User Manual

Most people think that a network switch (the device you
plug your network cables into) is a very simple device that
helps split and share your network signals among multiple
devices. At its most basic level that’s true. Switches though
do much more. They assign what trac goes to which
device, they determine the best speeds of those devices and
in more advanced switches can provide a host of features
including adding QOS (Quality of Service), virtualization of
your networks to isolate certain devices from one another
(VLAN) and provide a trove of management capabilities and
monitoring tools.
So do these added capabilities come with all switches?
No. There are 4 dierent types of switches.
1. The most common switch is the “Unmanaged” switch.
This is the most basic type and as the name implies
there is no management capabilities built in. You buy the
speed of switch you want, Gigabit or 100BASE-T, plug
it in, connect your devices and it works. No intervention
needed and as easy as plugging and unplugging cables.
2. The next level switch is called the “Plus” switch. This
switch adds tremendous new capabilities including
QOS, Vlan, Web configuration and network trac
monitoring. The Plus switch option is not well known
to the average user but really is the sweet spot in
switch capability and value. For a modest price increase
(10-15% over unmanaged switches) you gain a level of
control and management that is important to gaining
best performance in todays media centric homes.
The next two switch categories are enterprise grade.
3. These are “Smart” Switches and “Fully Managed“
Switches. The Smart switch builds on the capabilities
of the “Plus” switch but adds more capabilities in areas
of security management, trac control, static routing,
cable testing and outbound trac monitoring to name
a few. The Fully Managed Switch takes the Smart
Switch to another level by providing a command line
interface (CLI) that lets network administrators easily
configure and deploy these switches in wide scale
enterprise environments.
4. And lastly there are POE switches which are versions
of Plus, Smart and Managed that provide power over
the ethernet cabling to simply power network attached
devices through the network cable. You will find POE
versions in most versions of the Plus, Smart and Managed
switch models.
So for the home user what switch would be best?
Well if you have a simple home network and your use is basic
email, web browsing and the like then the base Unmanaged
switch will be fine. Buy the speed you want, plug it in and you
are done. But if you are looking to have greater control and
ability to manage what is happening in your network the Plus
switch is the way to go. For a very modest price increase you
get a huge jump in capability and performance.
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of their respective holders. Information is subject to change without notice. © 2014 NETGEAR, Inc. All rights reserved.
Are All Network
Switches the Same?