GS108T

I got the NETGEAR ProSAFE GS724T Gigabit Smart Switch to replace a failing old SMC SMC8126L2 Gigabit Smart switch at a client of my IT Practice. It is operating perfectly including one VLAN in the client's configuration as their primary switch. Bottom Line: this is a dependable switch that handles all the clients throws at it. The main switch specs/features that matter for my client are: • User Friendly Management GUI (consistent with other Netgear Smart switches) • VLAN support • 24 Gigabit copper Ports run at wire-speed • 2 dedicated SFP ports • Fanless Cooling for quiet operation The switch come with a CD including documentation and Smart Control Center software. I only use the Smart Control Center software for initial setup of the IP address and changing the default passwords (a very good idea if you care about security). After that I use the built-in web GUI. A set of rack mount ears and hardware are also included in the box. These can be attached to the sides of the switch to facilitate wall or panel mounting. I usually check for updated firmware as one of the first steps when setting up new equipment. Often hardware comes with older firmware, so it's good to bring things up to date. The GS724T had current firmware when I purchased it: still worth checking! The web management GUI is consistent in layout and organization with other Netgear smart switches. Experience with other Netgear smart switches made setup and configuration of this one a snap. The client has another Netgear smart switch at this client in place for to provide Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) for their IP phone system on a separate sub-net making a consistent management experience for both switches. Netgear is confident about reliability offering a lifetime warranty for the GS724T. I also like the fanless design. Not only does it make a quiet switch for in office use (not a factor for this client) but without a fan there is one less mechanical part to fail. Switches are usually a mission-critical component and being able to depend on them matters to me and my clients. I think the GS724T qualifies. Switches are not usually very glamorous parts of a computing infrastructure but they are critical. Add dependability and performance are you have the 3 legs that make a good switch choice. Because of a consistently good performance at a very reasonable price the GS724T gets 5 stars from me. Hope this helps someone!

Aside from the affordable price, this switch provides just the right granularity of control for a small business, or in my case, a home-based business with networking that's slightly more complicated than average. Setup was simple enough. Although the switch has a static IP by default, it detected that it was on a DHCP network while I was setting it up, and accepted the IP assignment. The Web console was intuitive enough for a techie and offers a sufficient level of control and monitoring for most businesses. The user can also do nothing except plug in the cables and accept the defaults, which are sensible enough. If you don't have any need for advanced QOS, the defaults should work fine. I didn't install the software, so I can't comment on that. The built-in Web interface provided what I needed. The switch also includes both rack-mounting brackets and rubber feet for desktop use. All in all, this looks like a very capable switch at a very affordable price. If I were still in the on-site support and consulting end of the business, I think I'd buy a mess of them for small- to medium-sized business clients. Richard

Smells like electronics. Does not smell like 80s electronics. The fan in it forever stays on. Was not expecting a switch to need a fan. Pretty big.

Great product. Had to replace my old one which failed after many years of service.

Very nice unit and value in my opinion. I recently upgraded from a Cisco SG-200-08, and for the same price I paid 6+ years ago for the Cisco, I get 8 more Gig ports with 2 more possible ports using GBIC (SFP), and easier configuration and more features. The initial setup was kinda kludgy for me as I do not use DHCP, so I had to laptop direct-connect and get things going. I think that the utility they ship with the device (SmartControlCenter) shows a lack of software development on their end. After I got things setup, I found the Firmware and Boot file were at the latest versions. I was able to setup a 2 port LAG to my NAS with jumbo frames, setup a few VLAN's for testing, and connect my virtual hosts using NFS and iSCSI with relative ease. I could not get the Device View to work (a known Java issue), or the TFTP functions to work. HTTP functions work fine. When a new Firmware does come out, I will say that I will be apprehensive to update, unless I find an issue directly affecting me.

Using one for the garage, one for TV entertainment center, three for electrical closet, and two for the office. It's delightfully over-kill. Pairs well with UniFi and Mikrotik gear if you set the LAG Static feature off (which will enable LACP) when configuring the LAG port. Easy to set up. Unusually low noise for a 10G managed switch. Low temperatures. Consistently low-latency L2 switching with VLANs enabled. LACP LAG works flawlessly on 10G RJ45 and SFP+ ports. Cheap remote cloud management with Insight ($10/year). What more could you want? Abridged comparison with other 10G managed switches available today: These are much cheaper than QNAP switches while offering more 10G ports. These are much cheaper than Mikrotik switches while offering lower thermals and higher reliability and ease of setup. These are 3x cheaper than CISCO 10G switches while offering better real-world performance and reasonably priced cloud management. These are in stock at MSRP, while UniFi ones are not.

