What are these different processes

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hi, just for information I’d like to know what these processes are and what it means, if one of them is heavily using the CPU. Presently it is Roon, yesterday it was RoonServer:

RAATServer
Roon
RoonAppliance
RoonServer

I run a roonserver and the roonGUI on the same machine.

Thanks!

2

Roon and RoonServer should never be run simultaneously. If you ever need to use the the GUI on the core machine directly, run Roon. If the core machine will be headless and only ever controlled by Roon running on tablets or other computers (remote mode), run RoonServer on the core machine.

http://kb.roonlabs.com/Software_packages

3

This is incorrect. There is no issue running RoonServer and Roon on the same machine at the same time as long as Roon (the program) is setup to act as a remote. RoonServer and Roon use different directories to store their configurations so they don’t step on each other.

I’ve used this setup in many situations where I want to have Roon always available for playback (being controlled by another remote / tablet) but don’t want or need to have the full-blown GUI always running on the computer. Great to be able to use a tablet as my primary remote, but have access to the full GUI and big monitor when doing library edits.

The added benefit of this configuration is that Roon is ALWAYS running so things like backups (the 1.3 automated backups) can be scheduled to run in the middle of the night without having to remember to leave the Roon application running.

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4

This is the process that makes this device available as a networked endpoint that can play audio. It’s always running but rarely doing anything unless you are playing audio to a directly-attached (typically USB) DAC.

This is Roon (the program) which on Windows and Mac can act as a Core, Remote, and/or output device. Roon will also startup RAATServer.

This is the equivalent program to Roon (the program) which comes along with the RoonServer software. It’s the main process that kicks off all of the others (RAATServer and RoonServer). Depending on your OS and how you’re looking at processes this one may show as the one using a lot of resouces (since it’s the parent process).

This is the portion of the RoonServer installation that handles all of the Core functions (library management, Tidal, DSP, etc). This is typically what’s actually eating up CPU on the Core.

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5

I hadn’t considered that use case (using a Remote to address a Core Server running on the same machine). Thanks for clarifying.

6

Thanks Andrew, that clarifies a lot.

Only one thing: Yesterday I managed some metadata using Roon as a remote for RoonServer. Whenever Roon (remote) was on, it showed a lot of a load on the CPU. RoonAppliance and RoonServer were quiet. Was Roon (remote) collecting image or other data from my collection?

7

Roon remote is graphics intensive and just interacting with it creates a pretty significant CPU load. That’s likely what you were seeing.

When Roon is operating as a remote (even on the same machine as RoonServer) it’s not accessing the database directly, it’s talking to RoonServer.

8

Although this topic is 3 years old, I would like to contribute my experience in case people still run into issues, trying to do what I was trying to do (see below). The comment by @AMP finally put me on the right track, but I want to add some detail.
I found bits and pieces of information and solution in various places of the forum, I just want to summarize the overall solution that now works for me.

Frankly, I’m a bit disappointed that Roon doesn’t provide documentation / guidance for my use case, which is, I suspect, not an uncommon one. If there is such a description, and I have overlooked it, please correct me.

Here’s my use case:
I’m running the Roon core on a desktop Core i7 Windows 10 PC which I also use for “home office” tasks.

My requirements are:

  • I want to start Roon Core just by powering on the PC, without logging on.
  • When I do log on, want to be able to control the Roon Core from the PC, just like from any other control device.

What put me on the wrong track for quite a while is the way the various Roon components are presented on the download page:

  • Roon Server = core + output
  • Roon = control + core + output

This does not give the impression that there might be situations in which you need both!
Which I did, to be able to get what I wanted.

The summary of the solution I found is this:

  • Install both Roon Server and Roon
  • In Roon, when asked to select a Roon Core, don’t select “This PC”, but select the other option, indicated by the name of your PC on the network.
  • To start the roon server automatically on powerup of the PC, I created a Task in the Windows Task Scheduler, with the Action “Start a Program”, the program being C:\Users<username>\AppData\Local\RoonServer\Application\RoonServer.exe; In the General tab, select “Run whether user is logged on or not” .

So, finally I’m happy that everything now works the way I like it.
I still wish for Roon to better reflect this use case in your documentation.
I sometimes get the impression that Roon is a bit overly cautious about any setups less than “running a Roon Core on a headless dedicated Core i7 PC”.

9

You can do all of that by installing the Roon package as it says. Server, control and output.