TP-Link TL-SG3210 8 port jetstream

[BubbleTrouble]

Hi

I have just bought the Synology 214+ NAS (has two gigabit ethernet ports) and am looking to add a couple of network printers and cameras also which would normally plug into my TP link 4 port router (the 4 ports are gigE) however I dont have enough ports on it to accomodate this.

My thinking is to buy a Layer 2 switch (with gig ethernet) with a small port density of around 4-8 and then connect this to my router. I would like to connect my NAS to this switch and run something like etherchannel (i will clal it this as this is the term i am used to) According to the spec the NAS supports 802.3ad link aggregation.So i thought well the only way to maybe take advantage of this is to buy a switch which also supports this standard such as TP-Link TL-SG3210

My questions are:
If i do this would i need to do anything special on my router?
with etherchannel operating between NAS and two gig ethernet switchports, would i have a bottleneck on the router?
What are TP link switches like?
Would it be better to look for a switch which also supportds PoE? if so then can such ports handle providing power to IP cameras and printers? i doubt the latter? but maybe Foscam IP cams?

I am more familiar with Cisco IOS and do have a couple of 2950 switches which are fairly bog standard. However problem with them is that they are only fast ethernet ports and to be honest overkill. I don't need 24 ports.

I have a home network but also use for my small office purposes. nothing really that special although I am very enthusiastic about networking so like the idea of tinkering and learning.

 

[abailey]

My questions are:
If i do this would i need to do anything special on my router?
with etherchannel operating between NAS and two gig ethernet switchports, would i have a bottleneck on the router?
What are TP link switches like?
Would it be better to look for a switch which also supportds PoE? if so then can such ports handle providing power to IP cameras and printers? i doubt the latter? but maybe Foscam IP cams?

-If you did link aggregation between your NAS and switch, you don't need to do anything on your router.
-If you have two printers and a camera connected to your router, (as well as wireless clients?) there would not be a bottle neck as all those together won't even use a Gigabit.
-TP-Link switches, I really like TP-Link switches for home and small business use. They are my favorite followed by the Cisco small business line switches (like the 200 series). They are well built (metal cases) and are solid. I have two managed TP-Link switches in my house and have had no problems with them at all.
-POE, as far as POE goes, I personally would not purchase a POE switch for just a couple of POE devices. If you do want to purchase a POE switch you need to look at the devices you are going to connect to the switch and get the watts used by each one. Make sure the switch can provide the power. Most switches oversubscribe their POE ports with the bet that most people won't use near the max allowable power per port. For example the TP-Link TL-SG2424P 24 port POE switch has a max POE power of 180 watts. This is 7.5 watts per port. But some POE devices use 15 watts or more. So just make sure you get a switch that can give you the power you need.