Managed Switches

[Harl0]

Hi all

Possibly a stupid question however...

I am wanting to separate my networking set up using VLANS. For example main trunk, IoT, CCTV, guests etc would all be separate VLANS.

My set up:
Router: Ubiquity Unifi Dream Machine (UDM)
Switch: TP-Link TL-SG108S (non-managed)

Using just the UDM I can allocate VLANs to my ports. However, when using the TP-Link to extend connectivity, I loose this functionality as I plug additional devices such as my desktop into the same switch, which needs to be on its own VLAN - Which makes sense as this is a 'dumb' switch.

My question is, if I purchase a Managed switch such as the UnifiSwitch 8 60W for PoE (will be running Unifi APs) to regain the logical routing capability and run the VLANs, can I also use my TP-Link in the mix and still retain the VLAN separation - OR - Do I need to use another Managed switch?

 

[ChrisD.]

The TP link doesn't understand what a VLAN tag is, so it'll only ever work on whatever VLAN the port on a managed device it is connected to. So if you have the default VLAN and VLAN 10 as an example, both these would be present on a Unifi switch. If the TP link is plugged into that Unifi switch it'll only pass traffic on the VLAN that the port it's connected on has assigned.

 

[Harl0]

Thanks for

The TP link doesn't understand what a VLAN tag is, so it'll only ever work on whatever VLAN the port on a managed device it is connected to. So if you have the default VLAN and VLAN 10 as an example, both these would be present on a Unifi switch. If the TP link is plugged into that Unifi switch it'll only pass traffic on the VLAN that the port it's connected on has assigned.

This makes sense, thanks.

Due to the layout of my network (router downstairs, most of my equipment upstairs) I use a switch to get the data upstairs and another switch upstairs to distribute. Based on this I will need two managed switches or that at least support VLAN tagging to make this work?

 

[ChrisD.]

Do you need both networks upstairs? If so can't you run the managed switch upstairs off one port of the UDM and the unmanaged off another port?

 

[Tooms]

If your budget will allow it, get two managed switches for the flexibility to deal with any future needs. If you can’t do that now, give us some more info on how many devices need a wired connection downstairs and upstairs, which VLAN/network you want them connected to and your PoE power requirements. There’s probably a way to make it work with one switch (with some compromises).