New Managed LAN Switch Required - any recommendations?

[networkguy]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for some general advise/opinions/recommendations on a new managed Switch for my home network. I've had a good look around on Ali Express, Ebay etc for some options - but I'm finding it hard to get the exact specs of what I require, so I'm wondering if anyone can help point me in the direction of the best switch to obtain for the spec below?

16 Port (At least). Managed L2 Only, doesn't need to do L3. POE not required. At least 2x 10Gbe capable interfaces. All other ports at least 2.5Gbe.

I have one of the new Qotom boxes which has 4x 10Gbe interfaces (and it's a great bit of kit). I already have 2 of those interfaces used, 1 into a DMZ switch and 1 into my Wi-Fi Switch - so I'm now just looking for a good option for an upgrade for my main LAN switch with the right port density, this will then trunk into the other 10Gbe port on the firewall. I'm not bothered about POE on this because my Wireless switch has this and my 3 AP's which require POE will remain on that.

Open to any recommendations, not wedded to a budget as such - this will be a purchase for the long term. (so you could argue a full 10Gbe capable switch is also an option!)

Cheers,

 

[MountainBofh]

There's a fair number of 10gb SFP+ switches on Ebay, the problem is that a lot of them are retired data center switches that only speak 1gb or 10gb, but not the 2.5gb or 5gb protocol.

If you don't need 2.5gb, I'd just go straight into a 10gb switch and call it a day. You will probably need to buy a bunch of SFP+ to RJ45 transceivers though.

Arista DCS-7124SX-R 24-Port 10GB SFP+ Switch w/ Dual AC - 1 Year Warranty | eBay

Arista Data Center Switch 7124SX 24-Port SFP+. Arista DCS-7124SX-R w/ Dual AC Power. Network Hardware Depot. Can't find what you're looking for?. Unsure if this is what you need?.

www.ebay.com

 

[bards1888]

16 Port (At least). Managed L2 Only, doesn't need to do L3. POE not required. At least 2x 10Gbe capable interfaces. All other ports at least 2.5Gbe.
Cheers,

I'm looking for similar and was thinking of getting 2 of the Hasivo 9 port switches and linking them with the 10Gb ports. Would give me a little redundancy but more management overhead.

 

[louie1961]

I just pulled the trigger yesterday on one of these. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCDD4CLC?th=1
24 2.5gbe ports and 6 SFP+ 10gbe ports, under $500


My 8 port Mokerlink has been so solid, I decided to step it up a bit. I am out of network ports and can't do any LAGG with my current 8 port switch

 

[bards1888]

I just pulled the trigger yesterday on one of these. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCDD4CLC?th=1

My 8 port Mokerlink has been so solid, I decided to step it up a bit. I am out of network ports and can't do any LAGG with my current 8 port switch

Fanless

 

[alaricljs]

Please let us know how it compares to this switch. MokerLink doesn't even have the right datasheet available, much less the manuals. That ienRon's slightly smaller brother is talked about in this thread, where manuals were shared. Looks decent, but not great even at the nice price.

 

[networkguy]

I just pulled the trigger yesterday on one of these. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCDD4CLC?th=1
24 2.5gbe ports and 6 SFP+ 10gbe ports, under $500


My 8 port Mokerlink has been so solid, I decided to step it up a bit. I am out of network ports and can't do any LAGG with my current 8 port switch

That's an interesting find, thanks for sharing that. Let us know how you get on with it.

 

[networkguy]

I'm looking for similar and was thinking of getting 2 of the Hasivo 9 port switches and linking them with the 10Gb nics. Would give me a little redundancy but more management overhead.

I've considered the same, and I've also considered maybe going down the route of having majority 1Gbe, with some 2.5Gbe/10Gbe.

Zyxel 1210-12 and the 1250-12 look decent options for that, but just not full 2.5Gbe.

The MokerLink one looks good though, good price point as well - will keep an eye on that one.

 

[networkguy]

I did find this one - full 10Gbe, only 12 ports so slightly down on the 16 I was after....but could be an option.

Cisco 12-port 10g Stackable Managed Switch | Techbuyer

This is the Model range - Cisco 350X Series Stackable Managed Switches Data Sheet - Cisco

They do 24 ports or 48 ports variants. Aimed at the SOHO market.

 

[STLJonny]

I'm in the market for the same things (as above). Looked at the Mokerlink (24 Port 2.5G Managed Ethernet Switch with 6x10G SFP) mentioned above, and also the ienRon (16 & 24 port model). Need 2.5gbe connections (do not have any 10gbe currently, but that could be a futureproof option).

