• Date
    Ray Robins
  • Date
  • Replies 7 replies
  • Subscribers 184 subscribers
  • Views 5822 views
  • Users 0 members are here

Ion network isolation and iRFR wireless routing

I recently put an Ion in a local college and during training indicated to the owner that he could get the iRFR ap to connect, but that to do so he should request a dedicated wireless router for the lighting network.  Of course, IT came back with "why do you need a dedicated router when we've got dozens of WAPs in that building?"  The Ion is running only DMX outputs (for now) and I noted on http://www.etcconnect.com/Community/wikis/products/irfr-how-to-setup-your-wireless-network.aspx the "do not allow your lighting network to be directly connected to the internet", but not being an IT/networks guru...

Am I wrong and there isn't any problem with having them use the same wireless router as other network devices - assuming they can within the 10.100 ETC address scheme?  If I'm not wrong, is there a doc out there that can explain, in IT, why its a bad idea to put the lighting network in contact with either the LAN and/or the internet?

Parents Reply Children
  • in reply to Kjlove1love

    Thanks, k, but if you'll note in my post, I was looking for more information and detailed documentation than a re-posting of the wiki page that I had in my original post.  I know that it needs to be a separate network, I need to be able to justify to the IT techs why.

  • in reply to Ray Robins

    Ah of course, I missed that part. When I attended the ETC conference I asked a similar question to one of the ETC peeps about why it necessary to isolate the signal as well. The short answer I received was this: the console is a computer just like any other computer you use. It too is susceptible to random attacks and interference. Placing your system on a wireless network with the rest of your computers and whatever else you have opens your entire lighting system to a plethura of signal interference and data interruptions.

    Don't know if that will give you the help you need. I'm sure someone else will have even more detailed info to pass along!

  • in reply to Ray Robins
    The other side of this coin is that the Eos software can spit out a lot of data continuously that can overwhelm traditional IT networks. Most computers work on a call & response action - you go to a webpage and it spits data back at you - there't not a constant stream of data coming out of the computer (there are obvious exceptions to this).
Related

www.etcconnect.com