Cheapest 25/100GbE switch options?

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mb300sd

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Aug 1, 2016
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Starting to hit the limits of 10GbE here, any cheap 25/100Gb options out there?

Already picked up some cheap Dell ConnectX-4 cards that got cross flashed.
 

psannz

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Jun 15, 2016
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You might want to take a look at the Dell Z9100 Switch series.
32 100G QSFP28 Ports used for <5k € is pretty nice considering it‘s „current“ tech.
 

tuatara

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Mar 2, 2016
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Nothing resembling the deals on older 10/40/100 GbE enterprise gear or newer, consumer oriented 1/10 GbE stuff.

I recently bought a new Mellanox SN2010 half-width switch with 18x 10/25 GbE + 4x 10/25/40/50/100 GbE. It retails for about $5,200, e.g., Newegg, depending on what OS it runs. Note, it's running in my home but it's not for a "homelab" and I didn't pay that price.

How many ports are you looking for? Have you considered 40 GbE - vastly cheaper both for the switches and adapters.
 

mb300sd

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Mainly targeting 25GbE because I don't want to tear my house apart running fiber again, did it during a renovation and absolutely nothing is accessible. Looking back it probably would have been smart to pull MPO instead of LC, but what's done is done. Minimum requirements are 1 QSFP28, 4 SFP28 and 4 SFP+.
 

tuatara

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Mar 2, 2016
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Ahh, that complicates things. You can get transceivers for 40 Gb over MMF but they're expensive.

Requiring QSFP28 makes it harder too, most 10 Gb switches have 4x40 Gb uplinks.

Is something like this in your budget?
$3450 or best offer. 2 available, none sold so could try a low ball offer.
28 x SFP+
2x QSFP28 ==> 1x QSFP28 + 4x SFP28 (*assuming* they can be used as regular ports and they support a x4 breakout).

Warning, it'll be very noisy!
 

mb300sd

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Didn't know that 40Gb was possible over the existing fiber. Already running some 40Gb gear, so those transceivers are perfect. Actually gets me more bandwidth than the 25Gb upstairs, and the switch and my VM/storage server are in the same room so I'm sure I can get creative with saturating it with cheap gear in there. Thanks!
 
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maze

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Apr 27, 2013
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Just keep in mind that 40g is prolly just 4x10g flows..

Did you check out fs.com gear? - pretty damn cheap for the port speeds..
 

mb300sd

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As far as I am aware, 40GbE is a true 40GB link between the switch and server, while its split into 4x 10Gb on the fiber, it's not link aggregation in the traditional sense. Been on fs.com to look for transceivers, but can get them cheaper used.
 
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tuatara

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Standard 40Gb is 4 simplex 10 Gbps links, so 8 fibers total and generally using 12-fiber MPO. The rarer BiDi transceivers use duplex 20 Gbps on MMF. But in both cases it's the hardware level. Pretty pictures here.
 

warlord1312

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Sep 17, 2015
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Nothing resembling the deals on older 10/40/100 GbE enterprise gear or newer, consumer oriented 1/10 GbE stuff.

I recently bought a new Mellanox SN2010 half-width switch with 18x 10/25 GbE + 4x 10/25/40/50/100 GbE. It retails for about $5,200, e.g., Newegg, depending on what OS it runs. Note, it's running in my home but it's not for a "homelab" and I didn't pay that price.

How many ports are you looking for? Have you considered 40 GbE - vastly cheaper both for the switches and adapters.
How loud is this switch would you say? Do you find it acceptable?
 

tuatara

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Fairly loud. It’s got a 4x 40mm fan wall between the mainboard and power supplies. I have mine in the garage which is okay, I definitely wouldn’t want it in the same room.

You can adjust the fan profile a bit, at least under Cumulus, but it’s overridden by the ASIC at the bottom end.

I’m actually experimenting with changing the fan profile externally and then feeding back a fake tach signal to keep it happy.
 
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warlord1312

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Sep 17, 2015
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Hm sounds like it may be too loud for use in my network as I would prefer something quieter. Can you compare it's noise to some other piece of equipment by any chance?
 
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Rand__

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The sn2100 is loud? Darn - I had hoped it would be kind of similar to the SX6012...

I have an S6100 (with a single module) and some Celestica DX10 switches atm and noise wise Id say they are like any server when they settled.
nothing to sit next to it, but not deafening either.
Might differ under load, mine only run while testing things at this time
 

warlord1312

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Did you mean SN2100 because we're talking about the SN2010 which is almost half the power consumption of the SN2100. I would imagine the SN2100 is even louder then.
 

Cixelyn

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FWIW, for a short period of time I had the SN2100 next to my desk while doing some debugging work -- it's hella loud, especially on boot. Even once the fans spin down, I would not recommend having it nearby or in a quiet location. Unplugged it due to fears of long-term hearing loss haha.

Have not interacted with the sister SN2010, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was similarly loud -- the two switches are the same generation and share the same chassis/mounting design, so it's possible the fan configurations are similar.
 

Rand__

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Did you mean SN2100 because we're talking about the SN2010 which is almost half the power consumption of the SN2100. I would imagine the SN2100 is even louder then.
Ah right, mixed those up, thanks.

Not concerned with startup noise to be honest since that will not happen so often for me.
Will see, it will be more a matter of price for getting one than noise it makes :)

But to post on topic some more - at this time there are 100G 32p switches on ebay every now and then with Onie (thus running ONL or SoNIC) usually between one and two grand.
 

kiteboarder

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Just giving a data point for those that might be interested - the cisco BiDi transceivers are usually about $60 - $70 used on ebay.