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Speaker jumping between Secondary and Tertiary node on SonosNet

  • 7 June 2023
  • 2 replies
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M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

We live in an old building with the thick wooden walls in most parts. With the 11 Sonos devices spread out through the building and a wired Sonos Boost in a central location the system works mostly fine. Last couple of weeks we have been starting to get entire system drop-outs and the culprit as we can see is a IKEA Symfonisk lamp (most remote unit from the Boost) that according to the Network Matrix jumps between being Secondary node (direkt to Boost, signal 30/29) and Tertiary (connected to the ARC that is in line-of-sight with signal 66/59).

During these jumps, music stopps playing in the entire system and in controller apps the rooms are gone briefly and then gets back.

Why is the mesh reconfiguring so aggressively? I understand the lag to tertiary nodes but the stop in streaming is worse than a lag I’d say.

Can I do something? We have a multi-API Unifi network that I have been testing with Sonos but these experiments have all been disastrous even when trying to follow Unifi and Sonos documentations.

/Mattias

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Best answer by Corry P 7 June 2023, 17:49

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2 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Mattias_4 

Thanks for your post!

Sonos uses the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) to manage the mesh that is SonosNet, and my guess would be that your UniFi system has overridden Sonos’ request to run it’s own STP root bridge (the device organising STP) and is doing it itself instead, and somehow not quite getting it right for Sonos’ use.

In addition, the speakers calculate the “cost” of each connection, a wired connection being less “expensive” than a wireless one, and a secondary connection being “cheaper” than a tertiary one - each speaker will aim to maintain the “cheapest” connection it can. The Network Matrix you are looking at is not going to be showing you the full story. A speaker will only drop an existing connection when the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator - the strength of the signal) drops below 19, so I suspect that this is happening frequently.

Please make the following changes to your UniFi system:

Note: The screenshots and steps below reflect the Unifi Network Application 7.0.25 user interface. Newer released Unifi Network Application user interface may differ; however the basic settings and values will remain the same.

STP and Switch Priority

  1. From the Unifi Network Application interface, click on the Unifi Device icon from the side bar.

  2. Click the core or main managed switch to access its menu (switch connected directly to the router). image.png

  3. From the switch menu displaying on the right, click on the Settings tab.

  4. Under the Settings tab, scroll down and click on Services for additional settings.

  5. Select the VLAN that Sonos is set on. Leave it to Default if only one VLAN exists.

  6. Change Spanning Tree from RSTP to STP.

  7. Set Priority to 4096.
    • Note: If there is a secondary managed switch connected to main or core switch, repeat steps 3-6 and set its Priority to 8192. For a third managed switch, set the Priority set to 12288. image.png

  8. Scroll down and click on Apply Changes and allow up to 3 minutes for completion.

We also recommend to enable IGMP Snooping/Filtering:

  1. From the Unifi Network Application interface, click on the Settings icon from the left side menu.

  2. Click on the Network tab.

  3. Select the network Sonos is connected to. Click on the Default network name if there is only one. image.png

  4. Scroll down to Advance Configuration, and click on Manual.

  5. Check IGMP Snooping and Multicast DNS.

  6. Click on Apply Changes and allow up to 3 minutes for the settings to update.
  7. image.png

Please also bear in mind that the speaker in charge of a group (selected first before grouping, and listed first in the group), known as the Group Coordinator (GC) can be an important choice. If a wired unit is to be included in a group, it’s best to to put it in charge by selecting it first and grouping the other rooms to it. If the group does not contain an ethernet-wired unit, on the other hand, then a unit closest to the wired unit will be the best choice for GC. Certainly, if the Lamp were to be GC, it would cause problems for the whole group when it’s connection changes.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

@Corry P 

Thank you for your suggestions and great information about the GC. I will keep that in mind when re-grouping music throughout the day. I have changed from RSTP to STP on my devices. In modern Unifi Network application (7.2.97) I couldn’t find the priority setting.

Unrelated, I have a new UniFi POE Switch to be delivered as a replacement replace for NETGEAR and D-Link switch attached to the network. Maybe this will also help the situation.

Thanks!

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