Pathport® OCTO - 64XX - Manual
January 2021
25
PATHWAY ssACN (Secure sACN)
Pathway ssACN
(Secure streaming ACN) is a protocol developed by Pathway using much of ANSI E1.31, but adds a layer
of authentication. This feature requires
device firmware version 6.0 or later
.
Receiving devices, like Pathport DMX/RDM gateways, share a
secret password
with known controllers in the venue, to
verify the data source before driving the lighting rig. A cryptographic hash message is added to each E1.31 packet, verifying
the authenticity of the source and the sequence of the data. Any invalid packets are ignored; only the correct lighting data is
used during your performances.
If you have disabled security on a device, you will not be offered the ssACN protocol for Tx or Rx.
“Bad actors” cannot spoof a DMX source and send denial-of-service or ransomware attacks as the packets on their unsecured,
un-authenticated protocols will be completely ignored by the lighting rig.
DOMAIN AUTO ssACN PASSWORD
When devices are added to a Security Domain, Pathscape generates a secret
Domain Auto ssACN password
, and creates
transactions to send this data to each device in the domain. Each Security Domain will have a unique secret Domain Auto
password created for it.
NOTE
: these transactions will also appear for devices
already
part of a domain, after upgrading those devices to firmware
version 6.0 or later.
NOTE
that the
Domain Auto
password is
NOT
the same as the
Domain
password. Recall that the Domain password is the
the password
you chose
when creating the domain, used for logging in. Pathscape generates the Domain Auto password
based on an algorithm. It is
NOT
possible to uncover the “•••••••” and see the value of the password, however all devices
on the domain know what it is. This is how the authentication is possible.
CUSTOM ssACN PASSWORD
While in most scenarios the Domain Auto ssACN password will be all that is required, it is possible to specify your own custom
ssACN password. See below for details on how to set custom TX (Transmit) and RX (receive) passwords.
This is useful in a few situations:
• If you need to send DMX data across different Security Domains
: specify a custom
ssACN TX password
, and
enter the same password on the receiving devices under
ssACN RX passwords
. The receiving devices will then be
able to authenticate that data. Domain Auto passwords, as noted above, are unique per Domain, and will work only with
devices on the same domain.
• If you have a network with multiple consoles
: specify a different TX password for each console, and set the
appropriate receiving devices to receive only one password or the other, effectively having them “listen” to traffic from
the desired console only.
Summary of Contents for Pathport OCTO 64 Series
Page 7: ......
