[asterisk-users] Mabe OT? What managed switch is best for VoIP application?

[Cosmin Prund]

No one told me about 802.1q Vlan before I boght the switch. It was 
printed in big fat letters on the box. Now I *do* know about 802.1q but 
it's a little bit too late: I already have the switch. Fortunately 
(unfortunately) the switch is gone, it's dead. Now I want a better 
switch and I'm asking so I don't fall into the same trap *again*.

Again, this big switch is not the only device I bought only to find out 
it doesn't exactly do what I want it to do. I also got a nice little 
ZyXEL VPN collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. I wanted a VPN 
router/firewall that allowed me to connect to my network from my 
Windows-based Laptop computer, using the tools available in the system. 
Guess what: I *can* connect to the ZyXEL using an paid-for client that 
costs almost as much as the firewall itself. I'm now running PopTop on 
my Linux Asterisk box and it works just fine, and it's a lot cheaper. 
And I did learn about a few other standards names in the process: AFTER 
I bought the hardware device.

So the idea is very simple: I need a switch that does VoIP well, has 
lots of ports and does 802.1q VLAN. I also want it to be managed and 
have it's management tools help me diagnose problems. That's my biggest 
question right now: What *exactly* am I looking for? My Trendent switch 
has management and it's easy to use for what it does, but it would never 
help me diagnose a network problem. It took a number of disconected 
*local* LAN VoIP calls before I noticed the switch is flowed and needs 
to be replaced.

Thanks,
Cosmin Prund

Patrick Cervicek wrote:
> Cosmin Prund schrieb:
>
>> P.S: For those that don't understand WHY I can't trust marketing 
>> material, let me tell you something about the Trendnet switch that's 
>> fast becoming "garbidge". I wanted an managed switch so I boght the 
>> switch had "Managed" and "Virtual LAN" in the biggest possible 
>> letters. Later, after buying two Intel 1Gb Virtual Lan Enabled 
>> network cards, I discovered my Trendnet switch doesn't do standard 
>> VLan, it only does VLan if linked to an other Trendnet switch - not 
>> useful at all!
>
> "Standard Vlan" = 802.1q
>
> Trendnet offered you only "VLAN in the Switch", not 802.1q
>
> You have to look for the Protocol *802.1q*
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLAN#Protocols_and_design
>
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