Looking for a small/compact/home 10GbE L3 switch

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Aug 17, 2021
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Dear STH,
We are in the process of several significant home-hardware/home-network upgrades and I am having the darnedest time finding a top-level or home-core 10GbE, Layer 3 switch.

Quick and easy:
Does Cisco (or anyone) sell a Layer 3 switch that is essentially identical to the QNAP QSW-M1208-8C in size and number of 10GbE/SFP+ ports? I need a small footprint like that QNAP switch. (this will not be racked)

Non-negotiable:
Size: 11-15 inches wide, no more than 10-ish inches deep.
Absolutely need 2x rj45 10GbE interfaces
Absolutely need 4x SFP+ interfaces
Layer 3

Any suggestions or ideas? I'm not married to Cisco but I do have a Cisco background and all my other stuff is Cisco. This is for a top level or core switch in a home, not racked. Happy to answer questions regarding the use case, etc. Budget: Hopefully around what that QNAP switch costs. I like the Dell X4012 but no rj45 ports. I love the Netgear M4300 but that's too deep. I like the Cisco Catalyst 3560CX-8XPD-S but it's too scattered and "edge". I need more 10GbE and if it has 2.5GbE, I want it to go all the way up to 10GbE. I like the Cisco SG350X-8PMD too, but I'm not paying $1,000 for a 2.5GbE switch.

Thanks!
 
Aug 17, 2021
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Thanks for the replies. Yes, I have seen STH/Patrick's review of the mikrotik crs309. I was hoping for something with a little more horsepower and 2x rj45 ports however I'll take a look at the switch again.

I'm starting to think I should consider L2 switching and beefing up the hardware in a new pfsense build...
 
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RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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Scarlet

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Jul 29, 2019
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Maybe think about on or more CRS305, one of the very few editors choice devices at STH: https://www.servethehome.com/mikrotik-crs305-1g-4sin-review-4-port-must-have-10gbe-switch/ - this switch always floats at the back of my mind in case I need more L2 10g ports. You can use RJ45 10G SFP+ Modules instead of looking for a switch with builtin RJ45 Ports, STH has a number of different brand modules reviewed.

I would not expect line rate L3 in any miniature (i.e. not 24" rackmounted) switch. Do you actually need 10gbe L3 at home?

I read that you want a max 15" width switch, but maybe you can make 24" equipment work for you? If so, check out the Brocade megathread that has multiple options with enough SFP+ Ports and full line rate L3.
 

jjacobs

Member
Dec 25, 2020
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Cisco CBS350-8MGP-2X or CBS350-8MP-2X. Fit's your size requirements not your 4 SFP+ requirement.

Cisco CBS350-24MGP-4X. Doesn't meet your size requirement.

Also, Small Business not ios software but for home...

--

Ruckus ICX 7150-C10ZP, still only 2 SFP+.

--

Your right, frustratingly hard to find everything you specified. Maybe a little carpentry to allow a bigger switch? If you really are limited to a very small space do you have airflow/ventilation issues?
 
Last edited:

zack$

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Aug 16, 2018
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For what it is worth, Mikrotik is working on enabling L3 on that switch with RouterOS 7.
The downside is that, it is not clear when that will be released and how well it will actually work.
So yeah... definitely don't buy into it right now for L3.
It's already in beta for all crs3xx since May, 2021 if you want to test: MikroTik

It's also been in beta for the popular crs317 since June, 2020: MikroTik

We can definitely expect this in a stable release soon.
 

zack$

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Aug 16, 2018
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Thanks for the replies. Yes, I have seen STH/Patrick's review of the mikrotik crs309. I was hoping for something with a little more horsepower and 2x rj45 ports however I'll take a look at the switch again.

I'm starting to think I should consider L2 switching and beefing up the hardware in a new pfsense build...
This is the way.
 

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
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It's already in beta for all crs3xx since May, 2021 if you want to test: MikroTik

It's also been in beta for the popular crs317 since June, 2020: MikroTik

We can definitely expect this in a stable release soon.
I strongly disagree (but don't take it as me saying it is not cool that they are working on it :)).

