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Understanding wired vs. wireless, and the network matrix purpose.

  • 21 April 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 1168 views
J

I’m working with 8 Sonos Connect devices, plugged into a managed switch. The Sonos devices are daisy-chained in a pair of four. Meaning they’re only 2 total network cables connecting to the switch.

I quickly learned about the issues w/ STP/Broadcast storms after having plugged more than 1 of these devices into the network. I was able to find a helpful document on configuring STP on the Dell switch to accommodate this.

Even so, I ended up plugging in a small, unmanaged switch solely for these two Sonos connections, and a downlink connection from the unmanaged switch to the Dell PowerConnect. This seems to have alleviated the issue with STP.

Here are some questions I’d love answered, if some of you can spread the knowledge.

  1. What is the exact, technical reason plugging two Sonos connects into a managed switch leads to a broadcast/STP issue? Aside from the solution, I’d like to have an understanding of what internally is going on.
     
  2. I added the unmanaged switch to remove the issue. Would you say this is a better solution then plugging the two network cables into the Dell switch and configuring STP accordioning to Sonos support?
     
  3. I’ve taken interest in the ‘Network Matrix’ diagnostic tool. Despite all off my Sonos Connects being hard-wired in, and not using SonosNet, the network matrix still displays a lot of information pertaining to their wireless health and interconnection with one-another. Is this to mean they’re still operating wirelessly, despite all being hardwired? Should WiFi be fully disabled on each Sonos Connect? It seems to me that in this setup, the Sonos devices would only be causing further saturation in the WiFi without any real reason or purpose to be acting wirelessly.
     
  4. Is the network matrix useless to me if nothing is meant to be operating wiressly?


Thank you guy!

 

 

 

 

 

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Best answer by ratty 22 April 2020, 12:26

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2 replies

ratty

What is the exact, technical reason plugging two Sonos connects into a managed switch leads to a broadcast/STP issue? Aside from the solution, I’d like to have an understanding of what internally is going on.

Here is an excellent reference post from way back when:

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sonos-and-the-spanning-tree-protocol-16973

 

I added the unmanaged switch to remove the issue. Would you say this is a better solution then plugging the two network cables into the Dell switch and configuring STP accordioning to Sonos support?

It’s entirely up to you. Clearly you’ve taken the easier path.

 

I’ve taken interest in the ‘Network Matrix’ diagnostic tool. Despite all off my Sonos Connects being hard-wired in, and not using SonosNet, the network matrix still displays a lot of information pertaining to their wireless health and interconnection with one-another. Is this to mean they’re still operating wirelessly, despite all being hardwired? Should WiFi be fully disabled on each Sonos Connect? It seems to me that in this setup, the Sonos devices would only be causing further saturation in the WiFi without any real reason or purpose to be acting wirelessly.

Given that you have an all-wired system the network matrix is pretty irrelevant, other than displaying the ambient wireless conditions in the left column. All the cells in the body of the matrix should be uncoloured. If any are showing a colour you have a failed wired connection somewhere and the system’s reverted to a wireless link.

Assuming all is well I suggest you disable the radio (confusingly named “disable WiFi”) in each Sonos device using the controller.

 

Is the network matrix useless to me if nothing is meant to be operating wiressly?

Pretty much. See above.

ratty

One comment, in passing: 

Your two daisy chains, of four units each, are in fact exceeding the recommended maximum ‘network diameter’ of seven. They have a diameter of nine at present. The ‘diameter’ is the largest number of switches in a line across the network. Since a Sonos unit is a switch you currently have 4 + 1 + 4 = 9.

Exceeding the max diameter can sometimes result in topology instability. In your shoes I’d recommend you go for two chains of three units each, and one of two.

 

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