Connecting Fiber Directly to a Managed Switch

[j_h_o]

Thanks, finally someone has answered my original question.

Since I do not yet know how FTTH will be configured, I ask, why would such a Brocade or Microtik switch not be able to handle the routing?
And currently I have a Xiaomi Mi 3G (the original, V2 is horrible, and with a different chipset) running PandoraBox (will be running OpenWrt proper when I'll have the time), for routing (I also have a Netgear DM200 running OpenWrt and a newer modem firmware for vectoring, however that is for xDSL (VDSL2 here)), however I am currently trying to get either a Linksys Wrt32X or (preferably) the Wrt3200ACM, 2nd hand, so routing shouldn't be a problem.

You're using these devices for NAT, I assume as all of your internal devices won't be internet-accessible at least on IPv4. So you don't just need routing, right?

Anyway, once you have a switch (media converter, or otherwise) that accepts the SFP, you can VLAN the WAN connection and handle the v4 NAT with a separate device, and it doesn't need an SFP port, just VLAN support. Or you could just set up access ports on the switch and connect 2 cables to the NAT/firewall to the WAN and LAN ports, respectively.

 

[robo_geek_99]

the PoE version of the fcx is one of the loudest pieces of equipment I've ever heard and that's the model you found ( FCX648S-HPOE ) - fans are not moddable. the non-poe version is quiet

Yup, it sounds like a leaf blower in my server cabinet.

 

[EngChiSTH]

Thanks, finally someone has answered my original question.

Since I do not yet know how FTTH will be configured, I ask, why would such a Brocade or Microtik switch not be able to handle the routing?
And currently I have a Xiaomi Mi 3G (the original, V2 is horrible, and with a different chipset) running PandoraBox (will be running OpenWrt proper when I'll have the time), for routing (I also have a Netgear DM200 running OpenWrt and a newer modem firmware for vectoring, however that is for xDSL (VDSL2 here)), however I am currently trying to get either a Linksys Wrt32X or (preferably) the Wrt3200ACM, 2nd hand, so routing shouldn't be a problem.

Someone smart than me (on this) may already responded - I never tried to feed fiber into Brocade switch, VLAN play out to routing device and back, type of design.

Instead, I am looking at this pretty simple - there are few core functions that network need , 'router' (translate IPs), 'firewall' (apply filtering rules and block ports), switch (convert hardware MACs <-> IPs). These functions could be played by single device, multiple devices, redundant devices, etc. i.e. 'router'+ 'firewall' could be single device or multiple devices , you can get 'all in one do nothing well' device which is ok for typical consumer , etc).

my recommendation is that before you buy anything you take out a piece of paper and draw how you want your network to work. who is landing external connection(s) , who is routing, where is internal IP assignment (DHCP) coming from , if where firewall and if yes who is acting as such, etc. then patch hardware to needs..

my personal current implementation is
WAN ->mikrotik hex3 (router/firewall) -> brocade 6450-24 (switch) -> win 2016 domain controller (DHCP + HyperV host)
HyperV
-> Unifi controller VM (debian no gui install )
-> PiHole DNS filtering (domain controller relays to PiHole which applies the filtering rules).

if something fails or no longer meets capability/capacity demands, I swap that specific device. If I get fiber to the house (which is not available in my area) and little mikrotik device would not handle it I would simply upgrade it . in terms of ports hex S would take SFP 1GB in, RB4011 would handle SFP+ .

 

[moriel5]

@fohdeesha @j_h_o @robo_geek_99 @EngChiSTH I'm sorry I wasn't online at STH for so long (I have been in other places, including the homelab subreddit).

Thank you everyone for your input, thankfully since then I have a better idea of how things will be routed (such as via a home server, which will feed the switch).

The FCX648-HPOE certainly sounds like a leaf blower, however that is not too loud for me (despite the fact that I generally listen to music at volumes that others find hard to make out anything).
Modding the PSU's with quiter fans is still a project I want to undertake, however that will have to wait for the future (I have a rough idea of how to do it, however with no experience in the field, it will have to wait).

A wired-only Mikrotik router would be absolutely awesome for me, however at the moment it is out of my price bracket (I do not currently have a fixed job) (the Hex S is of particular interest to me).