I’ve been using a variety of different brand switches in a patchwork to get all of the network and camera devices I am using connected. The network mess was causing performance issues so it was time to take a more serious approach to the network.
I need to connect two buildings, and power many PoE devices. The backbone of the network is two Cisco CBS350-24P-4X managed switches connected via 10Gbps SFP+ over copper. The old network gear could not link reliably at 10Gbps, so I have buried a fiber cable. The Cisco switches have no problem keeping 10Gbps over copper incidentally.
The house is not easy to run ethernet cable through, so I do have two smaller Cisco CBS250-8PP-D smart switches as well. One is connected to the main house switch and powers a few PoE cameras and a mesh device. The other is at the end of two ethernet runs to my downstairs office. One goes to the Synology router, the other goes to the 2nd small switch for a few additional PoE cameras.
The shop has the 2nd 24-port Cisco switch. It powers more PoE cameras and connects the shop mesh device, shop servers and the house backline.
Given that Kim and I both work remotely, we have both an xFinity cable internet connection and Verizon wireless one. Kim uses Verizon to load balance, and we can both switch to the other in case of an outage. The Synology router does support fallover, but the network address range work hasn’t been worth the effort so far.
Of course, everything is on UPS so in the case of power loss, the UPS devices keep everything on until the generator kicks in.
