The Sun Ray Clients are designed to power on and be fully operational in a very short time--typically less than 10 seconds.

Some network switches have initial configurations that can cause this start-up time to be considerably longer, often taking 30 seconds or longer to achieve a fully working state. Longer start-on times typically are due to the configuration of the Ethernet switch that implements capabilities not needed in the Sun Ray environment. The most common of these capabilities is enabling the spanning tree protocol, which is designed to detect and compensate for loops in the network.

In the Sun Ray environment, the spanning tree protocol should be disabled or deferred for ports connected directly to the Sun Ray Clients. Some manufacturers support a feature that immediately puts a port into the spanning tree forwarding mode. This feature is an acceptable alternative to disabling the spanning tree protocol on the port.

If the spanning tree protocol is disabled and the start-up time is still excessive, contact the switch manufacturer to determine if there are other features or proprietary protocols that might be interfering with the Sun Ray Client. Some switches might have features designed into the switch that cannot be changed; if this is the case, then it may not be possible to reduce the start-up time.