RV320 and SONOS

[jasonreg416]

I recently suffered a network failure due in part or in whole to my Sonos system. I have 12 Sonos components spread over a fairly large house (over several floors) and as such have elected to hardwire most of them vice rely solely on the SONOS “mesh” wireless network.

It would seem that there is a problem with my router configuration and/or the way I had the Sonos components connected. From the Sonos help page I see this known issue with Cisco RV series Routers:  "Cisco RV Series Wiring more than one Sonos component to the router causes a broadcast storm. Log into the router's administration panel and navigate to L2 Switch > RSTP and check 'Protocol Enable' on all ports”

My issue is that I cannot find this option or where to make these changes when I log into the router.

I also see configuration suggestions for an SG300 series switch and that the 200 series switches have Standard 802.1d STP support and Fast convergence using 802.1w (Rapid Spanning Tree [RSTP]), enabled by default which I think would also resolve the issue.

So, given my current components:

1. Router RV320
2. Switches available (2 x SG-100-24 unmanaged and 1 x SG200-08 managed)
3. Many Sonos Components most of which wired to where the switches are located but some still using the proprietary Sonos Mesh Network (which cannot be disabled)

I would appreciate suggestions to prevent another broadcast storm (assuming that is what is was).

Or do I need to go shopping for a new layer 3 switch to deal with this?

Many thanks in advance - Jason

[devils_advocate]

Hi Jason

I have dealt with the Sonos stuff before, its poorly designed to work with an 'enterprise type' network where multiple switches/vlans exist.

What we found was that you need to configure the 'main switch' to use the older 802.1d spanning tree and change the bridge priority to be 4096 to ensure it becomes the root for the topology. We also needed to change the STP port costs of all Sonos connected ports to be 10. 

Are your Sonos devices plugged into an SG300/SG200 switch and this switch then  plugs into the RV302? 

See here:

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2129/~/sonos-stp-cisco-switch-settings

Ta

[jasonreg416]

Well right now the components are plugged into two SG100-24s which are in tuyrn plugged into my RV320 router.  I am thinking I should plug the SG200-08 into the router - set up the spannign tree protcal as you suggest above then plug both SG100s into the SG200 switch. 

CGN-3 (internet modem in Bridge mode) -> RV320 -> SG200-08 -> SG100s -> SONOS

Thoughts?  I would apreciate any (specific as possible) recommended settings for either the RV320 or the SG200-08.  Also considering the use of VLANS but not certain this would help....

thanks in advance

[devils_advocate]

Well right now the components are plugged into two SG100-24s which are in tuyrn plugged into my RV320 router.  I am thinking I should plug the SG200-08 into the router - set up the spannign tree protcal as you suggest above then plug both SG100s into the SG200 switch. 

Yes, I would go with that suggestion.

Make sure all three switches are running the same mode of spanning tree and ensure the SG200 is the root bridge by lowering the Bridge priority.

The guide I posted above should tell you what you need to do:

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2129/~/sonos-stp-cisco-switch-settings

The other two SG100 switchws (i.e. where the Sonos devices are patched into) can stay at their default priority.

[jasonreg416]

Hi - so I have reconnected everything and have set up the SG200-08 switch in the manner described above.  Somewhere along the line I seemed to have throttled my internet speed.  It is suspiciusly parked at just below 100Mbps (averaging 95-96 after several measurements and resets of both modem (cable) and router).  I have checked the router management settings and it still shows 325Mbps maximum download speed from provider.   Any ideas at what I may have done?

Happy Thanksgiving,

[jasonreg416]

As a quick update, I had another broadcast storm so I removed the SG200 completely and cascaded the SG-100s off the router.  So far so good and I am back at full internet download speed as well.  Would sure like to know why the speed was reduced that way.  Would also like to hear any suggestions for settings for the router to prevent another storm.

Jason