Ongoing problems with iDevice Remotes not finding Core

[Pete_Morrish]

Core Machine (Operating system/System info/Roon build number)

Always-on PC, latest Windows, latest Roon.

Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)

Linksys Velop mesh network. Three nodes. Main ‘entry point’ node downstairs. One node in home office (one floor up), final node in bedroom (another floor up, don’t worry about that one). Network switch hardwired into Home Office node; both Core and Library (the latter being on a Synology NAS) hardwired into that. Main headphone rig (Bluesound Node 2 -> Chord gear) hardwired into that. Downstairs (‘main’) hifi is a Devialet Expert Pro 140 hardwired into the main ‘entry point’ node. I run remotes on my MBP (not hardwired, but within a couple of feet of my Home Office node); and on iPhone X and iPad Pro (latest revision, I think).

Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)

As above. Headphone rig network entry point is a Bluesound Node 2 (not ‘i’); main hifi is a Devialet Expert Pro 140. Both hardwired into network switches, themselves hardwired into Velop nodes.

Description Of Issue

Basic problem, which has been going on for years, is that typically – and considering only the iPad and iPhone at this point – only one of the Roon Remotes will find my Core. Those devices are my main way of interacting with my main hifi (when I’m working, and on headphones, it’s via my MBP, which is more reliable). Occasionally, neither iDevice will see the Core. Typically, if I move into a different place in the house, I’ll be able to see it again (which suggests potentially some sort of issue with sometime only being able to see the Core when on one of the Velop nodes?). Not always, though. And earlier this week, for the first time in forever, my MBP lost the Core as well. Restarted everything, and we were back in business.

I’ve had the problem since before my current Velop / network switch setup, so whatever it is may not be specific to that.

I remember a long time ago, picking up a link to a page where fairly detailed router settings for Roon were outlined; I did all the ‘best practice’ there, but still I have the problem.

I’m generally okay poking around in router settings (although tell me to ‘open a port’, and I’d need fairly detailed instructions!). More comfortable poking around in MacOS than Windows.

[noris]

Hi @Pete_Morrish,

@Pete_Morrish

Network switch hardwired into Home Office node; both Core and Library (the latter being on a Synology NAS) hardwired into that

What is the exact model/manufacturer of the switch? Is it an unmanaged or managed one? I would check to make sure that is unmanaged, as managed switches have sometimes needed specific settings to work with Roon (or have been generally unreliable).

@Pete_Morrish

I remember a long time ago, picking up a link to a page where fairly detailed router settings for Roon were outlined; I did all the ‘best practice’ there, but still I have the problem.

The page you’re remembering is our Networking Best Practices Guide, and it sounds like you are dealing with a multicast issue here.

@Pete_Morrish

I’m generally okay poking around in router settings (although tell me to ‘open a port’, and I’d need fairly detailed instructions!)

First, I would make sure that “Multicast routing” is turned on in the router, if you have IGMP Snooping or IGMP Proxying options, those sometimes help as well.

@Pete_Morrish

Linksys Velop mesh network. Three nodes. Main ‘entry point’ node downstairs. One node in home office (one floor up), final node in bedroom

Then I would start by looking at the network setup, is the router using the latest firmware? Does the issue still happen if you temporarily disconnect all but one Velop node?

It sounds like your Roon Remotes are doing some kind of “fast roaming” between the nodes and that’s messing up communication with the Core or you have areas of WiFi interferance.

[Pete_Morrish]

Hey Noris – thanks for a prompt reply.

On network switches: both unmanaged. Home Office is Netgear GS108; downstairs is Netgear GS105.

The Velop setup is running latest firmware.

On the Wireless Best Practices: it’s not actually the official Roon page I was thinking of. The one I stumbled across (and now can’t find again, of course!) wasn’t official, and did dig into things like multicasting in some detail.

On multicasting: the terminology used in Velop Admin isn’t clear to me; ‘filter multicast’ could mean that it’s on, or could mean that it’s off. I’ve asked them on Twitter which it is!

Screenshot 2020-08-21 at 06.13.22|690x269

Whichever way around it is, toggling the option won’t help, I don’t think, as this is one of the things I played with back when I found that phantom networking help page.

Not seeing anything obvious for anything IGMP-related, and a quick Google suggests that it’s not something I can adjust in the backend.

I’m trying to get my head around whether it’s actually possible for me to cut down to a single node without an awful lot of effort (the always on PC is attached to a sim-rig (I work in games dev), and life would start getting very complicated indeed if I needed to hardwire that into a different node).

[noris]

Hi @Pete_Morrish,

Thanks for checking the multicast settings on the router, it does seem like filter multicast can be a misleading settings, but if you have tried it in the past then we can look elsewhere.

My suggestion would be to simplify the network as much as possible, ideally if you can bypass the switches / other gear and connect the Core + Remotes to the same Access Point / Router WiFi (even as a temporary test) and the same issue occurs, then we would know to keep searching elsewhere for the issue.

[wklie (Peter Lie)]

Try temporarily disable the firewall options in Velop.