How To | Monitor both QLAN and Dante networks from the same computer

Learn how to use one computer to control and monitor audio streaming networks such as QLAN and Dante.

Updated at May 23rd, 2023

Procedure


This can be done using a large Level 3 switch with three VLANs set up on it. An example would be Cisco CAT3560X or CAT3750X with IP services feature set.

  1. Set VLAN 1 for management.
  2. Set VLAN 10 for Q-SYS.
  3. Set VLAN 20 for Dante. 
  4. Enable and configure IP routing.
  5. Set up Layer 3 routing between the QLAN and Dante networks. 
    1. Layer 3 blocks multicast traffic that PTPv2 uses, so the Q-SYS design will need hard links for Q-SYS devices. 

      Note

      Layer 3 switches are considerably more expensive than Layer 2 ones.

       
      b. The Dante FAQ claims support for Layer 3 but we don’t know yet how it performs for remote monitoring.

Alternatives

  • An alternative approach that does not require a Layer 3 switch would be to add a second NIC to the computer, either through USB or PCIe. NIC 1, for example, could be for the Q-SYS network and NIC 2 for the Dante network. The drawback is that sometimes Windows may have difficulties with two NICs in the same computer.
  • Another approach would be running VMware Workstation on the PC. Virtual Machine (with Win 7) would map NIC 2 to the Q-SYS network, while the bare-metal machine maps NIC 1 to the Dante network. This may be more expensive because it requires Windows 7 and a VMware workstation license. Visit VMware workstation for more information. 
  • If it is acceptable to actually use two computers—one for each network—it would be probably the most cost effective and least difficult way to monitor the two networks because even inexpensive notebook computers have more than enough power to handle these tasks.