D-Link or TP-Link for gigabit switch?

[realWasabi]

I'm in the market for a cheap 24 port gigabit managed switch.

I don't have much experience with the cheaper brands, so I'm looking for suggestions/recommendations on what to buy and why. I found these, which I'm considering:

D-Link DGS-1100-26

TP-Link TL-SG1024DE

Thanks in advance

 

[Emerald]

Of those two I would try the TP-Link since I have not had much luck with the Dlink switches.

I usually use Netgear like this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122600

 

[bill001g]

Unless you really need SFP ports you would save a bit going with the DGS-1100-24.

Performance wise they should be about the same. The manufactures claim the same packet rates. The differences would likely be in the feature they support and how good the company support is. Only you can determine if a feature has value or not. For example it is not as common to use port aggregation anymore...everyone just buys 10g ports. Both happen to support that feature but if one did and one did not would that matter to you.

 

[realWasabi]

Unless you really need SFP ports you would save a bit going with the DGS-1100-24.

Performance wise they should be about the same. The manufactures claim the same packet rates. The differences would likely be in the feature they support and how good the company support is. Only you can determine if a feature has value or not. For example it is not as common to use port aggregation anymore...everyone just buys 10g ports. Both happen to support that feature but if one did and one did not would that matter to you.

Yeah, that would matter. My NAS supports link teaming on it's 2 gigabit ports, so I'd like to use that. Also, I'm probably gonna buy a dual NIC for my workstation to take advantage of the link teaming feature there as well. SFP+/10G ports are also interesting, but that's a project with a substantially higher pricetag.

If choosing between TP-Link, D-Link and Netgear, regardless of the features - which one would be the best pick?

 

[realWasabi]

Of those two I would try the TP-Link since I have not had much luck with the Dlink switches.

I usually use Netgear like this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122600

Not sure why it didn't quote you as well - the comment I just posted was meant for both of you 🙂

 

[bill001g]

There is not a huge difference between these switches. These unlike wifi routers it is not as easy to get part lists but I suspect they may use the same parts. None of those companies actually manufacture any chips so they must buy them from someone. Switches use what is called a ASIC to allow high speed switching. This technology is so well known that there is little difference even between manufactures.

So you buy switches on features and how well the company provides support. All three of those are well known companies.

If you want my actual recommendation it is to use a switch from the HP procurve line. The features in these is very advanced and since they are used in commercial installs they tend to never fail and since they are very common you tend to get lots of sample configurations.

Be very careful to study link aggregation and the limits it has. It does not load balance by packet at best it can load balance by session so a single data transfer from a single machine can not use both connections. It is designed for one-many so that lots of clients will balance and use both connections.

Also you need to check and be sure your nas and the cpu/chipset in your computer is really designed to put out that much data. Many CPU used in desktops have bottlenecks internal to the chipset.

 

[realWasabi]

There is not a huge difference between these switches. These unlike wifi routers it is not as easy to get part lists but I suspect they may use the same parts. None of those companies actually manufacture any chips so they must buy them from someone. Switches use what is called a ASIC to allow high speed switching. This technology is so well known that there is little difference even between manufactures.

So you buy switches on features and how well the company provides support. All three of those are well known companies.

If you want my actual recommendation it is to use a switch from the HP procurve line. The features in these is very advanced and since they are used in commercial installs they tend to never fail and since they are very common you tend to get lots of sample configurations.

Be very careful to study link aggregation and the limits it has. It does not load balance by packet at best it can load balance by session so a single data transfer from a single machine can not use both connections. It is designed for one-many so that lots of clients will balance and use both connections.

Also you need to check and be sure your nas and the cpu/chipset in your computer is really designed to put out that much data. Many CPU used in desktops have bottlenecks internal to the chipset.

Thanks for mentioning the part about link aggregation limits. I was not aware of that. Oh well, I guess 1G is plenty for my workstation then. The dual NIC thing was more of a experiment. But the NAS will still be connected via LA since it can benefit from it.

