· Roon Server intermittently loses connection with Roon Remotes. This happens in all Roon Remotes (hardwired and WiFi'd). The message is displayed that connection is lost with Roon Server. The screen goes blank with only the Roon logo on display. After a few minutes connection is found again. Roon starts scanning the folders in which the music files are stored. Then operation returns to normal. Da Capo. I can't relate the starting point of this to any change or event in hardware or network setup. Today, 260112, it occurred on 12:57 and 13:12, but not when I used Roon from 0900-1100.
Extensively researching the forum I encountered descriptions of similar events and suggested remedies. Of these, rolling back to unmanaged switches is the only thing I cannot do, for practical reasons. Otherwise I made sure all firmware is the latest and that the Mac Mini is always on. I disabled package accelleration in the router. I pinged the Mac Mini for package loss, of which there is none. I made sure to configure the switches so as to prevent network loops. I backupped the database and performed a complete reinstall of RoonSever on the Mac Mini, after the latter was wiped. I powercycled the router and all other network devices. Perhaps all this has enlarged the stability of Roons performance somewhat, with disabling package accellaration delivering the biggest contribution (yet with a trade off on data speed). But it’s a big “perhaps” as Roon is nowhere near as stable as it can be, and the instability is unpredictable. I wonder if there are any options out there that I missed. And I’m curious what TS may see in the logs.
Tell us about your home network
· My Setup: Music Library 340K tracks on a Synology DS418. Roon Server on a headless Mac Mini M1 with 16 GB, OS Tahoe 26.2. Running Roon Server is the Mini's only task. Router Fritz!box 7590 running Fritz!OS: 8.2 Router, DS418 and Mac Mini have a direct and wired Ethernet connection (no VPN) with the core switch: a Unify USW-24-PoE. All Roon Endpoints but one have a wired Ethernet connection through Unify USW Flex mini or Unify Lite 8 PoE switches. Roon Remotes on various iPhones, iPad Pro's, MacBooks and Windows 11 PC's. The latter are hardwired, the phones, pads and MacBooksconnect through WiFi, via U6+ / U6 Lite Access Points.
I have analyzed the diagnostics report we have retrieved from your machine.
Regarding 12:57 drop: At that time I can see that the log file has crashed and restarted with a server load after 40s delay.
Regarding 13:12 drop: At that time Garbage Collector took a really heavy work to free up the RAM space for Roon and caused a delay.
All of that brings me to the consideration that your Mac likely has 8 Gb of memory (we did not retrieve this information in diagnostics report) and the connection problem is caused by Out of memory exception and as consequence server app crash. 8Gb of RAM (in your case shared memory) is enough for the library of up to 100k tracks .
For 340k tracks minimum 16 is required or even better 24Gb of RAM/Shared Memory for Apple Silicon macs.
In your case the best thing you can do is to purchase a new machine that is going to host your server (because M-powered macs don’t have an option to extend memory). The cheapest solution would be used 32Gb RAM Intel mac mini which is powerful enough for running Roon Server only or as best practice you can get a Nucleus which is official Machine for Roon server from Roon and has expandable RAM option.
Hi Alex,
Thanks for your quick and detailed reply!
The Mac Mini really has 16Gb RAM. Then again, the library is not small.
The thing is, before the Mac Mini, I had ROCK running on a NUC with an Intel i7-7567U and 32 Gb RAM. I switched to Mac Mini because on the NUC Roon started to underperform (f.i. very long search time) and sometimes required daily restarts or more. With MM Roon is really quick, but for the loss of connection…
Well, I’ll export the database, insert the NUC in the chain and will see if the connection problem replicates. I’ll report back before the topic closes.
At first things went quite well - importing the database and swimming through the library, to use a term from the Sooloos days. But after a few hours Roon announced the next song, but didn’t get it to play and around 1515 local time entered a kind of eternal “kit mode”, with the bar that normally displays the waveform endlessly swiping back and forth. Cold nor warm restarts of the NUC that harbors ROCK brought Roon back to life. The only thing happening is the white display with the black logo.
To have some music I activated the Mac Mini with Roon Server - it lost connection around 2325 and came back on line after a few minutes.
So is it both a processor and a RAM thing? Given the size of the library running Roon Server with 24 or 32 Gb RAM and a modern day i7 or M1?
Hi @alex_h,
Unfortunately there have been some more drops lately:
Jan 14th at 2115, 2131, 2232 and 2247 hours local time. At 2131 the screen flashes “network error”. At 2247 connection was lost and found without the music stopping.
