Dumb vs Managed PoE switch

[awediohead]

We're currently using an Asus RT-AC86U but this will soon be replaced by a low power s920 Fujitsu PC running either OPNsense or pfSense (haven't made my mind up) which will in turn connect to a Netgear 16 port managed switch for the home inter PC network. When I bought this switch a while ago (we've moved house since) I hadn't factored in CCTV which now seems like a good idea, given the area we've moved to.

So the cheapest option is to buy a 5 port unmanaged PoE switch - though initially there'll only be two PoE cameras - and put this on a VLAN either through the router or the switch or direct to my server running Shinobi on a separate NIC.

My question is, given I can do the "management" either on the managed switch, the router or the server, are there any good reasons to buy a managed PoE switch I'm missing?

Assuming the answer is "no" are there any specs or features I should be looking for with an unamanaged PoE switch beyond the wattage it can supply?

Assuming the answer is "yes" and I go looking for a secondhand managed PoE switch, are modern PoE switches significantly more power efficient vs the ones I'm seeing on eBay from 10 or so years ago? Any 'gotchas' to watch out for? Any specific recommendations?

Many thanks

 

[Tech Junky]

Management means more money.

If you segment things though a dumb switch directly to the nic you don't need management functions.

 

[drinkingbird]

We're currently using an Asus RT-AC86U but this will soon be replaced by a low power s920 Fujitsu PC running either OPNsense or pfSense (haven't made my mind up) which will in turn connect to a Netgear 16 port managed switch for the home inter PC network. When I bought this switch a while ago (we've moved house since) I hadn't factored in CCTV which now seems like a good idea, given the area we've moved to.

So the cheapest option is to buy a 5 port unmanaged PoE switch - though initially there'll only be two PoE cameras - and put this on a VLAN either through the router or the switch or direct to my server running Shinobi on a separate NIC.

My question is, given I can do the "management" either on the managed switch, the router or the server, are there any good reasons to buy a managed PoE switch I'm missing?

Assuming the answer is "no" are there any specs or features I should be looking for with an unamanaged PoE switch beyond the wattage it can supply?

Assuming the answer is "yes" and I go looking for a secondhand managed PoE switch, are modern PoE switches significantly more power efficient vs the ones I'm seeing on eBay from 10 or so years ago? Any 'gotchas' to watch out for? Any specific recommendations?

Many thanks

As long as everything on that switch can be in the same single VLAN, dumb is fine. You also lose port counters, QOS, LAG, etc but probably not needed.

More important is making sure the switch supports the POE type the cameras need. POE, POE+, POE++ type 3, POE++ type 4. Also the total wattage the switch can handle will cover all the expected cameras.

 

[awediohead]

Thank you - very reassuring. Trying to avoid the whole "buy cheap buy twice" thing, which stings IME, so really appreciate the advice.

 

[Tech Junky]

buy twice

Needs change and sometimes you do this. Upgrades to function happen eventually though. Never know what tech is being released tomorrow.