Backup Airtime Server
  • I am looking at putting in an Airtime system, but want to run two servers side-by-side for backup.

    If I was to setup two machines with Airtime installed, have the databases mirrored, a common file store, and the backup server connecting to the primary servers RabbitMQ, would it work?

    What I want is for both servers to run a mirror of each other at the same time. If the primary server was to go down, the secondary would be up to date and running at the same time as the primary. The only issue would then be the management of the system (as the real time updates would stop working and the web interface would be located on a different IP). As its a backup that is not a concern.

    Is this possible - or would having two systems using the same messaging server completely confuse it?


    Thanks in advance.
  • 4 Comments sorted by
  • You could update the secondary server by rsync-ing the files across to the backup. The folder watch will take care of the rest.
    You would also need to find a way to import the database in a clean way.
    The secondary could ping the main server with a script that unmutes playback or something. There would also need to be a way to know if playback ceased but the main server was still pingable. An external silence detector or internal software detector on a sound card or decoding a stream from the primary could work.
  • We are looking at Postgres Warm Standby to replicate the database.

    http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/warm-standby.html

    I thought we could just rsync the files in /srv/airtime/stor and then use Warm Standby for the database, which would cause the audio files to be available in airtime. Is that too simple?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Paul BaranowskiPaul Baranowski
    Posts: 389Member, Administrator, Sourcefabric Team
    It should work as long as the paths to the files on the two systems are
    exactly the same.



    On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 5:11 PM, Alan Pater <
    airtime-support@lists.sourcefabric.org> wrote:

    > **
    > We are looking at Postgres Warm Standby to replicate the database.
    >
    > http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.4/static/warm-standby.html
    >
    > I thought we could just rsync the files in /srv/airtime/stor and then use
    > Warm Standby for the database, which would cause the audio files to be
    > available in airtime. Is that too simple?
    >

  • I had been looking at Warm Standby too - hopefully that should work. I was planning on pointing both servers at a common mount on a redundant file server so they would both see the same files.

    The only thing that wouldn't work - as far as I can see - is sharing the RabbitMQ message queue. However as Pypo periodically loads the schedules anyway, it is unlikely that not having instant update would be an issue for a backup system.