Smart switch vs standard

[phrehdd]

I am looking to acquire for a home set up a switch and was curious what folks are using out there. Is anyone using a smart switch or a non-controllable? Any recommendations? Looking for 8-16 ports (gig not 10/100).

Thanks in advance to any suggestions (and what makes that particular switch a good option).

 

[r0k]

I am looking to acquire for a home set up a switch and was curious what folks are using out there. Is anyone using a smart switch or a non-controllable? Any recommendations? Looking for 8-16 ports (gig not 10/100).

Thanks in advance to any suggestions (and what makes that particular switch a good option).

I use unmanaged switches. It's best to only have one switch and run everything to it. I started out with 3, 8 port Dlink switches. I now have a 24 port Tenda switch. There are peripheral 8 port switches at the far ends of the house for places where I don't want to pull 8 wires but that's just laziness on my part. The "right" way to do this is to have every single ethernet wire go back to one unmanaged gigabit switch. I also have wifi access points located in strategic spots to kill off any wifi dead spots in our house.

Cablemodem<-->AC1750 Router<-->24 port Switch<==>Everything else

I suggest you take a look over at smallnetbuilder. They have articles on how to set up a home or small office network along with reviews of various routers, switches, wifi access points, etc.

 

[gg81]

I've used both, I have a 16 port unmanaged in the basement which connects to various machines at one end of the house and to router. In turn that connects to managed ones in the office at the other end of the house and is a 90ft cable run. I total I would need 12 cable runs which is a lot of cable and larger holes to pull thru (office is on an upper level) plus there is a lot of machine to machine activity in the office so it keeps that off the main switch.

It is all Cisco small business equipment. The office has 2 * SG200-08 (managed switch - just more convenient that 1 * 16) that had a firmware issue preventing some FTP command working. Took a while to figure out but the previous firmware was on the net and fixed it.

I also have an Apple Airport Extreme at each end of the house for wireless

 

[monokakata]

I was using an older Netgear gigabit switch to feed everything, including two NAS units on another floor. I wanted to experiment with giving more bandwidth to the NAS so I picked up a couple of Netgear GS 108t units.

These can be managed, but don't have to be. They're not fully-managed, so far as I can tell, but you can tweak them.

Even though I read everything carefully before buying (I thought) when I went to set them up, Windows was required. They work fine without any setup, but only as unmanaged switches.

I picked up a W7 disk to install on my rMBP (that seemed like a good idea anyway) but haven't done anything about it yet.

So be careful that whatever switch you get can be managed without Windows (obviously if you have Windows that doesn't matter).

 

[r0k]

I was using an older Netgear gigabit switch to feed everything, including two NAS units on another floor. I wanted to experiment with giving more bandwidth to the NAS so I picked up a couple of Netgear GS 108t units.

These can be managed, but don't have to be. They're not fully-managed, so far as I can tell, but you can tweak them.

Even though I read everything carefully before buying (I thought) when I went to set them up, Windows was required. They work fine without any setup, but only as unmanaged switches.

I picked up a W7 disk to install on my rMBP (that seemed like a good idea anyway) but haven't done anything about it yet.

So be careful that whatever switch you get can be managed without Windows (obviously if you have Windows that doesn't matter).

You can download a Windows VM free from microsoft at modern.ie and manage the switches from inside that VM. You will also need to install the freeware Virtualbox.

 

[mvmanolov]

I was using an older Netgear gigabit switch to feed everything, including two NAS units on another floor. I wanted to experiment with giving more bandwidth to the NAS so I picked up a couple of Netgear GS 108t units.

These can be managed, but don't have to be. They're not fully-managed, so far as I can tell, but you can tweak them.

Even though I read everything carefully before buying (I thought) when I went to set them up, Windows was required. They work fine without any setup, but only as unmanaged switches.

I picked up a W7 disk to install on my rMBP (that seemed like a good idea anyway) but haven't done anything about it yet.

So be careful that whatever switch you get can be managed without Windows (obviously if you have Windows that doesn't matter).

That is not actually true. You don't need win for setup. I have a gs716t and while you need win for the setup assistant software you can connect a mac to the switch directly set it up via the web interface and then place the switch on your man with the correct subnet all configured....

 

[drsox]

I am looking to acquire for a home set up a switch and was curious what folks are using out there. Is anyone using a smart switch or a non-controllable? Any recommendations? Looking for 8-16 ports (gig not 10/100).

Thanks in advance to any suggestions (and what makes that particular switch a good option).

