SRP527W Bonjour and Multicast

[vaughn]

Hi,

We have recently installed an SRP527W on our home (and home office [10 computers - 6 of which are Apple]) network, and have upgraded to the latest firmware:

Model:	SRP527W, ADSL2+ AnnexA, 802.11n ETSI, 2FXS/1FXO
Version ID:	V01
Hardware Version:	4.0.0
Boot Version:	1.1.17 (Jan 4 2010 - 21:15:46)
Firmware Version:	1.01.11 (004) Jun 22 2010

It seems we are now (there was no problem with the Siemens router we were previously using) experiencing problems with Bonjour related applications (please note I'm assuming I'm correct that the symptoms point to a problem with Bonjour, but feel free to correct me if i'm wrong):

• Bonjour printers are not detected (Apple OSX Server running Bonjour print server);
• iTunes Remote on iPhone is slow to find iTunes servers (two media centers {mac minis} we have running), and that's if it can find them at all - sometimes it just sits there saying looking for library and does nothing;
• Remote speakers connected via several different airport express (AirTunes / AirPlay) speakers keep dropping out and failing to reconnect - they then, of course, vanish from the iTunes GUI and also from the iTunes Remote GUI on the iPhone.

Setup:

• MacOSX Server with Bonjour Print Server running (among other services) - connected by ethernet to SRP
• 12x wireless clients all on same SSID - 6 are macs incl. 2x mac mini media-center machines, 3 are airport express units with remote speakers connected, others are PCs.
• IGMP v.2 enabled with proxy and immediate leave enabled.
• Intervlan routing enabled
• RIP disabled

As yet I have not found any solution to the printer problem.

As far as the speakers and remote go, cycling the wireless (airport) from on, to off and back to on, seems to enable iTunes to discover (rediscover) the Airport Express speakers again, and remote application on iPhones to discover iTunes on the media center computer that has just had the airport turned off and back on.

Problem is that this is happening every hour or so..and it's become annoying! I've read many other forums where people are experiencing similar problems, however it always seems to come back to a multicast issue...herein lies the problem - how to configure the SRP for Bonjour mulitcast?

I note Andrew Hickman states in another previous discussion on the SRP527W series, that Bonjour was not supported - that was back in June of this year (2010). He also said that it was on the road-map for a future release of the SRP5XX firmware (the firmware version in that discussion was 1.01.01 (006) Jan 22 2010, we're now up to 1.01.11...can I assume Bonjour is now supported?

My questions:

1.Is Bonjour and multicast supported yet?

     a) if so, what do we have to do to configure it for Bonjour?
           aa) From my reading I believe the issue I'm experiencing is because of an issue with the way multicast is handled on the SRP routers...is that correct?

     b) if there is not yet any support for Bonjour, when will it be supported? Apple products' networking features are so reliant on Bonjour, and there are SO many Apple devices that this issue seems crazy!

Any / all help is much appreciated! If you'd like any further info on the setup, please let me know...just want to get this working as I've been bashing my head on a brick wall for the last 4/5 days...reading forums, trying everything...with no luck yet.

Cheers,

Vaughn.

[claudetoma]

Hi Vaughan

I have the same problem and I have spent hours with Cisco support even with Level 2 and 3 with no luck, they finally admitted that there is a fault in the router and they are offering me a full refund including the support contract. I suggest you ask them for a full refund and buy and alternate model until Cisco get there act together, I bought Draytek 2820vn it works like a dream from day one. when I first bought the SRP527 I though it I will have no problems and that will be supported by one of the best company in the world for networking however I was shocked to see the level of support I had to scream on the phone to try and get any where with them, Cisco have really let me down. I waited for more then a year to try and see if Cisco will release a fix but nothing yet. and every time I call them they say its on there road map. its been more then a year now, nothing has happened.

I was the first to notify cisco about the problem.

