Icecast - Nov 2009 - can icecast server be a source for another icecast?

Hi,

I've strange situation: I need to connect to icecast server (A) as a
source from another icecast server (B) and preserve metadata (artist
and title). Of course I can do something like:

curl -s http://A_address/radio.mp3 | ices -v -c B_configuration.xml

but in this way all metadata are lost. Is it possible to do this
without hacking the code?

Best regards
paluh

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 03:16:11AM +0100, Rybarczyk Tomasz
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've strange situation: I need to connect to icecast server (A) as a
> source from another icecast server (B) and preserve metadata (artist
> and title). Of course I can do something like:
> 
> curl -s http://A_address/radio.mp3 | ices -v -c B_configuration.xml
> 
> but in this way all metadata are lost. Is it possible to do this
> without hacking the code?
icecast supports relays. See the docs:
http://www.icecast.org/docs/icecast-2.3.2/icecast2_relay.html

basically, you just tell your icecast on B to pull from mount point(s)
on A.

It's not at all a strange situation and is often done to spread
bandwidth usage around. For instance having a master icecast server that
_only_ allows connections from the relay servers. The people listening
to or viewing your streams get it from the relays in this case.

Of course, mp3 is not encouraged by xiph (nor myself).

-Eric Rz.

Please keep discussions on the list.

On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 01:56:51PM +0100, Rybarczyk Tomasz
wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for your responses! Unfortunately I can use yours solutions:
> 
> Ariel:  I have to stream mp3 - my radio buddies wants that (is
> something similar to oggfwd - mp3fwd?),
I don't use mp3, so can't help there.
> Eric:  I can't change icecast B configuration. I've got only
moutpoint
> there and can't set up relay servers.
> I'm a newbie in streaming area - is your post suggest that in icecast
> code there is a part which acts as an source for another server? 
That's not how it works, as far as I know. The "another" server
pulls
from the first. icecast doesn't "push" streams. Assuming the radio
buddies you mention are running icecast, you would need them to set up a
relay in their configuration to pull from your server. See the pictures
and explanations in the config docs:
http://www.icecast.org/docs/icecast-2.3.2/icecast2_config_file.html#relay
> Can I
> reuse it in that way that icecast A will send stream to B server all
> the time?
There is an option to either always have the relay stream going or only
when the relay server has listeners, but owing to above design, this
doesn't help you.

Perhaps someone else has a suggestion for your case (good reason to
reply to the list, btw), but none comes to my mind.

-Eric Rz.