MX75 Switching Capabilities

[Dinger]

Just an easy question for most of you here, but I'm looking for an answer that I couldn't seem to find as it is probably common knowledge to most.

Is the switching capabilities in the MX75 comparable to the MS220-8P?  I know the MS220 has more POE ports, but in terms of just switching capability does it really matter if one uses the LAN ports on the MX75 or would it be better to continue to use the MS220-8P.  We are only talking in a home/home office setup here.  Nothing too crazy.  Was just wondering if I could eliminate the need for the MS220 and solely rely on the MX75 for that duty.

What would I be missing?

Current Setup is a pair of MR36's, MX64, and (2) MS220-8P's for reference. Was wanting to move to the MX75 to better utilize the faster WAN speed I'm not currently utilizing due to the MX64.

Yes, I know there are cheaper alternatives for something like this for the home, but hey, never hurts to learn new things while also utilizing it for yourself.

[MerakiDave]

Hi @Dinger you could certainly do that for what you are describing without much concern.  The MX75 is not a switch of course but for what you are describing you can likely use the MX75 as your switch for a home office setup, where you probably have a single VLAN anyway, or of course the MX75 can do your interVLAN routing if needed like if you're already doing that on your 64. 

As you mentioned you'll only have the two PoE+ ports, which might be fine if you only have the pair of MR36 APs and no other PoE devices.  The other switch-specific items you would lose are things like switch ACLs, access policies, and port schedules for example.  Check if you're using any of those things beforehand.  

[cmr]

@MerakiDave could you replace a port schedule by assigning a time based group policy to the client?  For example if the group policy specified no access and was set between 10pm and 6am, would that not effectively act as a port schedule that turned off the port between those hours (for a home setup where internet access is the main usage)?

[MerakiDave]

Certainly @cmr I'd say so for client access that could also be pretty easy via GP.  Wouldn't cycle ports off/on but chances are that part isn't important for a typical home office type setup 😀