Device and Channel Names

In Dante, devices and media channels are identified by names, not 'magic numbers'. Device and channel names can be customized.

  • Dante routing is performed using the Device and channel names. A receive channel can be subscribed to the name of a transmit channel at a device.

Example: “Analog L@my-transmitter” describes a channel named “Analog L” on a device named “my-transmitter”. Device names must be unique on a Dante network. Channel names must be unique on the device.

  • If a device or channel is renamed, Dante routing considers it to be a different device or channel. If a new device or channel is then given the old name, Dante routing will route from the new device in place of the previous device.

Example: The power supply on “stage-box” fails and “stage-box” needs to be replaced. The old “stage-box” is removed, and a new box is plugged in and named “stage-box”. Dante receivers previously subscribed to the old “stage-box” will now automatically restore their subscriptions to the new “stage-box”.

  • Device names must be unique on the network. If you attempt to rename a device using Dante Controller to a name that is already in use on the network, Dante Controller will notify you and reject the name change.

Example: There is an existing device on the network called “MY16-slot1”. If user attempts to rename another device to “MY16-slot1” Dante Controller will notify you that the name is already in use. The device will not be renamed.

  • If a new device is added to the network with a name that already exists, a name conflict is detected. One of the devices will adopt a temporary placeholder name, by appending a space and (2) to its old name. This device will not be able to transmit media until it is manually renamed, and some configuration options will be disabled for that device in Dante Controller.

Note:  A device that has been renamed with (2) appended (e.g. “MY16-slot1 (2)”) will not be able to transmit media until it is renamed. The device name must be changed by the user to be a valid non-conflicting name before the device can become fully functional. A device that has failed with a name conflict will retry its configured name if it is rebooted. If the other device has been removed or renamed, the previously failed device will resume normal operation.

Rules for Names

  • All Dante names are up to 31 characters in length.
  • Name comparisons are case-insensitive: “Guitar” and “guitar” are treated as the same name.
  • Unicode and non-roman characters are not supported.
  • Device names should follow Domain Name System (DNS) hostname rules. Legal characters are A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and '-' (dash or hyphen).
  • Device names cannot begin or end with a hyphen.
  • Device names must be unique on the network.
  • Tx channel names may use any character except '=' (equals), '.' (full stop or period), or '@' (at).
  • Tx channel names must be unique on a device. Tx channel names do not need to be unique on the network, as they are always qualified by device (channel@device).
  • Rx channel names follow the same rules as Tx channel names .