CiscoBusiness CBS250-24P-4X Smart Switch | 24 Port GE | PoE | 4x10G SFP+ | Limited Lifetime Protection (CBS250-24P-4X-NA)

Deployed these switches and very good switch.

This series of managed switches are amazing. It’s pretty much enterprise grade tech at a price level that is absolutely affordable. And even though it’s aimed at small businesses, I highly recommend it to anyone who has multiple devices in one network. The $50 mode/router/wifi-combo most people use isn’t very safe. It’s actually very unsafe. Like using the cheapest lock for the front door. What is safe?Keeping those cheap Chinese smart-Wifi devices strictly separated from any other devices. Or restrict access to security cameras. Simple network hygiene to prevent attacks from the internet. So if there is a little room for network equipment, which can be in the garage or in a closet, this should be a no brainer. And unlike its reputation, these are in their basic configuration very easy to set up. I recommend changing the user/password (cisco/cisco), but from there it runs out of the box. From there either an expert can tighten it up or manage yourself with some basic network knowledge. Thanks to a very clean web-interface, it’s not scary at all.I recommend NetworkChuck’s “I LOVE this switch!! // Cisco Enterprise Switch for SMALL business (Catalyst 1000 series)”-video on Youtube.I can’t find any reason against buying this switch. It’s worth every penny. It comes with brackets to mount it in a 19” rack. It has a weird standoff though. I placed mine on a 19” shelf to push it further back. It’s not necessary to use a rack or cage, but it keeps things organized.I hope this helps to make a decision.

This Cisco Business CBS250-24P-4G Smart Switch measures 17.5" x 11.78" x 1.73" and weighs about 12 pounds. It comes with 2410/100/1000 ports and has 4 additional 1GE SFP. This switch provides a 195-watt PoE budget and offers integrated security.I selected this smart switch to be the backbone of my home lab as I prepare to take a couple of Cisco Certification Exams. It's been perfect for my needs as this is an authentic Cisco device and comes with Cisco IOS installed so commands could be tested.What I liked most about this Cisco Business CBS250-24P-4G Smart Switch:- Perfectly designed for small/home office networks- Authentic and secure- Genuine IOS installedWhat I liked least about this Cisco Business CBS250-24P-4G Smart Switch:- Maybe a bit power-hungry for a home labOverall, if you intend to use this Cisco Business CBS250-24P-4G Smart Switch as the backbone of your small office network it's a great device to choose for this task. However, if you're an ambitious certification test taker the power draw might be a bit more than anticipated, but this is a business-class device so one should expect this. 5.0 out of 5.0

