Can you link 1 switch to another switch?

[thevlcuser]

Hello!

I have a simple question I think. I want to connect for example 24 IP Cameras with ethernet cable and want to use 4 Switches that has
8 ports each.

I wonder if it is possible to connect the swithes in a SERIAL manner like this. So I would have something like 24 or more contacts to use?

Switch1 -> Switch2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4 -> Router

Thank you

 

[PolarBear]

Hello!

I have a simple question I think. I want to connect for example 24 IP Cameras with ethernet cable and want to use 4 Switches that has
8 ports each.

I wonder if it is possible to connect the swithes in a SERIAL manner like this. So I would have something like 24 or more contacts to use?

Switch1 -> Switch2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4 -> Router

Thank you

Technically, yes. But you would get marginally better performance by connecting switches 2, 3, 4 directly to switch 1. Whether you would be able to see the difference, I don't know.

 

[microchip]

Hello!

I have a simple question I think. I want to connect for example 24 IP Cameras with ethernet cable and want to use 4 Switches that has
8 ports each.

I wonder if it is possible to connect the swithes in a SERIAL manner like this. So I would have something like 24 or more contacts to use?

Switch1 -> Switch2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4 -> Router

Thank you

Yes, it's possible. This configuration is know as switch cascading. I have such a setup at my home. No issues yet

 

[Klueless]

I'm an amateur so I go by "rules" rather than "why". Said differently, I've been taught "what to think" rather than "how to think".

So I've been taught to avoid cascading switches. That said I have and it works. Let's play for a moment;

Availability: Let's pretend any one device will go down once a year such that the availability of any one device is 99.7%. Add five (5) more devices inline and that's six (6) outages a year with an availability of what, 98.6%?

Repair: We've added five things (as well as additional cables, AC power adapters, outlets, circuit breakers, etc.) that could go wrong. Which one is the culprit?

Latency: Let's pretend Ethernet latency to the router is 0.5 ms. Now let's stick five more devices (switches and cables) in between. That "could" go up to a couple of milliseconds (and it might not because I don't know how to calculate the benefit of "cut through" switching : -)

Now that would be just a "nit" in the world of 30ms Intetnet latencies but could be of interest if you're running an old fashioned client/server database application locally.​

Congestion: On lower end switches could/do the gigabit ports connecting the switches inline become a "pinch" point?

Impact: If all the switches were "home runned" a switch failure would knockout 6 cameras. If they were all cascaded / connected in serial a single switch failure would knock out anywhere from 6 to all 24 cameras.

Myself, I'm not seeing a significant issue. Bottom line you've gotta do what you gotta do. Worse case you can always go back and "home run" a switch or two as needed. Have you considered "home running" (not the cameras) but just (some of) the switches?

 

[microchip]

There is not a lot wrong with cascading, provided you know you'll never go beyond/reach the port speeds of the devices. If do you, this will choke your network. So if you have a main switch connected to a second one and on the second one all or enough devices try to get as much bandwidth as possible, they will be limited since they'll all compete for the bandwidth of the entry port. In other words, they'll fully saturate it and they'll never reach the maximum possible bandwidth they're capable of on their end

 

[coxhaus]

I try to go no more than 3 deep on switches. Usually a larger switch or a stacking switch will solve the problem.

PS
This is why they make stacking switches. Stacking switches count as 1 deep even if there are several in the stack.

 

[Greg72]

Switches and Routers can be cascaded. It is easier to cascade switches than run multiple runs to a location unless it is for Backbone, then you want fallover connections, etc if connecting multiple networks on a domain.

 

[thevlcuser]

Switches and Routers can be cascaded. It is easier to cascade switches than run multiple runs to a location unless it is for Backbone, then you want fallover connections, etc if connecting multiple networks on a domain.

This sounds like an excellent solution as you mention to link the other switches from switch 4 for example instead of chaining them.

Thank you for that info.
I might also wonder, if the switches has GB speed. Then the router must also have GB speed if I understand to not make the router a bottleneck?.
Are there routers with specification like this?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I might also wonder, if the switches has GB speed. Then the router must also have GB speed if I understand to not make the router a bottleneck?.
Are there routers with specification like this?

More or less every router sold nowadays has gigabit LAN ports.

 

[follower]

This sounds like an excellent solution as you mention to link the other switches from switch 4 for example instead of chaining them.

Thank you for that info.
I might also wonder, if the switches has GB speed. Then the router must also have GB speed if I understand to not make the router a bottleneck?.
Are there routers with specification like this?

Router(10/100) + Switch(10/100/1000) > Switches work as 10/100.
Router(10/100/1000) + Switch(10/100)> Switches work as 10/100.

 

[follower]

Hello!

I have a simple question I think. I want to connect for example 24 IP Cameras with ethernet cable and want to use 4 Switches that has
8 ports each.

I wonder if it is possible to connect the swithes in a SERIAL manner like this. So I would have something like 24 or more contacts to use?

Switch1 -> Switch2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4 -> Router

Thank you

Why don't you buy a 24port or more switch?

 

[Greg72]

In order to use gig speeds, everything must be capable of gig speeds back to the Headend of the ISP.

 

[Klueless]

Why don't you buy a 24port or more switch?

Because then one would have to "home run" all the cameras to one place. Not bad but not always easy/cheap. With multiple switches one might be able to uh optimize wiring runs.