Flex Network Requirements

Flex Network Requirements

This is intended for network IT departments to ensure the Flex player establishes the needed connections to operate free of issues.


**IMPORTANT INFORMATION** for all customers running their FLEX devices behind firewalls: 

The IP address of the FLEX Portal should be updated in your firewall rules according to the following: 
- IPv4: 195.201.126.106  (Player Portal)
- IPv4: 157.90.165.210  (Update Server)

If Geo-IP Filtering is enabled on your firewall, you will need to select Germany (server location of device portal) as one of your allowed countries

Failing to update firewall rules may result in FLEX devices not being able to connect with the portal. 

Firewall Policy

The table below shows the required connections for the FLEX device to perform properly. The purpose of each connection is explained along with specific IP, protocol, URL, and Port information. If the firewall type and configuration and your administrative policy allows, we recommend rules in the following order of preference:
  1. Allow any connection to *.barix.com and *.overheadmusic.com so that any subdomain listed below will establish connection through your firewall.
  2. Where wildcards are not allowed, it is advisable to use the hostname and not the IP address (IP address changes, though unlikely, are possible)
  3. If you need to set firewall rules by IP Address, use the table below. This table will remain updated to reflect any IP Address updates.
Connection
Description
IP Address
Protocol
URL
Port
Portal*

The player portal is the platform used to configure and control FLEX devices. It's a mandatory connection to ensure device operation in Portal Mode.

The connection is established via HTTPS and upgraded to Secure WebSocket (wss).

The HTTP connection is used to retrieve the time from the Portal even if the HTTPS connection cannot be established (an add-on to the NTP, that could fail in some networks) - The Portal sends a 404 reply to this request, the timestamp in the reply is used by the device to set its own time and date.


195.201.126.106



HTTPS

HTTP


443

80
Update Server

The server that the Flex player contacts to update the firmware. It's a mandatory connection if the user desires to update the firmware from the Portal and not locally from the web UI.

The connection protocol to the download server follows the same protocol configured on the device web interface, thus it can be over HTTP or HTTPS.

IPv4: 157.90.165.210
IPv6: 2a01:4f8:1c1c:5983::1
HTTP
80
NTP**
The Time synchronization server - it is derived from one of the pools set in the device.

NTP is crucial for setting the time at every boot, failing in doing so the devices will not be able to validate HTTPS TLS certificates resulting in the inability to connect with the Portal (but still they are able to play http audio streams).
Derived from the Pool of addresses
NTP
1.barix.pool.ntp.org
2.barix.pool.ntp.org
3.barix.pool.ntp.org
123
DNS
Domain Name Server
Set by DHCP or manually in the local web ui of the player
DNS

53
Audio Streams
These are channels configured to play from the audio-out of the FLEX Player.

IPv4: 104.236.202.73


HTTP
or
HTTPS
​
*.overheadmusic.com
80
or
443
Priority URL
The Priority URL support HTTP(S) or RTP Multicast or Unicast protocols. When used with Multicast the device sends out in the network IGMPv2 packets, switches that support IGMP will be able to identify this packets and use it accordingly to be aware of the ports joining the same Multicast group.

In FW <=6.2.0 the default address is set to rtp://224.0.0.56:12345

In FW > 6.2.0 the priority URL is empty by default
Configured on device local web interface




*Portal connection: from FW version 6.0.0 the players send an HTTP HEAD request to the Portal to retrieve date and time information

**From FW version 6.0.0 the NTP servers are exposed in the web UI of the players, thus configurable by the user. The default pools are the ones described in the table

Bandwidth Requirements and Usage: 

  1. Required speed: At least 0.5 Mbps of available internet speed to stream music smoothly.
  2. Upload Usage (outbound traffic): The Flex should average less than 75 MB per day to remain connected to the player portal.
  3. Download Usage (streaming traffic): One stream at 192 kbps for 1 Hour (3600 seconds) uses 0.08 GB (84.38 MB) of bandwidth.

It's all about the Quality!

Bandwidth requirements for a music stream varies with the quality of the stream. Stream quality is measured in kilobytes per second (kbps). A lower quality stream (64 kbps to 128 kbps) uses less bandwidth but sacrifices sound quality. Higher quality streams of 192 kbps up to 320 kbps sound better and as expected, use more bandwidth. The total usage is a simple math calculation of a stream's rate of kbps multiplied by a given amount of time (in seconds) times the number streams (Flex units) at a given location. 

We deliver our music streams in Stereo CD Quality at 192 kbps, which we believe is the best balance of quality and speed. Therefore, an 8 hour day uses roughly 2/3 GB of data.
CONCERNED ABOUT BANDWIDTH?
If bandwidth usage is a concern, consider requesting the use of OPEN HOURS scheduling, which determines when a FLEX unit is allowed to stream music.