CISCO SB CBS250 SMART 24-PORT FULL POE GIG SWITCH

Searching for a switch from the Cisco Business 250 Series? Cisco CBS250-24FP-4G is a 24-port full PoE+ (802.3at/af) smart gigabit switch best for your small and medium-sized businesses. It provides enterprise-class functionality in an easy-to-use and reasonably priced manner. It is perfect for networks that require a lot of power and control because it has four SFP fiber uplink ports, robust security, and intelligent management capabilities.

Key Specifications

Network (RJ-45) Ports:  24 × 10/100/1000 Mbps (all support PoE / PoE+)

Uplink / SFP Ports: 4 x 1G SFP ports

PoE / PoE+ Support: 802.3af & 802.3at on all RJ-45 ports

PoE Power Budget: Up to 370 W for full PoE model (FP)

Switching Capacity / Forwarding Rate: 56 Gbps switching capacity

Memory & Buffer: 1.5 MB shared packet buffer

VLANs & Layer 3 Routing: Supports up to 255 active VLANs, 32 static routes (IPv4/IPv6)

Quality of Service & Traffic Control
8 hardware queues, DSCP/CoS classification, ACLs, traffic shaping & policing

Security Features
802.1X port access control, ACLs (max 512 rules), DoS protection, MAC locking, SSH/SSL management

Spanning Tree & Redundancy
STP (802.1D), RSTP, MSTP, loop detection, link aggregation (LACP)

Management / Monitoring
Cisco Business Dashboard (embedded), web GUI, CLI, SNMP v1/2c/3, Cisco PnP, USB port for config/image

Energy Efficiency / Design
Fanless design (in the majority of configurations), Energy Efficient Ethernet (802.3az), auto power-down of non-operational ports

Dimensions & Weight
Not so much published in the primary datasheet (you may wish to refer to Cisco’s mechanical or package spec sheets)

Key Features & Benefits

Full PoE+ on all ports
With a 370 W budget power supply, this switch can power multiple wireless access points, IP cameras, VoIP phones, or other powered devices over Ethernet—simplifying out discrete power cabling.

Scalable uplinks & redundancy
Four SFP fiber uplinks allow connection to backbone switches, aggregation points, or remote fiber runs. Link aggregation (LACP) provides greater resilience and aggregate bandwidth.

Advanced segmentation & routing
Use VLANs and static routing to divide your network (for employees, visitors, IoT, voice) and allow inter-VLAN traffic on the switch itself—load-offloading from firewalls or routers.

Quality of Service & traffic control
Give priority to low-latency-sensitive traffic (voice, video) and shape / police bandwidth using configurable queues and ACLs.

Strong security & access controls
Secure your network with 802.1X, MAC address locking, ACLs, and other defenses (storm control, DoS prevention). Secure management via SSH, SSL.

Easy deployment & management
Use the integrated Cisco Business Dashboard or easy web UI for setup, monitoring, and alerts. Supports zero-touch deployment using Cisco PnP.

Robust & upgrade-safe
Dual firmware images for secure OS upgrades. Spanning tree, link aggregation, and loop protection reduce downtime risks.

Energy-efficient & silent
With autonegotiation, Energy Efficient Ethernet, and (in the majority of cases) no fan, the switch has low operational noise and power consumption levels.

Small business support & warranty
Features Cisco’s limited lifetime warranty (return-to-factory replacement) and support access to Cisco’s Small Business Support Center for software / firmware update and support.

Use Cases & Deployment Scenarios

Office / Branch Networking
Power and connect wireless access points, printers, IP phones, and wireless access points.

Wireless Infrastructure Backhaul
Install multiple Wi-Fi access points across the office or floors with power and data delivered on one cable.

IP Surveillance / Security Systems
Power and network video analytics units, IP cameras, access control panels, and sensors.

VoIP & Unified Communications Environments
Voice traffic is delivered as a priority, powered phones are enabled, and inter-VLAN routing is achieved in one space-efficient switch.

IoT & Smart Building Deployments
Segment and control IoT, control systems, building automation, and guest networks and isolate them, keeping security intact.

Technical Insights & Tips

• Given that this is the “FP” (full PoE) model, it packs a higher power budget than standard PoE models—ideal for power-hungry deployments.
• Use link aggregation (LACP) for uplink redundancy and additional throughput; you can group multiple SFP or RJ-45 ports.
• The Cisco Business Dashboard is integrated in the switch, so you don’t need an external controller to monitor and control your Cisco Business switches.
• In mission-critical applications, use the dual firmware image feature to stage and test new software releases in a safe way.
• Turn on time-based PoE schedules to power off unessential devices (e.g. Wi-Fi APs in the night) and save energy.
• Employ jumbo frames (to 9,000 bytes) for large file transfers, backups, or storage network traffic (provided that hosts support this). (Note: while the datasheet mentions support for large frames in general across the product line, test interoperability in your entire environment.)
• As an added level of security, integrate the switch with 802.1X authentication servers, and use ACLs to restrict traffic between VLANs if needed.