Netgear GS108Tv2. I have 4 of them and 2 of the older v1. The T is managed, the GS108 isn't. Very good, reliable and lifetime warranty (on the box). Only problem IME is that the power bricks can whistle as they get older (but new ones are on eBay all the time). Sometimes you get a new power brick as well as a new(ish) box if you RMA them !

Switches are one of the few product lines that Netgear do well IMO.

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I was using an older Netgear gigabit switch to feed everything, including two NAS units on another floor. I wanted to experiment with giving more bandwidth to the NAS so I picked up a couple of Netgear GS 108t units.

These can be managed, but don't have to be. They're not fully-managed, so far as I can tell, but you can tweak them.

Even though I read everything carefully before buying (I thought) when I went to set them up, Windows was required. They work fine without any setup, but only as unmanaged switches.

I picked up a W7 disk to install on my rMBP (that seemed like a good idea anyway) but haven't done anything about it yet.

So be careful that whatever switch you get can be managed without Windows (obviously if you have Windows that doesn't matter).

Doesn't need Windows to manage the GS108T. Just do an IP scan and connect to it in Safari. All the managing windows are available once you login. Default login password is password, AFAIK.

See : http://pcsupport.about.com/od/netgear-default-passwords/a/gs108t-default-password.htm

 

[phrehdd]

Netgear GS108Tv2. I have 4 of them and 2 of the older v1. The T is managed, the GS108 isn't. Very good, reliable and lifetime warranty (on the box). Only problem IME is that the power bricks can whistle as they get older (but new ones are on eBay all the time). Sometimes you get a new power brick as well as a new(ish) box if you RMA them !

Switches are one of the few product lines that Netgear do well IMO.

----------



Doesn't need Windows to manage the GS108T. Just do an IP scan and connect to it in Safari. All the managing windows are available once you login. Default login password is password, AFAIK.

See : http://pcsupport.about.com/od/netgear-default-passwords/a/gs108t-default-password.htm

Thanks much for the response and a suggested make/model to start with. I have worked with non-controllable (unmanaged) switches in home setting before, massive amount of programmable switches in the work situations but as stated, this is about home and any advantages of one over the other.

 

[monokakata]

Thanks to r0k, mvmalov, drsox, and phrehdd -- obviously I put the task aside too soon. I still don't know why I couldn't connect with Firefox (I tried) but now I can. It must have been one of those days -- all I could think of, after failing to connect, was "well, I must have gotten it wrong about managing it from something besides IE . . . I'll worry about it later."

I did need a W7 for other reasons, so I'm not annoyed about that.

Birthday #71 coming up soon and I hope this isn't an example of what's waiting for me out there in my 8th decade.

 

[Weaselboy]

Birthday #71 coming up soon and I hope this isn't an example of what's waiting for me out there in my 8th decade.

Here is an early happy birthday! (old guys gotta stick together )

 

[brand]

I recommend the Cisco Meraki network equipment.

At home I am currently using the following networking equipment:

Cisco Meraki MX60 Security Appliance that is used as the router, firewall, gateway, and VPN.
Cisco Small Business SG300-28P Switch that is used as the core switch.
Cisco Meraki MR12 Wireless Access Point that is used for wireless access.

Later this year I plan to replace the SG300-28P with a Cisco Meraki MS220 POE switch if the price is right.

 

[mvmanolov]

Thanks to r0k, mvmalov, drsox, and phrehdd -- obviously I put the task aside too soon. I still don't know why I couldn't connect with Firefox (I tried) but now I can. It must have been one of those days -- all I could think of, after failing to connect, was "well, I must have gotten it wrong about managing it from something besides IE . . . I'll worry about it later."

I did need a W7 for other reasons, so I'm not annoyed about that.

Birthday #71 coming up soon and I hope this isn't an example of what's waiting for me out there in my 8th decade.

happy early b-day from me as well glad to see that at this ripe age the tinkering bug doesn't taper off

 

[phrehdd]

Thanks to r0k, mvmalov, drsox, and phrehdd -- obviously I put the task aside too soon. I still don't know why I couldn't connect with Firefox (I tried) but now I can. It must have been one of those days -- all I could think of, after failing to connect, was "well, I must have gotten it wrong about managing it from something besides IE . . . I'll worry about it later."

I did need a W7 for other reasons, so I'm not annoyed about that.

Birthday #71 coming up soon and I hope this isn't an example of what's waiting for me out there in my 8th decade.

Best to you on your day of days. Nice to see some folks here ( like myself) who remember b/w TV sets (grin).

 

[r0k]

Thanks to r0k, mvmalov, drsox, and phrehdd -- obviously I put the task aside too soon. I still don't know why I couldn't connect with Firefox (I tried) but now I can. It must have been one of those days -- all I could think of, after failing to connect, was "well, I must have gotten it wrong about managing it from something besides IE . . . I'll worry about it later."

