Multicast, Sonos, Phorus & Play-Fi Broadcast 255.255.255.255: Discovery Solution

July 23, 2022 ยท View on GitHub

Licenses

  • GNU General Public License, version 3
  • GNU Lesser General Public License, version 3

Features

  • UDP Packet Broadcast Relay compiled for EdgeMAX MIPS64
  • Integrated with EdgeOS CLI
  • Can also be configured from the EdgeOS Web GUI
  • Lightweight, very low overhead for home based networks

This solution is designed to work on EdgeMAX routers. It has been tested up to EdgeOS v1.10.x

So, like many folk who like to segregate our SOHO home networks with VLANs, subnets, etc., I was frustrated at not being able to use iOS apps, Windows drivers etc. to find and use (in my case) a Play-Fi LAN streaming speaker system on my logical networks.

First, I was able to use IGMP-PROXY for the standard broadcast protocols across my VLANs, however, although systems (NAS, Printers, etc.) were happily broadcasting, the Phorus/Play-Fi 255.255.255.255:10102 broadcasts weren't reflected across the VLANs, which is actually a good thing in general, but not for my use case.

Here is my LAN equipment configuration:

ERL3 -> ToughSwitch 8-Pro (root switch) -> Cisco SG 200-08

Definitive Technology W9 WiFi/Wired speaker is on my home user network VLAN 5 and is located in my den

Office network is VLAN 6

In order to have devices on VLAN 6 discover and use the W9 on VLAN 5, I needed to rebroadcast 255.255.255.255 on port 10102. I accomplished this, by downloading and compiling Joachim Breitner's brilliant udp-broadcast-relay on my ERL3 and then integrating it into the CLI configuration.

YMMV and of course, there is always a risk using any non Ubiquiti approved/test software, but for those of us stuck with equipment that forces a home user paradigm on our networking, this may be the antidote.

Installation

  • upload install_ubnt_bcast_relay.v1.2 to your router

      curl -Lo /tmp/install_ubnt_bcast_relay.v1.2.tgz https://github.com/britannic/ubnt-bcast-relay/raw/master/install_ubnt_bcast_relay.v1.2.tgz 
  cd /tmp
  sudo tar zxvf ./install_ubnt_bcast_relay.v1.2.tgz
  sudo bash ./install_ubnt_bcast_relay.v1.2
  select menu option #1 if installing for the first time
  select menu option #2 to completely remove ubnt_bcast_relay

Installation steps for EdgeRouter X

  • upload ubnt-bcast-relay_ER-X.tgz to your router and run the installer

      curl -Lo /tmp/ubnt-bcast-relay_ER-X.tgz https://github.com/britannic/ubnt-bcast-relay/raw/master/ubnt-bcast-relay_ER-X.tgz
  cd /tmp
  sudo tar zxvf ./ubnt-bcast-relay_ER-X.tgz
  sudo bash ./ubnt-bcast-relay/install.sh

Removal

Configuration

Setup initial configuration

Using the network description above, here is a working example:

Run configure:

set service bcast-relay id 1 description 'Play-Fi listener'
set service bcast-relay id 1 interface eth0.5
set service bcast-relay id 1 interface eth0.6
set service bcast-relay id 1 port 10102
commit
save
exit

This generates a configuration stanza like this:

service {
    bcast-relay {
        id 1 {
            description "Play-Fi listener"
            interface eth0.5
            interface eth0.6
            port 10102
        }
    }
}

Remove configuration

Run configure delete service bcast-relay commit save exit

To clone UBNT Broadcast Relay:

git clone https://github.com/britannic/ubnt-bcast-relay.git