Netgear-TP-Link Compatibility

[colecaz]

I have several Netgear GS-108E and GS-105E smart switches and want to add a 16 port smart switch to the network. I'm using the 802.1Q VLAN functions of the Netgear switches and need compatibility with them.

Will a TP-Link SG1016DE or SG2216 switches be compatible with the Netgear?

I ask because I have found that even within Netgear switches the GS-108Ev1 and GS-108Ev3 don't work the same in all functions. The Netgear configuration utility can't see the V3 unit if it is using tagged vlan yet it can see the V1 unit even with tags.

 

[Cloud200]

As long as a switch supports 802.1q then you can pass tagged VLANs back and forth all you like.
You may have to tweak things like the PVID or whether a port has a native VLAN as well as being tagged, but otherwise it should work. Just check to see if 802.1q is listed in the features/specs.

 

[colecaz]

UPDATE March 22, 2015: The TP-Link TL-SG1024DE I wound up with does play nicely with the Netgear GS-105E/108E series of switches using 802.1Q vlan tagging.

There is one point I had to discover the hard way. Nobody's tech support people knew how to explain why the configuration utilities of either Netgear or TP-Link could see the switches over the network. With the help of Google I discovered that the switches will not respond to the configuration utility if all they have are tagged ports to find the switches. I have three vlans, 2, 50 and 60. Plus the default vlan 1. Vlan 2 is a trunk and ports using it are tagged in the individual vlans. So no discovery by the config utility if coming in via the trunk. It discovers the switch nicely if coming in via a untagged port on the switch. By making all ports be members of vlan1 and untagged and giving the trunk ports PVID of 1, suddenly the utility can find all the switches.

Earlier versions of the Netgear switches didn't seem to care about the tagged ports but according to NG support, version 3 of the GS108E has a different Broadcom chip and does care. They just didn't know how to deal with it for configuration via the network instead of a direct connection.

 

[coxhaus]

I think normally when using VLANs you use access ports for clients and devices. You use trunked ports to pass multiple VLANS. You don’t use trunks for client ports. I hope this helps.

 

[colecaz]

That's what I'm doing. I guess I didn't write it very clearly. Tagged trunk ports are also members of the main vlans, vlans 50 and 60. Devices are connected to ports that are only members of vlans 50 or 60 and their ports have the PVID of their vlan.

 

[coxhaus]

I am sorry I meant access ports untagged as I always use untagged access ports. If this is what you meant also then with are in sync.

 

[colecaz]

Yes, the access ports are untagged. Only the trunks are tagged. It's my understanding that the access ports automatically tag their incoming data with the PVID so the switch knows where to send it and making an access port tagged only adds a tag to the outgoing (egress?) data and does nothing to the incoming data.

I'm far from an expert in switching and vlans but I'm stumbling through getting my small home network setup and learning in the process.

 

[coxhaus]

I route my whole layer 3 switch through one access port untagged to a router. There are 3 IP networks being routed. The layer 3 switch knows which VLAN all the IP addresses come and go from.