NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS105NA) - Desktop or Wall Mount, and Limited Lifetime Protection

However. The switch is a good one in and of itself. The "lifetime warranty," on the other hand, is simply false. Even though it says "forever," try calling and filing a warranty claim. It will take at least an hour to speak with someone, and as soon as you tell them you're filing a warranty claim, they'll tell you that those claims are handled by a separate department, and you'll be put on hold indefinitely. I'm calling for the second time today, and I've been on hold for an hour and fifty minutes. It takes five minutes. So, despite their assurances of a lifetime warranty, the bottom line is that you will be purchasing a good switch but will not be filing a warranty claim.

Briar Owen

| Dec 06, 2021

PROS:
- true 802. Support for 1q VLAN tagging at a low costbr>br> - Excellent wire-speed performance, tested at 950 Mb/s in iperf on 6 ports at the same time, as long as Flow Control is turned off (see below). The main processor is a Broadcom BCM53128, which appears to be slightly faster and more efficient than the Realtek RTL8380 found in competing TP-Link switches. Link and Zyxel are two of the most well-known characters in the series. - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br Low power consumption (approximately 100 watts) 1W - 3W (depending on the number of ports used) 0. 25W DC / 0. 25W AC / 0. 25W AC / 0. Base power is 45 watts AC plus 0. 1 watts. 3 watts per 1000M port connected, or 0 watts 2 watts per 100 meter port). The amount of traffic does not appear to have much of an impact, but cable length may, as it tries to use lower transmit power on short cables. The toggle- The matrix core operates on a single processor. With 2V and 3V. 3V for I/O, both supplied by efficient switchmode buck regulators (as opposed to some switches that use a hot-switch). step-by-step running from three to two 3V to 1. 2 or 1. 8 volts, at - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br Despite the lack of a fan, my machine runs quietly and never gets hot. The main chip has a decent-sized heatsink, and there's a thermal pad under the PCB that allows the case bottom to double as a heatsink. - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br Build quality is excellent. On the power input, a single electrolytic capacitor, a Nichicon 220uF (reputable Japanese brand), over-charges. When operated at 12V, it is rated at 25V. Broadcom BCM53128 serves as the main switch chip. The case is made of solid metal, but it has a small flaw in the form of a stick-on logo. Another reviewer expressed dissatisfaction with the platic piece around the ports for labeling. - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br Runs happily on a variable 12V battery bus (10. 4V) from a DC power system off the gridbr>br> - From a cold start, it starts up quickly. br>br>PROS: Powerdown to forwarding traffic takes about 8 seconds, much faster than any "true" managed switch (Catalyst, Juniper, Procurve, etc. )br>br>CONS:
- The management interface, whether via web or Windows app, is limited and inconvenient, particularly when configuring VLANs, even though this is usually a one-time task. annoyance in terms of time, inconvenience in terms of setting up - and-forgetbr>br> - and-forgetbr>br> - and-forgetbr>br Because there is no CLI or SNMP management, port activity can't be tracked with MRTG or other tools, as is typical of switches in this class. However, it is likely that omitting these will save money and energy. - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br The management controller, which is built into the BCM53128, is a slow CPU from the 1980s. 8-year old vintage The Intel 8051 is a 32-bit processor that can easily overheat. This explains the lack of HTTPS SSL support, dropped HTTP requests, and so on. It's actually impressive they managed to fit an IP stack and web interface on such a small CPU. - br>br>- br>br>- br>br>- br This limited 8051 service processor would only have an impact on management functions (it isn't part of the main switch). Except for Netgear's blunder in configuring the switch registers to send a copy of *all* HTTP (tcp port 80) traffic, originating from any port, to this tiny management CPU, there is no fabric data path at all. br>br>As a result, the layer-based system is severely hampered. 2 Flow- When Flow Control is enabled, all HTTP traffic flowing through the switch is throttled to around 10 Mb/s. The reason for this is that the flow of information is important. When any of the ports receiving traffic becomes overloaded, control rate limiting kicks in, and the weak management CPU effectively connects to an internal 9th, on-demand port. All web traffic from anywhere to anywhere (even when carrying an 802. 