Cisco SG300-20 or other gigabit switch?

N

novadude

[H]ard|Gawd
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I've been looking at picking up a 16-24 port gigabit switch that supports trunking, vlans etc. for home use.

I've looked at the Cisco SG2/300's, HP 1810g-24 and the Dell 2816 and 2824 switches, and it seems like the Cisco's are the best buy (layer 3'ish features, same price as the HP) but there isn't much about them out there so I'm wondering if anyone's used them since the last time they were mentioned a month or more ago here.
 
Not to familiar with those switches and I am mobile right now so can't google but do these devices offer CLI or is it the gui with limitied CLI?
 
Not sure how in depth the CLI is on the SG300's, but it's got a console port on the back and a note on the data sheet says "Cisco Discovery Protocol, Smartports, and Textview will be available in the next firmware release." Thats a few months old at this point, so I assume it's been added but CLI wasn't something I'm worried about.
 
Remember that isn't really a cisco, it's a linksys with a cisco name. It does't use IOS, so if it offers any CLI, it's going to be like the linksys lcli most likely. Looking at some other forums, it looks like they've improved the webgui, so it's probably better than the older SRW series. For home use it's probably plenty, but my hate for the old linksys switches would steer me to the HP just out of spite.
 
Cisco did a hardware and software rebuild on Linksys small business units when they changed them over to the Cisco name. I would imagine that the SG300 series is even more reliable than those revision units.
 
I have one of these, but it's still in the Amazon box.

I have a 24-port 3750v2 lying around, so I've been debating on whether to keep this or use it. I like the fanless design, as I can hear the 3750 and it would be positioned close to me in my office (but then again I have a rack of Cisco crap and PCs).

I have a few days left to return it, so if I don't I'll give feedback.
 
spiderjericho said:
I have one of these, but it's still in the Amazon box.

I have a 24-port 3750v2 lying around, so I've been debating on whether to keep this or use it. I like the fanless design, as I can hear the 3750 and it would be positioned close to me in my office (but then again I have a rack of Cisco crap and PCs).

I have a few days left to return it, so if I don't I'll give feedback.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm back with some feedback.

1) A Cisco Catalyst 3750 is pretty loud. The thing roars when it first comes on, and the fan will continually hum. I can't speak for the newer models, specifically the 3750-X. So I will not be using this as my home LAN switch.

2) The SG 300-20

Packaging. The switch comes with a CD with the manual, a quick-start guide, a console cable (it is DB9 to DB9), rack-mounts, power cable and Switch chasis.

Pros
Aesthetics - I like the silver and black aesthetic versus the blue or drab color of the Cisco Enterprise switches.

Sound - Fanless, which means no sound.

Rack Mounts - it's nice that the switch included rack mounts.

Cons
CLI - it is not the IOS CLI, it uses a menu-based configuration. It is pretty simple. Having said that, most of the configuration has to be completed from the Web interface, as it does not allow you to navigate. To do layer 3 switching, you need to configure it from the CLI.

Build quality - it does feel a little cheap when compared to Enterprise switches, but this could be because of how light it feels. Also, the silicon is all COTS, it's not custom.

Last Points

The web interface is pretty straight forward. I didn't mess around with creating SVIs or anything like that, so I can't comment on its capability to do interVLAN routing.

As a general home LAN switch, it's pretty cabable and has a lot of features. I do miss the normal CLI, and it's weird that you can't completely configure it from the console connection. I also don't like the console cable type, instead of using the normal Cisco console cable it uses a DB9 to DB9 connection, so if you're pretty savy at fabricating your own cables, it won't be a big deal if it breaks.
 
I have the 2 year old sge2000p. It has been running fine, but boy was it a son of a bitch to setup. When I setup vlans and clicked save, it would erase the start-up config add some of the vlans, and jumble the whole fing config file up. What I had to do was plug in serial and ctrl^z type lcli and stumble around the text interface, which was ciscoish. If that cli wasn't there, the switch would have had to be returned with such shitty firmware. AND THEY STILL HAVEN'T RELEASED AN UPDATE TO FIX IT! From what I have read, the sg300 seems VERY similar. Beware.

My last install I used a Netgear equivalent to that Linksys (can't remember the model off the top of my head), and it was a breeze. Everything just "worked", although the terminology for the vlan setup was a little different that I was used to.

If you want ultimate reliability with an awesome warranty, HP is the way to go, but it is a little more expensive.
 
I will say the SG300-20 is a bit finicky with the configs. I kept rebooting the switch, and it kept asking me for the default passwords instead of the ones I created.

And when you switch to Layer 3 mode, it wipes out your configs.

I wasn't able to navigate the CLI. Maybe there is a way to navigate it, but it seemed to be menu based.
 
spiderjericho said:
I will say the SG300-20 is a bit finicky with the configs. I kept rebooting the switch, and it kept asking me for the default passwords instead of the ones I created.

And when you switch to Layer 3 mode, it wipes out your configs.

I wasn't able to navigate the CLI. Maybe there is a way to navigate it, but it seemed to be menu based.
Click to expand...

Yeah dude, secret cli, If I remember right (being I'd never buy one of these switches again, and touched the one I have a year ago), you hit ctrl z then type lcli then hit enter and it gives you a ciscoish cli, that menu is a joke.
 
Thanks, guess I'll either up the budget for a real layer 3 switch, or more likely than not go with the HP or dell.
 
awesomo said:
Yeah dude, secret cli, If I remember right (being I'd never buy one of these switches again, and touched the one I have a year ago), you hit ctrl z then type lcli then hit enter and it gives you a ciscoish cli, that menu is a joke.
Click to expand...

I tried to enter the secret CLI, but ctrl-z didn't work for me. I tried it in the logon screen and in the menu but nothing happened.

I took this link from the last SG300 thread:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-15345

And I'm still unsure about the layer-3 functionality (if it supports SVIs and interVLAN routing).

This seems pretty comparable to the HP 1810 and 1910 and the Dell Powerconnect 2000s, it has about the same features, fanless design, static routes, web interface, link aggregation, etc.

If you access it from the web GUI, it works very well. And at $300, I wouldn't have high expectations.

FOR ME, I could use one my 3750G or 3560G.

My advice would be maybe to get a HP 1810G, Dell Powerconnect 22whatever, a Netgear and the Cisco SG300 and compare them.
 
erm guys...i cant use the Ctrl+z thing....

must it be at factory default for this "function" to work? please reply thx very much.. xD
 
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