I did need a W7 for other reasons, so I'm not annoyed about that.

Birthday #71 coming up soon and I hope this isn't an example of what's waiting for me out there in my 8th decade.

Happy Birthday!

I've noticed all kinds of browser problems over the years. Normally on my Mac Google Chrome or Safari "just works" but every now and then nothing works, even Firefox. For instance, the other day I couldn't reach microcenter.com. I could get to it from my iPhone (with wifi turned off) but as soon as I turned on wifi, I couldn't get there. I ended up using one of those proxy sites that make it look like I'm coming from the Czech Republic and microcenter worked. I called and complained to Comcast and expected nothing would happen but a few days later microcenter started working again. Strange. Just strange.

Best to you on your day of days. Nice to see some folks here ( like myself) who remember b/w TV sets (grin).

Not far from our house there was a garage/estate sale where they were selling one of those old console TVs. It had a built in FM-Radio and a 33/45/78 RPM turntable in a drawer. In fact all the TVs in the house were made of wood. It was like being in a time warp.

 

[monokakata]

Now I've hijacked an entire thread. But hey, it's all about me!

I do remember BW TV.

I didn't see TV until I was 11, and that was because our town didn't have it until 1954. Honolulu had it about a year earlier. Then we had one channel, CBS, and we got it via a signal that came from Maui, hit a reflecting antenna up on Mauna Loa, which sent it downslope to a tower that I could see out the back of our house. When it was windy on Mauna Loa the reflector shook and sometimes went out of alignment.

Yeah. We old guys have dealt with old tech. To crunch the numbers for my PhD thesis I punched (and verified) nearly 10,000 cards on an IBM keypunch. Talk about mind-numbing (and noisy). The cards went to a System/360 for overnight processing. I had to provide my own tape, which I got from a surplus place and was marked "Saturn V launch data."

One more old-days thing. Although I understood about logging into a computer via modem and teletype, I certainly didn't understand networking. In the early 70s, I was visiting a friend who was working at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN). He fired up a little TI teletype and said, "Watch this," and proceeded to log onto the BBN PDP-10 and then without hanging up and redialing, he logged into half a dozen university systems around the country. I didn't get it at all. I said, "Oh, interesting."

 

[mvmanolov]

Now I've hijacked an entire thread. But hey, it's all about me!

I do remember BW TV.

I didn't see TV until I was 11, and that was because our town didn't have it until 1954. Honolulu had it about a year earlier. Then we had one channel, CBS, and we got it via a signal that came from Maui, hit a reflecting antenna up on Mauna Loa, which sent it downslope to a tower that I could see out the back of our house. When it was windy on Mauna Loa the reflector shook and sometimes went out of alignment.

Yeah. We old guys have dealt with old tech. To crunch the numbers for my PhD thesis I punched (and verified) nearly 10,000 cards on an IBM keypunch. Talk about mind-numbing (and noisy). The cards went to a System/360 for overnight processing. I had to provide my own tape, which I got from a surplus place and was marked "Saturn V launch data."

One more old-days thing. Although I understood about logging into a computer via modem and teletype, I certainly didn't understand networking. In the early 70s, I was visiting a friend who was working at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN). He fired up a little TI teletype and said, "Watch this," and proceeded to log onto the BBN PDP-10 and then without hanging up and redialing, he logged into half a dozen university systems around the country. I didn't get it at all. I said, "Oh, interesting."

what was your phd in?

i am currently in a phd program (social sciences - legal studies)... no tape here though i may get a tape drive as a backup just to muck about with...

 

[monokakata]

what was your phd in?

i am currently in a phd program (social sciences - legal studies)... no tape here though i may get a tape drive as a backup just to muck about with...

Anthropology -- subdivision "ecological anthropology." I did land use, subsistence agriculture, cash cropping, culture change, out in the South Pacific on an island called Bougainville. The keypunching was of cocoa sales records at an agricultural cooperative, which I entered into notebooks by hand. I also weighed about 100,000 sweet potatoes, individually, in order to track subsistence garden production over time (a couple of years). I also had to become a self-taught land surveyor. Some questions can't be tackled without quantitative data, and when I was a grad student and then a young post-doc, nobody in my field had anything but the most casual data about land use.

I got scolded here once for "self promotion," which was accidental, but I don't want to do it again. I'll only say that if you want to know more, you can google my username, which will quickly lead you to my real name and websites.

And about tape drives -- my tape was a big old 9 track reel-to-reel. But if you can cobble together something that understands SCSI I will gladly send you a working Sony DAT deck.