Recommended Network Topology for a Whole-Home Network

Transcription

1 Recommended Network Topology for a Whole-Home Network One of the most important design aspects of a Control4 system is the Network. It is true that a poorly-designed network, in most cases, will result in a poorly-operating Control4 system. In this document, you ll find the information necessary to properly lay out a whole-home network capable of supporting a whole-home-control system, including streaming video. We re adding a disclaimer here that designing the network for a whole home is much different than designing a network for one or two rooms or a system with no remote switches. (See Figure C for this exception to the recommendation.) Many of the principles below may not apply when designing these small networks. Let s break this down into some key Whole-Home network design concepts. 1 The main switch is the center of the network, not the router (see Figure A). a One of the most common misconceptions is that the router is the center switch in the system, meaning that each of the switch outputs on the router would connect to the remote network switches in the home. This is not true. This is very important: In a medium to large network, the router s function is to be the DHCP server and the Internet Gateway; not a central hub or switch, and definitely not a high-throughput device for any network traffic besides internet or WAN data. b It is important to consider the target use case for most routers on the market which is a retail cash-and-carry purchase where the homeowner is going to put the router in his or her home office and connect one switch output to his or her office PC, another to their printer, a third run to a PC in another location in the house, and then WiFi to 3 to 5 smartphones or tablets, a laptop or two, and maybe a WiFi TV for some basic low-bandwidth subscription-based streaming content. The intention is NOT to be a bridge point for 30 to 100 IP addresses in a powerful digital home.

2 c d In a whole home system, the router should only have one switch output used and it should be connected to the main network switch. The main switch should be 1000 BaseT (Gigabit) with a backplane capable of supporting all ports at full bandwidth. This means if the main switch is a 24 port, 1000 BaseT switch, it should contain a 48Gb backplane to support full Gigabit duplex on each port. This is especially important when streaming high resolution video content. 2 Remote switches need to be directly connected to the main switch; never daisy-chained off other remote switches (see Figure A). a Daisy-chaining switches causes bottle-necking problems with data and may over-tax the memory buffers in the switch (see Figure B). b It is advisable to use Gigabit switches in the remote locations as well to ensure the best chance of compatibility between networking products. 3 It is strongly recommended that Media network-attached storage (NAS) should be directly connected to the main switch and not to a remote switch. a The main issues here usually arise when the remote switch is a 10/100 switch instead of Gigabit. If the media storage device is trying to serve 1080P 24 or 29 FPS content, your stream may require anywhere from 25 to 50 Megabits per second of your 100- Megabit-per-second connection. What this means is, attempting to stream High- Definition content beyond about two streams will create a massive bottleneck in the remote switch and your video content will stall out or not play at all. b If your remote switch is a 10/100/1000 (Gigabit) switch, the media server may be OK on this connection, but you need to verify that the remote switch to the main switch is a full Gigabit connection. Some switches are Gigabit, but cannot provide Megabit and Gigabit connections at the same time. The result is that the switch will downgrade the Gigabit-capable devices to 10/100. Most switches will have Status LEDs to indicate what the active connection speed of each port is. Please verify that the indicated Connection speed is Gigabit. c Tying this back around, your best option is to connect the Media NAS device directly to the main switch d Only specify NAS devices that have a Gigabit Ethernet port. 4 Wireless Access Points (WAPs) do not typically belong in the rack. In fact, not only where an access point is installed, but how it is installed can make a world of difference in performance and coverage. a Over the past year, we have spent significant time working with various WAP manufacturers and have learned a tremendous amount about the importance of optimal placement, physical configuration, and positioning. b Almost every network manufacturer we worked with communicated to us that, in almost all cases, the WAP should NOT be located in the equipment room. c In most cases, the WAP built into many routers should be disabled. d Most WAPs are designed to be mounted up high and geographically centered, often mounted upside down and suspended from the ceiling.

3 e Many high-end manufacturers recommend mounting the WAP in the attic, however, do not attempt this with off-the-shelf retail products as they are generally not designed to withstand the high temperatures of an attic in a warm climate. f Please thoroughly read the documentation and participate in any online training provided by the manufacturer for optimal WAP placement. g While this document is focused on the proper design of a whole-home network sometimes in a small one- or two-room system where there is not a basement headend involved and the WiFi-capable router is on the main level of the home, using the WAP in the router is probably OK (see Figure C). 5 Never use a second router as a WAP. a It is a disheartening statistic that a great number of stability problems are directly related to a second router used as a WAP where somehow the DHCP server and gateway functionality were enabled. b Don t do it. When it comes to multiple WAPs, buy a WAP that can be configured as an access point, not a router,. Other Control4-Specific Network Advice 1 Whenever possible, do not implement Control4 system Controllers in a WiFi-connected configuration. a Control4 offers WiFi features as a convenience for single-controller, media-room configurations, and can sometimes be used successfully in providing an additional on-screen interface in a retrofit project where an on-screen would otherwise be impossible. Be up front and honest with customers before attempting such an application, as it s been our experience that this application is risky, performance may be poor, and our customers are not delighted. b Do not set up a WiFi-configured Controller as a ZigBee Acccess Point (ZAP), Zserver, or ZigBee Coordinator unless it is a single-controller system; in that case, feel free to do so. 2 Should my Control4 devices be configured with DHCP or Static IP addresses? a This is one of the networking questions we get asked the most. We have historically taken different positions on this where there were some limitations and perceptions in the past that may dictate one method or the other, but here s where we re at now (see Figure B). b The choice is yours. Static? DHCP? It doesn t matter. We have no hardware limitation that prefers one addressing method over the other. What matters is your network expertise. DHCP is the easiest to use and requires the least amount of network training. Our support staff has spent thousands of hours trying to solve connectivity issues which ended up being related to IP conflicts, faulty IP addresses, gateways set inaccurately either in the form of a Static IP address or Static DNS settings or in the DHCP range. For this reason, we most often recommend DHCP for everything as it lowers the odds of human error.

4 When setting up a system where there are Control4 Amplifiers, Tuners, Audio Matrix Switches, or similar non-system-manager devices. These devices function beautifully in a Static IP configuration; however, Control4 requires that a DHCPenabled environment remain available for firmware updates. These devices do not have a software operating system; they instead have layers of firmware. There is a boot-loader, and then an operational firmware file that functions on top of the boot-loader. When the device is configured for Static, those settings are set in the operational firmware. When one of these devices detects that an update is present, the device drops back to the boot-loader firmware to install the new Operational Firmware file. This boot-loader is ALWAYS in DHCP mode. The result is, even when configured to a static IP, there must be a DHCP server running on the network in the background to facilitate these updates.

5 2012, Control4 Corporation. All rights reserved. Control4, the Control4 logo, and the 4-ball logo, are registered trademarks or trademarks of Control4 Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All specifications subject to change without notice. #DOC-00042, Rev. A, 1/31/12