Using Standalone in Production Environments

Updated: 11 Sep 2024

Notch is not a media server replacement and as such, the onus is on the user to prepare a good environment for Standalone to run in. Prepping machines for production environments is a skill set on its own and if you are unfamiliar with the process, we recommend that you talk to an experienced AV production company.

There are a number of common gotchas that users hit when setting up their machines for use with Standalones, which we have listed below.

Set Local Security Policy for Unidentified Networks #

When you set up a static IP network which doesn’t have a gateway/router (for ArtNet for example), Windows will mark it as an Unidentified Network and not allow Firewall Rules to be applied, meaning no traffic can get in. You, therefore, need to configure Windows to mark Unidentified networks as Private to have the Private Firewall Rules applied.

To do this:

• WinKey + R
• Enter secpol.msc and run
• For both Network Managers List -> Unidentified Networks AND Identifying Networks
  • Set - Location Type : Private.
  • Set - User Permissions : User can change location

Changing network location policy behaviour has security implications. If you are not familiar with network security, we recommend you get advice.

Firewall Rules #

The Windows Firewall attaches rules to specific executables or globally. Given that the executables are created regularly as part of the Notch workflow, we recommend that you create the following global firewall rules:

Creating inbound firewall rules has security implications. If you are not familiar with network security, we recommend you get advice.

Start Up #

If you intend to run the Standalone immediately after booting, we recommend that you put a delay in a batch file before starting. Various workstation graphics drivers take time to complete their initialisation and you need to start the standalone after these procedures. The timing of this delay varys from set up to setup, so test this thoroughly before hand.

Disable Background Activities #

To avoid unintended activities kicking off in the background or on machine restart:

• Disable Windows Indexing
• Disable Automatic Windows Update

Known Safe GPU Drivers #

GPU drivers from NVIDIA and AMD both occasionally have bugs, therefore it’s not always a good idea to take the latest driver update as soon as it comes out. Find a known good version and stick with it.

Misc #

• Disable any power-saving functions