Network setup M4100 Switch and streaming services

Hi Dane,

Many thanks for taking the time to reply, its most appreciated. After reading your questions I realised I should have posted a little more info about the configuration of my network, apologies for that.

I will endeavour to answer your questions as follows:

a. If you connect both the Apple TV and Sonos directly to the DGND3700v2, are you getting drop outs?

• Yes - this was my original setup and the drop outs were terrible to the point where I would have to reset the modem all the time with just Sonos working (which started me on the quest of investigating network setups for Sonos, and led to the purchase of a managed switch)

b. Connect the M4100-D12G switch directly to the DGND3700v2. Then, connect both the Apple TV and Sonos directly to the M4100-D12G switch, are you getting drop outs?

• Yes - as mentioned above I should have explained my configuration in my original post. My current setup has the M4100-D12G connected directly to the DGND3700v2: no other ports on the M4100-D12G are used; every other wired device in the network is connected via the M4100-D12G. With this setup and STP enabled the Sonos works beautifully by itself (i.e. it fixed my original problem), but not long after streaming a movie through apple TV I will start getting drop out in the Sonos.

c. What is the current firmware version of the M4100-D12G switch and DGND3700v2?

• M4100-D12G: firmware = 10.0.2.13
• DGND3700v2: firmware = 1.1.00.24
  

d. If you disable STP on the M4100-D12G switch, are you getting drop outs?

• This is an excellent question, and probably something I should have at least tried. However, all the research I did about Sonos systems suggested STP was required as Sonos uses STP for its mesh network.
• So tonight I have tried disabling STP and guess what??? The drop outs have stopped :smileyhappy: I tested the system just prior to disabling STP and the dropouts were still happening, its been two hours of streaming apple TV and Sonos now and no drop outs :smileyhappy:
• After the first hour of no drop outs I also enabled "Forward BPDU while STP Disabled". Apparently Sonos required BPDU packets to be forwarded to stop network storms: I don't know how to test this, but even with it disabled Sonos appeared to work fine.

The outcome: well I am stoked that the drop outs appear to have stopped: this is great news! And I thank you very much for your ideas, and solution!

Now I am also a very analytical person so I would be keen to understand understand why turning off STP would fix the problem (I did buy a managed switch after all to fix my problems lol). Also is there any way that I can check to what is going on with the network traffic - I would be keen to see the difference between the settings.

Thanks very much for your help.

Cheers,

Tuddy