I been using Netgear for switches and NAS for many years and never let me down. The GUI is a bit complicated and outdated compared to other brand (more industrial style). The most important is that it need to work and once you figure out to set the parameters you don't have to change anything much often in the settings after unless you change a few thing in your home network. I din't use their Netgear Insight and bypass this process.

Works great as expected. I faced some challenges in resetting factory defaults but it worked after initial hiccups.

NETGEAR always sold well tested product, heavily used in lab for last 4 months continuously...did not face any problem. Worth buy for...(y)

Netgear, I hope you're listening! This switch has disappointed me a little for a number of reasons. Firstly, let's talk about mounting. Okay, you get a 19" mounting kit with this switch for mounting in a rack, but what you don't get is the square hole nuts for the rack posts! This is insane considering most 4 post racks use this kind of mount. Secondly, you need to know that this switch is heavy and I mean, REALLY heavy. However, the mounting kit for this switch is a bracket attached by 4 screws at the front of the switch on each side, which in my opinion, really isn't sufficient for this weight. So what you end up with, is a switch that droops downwards from front to back because the mount just can't really cope with the weight. This switch should really come with proper 4 post rails for its weight and Netgear should have known this, since it contains PSU and takes a kettle lead as its power input. Thirdly, and this is *VERY* important for people to note. This switch does *NOT* support connections less than 1Gbe. So if you were planning on connecting a device, it must be at least a gigabit device. As long as you realise that this switch is primarily designed for connecting high-speed devices, you should be fine, but don't think about using this switch to connect a network printer. (Well, not unless it's a very good network printer that has a 1Gbe connection, which most actually don't) Fourthly, for such an expensive switch Netgear seems to have cut corners in terms of their LED usage. Normally for an RJ45, you'd get 2 LEDs per port, one would indicate a connection, the other blinking for traffic, but that's just not what you get here! What you get is 2 LEDs, the one on the left will tell you if you have a connection and what speed (green/orange), but also do the blinking for traffic. The right LED, well, that's for the RJ45 beneath the one you're using! Now I don't know if this is some kind of design choice or Netgear cutting costs, but either way, it's weird, having an LED next to a port but indicating the use of a port below it. Usually there would be a panel of LEDs to the left that would in indicate this kind of thing, but Netgear have obviously standardised their chassis and so would be inconvenient for 48 port models; it's still not nice for such an expensive switch though. Finally, let's deal with with upgrading. It's always a good idea to upgrade the firmware as it's almost certainly to be out of date when you get your switch, but upgrading the firmware and boot code is a hodge-podge mess in this switch. Documentation is severely lacking, especially for such an important process that has the potential to brick things and everything just seems to be aimed at the newbie telling you how to log in at every stage etc, but this just isn't the target market for this kind of switch. Netgear should really take a leaf from Cisco's book in this department and provide a clear and concise upgrade procedure. Now, onto the good stuff. In terms of performance and feature set, this switch is great. Its performance is amazing and contains all of the features that you'd expect from a good switch and it's only a bit sad that you only get Layer-3 Lite with this switch. All in all, it's a great switch in terms of performance only really let down by poor mounting, questionable design choices and lack of technical documentation.

The reason for a lot of one star reviews is that when you first log onto this switch it asks your for a registration code or you can only access "limited features". As per another reviewer's guide, I suggest updating the firmware before proceeding. If you wish, you can then register at their website and get a short character code to unlock the device This is really a sad "feature" that Netgear has created. Customers who buy this "smart managed" switch are probably going to be familiar with other switches which don't have such a registration requirement. They may also experience some level of misrepresentation on the part of the manufacturer from the "register or we'll only let you have a subset of what we said you were buying" ultimatum when you first log onto the switch. For myself, I just needed a 8 port switch that was powered by POE, so this was not an issue for me. As I was curious, I went through the registration process and it was not too difficult. Got the code and keyed it in and it all the "features" seem to be available FWIW. They try to sell you their "Insight" subscription mumbo jumbo, but I'm not sure who needs it for this sort of switch. Also note that this switch takes a bit of time to become ready from the application of power as compared to a unmanaged switch. Another point to note for non-US customers, the wall power supply is fitted with two flat pins (US/NEMA) and has the following ratings: Input: 100-120V 0.35A Output:12V 1A Connector is a barrel plug with a positive centre. Note that the centre pin is a bit smaller than usual. If you power the switch via the POE port 1, then this is not applicable. In summary, this device appears to be able to operate as a "smart managed switch" but the need to register the switch and attempts to try to get customer on a subscription software is odious. If this registration requirement is unpalatable and/or the POE powering is not useful, you should give this a miss.