switch suggestions?

[garskoci]

Hello! I'm in the process of building a firewall using Smoothwall. I currently use a Netgear FVS318 router/firewall. But, I need the flexibility to open and close ports on the fly. I run a game server with this set-up and it works fairly well. Now that I will be changing my firewall to a PC based firewall, I will have to add a switch. I was looking at different switches and found that there are different types. There are unmanaged, smart, managed layer 2 and managed layer 3 switches. I'm not sure which type to get. I can have anywhere from 1 to 12 machines attached at one time. Because the main purpose is for gaming, I would like to have something that is fast, as not to create any lag in the games. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[folken]

You don't need to buy a switch, just continue using that netgear of yours. Just decide which thing will get the dhcp server (netgear or smoothwall), it can only be on one machine on the network. Other than that it doesn't really matter that it is also a router as far as your network is concerned.
If you need more than 8 ports definatly go for a new switch. Whether you want unmanaged or managed would depend on what sort of budget you have. Unless you are a buisness or something I'd say stick with unmanaged, it is considerably cheaper. I'd go for one of the Netgear unmanaged buisness series switches.

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[garskoci]

Thank you for the response. If I stay with the Netgear router behind the Smoothwall, do I open all of the ports that I would possibly need on the Netgear firewall?

So, let's say that I could want ports 1,2,3,4 and 5 open at different times. I think what I would need to do is open up all 5 on the Netgear router and open up the ports as needed on the smoothwall. Is this correct?

 

[folken]

You only open ports between the WAN port (external) and the rest of the switch (internal). If you have everything plugged into the switch (internal) you don't have to worry about any of its routing capabilities at all.
That is just an all in one device that has a router and a switch in one box. If you only have things plugged into the switch part that is all you will have, a switch. All the rest of that devices features (routing, firewall, etc) involve going between the WAN port and the switch.

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