@MNicolai Well as for "don't put your
network cables there." Although that sounds like a great, and smart, if not a little snarky answer. It's not reality. Go put up a mobile
stage in a NASCAR parking lot. The
barricade is where your cables go. This is not a theater install, we are talking a 1 day or 1 weekend show. I have had good success using RSTP, while I have never actually lost a connection in a
snake run, in testing, after breaking a link, the
network would heal in just a few seconds. Not perfect, but faster than I can react and change some
snake lines. Path-port does it seamlessly If you spend a little more on their very nice products. Yes there are a bunch of other things to consider when setting up managed switches for lighting; It can go bad easily if you don't know what you are doing.
Sometime I just
hookup 2
network lines to the
switch in
dimmer beach, if I loose the link just swap it at the cables at the
console. Its not an online backup, but I always have some backup. Same with having extra 5-pin lines.
As Far as getting more complicated, and introducing VLans
etc. I was not saying it should be done often, but that there are application, and learning about them, even if you never use it, is still something a lot of people in the industry are interested in doing. People cannot come to their own conclusion about whether its a good idea or not, If they don't have a pretty good understanding of the pros and cons.
@Footer, Tru dat! On switches failing. A professional
network switch, even a cheaper one should be the most reliable piece of gear in your lighting
system, from
console to
fixture. Don't use consumer switches, even spending $2-300 on a prosumer Ubiquity
switch, will be a decent choice. There are also plenty of offering that have dual
power supplies, Put on eon straight
power and the other on a
UPS. Sure there are always "acts of god," but in normal use, I won't worry about a quality
switch being a single
point of failure.
