Please forgive the slowness of this reply but the last few days have been crazy.
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Given that there is no standard for feature sets in "layer X" switches of the same manufacturer, let alone industry-wide, I'd take it as a "no" for that.
I guess that makes sense but it's still kind of surprising.
In which case I'd definitely suggest getting in a decent brand of switch (I won't specifically state Cisco, you could go HP for example). This would also then mean that you are best off getting a minimum of 24-port (any less and you'll typically be dropping into the SOHO or Consumer ranges of equipment, you don't tend to rackmount 8-port switches )
I'm kind of decided on Cisco already. It seems that every thread I read where a user asks for advice on switch purchasing, the consensus appears to be that Cisco are the way to go. I've also seen several decent Cisco switches that appear to tick the required boxes whilst still being within my budget.
Thanks for the tip for focusing on 24 port+ switches. I'm not interested in consumer grade stuff, so that should help with the search. I have looked at a few small business Cisco switches with 20 ports but I'll get to them in a sec.
At absolute most on a primarily 10/100 switch you'll get 4 Gigabit ports (Cisco 2960s come to mind here), sometimes you'll only get 2, and sometimes none at all. They may or may not be RJ45, sometimes they'll be SFP or GBIC ports, sometimes they'll be dual-personality. If you want Gigabit for a number of devices, you're going to have to plumb for a gigabit switch.
I don't think I'm going to have to compromise on port speed. I've seen several full gigabit Cisco switches that are affordable.
Something like this will support VLAN tagging, trunking, port-aggregation, pretty anything you can think of at Layer2. They DON'T however do routing (you'd need a 3560G or 3750G for that), but assuming you are keeping your pFsense box, you could always "router on a stick" your network topology. pFsense supports 802.1q tagging. Given the cost difference there though, I'd take the 3750G over the 2960G, even with the 3750G's cosmetic damage.
The 3560G and 3750G are both Layer3 devices, they support IP routing (and IPv6 routing), as well as dynamic routing protocols.
First of all, thanks for the specific suggestions. I appreciate the leg work you've done on my behalf.
The C3560G-24TS-S and C3750G-24T-E both appear to have cooling fans, so they're not ideal... I
really should have just said that I'm looking for passive only switches as my definition of quiet is very different to all but the most hardcore silent computing nuts. They're also relativity power hungry compared to some of the switches I've looked at, which isn't a deal breaker when you take the lifetime operating costs into account vs. a more expensive, lower power switch.
I have a friend who said that the place he works at are getting rid of some Cisco SG 300-20's. The
specs look good to my noob eyes. It also has the bonuses of being passively cooled, having a relatively low power consumption and it'll come from a friend of a friend, so there's less worry about it being in non-working order. My mate said it's heading to the bay but I could have it for £180. It looks like a decent price compared to the other second hand SG 300-20's floating around. I would appreciate your, or anyone else's opinion on it. Is it a good buy?
As for my pfSense box, I do plan to keep it, largely because it has ample performance for my needs but also because I'm enjoying learning to use pfSense, the community is pretty welcoming to networking newbies like me (as long as they do some of the leg work). I'd still like to get routing capability from the switch though, purely so I can learn how to use it.
So I do intend to use the pfSense box as a router-on-a-stick... this is a probably a stupid question and I'm pretty sure I know the answer already but I'm second guessing myself. I can connect all the free NICs on my pfSense box to the switch in order to not limit throughput can't I?
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If you have a local set up go straight for 1 L3 switch as that will cover all your needs. If you are spread out or need port density then buy L2 for this function and trunk back to the L3 switch.
The vast majority of my gear is and will be limited to my room, so a single L3 switch looks like the way to go.
If you want to take it further (i.e career) buy Cisco switches as they are fairly standard and common.
That's the big reason I'm limiting my search to Cisco gear.
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What are the specs on your pfSense box,if you don't mind me asking?
I don't mind at all. I have a Netgate RCC-VE 2440. I won't post the specs as this post is already getting pretty big but here's a link to the mobo. I've added a SanDisk X110 for cache and a few (hundred) years worth of those tasty RRD graphs. It fits the bill perfectly. I wanted a dedicated, low power device that would take anything I could realistic throw at it. So far I can't fault it.
If you have any questions about the RCC-VE 2440, I'd be happy to answer them.