The HP Procurves i have read about before, but the ones afforable to me seems to be pretty old and use alot of power (in Denmark, electricity is very expensive) and/or has a fan that makes alot of noise. Or am I looking at the wrong models?

 

[bill001g]

There is not a huge difference between these switches. These unlike wifi routers it is not as easy to get part lists but I suspect they may use the same parts. None of those companies actually manufacture any chips so they must buy them from someone. Switches use what is called a ASIC to allow high speed switching. This technology is so well known that there is little difference even between manufactures.

So you buy switches on features and how well the company provides support. All three of those are well known companies.

If you want my actual recommendation it is to use a switch from the HP procurve line. The features in these is very advanced and since they are used in commercial installs they tend to never fail and since they are very common you tend to get lots of sample configurations.

Be very careful to study link aggregation and the limits it has. It does not load balance by packet at best it can load balance by session so a single data transfer from a single machine can not use both connections. It is designed for one-many so that lots of clients will balance and use both connections.

Also you need to check and be sure your nas and the cpu/chipset in your computer is really designed to put out that much data. Many CPU used in desktops have bottlenecks internal to the chipset.

Thanks for mentioning the part about link aggregation limits. I was not aware of that. Oh well, I guess 1G is plenty for my workstation then. The dual NIC thing was more of a experiment. But the NAS will still be connected via LA since it can benefit from it.

The HP Procurves i have read about before, but the ones afforable to me seems to be pretty old and use alot of power (in Denmark, electricity is very expensive) and/or has a fan that makes alot of noise. Or am I looking at the wrong models?

I can never keep up with HP and their silly part numbers. There are lots of procurve switches but they do tend to be more expensive than most consumer models because they are designed for business. They do make a line of fanless switches but I can't find it at the moment.

 

[realWasabi]

There is not a huge difference between these switches. These unlike wifi routers it is not as easy to get part lists but I suspect they may use the same parts. None of those companies actually manufacture any chips so they must buy them from someone. Switches use what is called a ASIC to allow high speed switching. This technology is so well known that there is little difference even between manufactures.

So you buy switches on features and how well the company provides support. All three of those are well known companies.

If you want my actual recommendation it is to use a switch from the HP procurve line. The features in these is very advanced and since they are used in commercial installs they tend to never fail and since they are very common you tend to get lots of sample configurations.

Be very careful to study link aggregation and the limits it has. It does not load balance by packet at best it can load balance by session so a single data transfer from a single machine can not use both connections. It is designed for one-many so that lots of clients will balance and use both connections.

Also you need to check and be sure your nas and the cpu/chipset in your computer is really designed to put out that much data. Many CPU used in desktops have bottlenecks internal to the chipset.

Thanks for mentioning the part about link aggregation limits. I was not aware of that. Oh well, I guess 1G is plenty for my workstation then. The dual NIC thing was more of a experiment. But the NAS will still be connected via LA since it can benefit from it.

The HP Procurves i have read about before, but the ones afforable to me seems to be pretty old and use alot of power (in Denmark, electricity is very expensive) and/or has a fan that makes alot of noise. Or am I looking at the wrong models?

I can never keep up with HP and their silly part numbers. There are lots of procurve switches but they do tend to be more expensive than most consumer models because they are designed for business. They do make a line of fanless switches but I can't find it at the moment.

Alright, so I found a second hand HP ProCurve 1810G-24 switch for around $100. Only downside I see is that it's using alot more power than the TP-Link or D-Link switches. But do you think this switch could be used for what I has described?

And do you know if I can firmware update it without having to pay for the update? I have a HP Microserver for which I tried to find a BIOS update - only to discover that HP requires an active paid-for support agreement to allow you to download it. If it's the same thing with updates to the switch, I think I'll rather take my chances with the cheaper brands.

 

[bill001g]

It let me download something I stopped it. You need to search for the other stupid product number J9450A

I never worry about power on a switch. I think this one is rated at 30watts which means it does not even use 1kwatt in a day. It is pennies a day to run.