Orbi mesh wifi (DHCP) with Negear Prosafe Switch (GS108E)
Connected Audio Devices
Marantz ND8006 (ethernet to switch) and PM8006
Number of Tracks in Library
81,448 tracks and 15,749 albums. Tidal is my streaming service
Description of Issue
When ever I use the Roon application on my MacBook I receive a āserver connection interruptedā message pop up. This will occur every 3-10 minutes. This hangs up finder and usually interrupts the music stream. Sometimes I need to restart the MacBook to clear it fully. If I use the Roon app on either my iPhone or iPad I donāt have any issues.
The core is on the Nucleus + that I just purchased. The media files are primarily a seagate USB drive connected to the Nucleus but some files reside on the internal disk drive (that is part of the Nucleus +). The Nucleus is connected to the switch which in turn is hardwired to the Orbit Mesh unit. The Orbi is connected to the main router by wireless.
Hi Ged, I did try this last night. I established a direct ethernet link from the router to the Netgear switch and ethernet to the MacBook and Nucleus. I also took other network devices offline (2 Synology NAS units and another laptop). I did notice that it took longer for the first message to pop up (server connection interrupted) but then it continued on a regular basis. I also disabled wifi on the MacBook so as to force all traffic to ethernet.
Prior to purchasing the Nucleus I was running the Core on my MacBook with one of the NAS drives connected as my music source. Under this configuration I also received the connection interrupted message which I put down to a NAS issue. However, If I recall correctly, I believe there was an update issued by Roon (a few weeks ago) and that was the trigger for the error message? Do you know if this was the case?
I also tried setting the Nucleus to a fixed IP address rather than DHCP - no change though.
Iām thinking of completely isolating the Macbook and Nucleus on their own network: Nucleus <=> Switch <=> MacBook. All set to static IPās and then introduce internet. What do you think?
Iām work in IT so Iām familiar with troubleshooting network issues but this one has me puzzled ā¦ so far.
Itās worth a try. Iām not familiar with that error message as Iām not a Mac user. Looking around most commonly found on Nas, time machine connections.
Currently the DNS is provided by my internet provider (Xfinity) and is set to 75.75.75.75. I am familiar with Cloudflare but Iām not sure how your suggestion will affect this issue. Could you provide a little more information.
I did create an entry in the Host file yesterday to āmapā the static IP of the Nucleus + with the DNS name that shows up on my network (nucleusplus). This allowed me to ping the name but made no difference to my problem.
Iām willing to try your idea if you can explain the thinking behind your suggestion.
ISP DNS is often slow and unreliable, and changing DNS often sorts a number of Roon issues. Itās a quick change, recommend by Roon and quick to implement.
Roon does an inordinate number of DNS lookups, I mean like thousands, often ISP DNS servers are throttled or slow so moving your DNS server entries to a faster entry can speed up ALL roon services.
Okay, I understand. This makes sense as I assume Roon is constantly pulling meta data for all the albums and tracks. Iām not sure if my number of 81,000 plus tracks is considered high but I can see how this would be a drain on the network. I will try this idea later today and report back my findings. I appreciate your input.
Not anymore. Not long ago, in one of the frequent releases, Roon implemented some caching mechanism on its server, and now the number of forwarded DNS queries is very low.
And sure, having a quick DNS sever set up doesnāt hurt, but I canāt really see how this would affect the OPās problemā¦ the āServer Disconnectā message, which rather points to some internal networking problem, and not something where a faster DNS answer would do anything good.
Stephen, after reading through your several messages on this thread I seem to understand that you have devices connected to a switch, this witch connected to an Orbit Mesh point, which has no Ethernet backhaul to your main router, but is connected via WiFi. Is this so far correct?
I also seem to remember that you mention in some post that you are using XFinity Internet access. If so, is your main router a XFinity-provided box? I ask this, because in the back of my head I remember one or two threads not long ago, where folks reported connection problems on their home networks, which ultimately could be tracked down to be caused by some overzealous āadvancedā security setting on their XFinity boxes. A forum search may help to find these threads. But anyway, this is something I would look into.
I run a PiHole on my home network, so all DNS queries get filtered and logged there. When not long ago there were literally many thousands of outgoing DNS requests by Roon in 24 h, this now is down to a few dozens, if that. Batch processes like metadata updates would really hammer the DNS server with above 100 requests por secondā¦ Thankfully, this has been resolved, and very effectively so.
Yes, this is one of the threads I had in mind. Symptoms may be slightly different, but I nevertheless would look into this āadvancedā security setting on XFinity.
I made the DNS changes as per @Martin_Webster (and flushed the DNS) and Iām 40 minutes without the server disconnectā¦
Thereās no question that I run a complicated home office network (multiple routers and devices with lotās of segregation) due to business requirements but I have tried to eliminate as much as possible for testing purposes. I have an Xfinity router as my point of entry. In the current setup I run an ethernet cable from the Xfinity router to the Orbi Mesh router and then an ethernet cable (from the Orbi) to the Netgear switch. From the Netgear switch I have an ethernet cable to the MacBook and Nucleus +. So I have eliminated all wireless from this setup (but two routers - I know this introduces lots of questions!)
Depending what happens with the connection Iām going to try this:
Network only the Nucleus, MacBook and switch and then introduce internet. All the other devices will be eliminated in this setup. This setup will bypass the Orbi mesh router completely and connect directly to the Xifinity router.
Thanks for the feedback - Iāll keep everyone updated.
I am pleased to report Iām nearly 24 hours into the latest settings change and no problems!
I updated the DNS on both my Orbi mesh router and MacBook to 1.1.1.1 and 8.8.8.8 and added a third entry from Xfinity. I was not able to change the DNS on the Xfinity router (option is blocked). Also the advanced security settings were already set to ālowā so as not to effect other devices on my network.
I have restarted both the Nucleus and MacBook and still looking good - no server connections interrupted. I also brought back online my 2 Synology NAS drives and 2 other routers - still looking good.
One other thing I changed after the DNS change was to remove the reference to a shared Music folder on one of the NAS drives. Although the drive was marked ādisabledā on the Nucleus settings I completely removed it.
So thatās were I stand - everything is looking good. I appreciate all the feedback and ideas from the group. Everyones input was consequential - thank you!
