Smart Switch - Recommendations

stephenw10

Will this make my current switches redundant or can I connect them to the smart switch?

You can chain the switches together to get more ports, at the end of a cable run for example.
Obviously if you are using VLANs then your managed switch will have to be connected directly to your Firebox but other than that any combination should work.

Steve

Sleeps

Steve

That's good to know that my existing switches will still be usable. Now just have to wait to see if i get a response about which switch to buy?

Thanks again for the quick response

Sleeps

dreamslacker

You would probably want to buy the RB250GS if you're only limiting your choices to those 2 units. The RB has 5 Gigabit ports whereas the TP-Link only has 2 (without buying a SFP module). This pretty much limits your expansion to other switches to 100Mbit.

The RB250GS is a bit convoluted to configure for VLANs due to it's weird nomenclature on the WebGUI but once you understand what the individual settings actually mean, it's mighty fine for a very low cost switch.
Also note that you need to flash the RB250GS to at least firmware 1.2. The stock firmware shipped with it (1.0) is absolute nonsense. None of the features work on that version. Firmware 1.2 gets things going though.

Sleeps

These are the only 2 cheap units i've seen. I will rule out 10/100 switches now that I know its possible to use the existing Gigabit switches. I will see what other Gigabit smart switches are available first before purchasing the RB250GS.

Thanks again.

Sleeps

jimp

I'm fond of the Netgear GS-108T that I have. It's an 8 port gigabit managed switch, and though it's a tad more expensive than the devices you mentioned, it's probably worth a couple extra bucks for a device that is known to work reliably.

Sleeps

RB250GS is out of the question looked at their forum too many issues for a newbie. Found another TP Link SG2109WEB which is Gigabit. However since jimp replied I'm now steering towards the Netgear GS-108T known make and lots of support on the net and its just over £30.00 difference.

Thanks again

Sleeps

ZPrime

Consider also the HP V1810-8G Switch (J9449A). Might be out of your price range, but they are great pieces of hardware.

I'm not a huge fan of Netgear's web-managed models now that I discovered their management pages don't work correctly in Google Chrome (or by extension, Apple Safari). Firefox works, but inability to use a Mac's "in-box" browser is kind of a glaring overlook, IMHO.

taryezveb

@jimp:

I'm fond of the Netgear GS-108T that I have. It's an 8 port gigabit managed switch, and though it's a tad more expensive than the devices you mentioned, it's probably worth a couple extra bucks for a device that is known to work reliably.

+1, I'm also a happy Netgear GS-108T switch user :)

cmb

@taryezveb:

+1, I'm also a happy Netgear GS-108T switch user :)

Ditto, and I administer it in Chrome with no issues, not sure what bradenmcg is referring to. For a low cost managed switch with solid features that's not bad, it's a good choice. For more enterprise-grade needs I prefer HP.

Sleeps

Thanks for all your valuable information you provided. I will compare the devices and then make a decision on features, reliability, speed, usability etc rather than price. The price ranges from £69-£125 which is still within my budget.

Thanks again

Sleeps

dreamslacker

@Sleeps:

RB250GS is out of the question looked at their forum too many issues for a newbie. Found another TP Link SG2109WEB which is Gigabit. However since jimp replied I'm now steering towards the Netgear GS-108T known make and lots of support on the net and its just over £30.00 difference.

Thanks again

Sleeps

If all you need is the VLAN functionality, the RB250GS with firmware 1.2 or 1.3 will work just fine. I do own one unit and have no issues thus far. If you want anything else, I'd say that the Netgear or a HP Procurve is probably right up your alley.

stephenw10

The RB250GS does seem amazingly cheap. Can it really be any good at that price? :o

A few years ago when I was last looking around for gigabit switches you couldn't buy an unmanaged switch for that price.

