Different Types of Switches in Networking

For networking builders, network switch is an essential component in their networking building plan. In a network deployment, switch channels incoming data from any of multiple input ports to the specific output port that will take the data toward its intended destination. Besides, to achieve high performance level, there are different types of switches in networking. This article will introduce different types of switches in networking to help you choose a suitable one for your networking.

LAN Switch

Local area network switches or LAN switches are usually used to connect points on a company's internal LAN. It is also known as a data switch or an Ethernet switch. It blocks the overlap of data packets running through a network by the economical allocation of bandwidth. The LAN switch delivers the transmitted data packet before directing it to its planned receiver. These types of switches reduce network congestion or bottlenecks by distributing a package of data only to its intended recipient.

Unmanaged Switch

Unmanaged network switches are frequently used in home networks, small companies and businesses. It permits devices on the network to connect with each other, such as computer to computer or printer to computer in one location. An unmanaged switch does not necessarily need to be configured or watched. It is simple and easy to set up. If you want to add more Ethernet ports, you can use these plug and play types of switches in networking.

Managed Switch

Compared to unmanaged switches, the advantage of managed switches is that they can be customized to enhance the functionality of a certain network. They offer some features like QoS (Quality of Service), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and so on. These types of switches in networking can support a range of advanced features designed to be controlled by a professional administrator. In addition, there is smart switch, a type of managed switch. It has some features that managed switch has, but are more limited. Smart network switch is usually used for the networking devices such as VLANs.

PoE Switch

PoE Gigabit Ethernet switch is a network switch that utilizes Power over Ethernet technology. When connected with multiple other network devices, PoE switches can support power and data transmission over one network cable at the same time. This greatly simplifies the cabling process. These types of switches in networking provide greater flexibility and you will never have to worry about power outlet when deploying network devices.

Stackable Switch

Stackable switches provide a way to simplify and increase the availability of the network. For example, instead of configuring, managing, and troubleshooting eight 48-port switches individually, you can manage all eight like a single unit using a stackable Switches. With a true stackable switch, those eight switches (total 384 ports) function as a single switch—there is a single SNMP/RMON agent, single Spanning Tree domain, single CLI or Web interface. There are valuable operational advantages to use these types of switches in networking, such as you can create link aggregation groups spanning across multiple units in the stack, port mirror traffic from one unit in the stack to another, or setup ACLs/QoS spanning all the units.

Conclusion

This article briefly introduces five types of switches in networking: LAN switch, unmanaged switch, managed switch, PoE switch and stackable switch. All of them have their own characteristics and are used in different network deployment. I hope you can have a better understanding on them after reading the article.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendations

As long as there is network deployment, gigabit switch is always the hot spot. According to different standards, ethernet switches have various types, such as 1 gigabit switch, 10 gigabit switch, 40 gigabit switch and 100g ethernet switch. Also, there are network switches classified by port number, such as 8 port, 24 port and 48 port. This article will recommend several 48 port Gigabit switches for you.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 1—Dell PowerConnect 5548 Switch

Dell PowerConnect 5548 switch has 48 auto-sensing Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switching ports and it provides exceptional performance through a switch fabric capacity of 176 Gbps, 2 HDMI stacking sorts with 10Gb per port for 40Gb total per switch, and a forwarding rate of 100.2 Mpps. In addition, Dell PowerConnect 5548 switch offers wire-speed performance that can grow alongside your evolving business needs. The price is about $495.00.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 2—Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi Switch

Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch is designed with 48 Gigabit RJ45 ports, 2 SFP ports and 2 SFP+ ports. For its total, non—blocking throughput, Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch supports up to 70 Gbps. And it can offer 140 Gbps forwarding capacity to simultaneously process traffic on all ports at line rate without any packet loss. Ubiquiti US-48 Unifi switch is a fully managed switch, delivering robust performance and intelligent switching for your growing networks. The price is about $397.53.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 3—TP-Link TL-SG1048 Switch

TP-Link TL-SG1048 switch is designed to meet the needs of the most demanding workgroup and departmental connectivity requirements. It provides 48 10/100/1000Mbps ports. Besides, it combines ease of use with unsurpassed performance resulting in an exceptional value for any cost-conscious network administrator who wants the best possible solution at the best possible price $271.99. TP-Link TL-SG1048 switch is a reliable, easy-to-use switch without the complexity of management.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 4—FS S1600-48T4S Switch

FS S1600-48T4S switch is a PoE switch comes with 48 10/100/1000Base-T RJ45 Ethernet ports, 1 console port, 4 SFP+ slots. It offers enterprise-class features, high-performance of both hardware and software , stable and reliable fast Ring Protection Protocol(RSTP), free configuration, strong network security, convenient management and maintenance. This 48 port switch price is about $689.00.

