Network Setup: Configuring Your Switch for Dante

Network Setup: Configuring Your Switch for Dante

Setup Guide

Configuring Your Network Switch for Dante

Required switch settings for all KanexPro AUD-DTE- Dante products

Dante requires a managed Ethernet switch with specific configuration to operate reliably. An unmanaged switch will not handle Dante multicast traffic and may cause audio dropouts, discovery failures, or no-audio conditions.

⚠ Important

An unmanaged switch is not suitable for any Dante installation. Always use a managed switch with the settings below.

Required Switch Settings

REQUIRED1. IGMP Snooping

Controls multicast traffic handling. Without it, Dante multicast floods all ports causing audio failures.

  • Enable IGMP snooping on the Dante VLAN
  • Enable IGMP Querier if no multicast router is present
  • Set IGMP version to v2 or v3
REQUIRED2. QoS — DSCP EF (46)

Dante audio packets must be prioritized to prevent latency spikes and dropouts.

  • Mark Dante traffic with DSCP EF (Expedited Forwarding, value 46)
  • Configure switch to honor DSCP markings in the highest-priority queue
REQUIRED3. STP PortFast

STP convergence causes audio glitches. Enable PortFast on all Dante device ports, BPDU Guard on those ports, and never PortFast on uplinks.

REQUIRED4. Flow Control — Disable

IEEE 802.3x pause frames cause latency spikes. Disable flow control on all Dante ports.

NOT REQUIRED5. Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000)

Standard Dante does not require jumbo frames — 1500-byte MTU is correct. Note: AV over IP (JPEG2000/SDVoE) on the same switch does require MTU 9000 on those ports.

Recommended: Dedicated Dante VLAN

ℹ Best Practice

Isolating Dante on a dedicated VLAN prevents corporate broadcast traffic from competing with audio multicast, allows clean QoS policies, and lets IT monitor the Dante network independently. Use e.g. VLAN 100 for all Dante device ports.

Configuration Checklist

✓Managed switch confirmed
✓IGMP snooping + querier enabled on Dante VLAN
✓QoS DSCP EF (46) honored and prioritized
✓STP PortFast + BPDU Guard on all Dante device ports
✓Flow control disabled on Dante ports
✓Dedicated Dante VLAN configured
✓All Dante devices on same VLAN / L2 segment

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