Kind Regards

Claude Toma

[vaughn]

Hi Claude,

Thanks for the info on this... it's been driving me crazy! For what seemed to be such a good router, I'm severely disappointed by this! It's rediculous that the very foundation of Apple's Networking, Bonjour Mulitcast, is not supported properly by one of, if not the, largest Network manufacturer in the world! I will contact Cisco and request an RMA and go buy something else... will post here what their response is like.

Thanks again for info on your experience.

Cheers,

Vaughn.

[WhaleSong]

Thanks for this information.

So the 527W does not support Bonjour

Telstra Australia [Australia's Largest Telco] has recently [2011]  begun packaging the 527W as part of their small business ADSL2 broadband product and apparently knowingly providing these to MacOS environments.

Clearly this is setting many small businesses back a considerable amount of time and energy, not to mention money.

Unless I have missed a recent update/upgrade I am assuming as of today, Feb 10 2011, Bonjour is not supported? This being the case I will recommend to my client they ditch the 527W.

Anything I am missing?

C.

[Andrew Hickman · Accepted solution]

Hi All,

We've just fixed an issue related to this problem.  Could you please try MR3 (v1.1.19) and let us know if that fixes things for you?

This release will be posted to cisco.com in the next day or so.  If you need a copy sooner, please send a mail to srp520-rc@cisco.com providing your cisco.com user ID.  MR3 is now available at cisco.com.

Regards,

Andy

Message was edited by: Andy Hickman

[vaughn]

Hi Bill,

Sorry I didnt come back to you on your message earlier.

I can see you've already got things up and running.

Good luck. Will post back here to update on stability of our services in due course.

Cheers,

Vaughn.

[WhaleSong]

HI Vaughn,

Thanks for highlighting this and keeping the thread going.  We seem to have a stable and well functioning router, so all looks good so far.

Will be keen to hear your experiences.

Kind regards

Bill

[WhaleSong]

Andy,

Have done as requested.

Will await, test and advise.

Thanks for the effort.

Bill

[WhaleSong]

Hello Andy,

I am really happy to report that the MR3 (v1.1.19) upgrade worked flawlessly and we appear to have all our Bonjour services working perfectly.

We have a complete router again!

We are very happy with this.

Things appear stable and we will keep an eye on it over the next few days.

Thank you very much for the support and assistance, it is sincerely appreciated.

Cheers

Bill

[Andrew Hickman]

Great news Bill,

Many thanks for your feedback.

Andy

[vaughn]

Hi All,

Thanks Cisco for the update. It really is very much appreciated.

Seems our Bonjour services are also now up and running smoothly again!

Thanks to Alex at Cisco Support who kept me in the loop coordinated replication of the issue in the lab, and to Andy Hickman and the other engineers who have managed to resolve this with a new release of firmware so quickly after I raised it again a few weeks back.

Will monitor and report in a week or two how things are going. So far, so good.

Fingers crossed everything behaves :-)

Cheers,

Vaughn.

[harryfear]

Hi Vaughn,

I have upgraded and configured my router with the same settings as you mentioned having on yours (see below), but I still have the same problem as you described.

My spec:

Model:	SRP527W, ADSL2+ AnnexA, 802.11n ETSI, 2FXS/1FXO
Version ID:	V01
Hardware Version:	4.0.0
Boot Version:	1.1.17 (Jan  4 2010 - 21:15:46)
Firmware Version:	1.01.19 (004) Jan  7 2011
ADSL Firmware Version:	0.63.0
Recovery Firmware:	1.01.16 (000)

• IGMP v.2 enabled with proxy and immediate leave enabled.
• Intervlan routing enabled
• RIP disabled

Any ideas?

[harryfear]

Solution:

Following the upgrade, a factory reset and re-configure is essential for the device to take the benefits of the FW upgrade.

I am told that this clears the cache, which was necessary for Bonjour to start working again

[vaughn]

Hi Harry,

I assmue you now have Bonjour working?

For the record I did not need to do a factory reset to get Bonjour up and running on our system.

Of course, if that worked for you then it's always good to have documented for others who experience the same problem.

I'm happy to report to everyone that our system is behaving properly since the last firmware update.

Thanks Cisco!

Cheers,

Vaughn.