Warning Error fetching listener data Shoutcast 2.4.7.256

Hi,

I’ve just launched two new Shoutcast 2.4.7.256 server, and now mAirList is reporting this error:

04/04/2015 17:17:59 Warning Error fetching listener data for livehd.sumoradio.uk:8000,1: HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized

Could this be due to a change in the new version of Shoutcast? Only Port 8000 and 8001 is open, but does any other port need to be open for listener data?

i had the same problem ,evrything workt but no listeners count.
my solution was leaving the www out in the adres in the encoder.

Interesting. Don’t use www in mine just, live.sumoradio.uk that is all.

Odd issue.

I’ve fully read through the change log for 2.4.7 build, and this lot caught my eye:-

Change accessing /stats without the ‘sid’ parameter to follow the 1.x style of stream picking to ensure a valid response is provided
Changed the public stream status page (index.html?sid=0) to show a bit more information about the active streams (user request)

and

Added ‘referer’ and ‘x-forwarded-for’ values to the listener stats api responses (user request)
Added caching of the public stats and other commonly accessed pages and resources (1 sec) and playlist (5 sec) responses from the server to improve response times under heavy loads
Added ‘streamlisted’ and ‘streamlistederror’ (if applicable) to the stats responses for getting the stream’s listed status

Full list here: http://yp.shoutcast.com/v/2_4_7

Over all the new version of shoutcast is good, with many improvements and fixes, including cpu usage improvements which increases performance for the raspberry pi version.

Been having a conversation with DrO on the Winamp/Shoutcast forum, and here’s his response. Hope it helps.

all of the existing methods of getting information from the DNAS are still there so as long as it's using a correctly documented implementation then it should still be working.

it’d only be if it’s using some undocumented / version-specific method that I can even think off causing it to stop working with the update (as there were a few loopholes for getting stats that were closed down for improved DNAS security - maybe it was using one of those).

so it might be something to report to them to determine if we’ve broken what they’re trying to use and either report it to us directly via support @ shoutcast dot com or they’ll need to update to use a supported way of doing things (as per the public and admin only methods as detailed in the docs provided with the DNAS release).

Here’s a download link to the latest release, that includes the documentation: http://download.nullsoft.com/shoutcast/tools/sc_serv2_linux_x64-latest.tar.gz

One last thing DrO mentioned:

it's probably not sending the password to a /admin.cgi method for getting stats (that's the normal cause of a "HTTP/1.0 401 Unauthorized" response).

as a number of the /admin.cgi stats methods have a public version with the 2.x DNAS e.g. /stats maps to the /admin.cgi?mode=viewxml&page=1 option iirc. those aren’t present with the 1.x DNAS and the 2.x DNAS provides these duplicate password restricted /admin.cgi methods in-order to maintain 1.x compatibility.

I have no experience with the latest Shoutcast server version.

mAirList uses the following URL to fetch the listener info from a Shoutcast server:

http://host:port/admin.cgi?pass=secret&mode=viewxml&sid=1

The sid parameter is omitted for SCv1 protocol.

This has worked with all Shoutcast versions I know of. Can you please check back with the guy from the Shoutcast forum if this method is still supported in the latest version?

No problem Torben. I’ll pass that over, and let you know his response.

Hi Torben,

DrO (aka Darren Owen) at Shoutcast/Winamp has just sent over a beta build of SHOUTcast Server v2.4.8.333.

It is said that this version fixes the issue mAirList was having with fetching live listener data, and I’ll be testing it out over Friday and Saturday.

If all goes well it will be deployed as an official build and update.

