Back Together Although I am Looking Through Some New Projects

Well I did manage to get the rack back together once the window washers left.  In the process, I figured out which cables to disconnect from the equipment in the back.  I now have 5 cables coming in to a desktop patch panel and then connected into SW116, a managed GS108Tv2 switch.  From SW116, it goes to the rack.  This means that I have only two connections to the rack; one ethernet and one power.  I have also setup a connection that I can use to occupy the placement of a cable to my FLINT2 router.  I haven't removed the connection to the rack yet, but this should enable me to move the FLINT2 router to the area behind my rack.  What I want to be able to do is power down the rack but still allow my laptop to work and the table electronics to be worked on with connection to the apartment network.  I could still do this with the FLINT1 that I have in the living room if I wish instead.

So now that I have just admitted this, I don't know what I was thinking of moving the FLINT2 for.  Just shows that my mind is still stumbling over various configurations until I get to the right one. Other than bringing down equipment because it is not being used, I am mistified.

Tips #6 - Faking an Admin vlan on the Netgear GS108Ev3 and GS116Ev2

My network at home is distributed and I try to minimize the number of wires going throughout the house.  That becomes a problem if you are single switch dependent.  But with judicious use of vlans throughout the house, I can distribute these through the use of trunk lines.  One thing I am very conscious about is security in the network.  I make judicious use of Admin vlans in order to keep the network framework from being changed by someone who has hacked into my system.

I went out and bought a GS108Ev3 thinking it was a good and cheap alternative to the GS108Tv2.  Boy was I wrong.  My focus on security took a nose dive, or so I thought, when I started incorporating this switch into my network.  It was the same thing for the GS116Ev2 when I added this switch.  If you follow a simple set of rules, you can keep your Admin vlan:

1. a normal Netgear managed switch like the GS108Tv2 has an Admin vlan capability.  In fact, you can actually put the vlan number into a field in the web interface.  The switch will use this vlan number to accept DHCP IP addresses for the switch.  If you fix the IP address of the switch, you will need to be in the subnet of the Admin vlan for the switch to work.
2. there is a new class of Netgear switches, like the GS108Ev3 and the GS116Ev2 which are simplified but have much of the capabilities of the GS108Tv2.  One of the capabilities that is missing is the Admin vlan.  There is no field to set it and you are forced to use vlan 1 in some manner to interface to your network.  You do that on a trunk port
3. On GS108Ev3/GS116Ev2: either use DHCP or set the IP address/Gateway to be within the Admin vlan subnet
4. On GS108Ev3/GS116Ev2: set vlan 1 to be untagged on the trunk port; set the Admin vlan to be tagged on the trunk port; set the Admin vlan to be the PVID on the trunk port
5. On GS108Tv2/M4100: set the Admin vlan to be the PVID on the trunk port; set the Admin vlan to be tagged on the trunk port
6. On GS108Ev3/GS116Ev2: no other ports may have vlan 1 as untagged, except the trunk ports

Not a difficult configuration, but as long as you remember the rules you can get an Admin vlan on these GS108Ev3/GS116Ev2 switches.