Dell PowerSwitch N1108P-ON PoE+ Switch

The Dell Networking N1108P-ON is a compact fully managed gigabit switch with eight PoE and PoE+ capable 1000BASE-T access ports, two gigabit RJ45 uplinks and two gigabit SFP uplinks, from Dell's entry-level N1100-ON campus range.

It is the smallest fully managed switch Dell built for that range, and it exists for the places a 48-port rack switch cannot go: a comms cupboard, a wall box, a reception desk, a shop floor, a remote cabinet with four cameras and an access point in it.

Small, but not a "smart" switch

Most eight-port PoE switches at this size are unmanaged or web-managed appliances - a browser interface, a handful of toggles, no command line, no place in a monitoring system, and firmware that has nothing in common with the rest of your estate.

The N1100-ON range is not that. Dell describes the line as "fully managed 1GbE Layer 2 switching with Open Networking capabilities", and the important consequence is that this eight-port unit runs the same Dell EMC Networking OS6 as every other N-series switch. The same command line interface. The same embedded web GUI. The same SNMP behaviour and the same Dell OpenManage Network Manager integration. The same configuration language.

That is the whole argument for buying this switch rather than a generic eight-port PoE box. A small site running an N1108P-ON is a site your existing team already knows how to configure, monitor, back up and audit, using the templates they use everywhere else. The alternative - a fleet of unmanaged switches scattered across small sites - is precisely the estate nobody can inventory when something goes wrong.

Deployment reflects that too: USB auto-configuration lets you commission the switch by inserting a USB key, which is how you stand up a remote site without sending someone who knows the CLI.

What eight PoE ports actually covers

Eight powered gigabit ports is a specific, common shape. It covers a small branch or satellite office with a couple of access points and a handful of desk phones. It covers a camera cluster - a building entrance, a car park, a loading bay - where the cameras need power and the recorder is elsewhere. It covers a retail unit or a clinic room with a till, a card terminal, a phone and an access point.

Two uplink types are provided, which matters more at this size than it does on a big switch. The two gigabit RJ45 uplinks take copper back to a nearby closet. The two gigabit SFP uplinks take fibre, which is what you need when the small site is more than 100 metres from the switch that feeds it - across a car park, between buildings, up a riser. A great many eight-port switches offer only copper, and that single limitation is what forces a media converter into the design.

Where the range stops

Being clear about the ceiling avoids a wasted conversation.

The N1100-ON is a gigabit Layer 2 access range from Dell's 2016 campus generation. It is not multigigabit, it is not a routing platform, and it is not the current campus generation. If your requirement includes any of the following, look at the newer range instead:

• More than a gigabit to an access point - Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 units exceed it. See the N3248PXE-ON, which does multigigabit copper with 802.3bt PoE up to 90W per port.
• Routing at the edge - BGP, VRF-lite, OSPF at line rate. The N3248TE-ON has the full Advanced Layer 3 stack.
• High-wattage powered devices - PTZ cameras with heaters, LED lighting, video-conferencing bars. Those want 802.3bt, not PoE+.

For its intended job - a small number of ordinary gigabit powered devices at a site that still deserves proper management - it remains a sensible, inexpensive choice on the secondary market.

Security and access control

The N-series security feature set carries down to this model: AAA authorization with TACACS+ accounting and RADIUS, and authentication tiering, which lets you order 802.1X, MAC Authentication Bypass and Captive Portal by priority so a single port can handle a corporate laptop, an unmanaged printer and a guest device appropriately. Private VLAN extensions and Private VLAN Edge provide port isolation.

Dell also states that N-Series products carry the features needed to support a PCI compliant network topology - which is usually the question when a switch this size is going into a retail unit or a clinic.

Software licensing on the used market

A Dell software entitlement is bound to the unit's service tag and to a Dell account, and it does not automatically travel with a switch on the secondary market. A refurbished unit may well arrive with a working OS6 image installed and fully functional, and it may not carry an active entitlement or a Dell support contract. We do not promise a transferred Dell licence, a software subscription or a support contract with a refurbished switch, and you should be sceptical of any reseller who does.

A note on specifications

We publish figures we can source, and we do not publish figures we cannot. Dell has retired the N1100-ON product pages, and while Dell still publishes a specification sheet for the N1108EP-ON - a different model in the same range, defined by PoE pass-through and an external power adapter - there is no obtainable sheet for the N1108P-ON.

Those two part numbers differ by two letters and are frequently conflated by resellers. We have not borrowed the EP model's numbers, so switching capacity, forwarding rate, PoE budget, MAC and VLAN scale, dimensions, weight and the power arrangement are simply not stated on this page.

The port configuration above comes from our own inventory record for the part. Anything else is confirmed against the physical unit when we quote - ask for whatever figure your design depends on and we will verify it rather than guess.

Common questions

How many ports have PoE?

All eight access ports support PoE and PoE+, per our inventory record for this part. The two RJ45 and two SFP uplinks are uplinks, not powered ports.

What is the total PoE budget?

Not published in any Dell document we can obtain for this model, and we will not quote a figure we cannot source. Tell us the devices you intend to power and we will verify the budget against a physical unit before you commit.

Is this the same as the N1108EP-ON?

No. The EP model is a separate product defined by PoE pass-through - it can draw its own power from an uplink PoE device rather than needing a supply of its own - and by support for an external power adapter. If PoE pass-through is what you actually need, tell us and we will source the EP variant instead.

Can I take fibre to it?

Yes. Two gigabit SFP uplinks are provided alongside the two RJ45 uplinks, so a site beyond copper distance can be fed over fibre without a media converter.

Does it run the same software as larger Dell switches?

Yes. Dell states that all N-Series switches include Dell EMC Networking OS6 with one common CLI and GUI across the range, and that N-Series switches support ONIE for installing an alternative network operating system.

Elsewhere in the Dell campus range

Availability, condition and how to buy

This model is supplied to order. Use the quote request on this page, tell us what you need to power and how the site is fed, and we will confirm availability and configuration against a physical unit.

Every unit is refurbished, professionally reconditioned, powered up, inspected and functionally tested before it ships, and it ships with warranty coverage.

Specifications