11ac chip) AND a chip port that appears to run at only 10Mb/s VLAN tag with one quaternary! ) is copied to the phantom port-9 in an uncontrollable manner. br>br>This wouldn't be so bad if the web interface could be moved to a less important port than tcp/80, restricted to requests from a single switch port, or turned off completely (until the next power outage). say, a cycle or even a semi-cycle permanently unless a factory reset is performed), but none of these options are available. Flow Control appears to be turned off by default on these switches, masking the performance issue. While Flow Control is generally undesirable, it can be useful in cases where a node on your network can't keep up with full Gigabit rates but can do better than 100M. Many low- This category includes high-performance single-board computers, which can take advantage of FC. br>br>Because it doesn't respect VLAN boundaries and copies of its transmissions are relayed to ALL ports, the management controller can also be a major security flaw. the- irrespective of VLAN membership status, clear and untagged When the switch is used with the hidden Port 9, it effectively becomes a dumb hub. HARDWARE MODE: HARDWARE MODE: HARDWARE MODE: HARDWARE MODE: HARDWARE MODE: Thankfully, if you don't mind voiding your warranty with a little soldering, you can disable this ill-fated feature. The BCM53128's 8051 management controller was completely disconnected from its switch fabric, removing its security vulnerability and allowing Flow Control to function as intended, with no more strange port 80 slowdowns. The process is as follows: 1. br>br> First, configure everything in the web interface to your liking, including setting up and testing all VLANs, and then reboot the switch to ensure it boots up in the desired configuration. 2. br>br>1. br>br>br>br>br>br When you open the cover, you'll notice a small amount of surface-to-surface contact. R75 should be placed near the crystal oscillator, between the main chip and the ports. Remove the resistor from the circuit. As you can see in the first photo, it's already been taken away, leaving only the pads. br>br>R75, which I calculated to be a 4. 4k in- BCM53128 pin 43, "EN_8051_TxRx," is pulled high to 3 by this circuit. 3V. If you don't mind losing the web (and Windows-related) functionality, you can just leave it floating. config- After initial setup, the tool) interface will be used indefinitely. 3. br>br>4. br>br>5. br>br>6. To toggle the web interface on and off, solder a fine-gauge wire to the removed R75 resistor's pad closest to the main chip, and another fine-gauge wire to a 3. Anywhere on the board, a 3V power pin is available-- The other side of R75 could be used, but it's easier to get this voltage from a less closely-connected source. area that is well-spaced I chose to use U5's power pin (pin 8) to power an 8-pin serial EEPROM at the upper-left corner of the board. right. 4. br>br> Drill a hole somewhere on the back panel for a small toggle switch to be mounted. Through a 3. solder one of its terminals to the R75 pin (BCM531128 pin43, EN_8051_TxRx signal) on the R75 pin (BCM531128 pin43, EN_8051_TxRx signal) on the R75 pin (BCM531128 pin43, EN_8051 3k- ohm resistor is a type of resistor that is used to measure the resistance of Solder the other toggle switch terminal to any 3 that is available. Through a 1k-ohm resistor, 3V is applied to a pin. (optional - ohm resistor) The original 4 resistors are approximated by connecting these two resistors in series. 4k- ohm pullup, but anything in the ballmark should work)br>br>Note that EN_8051_TxRx is only latched during reset, so you'll need to power-cycle after flipping the switch. The switch must be cycled for it to take effect; at the very least, this Netgear is quick to reboot, but doing so slows down port traffic. If you want to add a RESET button, solder a fine wire to the right-hand side of the error counter. br>br>If you want to add a RESET button, solder a fine wire to the right-hand side of the error counter. R7 resistor pad's hand (near the coil) terminal, which should be empty at first. This connects to the 3's Shutdown terminal. Grounding the 3V switchmode regulator (via a 1k-ohm resistor) Even if the ohm resistor is only used for a short time, it will cause a clean reset via 3-wire. power pins Chip U3 is the supervisor. Because the BCM53128 RESET pin is actively driven both high and low by that IC, you can't safely pull it down. Because my GS108e is in a difficult-to-reach location, I decided to use a virtual toggle switch instead of a physical toggle switch. reach the desired location, I decided to make these control signals (EN_8051_TxRx, 3. RESET- 3 volts via- regulating - shutdown) to a 4-hour time limit pin header that connects to the GPIO outputs of a nearby router, allowing management-level access. allow remote control of functions such as enable and reset If you go this route, make sure both systems have a common logic ground and that neither signal is driven higher than 3. The BCM5128 has a lot of 3V documentation, but I don't think it's 5V-compatible. tolerant.

