Looking for layer3 switch / router, need advice. Found need additional advice.

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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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Good day all,

Recently i have found that my ER-12 is not what i thought it to be.
Since i'm using it as my router, with a gigabit connection to/from my ISP (via SFP) and internal Vlan routing, i have noticed that its capacity seems to cap at / around 800mb/ps for routing between my Vlan's. This is with hardware offloading enabled. Switching capacity (traffing within vlan) is on par and can achieve the wanted gigabit speeds. (correct me if i'm wrong and save me some bucks)

Since this conclusion, i am starting to look around for a better router. Since my server also has a 2x 10G nics (rj45) i figured i might as well try and find a router that can support routing speeds near that, but i'm having some issues finding something suitable. So i'm hoping you can all help me.

First and foremost let me tell you that my experience with linux or cli is near to none, and my networking knowledge is . . . lets just say i'm a noob. So if at all possible, the gui's and possibly available wizards should be considered simple.

Budget: ~$300 - $400

Requirements:
minimum of 1SFP port (for isp connection)
minimum of 1 10G port (for uplink to my server)
Routing capacity of 2,5gbps or higher
Switching capacity, as close to 10G as possible.
Support for Vlan's.
Support for Hairpin NAT.

Preferences (these would eliminate the need for the 8 port PoE switch):
8 PoE(+) ports
IGMP Snooping support

Current setup (ignore the bond):
All CCTV need PoE. each switch has 1 PoE AP.
1632215143428.png
 
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RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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As far as I can tell from the documentation on Ubiquiti's website, ports 0-7 is probably a switch connected to an internal SoC port (a guess given your performance is at 1G, but I couldn't find documentation), as such you may want to move the LG318P switch to port 8 or higher (assuming your want better performance between the two switches).

If you insist on buying a new switch, I suggest keeping your ER-12 and have that do firewalling, at least as far as I know L3 switches don't do Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), so it may be preferable to use a firewall in between your switch and internet access.

As far as which switch to get, Brocade/Ruckus ICX6450/7150 are common recommendations (the latter is of course newer but also has a silent mode with PoE).
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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Thanks for the suggestion. I also cannot find if 0-7 are hardware switch but i heard it is.

In terms of performance, i am looking for more performance but more on the routing side. Replacing the switch will not solve that since routing on the er-12 will persist. From 1 to another vlan will still be Limited by the ERs GB interfaces.

I been looking at the brocade switches, but cant find their routing performance across vlans, or if they even have routing in the first place.

Also been looking at the mikrotik offerings. The routers generally only have 1 sfp+ port, and i need atleast 2. For this pricerange that is. (Not to mention that having 24 or more ports at this location is a bit overkill)
 
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RTM

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Jan 26, 2014
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Caennanu said:
In terms of performance, i am looking for more performance but more on the routing side. Replacing the switch will not solve that since routing on the er-12 will persist. From 1 to another vlan will still be Limited by the ERs GB interfaces.
Click to expand...
I think you may be missing the point.

Since you want to route traffic between VLANs, absolutely get a L3 switch and have that do this.
What I am suggesting is that you probably in addition to this, will want to use something to function as a firewall with SPI, which could be your ER-12. In this setup you will have two devices routing traffic, the ER-12 and the L3 switch.
 
R

RTM

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2014
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Caennanu said:
I been looking at the brocade switches, but cant find their routing performance across vlans, or if they even have routing in the first place.

Also been looking at the mikrotik offerings. The routers generally only have 1 sfp+ port, and i need atleast 2. For this pricerange that is. (Not to mention that having 24 or more ports at this location is a bit overkill)
Click to expand...
The Brocade/ruckus switches absolutely support routing between VLANs, it is an essential L3 switch capability.
They are full featured devices that should support all the usual things, of course I don't know about IGMP snooping, but I suspect they will.
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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RTM said:
I think you may be missing the point.