This is the no-BS line from Cisco. Enterprise features, but nothing proprietary, no forced contracts, no stupid power port that requires special power cords...You can hook this up and it will work right out of the box, just like an unmanaged switch, which will make network setup and augmentation very easy. Once I signed into the box, I pretty much had to change my password, but then I had a world of options at my fingertips that I could change at my leisure. There were a few things I wanted to configure right away, and plenty of others I realized I wanted after doing some research. I still have plenty to learn and play with when I have time I want to spend on this.I do believe you can use Cisco command line to configure these, but it also has a very familiar (to other consumer/business equipment) GUI that is intuitive to use. I will say, though, that the GUI it can be pretty cumbersome if you want to use it to go through and turn on a feature on every single port individually. Part of the problem is that you have to save each port individually and then use the drop-down to do the next port. This switch can be a little slow to respond and therefore frustrating when changing multiple features in a row. I also have a 350 series 10 port switch that does NOT have that problem. I am not sure if it has more resources available or just has less to keep track of because of having fewer ports., but that might be a consideration if choosing between the 250 and 350 series. And if you use command line, you might not care at all...Oh, and you have to do the "save to running config" thing like you do with the Enterprise stuff. Seems strange, but I guess it more or less makes sense why. But at least in this case you can just click apply...and then go up and click the blinking disk to save (to running config).I am using this in my telecomm closet, which manages to keep nearly all the ports in my house hot. I'm using ports 25-27 as a 3Gbps link to my Cisco 350 series switch in my external cabinet, which connects my servers with multi-Gb links. This is all new functionality for me, but something I've been looking for for a long time.Here's some random stuff I figured out along the way:-I am using 10Gbps copper DACs between the two devices. They do negotiate down to 1Gbps, they are cheaper than buying multiple SFPs, and I can use them later when I get 10Gbps ports (so the only reason you'd use fiber is if you needed a >100m link.-Port trunking works between DAC and regular Cat6 (apparently it won't work with fiber SFPs mixed with Cat6.-Not sure what I was doing wrong before port trunking on another switch, but I couldn't get anything better than high-error best effort to work as far as speed. On these 250/350 Cisco devices I'm using, all four of my trunks are working perfectly and clearly working at full speed without uncorrected errors (if any at all).-There are "green features" included, but off by default. The one looks at link length and lowers power on those links if less than 50m. You can only use this if you turn off the Energy Efficient Ethernet standardized protocol, which you might do if the device you are using doesn't work, but I haven't found a case where it correctly reads my link length (and my testers do figure out the correct length, so I don't get this). The other green feature is Energy Detect, which I've turned on across the board, but it's hard to tell if that really saves energy or not, because it just is "on" when the link is down.-The ports are counted strangely. Port 1 is the top left. Port 2 is bottom left. Port 3 is top second from left, etc. This caused me some brief confusion. The great thing is that you can name all your ports in the GUI so that can make things a lot more clear for you, especially if you keep all ports in your building hot or if you at least keep most of the devices static.There are a ton of features here, and even more on the 350 series. If you're deciding between the 250 and 350 series, I suggest you do some serious homework to figure out if you actually need the 350 series. Here are just a few of the things I noticed the 350 series has that the 250 does not (not a comprehensive list):On the 350, you can set link speeds lower on LAGS, use protected LAGS, more LAGS, UDLD, Ethernet tagging, VLAN mapping/private VLAN, lots of VLAN grouping options and more VLAN settings in general, and ISCSI status for QoS.Oh...worth noting is that the 350 series apparently allows many more trunk groups than the 250 series, which only allows 4, so I would not necessarily want a 250 series for my 24 port switch if I didn't have my servers separate on the 350 (yet it seems unlikely you'd need more than 4 trunk groups on a 10 port 350).One thing I don't like is that on some rack mounted equipment, you have one set of "wings/ears", but multiple positions/mounting options. These mounting brackets at least are included, but seem like they'd only work with this switch AND you can only put them on in one position, which means the switch will protrude about an inch forward in your cabinet (Well, you can also mount the switch backwards, if you consider that helpful). It would be better to have the option of recessing the switch an inch if you needed to. I also wish they could recess the power supply port on these things since - even with the heatsink on the back of this - the power cord is still the thing making this a tight fit in my closet.Despite those two nitpicks, there's really nothing about this switch I don't love. Yes, I can absolutely imagine this to be a great line for a company to use, and I think I could even get a robust network up and running without too much stress or trouble. But there are plenty of other real-world applications for a home network as well: setting restrictions for kids or renters or whoever from getting to all areas of your network. There is all kinds of port security features here, protected ports, and VLAN features, so you should be able to do just about anything you want to do with these switches. Also QoS, traffic limiting, etc. I love having these features at my disposal, even at home!

Cisco Business CBS250-24P-4G Smart SwitchMy husband and I have always done a lot of our professional work from home but, like many others, the amount significantly increased due to the pandemic. To meet our traffic separation and shaping, QoS, and security needs, we have always used business class networking equipment (my husband does this by trade and profession). After a lot of consideration, we began switching over to Cisco business class equipment a few months ago and this smart switch seamlessly integrated with the new infrastructure. Although it will work with any network equipment that adheres to the IEEE standards, its Cisco specific features and protocols working in an all-Cisco network make configuring, maintaining, and monitoring the network really easy. Being able to configure VLANs that keep our professional traffic separated from our family's personal traffic with priority given to our professional traffic keeps things running smoothly. Also, having all 24 ports be PoE+ capable means that we can easily add a couple more access points and upgrade our home security cameras much easier. Highly recommend.