IP Address and Network Connection

Spikemark and the Stagehands communicate through Static IP Addresses. This means we need to assign a specific and unique IP Address to any network device, including the PC running Spikemark in order to allow communication between the devices.

This Article will cover how to pick a compatible IP Address. See these articles for:

• Setting your Computer's IP Address

• Setting your Stagehand's IP Address

  • Connecting to a Stagehand in Spikemark

• Setting your Showstopper Consolette IP Address

  • Connecting to a Showstopper Consolette in Spikemark

• Setting your Pendant IP Address

  • Connecting to a Pendant in Spikemark

• Configuring Showstopper 4 to see Showstopper Statuses, this includes

  • Setting IP Address

  • Setting Node ID's

  • Configuring the Node Editor in Spikemark

The most common cause of network communication issues is an IP Address mismatch - most often it is with the computer.

The 2nd most common connection issue is a disconnected CAT5 cable.

IP addresses are made up of four segments (Octets, if you want to impress friends) separated by a period (for example, “192.168.10.20”). The only trick to setting up a static IP network with Spikemark and Stagehands is that the first three segments should always match. The last segment number needs to be unique. Unless you are digging deep into subnets, or have changed the default IP range, each device on the network must have an IP Address between 192.168.10.001 and 192.168.10.254.

IP ADDRESS GUIDELINES

Below are a list of recommended default IP Addresses:

Device	IP Address	Subnet Mask
Spikemark PC	192.168.10.245	255.255.255.0
Showstopper Consolette	192.168.10.254	255.255.255.0
Spikemark Pendant	192.168.10.250	255.255.255.0
Stagehand Controller	192.168.10.10 thru 192.168.10.240	255.255.255.0

The above addresses are only suggestions and can be adjusted as needed. In reality, the IP address can be any available number in the 192.168.10.xxx range with a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0

In practice we have found network stability to become shaky when setting the computer or Stagehand IP Address below .010.

Additionally, if you’re setting any IP address below .100 (i.e. 1 through 99), do not use a leading 0. An IP Address .001 should be entered as “.1” , an IP Address of .010 will be entered as “.10” so that Spikemark will connect the address correctly.