A quick summary of other changes in this version:-

[ul][li]FLV container support (MP3 and AAC)[/li]
[list]
[li]append ?type=.flv to the stream url to enable this[/li]
[li]this makes playback via Flash players a lot better as well as allowing AAC versions of streams to be played[/li]
[/list]
[li]Plain HTTP stream support[/li]
[list]
[li]append ?type=http to the stream ul to enable this[/li]
[li]if not set, either HTTP, SHOUTcast 1 or SHOUTcast 2 stream formats are provided depending on the listener connection[/li]
[/list]
[li]Added a lot more checks and validation of the stream input and output data[/li]
[list]
[li]this should better handle input errors or sources being dropped in an attempt to try to prevent stream stuttering (which affects Flash / HTML5 players the most)[/li]
[/list]
[li]Fixed a number of issues with advert playback and transitions[/li]
[li]Load of minor bug fixes and optimisations[/li][/ul]

The funny thing is though, that during the time I’ve been waiting for a reply/fix, I’ve actually built a full blown web app that tracks all listeners in real-time, recording listener session times, IP’s, country, referer info, and more. The web app I developed also tracks multiple servers, giving me full real-time and historical data useful for winning over advertisers.

I have considered opening up the web app to other users, and might well do if there is demand for it over the course of this year.

Hi Torben,

This issue has now been resolved in the latest beta build, which I’ve just tested for DrO at SHOUTcast.

As DrO said “it seems it’s the lack of the ‘page=x’ value on the request vs 1.x DNAS emulation handling. So i’ve now allowed such requests through when also using a source password which appears to match the 1.x DNAS behaviour.”

Hope that helps, and look out for the official release build which will be out soon.

Hi Matt,

Do you have any idea when the new version (2.4.8. …) of Shoutcast DNAS will be released? My provider does not want to upgrade from v2.4.7 untill the final release and in the meantime I cannot get the listener stats of our streams in mAirList. :’(

Frank

Not sure at present. I’m till running it on test, but I’ll ask DrO and find out.

I am also planning to run a live listener stats service for Shoutcast servers, as part of a new project I’m developing at PodBox.me (website pending). You can see a sneak peak of it in this picture: http://bit.ly/1WOqWAg

Hi Matt,

Thanks for finding out about the new release.

Re Listener stats service: Why don’t you use a product like Centova Cast, Media Control Panel or WHMSonic for streaming and statistics? Works very well for me.

Or on my Android Phone, I have a very nice app called Web Radio Statistics. That lets me check my current listeners anytime anywhere. It’ in the Google Play Store (free). Check it out.

Frank

Well primarily I like to use straight Shoutcast for streaming to keep the servers simple and fast, and not to mention cheap, instead of boggin them down with bloated and unnecessary features of Centova and the like.

The stats system I built is for real-time AND historic stats, stored in a separate MySQL database, so any number of reports can be generated. From source, to which server they’re on, to country, time, date, and duration of the listening session. Useful data for advertisers, and also program managers.

I’m not pushing my service, just mentioning it as an option to your problem.

I’ve previously used WaveStreams Radio Monitor app on my iPhone, but it doesn’t generate historic data, only real time much like the the shoutcast web interface.

I’ve just found out today from DrO (Darren) that he’s left SHOUTcast, and is no longer developing the new DNAS.

I’m not sure the reasons behind it but it did sound like they let him go sadly, or that’s what I felt, no-doubt cost cutting or the such, but that is purely speculation.

As to what this means with the future of DNAS, and what is finally released I don’t know. I’m currently running the last known beta 2.4.8.663 which has added lots of new features, security, and resolved the error I mentioned in this post.

As to whether that will ever get a public release, I do not know, but I will continue to run it for now as it works.

About time to move to Icecast…

Does make me wonder Torben. Shame as SHOUTcast is my “go to” choice for audio streaming.

I’ve often wondered if they would ever charge for the DNAS server. After all they’re a company driven by revenue, and under new ownership since the split from AOL.

I think the landscape is ripe for another open source solution, built on more robust, modern architecture. I live in hope.

What’s wrong with Icecast2?

My preference is SHOUTcast, just what I prefer.

I’ve used Icecast before, still do with one station I look after, I just prefer SHOUTcast. I know more about it than Icecast.

Really that’s it. Fundamentally they’re same, just functionality and configuration is different.