4. Web Management Continued

802.1x

In larger networks. the whole issue of network access control (NAC) has become a big issue. It’s often achieved most affectively with the 802.1x protocol, and as such, it’s critical to have it on a switch. Long gone are the days when any user should be simply allowed to plug in and get access without some kind of network-based authentication. Both setting and statistics for 802.1x are well laid out on the EZ switch, and again, the help menu is a real “help.”

PoE

PoE setup screen

Configuring the EZ switch for PoE requires very little effort. It is possible for seven of the eight ports to deliver up to 15.4 Watts while port 1 can be jacked up to pump out 25 W if need be. In total, though the switch can only push out 70 W of power, not all of the ports can pump out full power all the time.

What SMC has done is to allow users to configure the priority of the port for PoE so ports that have High Priority will keep power when the switch maxes out while low priority ports will be dropped until there is enough power for them.

It’s not likely a great deployment scenario if you plan on using all eight ports for PoE as it’s difficult to forecast when you’ll need what. But if you’re only using a few of the ports, it will likely never going to be an issue for you. As is the case with most PoE switches, there is no need to worry about sending power to a device that doesn’t need it; the switch automatically knows when to send power and won’t fry your non PoE device.

Conclusions

There is a lot to like about the SMCGS80-Smart. It has many great features that simplify complex networking chores like flow control, trunking and VLAN tagging. It also has great help screens and documentation to guide both the experienced and the inexperienced networking person.

The switch isn’t exactly cheap, though. At a range of $230 to $330 (http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=53144547/search=SMCGS8P-Smart), you will pay fair value for the features and functionality in this switch. Then again, if you don’t need an SFP transceiver or some of the other more advanced features, this might not be the right choice for you. If you’re looking for a fully featured switch with PoE, though, and seek something “easy” (pun intended), then this EZ switch may well be ideal.