Hello Christopher,

That didn't work for me -- until I disabled the Daylight Savings Time option. Does this option cause the device to adjust the clock based on the (relatively new) dates or does it just adjust the clock 60 minutes if activated? In other words, is this an option I set/de-set twice a year or enable permanently if I live in an area that honors daylight savings? I didn't try but think it might be possible to activate this now that the time is set correctly.

May I ask you a couple other questions?

Do the SLM2005 and SLM2008 switches have fans or anything that make noise? Reason I ask is I have a single network cable run into my family room which is on slab. I have a TiVo and SlingBox in that room. Everything was on the internal network but now for several reasons I have to have the SlingBox on the external (internet) network. The other TiVo needs to be on the internal network. Running a second cable into the room isn't an option right now.

My thought was I could use the VLAN capability in the SLM2024 and SLM2005/SLM2008 to accomplish this. I read up on this and think this may not work over a single network cable because to do this requires a trunking protocol that none of this equipment supports. Is this correct? If so I was wondering if there may be a way to do this by assigning three ports simultneously to two VLANS (1-internal and 2-external) if that's possible. I would then "jump" the respective devices to the proper VLAN. e.g.

VLAN 1: Internal/TiVo

VLAN 2: External (Internet)/Slingbox

PORT 1: VLANS 1 & 2 -- Connect to SLM2024 with similiar config

PORT 2: VLANS 1 & 2 -- Connect to port 4 (internal)

PORT 3: VLANS 1 & 2 -- Connect to port 6 (external)

PORT 4: VLAN 1 -- Connect to port 2

PORT 5: VLAN 1 -- Connect to TiVo

PORT 6: VLAN 2 -- Connect to port 3

PORT 7: VLAN 2 -- Connect to SlingBox

This configuration would be repeated on the SLM2024 side but VLAN 2 would also be connected to the cable modem

What do you think? It's not clear to me if a port can have two untagged VLANs and how this would all behave.

Thanks.

I enabled it here in the lab (the SLM2024 I did my initial testing for you was still out) and saved the settings. It added an hour. That is logical, as we are in EDT here in South Carolina. I simply removed the hour it added from the 24 hour clock, and saved the settings again. This setting should be left enabled year round as it adjusts itself.

The SLM2005-8 do not have fans. While your equipment (DTE) may not handle or use a trunking protocol, it will not prevent you from being able to deploy trunks on your switches (DCE).

Your design goals seem achievable to me, though not by the means you have described. Having two untagged VLAN's breaks the model.

You only trunk between your switches in your case. The rest of your  switch port would be configured as access ports. You may plug "non-trunk protocol" aware devices into access port such as TiVo. You would likely then use an additional access port to dump VLAN 2 (external/dirty) to the port that the Slingbox needs to be plugged into.

In all, this is a complicated configuration with many things that must be taken into account. Part of your problem will likely be that you have routers and modems that do not understand trunking protocols such as 802.1q. As described above, you would use access ports to dump vlans one at a time to the appropriate piece of equipment such as a modem/router/switch or a router/switch.

Hope this helps,

Christopher

Thanks for the quick reply Christopher.

I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole tagged vs. un-tagged vlan thing, but I think tagged means the packet must be set to the corresponding vlan, whereas un-tagged means it's not required. The TiVo and SlingBox don't support vlan tagging, so if I understand correctly, handling of the vlans are entirely up to the SLM2024 and SLM2005 (or SLM2008).

I'll have to draw it out, but if I figured it correctly, there won't be a problem. Worst case, I also have a Cisco ASA5505 router which supports vlans, so I think I can use it to solve the problem on the Internet side.

The TiVo needs to sit on the same broadcast domain as the internal network because it uses TCP/IP and Bonjour. The SlingBox on the Internet side is strictly TCP/IP.

Let me know if you have any additional info or explanation of tagging to help.

I noticed on newegg.com complaints about SLM2005 and SLM2008 models dying. Seems like maybe an overheating issue. Is this a known problem? Hopefully one that's since been fixed.

The only untagged VLAN is the native VLAN. The native VLAN is usually 1. Keep in mind, rules were meant to be broken and these are no exception. Using VLANS will separate your broadcast domains.

You are correct in that your devices (tivo, slingbox, PC) do not need to tag themselves. Such devices are plugged into what are called "access ports". Access ports are configured to be members of a particular VLAN at the switch level. In short, access ports are for plugging in equipment, and "trunk ports" are for plugging in other switches that are also able to have trunk ports. It can be confusing, as there are always exceptions to the rules.

We have no product alerts regarding overheating on the SLM2005/8. Occasionally, bad stuff does come off the production lines though. It may also be possible that the switches in question were stuffed in wiring closet, or some such, with no form of climate control whatsoever. If this were the case, the safe operating temperature of the devices may have been exceeded.

Hope this helps,

Christopher