Sonos VLAN workaround

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1

If you have your HomeAssistant running in a different VLAN than your Sonos. You might find that Sonos doesn't get discovered. Even if you put your phone on a different VLAN than Sonos and open the app Sonos will tell you there are no devices. Sonos confirmed that the devices should be in the same subnet.

Now this could be troublesome. Because if you move Sonos to your server environment, you can't use Sonos on your phone, unless you migrate your phones as well. I tried everything from mDNS to UPD relays, opening my whole firewall... Nothing worked.. While I could access everything from HA, read the sonos files etc... I just couldn't discover them.

You can also migrate your whole HA to the Sonos VLAN, but the issue for me was clients are not allowed to reach management, but HA should be able to reach management... Also a lot of application immediately broke when I did.

My setup:
ProxmoxVE running HA.

VLANS
10 Management
20 Servers (HA)
30 Clients (Phones, Sonos because you really want them on the same net)
40 IoT
50 Cameras
60 Guests

FW rules
Servers -> Management
Servers -> Clients
Clients X Management
Clients -> Servers (not all clients are allowed all server access but this is just for visuals).

So, in proxmox, what I did was create a second network interface. The first one has tag 20 and the second one has tag 30. Note I use vmbr1 on LAN side as vmbr0 is WAN side as I run OPNsense router in Proxmox as well.

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Now HA receives 2 IP addresses. Let HA boot, and in network settings you see 2 adapters. The left one is often the primary one.

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If it is the wrong one, scroll down and deselect automatic. From here you can select them manually. Make sure your original VLAN is the standard one.

Screenshot from 2026-06-13 13-28-32
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Reboot HA and check if the original VLAN is primary, and the seconday is the sonos VLAN. If it doesn't auto-discover go to intergrations -> Add -> Sonos and it should find your speakers.

Screenshot from 2026-06-13 13-34-55
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If someone got a better solution I would greatly appreciate it.

2

Maybe no VLans? HA is designed to work on a flat network.
Are these VLans that you added back doors to actually providing any added security now? I think you are making things complicated for the sake of making them complicated if you ask me.

Enterprise Smart Home Syndrome

3

The fact that devices work better internally does not mean you want those devices on your internal network.

Eg. all devices which make tunnels (vacuum, thermostats, household equipment, etc.) I don't want them in my lan next to my computers, nas, etc. It's ok to reach them one way (lan to iot eith internet) but not the other way around.

And all iot devices don't need internet but need connection from HA.

4

This is what firewalls are for. (Eliminating the need to have a half dozen VLans.)

I mean, you asked for a better solution. I'm sorry you didn't like the one I suggested. Other opinions may have different ideas...

5

While your solution may be suitable for your environment, it does not address the issue in mine. Your reaction is also targeted to someone else, not me.

The firewall was not the cause. Even with all traffic allowed, Home Assistant was unable to discover Sonos devices, as the issue was related to network discovery across subnets rather than connectivity.

Network segmentation is an intentional security requirement in my environment. I do not want IoT devices to have unrestricted access to systems containing confidential data. My solution allows Home Assistant to listen on two VLANs while maintaining the existing firewall policies.

Given the size of my network (120+ devices), I do not consider a flat network to be a best-practice design.

6

As I mentioned, there isn't any... If you want that you have to provide.

7

Look man, I did not post this to debate people. Sonos doesn’t work across VLANs. This is a great solution for someone that finds the same issue without having to change their whole design. I couldn’t find any solution so I posted mine in case someone else is having the same issue. Going back to a flat design is not a solution for me. Thanks for your input.