Question About Wireless VLANs w/ GS1900 Series Managed Switches

B1ggJoe

Hey Everyone,

I just purchased a GS1900-8 and a GS1900-24E. Looks like there is great support for VLANs. I do have a few questions however:

1. - Do these switches support 'Dynamic VLANs' at all? Or do they only support Static/Port-based VLANs?

2. - I would like to create various types of Wireless VLANs, for Guests, Home/Family and Smart Home devices. Is there a way to do this with these switches? Or do I need to purchase additional hardware?

3. - By the way, do I need this ZON 'ZyXEL One Network Utility? What is it for? Can I upgrade the Switches Firmware without it?

Thanks!

BJ

Zyxel_Ryan

Hi @B1ggJoe

Thanks for choosing Zyxel switches!
Regarding your questions, 
1. GS1900-8 and a GS1900-24E does not support dynamic VLAN function. They only support          basic VLAN, Guest VLAN and Voice VLAN.

2. With GS1900-8 and a GS1900-24E, you can accomplish your goal by VLAN setting. You just        need to set different VLANs for your Wireless VLANs, for Guests, Home/Family and Smart                Home devices. You can refer to our user-guide as attachment.

3. ZON is a Zyxel software which can discover all zyxel devices in the same broadcast domain.        With ZON, you can do basic settings to the devices, such as firmware upgrade, change IP,                reset configuration, save configuration..etc. You can actually download it to have a try. Of                  course, this software is not mandatory, without it, you can still upgrade firmware on GS1900              directly by web GUI.

Ryan

B1ggJoe

Hello @Zyxel_Ryan

Thank you very much for your response! Since I'm not entirely familiar with a lot of this stuff, I have a few more questions for you:

- I'm going to be utilizing the Netgate SG-3100 (Pfsense) Router as my 'Gateway':

https://www.netgate.com/solutions/pfsense/sg-3100.html

- Also as mentioned previously, I have both GS1900-8 and GS1900-24E ZyXEL Switches.

I'm wondering if the following setup will work:

Netgate SG-3100 Pfsense Router >>> (ethernet) >>> GS1900-24E >>> (ethernet) >>> GS1900-8

I'm *thinking* of creating a VLAN Trunk between all 3 devices. The reason is that I need to create at least 3 different VLANS. Unfortunately, due to the limitations that my home currently has with the number of CAT 6 runs within my home, I'm going to need to have multiple VLANs be able to utilize the same physical port(s) on the ZyXEL switches.

Do you think then, that this will be possible?

Thanks!

BJ

Zyxel_Ryan

Hi @B1ggJoe

It is possible for you to implement your application. 
You can set a same port to different VLANs.
You need to notice two points below.
1. Make sure that the port connected to router on GS1900-24E is Tagged out. 
2. (The most important) Make sure your Netgate SG-3100 (Pfsense) Router can understand tagged packets so that it can recognize packets from different VLANs from GS1900-24E. 

Ryan

B1ggJoe

@Zyxel_Ryan

Thank you for responding. I'm not sure what you mean by making sure that the port connected to the Router on the GS1900-24E should be Tagged out?

What exactly does this mean?

Thanks!

BJ

newBie_

Hi @B1ggJoe,

Based on your description, yes you can configure multiple VLANs on a single port.

Please refer to the information below for the settings in my apartment:

Note: 
1. The router should support multiple VLAN interfaces to achieve the requirements.
2. And configure untagged and PVID to the ports for the end devices that couldn't understand tagged packet.

Hope it helps!

Peace,

Depp_J

Zyxel_Ryan

Hello,

Thanks for @Depp_J 's beautiful picture.
@B1ggJoe , "GS1900-24E should be Tagged out" means that the port connected to your Router should be set tagged out. In that case, the packets from GS1900-24E to router will be tagged so that router can recognize where these packets are belong to. From web GUI, it will be looks like below. (For example, I take VLAN 10 and uplink port to router is port 1)


Ryan

Zyxel_Ryan

Hi @B1ggJoe

Just want to follow up this topic.
Do you succeed in configuring your GS1900? 

Ryan

B1ggJoe

@Zyxel_Ryan,

Not yet actually. I've been traveling for work but plan on jumping into this in the next few days over the Memorial Day weekend. 

Question for you:

You keep referring to the term 'Tagged out'. However in the picture, I only see the word 'Tagged'. Is that what you guys mean?

Also, I'm going to be adding a few new Access Points to my whole new setup. I'm looking for APs that support Multiple SSIDs and Multiple VLANs.

I was leaning towards the Ubiquity line of AC APs, such as either the:

UAP-AC-PRO-US or the Ubiquiti Unifi Ap-AC Long Range

I'm not familiar with the Zyxel APs however. Do you guys have any competitive APs along the lines of the ones I'm looking at, that support Multiple SSIDs and Multiple VLANs?

Thanks!

BJ

Zyxel_Ryan

Hi @B1ggJoe

Yes, what I mean is actually tagged in the screenshot. 

Regarding suggested Zyxel APs, basically all Zyxel APs support Multiple SSIDs and Multiple VLANs. Is your application in home or office? Can you share more information with us so that we can consult corresponding person to discuss with you? 

Ryan

B1ggJoe

@Zyxel_Ryan,

Thanks again for responding. However, I wanted to get in my order ASAP so as to not lose any time, so I ended up ordering 3x Ubiquiti Unifi AP-AC Long Range units.

However, I also ordered another ZyXEL GS-1900 8-Port and a 16-port switch as well.

I hope to upload a diagram soon in order to get your thoughts on everything.

BJ