Any considerations on a multi-gigabit (1, 2.5, 5, 10) switch?

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randman

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May 3, 2020
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I just ordered one MikroTik S+RJ10. MikroTik changed their web page to officially state that they support 2.5/5.0/10 Gig (which STH's review already confirmed with their testing even before MikroTik officially started saying that they support multi-gigabit speeds).

I plan to use the S+RJ10 to connect my MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN switch in the basement to a future Multi-gigabit switch. I'm thinking of getting the Netgear XS505M switch (4 multi-gigabit ports and 1 SFP+). It's unmanaged, but it should hold me over for a while (and hopefully a good long time until prices come down for multi-gigabit switches). But if I want to do more rooms/devices, those adapters start adding up.

Note that it sounds like those adapters get quite hot, so one has to be careful putting a lot of them in one switch. MikroTik's guidelines suggest not putting them right next to each other: S+RJ10 general guidance - MikroTik Wiki.
 

ERDrPC

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Aug 14, 2012
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What about trying to power a new AP? The new ruckus AP r850 takes 5GbE but uPOE is required? Any reasonable switches? Need three uPOE ports for 3 x AP
 

hmw

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Apr 29, 2019
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Have you looked at the Netgear MS510TX - I have one and it has 4 x 1G, 2 x 2.5G, 2 x 5G and 2 x 10G (one of the 10G is a SFP). It's quasi layer-3 and silent in terms of cooling. Best of all, the switch is often on sale or eligible for Netgear Promos'. I got mine for $199 (although I feel now I should have gotten the PoE version - it has PoE on the 2.5G and the 5G ports! )
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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This is on my list for possible switches to use in an outlier room but not in my central closet. I believe that my CAT6 runs are short enough that I can get 10GbE out of them or at at least 5GbE, so I’d prefer switches with more 10GbE capable ports before considering this particular switch.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Zyxel came out with a couple of new multi-gigabit switches:


The XS1930-10 seems interesting - it's a managed switch, says it has Layer 3 static route functionality, and has 8 Multi-Gigabit and 2 SFP+ ports for an MSRP price of $499 (so, I'd hope actual prices would be lower).

One thing that concerns me though is this from its technical specs:

Acoustic noise (min/max, dBA): 28/50

I'm fine with 28 (and even in the 30s), but 50 sounds quite loud!?
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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The XS1930-10 seems interesting - it's a managed switch, says it has Layer 3 static route functionality, and has 8 Multi-Gigabit and 2 SFP+ ports for an MSRP price of $499 (so, I'd hope actual prices would be lower).
It looks like MSRP is actually $700 with "street" price offered by Xyxel's captive retail channel at $499 - so it looks like that's what they are targeting.
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Zyxel came out with a couple of new multi-gigabit switches:


The XS1930-10 seems interesting - it's a managed switch, says it has Layer 3 static route functionality, and has 8 Multi-Gigabit and 2 SFP+ ports for an MSRP price of $499 (so, I'd hope actual prices would be lower).

One thing that concerns me though is this from its technical specs:

Acoustic noise (min/max, dBA): 28/50

I'm fine with 28 (and even in the 30s), but 50 sounds quite loud!?
So I couldn’t resist and pulled the trigger on one of these. To my huge surprise, it showed up this morning (ordered yesterday afternoon).

Super easy to do basic setup. One note: with two ports active at 10Gbe it is pretty much dead silent. Fan is running slow but I cannot hear it sitting 3 feet from my on my desk in a relatively quiet room.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Super easy to do basic setup. One note: with two ports active at 10Gbe it is pretty much dead silent. Fan is running slow but I cannot hear it sitting 3 feet from my on my desk in a relatively quiet room.
Well, that's encouraging. In the short term, I'll only be using 3 10GbE ports. So, seems fan noise will be fine. I hope to use this in an equipment closet, which stays relatively cool throughout the year (70 degrees F, generally), so maybe that will help keep the fan down. But, longer term, I may want to use more ports (but then, maybe there will be a larger and cheaper selection of switches). The closet is in a guest room, so, a loud fan may or may not be good, depending on how much we like the guest :).
 

madbrain

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Jan 5, 2019
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Well, that's encouraging. In the short term, I'll only be using 3 10GbE ports. So, seems fan noise will be fine. I hope to use this in an equipment closet, which stays relatively cool throughout the year (70 degrees F, generally), so maybe that will help keep the fan down. But, longer term, I may want to use more ports (but then, maybe there will be a larger and cheaper selection of switches). The closet is in a guest room, so, a loud fan may or may not be good, depending on how much we like the guest :).
Did you get the POE or non POE version ? Does it support jumbo frames ? I see no mention of it in the manual.
 

