[geeks] Managed gigabit switch recommendations for the home?

[Phil Brutsche]

Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> How can that properly be managed without a serial port?

It's one of those accursed web-managed switches; it ships with either a
hard-coded default IP or uses DHCP out of the box to get an IP, and from
there you point your web browser at it.

It's basically an unmanaged switch that lets you set the speed and
duplex on the switch ports; they typically lack more advanced features
like spanning trees, SNMP, etc.

A *real* gigabit managed switch with a serial port and CLI still cost a
good chunk of change - Dell and Netgear sell them for $700-ish US, but
they are *not* high quality units. They'll probably be good enough for
home use though.

A proper managed HP (2810-24G) or 3com (4200 series, forget the model #)
switch with a serial console, CLI, 24 Gig-E ports, etc is $1200-ish US.
As usual, new Cisco is in the "if you gotta ask..." price range.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at tux.obix.com