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    Adamm
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Networking with Nomad (and NET3 Gateway)

Hi All,

We have a Mac running Nomad 2.2, with a dongle. We would like to output through our existing net3 4 port gateway, and hook up to a wireless router for working with iRFR.

it is all set up as follows:

-Mac has DHCP enabled, and is plugged into a LAN port on the router.

-Gateway has been plugged into the LAN port on router. it is in DHCP mode.

with this set up the gateway sees eos is outputting dmx, and the relevant universes stop flashing on the gateway display, and hold steady.

about 3-5 minutes later the universe indicators are flashing and we lose connection - even though the router and software see the gateway still.

At a random interval, it'll reconnect, and the cycle continues. 

When the gateway is plugged in straight to the mac it works fine, but can't be a permanent solution for us.

I tried reserving the IP addresses for the mac and the Gateway and setting the gateway to Static, but this didn't help anything. I also observed ETC IP ranges when setting the addresses, gateway address and subnet.

Does anyone know what could be throwing off the gateway?

What's the best way to set up this network? Should we have everything going through as switch instead of through the router? 

Does the type of router make a difference? The one we are using currently is pretty cheap, but works fine at connecting the router and laptop without breaking connection. it also works on our ION to set up a wireless network too.

Many thanks!

Adam

  • 0
    Connecting the Mac and gateway together via a simple unmanaged switch (a normal off-the-shelf switch) will help this greatly. It sounds like the router may be interfering with the multicast traffic for the gateway (sACN uses multicast for sending level information). The router can still be in the system, but you may not want to have it between the Mac and the gateway. Some routers have settings for multicast traffic, but not always. Give a switch a try and let us know how it goes.
  • 0 in reply to Hans.Hinrichsen
    Hi Hans, Thanks for your ultra speedy reply! I'll give that ago and get back to you. Many thanks, Adam
  • 0 in reply to Hans.Hinrichsen

    Hi again, I was going to buy a new router today as well as a switch and I just wondered if instead of buying a router, a "range extender" would work? It's just because they seem to be smaller and integrated into the plug which appeals to me! Many thanks again, Adam

    EDIT: The tip of range extender I'm looking at has a LAN port maybe  to plug into the switch?

  • 0 in reply to Adamm

    Hi Adamm,

    You really want an unmanaged network switch. I'm not sure where you are from, but something like this from a Best Buy or your local electronic retailer (or online). No routing. No wifi. Yes you can get an all in one device that has a router and wifi in it, but I tend to avoid those.

    The switch does very little thinking about the network and the traffic that passes through it. Its essentially just a splitter with an ounce of brains.

    A router on the other hand is used to processing the data coming in and out and making decisions for you. In a basic lighting network, you don't want any decisions being made. You just want the data to go from the console to the Net3 Gateway.

    A range extender usually refers to wireless and wouldn't apply here. If you want wireless abilities so you can connect an iDevice/Android to your network as a remote, then you would want a dedicated access point for that purpose, but thats a whole other discussion saved for another date. 

    Does that make sense? 

    -Ben

  • 0 in reply to travisres

    Hi Ben, Thanks for the clarification on this. We will definitely be buying an unmanaged switch to use as recommended by Hans and by yourself, so that's a given, but my conundrum now is more about what's needed to make it all work wirelessly- without causing the network confusion again if I buy the wrong thing to add to the mix.

    We do wanna be able to use the aRFR on tour so I was going to buy the switch and the "wireless enabler" (don't want to say router incase it's not a router we need!!)

    Sorry for all the silly questions everyone, but I hope this will help others out too!

    Many thanks as always,

    Adam

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