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tonynsx's avatar
tonynsx
Luminary
Sep 02, 2022
Solved

Managed switch on routing mode for dhcp

I have a few CNC machines at work that have RS232 connectors.  I know I can get adapters to convert the RS232 to WiFi or Ethernet.  

I don't want these machines to be on the company network.  So instead of connecting them to our firewall, and doing firewall rules, I was thinking about connecting them straight to a Netgear managed switch.

 

For example XS728T, if I enabled routing mode, then the switch will act as a router, and I can do DHCP for the devices?  Does all ProSafe models have this feature?

 

https://www.netgear.com/business/wired/switches/smart/xs728t/ 

  • A VLAN does not require a dedicated physical network link. Each VLAN does make up a dedicated logical network. So doing this on the XS728 is perfectly fine.

6 Replies

  • schumaku's avatar
    schumaku
    Guru - Experienced User

    tonynsx wrote:

    I have a few CNC machines at work that have RS232 connectors.  ... I don't want these machines to be on the company network. 


    A smart decision - simple serial network converters don't offer much security. Exposing a serial port via some serial converter to the same IP subnet would imply a major risk. 

     


    tonynsx wrote:

    So instead of connecting them to our firewall, and doing firewall rules, I was thinking about connecting them straight to a Netgear managed switch.


    You could (read: should) create multiple VLANs for the company network and the manufacturing network. Some ports can be configured as access ports for the company network [read VLAN] (and IP subnet), other ports can be configured as access ports to the manufacturing network [read another VLAN] (and IP subnet), so the switch can deal with multiple networks.

     

    The connection to the router could be done by dedicated physical ports, or by a trunk port, handling multiple VLANs over a single physical link, or for the sake a LAG combining multiple ports to achieve higher bandwidth.

     

    Routing between the IP subnets could be done easily on the primary router, or as short cut L3 routing for attached networks on the XS728T.

     


    tonynsx wrote:

    For example XS728T, if I enabled routing mode, then the switch will act as a router, and I can do DHCP for the devices?


    No, the XS728T and similar switches don't offer a DHCP service, but could transport both networks to your primary router, where routing, and DHCP, and whatever more can be done. This is under the assumption that your router / firewall is able to handle multiple VLANs and IP subnetworks individually.

     

     

    • tonynsx's avatar
      tonynsx
      Luminary

      schumaku 

      Thank you, the reason I want to have these CNC machines connected to a Netgear switch is so I can avoid connecting fiber from firewall (WatchGuard) to switch.  Plus, this is another way to keep them away from company network.  Yes, I could create a new VLAN for these CNC machines.  But this means I need to run cable from firewall to switch.

       

      Is there any Netgear switch that does dhcp and act as router?

      • schumaku's avatar
        schumaku
        Guru - Experienced User

        A VLAN does not require a dedicated physical network link. Each VLAN does make up a dedicated logical network. So doing this on the XS728 is perfectly fine.

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