Should I get a Gigabit smart switch?

[MarkProvanP]

I'm aquiring things for the network rack that will be at the centre of our home network, and I've already purchased the first device:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270728863573&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

It's a Netgear FS750T 48+2G smart switch, which is ideal since I want to put different wireless SSIDs on different VLANs (DD-WRT FTW). However, I'm still looking around for a Gigabit switch (which will be a kind of backbone) and I'm wondering if it is a better idea to spend twice as much to get a smart/managed one. (I'm scrounging around on eBay to get used stuff rather than full price new)

Since all the devices that will take advantage of Gigabit speeds would be physically connected to it, such as the various desktops and the server, I'm not sure about the need for VLANs and the like. However, this SmallNetBuilder article has made me think about getting a Gigabit smart switch.

This is the unmanaged switch I'm thinking of:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/D-Link-DGS-1024D-24-Port-Gigabit-1000-Ethernet-Switch-/170635944438?pt=UK_Computing_NetworkSwitches_RL&hash=item27bab1e1f6

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sk1939]

There is no real need to use multiple vlans on a typical home network in my opinion, but if you do, you would need to be able to do inter-vlan routing if you want them to talk to each other, or the internet.

Personally, I would have just bought a gigabit switch from the onset because it simplifies the network design, and really, are you going to truly use 48 ports?

The switch you posted should work for your needs just fine, although I'm not a huge fan of the green switches in an enterprise network, they're fine for most home and SMB networks.

 

[stevech]

I too wonder why you need the complexity of VLANs in a home network. Maybe you want people on a Guest SSID to route only to the WAN and not access your servers. Maybe you can do that with cheap gear by using an access point (or faked router) on that SSID, static LAN IP, and a fixed route in the router's route table. Some consumer routers allow for static routes - my MBR900 does.

I can see it's useful if you want to spend the $$ to learn this for use on your resume', but study for a CCNA or such is probably a better use of time and money.

I have two $25 gigE switches in my home LAN.

 

[MarkProvanP]

I'm not aiming for a CCNA or any other technician certificates, but I appreciate that VLANs are a little overkill for a home network. My planned career path is more on the CompSci end of the sector, but what I do here cannot hurt.

Originally, I was going to get both an unmanaged Gigabit and 10/00 switch, with more ports on the 10/100. However, since I found that deal on the FS750T (which arrived today, BTW, and is surprisingly heavy :S) the budget for the Gigabit switch has gone up.

Since this will all be installed in a rack, away from sight and hearing range, any extra equipment isn't really a problem.

Guest & extra WLANs are something I would like to do, even if purely for the educational value. Having the smart switch is quite a good thing, since it means I have one 10/100 switch for both slower devices (i.e. smart TVs and a Wii) and for wireless routers running DD-WRT. One of the Gigabit uplink ports will be for all the standard devices, connected to the Gigabit switch, and the other uplink will go to the pfSense firewall's OPT1.

Are there any great issues with using a Green switch that I should be aware of? If I remember correctly, they might not like longer cable lengths?

 

[sk1939]

They require a tighter cable tolerance, so it may not appreciate poor cable termination. Other than that, the only other issue I could see is possibly diminished throughput, and/or slight latency. I don't think it's an issue for this particular switch though, because this particular switch just turns off unused ports to save power, hence the "green".