this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
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Hey everyone,

I'm back with another question. I'm looking at switches and have it narrowed down to two options:

Cisco Catalyst 1200-24T-4X

Cisco Business CBS220-24T-4X

I'm going to have a Netgate as my main router in the house but I am also going to have a dev environment that I don't necessarily want interacting with my regular network. Originally I was thinking of just getting an unmanaged switch but I might like having some light VLAN capabilities of a managed switch that I can have the option of using.

I don't have any use right now for PoE devices so I don't need the switch to do that. I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what the differences are between the CBS model and the Catalyst model.

It's a difference of about $45. As far as I can tell, the main benefit to the Catalyst is Cisco's Cloud dashboard. I don't need or want that. I'll handle everything through a VPN connection back to the house and honestly, I don't see myself needing to interface with the switch much after I get it set up. If the cloud dashboard is the only difference then I'll just save the $45 and get the CBS model.

But I wanted to ask you all if there's something else I'm missing that might make the Catalyst a better choice?

Thanks!--

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Yeah that's kinda where I'm coming down too. They both also do IPv6 Multicast which I'll use briefly later on when I start setting up the Nutanix CE section of the build but I mean...they look so similar I may as well save the $45.