Q-SYS Networking and Topologies (Part 2)

One common meeting room application is where each Core 110f-based room system

is isolated on an in-room network,

while LAN B is connected to the corporate infrastructure for softphone interface.

In the default configuration, these Cores would try to elect a PTPv2 grandmaster on the corporate network.

This network typically doesn’t support PTP services very well,

which can cause seemingly unexplainable problems on the audio network in each room.

Provided these Cores don’t need to share Q-LAN audio between them in the form of Core to Core streams,

the goal would then be to make each Core the PTP grandmaster of their respective networks.

There are two ways to make this so.

The first of these options is to disable PTPv2 support on LAN B.

If running Q-SYS versions 5.2-7.0, this can be done in the design properties menu under FILE in the Q-SYS design.

You simply set the parameter to ‘yes’ in the design and choose ‘save to Core and run’.

Another approach would be to put each Core on its own clock domain

by changing the PTPv2 domain parameter here.

However, this still carries some risk.

A new room could be brought online and placed on the same domain, creating the same problem all over again.

If you did have a reason to synchronize all the Cores on the common network,

a specific Core can be designated the grandmaster manually by changing the PTP priority of that Core.

A lower number makes it higher priority in the PTP election process.

In a case like this, it’s often useful to make the most mission critical

or the most central system on the network the higher priority PTP master.

Let’s say you have a large system that runs the seating area of a stadium and some other systems

in the building that provide audio to meeting rooms and other areas.

The stadium seating area is the most important system,

so it makes sense to manage any risk by making it the clock master.

In Q-SYS Designer Software v7.1 and higher,

PTPv2 and other services can be enabled and disabled on a much more granular level.

In v7.1 and 7.2, the network services configuration is available from Q-SYS Configurator.

In version 8.0 and above, this is found in the Network services tab in Q-SYS Core manager.

The network protocols can be filtered by clicking on a selection at the top.

If PTPv2 is selected, we see the view ‘Q-SYS Audio Enabled Peripherals’.

To disable PTPv2 on lan b, choose edit at the top right and de-select lan b. Save that and you’re finished.

Note that systems using Q-SYS Designer Software v8.1 and higher will not participate in a PTPv2 domain

if there are no Q-SYS peripherals in the design file.

There’s no need to disable PTPv2 explicitly in this case.

The other network services can be disabled on given ports assuming they aren’t needed for system features.

Corporate clients will often conduct security penetration testing to look for system vulnerabilities.

The ability to close these network ports and services on the NICs

connected to the corporate network makes the system more secure.

The Q-SYS hover monitor can be disabled for clients

who are concerned about the feature being used to ‘eavesdrop’ on the system.

Many governmental institutions, law firms and financial clients request this.

SNMP versions 2C and 3 can be disabled, enabled and configured

to allow Q-SYS to report to a building management system, etc.

The Q-SYS help file is a great resource for the details of how to configure network services and SNMP.

We won’t bore you with all those now.

Now that we’ve explored a few of the more straightforward topologies and configurations,

we’ll move on to more complex configurations such as Q-SYS network and Core redundancy.