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How do I change the IP address that my podcasts use?
I use the Podcasting feature of Cablecast to promote my series programming, but it seems to be using an internal IP address for the video files. I can download the podcasts from inside my network without a problem, but my viewers get connection errors when they try to subscribe to the podcasts from home.
Is there a way I can tell Cablecast to use an external IP address for podcasts, instead of my internal address?
Is there a way I can tell Cablecast to use an external IP address for podcasts, instead of my internal address?
I’m hoping to share my content with the world!
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When constructing the URL to a podcast video file, Cablecast by default uses the IP address assigned to the Cablecast server. In many (if not most) cases, this IP address is an internal-only address, and can't be accessed from outside your network.
Obviously, this presents a problem when you want your viewers to access your content.
Fortunately, there is a way to tell Cablecast to use a different IP address. First, talk to your IT department and obtain the external IP address or DNS name that is assigned to your Cablecast server. This is the address that will allow your viewers to access your content from their home.
With that information, you need to edit a single configuration file on your Cablecast server. Here's how:
First, stop the Cablecast service. From the desktop of the Cablecast server, right-click on "My Computer," and select "Manage." On the left side, click on "Services." Then select the "Cablecast" service and click "Stop.
Once the service has stopped, open the Cablecast Service config file located here: D:\TRMS\Services\Cablecast\TRMS.Services.Cablecast.exe.config
Look for the line referring to the "PodcastIPAddress." Update the "value" field with the external IP address or DNS name from your IT department, and remove the xml comments from the beginning and the end of the line. It should look like exactly like this:
Finally, head back into the Services area and start the Cablecast service once again.
The service will take a moment to start up, and the podcast RSS files should be regenerated shortly thereafter. Give it a minute or two, then check for the new address in your podcast feeds.
I hope this helps! :)
-John
I’m a podcasting fan
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?When constructing the URL to a podcast video file, Cablecast by default uses the IP address assigned to the Cablecast server. In many (if not most) cases, this IP address is an internal-only address, and can't be accessed from outside your network.
Obviously, this presents a problem when you want your viewers to access your content.
Fortunately, there is a way to tell Cablecast to use a different IP address. First, talk to your IT department and obtain the external IP address or DNS name that is assigned to your Cablecast server. This is the address that will allow your viewers to access your content from their home.
With that information, you need to edit a single configuration file on your Cablecast server. Here's how:
First, stop the Cablecast service. From the desktop of the Cablecast server, right-click on "My Computer," and select "Manage." On the left side, click on "Services." Then select the "Cablecast" service and click "Stop.
Once the service has stopped, open the Cablecast Service config file located here: D:\TRMS\Services\Cablecast\TRMS.Services.Cablecast.exe.config
Look for the line referring to the "PodcastIPAddress." Update the "value" field with the external IP address or DNS name from your IT department, and remove the xml comments from the beginning and the end of the line. It should look like exactly like this:
Finally, head back into the Services area and start the Cablecast service once again.
The service will take a moment to start up, and the podcast RSS files should be regenerated shortly thereafter. Give it a minute or two, then check for the new address in your podcast feeds.
I hope this helps! :)
-John
I’m a podcasting fan
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Hi John,
I noticed your post on configuring the podcast ip address. Thanks, I was able to go in and get these settings changed succesfully in our Cablecast server. However, I don't see anywhere on our public site that allows me (or anyone) to subscribe to a podcast, as described in the announcement for this version of the software:
Release Notes - Cablecast v4.6.4
...New - 2691: Subscribing to Podcasts via iTunes or RSS
The public site podcast page now has links for both iTunes and standard XML subscriptions.
When I go to our public site, I see no such podcast page. Here's a link to that page: http://www.pittsfieldtv.net/Cablecast...
I also couldn't find any configuration pages within the Cablecast user interface. If you could point me in the right direction, I would love to begin providing podcasts to viewers.
Thanks!
Shawn Serre
Pittsfield Community TV
sserre@pittsfieldtv.org -
Inappropriate?Hi Shawn,
Admittedly, the UI for creating a podcast in Cablecast is a bit hidden. The podcast functionality is actually part of Projects.
The reasoning behind this is that podcasts are almost always reoccurring content. That is, a single podcast usually contains a series of programs, with new episodes every week/month/etc.
With that in mind, it didn't make any sense to turn a single show into a podcast. A podcast is really a grouping of several shows. And in Cablecast, shows are grouped into Projects.
So, to create a podcast, you must first create a Project. Inside of the Project, you'll have options to turn it into a podcast and give the podcast a title and description.
Once the Project and podcast are set up, you can add individual show records into the Project on the Show Edit page:
At this point, the Cablecast Service will look for "podcastable" shows in all of the Projects. If it can find a digital file for the show on your video server, it should start transcoding it and make it available on the Public site.
