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24+ port fanless managed switch with 8 PoE ports?

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MustacheSwe

Occasional Visitor
I am looking for a (simple) managed switch with at least 24 ports, where at least 8 ports are PoE enabled. Since it will be used in a home environment, it needs to be very quiet (ideally passively cooled/fanless). Total PoE power budget needed is 85W.

Does this exist?.. Thankful for any suggestions...
 
I would look for a POE+ switch. POE is old and getting outdated. I would think you would want 26 watts per port or more than 85 watts. 85 watts is pretty low.
 
@coxhaus - I agree, not so much by preference, but moreover that, as you said, PoE+ is all but included on basically most stuff being made now. I'm sure the OP wouldn't mind PoE+ and/or higher wattage, as long as it's the quietest option possible with 24+ ports.

@MustacheSwe - As you probably know, most 24 and 48-port models will have active fans, typically at 35-40 dB or higher volume. That being said, there are exceptions, but the list is short. Here they are:
  • Ruckus (Brocade) ICX 7150-24p / -48P
    L3 Basic | CLI with web interface | 370W PoE/PoE+ | "Fanless mode" when pushing <150W PoE | -24P is $1200 new, $800 refurb (eBay)
  • Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960L-24PS-LL
    L2+ | CLI with web interface | 195W PoE/PoE+ | Fanless/Silent | $1100 new, $700 refurb (eBay)
  • Zyxel GS1920-24HPv2 / -48HPv2
    L2+ | "Smart" Web-Managed | 375W PoE/PoE+ | Quiet fans at 27.2 dB (-24HPv2) and 26.5 dB (-48HPv2) | $380 and $440 (Amazon)
Nothing silent enough at 24+ ports: Cisco SG series, HPE/Aruba, Extreme, Allied Telesis, Netgear, D-Link, TP-Link, Buffalo, FS, Ubiquiti, Mikrotik.

I also excluded triple-stacking silent 8-port models, such as HPE 2930F's, due to awkwardness and cost.

So that's basically what's out there. If you can live with a little bit of whisper-quiet noise, the Zyxel's are probably your best bang for the buck, and simplest to operate.
 
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I needed POE+ to run my 3 wireless APs. Rather than replace my 24 port switch I bought a Cisco SG300-10 MPP switch. If I replaced my main switch the port 24 model had fans and would be noisy. So I kept my fanless main switch and just added a Cisco 10 port POE+ switch which has no fans. All I had to do was trunk the 2 switches together for all the network VLANs to work.

You might try buying a main switch and then buying a small POE+ switch to run your devices. This gives you the ability to add more POE+ switches without having to replace your main switch, expandability.
 
I needed POE+ to run my 3 wireless APs. Rather than replace my 24 port switch I bought a Cisco SG300-10 MPP switch. If I replaced my main switch the port 24 model had fans and would be noisy. So I kept my fanless main switch and just added a Cisco 10 port POE+ switch which has no fans. All I had to do was trunk the 2 switches together for all the network VLANs to work.

You might try buying a main switch and then buying a small POE+ switch to run your devices. This gives you the ability to add more POE+ switches without having to replace your main switch, expandability.
Thanks a lot, coxhaus! Yes, that is actually not a bad idea, it would give me a lot more flexibility!.. Sorry for noob question, but when trunking switches together, would those two switches have to be the same brand/firmware? Or is the trunking technique a standard that would work with all switches (or does it have to be more advanced, for example layer 3?)?
 
@coxhaus - I agree, not so much by preference, but moreover that, as you said, PoE+ is all but included on basically most stuff being made now. I'm sure the OP wouldn't mind PoE+ and/or higher wattage, as long as it's the quietest option possible with 24+ ports.

@MustacheSwe - As you probably know, most 24 and 48-port models will have active fans, typically at 35-40 dB or higher volume. That being said, there are exceptions, but the list is short. Here they are:
  • Ruckus (Brocade) ICX 7150-24p / -48P
    L3 Basic | CLI with web interface | 370W PoE/PoE+ | "Fanless mode" when pushing <150W PoE | -24P is $1200 new, $800 refurb (eBay)
  • Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960L-24PS-LL
    L2+ | CLI with web interface | 195W PoE/PoE+ | Fanless/Silent | $1100 new, $700 refurb (eBay)
  • Zyxel GS1920-24HPv2 / -48HPv2
    L2+ | "Smart" Web-Managed | 375W PoE/PoE+ | Quiet fans at 27.2 dB (-24HPv2) and 26.5 dB (-48HPv2) | $380 and $440 (Amazon)
Nothing silent enough at 24+ ports: Cisco SG series, HPE/Aruba, Extreme, Allied Telesis, Netgear, D-Link, TP-Link, Buffalo, FS, Ubiquiti, Mikrotik.

I also excluded triple-stacking silent 8-port models, such as HPE 2930F's, due to awkwardness and cost.

So that's basically what's out there. If you can live with a little bit of whisper-quiet noise, the Zyxel's are probably your best bang for the buck, and simplest to operate.

WOW! Thanks SO much, Trip!! Your knowledge has just saved me 100s of hours of research!! :)!! I yesterday managed to identify the Cisco C2960L as an alternative, but I would never have found the Ruckus and Zyxel models! You may very well be correct that the Zyxel is the only one within my budget, and probably more than enough features etc.