Looking for ~16 ports (but more is always better) and managed (only managed option I currently utilize is Link Aggregation for my dual 2.5gbe NAS).

Anyone recommend anything different (and/or the above 2 mentioned)? Advantages of one over the others?

 

[louie1961]

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Amazon van. I will report back soon

 

[STLJonny]

Definitely let us know. That Mokerlink (while seeming to be a better/more widely known name that the ienRon, but with a higher price tag) looks very nice, but I was concerned with reports of DAC connection issues on some of their other offerings. Also was concerned with UI slowness reports & setting saving reports (one mentioned reverting of UI language on power disruption, even with the language change saved to config).

 

[alaricljs]

Possibly the same ODM between the 2: MSQ9624 - Mestechs

 

[louie1961]

So, first impressions are great. Pretty easy to set up, although I am not using any of the L2+/L3 features, just your basic VLANs and link aggregation between my pfSense box and the switch. The only hitch I have seen is that sometimes, the 2.5gbe ports can get stuck on 10mbps if they get confused. It took a reboot to clear that, but then it was fine. I have no 10gbe gear yet so can't comment on the SFP+ ports. I also made my life harder by implementing LAGG/LACP between the switch and my Hunsn pfSense box, as well as I implemented dual WAN ports with failover. So lots of moving parts to figure out this morning. Thank goodness for pfSense Plus and boot environments. Saved me from re-installing a number of times when I locked myself out.

The switch is indeed fanless, or at least I can't hear a peep out of it. The management interface shows two fans turning at 82 rpm. I don't think that is right. It is totally silent. I have trunked LAG from the pfsense to the switch, trunked ports (all single links) to my three Proxmox hosts, and a trunked link to my wireless access point. The rest are tagged ports for various VLANs. My ISP provides 600Mbps service, and I get the same speed test results if I plug into the modem directly, plug into my pfSense box, or physically plug into the switch. I am also getting that speed on wifi (wifi 6 WAP with 160 hz channels). So I can say the switch is not a bottleneck to my setup but I haven't done any other testing with it.

No regrets so far!

 

[louie1961]

Definitely let us know. That Mokerlink (while seeming to be a better/more widely known name that the ienRon, but with a higher price tag) looks very nice, but I was concerned with reports of DAC connection issues on some of their other offerings. Also was concerned with UI slowness reports & setting saving reports (one mentioned reverting of UI language on power disruption, even with the language change saved to config).

I can't comment on DAC connection issues, as I am not using 10gbe yet. The UI is not at all slow. And no issues with saving. I purposefully disrupted the power a couple of times and it came back exactly as I had left it. This unit barely gets warm to the touch. My pfsense box on the other hand is running about 6 degrees (C) hotter than than before with all 4 NICs now in action and LAGG in use.

 

[STLJonny]

The only hitch I have seen is that sometimes, the 2.5gbe ports can get stuck on 10mbps if they get confused. It took a reboot to clear that, but then it was fine.

A reboot of the switch, or the device that was connected to that port? Wonder if a port down & port up (or enable/disable, depending on switch/UI language) would have resolved the issue (to me, a reboot of a huge switch like that is kind of a show stopper, as that potentially drops a ton of traffic off the network, temp).

 

[louie1961]

A reboot of the switch, or the device that was connected to that port? Wonder if a port down & port up (or enable/disable, depending on switch/UI language) would have resolved the issue (to me, a reboot of a huge switch like that is kind of a show stopper, as that potentially drops a ton of traffic off the network, temp).

That was a one time thing. I went with a reboot because the button was right there on the management interface (sort of the easy button at the time, if you will). I am not sure it will be a recurring issue. Plus I had 29 balls up in the air at the time trying to set up multiple devices, so it could have been PEBKAC if you know what I mean.

 

[louie1961]

Here are some pictures of the management interface to give you all a feel for what its like and what capabilities this switch has. I am not sure if this is technically an L2+ or an L3 switch. It certainly has more features than I have ever seen/used before. I left most of them turned off for my purposes. VLANs were no more difficult to configure than they were on my 8 port Mokerlink switch (a rebranded Hasivo I think). And it was easier to understand than my original TPlink 5 port gigabit managed switch.

 

[louie1961]

FWIW, this switch draws 20 watts with the above configuration and # of ports occupied.

 

[is39]

There is a mention of CLI - have you tried it?