[clug] [OT] Managed desktop switches?

[Nathan Rickerby]

On Fri, Aug 06, 2010 at 01:21:26PM +1000, Alex Satrapa wrote:
> I'm looking for a 5 or 8 port managed switch.  It needs to support:
>  - 100Mbs Ethernet,
>  - 802.1q VLAN,
>  - Port-based VLAN,
>  - port mirroring,
>  - in-band management (ie: telnet or web interface, not serial or other custom socket)
> 
> Bonus if it happens to support fetching a configuration using TFTP
> based on DHCP parameters :)
> 
> Budget is under $200.
> 
> One that I've looked at which seems reasonable is the Linksys
> SLM2005[1], but it's been end-of-lifed. Another contender is the
> Netgear ProSafe® GS105E[2] though its inband configuration requires
> using a configuration utility which is Windows-only.
> 
> Alex
> 
> [1] http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9995/index.html
> [2] http://www.netgear.com.au/au/Product/Switches/Advanced-Smart-Switc/GS105E
> 

I had a similar set of requirements, though my list also included serial
management and low noise (no fans). I ended up going for a Linksys
SRW208 (~$100) which is a Cisco Small Business Managed Switch. I'm not
sure how much it has in common with the SLM2005, a Cisco Small Business
Smart Switch.

The web interface (WebView™) for the SRW208 is IE6 only. I had
difficulty trying to get it to work in any Free web browsers.

It has an SSH/Telnet interface, but only a limited set of the
configuration options are accessible through it. Notably, none of the
VLAN settings can be changed without using the web interface. Connecting
to the SSH service with OpenSSH gave me an error about the RSA
modulus being too small. I had to recompile OpenSSH with a smaller
SSH_RSA_MINIMUM_MODULUS_SIZE to connect.

According to the manual, the SRW208 supports port mirroring but I
haven't tested it.

It doesn't support loading a configuration from TFTP based on DHCP
parameters. You need to use the terminal or web interface to load and
save the config to TFTP.

Beyond the configuration, everything worked fine. So if you don't plan
on changing the configuration much or you don't mind starting up IE6
then the 208 may be worth looking at.

Personally though, I think next time I'll go for something that runs
OpenWRT.

Nathan