ian H Stewart <ian at smartfamilymedia.com> wrote:
> Hi, I am looking to replace a Quicktime streaming Cluster
> with Icecast 2.2.0.
> 
> I have a couple questions:
> 
> QTSS Supports multicast to multiple relays, does Icecast?

No, icecast has no multicast support. Icecast will do unicast to
multiple relays, though.

> 
> 
> I understand that Icecast creates a Master / slave relationship
> so that the following should work:
> 
> 1) Send content to Master
> 2) Have the 4 systems in the cluster connect to the master as a slave
> system
> 
> What happens if the master goes away?

By default, the stream goes down, as if the source producer
disconnected. You can configure alternatives, though in 2.2 they would
have to be always-on.

> 
> 
> Using SimpleCast or Nicecast, can I supply
> multiple masters incase of failure? Will the slaves switch under a
> failed condition?

You can configure that in icecast; I don't know precisely what
simplecast or nicecast do.

> 
> Does Icecast have built-in load balancing or do I need external app
> switch?

Icecast has no load balancing features.

> 
> Finally, QTSS has this feature where the slave will not grab the
> content unless a user is connected, does Icecast support something
> similar?

In the development version, but not in 2.2

Mike