Roon uses multicast domain name service (what Apple calls Bonjour and others call ZeroConf) to find things. If you have multiple network segments, you will need to enable MDNS forwarding between segments. Google MDNS scanner and you can see what is available locally. You should see your core and all the endpoints.
I want to thank everyone who has offered their knowledge and help. While my first computer was a Kaypro IV, this networking stuff is new territory for me, and has layer after layer of complexity- that said, I’ve had a series of Asus routers and switched to Netgears which seemed to work better with my Bluesound devices.
These NUC/Core issues really puzzle me, (my lack of knowledge/experience, not me being snarky) because:
The Bluesound ecosystem in my home worked flawlessly after the Router swap-- 5 ‘endpoints’, iPad, Android tablet, desktop and multiple laptops all can see each other and coexist perfectly.
All of the other devices work and communicate with each other - Nest thermostat and 4 additional sensors, Harmony Hub remote, etc…
When I check the router admin page, i see all of my devices and they all have IP addresses, most of them show up in my Windows Explorer Network directory…
I’ve configured my main desktop as my Roon core now, and it sees and is seen by everything on my network. The NUC?Core has been on and connected to the network, is on the router’s connected devices list, can be seen in Chrome when I type in the IP address,
So, seems like everything works except the NUC…
Simon-- I have the Cisco 2960(s) based on your recommendations in the old Naim forum. The 8-port 100M versions really do produce great improvements in my system, running in factory-reset mode, I bought the 24 port 1G version for the cool-factor. I run it in factory mode, but there is a mode switch on the far left and 4 or 5 mode lights on it. Maybe that’s the issue? Any thoughts on which ones should be lit?
Mode switch is really just to change the display options, stack port, trunk port and duplex etc.
It doesn’t change the ‘mode’ of the switch but will factory reset if you hold it for more than 10 secs.
I am wondering whether to get a 16 or 24 port unmanaged switch to replace the cisco, assuming that the IGMP snooping settings would be moot. I’d probably go for a Netgear, just as it would be same-brand as the router… Got the Ciscos for “sonic” considerations, but not sure if it really matters-but that’s a whole other kettle of fish
You can never overestimate the number of ports you might eventually need.
Hi… thanks for feedback… as said above, the mode switch refers to what the LED lamps refer to as opposed to the switching functionality of the switch.
But if you can connect your Roon Core and Roon end points into the 2960… as said above the 2960 has IGMP snooping enabled, and so will see the multicast group messages and should allow the ports to connect to each other with respect to the multicast group data… it might be your router is not doing this for some reason… seems strange in this day and age, but it is what I would try.
BTW this shouldn’t be confused Bonjour or mDNS multicast group IP addresses which usually should be ubiquitously sent to all ports and not filtered by network devices.
Simon, You are quite welcome. I bought 6 or 7 refurb 8-port 2960G 100M switches, and have found they have an obvious beneficial sonic effect when they are the device an endpoint is directly connected to, and have recommended them to friends and colleagues, all to good effect.
I bought the 24 port 1G version, also refurb, mostly for the cool-factor. I just checked and am using 12 of the ports right now. As far as I can tell, everything on my netowrk is communicating well.
I noticed that my QNAP NAS was reporting an 'abnormal number of sectors on 1 of the 3 drives in my Raid 5 array (3, 6TB HGST 7200 RPM drives). Ended up buying an Asustor AS5304T along with 4 6T Iromwolf drives, configured in Raid 10, even though the NAS was working fine-no glitches I could discern. The new NAS had 2 multi-gig ports and allowed aggregation, so I bought the latest greatest NetGearAX12 router, since it had a multigig port as well Seemed like a 2.5G connection would be faster than, and simpler than aggregating 2, 1G ports. Turns out, the AX12 will not communicate through the mutli-gig port unless the wan connection is faster than 1G (my internet is 650M) A classic example of too little know-how being dangerous (and expensive).
While the new router does seem to be faster and has stronger wi-fi, my Roon Rock/NUC seems odd-man-out now. I did get Roon working wonderfully using my desktop as the Core, and don’t want to mess that up by flailing with getting the NUC to ‘work’ again. Replacing the 24-port 2960 would be solely for the purpose of trying to get the NUC to be my core again.
Initially my thought was to get the desktop configured and stable, then migrate back over to the NUC, i can see the NUC on my network, and it will phone home to Roon, but whenever I try to add a share or log into T or Q, the Rock siftware seems to reboot. Does not matter whether the NUC is plugged into the 2960 or the router… with the old router, the 2960 handled all the traffic.
Try wiping and reinstalling the NUC.
PS using anything above a 1 Gbps link on a NAS has absolutely no benefit in 99% of scenarios, it is absolute foo to think that faster link speeds or Cisco switches will make things sound better.
I missed the Naim forum reference earlier, that is nothing but a cluster fornication of senile old men wittering on about foo cables and fuses etc and should be ignored.
1 Like
The wan settings I have on my router are:
Disable IGMP proxying – which is NOT checked
Disable SIP ALG which IS checked
there’s a setting for scan ports and DNS, and default DMZ server as well - not sure what they are.
I may try wiping the nuc- i’ve used the reinstall options a few times, but not a complete wipe… I am still pizzled why the desktop ‘works’ but the NUC does not, all on the same network…
Yes the IGMP proxying is not relevant here…
As said above, your can try rebooting your Core…
out of interest if you temporarily run Core on another platform and connect to the 2960 or your new router, do things improve.
I didn’t quite follow. Have you connected your Core and Roon end point into the 2960 switch and still no dice…
If so you can try rebooting or restarting the end point, other than that we need to see some diagnostics. The 2960 is superb here, but you will need to be able to login to your 2960 console… use your favourite search engine to find guides on doing so if you are interested.
