Apple TV Requirements
Non-PAN
Brady Fisher
Sales Manager
When creating a network and configuring the equipment on the site of a new project, there are many specific things that we require in order for our solution to work. Some of the basic requirements are the Apple TV solution will only work over a wired connection, and that all of the cabling done should be CAT5e at a minimum end to end. These two things ensure a strong and stable connection.
There are many other things that go into the technical side of the setup to create a working network. It is imperative that you complete your on-site specifications to the guidelines below for a successful install.
Multicast Source
Streams should be assigned to individual Multicast streams IP and port of each stream should be provided.
ROOMNET Caching Server
Our Caching server will need to sit on the IPTV VLAN and have a static address. It will also need to be assigned a port in the MER where it will sit on the network.
DHCP
DHCP is required as Apple TV’s are not able to be assigned a persistent IP address manually. Addresses can be assigned from a pool or fixed via MAC address. The Primary DNS address should match the IP assigned to the ROOMNET Caching server. Any additional DNS addresses can point to a server of your choosing.
Public IP Addresses
The Dynamic Top Shelf configuration is defined via the public IP address of each Apple TV used to speak to our cloud infrastructure. We are able to support up to two separate public IP blocks per location.
Configurations
Switch and FW
All Apple TV’s, multicast sources and ROOMNET caching server must be on the same VLAN.
All devices should have unrestricted access to the Internet. Per device bandwidth management can be used but please discuss with ROOMNET before implementing. Bandwidth requirements will vary depending on the hardware in the room and which services are being provided.
The VLAN should be isolated from any other network at both switching and a firewall level.
The Switches should be correctly configured for multicast management using IGMP with the core switch configured as a querier and all other switches configured to snoop.
IGMP v2 or 3 can be used however please make sure the version used is uniform across all switches. Both quirier and snooper must be set to the same version of IGMP.
Fastleave should be enabled ONLY on edge ports with Apple TV’s connected. If Fastleave is enabled further down the network it will cause channel delivery issues.
Portfast should be enabled on all edge ports with Apple TV’s connected. Apple TV’s connected to the network should have network access and receive a DHCP lease within 5 seconds to ensure reliability.
mDNS
Apple devices can create a lot of background traffic via mDNS, when there are significant numbers of Apple TVs on a single VLAN this can have detrimental effects on both the network and the Apple TV. This presents on Apple TV as slow loading of content. For example, when opening the App store it is either very slow to load the main page and content or in extreme cases, it may be unable to connect and present an error message.
For networks over 100 devices, it is recommended to put ACL’s in place to block both IPv4 and IPv6 mDNS traffic.
Commands will vary between manufacturer and firmware, however, the ACL will need to block: IPv4
Deny across the whole subnet host 224.0.0.251 port 5353 Permit all other UDP traffic.
IPv6
Deny UDP ff02::fb/128 any port 5353 Permit all other UDP to everywhere.