IBC2023 IPShowcase: A Practical Media-over-IP Network Design Considering Debuggability and Extensibility

One of the biggest issues when implementing SMPTE ST-2110-based broadcasting facilities is the shortage of MoIP network design engineers who understand both broadcasting and IP network technologies. Over the past years, I have been designing MoIP networks myself, while also continuing to teach other engineers the techniques and know-how that I have obtained.
At the NAB2022, IBC2022, and NAB2023 IPShowcases, I have introduced the basics that network engineers should know, such as basic terms, elemental technologies, and case studies of issues. Then at this time, in order to make it more practical, I would like to focus on IP addressing and debugging methods, which a network engineer should consider in design phase. Therefore, the main target audience for this presentation is broadcast engineers who have some experience and basic knowledge of MoIP network design and implementation.
It is rare for a single large broadcasting facility to be designed from scratch, and most facilities are often converted to a MoIP network in stages starting from a portion of the facility. In case that you design such MoIP network facility, if you don't consider that the entire facility will eventually be all MoIP networked from the beginning and have a design with scalability and extensibility, you will have to use unexpected equipment later, and/or you will be forced to make major design changes. In particular, it is necessary to assign a unique IP address to each device and port within the facility. In anticipation of that, it is necessary to think about IP address rules to be assigned to some facilities from the beginning.
The more complex the MoIP network, the more unexpected it may happen. In that case, it is possible to grasp the situation by displaying the status at that time to some extent with network switches, but it may be difficult to grasp the chronological movement. Sometimes, it is necessary to use packet capture software such as WireShark to capture the IGMP and PIM packets that control the multicast streams and monitor what is happening. In order to be able to measure such things, we need to consider the debuggability from the initial design stage as well as the whole network and the connection of the equipment for monitoring it.
I would like this presentation to explain how it should be designed at the design stage through specific examples when you build a network with extensibility and debuggability as described above. I believe that best practice I will explain is very helpful not only for engineers and network architects experienced in MoIP network design, but also for project managers.

1. Sponsored by: Contributors:
“Rosso” Koji Oyama
Xcelux Design Inc.
[email protected]
A Practical Media-over-IP Network Design
Considering Debuggability and Extensibility

2. Introduction
Media-over-IP (MoIP) Network Design Flow
Design for Extensibility
Design for Debuggability
Conclusion
Agenda
17/Sep/2023 © 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 2

3. Introduction
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 317/Sep/2023

4. “Rosso” Koji Oyamahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/koji- oyama/
Technical Consultant, Evangelist, Hardware/Software Engineer
Founder and CEO, Xcelux Design
10+ years engineer & 10+ years sales/marketing experience
Love New Technology
My mission recently: To increase MoIP network engineers (edu)
Xcelux Design, Inc. www.xceluxdesign.com
Technical Consulting Company
Founded in October 2016
Tokyo, Japan San Jose, CA U.S.A.
Targeting area: IP network infrastructure and AI interpretation
I’ve designed lots of commercial MoIP networks for broadcasting so far
Introduction
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 417/Sep/2023

5. Target Audience:
MoIP Intermediate network managers, architects, and engineers
For beginners  Follow MoIP Square on X, and watch my previous 3 videos
Goal of the presentation today:
You can get some tips to solve your issues when you face on similar cases
Goal of this presentation
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 517/Sep/2023
@MoIP_Square
(https://twitter.com/MoIP_Square)
on X (formerly Twitter)
NAB 2022 IPShowcase
(https://youtu.be/dY9NXhGO
wgQ?si=9fIR1myTe-yFi73o)
on YouTube
IBC 2022 IPShowcase
(https://youtu.be/7IFyRiI4QkQ
?si=koPOcuTElK3Y_cmh)
on YouTube
NAB 2023 IPShowcase
(https://youtu.be/9RORQLBVZ
eM?si=a7vKf- CKHvPO2SR- )
on YouTube

6. MoIP Network Design Flow
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 617/Sep/2023

7. Similar as software design flow
Design  Implementation 
Verification
Design is the most important
Assume agile development rather than
waterfall
First spec is not fixed yet
Impossible to predict 100% future
problems by understanding the
specifications of all devices
Assume the spec will be changed
when fixing issues
MoIP Network Design Flow Overview
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 717/Sep/2023
Design
(Device selection, IP addressing,
Logical connections)
Verification
(Normal & abnormal test scenarios,
Packet capturing, Test Environment)
Implementation
(NW switch configuration)
1
2
Extensibility
Debuggability
Flexibility

8. Not only physical but
also logical design is
necessary
Bottom-up design
whileverifyingthe
feasibility of a specific
functionality
w/minimal network
configuration is likely
to result in faster
design / verification
convergence
MoIP Network Design Flow Details
817/Sep/2023
List up all media and control nodes
Count the number of physical ports
of equipment to be connected
List all media and control sessions
Physical Network Design Logical Network Design
Calculate bandwidth of each ports
Select adequate
network switches
assign IP addresses for
each sessions and multicast groups
Calculate the max bandwidth
of each sessions
Structural Design: abstract to specific
(logical /physical architecture, isolation, fault tolerance)
Check behavior using
actual network with the
minimum configuration
Verification (normal & abnormal sequences)
configure switches
Documentation
Revise / Modify the specification Review
Finish
List all required
functionalities
Allow the
iteration
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc.

