Shoutcast Server

[kbuzz]

I work at a hosting company and had a potential client call in looking to host a shoutcast server in our datacenter. I've looked through the documentation and the one thing I don't see is hardware technical specs. I have a couple of questions
1. What specification would you suggest to shoutcast between 200-500 simultaneous streams?

That may not be enough information. My potential client did not know the size of the streams. So...
2. What's an average size for an audio only stream through shoutcast (in kbps or mbps)? I believe format would be MP3.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bryandj23]

I may be way off here, but let me try to answer this the way my networking knowledge and shoutcast server knowledge perceives it.

Say you run a 16kbps stream. That's (16) kilobits per second. This is where I might be wrong: 8 bits in a byte, so that's 2 bytes per second. So now, each connection to your server will pull near 2 bytes per second of bandwidth. (plus or minus a few for metadata and errors, and probably depending on the sample rate too..that's where I believe I may be wrong in my figuring -- I think you get the general idea)

Keep in mind I said..each CONNECTION. 100 users connected to a single 16kpbs stream would require 200 bytes per second. Being your a hosting company, streaming a higher quality stream shouldn't be an issue.

Like I said, I'm not sure exactly the exact figures of how big one second of audio is. I'm only assuming that the bits per second of the steam is (pretty) relative to the size.

[dotme]

bryandj23 is on the right track. The hardware you have to throw at a streaming server isn't a major issue - the shoutcast server itself doesn't use very much CPU or RAM. To run your max of 500 simultaneous streams, if you had a machine with 256MB RAM free *after* the OS loads, that will be sufficient.

But streaming audio requires a healthy amount of bandwidth, and it's not "bursty" like web-hosting - it's "always-on" constant (when listeners are connected). The bitrate times (x) the max listeners determines how much "pipe" you're going to need. 10 listeners connected simultaneously at 128kbps will take up a T1 (~1.3Mbps), for example. Same for 20 listeners at 64kbps.

If the client is streaming audio, 56kbps sounds like an AM radio, 128kbps is near-CD in stereo.

Hope this helps you at least go back to your client with additional questions and ballpark numbers :)

[kbuzz]

Thank you. That's exactly the information I was looking for. I've worked a couple of times with Windows Media and understand the bandwidth issues vs web and application hosting. Now at least I can put something together.

Assuming we're not the right solution (and we're probably not) is there anyone that does shared Shoutcasting? Something along the lines of VitalStream.com. My client thinks he wants to create something along the lines of ProtonRadio.com.

Thanks again!!

[dotme]

Try this...

http://www.radiotoolbox.com/hosts/