As far as NUC vs Core on PC, it’s not so cryptic if different… the network stack including IGMP support will be down to the OS or even firmware. If there is some issue here then behaviour can be different… but the 2960 can confirm this.
I think I posted the console screen shots of the 2960 when doing this check on the Naim forum, which as you know can be a good source of detail and advice.
Some CISCO switches have two sets of ports and create isolations between the two. Those are smart switches. Try to connect Roon server and endpoints to the same set.
It’s a 2960… with factory default , the ports are therefore all in the same vlan… …
If the issue is between running Core on PC, or on a NUC, then the clue is in the platform not working…
For reference, here is my Naim Roon endpoint… and the multicast group IP address 239.255.90.91 is set up by my Roon Core , my NDX2 on port Fa 0/6 then joins to that group through my Cisco catalyst switch.
Port Fa 0/6 is enabled for that group using the default IGMP snooping on the catalyst switch.
So, I reinstalled rock on my NUC from scratch, got it back onto my network, was able to log into it, tried to add a small share from my NAS, and it caused the NUC to reboot. This was with the NUC connected to the router.
I moved the NUC over to the 2960 swiitch, and made sure that the NUC and the router were connected to the same batch of ports 11-20…
restored the successful backup from the desktop version of roon to the NUC, and it will not allow connection to the endpoints now.
In addition, now my NAS M10 claims it is not ceetified by Roon, and won;t connect either, but works fine in BLOuesound ecosystem
I am disinclined to mess with the console aspect of the 2960. I am way more inclined to just by a NetGear 24 port unmanaged switch, and call it a day - if that’s the fix.
I don’t know if the Netgear support IGMP snooping… if they don’t, they will put the multicast group data to general broadcast and squirt it everywhere, whether it’s wanted or not… in which case your end point / Core interworking should resolve if indeed this was the issue, but at the cost of increased home LAN inefficiency.
From much of the thread it seems you are narrowing down some of your issue. Hopefully you can resolve the rest of it. I also had done an upgrade from a Netgear to Netgear device, in my case it was the R7900 to an RAX200.
I had eliminated using a static IP a long time ago, rather, I let the router assign the same IP to a device based upon its Mac address. Then I only have to go one place to make changes instead of logging on to individual devices to set up their fixed IP addresses. DHCP will assign a device an IP address then I can just go in the router and tell it to always assign the same IP to that particular device.
I also had not done a setting restore on the new router, rather I set it up from scratch to avoid any glitches caused by tinkering I had done previously to my router settings (like port forwarding rules for JRiver as an example).
A number of posters have indicated that you should set certain devices outside of the DHCP range on the router but I’ve never done that and have not had any issues with access.
What I have had issues with access on however are my firewall and antivirus programs. Those have played havoc with access to a number of my devices in the past. Norton, McAfee, even Windows firewall. Have you tried to turn off all of those on your machine first to see if it makes any difference regarding the NUC? Those programs will see the NUC as a new device with the new router and may be affecting things.
Just something else to try.
The choice of switch should make little or no difference in the quality of the audio you hear. Your DAC is the final authority on sample rate and sample jitter. The DAC jitter-buffers the incoming audio and reclocks it to the converter. Upstream audiophile exotica network components will not survive a double blind listening.
Originally, I used Netgear unmanaged switches. When adding video surveillance, I shifted the network core switch to a Ubiquity UniFi Switch-8-150 to power the cameras and added an Ubiquity NVR to the network. Over time, I replaced the rack switches and access points. The network is now all Ubiquity UniFi. In the beginning, I used the built-in web management interfaces. Later, I added a Cloud Key and UniFi controller and migrated the WiFi over to UniFi. Keeping up with Orbi updates was difficult in the beginning.
Most switches use one of several product lines from Broadcomm, Cisco, Marvel, or others. Most manufacturers will make both the fabric and a management platform that the OEM can customize. Switch manufacturers incorporate these into both plain and managed products. Even “audiophile” switches are built using switching fabric and port devices from one of these OEMs. The “audiophile switch” people leave out the advanced features of the switch chipsets.
That said, some OEMS do a better job than others of properly designing for thermal performance and noise containment. I’ve had good fortune with Netgear kit when I was using it.
The Cisco 2960 is an excellent edge switch and can be used in a core role. They can be stacked and coupled in the core to accommodate network growth. But they are designed to be in a professionally administered environment and Cisco licenses the management interface and provides software updates by subscription. UniFi includes the management interface and software updating in the purchase price of the hardware.
David, Replacing the Cisco switch with an unmanaged one would simply be to see if it lets my NUC do its thing on my network. I ordered this:
NETGEAR 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (JGS524)
I have made no attempt to get a cable, and software to log into the console of the 2960, nor will I. I’ve tried several settings on the router-some of which eliminate any Roon communication whatsoever, some which allow my desktop as the Core, and any devices to control it…
at this point, I am not sure what the advantage would really be getting the NUC back up and running… Although, I am not really likely to just ‘let it go’ right away.
I work from home, so having a weorking network is pretty important to me, so I am a bit cautious about just chaning things out. Seems like the Netgear in place of the unmanaged Cisco switch will not add to my issues… am I right to even think that?
It shouldn’t.
I would suspect the QNAP NAS. I run TrueNAS Core on a low end Intel Xeon with the Roon Core in a TrueNAS VM. No issues. But the controllers do take a bit to reconnect occasionally. Endpoints are solid with the core.
Roon Core should be provisioned with 4 GB memory and 64 GB roon storage in addition to any media on the NAS.
Where are the symptoms presenting? At the endpoints? At the controllers? Both?
I assume clients are WiFi. Are endpoints WiFi or wired? Mine are wired with the exception of controllers (iPad).
Dave