Recommendation for 24 - 30 port ethernet switch

My personal choice would be a Juniper EX2200 series switch. I use a Juniper SRX100 at home, but it only has 10 ports (it is also a firewall and intrusion prevention system, which I doubt you would need) so is not suitable for you. I use the EX2200 for work; they have 24 or 48 ports depending which model in the series you choose. These are not the cheapest, may be overkill, but they are very well made and have a lifetime guarantee. 

If these are two expensive then I'd go for Netgear

I'd wait for some other suggestions too as I'm more familiar with industrial strength products than domestic products. The EX2200 would definitely work though and be nigh on indestructible. 

Yes for a simple home LAN I recommend a Netgear or Linksys.

If you need a basic managed switch that supports VLANs, port security, CoS queues  and muticast snooping then I recommend a Cisco Catalyst 2960 series switch. These can be quite affordable now - albeit a lot more expensive that consumer equipment. Or you can try the newer Cisco Small Business Managed Switch SRW248G4 Switch - 48 ports

Just also bear in mind the larger high throughput switches often have fans which can be quite noisy.

Simon

I use the HP ProCurve 1810G, it is fanless, has an easy to use web interface and has a lifetime warranty for the original purchaser. It supports VLANs, Trunking, CoS, etc. There are 8, 24 & 48 port versions.

I've also used the managed dell 28xx series are also pretty good, but the fans are quite noisy if they are not in a separate room or a cabinet. These can be used in both managed and unmanaged modes which is useful.

Reason I moved to the HP in the end was the noise of the fans in the Dell switches.

Rich

Hi Billy

I like Rich use an HP ProCurve but mine is the 1800_24G, the previous version to the one Rich has. These are smart switches, a kind of halfway house between managed and unmanaged and I have found it to be an excellent unit. Personally, if it really is intended for home use I would think a managed switch is a bit OTT, and can be quite complex to setup (depending on ability of course), the price tends to reflect this. The only other thing is you will probably find as I have, you never have enough points, or they are not quite where you require them. My point is that it is good to have a few spare ways; my switch and router are both now full.

Good luck with your project,

Peter

NetGear GS724T or 748T have been good for me ...

Just a note on your "cables coming in from behind" comment - ideally you should be bringing all your cables to punch-downs on patch panels, then the idea is that you link whatever outlets you need to the switch using short patching cables ... you may have 30 or so network ports round your house but you may well find that only a dozen are in use so going for a 48 port switch might be a waste of money in that case.

( Conversely of course you may find that you end up with a 24 port switch in your living room with only six free ports, a 16 port switch in your bedroom with eight free ports and a 24 port switch in your bathroom with 12 free ports ... I always find the bathroom switch hardest to explain... )

Phil

Good points by both Peter and Phil.

You can never have enough points around the house, and with more and more devices becoming internet aware, it is going to be more important.

A neat and well organised patch panel will make it far easier to fix issues and patch things in. A little tip is to use different coloured patch cables for different purposes. eg all your UPnP renderers have green cables 

Rich

I've been using a D-link DGS-1224T for the last couple of years and recommend it very highly. Quiet, cool, and completely faultless. Easy to configure too.

If you wiring your house I'd recommend terminating all the cables in a patch panel first, then linking it to your switch with patch leads. Its what I did and gives me plenty of flexibility if I need to move things or change config.

Good luck!

Steve

Hi Billy - for a typical home network unmanaged is fine. However you were asking for quite a high number of ports which perhaps indicated something more complex?

With switches around the house it is better to go with a hierarchical model if you can rather than one very large central switch. However it is not usually a good idea to daisy chain switches as this can lead to unreliability and complications under load. A hierarchical model allows you to keep the wiriing simpler and the whole thing is easier to maintain. It also allows you to design resilience if you wish using Spanning Tree protocol, but probably over the top for a simple house setup. 

For the record I use a hierarchical switch model of 8 port managed switches and a few 4 port unmanaged ones (and I run VLANs to keep the my media/upnp network, work VLAN and general family web use all seperate)

Again - many thanks to all - greatly appreciated.

I had assumed that the 'right' thing was to bring the ethernet cable from each socket in the house down to a single central switch - hence the question about a 24 port switch or even larger.

Simon - you mentioned a hierarchical system and it sounds like Phil may have been describing the same thing.

To clarify - does this mean that, for example, each floor of the house would have a single switch with, say, 8 or 16 ports - enough to serve the sockets on that floor alone. In this way, only one cable from each of the switches need be run down to the 'main' switch in the basement to which the router, modem, NAS etc etc is attached? In this way, a 16 port switch in the basement would probably suffice. This would significantly reduce the amount of cabling which would need to be run through the house down to the basement.

You have mentioned that daisy chaining can lead to problems, though, so any guidance on the best solution in a domestic situation?

