need help choosing the right switch

[Leonardo Canducci]

2009/12/19 Stéphane Graber <stgraber at ubuntu.com>:
> Leonardo Canducci wrote:
>> I'm setting up an LTSP classroom with 10 clients and an edubuntu
>> server. It's an high school lab for electric cad and simulation; no
>> multimedia. LTSP is not the only use and the classroom is connected to
>> a quite large school nework on the same subnet. Clients are quite
>> powerful pcs with gigabit ethernet and so is the server but they're
>> connected with some old 24 port hub I guess I'd better replace with a
>> switch.
>>
>> Since I'm quite a newbie when it comes to network hardware and I'm on
>> a tight budget (100-200€) I really need help choosing the right
>> switch. So here come a couple of questions:
>> 1. do I need gigabit ports in such a setup?
>
> Having at least uplink ports as Gigabit is a very good idea (1-2 ports).
>
>> 2. maybe two of gigabit ports (one for the server and one for the
>> gateway) is enough?
>
> Yep, that'd probably be enough.
>
>> 3. should I consider managed/vlan/layer3 options or I'm fine with a
>> standard unmanaged switch?
>
> You won't be able to find any reliable 24port managed switch with
> Gigabit uplink within your budget and unless you have to do VOIP or
> other activities that you'd like to put on a separate VLAN it won't be
> extremely useful for you.
>
>> 4. will any 50€ switch do or I'd better look for brands with proved reputation?
>  > And finally: is there some specific model/brand you could recommend?
>
> When possible, I usually try to take something in relatively well-known
> brands, it makes looking for information, reviews and debug/issue
> information easier, have a look at (I'm sure I'm missing some):
>  - 3COM
>  - Cisco (too expensive for you I'm pretty sure)
>  - DELL
>  - HP
>  - Linksys
>  - Trendnet (had some issue with some of their hardware, check for
> reviews before buying)

I found a couple of interesting products:
3com Baseline Switch 2026 (24 10/100 ports + 2 gigabit 150€)
dlink des 1026g (same as above, 126€)
netgear gs116 (16 gigabit ports, 138€)
dlink dgs1016g (same as above, 135€)

So switches with 24 10/100 +2gigabit ports or 16 gigabit ports cost
about the same. Considering that I need 12 ports, what's best for me?
Oh... and I've got a new question: I can't check until tomorrow, but
what if all cables are CAT5 only? Should I discard any gigabit option?

Thanks again!
-- 
Leonardo Canducci