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Best Practices
Network setup and deployment: (Unicast and Multicast)
Networking can play a large part in installations, especially as they expand . For proper deployment and system
expectations, below are a few of the best practices when designing/deploying a Dante setup . As Dante is
sending timed audio through the network, the network must be able to handle that Bandwidth, Routing and the
Packet Timing appropriately .
Use Gigabit switches
Each stream can use 6-10 Mb . You can only use 60% of the available space on the port:
» A 10/100 port can support 6 streams before overwhelming the port .
» A 10/1000 port can support the full amount of supported streams .
Do not connect an ELAN IP Amp device directly to the router, except in stand alone mode
» Often, especially ISP provided, a router does not have the ability to route the traffic for Dante appropriately .
If possible, connect all ELAN IP Amp devices to the same switch
» Best approach, most reliable .
» This will keep the audio traffic internal to just that switch .
» Will prevent the degradation that occurs from cascading via copper .
Cascading Switches
» A Gigabit Cat-6 copper link can handle 800-950MB average .
» If that switch is also handling Wi-Fi or streaming, it can run out of bandwidth pretty fast .
» Best approach – fiber link switches if possible .
» Alternate - Can multi-link a switch via copper if the switch can perform this function . Do not cascade with
a single CAT-5E .
Do not use an EEE switch, and be sure green Ethernet is disabled on class 2/3 switches
» EEE and green Ethernet is not supported by Dante and will not operate correctly . On some layer one
switches, it is not possible to turn this off so make sure that the switch is compatible first .
Firmware Updating
» Use the pre-installed NIC card on the EL-IPD-MTX-8CH & EL-IPD-PRE-MSI unit . The firmware can take
15 minutes to install . The chassis will click and go solid blue when complete .
» Be certain all zones are off before commissioning an update .
» Do not disturb the chassis after you start the update .
Plan the zone outputs to best suit you needs
» Now that you have an understanding of the audio streams, you can in some cases reduce the streams by
designing the zone layout differently .
» In most cases, you won't be sending every audio source to every chassis simultaneously . You can
potentially design around creating fewer streams to gain a larger footprint in Unicast mode .
» A Zone outputs must be contained to a single chassis and can not be set to go across multiple chassis .
For instance, A Zone can have any outputs available on a single chassis but cannot use 2 speaker
outputs from chassis number 1, and two more from chassis number 2 .
Plan EL-IPD-PRE-SSI use appropriately
» In Unicast, the EL-IPD-PRE-SSI is limited to sending two output streams simultaneously . In other words, it
will send the source to two chassis simultaneously . If you want to stay in Unicast, plan the use appropriately .
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ELAN IP AMP
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