Heaven Fischer

| Mar 24, 2021

This review is for the JGS524Ev3 model, which has 24 ports. As a result, br>br> It's a basic Ethernet switch that does exactly what it says on the tin: plug it in, connect your network devices, and go. There will be no issues. There are a couple of things to keep in mind/br>1. This switch runs management software and has a default password, which allows you to change switch configuration from any device connected to any port if you know the password. There's even a useful utility to help you find these switches on a network if you know the password. The moral of the story is that If you don't want people to tamper with your switch, change the password. br>br>2 Regardless of VLAN configuration, the web management interface can be accessed from any switch port. You run the risk of having people on the internet manage your switch if it's connected to an open internet connection. There are no options for restricting management access by port or VLAN or for limiting IP address ranges for management. 3. br>br>4. br>br>5. br>br>6. The web management feature can't be disabled, and it only appears to work with non-standard browsers. HTTPS is a safe protocol. Because this feature cannot be disabled, choose a strong password and ensure that no one can view your management traffic. 4. br>br> Although it lacks SNMP support, it can still be configured via the web interface for Link Aggregation, VLANs, and some traffic shaping. There will be no type of L3 switching; VLAN support is a little strange to set up, but it works. You won't be able to see any MAC maps or spanning tree information. 5. br>br> It was difficult to figure out how to set up VLANs. There are various modes, and the ineffable is not readily apparent. I decided to go with the 892 in the end. Advanced mode (1Q); That was the only way I could find to get both "I tagged" ports with default VLAN assignments (so I can plug anything in and it'll be in the VLAN I want it to be in) and tagged ports (so I can trunk between switches and use servers that can tag traffic). The configuration is confusing and spans three screens, but it works, providing access to 4096 VLAN IDs and allowing for flawless interior rates with other gear. 6. br>br>br>br>br>br>br>br>br> Although Link Agreation works, it is difficult to set up. You're only allowed to have 8 aggregation groups, so you won't be able to combine 12 dual-purpose aggregation groups. On this model, you can connect the dots. 7. br>br>br>br>br>br>br>br>br> Check the firmware on your computer. My copy didn't come with the most recent version. Upgrades were simple via the web interface. br>br>With two four-port link groups and four two-port link groups, several VLANs, and the use of jumbo frames, the overall performance is quite impressive for such a low-cost switch; I was able to push north of 3Gb/s on the four-port link groups while pushing over 1. At the same time, I could only get 5Gb/s on the dual link groups, which is the maximum amount of traffic I could generate. For less than $200, it's quite impressive.

Amias KNOWLES

| Oct 19, 2021

The performance specs were not even close to being met. My maximum LAN speed was cut in half, and my gigabit Internet connection was reduced from around 940 Mbps to wildly fluctuating 200-450 Mbps speeds. When I plug the same cable into my Edgerouter, I always get 900 Mbps downloads, but when I plug it into this switch with three LAN ports in light use, performance suffers. br>br>I was under the impression that paying a little more for this GS108 would guarantee good performance, but I was wrong. I've ordered a Ubiquiti Unifi 8 switch to replace it, which will cost twice as much; I'd recommend getting a $25 switch to save money, or paying more if you want true 1000 Mbps throughput.

Kaia Leblanc

| May 30, 2021