I'd probably go with your original plan for a central switching location (unless you are planning something that's not obvious from your post);  see Phil's comment in actual implementation.  Just one additonal suggestion - go for the maximum future flexibility - gigabit ethernet capability, power over ethernet, etc.  Also consider what other network-controlled systems you might want it include/upgrade to, eg networked security cameras/security system, networked lighting and HVAC control - the options are endless!

 I agree with Simon, go with Cisco switches. Don't do multiple ones, since they are just prone to more failure, plus a good switch can be divided into VLAN's as he mentioned. Full 802.11D is probably over the top and too complex to setup. 

 Get one decent 24 or 48-port and have fun with it. Don't overdo a simple home network, and don't get stuff you don't know how to configure. Those SBS models have a nice GUI which would probably be fine, and would offer more then enough flexibility. 

Hi Billy, yes your summary for splitting up the floors into seperate switches is  correct. But that really makes sense if you have a lot network devices for each floor. Alternatively if lighter more low bandwidth use you might use a wireless AP for each floor or region and bring those back to a hierarchical or central switch, and use an 'edge' switche where more reliable throughput and performance is required like study, living room, office, workshop etc. 

These days you can get flat Ethernet cable that lies under the carpet and so is a lot easier now to wire a network up in the house than it used to be.

My point of daisy chaining was meant to describe switches being endlessly chained together. Ie

study->living room ->dining room -> bedroom1 ->bedroom 2

As opposed to preferably

Study -> lliving room 

          -> dining room 

          -> first floor 

                    -> bedroom 1

                    ->.bedroom 2

or

          -> first floor

                    -> Wireless Access Point.

All most certainly currently over the top currently unless you are a power user orpreparing for the coming decade :-)

But hopefully you get the idea.

Simon

Thanks for all the replies so far. One more question:

It is worth spending extra for POE?

At this point, the network will be used for 'standard' purposes (streaming music between HDX and several Unitiqute clients or similar, video, networking several computers, a couple of printers)...

Do you have a need for it?

I'd say NO as if you do get any devices that require POE then you can just run a POE injector (this is what I do for my Pakedge WAP-W3's) and POE injectors can be had for maybe £20 or so if you shop around.

 None of those devices would require POE...

...and as far as the brief discussion above of managed switches. Please don't let that take you down the route of convincing you to buy one thinking that it will be somehow "better" unless you KNOW that you NEED a managed switch (and for any normal domestic network there should be absolutely no need to buy a managed switch) - better to save the money and use it to replace the freebie router supplied by your ISP with something more stable and reliable if that proves necessary!

Managed switches do have a use but unless you know what you are doing with them then they can provide you with a more limited function set than a basic switch as they may come configured to have functionality disabled (I know that the DELL switches that can be used for NaimNet have to have IGMP handling enabled on them before they will work with NaimNet).

Cheers

Phil

Mine is a managed switch but the two times I fiddled everything went belly up.

Unmanaged is perfectly fine!

Thanks Gary ... 

I appreciate that there is an awful lot of information that sits behind the "networking" banner (just as there is with any subject) and that members such as Simon-In-Suffolk have a great depth of knowledge to add to those kinds of discussions but what concerns me at times is that in heading off into those discussions it may produce the perception that streaming audio is "difficult" or "complicated" when it really isn't ...

There are a few places that people can get tripped up - differences in UPnP compatibility etc., Apple devices only supporting IGMPv3 etc. - but generally networking itself shouldn't be an issue and we should avoid making it look like it has to be more complex than necessary.

Cheers

Phil

Ill second that Phil. To be honest when i tried the ND5 at home i expected there would be all sorts of network issues, even though the dealer said it would be easy. But i plugged it in and it configured itself, found my NAS, found my music and all i had to do was press play. Plug and play or what

I remember having a meeting with some of the senior managers here a few years ago and there was discussion about doing all sorts of network tutorials and so on ... now my view on all this is that it's fine to have that information available but you can so very easily make something seem at a glance to be incredibly difficult and simply scare people.

I caused quite a stir when in the middle of a discussion about to what level we needed to be able to teach customers networking I suggested that we had actually "got it right" and that if a customer was using one of our hard disc based servers and one of our Uniti or ND products then all that's needed is to simply plug them in and they work ... anything beyond that is then faultfinding which is a different thing altogether.

Phil

I do recommend the Linksys range of small business switches highly. I have 2 of their 8Port Gigabit (SD2008T) switch in my house. They are, affordable, unmanaged and essentially "plug and play".

Instead of going for 24 ports, I would consider having several units of switches with smaller number of ports around the household. Some areas may require multiple ethernet ports and instead of having multiple ethernet faceplate on the wall, I would prefer to have only 1 faceplate linking to 1 switch and in turn this switch serving several devices. This way, I can also avoid having 24 long cables from all over my house running to one single point which can be costly and physically challenging to implement due to the constraints of the trunking (or wiring paths) around the house. 

