Replacing SAM

Talk about Audio On Demand or Streaming
dj001
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Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

I have been webcasting for more than 20 years, and avoiding downtime is essential to me. I switched from other streamhosts to EGIHositng because it had the lowest downtime reported on radiotoolbox. Now, due to unresponsive Tech Support at Spacial, my station has been down for nearly a week. :cry: They can't seem to fix it. I installed RadioDJ and MySQL, but it's just too user-unfriendly for me to configure. Can anyone suggest a user-friendly broadcasting software to me? I don't mind paying a little money for it. Unfortunately, many directories use my EGIHosting IP:Port, rather than my PLS, ASX, QTL, and RAM files, so I cannot change my IP:Port.
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Jay
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

Sorry to hear that.

Are you referring to the SAM Cloud DJ service? Because there is just SAM DJ which is a downloadable Windows program that you can run yourself as well. At one point it was included with a subscription to the Cloud service.

BTW I moved your post over to Audio Streaming since this question isn't really about the Radio Toolbox log or downloadable tool.
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

No, I am using SAM software and EGIHosting, not SAM cloud.
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

What is going on with the SAM software that makes it unable to stream your station? Perhaps I can help you to troubleshoot your existing setup.
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

I've been using 4.9.6 for 18 years and a week ago it started freezing after 1-10 tracks. So, I installed Trial versions of 2021.6 on a laptop running Windows 7 and a desktop running Windows 10. The decks on the desktop don't play at all. The laptop had the same freezing problem I had with 4.9.6, but the 14-day trial ran out after three days because I kept rebooting to keep the stream going. Tech support suggested confirming configuration of Audio Mixer Pipeline, but that solved nothing in either machine. It got escalated, and the developer told me he "knew what the problem is" and they will support me if I buy 2021.6.
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

Triton going to Triton I guess :? Triton Media now owns SpacialAudio and largely the business culture you remember from the version 4 days is long gone. Triton puts a dollar on every interaction so I am not surprised they aren't helping you with a version of the product they no longer care to remember.

So with regard to the freezing after a few tracks, I'd look at the log to see if that gives you any information. You can find the log in %LOCALAPPDATA%\SpacialAudio it will be located in a subfolder labeled your station name or "SAMBC" and within that folder a file named "EventLog.txt" may show what happened. If that yields nothing useful, it's likely a DB problem and you will need to repair or inspect your DB. With MySQL as the backend you will need to login and repair each table in your SAM DB. This is usually caused when a system crashes or the DB was unable to close properly. The DB health is 99% of what causes problems in a fully functioning SAM install.

The fact that a newer version of the software has the same problem really points to this being a database issue because I doubt you did anything with the database when you upgraded. There is virtually no difference between version 4.x of SAM and the current version aside from SAM Cloud integration and largely superficial visual changes so I am not surprised that upgrading did nothing to improve your situation. So the dev is largely saying, "Pay us and we will tell you how to fix your DB. :lol:"

If you aren't sure how to repair your DB, tell me which DB you used and the version number and I can try to help.
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

When I supported full playlist search and dedications, I used the MySQL system, I think. But during the lockdown, everything went haywire, and I switched to HTML, so I could only have requests and you could not search by Track or Album, only Artist, then CTRL-F.
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

Do you happen to remember which version of MySQL you used?

If not, no big deal. You will want to use mysqlcheck to check your tables. Open a command line window and navigate to the MySQL bin directory, There you will find several programs that can help you check the health of your db.

Run the following from that bin directory:

Code: Select all

mysqlcheck -A -u <YourMySQLUserName> -p
Enter your administrative mysql password.

The command will now check all tables within all databases to ensure healthiness. Depending on how large your tables are this command could take a while to execute. The goal is to see "OK" next to all table names it spits out. If you see anything other than "OK" note which table it is.
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

Here is a bit of the Event Log from Sunday:

Code: Select all

E 2022-03-20 11:16:06 [Virtual DJ] Players in idle too long. Auto recovery triggered...
N 2022-03-20 11:16:11 [Virtual DJ] Starting auto recovery...
W 2022-03-20 11:16:11 [Virtual DJ] Auto recovery was aborted
W 2022-03-20 11:16:11 [TOUCH] Touch aborted: At least one relay must be active AND public.
N 2022-03-20 11:16:13 [DECK A] Haytham Shaker - Khaleik Ganby (3:21)
W 2022-03-20 11:16:14 [CategoryLogic] Clockwheel rotation failed to pick track from "Tracks". Please check separation rules or add more tracks.
N 2022-03-20 11:19:32 [DECK B] DJ 9ja - Track 11 (4:13)
N 2022-03-20 11:19:32 [TOUCH] 200 - Touch OK
N 2022-03-20 11:23:32 [DECK A] visit radioafricaonline.com - for song info (0:34)
N 2022-03-20 11:23:34 [TOUCH] 200 - Touch OK
N 2022-03-20 11:24:06 [DECK B] 9ice - Photocopy (4:22)
N 2022-03-20 11:24:06 [TOUCH] 200 - Touch OK
N 2022-03-20 11:28:25 [DECK A] Kotto Bass - Ca Depen de Vous (6:21)
N 2022-03-20 11:28:25 [TOUCH] 200 - Touch OK
I 2022-03-20 11:45:43 [CORE] Logger created
N 2022-03-20 11:45:43 [CORE] HTTP request handler open on port 1221
I 2022-03-20 11:45:43 [CORE] SAM ready
I 2022-03-20 11:45:49 [CORE] GUI ready
E 2022-03-20 11:45:49 [Virtual DJ] Players in idle too long. Auto recovery triggered...
N 2022-03-20 11:45:54 [Virtual DJ] Starting auto recovery...
W 2022-03-20 11:45:54 [Virtual DJ] Auto recovery was aborted
W 2022-03-20 11:45:54 [TOUCH] Touch aborted: At least one relay must be active AND public.
N 2022-03-20 11:45:57 [DECK A] Ebenezer Obey - Oro Mi Ti Davo (3:54)
W 2022-03-20 11:45:57 [CategoryLogic] Clockwheel rotation failed to pick track from "Tracks". Please check separation rules or add more tracks.
The stream went down between 11:28 and 11:45, but I can't see any symptoms.

