Meraki

Maclanta · ‎Oct 1 2020

@GFrazier Yes, I know the 1Gb is all they offer. That's my point. Meraki sells AP's that have ports that only accept RJ45 connections that are capable of up to 5Gb connections and throughput. Yet Meraki provides us no way to actually connect them. That is not an acceptable proposition. There has to be a solution, or they are potentially guilty of making false marketing claims. I have found 10Gb copper transceivers that seem to work with the MX250 and MS225-48LP from FS.com on 10Gb connections. However, there are upload speed issues that may be a compatibility issue. I can't tell for sure, and since Meraki does not certify any 10Gb modules, we have nothing to test against. These same 10Gb modules from FS.com are able to down negotiate to 2.5Gb to the AP's, but then the through put on the AP's to the MX falls to maybe 25% the throughput when plugged to a 1Gb port on the MX250. I have found this same issue at other sites. The bottom line is that to support what Meraki sells us we need a 10Gb copper module that works properly at 10/5/2.5/1Gb just like most any other vendor out there.

Maclanta · ‎Oct 1 2020

@GFrazier I now see your later post about the 1Gb. But I was confused by the fact that your original post only mentioned the need for a 10Gb copper transceiver. But I'm still confused. If the ISP is delivering 1-2Gb why are you settling for a 1Gb transceiver that is throttling you down in speed rather than seeking a 10Gb transceiver that could deliver the full 2Gb? Do you have information that there is no 10Gb transceiver anywhere to be found? I'm going to accelerate this up the food chain, because that is not acceptable if it's the case, and I certainly won't settle for it in my situation.

Maclanta · ‎Oct 1 2020

@DarrenOC It’s not me who did not read the original post. It said clear as day: “Is there a 10Gb SFP Copper Module that will work with the WAN Ports on the MX250 ??” This is effectively asking is there a compatible 10G SFP+ copper module for the MX250, because the WAN port is simply an SFP+ port capable of 10G. I don’t see anywhere in there where he asked about a 1Gb though it may have turned out to be sufficient in his case. Of course we know a 1Gb works and that they exist. But I don’t understand how the whole conversation ignored the base question. We need a 10/5/2.5/1 Gb SFP+ transceiver in order to fully utilize the 2.5 & 5Gb capabilities of some of the Meraki AP’s. Why would they sell us AP’s with faster than 1Gb ports with absolutely no way to connect them at those speeds to any of their devices? I might point out I have tested multiple SFP+ 10/5/2.5/1Gb transceivers with multiple links to Meraki AP’s and can’t find one compatible. They connect and even negotiate the right link speed but the through put is a fraction of the through put when connected to a simple 1Gb port. So forgive my frustration, but I have literally wasted weeks searching for a solution to this.

Maclanta · ‎Oct 1 2020

Why is this an accepted solution? A 1Gb transceiver is not a 10Gb transceiver. Many of the Meraki AP’s have 2.5 or 5Gb RJ45 ports. So how are we supposed to utilize 2.5 or 5Gb connections if there is no 10/5/2.5/1 Gb transceiver that will work with an MX250 or a Meraki switch that has SFP+ ports? This is simply bizarre and not acceptable.

Maclanta · ‎Jun 23 2020

That’s awesome that it worked. The Linn documentation you shared gave me some doubts. I had a crash course on all this last month, and it’s good to know you did not have to go through the weeks of hell swapping out equipment like we did (UniFi to Meraki) to get it straightened out!

Maclanta · ‎Jun 22 2020

In my adventures on another brand of music servers and UniFi switches, I also experienced odd behaviors when dealing with snooping. That items showed up when you turned snooping off is somewhat not surprising. Without a IGMP Querier, snooping is only half done and you get odd behaviors. An IGMP Querier works hand in hand with IGMP snooping to form a complete configuration. My solution on the above troubles was to ditch our UniFi switches and get Meraki switches. I normally specify Meraki, but the customer had rejected them due to price. Big mistake by all. What I would recommend trying is the set up below, which is a fully set up network for multicast traffic. So first reenable IGMP snooping. Second go to one of your Meraki switches and create a Layer 3 interface (Routing and DHCP). The chosen switch should be the one most central to the music streams. Preferably where the server is. Configure as the screen shot below using your subnet, not mine. Just choose an address on your existing VLAN subnet or on the VLAN subnet that has the music on it. Choose Enable IGMP Querier. The Querier works with Snooping to calm down the network and stop packets from going to ports that don't need them. Without it some multicast systems are just not going to work. You only want one Querier enabled switch on the subnet. Do not enable it on another switch or problems will arise. My music system also required QoS on the switches to prevent pauses and drops. But I think the most important thing is getting the multicast snooping working right. It seemed Linn did not even suggest QoS according to the documents you shared. If enabling a Querier does not work, then you can always undo it, but I think it's worth a try. Enabling that L3 interface is not going to turn your switch into a router. It will just be a L2 switch with an L3 interface that is only used for a Querier.

Maclanta · ‎Jun 20 2020

Multicast DNS or mDNS is a discovery service. That is not what I meant by multicast. I was referring to the system serving multicast streams out to players or transmitters serving multicast. So far I can't discern from the conversation what the issue is. The mDNS references suggest device discovery is the problem. But if multicast streaming is being utilized then that's a whole other thing. A packet capture can tell. The problem with improperly handled multicast is that internal multicast streams will flood all ports on all switches as broadcast storms if IGMP snooping and an IGMP querier are not properly configured. Such storms can cause devices simply to disappear, because their ports are slammed with broadcast storms. It does not take a high level of traffic to do this. And when this spills onto AP's it can be the same problem. I noted this on a Linn board discussing the issue. Meraki can handle this, if this is the issue, I just has to be setup correctly: https://docs.linn.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Multicast_Filtering

Maclanta · ‎Jun 20 2020

Do these music streamers use multicast? I just went through a crash course in realtime with a Q-SYS music system where we had to remove UniFi switches and migrate to Meraki to make it work. That system had specific multicast requirements which were QoS on the switches and IGMP Snooping with a Querier. To do that you have to enable a Layer 3 interface on a switch. Without those two things Q-SYS won’t work. Anyway if any of that is necessary then the manufacturer should say so.

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Re: MX250 SFP to Copper (RJ45)

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Re: MX250 SFP to Copper (RJ45)

Re: Linn Music Streamers and Meraki