If you need to add 5 ports, then you will need a switch with at least 7 ports, because two will be used for the connection; one from the existing equipment and one on the added switch.
If you used a 5 port switch near an existing switch or router you only âgainâ three ports.
You have specified nothing about vlans. If you donât need them and just want to expand ports (like you would expand outlets with a power strip), then all you really need is a 1 Gbps âdumbâ plug and play switch. On the other hand if you want to keep your cameras speparate from your other equipment, then a vlan aware switch would make more sense.
The other reason for a âmanagedâ switch is that there are often other feature in addition to the vlans, like the ability to turn unused ports off. Or to use the switch as a network âtapâ for wireshark with one of the switch-ports configured as a mirror/span port. Of to be able to see what devices are connected (note than many âsmartâ switches donât have this capability, for example the TP-Link SG108E does not allow you to view the mac address table, but the RB260 does.
Some reasons to select the hEX or hEX refresh over the RB260GS (aka CSS106-5G-1S). If you want to use it as more than a switch, the hEX can be used as a router. It also supports secure management via ssh or https. Other than secure management, if you are really only going to use it as a switch, there isnât an advantage to having an ARM processor or even a more powerful processor than what is in the CSS106-5G-1S. The switching is done by dedicated switching circuitry and the CPU is only for management.
The CSS106-5G-1S has a SPF cage, which hEX does not. The RB760iGS does have an SFP it is similar to the hEX with the SFP connected to a second 1Gbps channel in the SoC. It is arguably easier to set up vlans in SwOS than it is with ROS. But since you will still have to setup vlans on your hAP ax3, you will still need to learn that anyway, so it may be easier to just use ROS on both ends.
If you are going to get a dumb switch, there few circumstances where I would get a 5 port switch compared to an 8 port if it was being used as an port expansion for an existing router. 8 port switches cost only a few dollars more, and double your usable ports compared to a 5 port switch (6 additional ports vs 3 additional ports).
5 ports is ok for when you have a single existing cable going to a room and need to attach more than one device in that room, but no more than 4. And where you may want to have two separate LANs in that room, then a vlan-aware switch would be the way to go.
P.S. the 2.5G flex mini has fewer restrictions than the 1G flex mini. But it does require a controller, and for a single switch, that doesnât make a lot of sense, although you only need the controller to manage the switch or change its configuration, and for a fixed use application, that you could probably run the controller on a pc for setup or whenever you need to change something. But unless you are already in the Unifi camp with access points, I wouldnât have a dedicated controller for a single 5 port switch that had a stable configuration. As you said that it was unlikely you would ever need 2.5 G, there isnât much current advantage to having 2.5 G capability.
