NBase-T product watch

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LK Bhupathi

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Jan 14, 2016
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There are several systems shipping that support 2.5G/5G speeds.

NBASE-T alliance website is a good source of information - Home - NBASE-T.

Here are some shipping products that support 2.5G/5G speeds:

Several shipping Cisco switch products support 2.5G/5G speeds under the name Multigigabit
Cisco Catalyst Multigigabit Switching

Aquantia is a supplier of NBASE-T PHY products under the AQrate name
Products - Aquantia Corp

Many others are shipping or announced. Stay tuned for updates at www.nbaset.org.
 
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itguy82

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There are several NBASE-T compliant systems shipping.

NBASE-T alliance website is a good source of information - Home - NBASE-T.

Here are some shipping products:

Several shipping Cisco switch products support 2.5G/5G speeds (NBASE-T) under the name Multigigabit
Cisco Catalyst Multigigabit Switching

HP Enterprise also has products shipping under the name Smartrate
3810 Series | Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

Aquantia is a supplier of NBASE-T PHY products under the AQrate name
Products - Aquantia Corp

Many others are shipping or announced. Stay tuned for updates at www.nbaset.org.

LK Bhupathi
Marketing Chair, NBASE-T Alliance
LK, thanks for this -- I've sent you a private message as well.
 

Evan

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Jan 6, 2016
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Didn't the avoton/rangley soc support 4x2.5g connections ? (Assuming the correct phy I guess)
 

mstone

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Mar 11, 2015
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Nothing shipped with a >1G PHY so the capability is entirely theoretical at this point.
 

AdditionalPylons

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Apr 12, 2016
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I got tired of trying to find a good overview of NBASE-T products, so I made a spreadsheet myself:
NBASE-T products
It is most likely missing some products, but you can help me adding more products either by commenting in the sheet, sending me an e-mail or replying to this post.
 

RobstarUSA

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Sep 15, 2016
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At least some of the Mikrotik CRS series supports NBaseT SFP in limited numbers:
MikroTik SFP module compatibility table - MikroTik Wiki

my CRS317 supports 10, and the CRS309 supports 8 it appears.
I've tried this adapter (which kernel paniced in linux 5.3 kernel until I downloaded/compiled a driver from RealTek site) as well as this transceiver in my CRS317. Due to both cost & limitations, I don't think this is a good option unless:

1) You have existing run cat5e/cat6
2) You don't mind port limitations (losing switching capacity)
3) Paying more for lower speed.

Personally I bought 1 sfp+ & 1 adapter as an experiment. It worked with caveats (recompiling the driver when the in-kernel module barfed). Worked OK in windows 10 although connectivity was spotty at first. Eventually I swapped cables & that fixed it...
 

AdditionalPylons

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QNAP just launched their QSW-1105-5T switch, which has 5 ports at 2.5 Gbps.
Product page:
QSW-1105-5T - Features

My initial thoughts after just reading online:
  1. This is the first “cheap” switch with only 2.5GbE ports. (€120, so of course not “lunch money” as 5-port 1GbE switches have become.)
  2. Since there is no faster than 2.5GbE port for uplink, it may not be a good choice for multi-user simultaneous traffic to e.g. a NAS. The Zyxel XGS1010-12 (2x 10G SFP+, 2x2.5GbE, 8x1GbE) or Netgear MS510TX (1x 10G SFP+, 1x10GbE, 2x5GbE, 2x2.5GbE, 4x1GbE) may be better options then. (I’m personally looking at the Zyxel because I want more SFP+ ports, and the Netgear is also a lot more expensive in Europe.)
  3. QNAP needs this to complement their 2.5GbE NAS line. QNAP also has well-established distributor channels so the switch should be available in most places soon, and may be helpful in the event of needing support.
  4. All ports and the power connector (and the status lights) are on the same side, which makes less of a cable mess. This is in contrast to many other cheap switches which have the power connector in the back and the network ports in the front. Perhaps this is preferable to some people but not to me.
 

madbrain

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Jan 5, 2019
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QSW-1105-5T is an interesting unit for the price. But it should have at least one 10 Gbe port, preferably 10 GBASE-T type.
Really though, I wonder why they can't make a 5 x 10 GBASE-T switch at this price.
 

