Well I have the GS116Ev2 which is the 16 port version of the same switch, and I can assure you that mine does not behave in this manner. Though to be clear I have never used the Netgear utility to set it up because yuck and there being no Linux version.

This is a Layer 2.5 smart managed switch. That is it managed but does not offer full layer 3 features. My recommendation is to forget the nasty piece of Netgear software point a web browser at the IP and make sure it is configured to a static IP address that way you can find it again easily in the future.

I would also recommend making sure the firmware is up to date.

The nasty Netgear software can find the switch because it talks to them at layer 2 aka no IPv4/IPv6 involved. It just sends raw ethernet packets out. In theory it makes setup easier because you don't need to find out what it's IP address is before you can configure it.

That said unless you are using any of the managed features then probably not a great idea to use a managed switch. Though that said the basic switch chipsets from the likes of Broadcom are all layer 2.5 managed these days. Moore's Law and all. Personally I use a VLAN for a guest WiFi network and QoS so my Vodafone SureSignal gets priority above everything else. I was going to use LAG but Netgear lied on the original spec sheet. Transpires it only supports static LAG which does not work with my Linux based server

On the subject of switches doing DHCP, well get a proper layer 3 managed switch and there is a very good chance that it will have a DHCP server that you can configure.

Thanks guys, but at present I'm left just resetting the switch every so often and my switch experience doesn't reach the level (without more researching) i need to understand what's going on.

Two other things, could it be it doesn't get on with the plusnet home hub? and on the browser access mode, information seems limited in comparison to using the netgear software.

I will be connecting the unmanaged switch i have asap.

Edit: Switches Firmware is up to date - it was one of the first things I updated.

Edited by Vorlon (Tue 21-Nov-17 16:26:34)

Couple of things I just wanted to add and check.

The Netgear switch connects to my PlusNet router and all my devices are connected to the switch including the Laptop I use to set up the switch with Netgear Software or Browser. So the switch has to be negotiated (or data go via it) in every case.

The other thing is, if my laptop should go into sleep or off mode and all the other connections are off which are connected to the switch could the switch be seeing it's default IP. Snippet from Netgear GS108ev3 pdf manual,

By default, the switch IP address works as follows:

If you cable the switch to a network with a DHCP server before you power on the switch,
the DHCP server assigns an IP address to the switch when the switch is powered on.

If you power on the switch when it is not connected to a network with a DHCP server, the
switch uses its default IP address, which is 192.168.0.239.
You can disable the DHCP mode in the switch and enter static IP address and subnet
mask values for the switch as well as the address of the gateway device used by the
switch.

The text you quote just explains how the switch gets an IP address. What your laptop is doing is irrelevant.

The IP address of the switch management interface should also make zero difference to its ability to throw packets between the various ports on the switch

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

The text you quote just explains how the switch gets an IP address. What your laptop is doing is irrelevant.

I was just wondering as the default switch IP address is quite different from the default PlusNet Routers address range ie different subnet Mask?? that could possible cause an issue if the switch goes back to it's default mode if it loses connectivity (on purpose so to speak) if the connected devices are shutdown?

Just a thought, but I guess I'm barking up the wrong tree!

The management IP address of the switch management interface should not be affecting its ability to switch traffic between ports

This should only be a problem for accessing the switches management interface

The switch is meant to be plug and play, i.e. no need to access management interface unless you need the extra configuration and statistics monitoring.

So factory reset it, and see how it goes with just using it like a dumb normal switch for a while

Yes I do that Andrew. Whenever i have tried any suggestion and things have subsequently gone wrong I always reset the Switch. The only thing I've occasionally done is used the Netgear Utility after a reset to check it's status without altering anything.
However next time it does anything odd I'll reset it but not use the Netgear Utility at all and see if that alters it's operation.

The only other odd behavior that I haven't thought could of caused any issues is with my laptop that is connected to the switch and where the Netgear software resides.This has been after the Windows 10 Creators Update 1709 where I still intermittently lose my Start menu/Tiles. I wonder if there could be anything else effecting the switch that wouldn't normally jump to mind?

Unless the PC is trying to run its own DHCP connection, or a network interface has a cloned MAC address on it, or you've got a static IP clash the behaviour of the PC should be irrelevant

Has anyone considered that the cables between switch and router and possibly other items may have a bad connection?

Modern operating systems tend to regularly poll for Internet connectivity and may behave differently when the gateway and/or DNS becomes unavailable.
Phones in particular will often have an advanced setting enabled by default to switch back to 3/4G rather than sit on a WLAN without gateway or with loss of Internet, though I admit these are likely connected directly to the router.
Even Windows monitors this and shows it in the Network and Sharing Centre status.

A device activating its link-local address could be one symptom of this as a layer 1/2 issue.

Resetting the switch to defaults should never be necessary unless you have lost access to the management interface and need to change a setting. Having to reboot the switch suggests that either it locks up or there is a more basic connectivity issue.

But I used to see the Netgear smart switches under load either leak mac tables between VLANs or lose their management interfaces, or lockup completely and stop passing traffic on a regular basis, and then they started coming with some pre-defined VLANs 1-3 which you couldn't delete (the first PoE .at switch we tried too).
Having problems that went away when changing to Cisco SG series (and having much better diagnostics on board including copper TDR and fibre signal checks) meant we stopped using Netgear quickly after that.

This was about 5-6 years ago, and I have a feeling the unmanaged stuff would just keep going being more about the underlying switch chip (e.g. Broadcom) and the retail branding only being about the case, not how the innards behave.

Edited by prlzx (Thu 23-Nov-17 15:36:07)