Have been looking for a fanless, managed 2.5Gbit switch with 8-16 ports for a while now, and i just stumbled upon these switches from Aliexpress, which seem to fit the bill, and are at a very resonalbe price. Just wondering if anyone has bought one these from Aliexpress or other Chinese sellers. It seems to be too cheap to be true.
Cheap 8 * 2.5Gbit Managed Switches
- Thread starter dantkt0
- Start date
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RTL8373 based L2 switch.
Interface is chinese or english. Webdesign is poor but works.
Interface is chinese or english. Webdesign is poor but works.
I was kinda eyeing this one -> https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804550542057.html but the difference between it and the POE version is steep (a hundred and active cooling).
Would really like to get it reviewed, as it kinda checks everything I'm needing as of now.
Would really like to get it reviewed, as it kinda checks everything I'm needing as of now.
I also see a similarly priced Horico model: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005943823096.html
This one from "POEPLUS" is a bit more but has PoE (and is fanless i think): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005965748892.html
Would also love to see some of these small managed 2.5g switches get proper reviews/comparison
This one from "POEPLUS" is a bit more but has PoE (and is fanless i think): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005965748892.html
Would also love to see some of these small managed 2.5g switches get proper reviews/comparison
The models with 8x2.5 ports + 1x sfp+ are using rtl8373 + rtl8224 chips, these have the ethernet phy integrated into the soc. These are the newest ones, and have much lower power draw compared to older chipsets. I've seen two so far that can be managed, the horaco and the xikestor variants. The poeplus/hasivo ones are using older design rtl8371 with external phy chips for each port. Older designs are more power hungry, and even more expensive. So currently there is really no point getting anything else, but rtl8373 based designs, unless you are hell bent on having poe. Probably if you can wait a couple months/half year, there will be poe capable rtl8373 switches available.
Interesting. However, there are many of us who want at least 2 SFP+ ports to connect one device at 10G (NAS, server or primary desktop) in addition to the 10G uplink port. Can the rtl8373 + rtl8224 provide that?
No, it can't. The rtl8372 (same chip family) does 4x2.5g + 2xsfp+ , it looks like this :link . It's also quite cheap. However i haven't seen any manageable device with that chip yet, but it will probably come some time later.
That's more like it.
Like you, I haven't seen any switches using that platform yet though. The fact that the older platform switches usually provides 5x2.5G + 2xSFP+ still don't make them directly comparable though. Regardless, finally seeing more lower price switch options is awesome.
Hard ones, managed, 4 POE + 2 SFP+, obviously the more the better as I can move the tiny's to 2.5G and consolidate switches.
Can probably get away with the small 4 port/2SFP but as I'm traveling to the US to see my family after quite some time (before pandemic), will take the chance to leverage a couple of upgrades for my hobby
I just ordered one of these 5x 2.5GBe + 1x SFP+ managed switches from aliexpress. I figure at the price it's worth a punt given I've found nothing else like it. Not POE though.
(I incorrectly stated this was 2x SFP+, wish it was!)
(I incorrectly stated this was 2x SFP+, wish it was!)
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I just received the Horaco 8x2.5+1xSFP+ version today. I'm thing to use it to get more RJ45 ports on my Mikrotik 309. You can only use 4 RJ45 2.5 or 10Gbps Cu transponders in the 309 (every other cage) due to heat. I will evaluate it as a simple Level 2 switch. If I like it I'll get another for the 61m trunk fiber line to the other wing of my house.
Long time reader, first time poster.
I received the Xike managed switch mentioned in the OP yesterday. Was 82 USD shipped after various Aliexpress deals. The package it arrived in was small enough to fit in a standard US mailbox.
The web UI is horrible to use, it is so slow every click takes 15 to 20 seconds to respond, if it doesn't time out.
There is a web user manual in Chinese that walks through every screen of the web ui configuration in detail with descriptions and can be translated by Google Translate. The device itself comes with basic printed documentation in Chinese only. Web UI on the device is in both Chinese and English.
Config options are extremely basic. No https, no telnet or SSH CLI access, no SNMP, no configuration of link aggregation or spanning tree protocols other than off/on, etc. No apparent way to define a port as a VLAN trunk port? (but maybe I don't know what I'm doing/don't know how to interpret the UI options.)
As a dumb switch it works, I haven't figured out how to do the vlan config properly to say how that works yet.
Settings changes take effect immediately but do not persist after a reboot unless you click save on the tools menu. That way you don't make a mistake that will lock you out.
On the plus side it is cheap, small, silent, and runs cool to the touch.
I received the Xike managed switch mentioned in the OP yesterday. Was 82 USD shipped after various Aliexpress deals. The package it arrived in was small enough to fit in a standard US mailbox.
The web UI is horrible to use, it is so slow every click takes 15 to 20 seconds to respond, if it doesn't time out.
There is a web user manual in Chinese that walks through every screen of the web ui configuration in detail with descriptions and can be translated by Google Translate. The device itself comes with basic printed documentation in Chinese only. Web UI on the device is in both Chinese and English.
Config options are extremely basic. No https, no telnet or SSH CLI access, no SNMP, no configuration of link aggregation or spanning tree protocols other than off/on, etc. No apparent way to define a port as a VLAN trunk port? (but maybe I don't know what I'm doing/don't know how to interpret the UI options.)
As a dumb switch it works, I haven't figured out how to do the vlan config properly to say how that works yet.
Settings changes take effect immediately but do not persist after a reboot unless you click save on the tools menu. That way you don't make a mistake that will lock you out.
On the plus side it is cheap, small, silent, and runs cool to the touch.
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To create a trunk port, you need to:
-Make the port a Tagged member of all the VLANs you want it to carry
-Keep the default values in 802.1Q VID for that port
I didn't find it that slow, the only sluggish part for me is the refresh of the graphical display of the port connection status.
Thanks, I will give that a shot tonight!
Seems to have been something weird going on, it was like it was getting slower with time. Maybe a memory leak somewhere... I was doing a lot of clicking around and turning the various features off and on. But I just did a hard reboot (power off/on) and it is very responsive now. Interestingly, after the reboot I could not login with it set to English, I tried several times. Logging in to Chinese mode worked. After logging in Chinese and logging out, I was able to login in English mode again. The firmware is version 0.3 so I guess there's still some room for improvement.
I have a Kill-a-Watt device somewhere in a moving box, I will try to dig it out and see. Just visually -- the exterior is identical to the non-managed versions of these switches (I have a Mokerlink one from Amazon). Weight is the same. The included power supply is identical also. The device is cool to the touch, even around the vents.
FWIW, I bought this one from Amazon for not much more money really. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BLMPFWD8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
Works really well. I love it.
Works really well. I love it.
It seems there are versions with CLI (and even SSH); can anybody recommend a model which has:
- 4+ 2.5G ports
- 1+ SFP+ port
- no fan
- CLI
I guess asking for SNMP from any of those would be overkill... :-(
Thanks!
- 4+ 2.5G ports
- 1+ SFP+ port
- no fan
- CLI
I guess asking for SNMP from any of those would be overkill... :-(
Thanks!
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