Gigabit switch supports high-speed transfers.
Gigabit switch supports high-speed transfers.
I'm struggling to understand my setup. I have a Gigabit router and want to connect seven devices. I bought a managed switch from Amazon and am unsure what will happen if I link the switch directly to the router without DHCP. Should the two devices on the switch talk to each other at around 100MB/S? Also, if I turn on DHCP on the switch, can it forward certain ports to the connected devices? It seems like the switch doesn't support NAT options, which makes it hard for me since I need open ports on the attached devices. I'm not ready to get the switch yet but would appreciate your advice! Thanks!
The two devices connected to the switch will remain unaffected by whether a router is present or not. The switch merely transmits data packets between its ports. You'll experience up to 1 gbps or roughly 125 MB/s in theory (about 122 MB/s in practice due to overhead). This performance can be maintained even with inexpensive Cat5e cables, as they meet the basic requirement. DHCP isn't necessary on the switch; the router should assign IP addresses automatically. The switch records MAC addresses to determine which port a specific computer is connected to, so packets traveling between devices are routed correctly without going through the router. You can configure port forwarding in the router as if the switch were absent, effectively using it as a simple extension for additional ports.