MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN Review 4-Port Must-Have 10GbE Switch

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Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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Great review, I wish I had one in my bag, the CRS317 is worth mentioning as another passive 10GB switch, I'm curious what the other 3 editors choice winners were now, I'm drawing a blank trying to remember them.
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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Maybe a page for the editor's choice awards?

I agree most of the forums people here have one if not a higher-end version. Everytime I see a consumer site rave about a $250 switch with 2x 10GbE I just chuckle. CRS 305+326 is insane.
 

Terry Kennedy

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Jun 25, 2015
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Our MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN review will go into why we think that this 4-port SFP+ 10GbE switch is a must-have tool for STH readers.
I would have liked more technical details, and it is likely that other STH readers would as well. For example:
  • Is an AC adapter included? How many? Is there some method of cord retention, or is this the only easy-to-accidentally pop out connection on the box?
  • Is the management port "just" a management port, or does it participate in the switch fabric? If the latter, how is management isolated (see next question)?
  • Are VLANs supported? If so, are there any limits (quantity or numeric range)?
  • If VLANs are supported, is trunking supported? If so, what trunking protocols?
  • Does the switch support jumbo frames? If so, what is the upper limit?
  • Are the SFP+ ports capable of both GigE and 10GbE speeds (with the corresponding optics)? If so, are dual-speed optics supported (with speed selection via the web GUI)?
  • Are SFP or SFP+ to RJ45 adapters supported? If so, are there any limits on how many ports can be set up this way? If so, do the ports autonegotiate or does this have to be set from the CLI?
  • Is there some way (other than scraping the GUI screen) to find out when the switch is experiencing abnormal conditions such as overheating, loss of a power supply / close to power supply limit, etc? I don't expect SNMP in this type of product, but some method of alerting would be nice.
 
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Deslok

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I would have liked more technical details, and it is likely that other STH readers would as well. For example:
  • Is an AC adapter included? How many? Is there some method of cord retention, or is this the only easy-to-accidentally pop out connection on the box?
  • Is the management port "just" a management port, or does it participate in the switch fabric? If the latter, how is management isolated (see next question)?
  • Are VLANs supported? If so, are there any limits (quantity or numeric range)?
  • If VLANs are supported, is trunking supported? If so, what trunking protocols?
  • Does the switch support jumbo frames? If so, what is the upper limit?
  • Are the SFP+ ports capable of both GigE and 10GbE speeds (with the corresponding optics)? If so, are dual-speed optics supported (with speed selection via the web GUI)?
  • Are SFP or SFP+ to RJ45 adapters supported? If so, are there any limits on how many ports can be set up this way? If so, do the ports autonegotiate or does this have to be set from the CLI?
  • Is there some way (other than scraping the GUI screen) to find out when the switch is experiencing abnormal conditions such as overheating, loss of a power supply / close to power supply limit, etc? I don't expect SNMP in this type of product, but some method of alerting would be nice.
It was glossed over in this review but the CRS305 runs routerOS by default, they covered it more in depth in earlier reviews like this one https://www.servethehome.com/mikrotik-crs226-24g-2s-in-review-you-want-one/ and routerOS has been fairly unchanged since as far as features go, you'll run out of cpu performance before you hit any real limits with most mikrotik switches.
 

turgin

Member
May 16, 2016
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  • Is the management port "just" a management port, or does it participate in the switch fabric? If the latter, how is management isolated (see next question)?
Does anyone know the answer to this one? I think everything else has been addressed elsewhere but I'm very interested in this before purchasing one.