Consider a typical home network of say ~20 devices. Let's say I want to make it a IPv6 only. I want to do it with only gigabit-capable devices. I can do that through a router or an L3 switch.
Let's take these two as an example:
- 5 gigabit port router (e.g. http://routerboard.com/RB2011iL-IN)
- 24 gigabit port L3 switch (e.g. http://routerboard.com/CRS125-24G-1S-IN)
Assume IPv4 is not used and features such as VPN tunnels are also not important.
Are there any obvious issues with using L3 switch instead of a router in this scenario? E.g. lower security, lower throughput, etc.
To phase the question differently - why would you use one or another in similar scenarios?
Or to phase differently again - what are the scenarios for most people (residential or very small business users) that would require one or another or where picking one or another would be superior?
Edit:
To clarify, this is a new setup and I'm looking at two options:
a) The standard inside network <-> dummy switch <-> router <-> internet
, where all devices are connected to a dummy switch and the router is playing a firewall role
b) The router-less inside network <-> L3 switch <-> internet
, where devices are connected to an L3 switch that is at the same time playing a role of a firewall
Option a) is both more complex (two devices to administrate) and more costly (need to buy both a dummy switch and a router). Option b) is potentially less secure and could have other cons (that's what I'm trying to figure out).
Since this is a home / small business setup, I'm not interested in anything except the above, so NAT, VPN, other WAN-type connectivity options, BGP routing, etc. are not something I'm looking for. I.e. it's pretty much as bare-bones setup as any other residential customer - I just need to be able to connect to the Internet and have standard security.
Specifically, on the page for the L3 switch I linked to I found:
• RouterOS gateway/firewall/VPN router with passive cooling
So it should support all I need (and more), but then again I'm wary of the marketing and looking for some input about this. Most importantly, whether others have a similar setup (while preferred, absolutely not restricted to the one I linked - just something in the similar price range, e.g. up to $250 or so) and some facts about why the setup is good or not.
To clarify even more, I am leaning towards the L3 switch setup because it's simpler in my opinion. I am trying to figure out whether going with L3 switch has any obvious deficiencies that I would want to avoid, most importantly from security and throughput / latency standpoints.