While RouterOS 7(.1) is labeled as beta, I believe it is fair to consider it as an alpha release.
They are still adding new functionality (for instance I believe L3 is not considered fully features as for one it does not support IPv6).

My hope is that it will be ready in about a years time, but I am also not holding my breath.

In any case, and perhaps I am just being pessimistic, I believe it is not wise to buy into something based solely on a promise to support some functionality. Much too often, this new functionality never materializes or is unusable for some reason.
 
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jjacobs

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Dec 25, 2020
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I strongly disagree (but don't take it as me saying it is not cool that they are working on it :)).

While RouterOS 7(.1) is labeled as beta, I believe it is fair to consider it as an alpha release.
They are still adding new functionality (for instance I believe L3 is not considered fully features as for one it does not support IPv6).

My hope is that it will be ready in about a years time, but I am also not holding my breath.

In any case, and perhaps I am just being pessimistic, I believe it is not wise to buy into something based solely on a promise to support some functionality. Much too often, this new functionality never materializes or is unusable for some reason.
Agreed. Ubiquiti... Not saying MicroTik is that bad but still...
 
Aug 17, 2021
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Thanks all for the replies.
Your right, frustratingly hard to find everything you specified. Maybe a little carpentry to allow a bigger switch? If you really are limited to a very small space do you have airflow/ventilation issues?
It's just a house... It shouldn't be this hard.

I feel like I'm caught in this spot between trying to shoehorn a enterprise topology into the house, and at the other extreme, not being a hack homeowner with a bunch of wires plugged into a hub (hub, not switch). Hopefully the following will help describe the situation/use case.

The reason why the switch location and parameters are so specific is easy: She'll kill me if I tear apart the house again. About six years ago we wired and rewired the house. Well, I did the wiring and she did the supervising. I put all the low voltage in smurf tubes and everything is home runs that terminate back to a patch panel in our front-hall coat closet. At this point it is what it is. Six years ago when I wired the house I never thought that we would outgrow a legit gigabit network so quickly.

I agree that this is frustrating but I do sincerely appreciate the responses and comments. I don't get it: It really shouldn't be this hard. It's just a house with 4x Unifi AP's, 6x PoE IP cameras and a 25U rack with infiniband. Looking to integrate 10GbE throughout the home network is based on the boss authorizing the purchase of new hardware so we can ditch the 25U rack and consolidate down to ESXi hosts on modern hardware. I'm shocked at how expensive the switches are. $2,000 seems nuts but considering that the CBS350-8MGP-2X, CBS350-24MGP-4X and CBS350-48NGP-4X are all the same physical size (17"x10"), I might as well look at the CBS350-48NGP-4X because it would handle everything in the whole house on that one single switch.

I just wish that this wasn't going to cost $2k for a switch. At this point it's looking like we are literally going to be purchasing all entirely brand-new hardware for our homelab.

Oh: PfSense. Is there anything available that is similar to the Odroid H2+ board? Or something that size with two 10GbE rj45 interfaces and two SFP+ interfaces? Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again for the feedback and replies.
 

jjacobs

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Dec 25, 2020
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I'm shocked at how expensive the switches are.
Darn right.

I was planning an upgrade cycle to multi-gigabit in anticipation of moving to WiFi 6E access points when they become available. Settled on Ruckus/Brocade. Then reality settled in. Even the "entry level", 7150 series, are crazy expensive new and FleaBay switches pulled out of some office are sketchy. Just because some led's light up doesn't equate to "tested and working"... I enjoy the planning and building, after which I want stuff to just work.

In the end we did nothing. The wife was happy. She's always tolerant of my spending on the home network and often actively supportive. She even helped my repair an old plaster on lath wall I dug into a while back. All in, it just wasn't worth the stress. Maybe next year.
 

Nnyan

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Mar 5, 2012
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It's this hard b/c you have some very specific requirements that often do not go hand in hand. I think you need to be realistic about what you are going to find in your budget. Do you really need full L3? Even if it's not rack mounted can you do a full size switch? Do you need six 10Gbe ports and do they need to be in the 4-2 mix of RG45/SFP+?

