Now then Don't really know much about networking, but im looking to get an 8 port gigabit switch for some future projects im thinking about. quite a few different ones out there and to be honest, im lost. Can anyone recommend me a reliable one reasonably priced? Cheers Chris
oops. updated. Thanks Nothing fancy. Just want to be able to turn it on, plug various things in and leave it alone.
What type of Gigabit* switch are you after? Managed or unmanaged? I've had the pictured version of the Cisco SG100D-08 unmanaged switch mounted under my desk for a while now - it offers perfect performance, a reasonable price, good warranty and the usual Cisco reliability so far. The reason I needed this was because I sometimes run as many as 6 Ethernet devices* on/around my desk at once and only have two RJ45 sockets on the wall running back to the patch panel. It's probably not the sort of thing professionals would recommend doing in an enterprise network, but for my little home/workshop setup it works very well. *PC, laptop, printer, WAP, Raspberry Pi & NAS [edit] Ninja'd by Saspro whilst looking for the image!
I've got one of those switches too. It's excellent (that's the managed one, right - I've got an umanaged cisco one too sitting under my access point)
i was just trying to find out what the difference is between managed and unmanaged. Any clue? Honestly you're talking to a complete nOOb at networking.
That one is unmanaged - I let my Dell 5324's do all the management, this is just a way for me to connect so many devices around one desk without running extra cables the whole way from my patch cabinet down to the office ChrisC - managed means it runs console software which allows you to configure what each port does individually, unmanaged is in the simplest explanation, a network splitter, plug & play.
Thanks for explaining. Unmanaged will probably just do me then. Ill have a look into that one you suggested above.
I've got the previous version of this; http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8-po...thernet-gigabit-environmental-friendly-switch Had it running non-stop for the past ~3 years with no issues at all. Plug stuff in and leave it alone! I've currently got plugged in; 1x iMac 1x Mac Mini 1x Synology NAS 1x PS3 1x WDTV and 1 uplink to my internet router
I used D-Link DGS-1005D 5-Port Desktop Gigabit Switch. I am not much competent of that, just used it and cannot say anything negative.
whilst we are talking managed and unmanaged, you can get some that are called smart switches, which are slightly cheaper than fully managed switches. they have a web interface like fully managed switches, but lack some of the facilities.
I use a Netgear GS108 and it has been faultless with excellent build quality. I like how it looks too. £30 on amazon
+1 for this switch I've used this for a while now, printer, server and my computer plugged in atm, I've got nothing bad to say about it. Reasonable price, great warranty, Cisco quality.. What else do I need to say?
It seems all required issues are mentioned. I think nothing else is necessary, just price, warranty and quality working.
tbh if you manage to buy a switch that is a dog, I'd question where, who and why you bought it. Don't worry. Just stick to known good makes like above. Normally I think like this in the world of computer networking: if I don't know what it is, there is a good chance I don't need it.
Cheers chaps for all your suggestions and advice. its greatly appreciated. I think ive narrowed it down to either the Netgear or the Cisco. thanks again.
If you run a flat network, then virtually any switch will do. If you want support for VLANS and other tidbits, the only reasonably priced smart switch is the GS108T-200UKS.
A vlan is just a way of segregating networks, with a layer 3 switch you can also add routes between vlans. Vlans just put a tag in the packet header, if you get a managed switch normally all the ports will be a member of VLAN 1 by default, you can then configure ports to be in different VLAN's (2, 3, etc.). Then network traffic will only talk with other traffic on the same vlan. if the choice is netgear or cisco, Cisco > Netgear.