What matters is network speed, gigabyte is a must - you will eventually be pushing video files around your network. I have found hard wired patch panels and commercial patchleads a necessity for reliable connections at this speed. Equipment supplier is a matter of personal choice. I have used Netgear for some years without problems.

Just caught up.. Yep agree home networks should be simple and preferably wired. The complications come with fudges or trying to jump on the latest glossy fad. Keep it simple and wired where you can and you should be fine. Fault finding as Phil says (or tweaking)  is where you need the knowledge and that's something else , but keep it simple and conventionally wired (keep wifi bridges to a minimum and preferably avoid other bridges like Ethernet over Powerline fudges etc.)  Its sometimes with these compromise network fudges that things like IGMP / multicast may stop working or you have throughput issues with stuttering audio, and frustrations creep in and quite honestly this should be hidden from you - but keep it simple with wired quality consumer unmanaged switches (at least 100mbps) and a quality consumer internet router and you should be fine for the forseable future of your home audio network needs.

(Simon-in-Suffolk and anyone else - please feel free to comment if you feel that anything here isn't correct, I don't want anyone to think that I'm just spouting unfounded opinion but also I'm trying to keep the discussion clear of unnecessary technical guff that can get scary unless we really need to do so.)

Sorry to say that I don't agree with you here - what matters is consistency of throughput.

Running video over IP does not necessarily mean that you *NEED* gigabit - for example, Virgin Media are (I am informed) no longer running *ANY* new development projects that are not IP based - TiVo is their last conventional distribution project. They are currently pushing hard to get their entire network to a minimum of 100mbits/sec so that they can then move completely to video on demand and they intend that a 100mbit/sec connection would be sufficient for several independent VOD streams *PLUS* a typical domestic broadband connection.

$ky are doing streaming over IP for their movies on demand (AnyTime+) service but that's obviously limited by your bandwidth and I *BELIEVE* that that works happily over a 4mbits/sec connection.  LoveFilm and NetFlix require a minimum of 2mbits/sec for SD content (although you get significantly better quality at 3mbits/sec) and 1080p content can go as high as 8mbits/sec. OK - the quality isn't fantastic (in many cases not that much better than Video-CD) but at the end of the day this is the way that *MOST* IP sourced video is going. 

Gigabit is nice if you're throwing around large files and playing full bitrate bluray rips across your LAN but even for bluray rips it isn't a *MUST* (blurays typically max out about 48mbits/sec) so unless you're pulling multiple bluray rips at a time (and again here, consistent throughput is key) then you can pull full bitrate bluray across 100mbits/sec . For audio use therefore 100mbits is way more than sufficient.

Now, no matter how fast your network, if you don't get a consistent *STREAM* of data then you will get breakups and glitches and this where - if you have such issues - that the hard work of network diagnosis comes in.

Certainly I'd say that you should be looking to be keeping any streaming data from going through your router unnecessarily - we have had a number of issues with faltering playback where the user has had his NAS, UnitiServe and Uniti (for example) all plugged into the router and has had issues whereas plugging those units into a decent switch (I usually go for a NetGear ProSafe - cheap enough and easily available) and then uplinking from the switch to the router has cleared the problem.

Definitely avoid using wireless or Ethernet over Powerline devices in any network design - they should only ever be seen as a *POSSIBLE* get out of jail free card and should never be relied upon to work under all circumstances ... if you feel that I'm being unfair on either of these technologies then try getting your supplier of your wireless access point (assuming that you haven't actually decided to do it right and implement a properly managed wireless network) or Ethernet over Powerline device to *GUARANTEE* that they will work consistently and at the maximum throughput / range that is given on the box (rather than just "If it doesn't work then we'll give you your money back").

Cheers

Phil

Phil - I agree, you don't need 1Gbps - but it is a latest fad for the consumer and to be honest is not much difference in price than 100mbps so go for it if you want as long as you go for a quality brand - but as you say you definitely don't need it for media playback, but can be beneficial if you a have reasonable grade NAS and doing large file transfers or synchronization  - but there are other effective methods such as Jumbo frames for this sort of applicaiton.

I wont get technical but its also not a good idea with TCP to have high bandwidth squeezed down to a smaller one where data is combined (aggregated) for lots of devices. So try and be consistent with your link speeds on your LAN between routers and switches (symptoms can be temporary stutters at start of playout etc for audio).

Finally the point on network bridge fudges - why not consider the network as the tyre for your car - you need a tyre that will be reliable in all weathers and loads on the car. It might cost more than some cheaper tyres - and you might need to go further to a garage to get the right tyres fitted but its worth it. Consider a network fudge as the emergency spare - it will get you home or to the garage  but you are limited to reduced speed and extended stopping distances - but you wouldn't start a long trip on an expensive holiday with it.

Simon

Well audio aside i move around a lot of data for work, folders of typically two gigs to be copied across the network often. Gig speeds is beyond mere extravegance, it makes a signficant difference.

No, not related to streaming i know.