Icecast Streaming Media Server

[nixMe]

I have a basic goal I would like to accomplish with my icecast server. I would like a 24 hour stream going that will either be LIVE DJs (external source) or random track played from the server (local 24 hour stream). I'd also like this switching between LIVE and playlist be seamless to the listener. As I'm sure everyone else on here wants to accomplish the same thing I'd like your opinions on how to do this.

My approach:
mount A = 24 hour constant stream
mount B = DJ (external source)

Mount B has a fallback to A. So, this means that when a DJ cuts his/her stream off listeners will automatically be bounced to mount A with no interruption. So an external source cutting off situation seems to be easy enough but what about this ...
Mount A is a 24 hour source that will never be cut off so how can I get icecast to automatically switch over to the LIVE mount when an external source connects? I was thinking the script that is called for stream_auth could kill the 24 hour source connection which will then enable the fallback for the 24 hour mount. But then the mounts can't be unique for the DJs. To solve that issue maybe another icecast server is needed. This other icecast server will be a relay for DJs to connect to and then passed onto the mater icecast server which listeners will connect to.

Any input is appreciated.

BTW I compiled karlh 20080408 trunk source and I am loving the stream_auth functionality.
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[karlH]

if fallback override on mount B is enabled then any listeners on the fallback mount A will be moved when A starts up.

karl.

[nixMe]

Thank you for pointing that out. I need to read through the documentation more to get a better grasp on what this program is capable of doing now.
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[chas]

So just how do i achieve this???

I assumed that if you have points A and B that both are accessible

How do i make it

mount A: music
mount B: news that jumps in on the hour??

[karlH]

If A is always connected, the just start up a source client on B on the hour. B will override A, last the a few minutes I guess then shutdown the source client and the listeners will move back to A.

karl.

[chas]

so if you name mount points the same then they kick each other off???

mount A: /stream
mount B: /stream

i thought icecast has the capacity to do multimounts at the same

mount A: /128kps
mount B: /31kps

[karlH]

No, A and B have to be differently named, if you try to name them the same then the second one will be rejected as the mountpoint is in use. This is different from having multiple mountpoints and moving listeners between them.

Icecast can have any number of streams but be wary of using a fallback mechanism where the stream settings differ as some players can have trouble handling the changes.

karl.

[chas]

I am still a bit confused:

You are saying each instance of icecast can only serve one stream at a time?

and that each mountpoint will kick the existing mountpoint??

Or is there a switch to indicate whether a mountpoint is a fallback for another mountpoint

ie.

mount A: /128kps (ROCK)
mount B: /31kps (TALKBACK)

can a listener chose which stream to listen to; can icecast server those 2 streams at the same time or does one kick the other

[karlH]

We've had icecast serve over 1000 streams at the same time, so 2 is not a problem, but each mountpoint has to be uniquely named or else icecast would not know which stream the listener wants. eg
http://host:8000/128kbps

The docs/samples describe what the <fallback> and <fallback-override> tags do. They will bounce whatever is listening between the 2 streams. If you want to externally portray a single point of reference for listeners then just setup a local relay (say /stream) which is a relay of the always on stream.

karl.

[chas]

[karlH]

There are some global settings like queue-size but they are overridden by the mount settings if specified.

karl.