Home network switches (16 port and 5-8 port)

[degrub]

Also, check to make sure none of your connected devices need always on switch ports. The last generation of switches have green ethernet for power savings and if you cannot disable it the device may not keep the connection.

 

[Mike Swenson]

The Cisco Sg300 or the SG500 series switch is a very good choice for a Layer 3 switch. Thus you could eliminate the 2dn router. This will improve performance. The SG500 switch is the recommended solution. The SG500 gives you excellent processing power.

 

[System Error Message]

a switch doesnt have as much processing power. There is a big performance hit when you use some managed features in managed switches compared to routers such as rules.

If you only need 1Gb/s of layer 3 any router with gigabit ports can provide that, its when you need more that you need a switch. I know cisco switches are good but there are a few factors before suggesting them.

Cost
Power usage
skill required

I know you can get older ones on ebay but they will use more power but they also wont have the support from cisco either. Infact if layer 3 is what you need compare the price of a mikrotik CCR to that of a cisco switch before choosing if you are after a cisco layer 3 managed switch. When it comes to actually using the managed features the CCR will still provide wirespeed even with firewall and filters which a managed switch cant.

What im trying to say is dont keep suggesting cisco gear, theres a whole variety of the same quality from other companies like juniper. From the recent business practices of cisco i would rather go with juniper instead. Cisco at once made a reputation for itself but it no longer holds the crown in networking gear anymore. Even ubiquiti has fully managed layer 3 switches too with POE out.

 

[Cloaky]

For the switch to work as the DHCP server what layer do I need? Layer 2?

I think that would be something else desirable, so the switch can work as the core and the router will only provide Internet and Wireless

 

[System Error Message]

For the switch to work as the DHCP server what layer do I need? Layer 2?

I think that would be something else desirable, so the switch can work as the core and the router will only provide Internet and Wireless

Switches cannot become DHCP servers. Unless you use something like a mikrotik CRS or ubiquiti switches which is both a switch and router you wont get those features on a switch. Or you could spend more money and get a mikrotik CCR which does layer 2 and 3 at wirespeed and gives you more features and processing power than a switch. You also wont need a router since it is also a router.

 

[coxhaus]

A layer 3 switch like the Cisco SG300 switch will have a DHCP server.

To have the switch work as a core you will want a layer 3 switch so it can do routing on your core.

If you run a flat network with everything just plugged into one VLAN, then a core router is not needed, so a layer 3 switch is not needed. Things are changing and home networks are getting more complicated, with devices like PCs, security cameras, phones, and video streaming being plugged into the home network. Organization is becoming more of a necessity,