So, to add a new episode to the podcast, simply add the show record to the Project, and Cablecast will begin transcoding and updating the podcast RSS feed.
(Note, the Cablecast Service will most likely need to be running as the local windows Administrator account for it to be able to find files on remote video servers.)
Hope this helps!
-John
I’m podcastable
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Inappropriate?John, great info. I think I'm 95% there. I already had a project going for our school committee meetings. So I went into that project and made it podcastable. I know I have at least one program from that project on the video server,so it should have begun to transcode. Now I just need one more piece of info: how do I find, and therefore give a potential viewer the correct url to subscribe to this podcast? Will this url appear somewhere on the public site, or is this something I'll need to copy/paste inside Cablecast, then add to our website??1 Comment Add a comment
This answers the question
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Once a podcast has been enabled, a new "Podcasts" link will appear on your public site with a list of the available podcasts. In fact, I just visited your site, and saw the new link at the top! :-) -
Inappropriate?Ooooh, I think I just got the last 5%. A "podcasts" page magically appeared on the public site when I hit refresh. Gotta love cablecast. This is too cool.
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Inappropriate?One more thing I forgot to mention...
On Cablecast Pro servers (running Windows Server 2003) you'll need to enable the ".rss" extension and mime type (application/rss+xml) in IIS. The servers don't have this configured by default.
Without this setting enabled, you'll see 404 errors when trying to download the podcast rss file, even though it's in the correct directory on the server's file system.
-John
I’m forgetful
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Inappropriate?Ok, you may need to walk me through that... do you mean adding a file type extension under folder options? Or is there a config page for IIS?
Sorry if this is a 'duh' question.
I’m duh?
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Inappropriate?Hey Shawn,
Sorry I didn't get back to you last night... I was falling asleep at the keyboard so I decided I had to go to bed. :)
Anywho, here's a description and screenshot of the process to enable the RSS extension and mimetype:
First, open up the Computer Management control panel (Right click on "My Computer," select "Manage." Then:
- Expand Internet Information Services, and right click on "Default Web Site"
- In the properties window, open the "HTTP Headers" tab
- Click the "MIME Types" button at the bottom of the window
- Create a new extension/mimetype pair by clicking on "New"
- Enter an extension of ".rss" and a mime type of "application/rss+xml" and save
And that should do it. Now IIS will serve out the .rss files that Cablecast generates.
-John
I’m a screenshot fiend
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This answers the question
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By the way, we're automating this process in the next release of Cablecast, so you won't have to do this step by hand anymore. Should make setup a bit easier for everyone.
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Inappropriate?Thanks again John... I still seem to be just out of reach here. I made the changes to IIS as described above in your post, then restarted the Cablecast service and did an IISRESET, just in case. I can click the links on the public site, but in iTunes I get a (!) in the left column, and in an rss reader I get "empty." I also tried to connect using the ip address of the cablecast server inside the building just in case our firewall was blocking something... Nothing seems to work (help!)
I’m flummoxed
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Inappropriate?Hey Shawn,
It sounds like the service isn't encoding the mp4 files. Could you hop onto the Cablecast server and look in the D:\TRMS\Web\Cablecast\Podcasts folder? That's where the rss and mp4 files live.
I imagine that right now you have rss files, but the folders that should contain mp4 files are empty.
Most often, this is because the Cablecast service isn't set to run as the local windows Administrator account. Open the properties of the service (Cablecast, not CablecastDeviceControl), click on the "Log On" tab, and make sure it's set to run as Administrator, not the Local System account. (You'll need to enter the password for the windows Administrator account as well.) Finally, bounce the Cablecast service once again.
Give that a shot, let me know how it goes.
-John
I’m hopeful
1 person says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?I think that may have done the trick! Podcasts are working as advertised! This is a great feature, I'm happy to be able to start using it.
Thanks again for the help John, I hope this thread will help others trying to make this happen.
--Shawn
I’m Podcasting!
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This answers the question
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Rock on! :-)
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Inappropriate?Update to this thread: I just installed Cablecast 4.8.3 Build 52, which repaired our Podcasting services from a previous installation. However, the podcast files did not commence transcoding after installation. Here's what I found:
All of the above steps that made podcasting work were still in place on the Cablecast Pro server...except one: The Cablecast service reset itself to run as the Local Account instead of the Administrator account (even after I selected 'Administrator Account' in the install program!). I went in, stopped the service, changed the logon as described above, then bounced the service. Within minutes, the CPU went nuts and started transcoding.
So for anyone trying to get this to work, double check that setting again after install.
1 person says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?This got me back up and running on the Podcast side. Thanks.
BTW - is there a simple way to have the Podcasts encode and live on the VOD instead of the cablcast machine? I only have 90 gigs there, as opposed to the 4TB on the Video server....
I’m sittin on the dock o the bay...
EMPLOYEE
CHAMP
