The Right Switch for the Job

The D-Link DGS-2205 is a five-port 10/100/1000Mbps switch that supports jumbo frames, has a five-year warranty and provides green power saving technology. Because the D-Link DGS-2205 was designed with most standards, it has 802.3x Flow Control, supports IEEE 802.1p QoS and has MAC address learning and aging. If you consider what you are getting for the price, then this is a perfect switch for your small office needs.

End-User Advantages

The design of the DGS-2205 is very compact and simple, which is what users want in a desktop switch. This switch could easily be stored under a desk or off to the side without being noticed. The front of the switch displays LEDs to inform the user about connection speeds, which is auto-sensed. The DGS-2205 also has a built-in auto MDI/MDI-X crossover, which will prevent the need to use crossover cables. D-Link has made a great switch that would be a perfect fit for anyone that needs five or fewer Ethernet ports for their home network. With the size, performance and price point of the D-Link DGS-2205, it stands to be one of the best buys for the small office user.

Why It Works for IT

The green technology is something that is new to the switching world but is a great idea. The DGS-2205 uses some of the same ideas as desktop/notebook makers, including making parts that require less power and turning off parts while not in use. The first step is that D-Link ships this device with a 5-volt AC adapter instead of a 9-volt, which is standard for most small office switches. Second, D-Link will reduce the power of ports that are idle. As soon as a computer is turned off, the switch will shut down the power to that port until the computer comes back on or there is activity on the port. According to D-Link, this can provide up to 44 percent savings. The DGS-2205 can also analyze the length of any Ethernet cable and adjust the power according to the length. These green techniques will reduce power consumption, create less heat, extend product life and reduce operating costs. The power saving technology is not going to save you a tremendous amount of money, but it is a start to becoming more energy efficient.

Disadvantages

To run a bandwidth test, I used a Lenovo X200, a Lenovo T400 and a Lenovo M57 desktop. I tried several different tests with various files sizes and the speeds were very good. The bottlenecks were on my hard drives instead of the network. But it’s unlikely that people in IT will use the D-Link DGS-2205 much in the enterprise environment because they can’t manage the switch and because there’s a small number of ports. An enterprise network can be very complicated with VLANs and port trunking, which really only leaves the DGS-2205 for small office environments. Network administrators likely would only use this switch for small projects or to expand a single network jack into five.