XI. LAN

Managing a VigorSwitch using DrayTek Central Switch Management

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DrayTek Central Switch Management

Central Switch Management provides a way to manage VigorSwitch switches through a DrayTek router, with profiles that can be applied to multiple switches and VLAN configuration all handled within the router. Managing multiple switches this way offers a convenient central location from which to control the network devices. This simplifies the setup of multiple subnets and VLANs, without needing in-depth knowledge of VLAN tagging and reduces setup time, with the time consuming step of configuring VLANs for each port handled by the router instead.

The Switch Hierarchy view gives a graphical overview of devices connected to each port and interconnections between switches.

DrayTek products compatible with Central Switch Management

Note that older router firmware might not recognise newer switches, check the Router Web UI for the switch compatibility list of which switches the router firmware supports.

DrayTek Vigor Routers	From Firmware version
DrayTek Vigor 2860	3.8.4
DrayTek Vigor 2925	3.8.4
DrayTek Vigor 2952	3.8.4
DrayTek Vigor 3220	3.8.4
DrayTek Vigor 2960	1.3.0
DrayTek Vigor 3900	1.3.0
DrayTek VigorSwitch	From Firmware version
DrayTek VigorSwitch G2260	3.18
DrayTek VigorSwitch P2261	3.18
DrayTek VigorSwitch G1241	2.1.0
DrayTek VigorSwitch P1100	2.1.4
DrayTek VigorSwitch P1280	2.3.0 (with router firmware 3.8.7)
DrayTek VigorSwitch G1280	2.3.0 (with router firmware 3.8.7)
DrayTek VigorSwitch P2280	2.3.0 (with router firmware 3.8.7)
DrayTek VigorSwitch G2280	2.3.0 (with router firmware 3.8.7)
DrayTek VigorSwitch P1092	1.04.5 (with router firmware 3.9.0)
DrayTek VigorSwitch G1080	1.04.5 (with router firmware 3.9.0)

Central Switch Management Functionality

Switch Status	Displays an overview of VigorSwitches connected to the DrayTek Vigor router managing them. The Switch Hierarchy view gives a visual overview of interconnections between switches with details available for each port in use (IP address, Shutdown port)
Profile	Manages the configuration of a VigorSwitch to provision the switch with VLAN tags linking to the multiple subnets on the DrayTek Vigor router
Group	Define groups of switches for different departments and quickly set the management password for VigorSwitches in each group
Maintenance	Manage switch functions remotely through the router's web interface with Configuration Backup, Configuration Restore, Remote Reboot and Factory Reset options

Adding a Switch

DrayTek products have the ability to automatically locate each other on the same physical network. This requires the External Devices feature to be enabled on the DrayTek Vigor router so that the device discovery system is in operation.

To do that, go to [External Devices] and tick External Device Auto Discovery then click OK on that page to save the setting change.

To manage a supported VigorSwitch, simply plug it into the same network as the DrayTek Vigor router and go to [Central Management] > [Switch] > [Profile]. When VigorSwitch switches are detected on the network, the router will determine whether it can control the switch and will display new VigorSwitch switches in the New Switch List:

Click the Add New button for the switch and wait for the router and switch to perform the initial connection.

If the connection fails or the VigorSwitch is not shown in the New Switch List, go to [External Devices] and amend the Password for the switch being added so that the router has the correct credentials to control the switch.

Switch Status

In [Central Management] > [Switch] > [Status], the Switch Status view displays information on switches managed by the router. When different Groups are configured, the router will separate the switches into the defined groups:

Switch Hierarchy

The Hierarchy view displays switches managed by the router graphically with information for each port in use.

P1 - P6 are the LAN ports on the DrayTek router and the numbered green rectangle indicates the number of VigorSwitches connected to that port.

When VigorSwitches are not connected directly to the router, they will be hidden from view and can be displayed by clicking the numbered green rectangle button. The display will then expand for that port to show VigorSwitches connected to that port. Clicking the button again will hide the switches and show the main overview.

Switch key:

Grey Circle: Port not in use

Green Circle: Port in use, click the circle for more information on the device connected to that port.

Green Circle with Up/Down Arrow: The arrow indicates whether the port is used as an Uplink (connection from switch to router) or Downlink (connection from switch to another switch)

Profile Management

Profiles

The Profiles shown in [Central Management] > [Switch] > [Profile] section are used to configure VigorSwitches with tag-based VLAN configurations. To modify settings for a switch, click on its Index number in the Profile List:

In the VLAN settings tab, VLAN settings for each port can be configured following the VLAN tags available on the router. The router automatically determines how to configure the port settings for Uplink ports (from router to switch) so that everything works once saved to the switch.

For details on how to configure VLAN tags on the VigorSwitch through Central Switch Management, follow the instructions in this guide:

Applying VLAN Configuration with DrayTek Central Switch Management

Switch Management profiles created on the router can be applied to other switches simply from the General tab, which can copy VLAN and port settings between dis-similar switches and automatically change the configuration to work between different switch models:

Screenshots

Tickboxes represent the VLAN tags that are accepted on each port. The Remove Tag (PVID) setting allows devices that are not aware of VLAN tagging to use the port, while unticking Remove Tag (PVID) would require devices plugged into the port to send packets with the correct VLAN tag to access the network.

When a port has multiple VLAN tags applied to it, this changes to a drop-down box to select the VLAN tag that would be applied to packets that are sent without a VLAN tag.

In this example, four VigorAP access points are connected to ports 1 to 4, those ports have multiple VLANs selected so that the Wireless networks of each access point can be linked to the router's multiple subnets through VLAN tags.

The full VLAN port setting view displays interconnections between switches and the VLAN and port settings on the router itself. Ports marked in dark grey indicate the Uplink and Downlink ports connecting the switches: