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      10-09-2015, 10:14 AM   #13
zx10guy
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Drives: 2013 135i
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You don't need a managed switch. I would shop around for a PoE switch that is unmanaged and fanless. They do exist. You can get one for under $100 for 4 ports of PoE and some can do PoE+. If you need more ports of PoE..up to 8, you're looking at $100 to $200.

No you don't need to have a one for one match up with the ports on your patch panel with the switch...ie you don't need a 24 port switch. It's up to you if you are going to utilize those ports or not. If you don't utilize a port don't use up a switch port or buy a switch to have a port hot just because there's a port available on the patch panel. It's a good idea to pull as many drops as you think you may need due to the hassle factor of installing and labor. But you certainly don't need to buy all the switch ports to spin up all the drops up front. If you start off say with a 8 to 16 port switch and then later decide you need to spin up the remaining 12 to 4 ports. You can just buy another switch to add to the one you currently have. You would just make sure you have one extra port available to interconnect the two switches. Make sure you only use one cable between switches and not more to try to get more bandwidth. With unmanaged switches, you'll create a switch loop that will bring your network to its knees in a few seconds. Unless the switches have spanning tree protocol support which I haven't run across any in the unmanaged switch category.

The good news is the switches in this category/price point are all fanless. So no worries about noise.
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