Daisy chaining 4 POE switches.

[I lost it]

Ok pretty sure of the answer but thought I would check before I screw something up. My setup will be daisy chaining 4 POE switches in this order. 1st switch will be connected to router and POE switch 2, 2nd switch will be connected to POE switch 1 and POE switch 3, POE switch 3 will be connected to POE switch 2 and 4, and POE switch 4 will be connected to POE switch 3 and ran back to router. So both switch 1 and 4 will be direct connect to router. All 4 switches are 16 port POE. https://www.netgear.com/business/products/switches/unmanaged/GS116PP.aspx

 

Thoughts?

 

Thanks

[TheBean]

I dont think daisy-chaining POE will work with 4 routers. that will put a lot of load on the 1st switch in terms of sending power. 

 

I am not expert on these things. this is just something that came in my head. 

 

Also, why 4 is series? why not just 1 really big switch?

[Windows7ge]

2 minutes ago, I lost it said:

Thoughts?

Better hope it supports STP. That may be a standard feature for switches but the datasheet for this one isn't mentioning it at all.

 

Is this a router with 4 ports or 1 port? Generally you would configure a network with a primary distribution block and then divide it out like a tree. If your router has 4 ports I'd connect each switch to one port each. If the router only has 1 port I'd buy one more Gbit switch and comment these POE switches to that then the router.

[I lost it]

10 minutes ago, Saksham said:

I dont think daisy-chaining POE will work with 4 routers. that will put a lot of load on the 1st switch in terms of sending power. 

 

I am not expert on these things. this is just something that came in my head. 

 

Also, why 4 is series? why not just 1 really big switch?

I have Netgear X4S modem/router. Pretty much doing it this way for looks. They are only going to be connected to Raspberry Pi 3 B+'s so no serious weight thrown around. Just a cool looking wild project with led lighted rack and running Seti@home.

[I lost it]

14 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Better hope it supports STP. That may be a standard feature for switches but the datasheet for this one isn't mentioning it at all.

 

Is this a router with 4 ports or 1 port? Generally you would configure a network with a primary distribution block and then divide it out like a tree. If your router has 4 ports I'd connect each switch to one port each. If the router only has 1 port I'd buy one more Gbit switch and comment these POE switches to that then the router.

I have the Netgear Nighthawk X4S modem/router. It has 4 ports but trying to save 2 ports for more serious work. This just a Raspberry Pi project. Fun and games lol

[Windows7ge]

Just now, I lost it said:

I have the Netgear Nighthawk X4S modem/router. It has 4 ports but trying to save 2 ports for more serious work. This just a Raspberry Pi project. Fun and games lol

If these are switches you plan to place throughout your home/business I would buy one more. A 4 or 8 port Gigabit and plug each into that. Depending on how much bandwidth the devices on each of these switches require this would yield the best results. If you are looking to link some of these switches directly together for redundancy that's an option but this would make STP support desirable and I don't know if these switches support it. I can try looking it up but someone will likely come along and say yes or no before I can find the answer myself.

 

Connecting the switches together the way I stated would make network failure easier to troubleshoot as you'd just follow the network backwards to where it stopped working while your way would create multiple paths to other devices which could make things harder under certain circumstances.

 

Can it be done your way? Yes. Would it work? Yes. Would it work well? Up to a point. If you loaded up some of the switches furthest from where data is being sent this could lead to network congestion from bandwidth limitations.

 

It's all about how you plan to put it together. What are these switches going to do? Are they ran to different rooms to service each? Are they for IP security cameras/phones/AP's?

[I lost it]

17 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

If these are switches you plan to place throughout your home/business I would buy one more. A 4 or 8 port Gigabit and plug each into that. Depending on how much bandwidth the devices on each of these switches require this would yield the best results. If you are looking to link some of these switches directly together for redundancy that's an option but this would make STP support desirable and I don't know if these switches support it. I can try looking it up but someone will likely come along and say yes or no before I can find the answer myself.

 

Connecting the switches together the way I stated would make network failure easier to troubleshoot as you'd just follow the network backwards to where it stopped working while your way would create multiple paths to other devices which could make things harder under certain circumstances.

 

Can it be done your way? Yes. Would it work? Yes. Would it work well? Up to a point. If you loaded up some of the switches furthest from where data is being sent this could lead to network congestion from bandwidth limitations.

 

It's all about how you plan to put it together. What are these switches going to do? Are they ran to different rooms to service each? Are they for IP security cameras/phones/AP's?

They are just for Raspberry Pi's Seti@home fun stuff. Nothing big

[Windows7ge]

Just now, I lost it said:

They are just for Raspberry Pi's Seti@home fun stuff. Nothing big

Then daisy chaining them in a row will most likely not yield noticeable loss of performance my only concern would be making multiple connections between multiple switches. This can cause what are called Broadcast Storms and this is where STP comes in. Until we find out if they support this I would probably only do:

Router Port 1 -> Switch1 -> Switch2
Router Port 2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4

This would still make things quick and easy to troubleshoot.

[I lost it]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

Then daisy chaining them in a row will most likely not yield noticeable loss of performance my only concern would be making multiple connections between multiple switches. This can cause what are called Broadcast Storms and this is where STP comes in. Until we find out if they support this I would probably only do:

Router Port 1 -> Switch1 -> Switch2
Router Port 2 -> Switch3 -> Switch4

This would still make things quick and easy to troubleshoot.

Sounds like a plan! Thank you!