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Castnow - Property Network Integration Requirements v2

Castnow requires changes to the wireless LAN, Ethernet switching, and HSIA gateway to integrate its solution. A new Chromecast wireless network must be created for Chromecast devices to connect to securely. Multicast traffic needs to traverse this network and the existing HSIA wireless LAN. A new VLAN is also required on the Ethernet switching for Chromecast traffic. The Castnow router and appliances need to be visible on the same layer 2 network as guests for the proxy-based solution.

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Saikrishna Reddy
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26 views5 pages

Castnow - Property Network Integration Requirements v2

Castnow requires changes to the wireless LAN, Ethernet switching, and HSIA gateway to integrate its solution. A new Chromecast wireless network must be created for Chromecast devices to connect to securely. Multicast traffic needs to traverse this network and the existing HSIA wireless LAN. A new VLAN is also required on the Ethernet switching for Chromecast traffic. The Castnow router and appliances need to be visible on the same layer 2 network as guests for the proxy-based solution.

Uploaded by

Saikrishna Reddy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Castnow Property

Network Integration
Requirements
NETWORK INTEGRATION REQUIREMENTS
Castnow is readily integrated into approved HSIA network designs. The solution consists of a
managed router which together with the Castnow service in the cloud allow guests to easily
connect to Google Chromecast devices securely.

Overview

Castnow requires changes to the following elements of your network:

- Wireless LAN
- Ethernet Switching
- HSIA Gateway / Controller

See the below diagram for a typical Castnow integration (N.B. IP addresses are for example
purposes)
Wireless LAN

We strongly recommend the use of a managed Wireless LAN. To date we have seen
deployments with Ruckus, Cisco, Meraki, Mojo, Ubiquiti, Juniper Mist, Cambium, and more.

Castnow requires the following changes:

A new Chromecast WLAN - Chromecasts to connect via Wi-Fi

• Create a new WLAN for the Google Chromecast devices to connect to. This WLAN will be solely
for the use of Chromecasts; no guests will connect to it
• Ensure this WLAN is broadcasting with a minimum RSSI of -65dB at the TV/chromecast
location. Either 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz may be used
• Ensure multicast traffic can traverse this WLAN
• Present this LAN to Castnow on a single switch port, untagged
• Castnow will manage the L3 services on this WLAN: DHCP, NAT, traffic shaping and all other
services currently required by the Chromecasts are controlled by the Castnow router
• During installation the WLAN can be visible, however you can hide it later if required.
• IGMP must be disabled on the VLAN/WLAN
• Directed multicast must be disabled on all physical and logical interfaces for this WLAN (both
WLAN and ethernet port properties in a Ruckus environment)

It is important that signal strength and throughput are approved at the location where the
Chromecast is to be installed; -65dBm RSSI is the minimum signal strength

Existing HSIA WLAN

• Multicast traffic must be enabled, some controllers have the option to drop or filter ‘less well
known multicast traffic’; ensure this option is disabled. Refer to your partner or Castnow for
specific details for your WiFi platform
• If layer 2 isolation is enabled on the WLAN, ensure that the MAC addresses of the Castnow
LAN controller and the MAC address of the Castnow router are whitelisted, so that guests can
communicate with these devices. The mac addresses of the devices that guests must be able
to see are documented below
• It is important that the Castnow LAN controller and the router can see all guest traffic at Layer 2
• Directed multicast/multicast optimization must be disabled on all physical and logical
interfaces for this WLAN (both WLAN and ethernet port properties in a Ruckus environment)
• Guest device addressing must not be configured via NAT mode (as is sometimes seen in Cisco
Meraki deployments). NAT mode prevents wireless devices on the SSID from communicating
with other wireless devices, therefore guest devices must receive IP addresses from the guest
LAN upstream of the AP.
• Allocate two static IPs for Castnow inside your guest HSIA LAN
• GMP must be disabled on the VLAN/WLAN
Ethernet Switching and VLAN

The Castnow Cast solution requires the creation of a new VLAN on the switching infrastructure for
the Chromecast traffic to traverse the network. This VLAN should be entirely isolated (no intra-VLAN
routing) and acts as a transport layer between the Chromecast devices and the Castnow router.

For simplicity, Castnow requires that both the HSIA LAN and the new Cast LAN are presented
on separate switch ports as untagged traffic. Often layer isolation (between guests) is done at
the WLAN layer, however if there is any isolation at the switch layer, you should ensure that the
Castnow LAN appliance and router are visible to all guests. IGMP must also be disabled at the
switch layer for the guest and cast LAN.

Ethernet Adapters and Castnow

In some instances, an ethernet adapter may be installed between the Chromecast and the
switch network to account for potential Wi-Fi signal propagation issues (blackspots). It is
therefore necessary for the chromecast VLAN ID to be configured on the required switchport. It
is recommended that a new Chromecast wireless SSID is still created and broadcast, as in the
event of a switch/switchport failure, the Chromecast will then attempt to connect to the WLAN
(i.e configure the SSID as a failover option in this instance). By the same logic, the Castnow Cast
solution can also support a mixture of both wireless and wired connections from the Chromecast to
the Chromecast VLAN.
Ethernet Adapters and Castnow
Layer 2 considerations

The HSIA gateway installed must be configured to allow unrestricted access to the Internet for the
Castnow devices. The Castnow LAN controller MAC address should be whitelisted.

The Castnow router must also be whitelisted, all of the Google Chromecasts will connect to the
Internet via this router (We’ll NAT those devices to the IP you allocate us). No traffic shaping or
bandwidth management should be applied to the Castnow router. We can configure bandwidth
limits within our platform, both in total and per Chromecast device.

The Castnow LAN appliance and router examine packets received both at layer 2 and Layer 3 so it
is essential that these appliances are in the same L2 network (collision domain)

Layer 3 considerations

The Castnow solution operates in proxy mode.

In proxy mode Castnow will forward compatible API operations through the guest’s paired
Chromecast device. Castnow HSIA LAN side devices must be whitelisted and the guests must be
able to communicate with them. We require the HSIA vendor to allocate us two static IPs on the
HSIA LAN for these devices.

Castnow Appliance MAC Address

Castnow Router 00:11:22:33:33:33

Castnow Server 00:11:22:33:45:01

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