Now I'm running a firebox with 10 interfaces I can't really justify an extra switch! ;D

Steve

Perry

I'm also happy with my RB250GS. After upgrading to firmware 1.4 (94 days ago) I was able to manage it over vlan and it now has the functionality for a home managed switch I need.

dreamslacker

@stephenw10:

The RB250GS does seem amazingly cheap. Can it really be any good at that price? :o

A few years ago when I was last looking around for gigabit switches you couldn't buy an unmanaged switch for that price.

Now I'm running a firebox with 10 interfaces I can't really justify an extra switch! ;D

Steve

If you only need VLANs, packet forwarding/ mirroring, basic statistics and control over flow control, it works well. I've not tried the other stuff like port speed limiting and such but I reckon those would be flaky at best.
The switch is somewhat slow to reply on pings though. 18ms over Gbe typical. I doubt the processor would handle more than the basic functions. In fact, I reckon the processor only exists to provide WebGUI configuration of the switch IC.

I usually use the switch to trace cabling infrastructure. Beats paying more for those Network cable tracers with extra ID units.

Sleeps

@dreamslacker:

@Sleeps:

RB250GS is out of the question looked at their forum too many issues for a newbie. Found another TP Link SG2109WEB which is Gigabit. However since jimp replied I'm now steering towards the Netgear GS-108T known make and lots of support on the net and its just over £30.00 difference.

Thanks again

Sleeps

If all you need is the VLAN functionality, the RB250GS with firmware 1.2 or 1.3 will work just fine. I do own one unit and have no issues thus far. If you want anything else, I'd say that the Netgear or a HP Procurve is probably right up your alley.

I was tempted buying the RB 250GS but was put off by the amount of issues users were having (RB Forum) I rather pay the extra money for an eight port and for the other features. At the moment I'm only interested in VLAN however once I become familiar with the device (Still thinking of which to buy) the features will be there and I won't have to replace it for a more featured one.

Sleeps

darko-san

I’ve just bought RB 250GS, unfortunately before reading this topic.
The GS108T looks pretty well, but while searching for a price I came across GS108T-200GES (GS108Tv2). This is supposed to be version 2 of the switch. Could somebody provide feedback on this unit, the price is almost the same as for the older version? As for RB 250GS, working on 1.5 firmware version, I manage to configure some basic VLANs, port mirroring works too, but after reading the specs of GS108T-200GES, I’m definitely willing to buy on.

taryezveb

The GS108T-200GES is the one I own and it has been working well for me. Even tho I always just say I own a GS108T.

xtropx

Personally I am partial to Cisco gear. Gigabit switches are expensive though, but if you are just trying to learn a little about VLANS Cisco 2950s are pretty nice. I have a couple of them for my CCNA.

Otherwise:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833181118

…but I have never used any of them. Sure to get the job done if VLANs are all you are after.
GL

taryezveb

@xtropx:

Personally I am partial to Cisco gear. Gigabit switches are expensive though, but if you are just trying to learn a little about VLANS Cisco 2950s are pretty nice. I have a couple of them for my CCNA.

Otherwise:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833181118

…but I have never used any of them. Sure to get the job done if VLANs are all you are after. + They are gigabit.

GL

Just a note on the switches recommended above. They 10/100Mbps NOT gigabit.

Sleeps

@Sleeps:

I'm currently running ver 1.2.3 on an FB connected to two unmanaged Gigabit switches. (Lan and OPT1) and its working fine. However I want to start dabbling with VLANS and now considering buying a cheap Smart Switch. (Not too bothered about the speed of the device) will this make my current switches redundant or can I connect them to the smart switch?

I have seen two switches:

Routerboard 250GS 5 Port Gigabit Managed Switch
TP-Link 8+2G Gigabit-Uplink Web Smart Switch with 1 SFP Expansion Slots.

Sleeps

I decided to order a TP Link SG2109web Gigabit managed switch instead,because of the features and got a good price. Hopefully should arrive within the next 2 weeks. Been looking through the forum on vlans and it looks complicated. However, the instructions in the pfSense book looks straight forward. This will be the big test when it arrives.

Thanks again for all the advice.

Sleeps