Help with 10Gb Mac-to-NAS connection

[azjet77]

Current situation:

                            │
┌───────┐                   │
│Macbook├─────┐             │
│Pro    │     │             │
└───────┘    ┌┴─────────┐   │ Cat5e ┌──────────┐    ┌──────┐
             │1Gb switch├───┼───────┤1Gb switch├────┤Router│
┌───────┐    └┬─────────┘   │       └──────────┘    └──────┘
│Game PC│     │             │
│       ├─────┘             │
└───────┘                   │
                          wall

I am building a new rack-mounted NAS which will have a 10Gb network controller. There will be a Unifi switch with 2 SFP+ ports in the garage too. I'm also picking up a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 10Gb Ethernet (RJ-45) to serve as my main desktop machine in the office.

Questions:

• What's the best way for me to connect at least the Mini to the NAS over a 10Gb link?
• Is Cat5e going to be able to handle 10Gb over maybe 30ft distance? Or should I run a new Cat6 cable or maybe even fiber?
• Could you suggest a 10Gb capable switch with both SFP+ and RJ-45 ports? I need at most 2x SFP+, but at least 4x 1Gb RJ-45 ports to replace the current office switch.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[BlueFox]

Cat5e works just fine at that distance for 10GbE. No need to run new cable.

 

[nexox]

A nice cheap, quiet option for a dual SFP+ switch is the Mikrotik CSS-610-8G-2S+, around $100, has a simple web interface to configure basic layer 2 features, worked for me until I needed more SFP+ ports.

 

[azjet77]

A nice cheap, quiet option for a dual SFP+ switch is the Mikrotik CSS-610-8G-2S+, around $100, has a simple web interface to configure basic layer 2 features, worked for me until I needed more SFP+ ports.

That looks great. So if I plug Mac Mini into one SFP+ port (with a module) and the other devices into the 1Gb ports, then use the second SFP+ port to connect to the SFP+ port on my Unifi switch it should work? Will there be issues with mixing 1Gb/10Gb traffic over the same link?

 

[nexox]

That should work just fine, it's what I did with my CSS610 and I still do the same with a collection of other Mikrotik switches.

 

[azjet77]

Great. Any advice on which SFP+/RJ45 modules to get?

 

[nexox]

I have used several brands, they're mostly just about the same thing, though the Mikrotik modules will properly support 2.5GbE in a Mikrotik switch (with recent enough firmware,) in case you need that in the future, and the modules which specify that they'll run over 80m of CAT6 use a little less power than the 30m modules, which might be nice because they're all pretty awful at dissipating heat.