VLAN questions with 2 switches

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.

VLAN questions with 2 switches

This thread has been locked for further replies. You can start a new thread to share your ideas or ask questions.
VLAN questions with 2 switches
VLAN questions with 2 switches
2023-05-11 12:55:55
Model: TL-SG108E  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

Hello all,

 

I have a few questions about the setup of (at least) 2 VLAN's with the use of 2 TL-SG108E switches.

 

Situation:

I am the sound engineer of a band and we are planning to buy a new digital mixing desk with a digital stage box. The stage box and the digital mixing desk are connected by a Cat6 Ethernet cable. The digital mixer is in a flight case at the front of house position and the digital stage box is next to the stage in a flight case. We also have some networking devices in both flight cases which need to be connected.

 

According to the supported method of the mixing system, the desk and the stage box need to be connected directly, because of the protocol of the audio signal transmission.

So that means I have to run 2 Cat6 cables from the stage to the front of house position. Not a big deal, but not desirable in our situation.

 

According to the Allen & Heath community, the brand of the desk and stage box, it is possible to run a "single cable" setup with the use of VLAN's.

 

So how would it look like:

Switch 1 is in the flight case next to the stage and switch 2 is in the flight case of the mixing desk. They will be connected with a Cat6 cable on port 1 on both.

The stage box is then connected to port 2 of switch 1 and the other network devices in that flight case on the other ports.

The desk is connected to port 2 of switch 2 and the other network devices in that flight case on the other ports.

 

From the Allen & Heath community I have had some information about the setup of the VLAN's and some global settings: 

"You must create a separate VLAN for the SQ’s IO port and the AR2412’s dSnake port across both switches.
Consult your switches’ documentations on how to do this.
Pay special attention to “tagged” and “untagged” settings:
The ports where SQ/AR are connected, are untagged and not member of any other VLAN.
The “trunk” ports carry the dSnake VLAN tagged.
No other ports may be assigned / member of the dSnake VLAN.
The switches must be configured such that no additional traffic is generated on the VLAN.
For example discovery protocols etc must be disabled for the VLAN.
The “backbone” connection between the switches must be Gigabit (or faster).
If the link between the switches has high load, you will get audio problems.
The switch ports to which SQ’s IO port and the AR2412 must be set to a fixed link speed of 100 MBit/s."

 

Now, I have had a brief look at the configuration manager of the SG108E, but it left me with a few questions.

 

Port 2 of switch 1 and port 2 of switch 2 need to have a separate VLAN and can not be member of any other VLAN.

Lets say I want the VLAN of the "audio" set to VLAN ID 20, so port 2 of both switches are only accessing VLAN ID 20, no other traffic may take place on this VLAN. The other ports can acces the default VLAN1, so I can run other network devices through the same Cat6 cable.

To connect the two switches together, I have to have a trunk connection between the two. I wish to use port 1 on both switches for the trunk connection.

 

With the info above, how do I setup the switches, ports and the trunk connection?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Kind regards,

Tinjo

 

  0      
  0      
#1
Options
3 Reply
Re:VLAN questions with 2 switches
2023-05-11 22:13:37

  @htevents 

 

Tinjo, welcome.

 

With VLAN'S it is best to think of every port on the switch as either a Trunk or Access port.  A trunk port expects tagged traffic only.  An access port is configured with its native VLAN (PVID), any inbound traffic gets tagged with the PVID and any outbound traffic belonging to that PVID gets untagged at the port.  Access ports can also accepr/deliver VLAN traffic from one or more VLANs if they are explicitly assigned to the port.

 

In your case Port1 of both switches should be a trunk port, and will tx/rx tagged traffic along the single cable.

 

Port2's will be an access port for the A&H gear.  It will be native to VLAN 20, so PVID=20, untagged.

 

If you are running other traffic, then remaining ports will be access ports on the default VLAN, let's say that is VLAN1.  Ports 3 and up on both switches would belong to VLAN1 and be untagged, ie PVID=1.

<< Paying it forward, one juicy problem at a time... >>
  3  
  3  
#2
Options
Re:VLAN questions with 2 switches
2023-05-12 08:06:03 - last edited 2023-05-12 08:10:25

  @d0ugmac1 

 

Thank you very much for this info.

 

If I understand it correct, I have the following port/VLAN setup

 

VLAN1 (default): Port 1 (tagged), Port 2 (not member), Port 3-8 (untagged)

VLAN20 (audio): Port 1 (tagged), Port 2 (untagged), Port 3-8 (not member)

 

For Port 2 on both switches I have to set a fixed port speed of 100 Mb/s (I can choose this for each port on the switch, so no isseus there.

 

Also I saw in the manual something about 802.1Q PVID Settings. Should I do something with those settings as well?

 

At least for Port 2 I have to disable IMGP snooping. Can this be done per port/VLAN or is this a general setting in the switch?

 

In my previous post I added the information I received from the Allen & Heath community, if you read this, is there something else I have to change in the settings of the switch to make it work?

I am especialy concerned about this sentence: "No other ports may be assigned / member of the dSnake VLAN". Port 1 must be a tagged member of VLAN20 to act as trunk port between the switches right? So am I understanding it incorrectly or am I overlooking a step/'setting in the switch?

 

 

  0  
  0  
#3
Options
Re:VLAN questions with 2 switches
2023-05-12 13:18:10

  @htevents 

 

Yes you have config correct.  

 

The PVID is a way of telling a port which VLAN it is native to.  You need to change both Port 2's to have their PVID be 20 (this causes the switch to tag all inbound traffic with VLAN20).  The other ports should default to a PVID of 1.

 

IGMP is a switch wide setting, and it's only really needed for mulitcast IP TV and the like.  You can safely disable.

<< Paying it forward, one juicy problem at a time... >>
  1  
  1  
#4
Options