I set up search and dedications more than ten years ago, and someone at Spacial named Elbert helped me. I know the system uses MySQL and I did write some PHP files, but do not recall any ID or PW for my DB.
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

I would definitely check your separation rules to ensure they aren't blocking playback then.

This would be located in the Configuration Menu. Go to "File" -> Config then look for and select "Playlist Rotation Rules". You want to ensure these times aren't set to too an unrealistic rule but also abide by any local laws (DMCA) regarding play separation.

It seems odd to me that this suddenly has become a problem which tells me the DB is unhealthy or your config has become corrupted or was somehow changed without your knowledge. If you are unsure of what to do, I'd limit the changes you make to things. You can find your MySQL credentials by looking in the SAM config files located in $LOCALAPPDATA%\SpacialAudio\SAMBC\ there you will see a file called SAMBC.core.xml open by right clicking on this file and choose "Open With" -> Notepad

Code: Select all

<CONFIG application="SAM" version="2016.1">
	<Database>
		<Driver>MYSQL</Driver>
		<Host>localhost</Host>
		<Port>3306</Port>
		<Database>SAMDB_Ele</Database>
		<Username>MySQLUser</Username> <-- MySQL Username
		<Password>MySQLPass</Password>    <-- MySQL Password
		<ServerMode>EMBEDDED</ServerMode></Database>
...
In the example above my MySQL username would be MySQLUser and my password would be MySQLPass. Now you should have your credentials. Feel free to use them to run mysqlcheck following the instructions above.
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

Please explain for dummies. I put
mysqlcheck -A -u <sysdba> -p
into cmd
It came back with
The system cannot find the file specified.
core says username is sysdba, password masterkey

My clockwheel worked perfectly for 18 years. Here it is:

Code: Select all

Cat['Tracks'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Station IDs (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, NoRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
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Jay
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

dj001 wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:01 pm Please explain for dummies. I put
mysqlcheck -A -u <sysdba> -p
into cmd
It came back with
The system cannot find the file specified.
core says username is sysdba, password *********
That's the right command but make sure you do this from the bin directory of your MySQL install directory. Your MySQL install will likely be in your "Program Files" directory. Once you find it, make sure you `cd` into the "bin" directory. I wish I could make it easier but everyone can install their MySQL in different places and you don't know what version of MySQL you have installed.

As as an example, the default MySQL installation for 8.0 is defined here as https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en ... ayout.html
"C:\Program Files\MySQL\"

But there is likely differences since you are running a very old version of the database.
dj001 wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 12:01 pm My clockwheel worked perfectly for 18 years. Here it is:

Code: Select all

Cat['Tracks'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Station IDs (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, NoRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Cat['Music (All)'].QueueBottom(smLRP, EnforceRules);
Yea this problem wouldn't be with the Clockwheels, this has to do with the separation rules which I outlined how to get to in the above post:
This would be located in the Configuration Menu. Go to "File" -> Config then look for and select "Playlist Rotation Rules".
The window will look something like this:
sam_rotation.png
(8.02 KiB) Not downloaded yet
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dj001
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

In my directory, I can get right into the bin folder Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 8.0/bin. Please tell me slowly and carefully what to do in the command prompt. That's what I don't understand.

In the rules, I have 1,1,1,1, and 30, 2 songs in Queue, Cache Queue checked. Did I do anything wrong?

BTW, I purchased 2022.1. Problem unsolved. Spacial Tech Support has pushed me to the back of the queue.
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Re: Replacing SAM

Post by Jay »

Perfect!

(Win key + R) type "cmd"

a Command window should be open.

Now change directory to the bin directory in the command window.

Code: Select all

cd "C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin"
now run the command...

Code: Select all

mysqlcheck -A -u sysdba -p
It will prompt for your MySQL password, type that in and hit enter.

If successful you will see something like this...
How-to-check-MySQL-tables-for-upgrade-2.png
(8.28 KiB) Not downloaded yet
If you see anything other than OK to the right of a table name, make note of it. If it succeeds with all OKs then your database is good and we need to focus on your rotation rules.
I have 1,1,1,1, and 30, 2 songs in Queue, Cache Queue checked. Did I do anything wrong?
I don't know what that means, can you post a screenshot? This board support attachments.
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dj001
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Joined: Sat May 03, 2008 6:31 am

Re: Replacing SAM

Post by dj001 »

Tech Support advised to uninstall SAM and database, then reinstall in a new folder, SAMBC1. 2022.1 froze ten times yesterday, then started playing without interruption in the late afternoon. I'm holding off on the reinstall to see what happens.

Attached are my rotation rules.
Attachments
Rotation Rules.jpg
Rotation Rules.jpg (14.14 KiB) Viewed 28868 times
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