Customer Reviews

Cisco WS-CE500-24LC Catalyst Express 500-24LC Switch

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I own several of the Cisco Catalyst Express 500 series switches across 2 of the business offices where I work. They are great for small-business needs without all the hassle of the "big boys" equipment (and big cost).

At one office, I have the version without Power over Ethernet (PoE) and this one with 4 PoE ports. At another office, I have this version and the one that's ALL PoE. They're very easy to administer using either the web interface or the Network Assistant tool (which I actually prefer).

The only cons to this device are the lack of IOS functionality if you're a die-hard Cisco command-liner and one simple gotcha-- these switches **MUST** be configured using a Windows XP-based system initially, because Vista and Windows 7 won't receive a DHCP address for the initial setup function. So keep a system with XP handy when you go to set it up.

Aside from that, everything can be configured using the GUI interface options. You CAN disable the Spanning Tree functionality, OR you can assign those ports as "Desktop" or "Server" smartport options in which case it enables the Fast-Ethernet parameter to reduce the annoyance of Spanning Tree. Also, you can enable port trunking for multiple VLAN usage by assigning ports with the Switch, Router, or Access Point smartport roles. (This allows you to setup guest networks and other security needs without issue.)

I definitely recommend these switches if you're looking for an inexpensive networking solution but are interested in establishing a dependable Cisco infrastructure. Oh, and these work great with the ASA 5505/5510 security appliances and Aironet 1130-series access points.

If you are counting on this device to work as a Power Over Ethernet device, beware that only the first four ports of the switch are POE capable.

It is a fairly typical Cisco switch, which means that you must deal with some typical Cisco behaviors (like the switch taking up to a minute to conduct a spanning tree analysis of any new device plugged in, in which time the device you plugged into the network is unusable). I haven't tried disabling spanning tree on mine yet, so I don't know if it's even possible to disable spanning tree on this switch. Of course, the nice part about spanning tree analysis is that it will disable any ports which have "loops" on the network-useful if your network has boneheaded users who do things like plug both ends of ethernet cables into downstream switches.

Unlike many Cisco switches, the IOS on this switch is not available to the user from a command line (I suppose you get what you pay for-Cisco wants you to buy the nicer high end switches for that!). The switch does have a web interface for setup, however. You can set up QOS, Vlans, and POE settings (amongst others) through the web interface.

Like a Cisco, once set up and working, the device is rock solid, and will probably do it's job dutifully until long after you've lost the manuals for it! It bridges nicely the feature gap in Cisco's product lineup between the very expensive fully managed switches with IOS command lines and the fully unmanaged Linksys stuff...