Running Ion with 2 QLab systems (for redundancy)

Question

Hello there 
 We're running an Ion along with 2 QLab systems, so we've got a couple of options, each of which has a question. I've already got them set up and tested them running each way. Option 1 &ndash; If we use the Ion to send OSC cues to both Macs, how do I give it two OSC TX IP addresses? (the manual says 'destination IP address or addresses', so i'm assuming it can do two) if so, what character delimits between the two addresses? 
 Option 2 &ndash; Alternatively, if we use the QLab systems to send commands to the Ion (two separate Macs, both triggered from a MIDI switch splitter or similar), then will the Ion be able to deal with two machines sending it the same command, hopefully simultaneously? Any more options, and advice would be gratefully received. Thank you! :-)

Paul Toben · Accepted Answer

Don't use option 2. You'll get strange behavior if you send duplicate commands. 
 Regarding option 1, the Ion can only send OSC commands to one IP address (multiple IPs is "on the list" but not yet implemented, and not in the beta for 2.4 either). You can try setting the Ion's transmit IP address to the Broadcast address for your IP address range, which may work (but it depends on your network configuration). Google "broadcast IP" for more information. This will attempt to send all OSC commands to all IP addresses on your network. 
 A third option is to install OSCRouter on one of your two Qlab machines and "relay" incoming OSC commands from the first Qlab computer's IP to the second Qlab computer. This works if you are really controlling two separate Qlab computers, and not trying to control a dedicated Primary/Backup Qlab setup. Obviously if the first Qlab machine fails for any reason, the second will also stop receiving OSC.