Brands:

• AMX
• BSS Audio

Models:

• AVX Architect

Overview:

This article will cover some basic networking setup and troubleshooting and will focus on the AVX Suite of software with Soundweb OMNI devices.

To see a video of this article, click HERE.

Network Setup:

When launching AVX Architect or AVX Manager software for the first time, a Windows Firewall message will pop-up asking to allow it to access all public and private networks.

Click “Show More", then make sure access is enabled for both public and private networks by the check boxes.

Click “Allow", and one more pop-up should appear for the AVX Gateway Service.

The AVX Gateway Service handles communications between the software, so it's important to also allow public and private networks on this one as well.

AVX Control has its own network interface and will require the same step when launching it for the first time.

If this step was missed the first time or the settings need to be confirmed, use Windows' search to look for “Allow an app through Windows Firewall".

This will bring up a Control Panel window with a list of all your computer's apps and their settings for being allowed on public and private networks.

In this list AVX Architect, AVX Gateway Service, and AVX Control are shown with all three allowed on both public and private networks.

It is important to note that HControl [the control protocol for OMNI products] uses port number 4197 so this port must be allowed by your network.

We can view how Windows sees these network profiles in the Windows Powershell. Use the Windows search to find Powershell, and right-click it to run it as an Administrator.

In Powershell, use the “Get Netconnection Profile" command to see the profile for each of the network interfaces.

Right now, it thinks this first connection is a Public network, but it's not, so let's change it.

Use the “Set Net Connection Profile" command, followed by the “interface index" that matches the number of our adapter, and a “network category" of Private.

Press “Enter" to execute the command, then run the “Get Net Connection Profile" command again to see that our adapter has been updated to Private.

This could help in some instances if you run into Firewall issues with your IT department.

The Ping command can be used to test for Firewall related issues. In AVX Manager the IP address of our 256p processor are visible here:

In Powershell, type “Ping", then a space, followed by the IP address of the device, then hit Enter. There should be four replies from the device with no loss.

If the device can't be pinged, then it's likely that there is a Firewall or network configuration related issue.

Next, verify the computer's IP address in Powershell. Type “ipconfig" into Powershell and press Enter. The network adapter information will be shown, and this “Ethernet Adapter Ethernet 2" is the wired connection.

Note the computer's IPv4 address here is 192.168.254.167.

This should normally be in the same subnet as the device we are trying to communicate with. In this case, the Subnet Mask is 255.255.255.0, which means the first three octets of the IP addresses should match.

In AVX Manager, the 256p displays it has the same first three octets, this is correct.

The IP address of our computer can be changed. Use the shortcut “Windows Key plus X", then press the “W" key to access “Network Connections".

Click “Ethernet" to access the network settings.

Here, the network profile type can be changed, as well as the IP assignment from Automatic to Manual and set a custom IP address.

The Soundweb OMNI devices' IP addresses can be changed in AVX Manager. Under the IP Address column, you can click the Gear icon next to the device's IP address.

This will bring up a new window with the IP settings for the HControl interface of the device.

This device is set to a static IP, but we could change it to DHCP and it will automatically obtain an IP address.

Once “Deploy" is clicked, the window will close and will ask once more to confirm the changes.

AVX Manager will refresh, and the device will re-appear once the new IP Address is assigned. In this case, the IP Address is the same since it's on the same network where it already had this address.

Other network interface information can be changed in the Configure menu. Select the device using the check box, then click the “Configure" button in the bottom right of AVX Manager.

This will open a deeper device configuration where HControl settings can be found under “Harman Device" and additional network interfaces like Dante cards that might also be used on the device.

Soundweb Omni devices can also have the IP Address changed from the front panel.

Press the button on the front panel to access the menu.

Rotate the button until the HControl tab is selected.

Press the button to access the HControl settings, then select the port to change the settings for.

In the Network Configuration Menu, disable DHCP and change the IP Address. Make sure to select “OK" to confirm the changes and the screen will show “Applying Network Settings" as it makes the changes to the device.

In some cases, the device might be on a different subnet, for example on a different network or router. AVX Manager can discover devices on another subnet if you know the IP address of one of the devices. In AVX Manager, click the hamburger menu in the top-left corner, then select “Manage Subnet Devices".

Enter the IP Address of the device and click the plus symbol to add it to the list.

Click “Submit" to save the changes.

AVX Manager will then re-scan the network for the device. In this case, entering the one device's IP address has resulted in AVX Manager reporting back all of the devices on that subnet.