48 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 5—Quanta LB4M Switch

Quanta LB4M switch offers 48 Gbit ports and 2 SFP+ ports that makes it stackable and suitable to scenarios that require a strong scalability. These ports can function in 10 GBE switching mode, or in HiGig+ Uplink mode. It is a Layer 2 and Layer 3 switch with IPv6 and clustering features. The price of Quanta LB4M switch is about $225.00.

Conclusion

High density port switch is popular with small business data center. And 48 port gigabit switch is a heat topic. This article recommends five cheap 48 port switches for you and I hope it can help you make a choice for your network deployment.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port on Switch

When it comes to network switch, we usually ask about the port type on the switch and the number of port, such as twenty-four 10/100/1000 Mbps ports and four SFP+ ports. If you have used managed switch in your network deployment, you must have heard about uplink port or normal port. How much do you know about them? Is there any difference between them? This article will guide you to learn about uplink port vs. normal port on switch.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Devices

The uplink port on switch is used to connect a device or smaller local network to a larger network, or connect to the next "higher" device in the topology. For example, edge switch connects "up" to distribution layer managed switch. Also in computer network, hub, unmanaged switch and router typically designate one Ethernet port as the uplink port. And it may be labeled WAN or Internet instead of uplink. This type of port simplify connects different types of Ethernet devices to each other, such as when linking a local home network to a modem and the Internet. While normal port on switch is used to connect end user PC or server and all. In most cases, uplink ports have more bandwidth as compared to normal ports as they aggregate traffic between different layers.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Connect to Different Cables

Each Ethernet interface has two transmit pins and two receive pins. To achieve the link connection, the transmit pins at one end of network cable have to be connected to the receive pins at the other end. An uplink port does not crossover the transmit and receive pins, but a regular port does. Therefore, when two network switches are connected together with a straight-through cable, then one end must be uplink port and one end must be normal port. If a crossover cable is used to connect them, then the ports at both ends must be the same kind of port. Here is a figure for you to have a better understanding of this.

Uplink Port Vs. Normal Port: Additional Information about Shared Port and Dual-purposed Port

Some older network equipment specially configured a normal port next to the uplink port and linked the two together as a pair. Specifically, the hardware logic of these products supported connections to either the uplink port, or the normal shared port, but not both. Connecting devices to both ports of a shared port device stops the unit from functioning properly. Nowadays, many network equipment offer a dual-purpose port which can function either as an uplink or a normal port depending on the type of device connected to it.

Conclusion

In fact, uplink port can serve as normal port. Therefore, there are no big differences between them. The only difference is that uplink port is connected to higher layer network device to aggregate the bandwidth and must be connected to the normal port on another network device. I hope after reading this article, you can be clear on uplink port vs. normal port on switch.

Cheap 8 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendations

We know that router plays an important role when building home network. It provides IP addresses to devices on your network as well as to route traffic to and from the internet. However, router usually has four Ethernet ports (LAN ports). That means you can only connect four network devices to the router via Ethernet cable. Is there any method to add more Ethernet ports? Of course, Ethernet switch can do that. This article will recommend several cheap 8 port Gigabit switches for you.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 1—TP-Link TL-SG108 Switch

TP-Link TL-SG108 8 port Gigabit switch is featured with eight 10/100/1000Mbps ports. It utilizes the latest innovative energy-efficient technologies that can greatly expand your network capacity with much less power. It costs about $24.99. TP-Link TL-SG108 switch is an eco-friendly solution for your home network.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 2—Trendnet TEG-S82G Switch

Trendnet TEG-S82G 8 port Gigabit switch is a compact, plug and play gigabit switch. It has 8 Gigabit auto-negotiation ports and it utilizes GREENnet technology to reduce power consumption by up to 70%. In addition, Trendnet TEG-S82G switch can boost your home efficiency and eliminate network congestion with Gigabit speeds and total switching capacity of 16 Gbps with Full-Duplex Mode. The price is about $22.99.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 3—D-Link DGS-1008G Switch

D-Link DGS-1008G 8 port Gigabit switch is part of D-Link’s comprehensive family of home devices that make use of D-Link’s Green Technology, providing energy savings, reduced heat, and a longer product life without sacrificing performance or functionality. D-Link DGS-1008G switch supports up to 1 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth per port and up to 2 Gbps bandwidth in full-duplex mode. The price is about $24.99.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 4—Linksys SE3008 Switch

