Small Office Gigabit Switch

[thespeakerbox]

While i wait out in trying to find a cheap cisco pix router for my small business (my dlink 624 will work for now) I know im going to(want) need a gigabit swtich.

It's a home office so im looking to get something aroudn 8 ports. 4 for workstations, 2 server ports and 1 for my htpc. I assume i can use the built in cisco switch to run my long distance voip line.

What would you recommend for a gigabit switch? I read some reviews about comsumers models not handling jumbo frames. It seems to be everyones complain. What are jumbo frames? and what should i look for in a switch.

What i really need is reliabilty. I was thinking of cisco again , but man , i didnt know things are THAT expensive? Do they make an 8 port gigabit router thats not $422,424,424,242?

 

[thespeakerbox]

up

 

[spidey07]

Well cisco and all the other "real" network gear isn't cheap (foundry, extreme, etc)

But you generally get what you pay for. They don't play in the small office arena, it just isn't there market. It's like saying "I want a cheap PBX", not gonna happen.

Try dell or smc for a cheap switch. you get what you pay for however.

 

[thespeakerbox]

I dont really know much about the brands , other than consumer lines. Is there like networking forum wherei can start learning stuff. I plan on picking up a network+ book this week. Maybe that will be a good start.

 

[erwos]

Jumbo frames are useful if you're going to be constantly transferring giant files at high speed, since you'll have to handle fewer interrupts. It's not going to be all that noticable for video streaming. A cheap router solution that doesn't suck is a Linksys WRT54GS loaded up with DD-WRT. Lots of features, and in my experience, rock-solid stable and high performing, even compared to the ~$1000 routers we used before.

At this stage, I doubt the switch is such a big deal, but I've used Linksys (Cisco-cobranded) SR2024s with good success.

-Erwos

 

[blemoine]

So you have never said why you are wanting to make the jump from SOHO equipement to Enterprise equipement. Maybe someone here will have a more cost effective way to acheive the results your looking for.

 

[thespeakerbox]

Originally posted by: blemoine
So you have never said why you are wanting to make the jump from SOHO equipement to Enterprise equipement. Maybe someone here will have a more cost effective way to acheive the results your looking for.

Well, i want to make the jump because im really interested in networking and wanted something that i could learn from and toy with. And from what ive read, the higher end stuff can do that for me. But its a double edge sword, because i also need something that would be stable during the week (toy only on weekends) for small business purposes. So im trying to find a nice balance.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: thespeakerbox

Originally posted by: blemoine
So you have never said why you are wanting to make the jump from SOHO equipement to Enterprise equipement. Maybe someone here will have a more cost effective way to acheive the results your looking for.

Well, i want to make the jump because im really interested in networking and wanted something that i could learn from and toy with. And from what ive read, the higher end stuff can do that for me. But its a double edge sword, because i also need something that would be stable during the week (toy only on weekends) for small business purposes. So im trying to find a nice balance.

the problem is most of this gea takes some skill to setup.


IMHO, I would recommend that you keep your work and home stuff seperate.

As for eqioment, I would go with a Dell switch to keep thigns simple. Dn't worry about Jumbo frames, gigabit, or managed switches.

A simple 10/100 x-port (depending on how many ports you need) switch will be fine if it is jsut a small oepration.

As for your router, since you seem new at this, I recommend going with a consumer level router. Frankly, you do don't want your gateway to the internet to be a pet project when it comes to business. Depending on your line of work, if something goes wrong and you lose internet conectivity or information is blocked, you may risk losing $$ or clients.

If you want something to Play with, get a cisco 2600 series router and have at it. Ciscokits.com will show you the way.

 

[Madwand1]

The D-Link DGS-1008D is a consumer 8-port gigabit switch that is said to handle jumbo frames up to 9K.

 

[studionovaa]

I am currently using the Dlink DGS-1008D in conjunction with the Dlink DI-624 and it works well.