I have received no response from anyone so far. I'm sure there are some networking experts in this community. Here is some additional information to help troubleshoot the issue: I am using an Ubiquity 48-port POE managed EdgeSwitch. I managed to resolve the problem by leaving just one CONNECT unit connected to the switch and daisy chaining the the second CONNECT unit to the first one. This worked very well for about 2 weeks, I assumed that the problem could be related to some sort of a looping problem. However, as of yesterday the 2 zones represented by the 2 CONNET units keep on appearing and disappearing from the controller. These are the actions I took to try and resolve the issue:-



1. I restarted the players but that made no difference.

2. I then reset the players and tried adding them back to the system. Adding them became a problem, I kept getting the "......too far from the router, try moving closer" error. Keep in mind that the 2 CONNECT units are in a server rack connected to the switch via daisy chaining and the router is connected to the switch. Even after managing to add the 2 zones with huge difficulty the zones (Deck and Pool) appeared for a bout 2 minutes and disappeared. This came across as some sort of IP or wireless conflict.

3. Since the system is running on SonosNet,I then thought of running the 2 CONNECT wirelessly as opposed to wired. To ensure a strong SonosNet wireless signal, I introduced a Sonos Boost unit in the server room, adding the the BOOST was a breeze and worked perfectly, I opted to choose non-wired setting when setting up the BOOST. This did not make a change. I then hard wired both the CONNECT units to the BOOST but that made no difference. The only thing I did not try was to reset the BOOST and add it as wired BOOST, I could then have wired the BOOST to the switch and daisy chained the 2 CONNECT units to the BOOST. It has been rather frustrating to be honest.

4. Since the internet router provided by the internet service provider is a wireless version, I though that there may be a wireless conflict between it and the 2 CONNECT units in the same rack in terms of the channel setting. So instead of changing the channel setting of the Sonos system which is set to 6, I decided to disable the wireless function on the CONNCT units but this did not make a difference.



Keep in mind that all ports on the switch where Sonos devices are connected have been configured STP path cost 10 as per Sonos recommendations to avoid a broadcast storm and loops.



I must mention that there was a point after adding one of the zones (Deck), I quickly went to the "My Sonos" in the controller and noticed that the CONNECT unit had the same IP address as one of the PLAY1s in the house, this is a clear indication of an IP conflict but because the CONNECT disappeared from the list, I could not verify my findings.



Any help from the many experts in this community will be appreciated. I've spent many many hours at the client's site trying to resolve this problem.

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I don't know if this will help at all but I had a bear of a time with Sonos creating a broadcast storm on my network. I determined that if you have more than one Sonos unit hard wired to your network, you need to disable the wireless on every Sonos device. That's because SonosNet creates the loop. So I hard wired my Sonos connects, disabled the wireless on both Sonos units and the problem was solved. Again, your issue may be more complicated but I just wanted to share this experience because it was very frustrating for a long time and want to help anyone with similar issues.



This is a great NetSmarts video explaining the network loop created with multiple Sonos units.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAIsFX1XPHo



How to disable wifi on Sonos units

http://bsteiner.info/articles/disabling-sonos-wifi

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Thanks for sharing that information Hawkeye, it took me a long time to resolve the issue. I tried disabling the wireless of the 2 connect units but that did not make any difference in my case. There was definitely some kind of conflict or loop being created. After daisy chaining the 2 connect devices it worked for a few days and then stopped working. It was so frustrating because I went through the whole process again, restarted the units but that did not help. At one point I saw an IP address conflict but that was eventually resolved. The system is now working without me knowing why and that is not nice. I presume this has something to do with the configuration of the Ubiquity switch, I have written to Sonos to provide clear instructions on using Sonos gear with Ubiquity managed switches but unfortunately I never heard back from them. Sonos provides good support but I wish they would listen to installers like us who have been playing a significant role in promoting Sonos.

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I determined that if you have more than one Sonos unit hard wired to your network, you need to disable the wireless on every Sonos device.

