USERS GUIDE
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APPENDIX 5
Recommended Network Switches
The IPX will work with most non-blocking, IGMP 10G network switch. Layer 3 will allow more control; however, Layer 2
will work as well. It is highly recommended to communicate with the representative of the desired network switch brand to
confirm configuration and capabilities. Below are some models that have been tested with the IPX Series. For a more
complete listing, the IPX Series Network Switch Recommendations and Configuration guide can be found on the Aurora
website.
Switch Speed
The IPX Series requires the switch to be a 10GbE.
IPX Series technology is used to transmit uncompressed video up to 4K along with other AV signals such as audio, USB,
and control signals. For video alone, it means raw bandwidth of about 4 Gb/sec for HD and 8 Gb/sec for 4K mean a
bandwidth of around 6 GB/s, and that just for video. It is therefore easy to understand why the IPX requires 10GbE
network switches.
Packets Routing
To enable the transmission of a source to multiple destinations, IPX devices make use of Multicast. The default behavior
of layer 2 Ethernet switch is to broadcast those packets which mean that every packet will be transmitted to all possible
destinations. Therefore, any network switch used with IPX Series has to support IGMP Snooping. IPX end points use
IGMP protocol to assign the end points into multicast groups and the router uses IGMP snooping to efficiently route
multicast packets only to receivers that want to receive them.
Many switches have the IGMP Snooping feature disabled by default and manual configuration is required. Often, a simple
check mark near “Enable IGMP Snooping” is the only thing needed to enable IGMP Snooping. However, the
implementation of IGMP Snooping is vendor specific and additional configuration is often needed.
An Ethernet switch can be informed that a device wants to leave a multicast channel by sending it an IGMP LEAVE
GROUP packet. Once received, the time it takes for the switch to apply the new configuration may vary from one switch to
the other. Most switches implement and include FASTLEAVE configuration option. When enabled, it takes much less time
for a particular port to leave a multicast group to assign the port to a different multicast group. The end results are a
noticeably shorter video switching time. Aurora recommends to always enable the FASTLEAVE option when available.
With FASTLEAVE option, seamless switching is possible for 4K video sources. Without FASTLEAVE option, 'seamless'
switching is limited to 1080P 60 Hz video signals.
Ethernet Switch Configuration
The following list includes all network switch configuration options that Aurora Engineers have come across so far. Look
for these or similar options when configuring your switch.
1. Enable IGMP Snooping
a. Must be enabled.
2. Enable IGMP Snooping on VLAN 1
a. Must be enabled when all ports default to VLAN1.