Best Practices for Chromecast and AirPlay

This article explains best practices for configuring large UniFi wireless networks with AirPlay and Chromecast devices.

Creating a Chromecast/AirPlay Network

Using AirPlay and Chromecast on networks with more than 100 wireless clients may degrade performance due to the use of multicast traffic.

The following steps will optimize network performance:

1. Enable Multicast and Broadcast Control on the WiFi SSID serving 100+ clients. 
   Note: This will break connectivity of other services using multicast or broadcast traffic unless you add them as 'Exceptions.'
   
2. Create a new Network (VLAN).
3. Create a new WiFi SSID to broadcast the network from Step 2.
4. Connect your AirPlay/Chromecast clients to this new SSID. This is referring to the TV or Chromecast dongle that you plan to stream to. The original streaming device (e.g., mobile phone casting to the "client" TV) can remain one the original SSID from Step 1. 
5. Ensure Multicast DNS is enabled for both networks used to broadcast SSIDs.
   1. Found in Settings > Network.