I’m re-working my home network. I have several rooms that will need their own 8 port switch. I also have 2 POE WAPs. Unfortunately, I cannot use standard rack-mount sized hardware. Each room has one (or two in a few cases) CAT6 lines, but they all run into a low-voltage cabinet that is between two wall studs. There is no room for a proper rack (and my wife refused a wall/ceiling mounted rack).
My question here is how to best physically connect everything. I had originally planned to go from the firewall to a 24 port desktop type switch. I’d then connect each room’s 8 port switch to the 24 port switch. I’d also connect the two WAPs to the 24 port switch as well as a few connections that are just endpoint/hosts (Ring doorbell, etc). It’s REALLY hard to find 24 port desktop size switches though. There are far more 8 port options, but I need to connect at least 16 cables (2 WAPs + 2 end-point devices, 4 single rooms, 4 rooms with 2 cables). And several of those connections require POE (Ring, POE switches, WAPs, etc).
Is it good/better/best to connect two 8 port (10 with SFP) switches directly to the router, and then make those 16 connections to those two switches?
Or should I connect both WAPs directly to the router as well as two 8 port switches, then make the other 14 connections to the two switches?
Thanks for confirming what I suspected, that allows me to get started and move forward.
I have 14" of width, so I was hoping to mount the switch sideways, but I’d need some very flexible patch cables and a low profile power cable. By the time I get the switch in, I’ll probably only have 2.75" of room between the switch and the edge of the enclosure, so the cables will have to make a tight turn coming out of the switch. Any recommendations for patch cables?? I’m happy to make my own too.
Ultimately, I’ll end up doing what you suggested - a wall-mounted vertical bracket for the switch. That will require some drywall work et al and has to be put on hold for now.
Look at the passively cooled Mikrotik switches for your break outs. They have some small switches which are POE powered and passively cooled that might do what you want for the different rooms.
I think what you are doing is actually called Spine - Leaf or maybe Tree topology where you have a main switch (Spine) which then distributes to the outward leaf switches and the clients spread off like the veins in a leaf. Or at least that’s how I’ve always thought of it.
Whatever you call it, having a main switch and two outboard switches is one way of doing things when you have no other choice.