Mikrotik CRS226

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nickf1227

Active Member
Sep 23, 2015
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Hello Friends.
I just found this website and I am loving it already. Lots of very useful information.
You guys lead me to purchase a CRS226-24G-2S+RM to put in my home rack, it should arrive on Monday. Completely overkill for my needs-really only needed the 10 port model, but I wanted the rackmount version so I could properly see the LCD.
Anyway, for initial config how does it work? Do I just plug in a computer, set a static IP, go to web config and set it to bridge mode and then it works as a dumb switch? Anywhere you can point me to setup of this would be great. Never used RouterOS before.

Now onto my second question:
I read the article here:
http://www.servethehome.com/mikrotik-crs226-24g-2s-in-review-you-want-one/
And basically all I want this switch for is so that my home computer (with SSDs in raid0) can communicate with my server (5x 3TB WD RED RAID 5) at whatever the maximum speed of my array is over the 10 gig. I've never used Fiber before so I want to make sure I'm buying the correct stuff. I will throw those Mellanox ConnectX-2 cards on the home page in both machines, one Running Windows 10 and the other running Server 2012. Are there working drivers for both of these OSs?

Final question:
Has anyone used the fiber store transceivers with these products? They are like orders of magnitude cheaper than any comparable products, and sometimes you get what you pay for so I want to make sure they will work.
10GBASE-SR SFP+ MMF 850nm Transceiver - $16

Also, would these be the correct fiber patch cables?
LC-LC Duplex 10G OM4 50/125 Multimode Fiber Patch Cable

Thanks for any help!
 

Kristian

Active Member
Jun 1, 2013
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After the device has finished booting the display will show you the IP you can use to connect to the device via lan1.
Then you should update your device via the webgui to the latest routeros and firmware version.
After that:
Mode: Bridge
Address Acquisition: [ ]Static [ ] Automatic (whatever you like to choose)

The Fibre Store transceivers will work woth the Mellanox ConnectX2 cards.
There are working drivers for win server 2012r2 and windows 8.1 (I would bet you can use those with win10)
And the cable is also the correct one.
 
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nickf1227

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Sep 23, 2015
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Thank you both so much!

Couple of questions: What does the "master port" mean?
and
Bridge mode isn't software based, correct? It will turn on the switching chip?
 
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zedkyuu

New Member
Sep 22, 2015
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FWIW, I have a CRS226 and have never done anything at all with the onboard configuration, and it just works as a switch. And it and my ConnectX-3 adapters happily use off-brand/never-heard-of-that-name-before SFP+ DAC and SR modules.

Also, over small enough distances (see Wikipedia), older fibre works just fine. I'm running with 62.5/125 stuff right now. That said, if you have any aspirations to 40 or 100 GbE, or are running a fibre infrastructure that you want to last for awhile, I'd definitely do OM4.
 
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nickf1227

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Sep 23, 2015
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Zed,
You didn't have to do anything except set the IP for it to work? I've been reading you needed to change something with bridge mode.

Also, what is the reason you chose the ConnectX-3 over the ConnectX-2?
 

zedkyuu

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Sep 22, 2015
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I didn't have to do anything, so I don't know about that. :) Just plugged in a couple of gigabit devices and SFP+ modules, and switching seems to work just fine.

I picked ConnectX-3 mostly because the $20 ConnectX-2 adapters weren't available then and because I'm trying to figure out how much hardware offload helps. In retrospect, the X-2 adapters are probably plenty.
 
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nickf1227

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Sep 23, 2015
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I didn't have to do anything, so I don't know about that. :) Just plugged in a couple of gigabit devices and SFP+ modules, and switching seems to work just fine.

I picked ConnectX-3 mostly because the $20 ConnectX-2 adapters weren't available then and because I'm trying to figure out how much hardware offload helps. In retrospect, the X-2 adapters are probably plenty.
Zed,
I appreciate your help...
All very interesting...How is it connected to the rest of your network?

I just picked up 2 X-2's for $35 on ebay, with free shipping from CA.
Lot of 2 Mellanox Connectx 2 Single Port SFP 10GbE Network Card MNPA19 XTR | eBay
 

zedkyuu

New Member
Sep 22, 2015
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All very interesting...How is it connected to the rest of your network?
I imagine the rest of my network will remain gigabit while the VM host (doing fileserver, router, and other duties) gets an SFP+ port on the CRS226. So the CRS226 and VM host will just go in the closet and I'll use a SFP+ direct attach cable to go between them. The other SFP+ port... haven't decided if I am going to run a length of fibre from there to my desktop (in which case, those $10 SR modules will come in handy) or just leave it open.

In all fairness, none of what I do needs any more than gigabit. The perils of having a bit of disposable income and an experimental curiosity =)

If I do run a length of fibre, I'll probably make it OM4 for future-proofing. Cisco QSFP-40G-SR-BD modules go for about $100 used these days. That said, the highest I've gotten out of my adapters is 30G, so that's probably a long way off...
 

zedkyuu

New Member
Sep 22, 2015
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Depending on the modules you find, it can be pretty close. Cheapest I've gotten 1m direct attach cables for is about $16 each. As I mentioned, I found SR modules for $10, and 3m lengths of cheap fibre are about $4 shipped.
 

xnoodle

Active Member
Jan 4, 2011
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I have two and they functioned as switches without any configuration, even with the same management IP
 

neo

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2015
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One thing that I recommend is to input a DNS server IP and check for RouterBoard firmware updates and afterwards RouterOS updates.