You may be better off getting two small switches that meet your needs instead of trying to find a unicorn. I have the SG350-8PD (homelab program at a fantastic discount) and it's really great. I wish the offer had been available on a bigger switch then I could have retired my 48 port.
 

RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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I strongly disagree (but don't take it as me saying it is not cool that they are working on it :)).

.....
I may have to eat my words.
Not too long ago, Mikrotik released the first RC of 7.1.
Sure, by judging the discussion on their forum, it looks like there are still many issues to resolve (and I am not sure what they intend to do for L3 and IPv6, will it be in the final release or release further out?), but it should mean that the final release is not too far out in the future.
 
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ectoplasmosis

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Jul 28, 2021
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I’ve been using Mikrotik RouterOS 7.1 with L3 hardware offloading on a mix of CRS317, CRS326 and CRS309 units for a while now, and unless you really need IPv6 or much beyond basic L3 inter-VLAN routing, it’s been ‘production-ready’ for a while.

The CRS317 in particular is an incredible device; 16 ports of 10G SFP+ with L3 in hardware, measly power consumption and mostly-passive cooling in a short-depth chassis for ~£250 new is a bonkers deal. Just add a couple of cheap 10GbaseT transceivers if you really need copper multigig.
 
Aug 17, 2021
35
7
8
It's this hard b/c you have some very specific requirements that often do not go hand in hand. I think you need to be realistic about what you are going to find in your budget. Do you really need full L3? Even if it's not rack mounted can you do a full size switch? Do you need six 10Gbe ports and do they need to be in the 4-2 mix of RG45/SFP+?

You may be better off getting two small switches that meet your needs instead of trying to find a unicorn. I have the SG350-8PD (homelab program at a fantastic discount) and it's really great. I wish the offer had been available on a bigger switch then I could have retired my 48 port.
Thanks and thanks everyone else for the replies. I wanted L3 for the switching speeds. I have been running pfsense as a router-on-a-stick configuration for a few years and it's been wonderful. I've worked from home for many years and having a L3 core switch with a gigabit network has been great. It's only the last few years with the addition of some IP security cameras that I've really started to notice the 2x 1GbE LACP link at the switch <==> pfSense (traffic passing through pfsense packet filtering) really start to bog down. Never in a million years did I ever (ever ever ever) think I would be considering a L3 10GbE network in my home.

My old pfSense HW (still running) is a Celeron 1037u (dual-core @ 1.8ghz) with 8gb ddr3 (and no AES-NI). I ended up buying a Lenovo M720q Tiny with an i5-8400T cpu in it (6-core @ 1.7ghz, turbo to 3.3ghz). I also bought a dual 10GbE sfp+ NIC for it and have ordered a 3d printed pcie slot adapter plate for the network card. I also bought a L2 switch, the QNAP QSW-M408S. We'll see. The switch was $200 and I'm hoping that the i5-8400T CPU behind pfSense will get me decent routing speeds for the short-term.

The Cisco CBS350-24MGP-4X is the perfect switch for what I need (want) but at $1,700 I figured I would try the $200 QNAP switch first. Worst case I know I can repurpose the QNAP switch so if I'm not happy routing through pfSense and using the QNAP L2 switch, I'll suck it up and buy the Cisco hardware I like. I'm also building a new NAS and updating some old (xeon x5600 cpus) ESXi hosts which means the bank account can only take so much :)

Thanks again for all of the comments and help.
 
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edge

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Apr 22, 2013
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"It's just a house...."

IOT is changing that.

My secure home network (kids desktops, tablets for everyone, phones, ...) = vlan 1. My business lab = vlan 2. My DMZ = vlan 3, wife's business and DMZ - vlan 4, vlan 5. All the above are multifactor secure with device certificates. Vlan 6 is dumb devices like roku, lg appliances and dumb ass TVs that want constant firmware updates, that don't support certificate authentication. Of course, you add the security system hub, then there is the management network.

Simpler pre covid and work from home, but it's just a house. Freakin PITA.
 
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