shoutcast relay behavior

[dwattz]

when you activate a shoutcast relay, does it disperse listeners evenly or wait until the source is full?

[djSpinnerCee]

Relays and other DNAS servers in the cluster will only redirect listeners from a full server.

[dwattz]

thanks. do playlist (.pls) files work the same way? like will it always play "File1" first?

[djSpinnerCee]

That depends... A player should always start at the top of a playlist and work down...

The /listen.pls generated by a DNAS will always ref itself.

The listen link .pls generated by the directory and any you create yourself may contain multiple entries that will be followed in order, but keep in mind that when relays create a cluster, only the first "track" will play, because the DNAS will send an HTTP redirect to the player -- this redirect will not cause a playlist track change.

You can get this same effect without having the DNAS do it automatically by having multi-entries in a .pls -- most players will go to the next playlist entry when an entry returns "server full." or the connect attempt fails. For instance, you could create a two track .pls with a high bitrate and low bitrate stream to allow fallback if the first connect is unsiccessful for whatever reason.

Just remember, a .pls does not make the server "do" anything, it is interpreted by the player, so that "behavior" is likely to be very broadly interpreted by different players. It is only a list of URLs that the player can assume point to media of some type, nothing more.