Zyxel 48-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch | Smart-Managed | Rackmount [GS1900-48]

This is an initial review of both the GS1900-8 and GS1900-24E switches. As I integrate these switches into my network and have a few weeks' time with them, I will update this review.I purchased these switches to replace some older unmanaged Netgear switches that I was using to wire my Sonos players and streaming video devices to my LAN. I wanted to have managed switches that supported STP (Spanning Tree Protocol), had the ability to monitor each port and do SNMP. These switches fit the bill in terms of features and price point and got generally good reviews online.I am rating these switches as two stars initially because of the horrible experience I had with them trying to use both the web admin interface and the Zyxel ZON utility (Windows only) to update the firmware and configure the switches.All the switches came with v2.20 of the firmware out of the box. This is a version of firmware from 2016 (two years old). I could not see most of the the words on the admin web interface on my Mac using Safari, Chrome or Firefox, nor on Windows 10 using Chrome. The only way I could see the words was to use Internet Explorer on a Windows 10 system, however firmware update using the web interface kept failing. So I downloaded and ran the ZON utility on my Windows 10 system, and, after many attempts, was able to update all four switches to v2.40 using a locally downloaded firmware file, not using the remote option that goes out to a website (Zyxel site? I don't know). This was a very painful process. I had to revert each switch to factory configuration (even though they looked brand new and never used), then I had to use ZON to update each switch individually and not try to select all four switches and update them in one operation as the ZON utility is supposed to be able to do. After the update was complete, I power cycled all the switches and then tried to use the ZON utility to configure things like the system name and location but this operation kept failing while using ZON as well, despite me trying to configure the switch both over WiFi and over a wired Ethernet port from my Windows 10 system. I finally gave up on the ZON utility and used the web admin interface to manually configure each switch. That worked sort of, occasionally the switch would stop responding to configuration changes and I'd have to power cycle it. Maybe I just have four bad switches ;-) but be prepared for some grief getting these things updated and configured.So my initial impression is that updating and administering the switches, even using Zyxel's own utility, was really painful and I was very close to pressing the "Return this item" button on Amazon and buying some Netgear or Cisco switches. It seems that the v2.40 firmware improved the administrative experience somewhat but the ZON utility still gave multiple timeout and failure indications when trying to perform basic administrative operations such as set the switch location. While I appreciate the effort that Zyxel has put into a unified switch management tool, having such a tool fail more often than succeed means that I will quickly abandon the tool and let others in my community know that they should not depend on being able to manage al their Zyxel switches from one unified tool.UPDATE 06/23/18: Downgraded to 1 star because Zyxel has not responded to multiple attempts to contact them as per the Zyxel representative on this review thread.

I am not an IT expert.In fact I bought this switch for one reason: I wanted to enable link aggregation on my ReadyNAS, my QNAP, and my Mac Pro. Each of these devices has two Gigabit Ethernet ports and supports link aggregation.Performing TimeMachine backups of an 800GB drive over a single Gigabit Ethernet cable to each of the two NAS units was getting tiresome, so I searched for a switch capable of LACP 802.3ad. I had a couple of other requirements as well:1. Overall width should not exceed 10 inches because it needed to fit inside a very specific shelf in my home office.2. The Ethernet ports should be on the BACK side along with the power cable. The status LED lights should be on the FRONT side. For my shelf mounting application, all Ethernet cables are fed from the rear of the shelf. **UNFORTUNATELY** this switch does NOT meet this requirement. I purchased it anyway because I simply could not find a 16-port *managed* switch with rear-ports and front-lights.3. The switch should be well made with ability to operate in warm temperatures.4. The switch should be relatively easy to use.5. The price -- it should be cheap, but cheap in price only.This item meets all of my needs *except* number 2, but I still give it 5 stars because I was able to rotate it 90 degrees on my shelf. This means Ethernet cables don't have to swing over the unit from the back side to the front side. Cables can run along the left or right sides depending on 90-degree left rotation or 90-degree right rotation.The first thing I did after opening the box and not finding a user manual was to go online and download the complete and well-written PDF user's guide. I read through all the pertinent sections of the manual before plugging the unit into the wall. This was a particularly good idea, because it introduced me to the ZON utility for basic administration of the unit such as IP address change, password change, firmware update, etc. More complex operations are performed from the on-board web page, which the ZON utility can open for you in a browser window.WIth the help of the manual I was able to configure 3 dual-port aggregated links, enable the links, and set each link explicitly to LACP. Note that there are several link aggregation protocols, and you must explicitly select LACP on each link. (MacOS only supports LACP.)After enabling bonded links on the two NAS units and the Mac Pro and connecting 6 Ethernet cables, everything started up perfectly! A total newbie like me was able to establish 3 working LACP connections on my first attempt. But this was no lucky happenstance -- I read the manual first (RTFM), which is written in remarkably good English.I might try some of the other features if I find them relevant, but for the time being I'm happy with my 3 aggregated links.The unit does run slightly warm and needs adequate ventilation room on the left and right sides. Unmanaged switches are often fan-less and run much cooler.

Decent fanless (totally silent) 16 port managed gigabit switch but the Link Aggregation config sucks, would not buy again.Pros:- Is actually fanless despite other customer reviews hinting that it is not- Totally silent- Supports multiple user accounts- Supports different roles for users (eg Admin, Not Admin)- UI is not as confusing as other vendors, notable because some UIs on other consumer grade managed switches are *horrible*- Power cord doesn't have a brick on the end, so it's easy to plug in to a crowded power stripCons:- UI relies heavily on Javascript which must be whitelisted- Switch config for Link Aggregation is very lacking. (Ive tried to include details but each update is rejected...)What would make this a 5 Stars?- An authenticated API for scripted/automated configuration- Support all common Link Aggregation configurations

Good solid metal construction, built-in power supply with a removable A/C power cord and a full suite of managed features make this unit an extremely good value. In addition to VLAN and QoS features common in web managed switches, it also has a comprehensive set of SNMP sensors that can provide detailed per-port bandwidth reporting.Package contains full hardware for surface, wall and rack mounting so lots of options for how to place the switch. Only minor issue is that the wall mounting slots are only on one plane, so it must be mounted straight up or down and can't be mounted sideways.

I got it on sale for $80CDN with free shipping so for the price it was a no brainer. This has advanced L3 features packed into an L2 switch. VLAN, Port Tagging, and a decent web gui.For a home switch that I want to play with network segregation, this is the ticket. There's port labelling as well if need to remeber what's plugged into that one port that seems to be hogging the bandwidth.

It's OK...I didn't expect a lot as it is entry level BUT it has no shell access without hacking and risking bricking it. I find that very disappointing. It will do but I plan on replacing it.

Great switch at a great price