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Hardwiring Sonos:CONNECT takes down network

  • 15 April 2018
  • 9 replies
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Jim Leask
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I'm doing a renovation at the cottage, and added 3 Sonos:CONNECT to drive in-ceiling, porch and wall speakers. Initially I hard wired a PLAY-1 to the back of the router, and that enabled the Sonos network to the rest. It worked, but sometimes dropped sync between them.

I finally got around to hard wiring the new Sonos:CONNECT. I daisy chained 2 CONNECT to the router, and initially let the other CONNECT and PLAY-1 use the sonos wireless network. I then ran a new Cat6 line to the 3rd CONNECT that isn't located with the other 2, and tested the line. The hardwire line worked great with the computer, but as soon as I plugged in the 3rd CONNECT, the whole network crashed. No WiFi or internet anywhere.

After lots of trial and error, I discovered that if I connected this new Cat6 network as a daisy chain from the basement CONNECT, and NOT directly from a port on the router, it worked again (after rebooting the router).

What is going on? May best guess is that the Sonos:CONNECT have a very high bandwidth demand between them, and as long as they are all daisy chained together they can operate without involving the rest of the network. However, if I have two or more Sonos plugged into the router itself, then that network traffic would go through the (old slow) router which can't keep up and crashes. Right?

I have several other Sonos systems to go, and can't keep daisy chaining them together. I wan't to understand what the requirements are.

Do you need a 10GB hub to connect the Sonos? Other suggestions?
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Best answer by MikeV 15 April 2018, 14:31

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9 replies

J
Hi. No your guesses are incorrect. This is a 'network storm' and is caused by your network not handling Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) correctly, perhaps because STP isn't enbled on your router. Does your network involve any switches?
MikeV
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John's likely on the right path here. I'd check Sonos' Incompatible network hardware list and see if your router is listed there. If it's not, check through the settings - even the advanced ones - to see if there's an option to enable Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). There might not be, as it's not something usually needed on home networks (Sonos needs it so it can properly determine the best wireless/wired paths for its devices).

If your router isn't on the hardware list, I'd submit a diagnostic from your system and post the confirmation number, along with some info on your router (the manufacturer, provider, and model number). Sonos might need to add it to their list if there's no way to get it to pass the STP traffic that Sonos needs. Daisy-chaining works because all of your Sonos devices are using one port on the router, so they're all still able to communicate with each other without any problems.
The S in IOT stands for Security.
ratty
Here is the reference information thread for STP. And here are some typical switch settings.
Jim Leask
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Thanks John and Mike. I didn't know about the STP, but that does seem to be it. My 2Wire modem is on the incompatible network hardware list, and the "fix" is to do what I stumbled onto, being just connecting a single Sonos to it and daisy chaining from there. I plan on reconfiguring the router to use Bridge mode anyway, so it will be just a modem, and use a different more modern router for the internal network. I'll check to ensure this new router is compatible. It is nice to understand why this was failing - thanks for the info.
C
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Exact same situation here. As soon as I connect my Sonos Amp via its ethernet port, the all network becomes crazy. Sonos devices disappear, they come back...nothing plays properly...I can't remove the router from my ISP, I connect my Google Wifi to it and I set up my Google Wifi in the DMZ of my ISP router (on which DHCP is off). Everything else is managed by the Google wifi (DHCP mainly).
What should I do? I have 2 netgear switches (8 ports) in between both routers so I'm not sure who is responsible for what but it could also be it, don't you think? My ISP router is doing so little that I don't see why it would be responsible?

The switches are Netgear GS108 and GS108e (manageble)
ratty
The switches are Netgear GS108 and GS108e (manageble)
Which versions?

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/41 says:
Network hardware that is incompatible with Sonos
...
Netgear GS108v1, GS108v2
C
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I have the V1 version of the GS108 I believe. I took it down in the afternoon and put some TPLink 5 port I had arround. Non manageable put more modern.
I still have the GS108T. I have updated it by flashing the firmware to the lastest version, looked into the setting for STP/RSTP settings, tried to enable things....
It could handle the Sonos Connect being connected. I coudn't try long enough but I will run some more tests tomorrow. I've also ordered a 3 different 8 ports swtich (all non manageable). If they can "just work" without crazy complex interface settings, that no one fully understands besides the presales team of the respective vendors, I'll go for a simple switch.
C
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I have replaced the GS108P as well. All is running now fine. It's been 1.5 years that I don't use my connect thinking it had gone mad....
Never thought it could be the Switch, too much confidence in those well build switches...
A
i had a similar problem i have 3 cisco sg200-16 switches at home with ubiquity ap;s i did a speed test on a computer connected to the 3 switch and it was very poor. i was going crazy as to why. for some reason my two switches wired together with fiber were nit talking over the fiber. They were talking over the sonos backhaul for some unknown reason. It could not handle all the traffic i was putting through it. i don't know when it happened it was not like that at first.

i had a bridge and a sound bar connected to two different switches. when i disconnected the bridge speeds went back to normal

now i hope the sonos system will work ok.
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