I’m looking for recommendations for a managed network switch that either comes with open source firmware or can have open source firmware flashed onto it.
I read that some old TP-Links let you do this but the modern ones don’t. I also read some ZyXELs allow it, and I’m looking at the GS1900-8, but it doesn’t say anywhere in the description about the firmware.
Does anyone have any ideas or knowledge to share? Do I need to buy an old one second-hand?
I’d prefer something with 8 ports, but 4 or 5 is probably enough, honestly. 8 would just be more future-proof if I decide to expand my setup.
PoE isn’t a dealbreaker for me but I consider it a nice-to-have. And I don’t need SFP (unless someone can explain why I might?). I do want something managed though, for setting up VLANs, QOS prioritization, NGFW, etc.
Thanks in advance!
I’m definitely new to networking, but I’ve already done some research and I guess I thought I understood it but now I’m not so sure. That’s all interesting information though, thanks. I’ll be sure to read more about it.
By NGFW I was referring to things like Endian, OPNSense, pfSense, Sophos, and Untangle. Are they really not worth it for hobbyist use? Right now all I have is ufw (and some scanners like clamav, maldet, aide, and rkhunter), but all that seems to do is block and/or whitelist IPs and ports. I would have thought a NGFW would be worth it, at least for anything that’s going to be public-facing.
Is OpenWRT even a good idea for a network switch? The router I’m looking at comes with it by default, so chances are I won’t have to configure it much myself. But for the network switch my main concern is that I don’t want to use some proprietary firmware that’s just gonna phone home to the company’s servers and basically render any privacy/security measures I take useless.
I know to avoid netgear, but is there a particular brand of network switch that FOSS/homelab people prefer and trust? If so I’ll just use the default firmware…