[zx10guy]

So I figured I would put this thread up as there have been a few questions over the past months about smart switches. For those who do not know what a smart switch is, a smart switch is basically a managed switch but you administer the switch via a web GUI. Because of the lack of a CLI and some omissions of features normally available to fully managed switches, the cost of smart switches for the same number of ports and speed are less than their fully managed counterparts. So why do people normally get a smart switch? Mainly, it is to get 802.1Q VLAN tagging. 802.1Q VLAN tagging is a layer 2 protocol where frames are tagged in a certain way so the switch can determine which member ports the traffic is to be directed to. In essence, you are creating logical separation in your network without the need to actually use physical switches to create this isolation. Many corporate networks have at least a few VLANs. Just imagine having to buy a full set of switches for each application you would have used a VLAN. Now add in the complexity of having to run dedicated cabling for each isolated switch network. VLANs also helps in creating security trust zones and aids in network performance as broadcasts/multicasts are contained into a smaller segment of your network. Other features of note of smart switches are link aggregation via the 802.3ad standard and quality of service (QoS.) Aggregated links allow some measure of load balancing and link redundancy between devices which support this standard. It is mainly used for links between switches.

So I've been recommending the Dell PowerConnect 2708 switch for many who want a small cheap smart switch with GigE capability. Normally, the switch can be had for around $83 but it looks like the special Dell has been running on this switch has now expired and it is showing as $109. Well, recently I purchased two smart switches that are GigE and under $100. First up is the Cisco Small Business (also known as Linksys) SLM2005. It is a 5 port GigE switch which has the usual features of your typical smart switch. But this switch has one thing that I was waiting on some manufacturer to finally include in a small form factor switch....802.3af (power over ethernet.) What this means the switch does not need one of those wall warts to get power. As long as you have a device which injects power over category cabling, the switch can run without any external power. Why was this a huge find for me? I needed a switch which was as small as possible to go in the back of my A/V rack in my A/V room. I had pulled two Cat5e drops to the back of the rack but am using one of them for the phone connection for the DirecTV HD DVR. This leaves one drop. I have three devices which I want to network...a Blu Ray player, the HD DVR, and my plasma. Even using the second LAN port on my HD DVR would leave me one port short. So I need a switch. The SLM2005 fits my requirements to a T. It is small measuring in at a tick over 5"x5"x1". What sold me was the ability to not have to worry about supplying power for the switch and routing the power cable. The managed capabilities of the switch are just an extra icing on the cake. Setup of the switch was pretty straight forward. The only gripe I have about the included documentation was the absence of a printed quick start guide which tells me the default IP of the switch without having to throw in the included CD. The default IP was also not printed on the switch anywhere. From the initial examination of the features, the switch supports most of the features one would expect except support for rapid spanning tree protocol (RSTP) 802.3w which is now becoming the standard for STP protocol between switches. Also absent from the switch is SNMP. What I found as a nice feature is the ability to change the administration VLAN from the default of VLAN 1 which is common with all smart switches. Currently, NewEgg is selling this switch for $74 plus shipping.



Next up is the Netgear GS108T. Now why did I purchase this switch? Mainly because I just wanted all my switches running link aggregation to also use link aggregation control protocol (LACP.) Link aggregation can run in two modes under the 802.3ad standard (static and LACP.) LACP provides for better overhead management of the logical link in terms of failover detection and link negotiation. My former 2708 does not support LACP nor does the newer updated model the 2808. Another nice feature absent from the 2708 is the support for SNMP in the GS108T. Being that I am running a network monitoring server, the ability to keep tabs on most/all of my gear is somewhat important to me. The 2708 is also lacking in not having the ability to send logging information to a syslog server which the GS108T supports. Another feature the GS108T supports which was a pleasant suprise is RSTP. For a small desktop 8 port GigE switch, the GS108T is winning me over as the under $100 smart switch of choice. Something which may or may not be important to you is the warranty. Netgear provides a "lifetime" warranty for all their ProSafe netowrk devices...(3 years on any external power supplies.) The lifetime is in quotes because it really isn't lifetime in the literal sense. Netgear will warranty the ProSafe devices for 20 years which is in essence the useable lifetime of that network device. NewEgg is currently selling this switch for $85 with free shipping.



Well, that concludes my initial impressions. I'll add more to this thread if there are things worth mentioning as I put these switches through their paces.

[ozziebeanie]

Thanks zx10guy always like to read about products, and will await your next update on these.

[zx10guy]

You're welcome. I appreciate your feedback.

[JohnWill]

Good information, and I'm still thinking about my network reorganization, so this is very timely.

I wondered about one of the negative comments on this switch at NewEgg, care to comment on These?

802.1q trunking is not a feature. Only one vlan may be assigned to a switchport at a time. For trunking to be possible, more than one vlan needs to be assignable to a single switchport. If your excited about the "vlan support" don't get your hopes up, I can't see almost no reason to have vlan support without trunking.

