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Avid Contributor II
November 28, 2013
Question

routed network

When I first installed my Sonos it was required all the components be on the same subnet (no routing). I've now grown a more sophisticated routed network at home. is there anything I could run on a linux box to bridge the traffic between 2 subnets so that the sonoses are reachable from either wireless system?
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17 replies

Lyricist III
December 4, 2013
Hello Steve,

While there may be a technical solution to your question, this would be a very advanced setup, and it is something we can not provide support for.

Therefore I have to inform you that Sonos will only work and can only be controlled if your smartphones/computers are on the same subnet/IP address range.

Regards,

Bjorn L.
Lyricist II
February 28, 2014
Ok, can you please provide some basic technical details on the network protocol being used? For example, it's pretty clear that the sonos app on my mac is connecting via TCP to the bridge across a routed network (the laptop was plugged into the wired network and is now on the wireless network, and those two networks are routed not bridged). Some information about what kind of packets need to be forwarded between networks would make it a lot easier for us geeks to solve this... but if you're gonna make me break out a network sniffer, I guess I'll do it.
Lyricist I
November 30, 2014
Hello Steve,

While there may be a technical solution to your question, this would be a very advanced setup, and it is something we can not provide support for.

Therefore I have to inform you that Sonos will only work and can only be controlled if your smartphones/computers are on the same subnet/IP address range.

Regards,

Bjorn L.

This is a horrible implementation Sonos! "very advanced setup" ...no it's not, it's just a routed network. He's asking which network services can be used to make this work. 
darrenr
Lyricist II
May 13, 2017
I agree with Brent_8 - has this been fixed yet? I'm suffering exactly the same problem after upgrading my home network. Seems this is a problem experienced by you best customers who have purchased the most Sonos devices. You think it would be worth putting some time into this to help! I may end up selling them it I can get them working across two subnets.
ratty
May 13, 2017
It's not a question of 'fixing'. Sonos is based on UPnP. The discovery mechanism, SSDP, is predicated on UDP multicasts to the local subnet.

The proportion of Sonos home users with deliberately segmented networks must be tiny. (There are plenty who segment their networks unintentionally.) Your best bet is to organise things such that each Sonos system ('household') is contained within a single subnet. If necessary use multiple Sonos households.
Stanley_4
Grand Maestro
May 15, 2017
I have three LANs here, my simple solution was to put the Sonos devices and the gear Sonos needs to connect to on one of the LANs while using the other two for things that don't need Sonos access.

I won't promise this will work but I'd think it is a good possibility. You could look at establishing additional physical LANs (as I did) or VLANs and add protocol bridging rules in your router where necessary. You will learn a good bit about networking doing that but I'd expect you to have to go to a networking forum, not here for the education.
ratty
May 15, 2017
I run two physical LANs, cascaded.

Also see https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/multiple-subnets-vlans-and-sonos-workable-clavister-solution-30950
accguy
Lyricist III
June 30, 2017
@ratty: Multiple IP networks are not unusual, even a little bit. Every wifi router you buy today has a Guest network. I would love to let my Guests use my Sonos without giving them keys to the rest of my network.

I, however, am not holding my breathe for this feature. I have been a Sonos customer and avid supporter for over 2 years (yes, a relative newbie), and I tell everyone that I recommend it to a few things:
1. Don't expect any new significant features from any of your wish lists.
2. They canned their eng. staff.
3. The CEO jumped ship.
4. And, despite making the best sounding whole home speaker system in the world, they have decided they are going to be in the Smart Speaker, no Streaming Music, no, I don't know what market, it's hard to merge all those threads.
5. Love it for what it is (which is great) and pray that someone picks all of the pieces some day and starts to innovate again.
ratty
June 30, 2017
@accguy

IMO your assessment of the company's policies and prospects is irrationally bleak. And I simply don't understand "Streaming Music, no". That's squarely where Sonos are positioning themselves market-wise.

As for enabling use of Sonos via a guest SSID, where are the Sonos units actually going to connect? Guest SSIDs typically apply client isolation. A device attached to one can only see the router: no other wireless clients and definitely nothing on the main home LAN.
accguy
Lyricist III
June 30, 2017
@accguy

IMO your assessment of the company's policies and prospects is irrationally bleak. And I simply don't understand "Streaming Music, no". That's squarely where Sonos are positioning themselves market-wise.

As for enabling use of Sonos via a guest SSID, where are the Sonos units actually going to connect? Guest SSIDs typically apply client isolation. A device attached to one can only see the router: no other wireless clients and definitely nothing on the main home LAN.


My point exactly. Don't get too wound up waiting for your pet feature.

Yes, I know how routing and networking operate. I have been designing and implementing enterprise IP networks for over 35 years. And again, I am not going to wait for the streaming music company I bought my speakers from to develop a solution to allow those speakers to operate on a increasingly ubiquitous network configuration. If only there was a company that specialized in networked speakers... hmmm... There could be a market there.