list of AppleTVs in AirPlay menu on 10.8.x

[lionelgruenberg]

I've noticed inconsistencies in the Displays menu extra list of wired/wireless Apple TVs on our wireless 10.8.x systems. ATVs are reordering themselves and occasionally I'll hear about one disappearing and later reappearing in the list. The "AirPlay" list of the same wired/wireless Apple TVs on our iOS7 devices and 10.9 test system consistently appear in alphabetical order.

Has anyone else run into this?

Would it be possible to manage the ByHost Airplay Menu Extra preference file on 10.8.x systems using MCX or Profiles?
Create custom strings for each ATV ethernet MAC address...?

<key>RecentAirPlayRoutes</key>
    <array>
        <string>AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF</string>
        <string>AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF</string>
        <string>AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF</string>

    </array>

Thanks,
Lionel

[lionelgruenberg]

Forgot to mention the recent Apple TV software update didn't resolve this issue for us.

[Derbystar16]

Hi lionelgruenberg, I think you and I are the only ones either experiencing this issue and/or complaining about it. We have about 40 Apple TVs installed on our campus and and all computers are using 10.8 Mountain Lion. The Airplay device list is not in alphabetical order, although it is using iOS.

I believe this is an issue with the OS. I was hoping they'd fix it in the last update but they have not. It's a simple sort.

[damienbarrett]

We are also experiencing this same inconsistent display behavior with our 75 AppleTVs and 10.8 clients. Not only is the list not alphabetical, sometimes not all the devices show up. We've taken to instructing our faculty to reboot the AppleTV in a room if it does not show up in the list.

[ryan_w]

We are experiencing similar issues too. Glad to hear they have at least put the list into alphabetical order in 10.9.

[Derbystar16]

Yeah it's great that they fixed it in 10.9 but we're not going to 10.9 anytime soon. It's a simple sort. They'd better fix it in 10.8.6.

[lionelgruenberg · Accepted solution]

As a follow up, turns out our Aruba wireless controller was being overloaded with all the mDNS Bonjour traffic on our network. All of our wired ATVs are on the same VLAN as our Aruba controller. We enabled ClearPass AirGroup on our Mobility Controller and added all of our AppleTV devices (wired/wireless) and "tethered" each device to the closest 2 access points. Now our users on average only see ~ 5 ATVs in their AirPlay list based on proximity and location. Occasionally our mobile users must toggle wifi on and off as they move around our campus forcing their device to re-connect to the closest Access Point. Enabling AirGroup significantly improved AirPlay reliability and lowered mDNS traffic flowing over our network and we haven't had any problems since!

Side note: I've also added our 10.9 Mavericks Server to our list of AirGroup devices (I believe the Caching service in 10.9 Server relies on mDNS network traffic)