This is a bit of an oddball request. We have a CanFEST here in NC this weekend and a couple of people have asked me to bring (along with cans and stereo gear) a subset of my Roon system to demo.
I have a music selection on a hard drive (a subset of the usual NAS files) and have a NUC/ROCK.
I plan on taking a small switch to connect the NUC to his-fi gear etc.
What I would like input on is how to:
A) save my config so that I can reconnect after the event? (is it enough to have a backup before disconnecting or is there more)
Roon needs the internet to occasionally phone home and make sure your subscription is good. When that happens is, I think, user unpredictable. Other than that if all your metadata is upto date then you should be good to go.
You’ve been around long enough to know what I know, so let’s also ask @support, to make sure your demo runs smooth.
The subsciption token you get from Roon should in theory work 30 days without the need for renewal - so in theory you should survive 29 days without internet. You could take your NUC offline and check how it behaves without internet. Especially after switching it completely off and on again without being online - something you probably have to do when carrying it around
A) just make sure you have a library backup on another device, only in case something happens to your NUC in the move. Connect your hard drive and add the content to your library. Your NAS files will be ignored. Once back home they will reappear.
B) Roon doesn’t care about location, my Roon laptop follows me across the globe No issue as well with streaming services.
C) You can run several days without internet. Maybe connect your hard drive to Roon at home and let the metadata be downloaded before unplugging.
If you’re wanting to restore things to exactly how they were pre-event, backing up prior to the event and then restoring after is the best option here.
No, your location will not have any impact on your ability to use Roon.
Yes. Roon must occasionally connect to the internet in order to verify your account status, but you should have more than enough time if you’re only offline for just a weekend without needing to check in.
I did an enthusiasts show this time last year and managed OK with Roon, Tidal and a 4G router. It became less predictable when it got busy but I just streamed my stuff when it did that and it was fine.
Nothing beats an actual test of the configuration you plan to use at the event. Time is short but if you can put this together today ahead of the weekend it will prove it will work with your internet unconnected. You need wifi for a Control though, will this be available or are you using another wired PC (with roon loaded) to control ROCK?
I was a smartarse and decided to use an old Apple access point to mimic the SSID and Password on the home network. That plus hard wired 8 port switch was all setup. I couldn’t see everything at first, but then realized that the AP has a network input and that all the ports are not the same! Switched that over and all was well. I had two Schiit headphone setups (Fulla and Modi/Magni/Valli via USB to my notebook) and my MacBook, and a RPi/HifIBerry balanced end-point feeding the Freya / Vidar combo.
In retrospect I could probably get away without the switch and just use the 4 points on the AP.
Two things happened, one is odd: I could not get in to any of the devices using my usual rsa keypair, and of course I couldn’t remember the passwords (actually, I think I could but didn’t succeed). So does SSH run on ROCK by default? I need to make sure I can reconfigure ROCK someway in future as I couldn’t connect to the LOCAL network for Tidal and Qobuz streaming.
Which brings me to a hard bug: @support when I couldn’t connect to the local wireless, Tidal is well behaved. Qobuz is NOT. I simply could not dismiss the Qobuz connection error box. Every time I cleared it, it popped back again and it sits right in the lower center of the screen.
Other than that, life was good. I showed Roon to a few folks and did one in depth demo (and invite to come and see it a home setting). I expect you to see a lifetime sub.
So thoughts on how one SHOULD reconfigure wireless on a ROCK?