9. Production for Video,
Audio, Inter-comm
Spine-Leaf NW
switches
Non-blocking
ST 2059 PTP
Boundary clock
BMCA
Redundant (ST 2022-7)
Separated media and
control plane
Logically / Physically
MoIP Network Example
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 917/Sep/2023
Grandmaster Grandmaster
L3 NW Switch L3 NW Switch
L2/L3 NW Switch L2/L3 NW SwitchL2/L3 NW SwitchL2/L3 NW Switch
L2/L3 NW Switch L2/L3 NW Switch
Media Plane
Control Plane
audio
Inter-comm
Inter-comm
Inter-comm
playout
video

10. Design for Extensibility
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1017/Sep/2023

11. Facility might be enhanced and extended when business grows
The management of IP addressing & IP address allocation would be important
No management might be more cost: connected with NAT or other gateway equipment
[Example of IP Addressing Guideline]: making range of IPv4 private address
192.168.A.B: management ports for media nodes (control plane network)
A: [1]: studio A, [2- 3]: studio B, … [201]: OBVAN 1, [202]: OBVAN 2
10. A. K. L: media ports for media nodes (media plane network)
K: 0-127 Amber network, 128- 255 Blue network
172.X.Y.Z: network address btw NW switches
X: 16-23 Amber network, 24- 31 Blue network
232.K.L.M: multicast address
M: 0-63: video, 64-223: audio, 224- 255: Anc
Make own IP addressing guideline
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1117/Sep/2023

12. The number of IPv4 private addresses are limited
DNS/DHCP will make it more efficient and easier, but it is still better
for debugging if you assign them manually at this moment
Ideally, a broadcaster's entire MoIP network would be the best to
design from scratch
However, in reality, MoIP network will proceed from the bottom up,
starting with some facilities
Make own IP addressing guideline
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1217/Sep/2023
Guideline
IP address range A
IP address range B planned expansion

13. Do not assign /30 subnet address too packed
Assume your network spec could be changed
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 13
Consider when the spec changed
Reserve an IP address area
assuming in advance that
Equipment A will need 1+
more IP addresses for one
port
Packed
(no reserved area)
17/Sep/2023

14. Assign similar devices to nearby address areas
Create an area using a power of 2 of 4th octet IP addresses and
assign the addresses to each equipment assuming netmask /30
IP addressing for similar devices
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1417/Sep/2023
Easier to
change
the spec
10.1.10.2/30
10.1.10.1/30
10.1.10.6/3010.1.10.10/30
10.1.10.9/30
10.1.10.5/30
VRF
10.1.10.2/28
10.1.10.1/28
10.1.10.6/2810.1.10.10/28
VLAN1000
VRF

15. [Issue]: Some of the existing equipment in the same company needs
to speak with proprietary 239.x.x.x multicastgroup to detect each
equipment.
L3 with /30 connections need to configure the settings for its multicast
routing on L3 router (VRF)
[Solution]:
Use L2 switching to expand its broadcast domain
No configuration for 239.x.x.x on the NW switch
Issue example
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1517/Sep/2023

16. Design for Debuggability
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1617/Sep/2023

17. Debugging and monitoring environment when developing MoIP
networks can increase productivity and shorten TAT
It is important to use SNMP or logging to detect errors after the design is
complete
However, to build a highly reliable network, it is more important to improve
the quality during design and development
Debuggability in verification phase
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1717/Sep/2023

18. Make Remote Access Environment
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1817/Sep/2023
Verification MoIP network
Verification
System
Verification
L2 switch
(control
plane)
telnet
http
4G/5G
Mobile
network
2.4/5GHz
Wi-Fi
Real
VNC
Real
VNC
Internet
M
M
You can design anywhere and anytime
MoIP NW design & verification often takes several month
Do you want to spend several months in a cold and noisy machine room?
…
remote
access PC
Mobile Wi-Fi
terminal

19. Packet Capturing: Time domain
To debug in case that multicast streams don’t work, you sometimes need to monitor IGMP and
PIM packets
You can make such packet capture environment with free software and
affordable network equipment
If you have enough budget, you can buy commercial dedicated equipment
Connect to WireShark
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 1917/Sep/2023
10
25GbE NIC
(NVIDIA Connect-X etc.)
PC or WS
(Win/Linux)
You can change what to
monitor using the NW switch
configuration
25GBASE-SR
Network monitor

20. How a multicast stream works with IGMP and PIM protocols
Multicast streaming w/IGMP & PIM
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 2017/Sep/2023
SW #D
10.33.10.10 /30
172.17.14.1 /30
VRF
SW #A
SW #C
10.33.10.13 /30
VRF
VRF
Sender
(4).Multicast
Routing
(5).Multicast
Routing
Receiver
10.33.10.14 /30
S
1
: 172.17.12.130 /30
172.17.12.129 /30
172.17.14.2 /30
10.33.10.6 /30
10.33.10.1 /30
Video
G
1-1: 232.127.130.1
Audio
G
1-2: 232.127.130.97
ANC
G
1-3: 232.127.130.225

21. [Example]: Wrong SSM range setting
The network switch display/show command can only show the status
at a certain point in time
WireShark can monitor time-series movement
Issue example
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 2117/Sep/2023
SW #D
VRF
SW #A
SW #C
VRF
VRF
Sender Receiver
S
1
: 172.17.12.130 /30
Video G
1-1: 232.127.130.1
Audio G
1-2: 232.127.130.97
ANC G
1-3: 232.127.130.225
Mis-
configuration

22. Conclusion
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 2217/Sep/2023

23. The presentation have provided:
MoIP Network Design Flow: Design and Verification are the key
Design for Extensibility: IP addressing
Design for Debuggability: Remote access and Packet capturing
Hope this helps you to build your MoIP network design
See you again at the NAB show next April
Good luck on your design
© 2023 Xcelux Design Inc. 2317/Sep/2023
Follow me 

24. Sponsored by: Contributors:
“Rosso” Koji Oyama, Xcelux Design Inc.
[email protected]
[phone] / +1- (408) 714- 8808
Thank you! Any Questions?
Feel free to contact me!
Please follow @MoIP Square