I recently obtained the TP-Link T1500G-10MPS Power over Ethernet (PoE) smart switch (affiliate link) to use in my home network. A handful of devices that I currently own support Power over Ethernet. To minimize the cost, I chose the 8-port instead of the 24-port PoE switch. In the long run I probably will not need more than 8 ports, but I may eventually use all 8 ports. I also own the TP-Link T2600G-28TS switch (affiliate link).
In this how-to, I will using the TP-Link T2600G-28TS L2 managed switch (affiliate link) and the TP-Link T1500G-10MPS PoE smart switch (affiliate link) to show the difference between the firmware versions. I am assuming the switch is currently configured with the default settings from the factory.
To begin configuring the switch, first plug a desktop or laptop computer into any port in the switch. The switch does not need to be plugged into other network device such as a router until the initial configuration is completed.
For security reasons, I decided to put my IoT devices on their own network using VLANs. I also had a desire to restrict certain devices to only have access to the Internet but not any other devices on my network. This should help reduce the likelihood of a hacked device from trying to traverse through the network by hacking other devices. A good example of a device on my network that only needs Internet access would be the 3rd gen Apple TV (affiliate link).
In the interest of increasing security and reliability of my home network against malicious attacks, I thought enabling all of the Denial of Service protections on my TP-Link switch would be a good idea. So I enabled the setting and all seemed well enough.
Some time later, my wife tries to use our old 3rd generation Apple TV in our bedroom while folding laundry. It was showing the Computers icon and the Settings icon but not the main Apple TV screen.
A “router on a stick” (aka “one-armed router”) is a network configuration in which a single network switch is connected to a single LAN interface on a router. The network switch may be configured to have two or more VLANs to logically partition the network. The router is responsible for inter-VLAN routing so that network traffic may flow from one VLAN to another. This traffic is usually controlled via firewall rules to restrict certain traffic.
