This article will explain how to setup your switch device (XGS1210-12, XGS1250-12, GS1200-5(HPv2), GS1200-8(HPv2)) and configure a new IP address, DHCP, VLAN configuration, Link aggregation, Firmware upgrade via ZON & Web GUI as well as how to reach the device. This article will also show overheat protection (yellow exclamation mark), how to reset your switch if something goes wrong.

NOTE! Please upgrade the firmware to the latest version due to previous firmware issues on these models. Navigate to firmware upgrade in this article to see how.

Table of Content

1) Basic Setup

1.1 Login to the device

1.2 Change IP Address

2) VLAN configuration

2.1 VLAN Configuration Result

3) Link Aggregation / Load Balancing

4) Firmware Upgrade

4.1 Using ZON utility

4.2 Using Web GUI

5) Troubleshooting

5.1 Reset the switch

5.2 Auto-Negotiation - Link is only 100 Mbit/s

5.3 Broadcast Storm & Loop issues

5.4 Overheat protection (Only XGS1250)

1) Basic Setup

1.1 Login to the device

Note that the XGS1200-series are configured with static IP. So set your PC to static IP on the 192.168.1.0/24 range (for example 192.168.1.100) and then go to http://192.168.1.3 and enter the password 1234.

If your having problems, please check out this article on how to reach your device's Web GUI:

1) Accessing your router via Web GUI

2) Assign a Static IP to a Windows PC

1.2 Change IP Address

When you first login to the switch you will be prompted to change the IP address of the switch.

Enable DHCP on the switch or keep it disabled and change the static IP of the device. 

You can also navigate to "Management" on your switch GUI to change the IP address.

2) VLAN configuration

If you are unsure what to configure on the VLAN section, please read more about VLANs here.

2.1 How VLAN works

To get a basic understanding of VLANs and making a basic VLAN configuration working, you need to remember a few points: 

1. You can only have 1 untagged membership per port

2. Untagged membership = PVID

2. Everything else should be tagged

3. Almost all computers cannot handled tagged traffic so it needs have a untagged VLAN on the port where you connect a PC

4. In some rare cases, these rules do not apply

2.2 Configure VLANs

To configure the VLAN, please choose the appropriate PVID of that port (usually management VLAN 1).

Then to create a new VLAN, please press the "Create new VLAN" button below.

Then select the VLAN ID and mark the ports you want the new VLAN on. Usually, you will tag the new VLAN member because PVID 1 is the "Untag Egress Member". Make sure to mark VLAN2 as orange. Then hit "Apply".

2.3 VLAN Configuration Result

Note! That usually, you can only use 1 untagged membership per port. We recommend you to configure VLAN 2 as a "Tag Egress Member" (select orange membership) and not untagged in this scenario.

3) Link Aggregation / Load Balancing

Link Aggregation (LAG) is taking two ports and combining /grouping these into one to get higher capacity (speed or reliability) on the link. Read more here.

The link aggregation configuration on these switches are very easy to configure, but also not customizable.

You have four options:

- Link aggregation Port 1,2,3 and 4

- Link aggregation port 5 and 6

- Link aggregation port 7 and 8 and/or;

- Link aggregation port 9 and 10

3.1 LAG Abbreviations 

MAC SA - Distribute traffic based on packet's source MAC address

MAC DA - Distribute traffic based on packet's destination MAC address

MAC SA & DA - Distribute traffic based on a combination of a packet's source and destination MAC address

4) Firmware Upgrade

This section will show you how to firmware upgrade your device to the latest device software. 

4.1 Using ZON utility

Download Zyxel One Network Utility (ZON) and install it.

Select (mark) your device and then click on Firmware upgrade to upgrade the firmware on the selected device (7).

4.2 Using Web GUI

First download the latest firmware on https://download.zyxel.com, or go directly to the download page for your device here:

GS1200-8HPv2 - Download Page

XGS1250 - Download Page

XGS1210 - Download Page

Download the firmware and save it to your PC. Make sure to unzip the file you downloaded before proceeding.

Next, login to your switch (if you're having problems, click here) navigate to Management -> Firmware Upgrade

Choose your unzipped firmware file by clicking the "Path" button and after you've selected the firmware, click upgrade.

5) Troubleshooting

5.1 Reset the switch

If you're experiencing problems with your switch, it is a very good idea to reset your switch to factory default. To reset this switch, power on the device and then hold the RESET button for 15 seconds located to the bottom left of the hardware and then release it.

5.2 Auto-Negotiation - Link is only 100 Mbit/s

By default, the switch should auto-negotiate 1000 mbit/s (1 gbit) on the port with the device connected to that port, however in some cases, that might not be successful and you'll only see 100 mbit/s on a port. 

Possible solutions is to;

a) Exchange the cable

Often, bad cables connected to the switch is often the main reason why the link is only 100 mbit/s. And if you would try to force the 1000 mbit/s on the switch, it will probably put "link down". Therefore, the switch cannot set the speed statically to 1 gbit/s to force the port to negotiate because the link will only go down.

b) Try another port

Next solution is to change the port to see if all ports behave the same.

c) Try another device with the same port and same cable

This will determine if there is something wrong with the network card of the device connected to the switch.

5.3 Broadcast Storm & Loop issues

If you suspect that you have Broadcast/Multicast storms in your network and on the switch, you might enable "Broadcast Storm Control" and set it to 100 pps (packets per second) as well as disable "Loop Prevention" to see if anything changes.

5.4 Overheat protection (Only XGS1250)

If the 10 gigabit ports overheats for too long, they will automatically decrease the port speed to 1 gbit for protection. You will see a little yellow exclamation mark icon next to its link status on the system screen. Make sure the environment is not exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.

Click on the exclamation mark to return to 10 gbit speed again on the 10 gbit port.