Layer 2 Network Switches

Support
1

Hello,
I have a client that’s home was wired for his network that used a Layer 2 Network Switch which they claim is unmanaged. We seem to be having quite a few handshake issues with the network and was wondering if the switch could be the case?

2

What make and modell is it?

3

Araknis AN-210-SW-24-POE

4

Hi,

When you say “handshake issues”, what exactly do you mean by that? Discovery issues? Streaming issues?

Are there multiple wireless access points spread about the property? If there are, how are they set up?

It’s unlikely that just a basic switch would cause issues and that one seems to have a web interface but minimal actual management so it would probably be good to find out some details of what is going on … perhaps you could drop me an email to [email protected] with some details?

Thanks

Phil

5

I should say straight of the bat that I am not familiar with Araknis switches but looking at the manual it is quite an advanced managed L2 switch with a raft of features (e.g. VLAN and ACL) that could be causing problems here.

So since they definitely don’t need it for audio my first instinct is to question is whether the client actually needs such an advanced switch, are they actually using any of its functionality, or would a simple unmanaged switch serve them equally well?

So to simplify troubleshooting I would recommend you:

  1. Replace the Araknis (for the purposes of troubleshooting) with a simple “placebo” switch (here’s the one I use) just to confirm that it really is the switch that is causing the issue and not something else.
  2. If the Araknis is indeed causing the problem (and assuming that the client is not actually using any of the advanced functionality, in which case you should refer them back to their network installer) then you could try a factory reset to remove any settings that may have been changed from their default values. As far as I can tell none of the default settings should be causing any problems here. Press and hold the RESET button (to the left of the ethernet ports) for 10-15 seconds until the status LEDs flash once. The switch will power cycle and be reset to factory default settings, essentially turning it into a managed switch behaving like an unmanaged switch.