Help setting a VPS with airtime
  • Vote Up0Vote Down MALAGAMOBILEMALAGAMOBILE
    Posts: 14Member
    i have found an VPS provider, ( https://vps.servage.com/plans ). and i need to know what of theirs plans fix better to the technical especification. I read that is recommended at least 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM. the O.S. being a server has to be Ubuntu server 10.04 LTS 32 or 64 bits?. It must be a server O.S. o a desktop one?.

    I also want to know if the streaming server that works together with airtime (ICECAST) and is installed in the same server can stream to my online users without a problem. I read how to install without sound card and also made a success configuration of Airtime in a desktop laptop, but my intention is to host everything in a VPS, so i can stream to my listeners and manage the radio station from any where with an internet browser (web interface).

    we are also building a web site for the radio station and i want to know if it posible to host it in the same VPS than the airtime. i can link the website to the web interface of airtime and include the web interface of Airtime inside the radio website. My radio is broadcasting not only online but also through an antenna in the mountain. i got an FM stereo, transmitter with RDS of 1000W. What is the best way to connect it to Airtime output?. Is just connecting the streaming audio from ICECAST to a computer that is connected to internet and converting the streaming signal to the audio entrance of my radio system like any other listener online?.


    Thanks for the help. Congratulation for Airtime.
  • 8 Comments sorted by
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Ofir GalOfir Gal
    Posts: 130Member
    Hi,
    Airtime works with 32bit and 64bit version OS.

    The link that you sent doesn't specify the full specs as to the CPU. I would recommend the VPS professional though there are still some things you need to remember.
    Airtime has minimum hardware requirement but you also need to varify your bandwidth limits.
    Depends on how big is your radio station, you will need a bandwidth of the stream X #users.

    There are hosting companies that provide very large bandwidth and depends on the size or potantial of your station, I would recommend sticking to those. Depends on where your listener base is, I can try and recommand.

    It is possible to send the stream to the antenna over the internet but I would not recommand it as best practice but only if there is no other solution. You will be depended on the hosting company for any maintenance, bandwidth and security issues.
    Again it depends on the nature of your radio station.
    The serious issue you might have is if you will get a number of listeners on the website that will exceed the hosting company's bandwidth and the antenna will start experiencing dropouts as well as the online streaming users.

    Please provide some details about the number of listeners you are expecting to have. I will give some thought to your setup and will reply again.

    Also, yes, there is no problem with installing your website and Airtime on the same server.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down MALAGAMOBILEMALAGAMOBILE
    Posts: 14Member
    i dont expect to have more than 500 people. What it is the common way to let the antenna recived the signal?, do i have to have a remote server just where the broadcasting system is, and use the VPS as a streaming server?. This way doesnt depend on the streaming listeners so it will recived the signal from the output audio of the remote server where the broadcasting system is. The problem could be the store system. You must know the remote server in the mountain will have a reduced bandwidth less than 1mb.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Ofir GalOfir Gal
    Posts: 130Member
    1Mb should be enough to stream a 128Kbs mp3 stream.

    There are several companies and products that offered this solution.
    You can try and research online for the term "Studio-transmitter link" and also read the Wikipedia article about it.

    There are several solutions to your problem.
    It depends on your budget and if you assume any drop outs will occur.

    You can calculate the bandwidth needed by taking the stream bit rate (default is 128Kbps) and multiply it by the number of listeners online.
    I suggest you'll try to contact several hosting comapnies and check what is the cap on the bandwidth for your VPS.
    Make sure it's within that range.

    Please let me know which direction works for you and what your research turned out.
    I will do my best to assist you and finding the right solution for your radio.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Martin KonecnyMartin Konecny
    Posts: 1,860Member
    malagamobile,

    Quote:
    server has to be Ubuntu server 10.04 LTS 32 or 64 bits?. It must be a server O.S. o a desktop one?.


    both server/desktop and 32/64-bit configurations is fine.

    Quote:
    Is just connecting the streaming audio from ICECAST to a computer that is connected to internet and converting the streaming signal to the audio entrance of my radio system like any other listener online?.


    Yes, but as Ofir mentioned, if you have too many users, your webstream may start skipping/buffering. But in this case all you need to do is limit the number of connections to whatever your bandwidth allows.

    See first section here for how to limit users:
    http://www.icecast.org/docs/icecast-2.3.2/icecast2_config_fi le.html
    Airtime Pro Hosting: http://airtime.pro
  • Vote Up0Vote Down VerheekVerheek
    Posts: 158Member
    Quote:
    Is just connecting the streaming audio from ICECAST to a computer that is connected to internet and converting the streaming signal to the audio entrance of my radio system like any other listener online?.


    Ideally you would use a radio link (STL) to transmit the program to the mountain site on a private channel. A streamed STL could work as well as long as the route from the radio server to the client playing at the transmitter is not congested.

    Also, if there is too big a buffer needed, and you want your shows to start at exact times, this will be a challenge. Sometimes this is not important.



  • Vote Up0Vote Down pphilipspphilips
    Posts: 1Member
    Another question.. I'm looking for VPS too at the moment. Can you recommend me a good provider? I already took a look at ix web hosting. Has anyone already made experience with them? What can you recommend me? Thx
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Andrey PodshivalovAndrey Podshivalov
    Posts: 1,526Member, Administrator, Sourcefabric Team
    I'm not sure that vps is good choice. For testing purposes is ok but for production I recommend using dedicated hardware server. Good hardware server costs about 99 usd for month. (e.g. https://order.serverloft.com/pages/dedicated/ )

  • Vote Up0Vote Down Andrea GiardiniAndrea Giardini
    Posts: 72Member
    I suggest also Ovh/Kimsufi great servers!
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