AdditionalPylons

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Has anyone tried these cheap generic 2.5 GbE USB NICs?
They are available from very many sellers on e.g. Aliexpress for less than $17:
On Amazon (UK at least) I see some are selling them under the brand names CERRXIAN and MEO.
They are all white and have no logo. I can't find any info about who actually manufactured them, but the sellers list Realtek RTL8156B as chipset, which is a direct ethernet to USB chipset (no need to go over a PCIe bridge means lower cost).

They should be able to use the drivers directly from Realtek's website:

The RTL8156B is similar (or identical? please let me know if you know of any difference!) to the RTL8156 used in very many USB 2.5 GbE adapters, e.g.:
Most of the above are around $30-$40 / €30-€40.
The Club 3D, Digitus and CableCreation seem to be identical, so probably just a rebranding of a product from the same OEM.

Note: If you are in the USA, this UGREEN at $19 may be a better deal, since it has aluminum casing:
Weirdly enough, on Aliexpress the UGREEN Store sells the same for $35.

(Edit: Fixing broken link.)
 
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lowfat

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I have a Cable Matters USB-C RTL8156. Have a lot of issues w/ RX performance. Not sure its the adapter that is the issue or not. I'll try one of the RTL8156B from Ali to see if it resolves my issues. Only $23CAD versus $50CAD for the Cable Matters one I bought.
 
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madbrain

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I have a Cable Matters USB-C RTL8156. Have a lot of issues w/ RX performance. Not sure its the adapter that is the issue or not. I'll try one of the RTL8156B from Ali to see if it resolves my issues. Only $23CAD versus $50CAD for the Cable Matters one I bought.
Which switch are you using with it ?
 

Deslok

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Mikrotik CRS305
If you're using it with the 305 what 10GbaseT adapter do you have installed? I have the ipolex one in my CRS328 and it works fine at 2.5 5 and 10GbaseT but if I plug a standard 1Gig adapter into the module it falls on it's face.
 

lowfat

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If you're using it with the 305 what 10GbaseT adapter do you have installed? I have the ipolex one in my CRS328 and it works fine at 2.5 5 and 10GbaseT but if I plug a standard 1Gig adapter into the module it falls on it's face.
Also using Ipolex transceiver. I get 2.5G link on the USB adapter but abysmal read performance from server which has a 10G ConnectX-3. Even if I force a 2.5G rx engress on the SFP module, i can't get more than 1.3GRX at the absolute best.
 

Deslok

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Also using Ipolex transceiver. I get 2.5G link on the USB adapter but abysmal read performance from server which has a 10G ConnectX-3. Even if I force a 2.5G rx engress on the SFP module, i can't get more than 1.3GRX at the absolute best.
Is jumbo frames on? I've found none of my 10gig equipment performs up to snuff unless it is. I haven't used the Ipolex a ton(I use it for testing nBaseT equipment that's about it) so I can't comment beyond the oddiy I saw at 1gig speeds on it.
 

hmw

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Apr 29, 2019
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Also using Ipolex transceiver. I get 2.5G link on the USB adapter but abysmal read performance from server which has a 10G ConnectX-3. Even if I force a 2.5G rx engress on the SFP module, i can't get more than 1.3GRX at the absolute best.
I finally got my hands on a non-Marvell based Gbase-T SFP and it actually gives the rated performance - bidirectionally

Ipolex, Wiitek, 10GTek, QSFPTek - all use Marvel 88x3300 PHY in their modules

Aquantia had the AQ-107 PHY in their own line of SFP modules. Supermicro used to OEM these for a while, before Marvell purchased Aquantia. I was told by a colleague that the Aquantia modules gave less trouble with Netgear NBase-T equipment. Grabbed a couple off eBay and I now get 2.38 gbit/s in both directions from a 2.5 GbE USB NIC ! Posted at https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...t-marvell-88x3300-v-s-aquantia-aqs-107.30004/ and tagged Patrick since STH did a lot of testing on different SFP modules, so asked him if they ever came across this performance characteristic ...
 
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lowfat

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Is jumbo frames on? I've found none of my 10gig equipment performs up to snuff unless it is. I haven't used the Ipolex a ton(I use it for testing nBaseT equipment that's about it) so I can't comment beyond the oddiy I saw at 1gig speeds on it.
I tried every setting available including JF. I am currently ditched the 2.5G adapter and am now using ConnectX-3 for both server and workstation and I have zero issues.