Hi, I am a beginner and I would appreciate a few tips

I want to split my home network into different vlans. The idea is to seperate the computers of my kids, the wlan, the WD media player and some squeezeboxes from my pc. All data is stored on a NAS, equipped with one Gigabit Ethernet NIC.

A good perfomance for video streaming is needed from my NAS and the WD media player (which offers only a fast ethernet connection).

At the moment everything is connected with a dumb GB-Switch. My first idea was to buy a cheap Zyxel VLAN switch plus a router to enable required connections between the devices again.

But I'm not sure if I need two devices. Doesn's a MikroTik Router work like a switch, too? Won't it connect two devices which belong to the same subnet or vlan like a switch does?

In the MikroTik routerboard product catalog some more expensive devices are described especially as a 'router switch', e.g. the CRS125. I wonder if a RB2011L can do the work too.

Can anyone help me with my decision to buy a switch and a router or only one device?

Many thanks in advance!
Michael

A 2011 will function as a router and a switch and will be perfect for an advanced home network. Mikrotik routers typically have one or more switch chips built in that will allow switching groups of ports at wire speed.

So the short answer is no you don't need separate devices unless you run short of ports

doesn't ANY router work as a switch too?

If you you only need that many ports than the 2011 would work fine. If you want more gigabit ports look at the crs. I run the crs at home.

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doesn't ANY router work as a switch too?

No..many routers do not handle L2 switching. Most enterprise and service provider edge routers from Cisco and Juniper only do L3

doesn't ANY router work as a switch too?

No..many routers do not handle L2 switching. Most enterprise and service provider edge routers from Cisco and Juniper only do L3

Thank you very much for your clarification! After all on friday I bought a CRS125 - finally just because it was on stock. This weekend I had my first close contacts with this proud lady, but it wasn't love at first sight

Best regards,
Michael

If you you only need that many ports than the 2011 would work fine. If you want more gigabit ports look at the crs. I run the crs at home.

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Thank you very much! After all I've got a CRS125 too, just because it was on stock. My affection to this proud lady was not returned so far but I'll work on it

Regards,
Michael