Free Radio Station (3)

Azuracast natively offers a dedicated webpage with a plain HTTP connection for its radio player, which can be visited in a separate window, apart from other websites. The problem may be that the browser will alert that your connection is not secure, and there might even be some other browsing restrictions implemented. See the screenshot below.

An even bigger issue is that you cannot embed the AzuraCast player widget in other HTTPS webpages (which are the standard today) and make it visible and functional.

Below is the AzuraCast widget embedded in this web page, which is served via HTTPS (SSL) through the solution that I am documenting in this chapter.

So, if you want your listeners to visit your radio station without browser warnings, and if you want to embed the AzuraCast player in webpages (like above), you should install the free Let’s Encrypt SSL for your subdomain.

Note: The prerequisite is that you’ve already owned a web domain (like spiritus.ro) and you’ve made a DNS A record in the Zone Editor (a subdomain, like radio.spiritus.ro) pointing to your station’s IP.

I asked Gemini AI to give me a solution, and we tried hard together, through trial and error, until we managed to get things working. And here are the steps that you should also take to succeed:

Phase 1: Install Azuracast

Phase 2: Update the environment ports

Ensure the following lines exist (if not, paste them to the bottom of the file):

Finally, you should access AzuraCast using these ports. Type in the full HTTP address, like so:

Troubleshooting: If you get the message "The server at 92.5.239.117 is taking too long to respond", you have a network problem, and you should check if the VCN security list is also present in the Subnet.

In the Oracle Cloud Console, navigate to Networking → Virtual Cloud Networks (VCN).
Find the VCN your VM is attached to.
Click on Subnets and select the subnet your VM is in.
Go to Security tab, and if there is only the Default Security List present, you must add the custom Security List that you've previously created for your Virtual Cloud Network. (This is the reason why you should create the custom list from within the Subnet and not from the VCN details page.)

Web Setup

When you open the Azuracast First-Time Setup, during the setup wizard, or going to Administration > System Settings, make sure you have the following all set:

• Set Site Base URL to: https://radio.spiritus.ro (replace with your domain/subdomain)

Phase 3: Domain and SSL Certificate

We will now use the AzuraCast Setup Tool to link the domain name (radio.spiritus.ro) and trigger the automatic SSL certificate request.

Troubleshooting: If the installation gets frozen at the message "Waiting for database (MariaDB) to become available...", this is because the aborted setup left the database in a bad state. But be pacient to finish its job. If it really gets frozen, then stop AzuraCast:

sudo docker compose down

Then remove all the AzuraCast files:

sudo docker volume rm azuracast_db_data azuracast_backups azuracast_acme azuracast_sftpgo_data azuracast_www_uploads

Run again:

sudo docker compose run --rm web php cli.php setup

If you get the message "Could not open input file: cli.php", update the Docker script:

sudo ./docker.sh update

Now, the command should work:

sudo docker compose run --rm web php cli.php setup

In my case, at this point, AzuraCast GUI was still not reachable by typing http://92.5.239.117 in the browser, although it should have been.

Troubleshooting: I tried my mobile phone's browser, after disconnecting it from Wi-Fi, and, alas, I could see the AzuraCast web interface! That was a crucial test that isolated the connectivity issue to the local computer cache.

I opened a Terminal (admin) session in a new window and executed: ipconfig /flushdns

That Windows command clears the local DNS resolver cache, forcing your computer to get fresh, up-to-date information from a DNS server the next time it needs to find a website's IP address. This is often used in troubleshooting connectivity issues.

Explanation: After changing the AzuraCast configuration file (azuracast.env and docker-compose.yml) the DNS record became outdated, and now has been refreshed.

Still, you may also need to flush the browser's internal cache, like so:

For Google Chrome / Edge / Brave:
Open a new tab and type: chrome://net-internals/#hsts (or edge://net-internals/#hsts)
Scroll to the bottom to "Delete domain security policies".
Type radio.spiritus.ro in the box and click Delete.
Now, go back to your site and do a Hard Refresh: Press Ctrl + F5 .

For Firefox:
Close all tabs for your radio site. Press Ctrl + Shift + H to open your History.
Find your radio site, Right-click on it, and select "Forget About This Site"
Warning: This will clear cookies and saved passwords for just that specific site.
Re-open the site.

"LetsEncrypt is now managed from within the web interface. You can manage it via the 'Administration' panel, then 'System Settings'. Under 'Services', you will find the LetsEncrypt settings."

That means AzuraCast moved Let's Encrypt management to the web UI for standard Docker installs.

Now, after opening the AzuraCast GUI in your browser, go to Administration > System Maintenance > System Settings > Services tab. At "LetsEncrypt" fill in your subdomain and email address, Save, and then click "Generate Certificate".

And that completes the process successfully. The SSL certificates will renew themselves.

AzuraCast Installation with SSL on an Ampere A1 shape

About the SSL Encryption

Phase 1: Install Azuracast

Phase 2: Update the environment ports

Web Setup

Phase 3: Domain and SSL Certificate