Unmanaged switch with OR without 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping?

[xtremesniper]

I'm in the market for a new 8-port unmanaged switch. Traditionally, I've bought the TRENDnet TEG-S80G and I've been very happy with it, but the latest versions lack a 100/1000 speed LED indicator and that's annoying...

Meanwhile, while looking into the TP-Link TL-SG108 and the NETGEAR GS108 I'm noticing they have 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping in the tech specs even though they are unmanaged switches.

Is this normal? If I don't have the ability to control QoS features on my network devices, I would rather not have them at all. But I can't find a SNB resource that discusses unmanaged switches with QoS.

Will this unintentionally reduce throughput on some devices but not others?
Will having other non-QoS enabled switches on the network cause performance bottlenecks?

I am planning to connect two TP-Link EAP225 APs to my network, one will be on a TEG-S80G and the other will be on this new switch.

I can spend extra on a NETGEAR GS308 or a TRENDnet TEG-S80G (or S81G, S82G) which for sure does not have these features... but it seems counter-intuitive to spend more to get a switch with less features.

TL;DR: Can someone please tell me whether it is a GOOD or a BAD thing to have 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping on an unmanaged switch?

 

[Trip]

802.11p QoS and IGMP Snooping are both great to have if there's enough varying classes of traffic flow on your network (.11p) and/or enough multicast traffic that it warrants proper directional filtering, to save bandwidth and improve stream quality up and down your links (snooping). To ensure the behavior is consistent across your network, though, you want those features present on all your switches. If you did mix switches that did or did not have those features, it may not manifest in any kind of problem in your (small?) network, but even so, I'd recommend you go all L2-managed with .11p and snooping, or all L2 unmanaged without.

Hope that helps!

 

[CaptainSTX]

I'm in the market for a new 8-port unmanaged switch. Traditionally, I've bought the TRENDnet TEG-S80G and I've been very happy with it, but the latest versions lack a 100/1000 speed LED indicator and that's annoying...

Meanwhile, while looking into the TP-Link TL-SG108 and the NETGEAR GS108 I'm noticing they have 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping in the tech specs even though they are unmanaged switches.

Is this normal? If I don't have the ability to control QoS features on my network devices, I would rather not have them at all. But I can't find a SNB resource that discusses unmanaged switches with QoS.

Will this unintentionally reduce throughput on some devices but not others?
Will having other non-QoS enabled switches on the network cause performance bottlenecks?

I am planning to connect two TP-Link EAP225 APs to my network, one will be on a TEG-S80G and the other will be on this new switch.

I can spend extra on a NETGEAR GS308 or a TRENDnet TEG-S80G (or S81G, S82G) which for sure does not have these features... but it seems counter-intuitive to spend more to get a switch with less features.

TL;DR: Can someone please tell me whether it is a GOOD or a BAD thing to have 802.1p/DSCP QoS and IGMP Snooping on an unmanaged switch?

I use a couple of TP-Link SG108E which are considered "smart switches." They have the features you mention above. I have activated some of the QOS features, but I can't tell you they make a difference because I have more than enough bandwidth for my needs. Never tried the snooping. The last SG108E that I purchased was US$30 which isn't much more than the cost of an unmanaged gig capable switch.

 

[System Error Message]

go with managed rather than unmanaged as it'd let you configure them instead. All its saying for unmanaged is that if another switch/client uses them that the switch will obey it, but that also makes it vulnerable too in that someone could abuse it as well by flooding the network with broadcast packets of high QoS priority.

 

[xtremesniper]

802.11p QoS and IGMP Snooping are both great to have if there's enough varying classes of traffic flow on your network (.11p) and/or enough multicast traffic that it warrants proper directional filtering, to save bandwidth and improve stream quality up and down your links (snooping). To ensure the behavior is consistent across your network, though, you want those features present on all your switches. If you did mix switches that did or did not have those features, it may not manifest in any kind of problem in your (small?) network, but even so, I'd recommend you go all L2-managed with .11p and snooping, or all L2 unmanaged without.

Hope that helps!

Awesome, thank you for that insight. It makes a lot more sense now. My network is very (very) small, as it's a home network with 4 primary users. But I'm always looking to implement best practices so in the future I know what's good when I need to build a bigger network.

That said, my current network runs those TRENDnet non-QoS switches and the only reason why this came up was because most of the new switches on the market from TP-Link and Netgear have QoS built in with no ability to turn them off (which worries me).

I use a couple of TP-Link SG108E which are considered "smart switches." They have the features you mention above. I have activated some of the QOS features, but I can't tell you they make a difference because I have more than enough bandwidth for my needs. Never tried the snooping. The last SG108E that I purchased was US$30 which isn't much more than the cost of an unmanaged gig capable switch.

This is the problem though, seeing as the non-E switch (aka unmanaged) has these features with no way of turning them off. That said, you've raised a good point. The E is only $15 more and not only lets you turn off QoS but it also has dedicated LEDs to indicate link speed (seems most switches lack that feature these days). I'm not sure though what it means to be a "smart" unmanaged switch.

go with managed rather than unmanaged as it'd let you configure them instead. All its saying for unmanaged is that if another switch/client uses them that the switch will obey it, but that also makes it vulnerable too in that someone could abuse it as well by flooding the network with broadcast packets of high QoS priority.

Thanks, this makes me better understand that the switch itself is not doing any specific QoS traffic managing, but rather it's obeying the directives it receives from other devices. Would these directives come primarily from other network devices (routers, switches) or could they also come from clients like laptops and phones?

 

[System Error Message]

Thanks, this makes me better understand that the switch itself is not doing any specific QoS traffic managing, but rather it's obeying the directives it receives from other devices. Would these directives come primarily from other network devices (routers, switches) or could they also come from clients like laptops and phones?

Every device