Linksys SE3008 8 port Gigabit switch allows you to add up to eight devices to your home network with plug-and-play installation. The Gigabit ports provide 10 times faster connection than ordinary 10/100 Ethernet connections. Linksys SE3008 switch also uses energy-saving technology that power saver detects unused ports to minimize power usage. In addition, its Gigabit ports is auto-sensing which can adjust to maximize data flow rates for 10/100/1000 Mbps. The price is about $37.88.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 5—TP-Link TL-SG1008D Switch

TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8 port Gigabit switch provides you an easy way to make the transition to Gigabit Ethernet. It can Increase the speed of your network server and backbone connections, or make Gigabit to the desktop a reality. Moreover, TP-Link TL-SG1008D switch adopts lower power consumption design. With the innovative energy-efficient technology, the switch can save up to 80% of the power consumption, making it an eco-friendly solution for your home network. This 8 port gigabit switch price is about $19.99.

Conclusion

All the above 8 port Gigabit switches are easy to use. They provide plug and play installations and can save the power consumption. And I hope this article can help you choose the best 8 port gigabit switch for your home network.

Introduction to HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series

As telecom industry develops rapidly, the size of data center becomes larger and the data transmission speed becomes higher. And many data centers have moved to 40G and 100G. For small and middle size business, 10gb switch occupies a dominant market. HP switch, characterized by its high quality and low price, is popular with small data center network designers. This article will give an introduction to HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series.

Overview

The HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series consists of four 10gb ethernet switches, which are HP ProCurve 2910al-24G switch, HP ProCurve 2910al-24G-PoE+ switch, HP ProCurve 2910al-48G switch and HP ProCurve 2910al-48G-PoE+ switch. These switches can be deployed at enterprise edge and remote branch offices, converged networks, and data center top of rack. They are featured with IPv6 host which allows the switches to be managed and developed at the edge of IPv6 networks. Designed with up to four optional and flexible 10G ports (CX4 and/or SFP+), they can provide 10G connectivity. They are high-performance Gigabit access switches which can cost-effective and scalable solution for your network deployment. Here is a figure of HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series for you.

Network Ports of HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series

Both HP ProCurve 2910al-24G switch and HP ProCurve 2910al-24G-PoE+ switch have twenty 10/100/1000 ports, four dual-personality ports one RJ45 serial console port and four 10G ports. While HP ProCurve 2910al-48G switch and HP ProCurve 2910al-48G-PoE+ switch have forty-four 10/100/1000 ports, four dual-personality ports one RJ45 serial console port and four 10G ports. With different port number, their switching capacities are different: 128 Gbps switching fabric with up to 95 Mpps for 24 port switch and 176 Gbps switching fabric with up to 131 Mpps for 48 port switch. For application in data center, different ports on the switch are connected with corresponding optical components.

• 10/100/1000 ports: All these ports have the “Auto MDIX” feature, which means you can use either straight-through or crossover twisted-pair cables to connect any network devices to the switch.
• Dual-personality ports: Each port can be used as either an RJ45 10/100/1000 port or as a mini-GBIC slot for use with mini-GBIC transceivers. By default, the RJ45 connectors are enabled. If a mini-GBIC is installed in a slot, it is enabled and the associated RJ45 connector is disabled and cannot be used. If the mini-GBIC is removed, the associated RJ45 port is automatically re-enabled.
• 10G ports: These ports provide connectivity for 10G speed though either copper or fiber optic media (CX4 and/or SFP+).
• For PoE+ switch, the RJ45 connector also supplies PoE+ power until a mini-GBIC is installed. That means the PoE+ power is turned off when a mini-GBIC is plugged in.

Cabling Solutions

With 10/100/1000 ports, HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series can be used for 1G to 1G connection. Just respectively plug two SFP transceiver modules into 1G ports on two switches, then connect the two SFP transceiver modules with a fiber optic cable. Besides, 10G to 10G connection can be accomplished by using 10G DAC cable. Therefore, it is very simply to utilize HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series in data center. The following table shows supported fiber optic transceiver, optical fiber cable for HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series.

Conclusion

In addition to providing cost-effective solution for small size business, a lifetime warranty offered by HP makes HP ProCurve 2910al Switch Series particularly a great choice. For transceiver and cable, you can go to FS.COM, which provides high quality compatible SFP, SFP+ transceiver, 10G SFP+ DAC cable and optical cable.