Again, thank you very very much for sharing your expertise!!
 
Trunking 802.1q should be a standard.

Check eBay. I bought my Cisco SG300-10MPP for around $250 off eBay. They are EOL so you might check the newer small business models which would be SG350 switches.
 
@MustacheSwe - You're very welcome! Also, per @coxhaus 's suggestion, you'll have many more options available if you're willing and/or able to run a non-PoE 24 or 48 port switch trunked to an 8-port silent PoE model, optionally link-aggregated (802.3ad) for more bandwidth and/or redundancy. That said, most 8-port models typically max out at ~130W of PoE, more than enough for your needs right now, but not as much as can be had by just going with a 24 or 48 port option. You could also simply trunk in a second 8-port model (for three total switches).

If going with 2 switches, Cisco's small-biz SG series shoots strait to the top of considerations -- the SG350 for layer 3, SG250 for layer 2. I like them better than HPE's current crop of 18__ and 19__ series because they have more dedicated uplink ports, so you don't have to burn access ports with uplink connections. Ironically, the 350's appears similarly priced, if not lower, versus the equivalent 250's, and you can run the 350's in layer-2 mode to keep things simple. I'm seeing the SG350-28 for ~$200 on Amazon, and the SG350-10MP with 128W of PoE for ~$240.

So, similar in cost per port as the Zyxel GS1920v2 models, but you get complete silence and Layer 3 to play with. That's versus 370W of PoE with the Zyxels, available on all ports, versus just 8 via the 2-box method, and of course only a single box to plug in and administrate. I wouldn't fault you for going either way. Choices, choices. :)
 
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[...] Also, per [USER=5292]@coxhaus 's suggestion, you'll have many more options available if you're willing and/or able to run a non-PoE 24 or 48 port switch trunked to an 8-port silent PoE model, optionally link-aggregated (802.3ad) for more bandwidth and/or redundancy. That said, most 8-port models typically max out at ~130W of PoE, more than enough for your needs right now, but not as much as can be had by just going with a 24 or 48 port option. You could also simply trunk in a second 8-port model (for three total switches).

If going with 2 switches, Cisco's small-biz SG series shoots strait to the top of considerations -- the SG350 for layer 3, SG250 for layer 2. [...][/USER]

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this, Trip!! Very appreciated!! :) I am actually starting to think that combining two (or more) switches may give me the best bang for the buck, as well as most flexibility for the future.

Your recommendation Cisco SG-350-10MP seems almost perfect for my PoE needs! If I would buy an SG350-10MP, and connect that via Link Aggregation to a cheap fanless 24 port non-PoE switch such as the ZyXEL Dimension GS1900-24E (which supports IEEE 802.3ad LACP), I guess I'd be all set, for about €300 in total!! Or would I be asking for trouble, trying to combine two different brands?... Should I go for a Cisco SG250-26 instead? Would set me back another €100, but maybe worth it?

Thanks for all your help!! :)
 
You're welcome again! I know this may seem pedantic, but when building a multi-box switching fabric, it can be very advantageous to stick with the same model series and firmware family (so, Cisco SG2__, SG3__, SG5__ ), and even within that, the same firmware sub-version across all boxes. Why? Well, excluding stacking (which we're well under-priced for at this level), mainly three reasons: 1) consistent management UX/UI, 2) easier batch configuration and 3) perhaps most important of all, minimized compatibility issues and total bugs and/or unique threat surfaces across your LAN.

That said, a random Netgear or TP-Link in a pinch it's not the end of the world, as commoditization has created a lot more standards-compliance and cross-brand compatibility than even 5-10 years ago. Still, I do try to stick to the above guidelines more often than not, especially when I have the choice and/or I'm creating a switching fabric from scratch.

EDIT: For your case, I'd at least stay all-Cisco SG, or all Zyxel GS. Moving up or down between SG350/250 shouldn't be a huge deal. With Zyxel, they have changed the 1920 a fair bit between v1 and v2 (integrated NebulaFlex, etc.) so try and stick with all v1 or v2, at least for now, especially since the v2 firmware is new and possibly a bit buggier than v1.

Hope that helps!
 
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I have tried other brands years ago and got fed up. I now stick to Cisco. Cisco seem to fix my bugs. I have not tried Zyxel to be fair.
 
[...] when building a multi-box switching fabric, it can be very advantageous to stick with the same model series and firmware family

Hope that helps!

Oh, it does indeed! I am truly greatful for all you advice, thanks again for taking the time to respond in such depth!! I intend to heed this advice, and taking into account also @coxhaus' experiences from Cisco, it very much looks like I will be building a combo of the Cisco SG350-10MP together with a 24 (or larger) port non-PoE SG3x Cisco switch (possibly SG2x series).

Thanks so much!! :)!
 
Yep, that's probably your best play. I'd likely take that setup over the newer Zyxel, as well.

SG350-10MP plus SG350-28 would give you 38 Gb ports, all L3-Lite capable, up to 130W PoE+ on 8 of them, for ~$400 total (using the best Amazon FBA pricing). And all with complete silence. At just over $10 per port, a solid value, especially considering the warranty is lifetime, NBD replacement up to Cisco LDoS (usually 7-10 years+).
 

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