TP-Link switches worth trying for a business?
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Hi,
I am not really a network expert, but in the past 12 months I have seen a massive rise of TP-Link deployments. Not the simple desktop switches and DSL-routers, but the managed switches with professional features like trunking, SFPs etc.
I do own one TP-Link switch, mostly out of curiosity, but I do not put any heavy load onto it, so I do not know wether its any good or will fail in a professional setup.
Is TP-Link really in the process of becoming a reliable vendor for enterprise grade equipment or is this just because people are cheap?
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I am using TP-Link managed switch. They are working perfectly as access layer. But I just used VLAN and layer3 interface and 802.1x. I think TP-Link switch is suitable for small or medium business.
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T2600G-28TS v3. You can separate two wifi network on one AP. But need your AP supports multi-SSID and VLAN. You can refer to the FAQ.
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I have big experience with TP-Link switches (and APs). TP-Link is growing, so they are improving their software, it means you must always use the latest firmware and check to buy the latest hardware version, as every new official firmware changes switch pretty much for some features. I can say, that T2600G series are really good access layer switches (T2600G-28SQ is pretty good for aggregation as well). Two years ago they had a lot of problems with management hangs, but now it is better than any other vendor I have to use sometimes for access. Hardware part is perfect, my clients love it after installing over dlink, as example, as power supply modules almost never burn out, compared to others. Price is sweet too. However, Smart switches don't have enough functions for me and still sometimes I meet some old bugs, which are fixed on T2600G years ago.
T3700G series is a pretty good b2b l3 switch, but it is copper only. I had few projects with it with no problems, but it lacks of BGP/MPLS hardly. I am waiting for T3700G with SFP slots for a long time...
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hughLink wrote
I was looking at Amazon reviews for the various T2600G-xxx switches. One of them (probably for the POE version) said that the switch statically assigns itself to a typical port used by routers. The reviewer never said what that IP is (I can only assume 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.2.1). Has anyone else heard of that? Thanks -Hugh
Don't count on Amazon reviews, too many noobs there posting. Better read the specs/docs or use the emulator to see what the switch offers.
Every managed switch – no matter from which vendor – always has an IP address (not a »port used by routers«). TP-Link switches usually have the IP 192.168.0.1 as the default IP in factory settings. You need to change this IP before connecting the switch to your network in order to easily reach the switch's web UI. Of course you can set any static IP you like and you can also have the switch assigned an IP via DHCP, but I would recommend to not use DHCP for stationary devices unless you plan DHCP static IP mappings.
You could leave the switch's default IP unaltered if your router uses another IP, but you would have to set your laptop's IP to an IP of the same subnet (192.168.0.0) every time you want to use the web UI or CLI of the switch. That's possible, but impractical for normal use.
Same is valid for routers: they always have a pre-defined default IP in factory settings. You can change the router's IP to any IP you like, too.
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"always has an IP address (not a »port used by routers«)"
poor choice of works on my part. Yes, I meant to say IP address used by router, not port used by router....the latter would be absurd :)
-Hugh
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It is true, a lot of routers, including tplink, use 192.168.0.1 as default IP. TP-Link switches also use this IP as default. I do not see the problem though, as you will change your switch IP anyway, if it is managed.
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