Latest firmware (3.x) provides a poor web interface. (Can't see the link speed, selection is just plain weird).
Latest firmware (3.x) removes the telnet interface.
Never had any ssh management support.

This one is pretty odd, hard to imagine what's going on there!

I bought 3 of these for my home network, and discovered I can't seem to get the web interfaces to pull up properly on any of them when more than one of them is connected in my LAN! (If I enter the unique IP address I assign one of them, it starts to SLOWLY pull up a few pieces of their web administration page and dies. I had to program them individually while the others were temporarily disconnected, to get them all configured the way I wanted them.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by JohnWill

Good information, and I'm still thinking about my network reorganization, so this is very timely.

I wondered about one of the negative comments on this switch at NewEgg, care to comment on These?



This one is pretty odd, hard to imagine what's going on there!

Hi John,

The first quote is from a guy who can't be more wrong. The guy clearly still doesn't understand 802.1Q VLAN tagging. All the smart switches operate in the same manner. If you want a particular switch port to be a VLAN trunk (meaning the port is transmitting network traffic for multiple VLANs), you just go into the port membership part of the GUI and for each VLAN you want to go through that port select T for tagging. And that's it. It's this way for Netgear as it is for Linksys as it is for Dell. I've configured tons of smart switches in my experience. Netgear....FS526T, GS108T, GS748TP. Dell....PowerConnect 2708 and 2748. Linksys....SLM2005 and a 24 port GigE PoE switch who's model number escapes me right now. In the case of my home network, I have the Netgear GS748TP with 2 LAG connections into my Cisco 2960 8 port GigE switch. Off of the GS748TP I have the Linksys SLM2005 on a single connection and the GS108T (replacing the Dell 2708) with 2 LAG connections. All of these switches are talking to each other with no problems over the VLANs I've created. I have 5 VLANs on my network. The GS748TP is running all 5. The GS108T is running 4 of them. And the SLM2005 is running 2. In fact, the SLM2005's single VLAN trunk connection is also being powered off of this link from the GS748TP. Again no problems even going through my Cisco switches (2960 and 3560) which are linked together via VLAN trunk. All the clients on the VLANs are able to talk to my internal firewall (ASA 5505) over the VLAN trunk connection hanging off of the 3560. My wireless AP (Netgear WG102) is also functioning fine in this setup as the AP is serving up wireless connectivity for 2 of my VLANs. The WG102 is running two BSSIDs and the traffic is separated out via VLAN tagging. Also, I recall in one of my work projects integrating an old 3Com managed switch with this type of VLAN setup schema as the current crop of smart switches with a Cisco 6500 switch....again no problems there either. My last job I also tied in a Linksys and a Dell smart switch with a HP Procurve fully managed layer 2 switch....again no problems.

Sorry for the rant...but it ticks me off when someone posts a comment like that as an "expert" review when they clearly have no idea what they're talking about. It amazes me that people would name drop Cisco in their comments just to make it seem like they have some credibility.

Again, the person in the second quote really needs to learn how to click through a web interface or RTFM. Can't see link speed for each port?

As far as I'm concerned, telnet support is not a big deal. As I said in my write up, CLI functionality was taken out of most smart switches to reduce complexity and bring down costs. The new Dell 28xx series switches now have telnet support. But Dell tells you upfront that the functionality is limited. If he wanted CLI capability, buy a fully managed switch and plunk down an easy few hundred dollars more for the same port count and speed. And the comment about SSH....

The last one is definitely wierd. I have noticed some issues with getting the web GUI to pull up on my GS748TP. The problems happened right after I upgraded to IE 8. I have no problems pulling up the web GUI when I run it through Firefox or IE 7. I did notice some compatibility issues when running the GUI on Firefox but I can still pull up the interface with no problems. I'm just thankful I didn't upgrade one of my laptops to IE 7. I searched on Netgear and their support forums and no one has mentioned this which I find odd. The other odd thing is the GS108T runs fine with IE 8 with the layout being pretty much identical to the GS748TP.

And for an FYI, I upgraded the GS108T to the current firmware version of 3.0.4.4.

[JohnWill]

I thought some of those comments sounded pretty far off-target, but I like to review the comments on a product there to see if there are real issues that aren't apparent from the description of the device.

I was puzzled about what the SSH would be useful for, you're in a private network after all! I'm all for security, but there is a limit. I figured you'd like that one.

The oddball issue with accessing the web interface was the one that gave the most credence to, but that may have been something strange about his network setup rather than the switches themselves. The smart switches do give you lots more bullets in the gun to shoot yourself in the foot with.

Obviously, it's really useful to have someone that's really used them and has the proper background to properly analyze the comments, which is why I found it so timely that you posted this.

Maybe you should post a comment on the NewEgg reviews.