Since you want to route traffic between VLANs, absolutely get a L3 switch and have that do this.
What I am suggesting is that you probably in addition to this, will want to use something to function as a firewall with SPI, which could be your ER-12. In this setup you will have two devices routing traffic, the ER-12 and the L3 switch.
Click to expand...
That makes sence. An 6450 is l3?
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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RTM said:
The Brocade/ruckus switches absolutely support routing between VLANs, it is an essential L3 switch capability.
They are full featured devices that should support all the usual things, of course I don't know about IGMP snooping, but I suspect they will.
Click to expand...
Missed this (on phone) Ok cool. I can always try ofcourse
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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RTM said:
The short answer is yes the ICX6450 can do L3 switching, but @fohdeesha made a good overview of some of the ICX switches on page 1 of the brocade megathread, you should check it out:
Click to expand...
I read some of it. Looks interesting indeed. Dont have time at this moment since its late and the ms wants attention. I do have the burning question. The dhcp , vlan and Port forwarding setup. Do i still do that on the ER or does that function go to the brocade and the ER Just becomes a gateway'ish thing?
 
nickf1227

nickf1227

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Sep 23, 2015
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Why not use the ICX 6450 as recommended for your L3 switch, but then virtualize your firewall inside of your server? You can then eliminate a piece of equipment and save a little bit of power.
Just a thought. I have 2 ISPs, one of them goes to a hardware Netgate appliance running pfSense and the other goes to a virtualized pfSense instance, I just passed through the PCI-E network card to the VM.
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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nickf1227 said:
Why not use the ICX 6450 as recommended for your L3 switch, but then virtualize your firewall inside of your server? You can then eliminate a piece of equipment and save a little bit of power.
Just a thought. I have 2 ISPs, one of them goes to a hardware Netgate appliance running pfSense and the other goes to a virtualized pfSense instance, I just passed through the PCI-E network card to the VM.
Click to expand...
Nice Idea, but for a couple of reasons a no.

Mainly the server i use i tinker with to much.
2nd i tinker too much
3rd at this time it is a little out of my League
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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So, let's assume i take a brocade to do my layer3 routing. How would that work in the following configuration?
What are the functions from the ER that are to be transferred to the brocade to be as efficient (in throughput / bandwidth) as possible.

1632303181865.png

or
1632303254414.png
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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Right, so . ..
After a bit more information inquiry, i now understand that something is L3 capable or not. In other words, if an switch is L3 capable, it will do the routing if it needs to. Where an L2 switch will always go to its gateway to ask for routing.

So in a sence, the difference between my LGS318 and this brocade would be a checkbox (and underlaying hard / software) to make it possible.
That is the part i didn't quite get. the 'what' makes it so that it doesn't have to go to my ER for routing.

Now that i know this. I geuss the way i connect them (preferably everything behind the brocade to let that do the routing instead of the ER) is more of a personal choice than anything else. Next to that, i'd have to try and keep the physical interface connections as clean as possible with 1GB, or make them 10GB not to be bottlenecked by other traffic.

Thanks for the replies everyone!
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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so . . . i just got my brocade 6450 in.
i connected port 1 to my existing network and it gets an ip.
i can acces the webui, but i can't seem to login with admin - empty, brocade - empty, admin - admin, or brocade - brocade.
factory reset, from what i can tell i done it right (push reset till ports go amber) has the same results.

Just to confirm, after a factory reset, the webui should still be enabled and i should be able to login with brocade x2, right?

--- edit
appearantly, the hardware reset doesn't take. after holding the reset button for 2 minutes, nothing happens.
When i release it, the switch comes up about 30 seconds after that . . .

Now where to find info on how else to connect to it? i can't seem to connect to it with putty on the switch port.
i don't have a serial cable (or know how to use that). Basically the only thing i have is ethernet.
 
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Caennanu

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May 18, 2021
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so, just found the information. sort off.
appearantly you cannot reset the 6xxx series without serial cable. darnit.
Time to order more cables! :p
 
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CorvetteGS

CorvetteGS

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Jan 20, 2014
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Caennanu said:
Yeah i did. But didn't see this info in the manuals. Only a seperate post made by fohdeesha.
Click to expand...
What information are you looking for? It gives step by step reset and configuration steps on his page. As he says, a serial connection will be required for initial switch config, then you can enable and use the webui if you so choose.
 
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