Just to note that this is not generally true. It is fine to have mixtures of wired and wireless Sonos devices, using Sonosnet, without having to disable wireless on any device. If you're having problems, it's indicative of network misconfiguration (STP, for example) or defective network hardware that does not play well with Sonos.

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I determined that if you have more than one Sonos unit hard wired to your network, you need to disable the wireless on every Sonos device.

Just to note that this is not generally true. It is fine to have mixtures of wired and wireless Sonos devices, using Sonosnet, without having to disable wireless on any device. If you're having problems, it's indicative of network misconfiguration (STP, for example) or defective network hardware that does not play well with Sonos.



That is true, I wired all Sonos devices (several Play1s and 2 connects) to the switch except the Subs for placement flexibility. We really need Sonos to provide clear setup and configuration instructions when Sonos is used with popular managed switches by Ubiquity, Cisco, LinkSys etc. Alternatively, Sonos could partner with Ubiquity to offer a Sonos smart switch that has an in-built automatic detect and configure ability when used with a wired or semi-wired Sonos system.

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What are your other settings on the managed switch? I found theses settings on the SONOS site about a Cisco Managed Switch. I am also using these setting on three tp-link managed switches. You can search the community for my original post.



The Global STP Settings:

CIST Priority = 4096

Hello Time = 2 Seconds

MAX Age Time = 20 Seconds

Forward Delay = 20 Seconds

TX Hold Count = 5 pps

Max Hops = 20



Individual Port Setting for SONOS connected devices

STP = Enabled

STP Priority = 128

STP Path Cost = 10

Edge Port = Enabled



Thanks to the community I was also able to fix the SONOS selection of wireless vs hardwired by setting the Managed Network Switches port to port connection with a STP Priority = 128 and STP Path Cost = 4.



My network configuration is a 48 port main switch and two satellite switches. I have various SONOS components connected to each switch. The 48 port switch is connected to a Comcast Gateway (Model Number: DPC3941T)



Lessons Learned from configuring tp-link managed switches that may apply.



1. Before making changes to the individual port settings, it is strongly recommend disabling the STB Global Settings. Once disabled the individual ports can be altered and once completed the STB Global setting are enabled.



2. Be sure to save the configuration when donw with the modifications so a power cycle will not reset the switch to the previous configuration.

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What are your other settings on the managed switch? I found theses settings on the SONOS site about a Cisco Managed Switch. I am also using these setting on three tp-link managed switches. You can search the community for my original post.



The Global STP Settings:

CIST Priority = 4096

Hello Time = 2 Seconds

MAX Age Time = 20 Seconds

Forward Delay = 20 Seconds

TX Hold Count = 5 pps

Max Hops = 20



Individual Port Setting for SONOS connected devices

STP = Enabled

STP Priority = 128

STP Path Cost = 10

Edge Port = Enabled



Thanks to the community I was also able to fix the SONOS selection of wireless vs hardwired by setting the Managed Network Switches port to port connection with a STP Priority = 128 and STP Path Cost = 4.



My network configuration is a 48 port main switch and two satellite switches. I have various SONOS components connected to each switch. The 48 port switch is connected to a Comcast Gateway (Model Number: DPC3941T)



Lessons Learned from configuring tp-link managed switches that may apply.



1. Before making changes to the individual port settings, it is strongly recommend disabling the STB Global Settings. Once disabled the individual ports can be altered and once completed the STB Global setting are enabled.



2. Be sure to save the configuration when donw with the modifications so a power cycle will not reset the switch to the previous configuration.



Thank you for that very useful piece of information. I too came across the same settings for a CISCO managed switch and applied them to the Ubiquity 48-port POE Managed EdgeSwitch (ES‑48‑500W). All devices including the router from the ISP were connected directly to this switch.



You mention that you were able to resolve the problem by setting the Managed Network Switches port to port connection with a STP Priority = 128 and STP Path Cost = 4. - Could you kindly explain this further. Are you talking about the main 48-port managed switch that you used ? So the STP Path Cost should be set at 4 instead of 10 ?

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