switch it
My router had been begging for a VLAN switch for some time. With seven ethernet interfaces, things were getting a little out of hand.
While designing a wireless network for a big client and spec'ing out the hardware, I found just the thing. The Netgear FS726TP. Like many people, I've been burned by the crappy plastic-encased Netgear consumer grade stuff in the past, however I'm a big fan of their higher quality ProSafe gear, especially the WG302 and WG102 access points which comprise my home wireless network.
I was impressed with the specs of the FS726TP, for the price, and had tentatively planned to buy one for myself once the client's project was complete and I had verified the switch would meet my own needs as well. As soon as the gear for the project came in, I put the switches to the test.
--- Netgear FS726TP switch---
The good:
- 26 ports total: 12x 100 Mb PoE / 12x 100 Mb / 2x 1000 Mb
- jumbo frame support
- 802.1q VLAN
- price ($300-$350 USD)
The not so good:
- No serial port
- No CLI, web only
- Cannot bind management address to a specific VLAN
- Web interface a little clunky, especially defining VLAN's
Overall this is a very decent switch, and it is at least 10 times better than the Dell Powerconnect 2724, which is in the same price range but doesn't have PoE. So I probably would have purchased one... if chance hadn't brought me a used switch for free.
It's funny because I had this old, "dead" 3com SuperStack from a client office laying around for months and had been meaning to autopsy it and hold a brief funeral. When I finally got around to it I had to work with it a while and reload the firmware, but after that I found it to be very much alive except for a few ports which had died. So it's essentially a 21 port VLAN switch now, but that's still more than enough for me.
With the arrival of the VLAN switch, I was able to remove my huge 4 port NIC, so my router is down to three Ethernet interfaces. However I have VLAN's out the wazoo; at least 15 defined so far. I'm taking advantage of the VLAN features of my AP's for the first time and I now have my virtualization server running with each VM on it's on VLAN too. I was able to use my existing 8 port PoE switch in conjunction with the new one, so I still have PoE for my AP's.
So, in short, my network really kicks ass now. It inspired me to come up with a great pick-up line too: "Hey baby, do you want to see my network diagram?"
