
Can a managed L2-switch with 802.1q-VLAN-capability be used to segment
the LAN into multiple independent subnets without using trunking?
Ie. in this scenario there's no need for access to the Internet.
Idea is to assign a subnet to each port and attach a cheap unmanaged switch
to the port and attach the devices of that subnet into that unmanaged switch
at that port of the managed switch.
There is only 1 (relatively expensive) managed Gigabit switch with 8 ports,
and 8 very cheap unmanaged (ie. dumb) Gigabit switches with 8 ports each.
So, a total of 8 subnets with up to 7 enduser-devices (ie. PCs) in each should be possible, totaling up to 56 enduser-devices.
Access to the other subnets, if desired, would be configured via network routing table entries.
The 8 subnets: for example 192.168.1.0/24 to 192.168.8.0/24
Is this doable with such a managed switch using VLANs, or should one take an 8-port router instead?
Has anyone already did such a similar setup?
Which solution (switch or router) is easier to perform and easier to maintain/support/administer?