One or two switches?

Liver

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
5,895
In the new house I need POE+ for 6 access points. So I need a POE+ switch. I also need normal gig ethernet connections.

Is there any advantage with going with 2 switches and connecting them together via SFP?

Why am I asking this. Getting 2 separate switches for specific purposes is a fees bucks cheaper and I have loads of rack space to do this. In my mind, if one device fails, I can also replace it for less (because its one of two devices, instead of the more expensive single device). I also can recycle my Cisco (non POE) switch with SFP connection, its going strong after several years.

I think it‘ll be fine, just double checking.
 
No, not really, you have 2 switches to manage, if you can get it all in 1 switch, less to manage, but now a single point of failure too though depending how you connect it up to your router / modem as you noted.
 
No, not really, you have 2 switches to manage, if you can get it all in 1 switch, less to manage, but now a single point of failure too though depending how you connect it up to your router / modem as you noted.

Yea ok. I just have to suck it up and get a proper switch that will handle everything I need it to instead of cobbling it together and hoping it works.
 
Once switch should also use less power. This is more of an advantage during a power outage if you are running PoE cameras and your network equipment is all on an UPS.
 
Actually, I always like the idea of getting what you need for a single segment and keeping it all together. Putting a poe switch and nvr on the same switch and then having a second switch for regular traffic makes sense. I wouldn't even connect the cameras directly to the rest of the network so that way they can't reach the Internet. Just be sure you connect nvr to both the poe switch for the cameras and the regular one for local nvr access.

This allows you to run smaller, more efficient poe switches as well as keep the unmanaged and not need to get into vlans--especially since a physical air gap is better than a vlan anyways.
 
You guys are not making this easier!

The power outage / requirements does concern me. When I lose power out here, I lose communication. There isn't a viable LTE signal out here. So I have to keep powered up to even call 911. To that end, I have over 38 kWh of back up power (UPS).

Having a couple of switches appeals to me. Its a personal thing to have my gear compartmentalized, you know this switch does this and that switch does that. I suppose thats the real reason I am asking.

Any recommendations on SFP+ POE+ (or POE++) switches?
 
What exactly are you running on the network? I work with Cisco, HP, Meraki, Brocade, and I even like ubiquiti for small business/home networks. For your home, I wouldn't be afraid of running UBNT at all.

If you need POE++ and 10GB I would get - Switch Pro 24 POE
If you need POE+ and 1GB I would get - Switch 24 POE

Of course I highly recommend Cisco, but you will pay way more than these.


FYI - I have 4 businesses, my house (with UBNT Cameras), and about 8 of my enterprise networks are using these switches for their IP camera networks.
 
The internet is the only way we can communicate. Currently I have 2 DSL lines and an LTE line (antenna on a high antenna) that combine all those signals to a load balancing PepLink router.

POE will be 8 AP. Six AP in one house and 2 in another. I plan on cameras, but I want the least hassle so I am buying a boxed system, most likely a Reolink system. So the cameras will be on there own POE switch / NVR. I know the 6 AP in one house seem excessive for a 3000sq ft house, but it is needed.

We have the normal variety of wireless devices. Wired, but nor powered would be our NAS, 2-3 AppleTVs and Amazon Fire 4Ks.

I have many more wired locations for back ups, but those will remain covered up until needed. It was very very inexpensive to put them in just in case. Like $20 a drop.
 
Ubiquiti - i would avoid, they had a massive data breach and basically did a big F U to all its customers but not telling them to keep their stock prices high which exposed every single on of their customers networks to potential breach.

thrash408
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/whistleblower-ubiquiti-breach-catastrophic/
Everyone should be ripping out Ubiquiti gear at this point.

“They were able to get cryptographic secrets for single sign-on cookies and remote access, full source code control contents, and signing keys exfiltration,” Adam said.

Adam says the attacker(s) had access to privileged credentials that were previously stored in the LastPass account of a Ubiquiti IT employee, and gained root administrator access to all Ubiquiti AWS accounts, including all S3 data buckets, all application logs, all databases, all user database credentials, and secrets required to forge single sign-on (SSO) cookies.

Such access could have allowed the intruders to remotely authenticate to countless Ubiquiti cloud-based devices around the world. According to its website, Ubiquiti has shipped more than 85 million devices that play a key role in networking infrastructure in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.



Other notes
https://hardforum.com/threads/networking-with-ubiquiti.2008236/post-1045033906

The brocade used gear is nice and give you a lot, i got a used ICX and got the 10G SFP+ port enabled for my home network and love it!
 
I don't mind as long as it works.

Whats the best place to buy? From my reading here, people are soured on Ubiquiti gear. I don't want cloud based gear, no Netgear is out. Is Cisco still recommended? The switch I currently have is Cisco and its been solid.

Truthfully, Im getting overwhelmed in the details.
If you're happy with Cisco, I'd just look for a used poe version of the switch you already have. As far as where to look, here is good, as well as servethehome and reddit hardwareswp and homelabsales always have something good. But you may also want to consider getting brand new since the used prices are best 50% on the smaller 8 port things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Liver
like this
After looking at the link MrGuv posted with the brocade, that’s what I am strongly considering.