PigLover

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Non-POE version (1930-10). It definitely supports jumbo frames. Its a rather full function managed switch.
 

madbrain

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Non-POE version (1930-10). It definitely supports jumbo frames. Its a rather full function managed switch.
Great. Please let us know if you ever test a 2.5 Gbps device.

I bought a cheap USB 3.0 2.5GBASE-T NIC . Got it this week-end.

It has not played well at all with my Trendnet TEG-7080ES. Works fine with my unmanaged Netgear GS110MX switch. Also works fine directly connected to an Aquantia AQN-107 NIC.

Gory details here :
 

PigLover

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Great. Please let us know if you ever test a 2.5 Gbps device.
Turns out I tested with 2.5g today. Tested connections from a Odroid-H2+ (RTL8125B nics) and using a Syba dual-port PCIe x1 (with dual RTL8125 using a little Aquinta PCIe mux).

Both work flawlessly. Connected up at 2.5g and all is well. Really liking this switch.

Do note that the cable creations USB3.0 2.5g adapter uses the RTL8156 USB NICs. These have been reported to be very flakey, almost unusable in most cases. Realtek has announced a replacement part (RTL8156B) to fix the problems. But AFAIK there are no current products in the wild using this NIC.
 

madbrain

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Jan 5, 2019
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Turns out I tested with 2.5g today. Tested connections from a Odroid-H2+ (RTL8125B nics) and using a Syba dual-port PCIe x1 (with dual RTL8125 using a little Aquinta PCIe mux).

Both work flawlessly. Connected up at 2.5g and all is well. Really liking this switch.

Do note that the cable creations USB3.0 2.5g adapter uses the RTL8156 USB NICs. These have been reported to be very flakey, almost unusable in most cases. Realtek has announced a replacement part (RTL8156B) to fix the problems. But AFAIK there are no current products in the wild using this NIC.
Thanks ! Great to hear that the Odroid H2+ works for you. I was thinking about acquiring one, in fact.

I opened a case with Trendnet on monday about the issue with the Realtek.

I also emailed Cable creation support, and Realtek US support. Neither have responded, so far. I had no idea about the RTL8156 being faulty, and there being a replacement for it. How did you hear about it ? AFAIK, the RTL8156 is the USB version, and RTL8125 is the PCIe version. Not sure how else they differ. Perhaps the "B" in the RTL8125B indicates the patched version also. Have you heard of issues with the original RTL8125 too ?

Also, where did you buy your Zyxel XS1930-10 switch ? It appears to be unavailable on the US Amazon site. The XS1930-12HP is listed.
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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Got it here: Zyxel XS1930-10 | ZyxelGuard.com

There are multiple reports of issues with the RTL8156. Easy to Google. IIRC, general instability, segment retries, disconnects. Not good. RTL8156B is expected to fix.

The H2+ has the RTL8125B. The Syba card has the original RTL8125. Both appear to work fine.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Did you get the POE or non POE version ? Does it support jumbo frames ? I see no mention of it in the manual.
I got then non POE version. In the future if I need fast ports for Wifi 6, chances are there will be other switches in my edge locations that may be more appropriate to get. Or the WiFi APs may be near power outlets precluding the need for POE. Besides the POE unit Is about double the price of The non-POE Version
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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I ordered the XS1930-10 switch last yesterday from Provantage. It’s scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I probably Paid a couple of bucks less than PigLover but he got his the next day while I have to wait two days.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Next question is does anyone have any Multi-gigabit NIC recommendations? I read that Aquantia has their AQN-107 but I don’t see it at Amazon. They got bought by Marvell so not sure how that affects availability. I’d be interested in multi-gigabit NICs for Windows 10, And Ubuntu
 

hmw

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Apr 29, 2019
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Next question is does anyone have any Multi-gigabit NIC recommendations? I read that Aquantia has their AQN-107 but I don’t see it at Amazon. They got bought by Marvell so not sure how that affects availability. I’d be interested in multi-gigabit NICs for Windows 10, And Ubuntu
You won't see Aquantia directly on Amazon. What you can do is get either the Thunderbolt 3 adapters from OWC & Sonnet
OWCTB3ADP10GBE
SOLO10G-TB3

Or get the PCIe cards from Asus & QNAP:
ASUS-XG-C100C
QNAP-QXG-10G1T