[Discuss] network switch

[bogstad at pobox.com (Bill Bogstad)]

On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 11:51 AM, Stephen Adler <adler at stephenadler.com> wrote:
> Guys,
>
> I was thinking that I may need to get a new switch for a set of
> computers I have in a lab at work. Usually I would go get a dumb Gigabit
> switch with 4 or 8 ports at Microcenter. But I'm thinking for this
> situaion, I should get something a bit more sophisticated. A switch
> which could manage perhaps some vlans. The idea is that I could assign
> different subnets to different ports on the switch. I don't really need
> routing capability and would prefer it not do that since it could mess
> up the network in the building.
>
> anyway, any suggestions on which model switch I should be looking at? I
> want to mount it in a standard 19" rack.

I don't have any specific recomendations (haven't bought any recently), but
I have noticed that managed gigabit switches have really come down in price.
The premium over unmanaged switches seems much lower then it used to be.
For example this random HP 8 port managed switch:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/HP-1810-8G-v2-switch-8-ports-managed-desktop-wall-mountable-Smar/3262306.aspx

is available for $110.   In general, my rule of thumb for the cheapest unmanaged
switches has been around $5 a port. At only $70 more then the $40 I
would expect for umanaged that isn't so bad.   They added a CPU, full IP
stack, and applications in what is a rather specialized product.
Now if only 10Gigabit switches would come down to $5 a port. :-)

Bill Bogstad