Feature request: support RSTP

Given that newer speakers such as Roam, Move and Era no longer support Sonosnet, I think it’s safe to assume it’s days are numbered and updating STP to something from the last decade is even lower on the list than alphabetic selection of items in local libraries … 

But they still support WiFi and Ethernet using (a mangled kind of) STP don’t they?

Not sure it’s a mangled version, there would be no benefit to Sonos to change it. 

It is a non compliant version and causes issues for customers. There are two good reasons to change it.  This has been long-called for.  Sonos - have you learned from your experience and are you now listening?  Will we see this on the roadmap soon?

Not on all products no. 

Only Sonosnet uses STP. However, if you buy a new Move, Roam, Era100, Era300, Move 2, or Roam 2 (there may be others) none of these support Sonosnet and therefore don’t use/need STP…

You can get an ethernet dongle for the two Era speakers as they don’t have a built in ethernet port and connect to Ethernet, but they still won’t participate in Sonosnet. 

If you have older speakers combined even with an Ethernet connected Era, you’ll still have a split network if you are using Sonosnet on the older stuff. I’m not sure that helps in the brave new app world. 

So it would appear that the Sonos answer to the STP issue is instead to phase out Sonosnet and not update to RSTP with all the required testing. 

Hi @PotemkinMcNasty 

Thank you for your feedback.

According to one obscure reference that I found (internal documentation), we already support RSTP. I confirmed this with a colleague.

The only public mention of it that I could find is on our Cisco RV Series compatibility help page.

I hope this helps.

Thank you, but I’m not convinced.  
SONOS uses non-standard link costs in their RSTP implementation.  Hence we have to deploy STP and manually set link costs.  What is needed is Sonos to update the route costs to comply with standard so (R)STP works. 
 

if I’ve missed something, please do let me know because what you wrote could be very interesting for many people.

Corry P wrote:

Hi @PotemkinMcNasty 

Thank you for your feedback.

According to one obscure reference that I found (internal documentation), we already support RSTP. I confirmed this with a colleague.

The only public mention of it that I could find is on our Cisco RV Series compatibility help page.

I hope this helps.

Hi @PotemkinMcNasty 

It seems some newer speakers support RSTP, whereas some older ones do not.

I've marked this thread as a feature request and it will be seen by the relevant teams for consideration.

However, considering that we are moving away from SonosNet (newer speakers do not support it), I think it may be some time in coming (if at all).

I hope this helps.

Hi,

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is a network protocol that builds a loop-free logical topology for Ethernet networks.  Older and newer speakers still support ethernet, so the STP issue remains current I think.

You have answered my question, which was “Given the recent disastrous software revamp, will Sonos now start to listen more to customers and their feature requests, specifically support for RSTP?  Or will we continue to hear that Sonos doesn’t comment on roadmap?”

The answer as I’m reading it is “No, Sonos has not learned from the recent catastrophic software release, and will not be listening more to customers and commenting on the roadmap.”

I believe it would be more important to have a setting where we could choose to disable SonosNet even when a speaker is connected to Ethernet. This way I could have a wired soundbar talking via radio to its surrounds, without enabling SonosNet and, by result, without having to deal with STP or RSTP issues.

BTW, the network loop which needs to be addressed by STP only occurs if you have two or more speakers connected to Ethernet and broadcasting its own parallel network called SonosNet. If the wired speakers have their radios off (WiFi off, as called by the app) no SonosNet is created, so no worries about STP.

I said this elsewhere earlier but I too would like a few wired Sonos but without enabling Sonosnet so they and rest used my WiFi instead.

I think the Era 100/300 do that now if you add the Ethernet dongle.

Becoming less of an issue. Issue is only for users who still use Ethernet and have STP enabled on their network. The Ethernet connected devices will diminish over time as more users install whole home WiFi as part of their upgrade home broadband package. There may be instances of Ethernet requirement for pro installs. Consumers don’t tend to install Ethernet for their 4k Netflix/Amazon/Disney video streams to their TVs, tablets, phones, so why would they do this for just audio?

I built a house in 2005 (almost 20 years ago) and the engineer tried to convince me not to pass Ethernet cables at the time with this same argument. I didn't listen to him and I am very happy with that. You can ask my son who plays PS4. I connect everything that I can to Ethernet, specially my 4K TVs.

Additionally, I do have a mesh Wi-Fi network covering the whole house. But this is used by smartphones, moving laptops, IoT without Ethernet ports, etc.

I can't see I would be moving away from Ethernet (or perhaps fiber) in the future. 

BTW, the router and the mesh Wi-Fi nodes are all connected between them via Ethernet.

You heathen!!! 😉

Of course, wire APs. Do you connect your Sonos devices to Ethernet?

Yes for the soundbar. Specially, because the soundbar can't connect to 5Ghz Wi-Fi. No other speakers are connect to Ethernet, to avoid network storms, but I'd love to do so if I could turn off SonosNet.

Have you tried a wireless configuration? Previously I have used SonosNet in wired config for a fair number of years, since early 2023 its a wireless configuration, and I haven't had any issues with streaming lossless, even the 48/24 streams from Apple Music. You maybe surprised.

With a semi wired SonosNet configuration, ie not all devices wired you will have multiple hops, and find the latency of network is worse than a wireless configuration.

I understand what you're saying, but there are two points here:

• Even connecting everything to Wi-Fi, I'll have multiple hops, as the speakers will connect to different nodes of the Mesh Wi-Fi.
• Sonos soundbars don't connect to 5Ghz Wi-Fi. And I try to avoid 2.4Ghz as much as I can, because of interference with microwaves, cordless phones, neighbors, etc.

If you wirelessly connect your soundbar, no ethernet, then for all your other Sonos gear (except portables and Era’s) you can ethernet connect each one, one at a time and then disable WiFi in the app, and reboot it to verify. As pointed out above, the soundbar needs WiFi on so it can use the 5GHz to bond the satellite speakers. And with Wifi on, and an ethernet connection, you get Sonosnet which makes plugging in the other stuff trickier. 

That's why I submitted a feature request to Sonos to be able to disable SonosNet. But, anyways, I am happy with my wired soundbar with WiFi off. The surrounds connect to my 5Ghz home WiFi fine. It just would be much easier if we had a toggle on the app to turn SonosNet off.

Again, I try to avoid 2.4Ghz and the soundbars don't work on 5Ghz.

Why go to all this hassle? What is the advantage of a wired system *if* you have a modern WiFi available? There are many users on here with bigger systems than mine, running wireless configuration.

Because I can't ask my wife to stop using the microwave oven.

Some network hardware, such as UBIQUITI, defaults to RSTP and it is not obvious how to prevent this.

You are suggesting your microwave is leaking? If so, it would also affect the SonosNet running on 2.4GHz that you are currently using with one device wired? Or do microwaves only affect 2.4GHz WiFi, and 2.4GHz SonosNet is immune from microwave interference? 😁

Seriously, my Sonos system was fine with some devices wired, running SonosNet. When I upgraded some wired P1s with Era-100’s and moved to P1s to different location, I was in a position to try the wireless config, buy some ethernet adapters, or re-cable other speakers. I went wireless, and was surprised how well it worked. I have stress tested with multiple concurrent streams and ‘everywhere’ grouping, and found no issues.