Well things are starting to progress, in the last week I have picked up an Cisco 3750 24 port switch. The main purpose for this device will be to run my server and also my NAS device.
It has been a learning curve, I initially wiped the config that was already on it. This sounds straight forward but it had some challenges, first was getting into the switch via ubuntu and the console cable along with getting the port settings correct for putty. After much struggle and frustration I was able to gain access to the switch and wipe the config and also perform an IOS update on the device.
My next challenge is now to make a configuration for it, you might say easy but this is the first time for me configuring an enterprise level switch.
Check back here for my progress.