Looks great with a great price. I can basically get 2 of everything for the same price I’d pay for a single Ubiquiti (new).
 
Ubiquiti - i would avoid, they had a massive data breach and basically did a big F U to all its customers but not telling them to keep their stock prices high which exposed every single on of their customers networks to potential breach.

thrash408
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/whistleblower-ubiquiti-breach-catastrophic/
Everyone should be ripping out Ubiquiti gear at this point.
Thank you for posting this. I was wondering why Ubiquiti went from the smb darling to hated...
 
After looking at the link MrGuv posted with the brocade, that’s what I am strongly considering.

Looks great with a great price. I can basically get 2 of everything for the same price I’d pay for a single Ubiquiti (new).
You definitely can't go wrong with great used enterprise gear. :) It's just usually the initial complexity that freaks people out.
 
Ya when i first got the Brocade i was like WTF!! I still have not set it up to handle the layer 3 and VLANS directly (using pfsense) but i know it can do it.

Be sure to read the reviews and info that site posts about noise and if it can be modded or not, if that matters to you at all.
 
I have a separate purpose built media closet for all my AV and networking gear. Has sound batting in the walls. I can add acoustic tile if needed.
 
I have a separate purpose built media closet for all my AV and networking gear. Has sound batting in the walls. I can add acoustic tile if needed.
Main thing you'll need to worry about once you tackle sound is temps. There's a reason those fans scream--because the chips bake!
 
I have 2700sq ft and run two Unifi Lite 6 access points with zero issues on tp link managed POE switches. I'm really trying to wrap my head around why 6 would be necessary. There are small arenas and hockey rinks with fewer access points. I have fully usuable signal everywhere in my home.

WiFi 6 is designed for intense density. I really don't think you need 6 APs in a single structure of 3000sq ft unless every wall is solid concrete and rebar. If you're in a standard wood frame house, even 3 would be a lot.
 
I have 2700sq ft and run two Unifi Lite 6 access points with zero issues on tp link managed POE switches. I'm really trying to wrap my head around why 6 would be necessary. There are small arenas and hockey rinks with fewer access points. I have fully usuable signal everywhere in my home.

WiFi 6 is designed for intense density. I really don't think you need 6 APs in a single structure of 3000sq ft unless every wall is solid concrete and rebar. If you're in a standard wood frame house, even 3 would be a lot.

You answered your own question. Yes it’s awesome.
 
Local company is our GC. I didn’t do ANY of the work. I have a mix of poured concrete and concrete block. Both are solid (filled the blocks with concrete) and both have rebar.

Doors are solid core metal FEMA doors, and I haven’t had any luck with getting any WiFi signal across those walls and doors.
 
Local company is our GC. I didn’t do ANY of the work. I have a mix of poured concrete and concrete block. Both are solid (filled the blocks with concrete) and both have rebar.

Doors are solid core metal FEMA doors, and I haven’t had any luck with getting any WiFi signal across those walls and doors.
I LOVE IT!! You built it like a nice and sturdy commercial building. :D Should last long enough to be a fallout shelter, lol. :D
 
Things are going great with the house build. The new DSL service got moved over to the new house and I was able to get the up live and use the ethernet cable that spans both houses to get our service back to where we are living while the new house is getting built.

So I bought a couple ICX7450 and I need to upgrade the firmware. Currently I only own a MacBook Pro and coupled with the main problem, that I have no idea what I am doing. I need a detailed OSX guide or I need to find a person who does and hire them to upgrade the firmware.
 
Why do you need to upgrade the firmware? If it works as-is, I would just configure and use it unless it will be direct to the Internet in some way.
 
I went with two switches for my setup: NetGear 10gbe for the wired connections to my office and servers, VMs and Unifi POE+ switch for 5x APs (similar poor signal propagation). Modded the unifi switch to quiet it down a bit, but it has been running great for nearly three years.
 
Why do you need to upgrade the firmware? If it works as-is, I would just configure and use it unless it will be direct to the Internet in some way.

I was finally able to connect to the switch and it has a fairly old firmware.

I’m following the guide. I can not get the firmware to upload to the switch. It keeps timing out. I’m using a clean, updated windows 10 install. Firewall off.

On the laptop, it’s trying to send the file, but something is stopping the transfer.
 
Well I finally got the firmware upgraded on the ICX 7450 and everything works great. No problems at all.

So the fan is quite loud, which was known to me when I bought it. That is what most of the reviews mentioned. This type of enterprise gear is new to me.

The switch is residing in a “media“ room that is built just for all the networked electronics. I can close the door and barely hear the switch. I assume that the fan is fine to run like that forever? Is that correct? House temp is set for 70-72 degrees and the media room temp is about 72 degrees. I assume that is fine?

Im asking because the room temp is reasonable and it seems like the fan is going to 24 hours a day 7 days a week until it dies. I hope I am not allowing it die prematurely.
 
Since the media closet has the same temps as the rest of the house, it's just like an office environment which that switch will love. That fan will die only after a decade or so, so you're good. (y)

(Food for thought--I have a secondhand Dell Powerconnect 2748 that's been on for nearly a decade now, in temps in excess of 100F for about 2-4 years--and all 3 fans are still going. (y))
 
Back
Top