HI,
I run Roon Rock on an Intel NUC in a network that involves my broadband router (supplied by my broadband provider - Sky in the UK) connected to 2 Cisco 2960 switches in different locations in my house, and with multiple devices connected to these 2 switches. My Intel NUC was connected to one of the switches - all ethernet cabling using relatively standard certified Blue Jeans cable.
The above setup had been running without issue for years (save for a recent NUC hardware failure). However, a few days ago I had my broadband upgraded to fibre, which involved getting a replacement router from my broadband provider. When I plugged my 2 switches into the new router, all of my devices with the exception of my Intel NUC (Roon Core) connected successfully without any intervention on my part. I tried a number of things including swapping cables but with no success. I was not able to connect to my NUC/Roon Core.
Luckily, my new router had a free ethernet port, and so I tried connecting the NUC directly into the router through this port rather than via the switch, and this worked - I was able to connect to my NUC/Roon core pretty much immediately.
So, I have a workaround which involves moving my NUC from its original location to a location next to my router. As a solution this actually works OK for me. However, I just wondered whether anyone could give me an explanation as to why my only connectivity issue in the original setup was with my Intel NUC & Roon Core.
I assume something related to IP address allocation, but can anyone elaborate?
Thanks for the reply to my query, and it looks as though you have pointed me in the right direction. .
I havenāt tried looking into this because I require more available ports in this location than I have on the unmanaged switch I could use as an alternative.
However, since my original post, I have also discovered that my Sonore microRendu streamer (attached to the same switch on which I had my NUC connected) is also no longer visible on my network. However, when I connected it via an unmanaged switch (a TP-Link device) it was visible once more.
Looks like the issue is something to do with my use of a managed switch.
I will look for an unmanaged switch with a greater number of ports to replace my Cisco switch, but in the meantime I have also discovered that I can also see the microRendu on my network if I have it plugged into my TP-Link unmanaged switch which is itself connected to my Cisco managed switch. So this will do as an interim fix.
Iām also definitely not a network expert so still donāt fully understand why placing an unmanaged switch between my managed switch and my microRendu resolves my problem.
Anyway, you have pointed me in the right direction for a resolution, so very many thanks for that!
Still curious as to why only my microRendu/Brooklyn+ DAC and my Roon Core (NUC/Roon Rock) were impacted by the new router, when several NASs, other streamers and devices worked seamlessly after the upgrade.
My guess is that the Linux implementation on the microrendu and in ROCK are the issue, they are set up as āappliancesā with stripped down versions of Linux to save space and be as simplified as possible. Hence, they are probably missing some features that would help.
The NAS probably has a more forgiving implementation of network discovery?
Why it works with the unmanaged switch might be the way the managed switch āseesā the unmanaged switch and passes the IPs through?
Can you put the unmanaged switch first and then the managed switch? Then connect the rock to the unmanaged switch?
Iāve just tried this with the unmanaged switch first then the managed switch and connecting the microRendu to the unmanaged switch.
When I do this, I lose visibility of the microRendu on my network again. As soon as I remove the connection from the unmanaged switch to the managed, the microRendu becomes visible on my once more.
So it looks as though I will simply disconnect the managed switch when I want to listen to music (via my microRendu) & reconnect it when not listening to music. Iāll keep my Roon Rock NUC directly connected to my router for the time being.
While we canāt provide direct support around network-related gear, Iād suggest reviewing the managed switch settings, and see if thereās any traffic throttling or re-direction happening, causing your devices to appear lost within your setup.
Thanks for this, although I donāt think Iāll spend much time reviewing the managed switch settings. I donāt actually need a sophisticated managed switch such as the Cisco. Iāll just purchase a reasonably decent 8 port unmanaged switch from the likes of TP-Link, Netgear or Linksys and be done with it.
I bought myself a couple of these:
TP-Link 16 Port Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch, Desktop/ Wall-Mount, Fanless, Sturdy Metal w/ Shielded Ports, Traffic Optimization, Unmanaged (TL-SG116) Black
I had 8 port switches and ran out of room so decided for growth I would just get 16 port switches so I could wire everything without worry. Itās surprising how many things want internet these days.
Torben_Rick
(Torben - A Dane living in Hamburg - Roon Lifer)
9
Than have a look at 10Gtek, G0208-SFP-EU switch (with Realtek RTL8382L chip):
I own a couple 2960Cs, both factory-reset to a basic configuration. These are fairly old pro switches that are not easy to configure; it might well be that yours are set up in some way that does not work with your new router, possibly something that causes issues with IP multicast on your subnet, which is what Roon uses for device discovery. You could try to factory reset Resetting a Cisco 2960 Switch to Factory Default in 6 Steps