Jan 15th at 2240.
Jan 16th at 1537 and 1605
Looking in the log files I see lots of things happening, but I’m not able to interpret them. Perhaps you can see if they are RAM-related or that other things are going on? Tnx!
Thanks for the additional information! We reviewed the additional timestamps provided and do believe it could be hardware-spec related. That said, an i7 with 32GB of RAM feels like it should be enough.
As a small next step in troubleshooting - could you potentially disable a few of your network shares, and test out running about 50% of your library, and check to see how performance is?
First, make sure you have a recently saved backup or two. Then, disable a few of your local shares > then head to your library settings > perform a library clean up, and reboot your Roon Server.
Let me know how things perform at about 50% of your usual local library. Thank you!
Done as suggested. Roon now sees a library of 150K tracks and is set to repeat a playlist on one endpoint, whilst I’m listening to another. Roon Server is on the Mac Mini. (I will not be returning to the i7-NUC: it underperforms really bad.) I’ll let you know what happens.
I had Roon Server continiously and simultaniously serving 4 endpoints for almost 48 hrs.
The idea was that I could leave Roon playing unattended and my cue for a drop would be that the endpoints would stop playing if Roon Server lost contact. No drops happend, afaik.
But I noticed two drops when actively listening. The first on Jan 23rd at 1308 hours, the second on Jan 24th at 2217 hours.
And a drop on the 25th, 1555 hours, not while playing music, but while performing a search.
Another drop on the 26th, 1410 hours, while playing Live Radio.
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Thanks for the update! We were able to review a fresh diagnostic report, and for each timestamp you’ve mentioned, it’s clear that Roon Server seems to be crashing and rebooting.
Unfortuantly we’re not seeing any specific errors in Roon Server logs before the crash occurs. We do, however, see repeated chromecast failures right before instability.
As an easy step in testing, if you disable or remove all your chromecast devices temporarily, do you see the same issues?
It may be helpful to review any macOS related crash reports, could you please:
Open Applications → Utilities → Console
In the sidebar, select Crash Reports
Use the search box (top right) and search for:
Roon
RAAT
or the exact process name
Click the crash that matches the timestamp. Copy and paste any errors you may find here.
OK, I disabled 3 Chromecast dongles and two Roon endpoints with chromecast ability. (which I never use, for I use these endpoints wired). I have Roon Server serving three endpoints now. I will let this run during the day, see what happens.
As for macOS related crash reports: there aren’t any on the Mac Mini. There are two diagnostic reports considering “RoonAppliance”, from the 22nd and the 26th of Jan.These match no timestamps.
Roon ran two stints of 10 hours each, without drops.
I have re-enabled the disabled network shares. Roon is busy adding the files to the library. That will take >18 hrs at the current rate. Then I will restore the back-up I made before disabling the shares and let Roon run again without chromecast devices…
Jan 28th I re-enabled the shares; whilst importing the library I noted a drop around 1320 hours.
That evening I enabled a chromecast device. Didn’t disable it after use.
Jan 29th:
a drop around 1013 hours, whilst importing
1028 a drop when selecting a back up
1100 a drop when restarting after restoring a back up
1110 a drop when importing the new roon remote software
I disabled the beforementioned chromecast device. Then:
1445 a drop whilst playing
2145 ditto
Still no crahsreports on the Mac Mini.
Again thanks in advance for your insights.
Added Jan 30th:
As of today Roon server on the Mac Mini kind of behaves like Roon ROCK on my i7 NUC that dates from 2018: turning from a snappy performance to struggling to display playlists, history, well, anything, Taking minutes to start playing the next track of the playlist. Losing contact with Ron Server. Etc. Restarting Roon Server did not bring joy. Fed up with it, I de-installed then re-installed Roon Server. The download from the roonlabs-site offers version 2.57, build 1598. This works with roon remote version 2.58 build 1606… It now played four tracks from a playlist without interruptions. Its best performance in the last couple of hours…
Thanks for the update! Very interesting indeed - while I don’t know if maintaining that specific build long-term is doable, certainly keep us posted on how things go over the weekend.
And, if you decide to update to the latest version, let us know how that goes as well, on the fresh install. Thank you!
That went not good. Roon behaves as I described and is pretty much unusable right now.
Are the drop times related to any event in the logs? Esp. since most of the time I had my chromecast devices disabled? Your insights are welcome.
All I can think of now is whiping the Mac Mini and installing Roon server once again…
