Home gigabit switches

[Carr0t]

I've got an old 16 port gigabit switch at home that came from a friend. Nice bit of kit, and I can transfer across it to my network filestore at 60MB/sec or so. I actually think that i'm being restricted by the read/write speed of the drives in said network filestore rather than the switch. With smaller files that can be fully buffered when transferring I can get 90MB/sec.

Thing is, it's a bit loud. Got 2 small high speed fans in the back. These days you can get smaller gigabit switches for quite cheap, and I only need 5-8 ports or so. So can I expect similar transfer speeds from something like the ZyXEL GS108B (afraid I can't post links yet as i'm a new member. Scan item code LN31702) ? I know that for stuff like say USB 2.0 while the *theoretical* max bandwidth is 480mbps most controllers and USB devices won't be able to reach anything like that. Is the same true of the cheaper gigabit switches, or can I expect to see consistent near-gigabit speeds across this as long as the hardware doing the send and receive can cope? Mostly it seems to have got good user reviews, but there have been one or two people saying they saw issues with HD media streaming (Blu-Ray isos across the network and such), which is the sort of thing I want the speed for.

Ta in advance

[Tattysnuc]

just to add - I think you are right about the restriction being the drive. I backed up my server last night (4 disk raid 5 array). When I copy to the array, it'll write at 400mb/s. When I copied (locally via SATA2 drive) last night, It reported 45-60mb/sec.

I'm in the same position, but I have a 10/100 switch that I was given by work as they were chucking it out. It works 24/7 and has only required 1 reboot since installing 2 years ago - and that's with it sitting in a dusty cupboard where all my cat5e cables terminate.

I bought a netgear gigabit switch to replace it and am going to be switching (pardon the pun) them over this weekend. I'll let you know how I do when I've found the blighter- it's in one of my boxes of "stuff that needs to be done"

Tatty

[Tattysnuc]

.... and don't get confused with the speeds declared.

Gigabit ethernet is that giga BIT
You are seeing the speeds measured in mega BYTES.

[Jay]

I am using a ProCurve 1800-24, its pretty good but would really love a proper bit of Cisco kit

[Tattysnuc]

Ooh, now I am a happy little fella.

I crawled under the stairs to where my 10/100 switch was, and have swapped it now for the Netgear one. The main PC's are back on the network, and transferring from the server to my gaming rig (2Raid0 Gen 2 SSDs read 500, write 250) averaged 100mb/sec for half a dozen 1gb films, and writing back to the server averaged 150mb/sec.

Very happy bunny. Very happy indeed. Let's see how often it needs rebooting....

[Carr0t]

Nice I don't suppose you can provide a link to the switch you got? My current one is a Netgear. At work we use Juniper EX2200s for gigabit & PoE at the edge, but they're a bit out of my price range when I just need 5 ports or so.

Commercial grade networking I can do blindfold, I just don't know the first thing about the available consumer grade kit

[Biscuit]

There is usually a total throughput limitation on cheapo comsumer grade switches so if you tried to use the full 1Gb up and down on each port, it would slow down (if not crash completely in some cases). This throughput limitation might be stated if you have a look at the documentation for the switches in question however given the switches are consumer grade, its quite unlikey. Personally i have only used the one built into my router (D-Link DIR-655) and a little 5 port Netgear ProSafe . When i had my 4 drive RAID5 array i got speeds over the network reading and writing of around 80-100MBps so thats pretty much maxing it out in one direction.

[dave87]

If you want something simple, quiet and relatively inexpensive, then this is what I'd recommend:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/netge...managed-switch

Thought if you want something beefier and with more management options, yet still quiet, then the HP Procurve Range seem to be the best ones (especially since they bought out 3com, who were going to be my other recommendation).

Don't buy a Linksys SRW2024 if you want peace and quiet though - despite having every feature you'd want for a home network (Layer 2 Management, PoE over all 24 ports, Fibre options) -it has 4x40mm delta fans in it!

[Carr0t]

Yeah, I specifically want something quiet, preferably fanless. That NetGear looks OK, but then probably so does the one I mentioned earlier. I'm not going to be maxing out multiple links so backplane bandwidth shouldn't be an issue as long as it'll do a gig in one port and out the other. The only time i'll be using that much bandwidth for an extended period of time is when i'm going from my PC to the file server uploading videos and music. Most of the other PCs in the house stream from said file server and even a raw 1080p BluRay doesn't need a gig to stream

Though I do notice that the NetGear you linked says '16Gbps' for bandwidth, and the one I mentioned ( http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8-por...desktop-switch ) doesn't list a value. Is it likely they're actually talking backplane bandwidth there, and the NetGear will do full 1Gbps each way through all ports simultaneously, or have they just done very basic back-of-envelope maths for 1Gbps x 2 (for full duplex) x 8 (for 8 ports)?

The one i've got at the moment is a very old NetGear GS508T. As I said, I got it off a friend. I think he got it from his last job when they were chucking it out. but the fans don't half make a lot of racket

[dave87]

Is it likely they're actually talking backplane bandwidth there, and the NetGear will do full 1Gbps each way through all ports simultaneously, or have they just done very basic back-of-envelope maths for 1Gbps x 2 (for full duplex) x 8 (for 8 ports)?

According to this - http://www.netgear.nl/images/GS105v3...r1186-4903.pdf - I believe it is backplane bandwidth.

[Tattysnuc]

This is the one that I've just installed. Silent, and so far (day 2) works fine.

...

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/netge...managed-switch

...

[Carr0t]

Brilliant Ta all, looks like i'll be getting me one of those then.

[Spud1]

I've got one of these running my network:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ProCurve-181.../dp/B002Y3R3Q0

HP Procurve-1810G 24 port Gigabit switch. Granted this is a 24 port version, but they also make 8 and 16 port models in the same range.

100% silent, includes 2 pure fibre ports and has been rock solid for me ever since I installed it around a year ago. I use 18/24 ports and never see any issues with transfer speeds (at least not due to the switch - awaiting delivery of my new draytek so stuck with a BT Home Hub at the moment which definitely does have an impact..)

It's not quite what I would call commercial grade, however it's a huge leap up from standard consumer equipment, and is very reasonably priced considering. You can get the 8 port version for around £80-£100 if you shop around, and i paid £160 for my 24 port one from Westcoast.

Netgear's semi-pro range is pretty decent too however and is a touch cheaper - I have one of those as my "portable" switch that I take with me if needs be.

it comes down to whether or not you want/need the extra configurability of the HP switch really, which you won't for most home configurations I would guess.

[iamlorro]

Is it possible to get a 4/6/8 port switch that doesn't require a power lead? (i.e. uses PoE)

I'd prefer gigabit, but realise that that might not be possible.

[peterb]

PoE is usually provided BY the switch to remote components (VoIP phones is an example). To run a switch powered via IP you would need a router (or other upstream device) that generates PoE.

You could do it using separate power injectors/extractors, that is add power using a separate power injector, and hen separate it out at the seitch end to provide power to the normal input, but you would have to watch the voltage and power consumption. Not recommended.

[Tattysnuc]

PoE is usually provided BY the switch to remote components (VoIP phones is an example). To run a switch powered via IP you would need a router (or other upstream device) that generates PoE.

You could do it using separate power injectors/extractors, that is add power using a separate power injector, and hen separate it out at the seitch end to provide power to the normal input, but you would have to watch the voltage and power consumption. Not recommended.

is POE possible with Gigabit? In 10/100 4 cables are redundant, therefore the remaining cables are used to carry Power if so employed. I'm fairly sure that Gigabit uses all 8 cables, so therefore I'm not sure which cable would carry the current for POE as they are now all utilised.