DX link over managed switches and fiber?

[Chiil Thenkt]

Hi,
I have two huawei’s managed switches (S5700 Series) which connect to each other via two mirored 10G fiber-optical links, I used to transfer video using NDI protocol and control data (DMX etc.) using this set-up, dedicated VLANs are set to isolate these two networks, it works fine.
In the following set-up, I want to add SQ system into it. I’ve known that Dante works well on layer3 network, it is easy to setup and with QoS settings it can work without any dropout. However, the Dante-Enabled stageboxes (e.g. DT168) are a bit out of my budget, so I have to go back to DX168 to save money. Now there is a problem, DX protocol communicates over Layer2 network, can I just create a port-based VLAN to bridge the SQ surface and the DX168 stagebox? If so, how should I configure the switches and will there be any dropouts or sync problem due to the sharing trunk 10G link and other data in the network? Or can I create an L2 over L3 tunnel to set something like QoS? If anyone have experience on it, please give me some suggestions.

(I have read this article about GigaACE and DX by A&H but didn’t get much help: https://support.allen-heath.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/gigaace-and-dx-networking-vlans-and-fibre-optics )

Thanks.

[OrionX]

You can, but YMMV as not all switches are equal. I would configure a port on each switch as an access port for the VLAN you want to use, make sure it’s trunked on the links between the switches, and turn Spanning Tree off for that VLAN if your switches will allow it.

Bear in mind that this is not officially supported by Allen & Heath at all, and may or may not work.

You certainly *do not* want to tunnel L2 over L3 for DX or GigaAce as you will almost certainly introduce timing issues with the added encapsulation/decapsulation required.

[Author]

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