New multi-Rio Install Planned - some questions

Hi,

I have a W2K server box running my home network etc and I want to also install a HPNA card in the box which will be running the Audio receiver software.

W2K is also serving up IP addresses via DHCP.

I will be serving 3 Rio Receiver clients, 1 via HPNA and 2 via ethernet.

So questions are:

1) Any conflicts sticking a HPNA card in the W2K box already running ethernet?

2) Any likely problems serving 1 Rio via HPNA and the other 2 via Ethernet from the same server?

3) Can I switch off IP address allocation from the Audio receiver software and allow IP addresses to be served via my W2K DHCP service?


Thanks in Advance!

1. No, provided that they're configured for different subnets. Particularly, don't use UPnP address assignment for both.

2. Nope.

3. Yes. It's in the network configuration dialog (just uncheck "enable autoconfiguration" for the adapters that you don't want it on. It's not a major issue, anyway, since it's designed to wait for 5 retries before responding, so generally your DHCP server will get there first.

Thanks Rodger, one point of clarification on the use of different subnets.

My current Ethernet network subnet is 255.255.255.0, if I understand you correctly I need to setup the HPNA card on a different subnet (via the properties for that card?), is that all I need to do?

I presume that for the HPNA card I will need to enable IP address assignment via the Audio Receiver software as the W2K DHCP service will not be active on this new subnet?

Cheers

None of this should be a problem, if you configure correctly as others have indicated... But a couple tips...

In Windows2000 Server's DHCP, you can assign each receiver's ip by it's MAC. Then, in you DNS, you can create a friendly name for each, so if you install DisplayServer on each, you can access each one easily...

http://receiver1
http://receiver2
etc.

I am doing this, and it works really good. I just wish there was a version of DisplayServer out there without that volume hack!

-Dana

My current Ethernet network subnet is 255.255.255.0

No, that's not your subnet. That is your SUBNET MASK, not your subnet.

The subnet mask tells the system which bits have to be the same for it to be part of the same subnet. So, your case, 255.255.255.0 means that when you have two computers with the address X.X.X.Q, the X.X.X is the subnet, and the .Q is the individual machines. In otherwords, a standard subnet range of about 254 addresses (0 and 255 being reserved for other stuff).

So, for example, if your DHCP server is serving up addresses in the range of 10.12.13.1 through 10.12.13.254, the subnet is 10.12.13 and the individual machines are numbered 1-254.

So if you want to put the HPNA on a different subnet, you would, for example, make the subnet for that card 10.12.14.

Finally, one thing you need to know that hasn't yet been mentioned in this thread...

Since you will be running this on an NT server, your first desire will probably be to run the Receiver server software as an "NT Service", which it won't do, at least not by default. In its default configuration, you will need to log in to the box before the server software runs.

If you want to run it as an NT service, the program "FireDaemon" will reportedly get anything running as an NT service, I haven't actually tried it though. Another option is to throw out the Receiver software completely and use a third-party version in place of it. The JReceiver server software runs in Java, reportedly works great, can run as a service, and has some nice features. Both of these options are linked in the FAQ forum of this bulletin board, I believe.

So, when I configure the HPNA card I should use 255.255.254.0?

I have to use a 0 in order to populate all the boxes do I not?

Thanks for all your help!

Here's a question I doubt anyone's asked before:

Is it possible to put a hack on the Rio that'll let it bridge between ethernet and HPNA? That is, so that I could have a rio in my computer room, plugged into ethernet, but also plugged into the phone line so I can hit another receiver somewhere else?

Yes, I tried it. No, it didn't work. And, no, I wasn't surprised.

ISTR that the kernel in flash (which isn't upgradable -- at least not easily) disables one or other of the ethernet devices.

This means that they both come up as eth0, making bridging/routing rather difficult. If you were to fix the kernel, you'd probably break the player, because it's not designed to cope with two ethernet devices.

> If you were to fix the kernel, you'd probably break the player,
> because it's not designed to cope with two ethernet devices.

I'd pretty much expected something like that. Figured it might be worth a shot, anyway...

So, when I configure the HPNA card I should use 255.255.254.0?

Not a networking guru, but to my understanding - no.

Let's say you're using 192.168.0.x adresses for your ethernet stuff, with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 (allows you to have 254 machines/interfaces, 192.168.0.1 through 192.168.0.254, 0 and 255 being used for sort of administrative stuff)

On your HPNA you could then use 192.168.1.x adresses, also with 255.255.255.0 netmask, giving you use of the adresses 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.254 for the HPNA stuff

/Michael

I see, thanks for that.

As an aside, do we know when or if the next release of the Audio Receiver software is scheduled?

From looking at the bug reports, there seems to be some stuff that really needs fixing.

So, when I configure the HPNA card I should use 255.255.254.0?

No, you're still thinking the mask is the address. The mask is just a mask.

Just set the mask to 255.255.255.0 on both interfaces and leave it. Now forget it for now, pretend you never heard of the mask.

Now, set the actual dhcp server address ranges of the subnets served by the two cards as follows:

Existing ethernet address range:
192.168.0.xxx

New card address range:
192.168.1.xxx

Your addresses may be different, but the point is to set the HPNA card to a different subnet (in this case, one digit off) from the current subnet.

ISTR that the kernel in flash (which isn't upgradable -- at least not easily) disables one or other of the ethernet devices.

This means that they both come up as eth0, making bridging/routing rather difficult. If you were to fix the kernel, you'd probably break the player, because it's not designed to cope with two ethernet devices.

That's not entirely strictly true... the kernel starts up with ethernet as eth0, but, if it doesn't get link, disables it so that when PNA starts up it gets eth0. It doesn't stop PNA starting up even if ethernet gets link, so, if both are connected, you'll get eth0 (ethernet) and eth1 (PNA). In theory, if you used a receiver.arf containing a kernel with forwarding turned on, you'd get a router -- maybe even a bridge.

The player "copes" with two ethernet devices by the simple strategy of completely ignoring eth1 if present.

Peter

Very VERY interesting...

I'm using a homePNA->ethernet bridge (from Linksys) and it's great. I have a homePNA printserver in the garage and will be putting tivo through the bridge too.

It's nice since I don't have to care about the ip addresses.