On the router I have only 4 Ethernet ports and should buy two switches. One for the lower floor (4 ports - router is also there) and one for the upper floor (6 ports).
What do I need to consider when buying a switch? What can you recommend me?
I ask you so that I do not buy crap.
Is it possible to run OpenWrt on a cheap switch? Or is this too advanced?
I have the GS308T, and compile my own snapshots from master for it. The device works like it should apart from the LEDs, which are non-functional at the moment.
You end up with a fully manageable switch, that has a 500Mhz mips cpu with a bunch of RAM hanging of the CPU-port of the Switch-Chip, running Openwrt@5.X-Linux, with all the goodies that entails.
It uses the newer Linux kernel DSA infrastructure for switch management, so all ports look like separate ethernet devices.
I'm also looking for a 5 port variant with that SOC.
I've never seen a convincing argument, that the HW-NAT tables/rules, that (afaik) all switch chips support, cannot be in any way modified/influenced by in-band traffic, whether intentionally (debug-tool/backdoor), or not (HW-designer messed up the HDL for the switching silicon).
Because of that, I'd rather have a switch (chip/soc) I can control/supervise (as much as possible).
The GS308 comes with a 12V/1A PSU, similar to other/dumb switches.
I'm not clear on the advantages of OpenWRT on a switch; other than the basic "it's securable, publicly audited and you can control exactly what's on it". But is there a clear win feature-wise? I have a GS1900-8HP that I rely on heavily. Tempted to put OpenWRT on it, but should I?
What can you do that the default firmware can't ? Better VLAN management ?
At home I just have a basic switch that fit my need. At work we have managable switches, but I'm not the one who managed them.
The big question here is: will you need a smart/managed/configurable switch (to handle VLANs, for example), or a dumb/unmanaged switch (no configuration at all)?