EXPIRED QuantaMesh BMS T4048-IX8 - Broadcom oem variant 6 x 100/ 48 x 25gbe switch for sub 600$

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Bartosz Grzelak

New Member
Feb 26, 2018
26
9
3
31
I've been hunting for 100gbe switch for a while just to play with. And i have managed to find this switch. The person below sells it for a fraction of the original retail price.

Quanta IX8 BES-53248A1-G1-16E1 System 8 Bit Port Network Switch 115200 Baud Rate | eBay

I purchesed the same switch from another auction, for similar price. This one accepts offers so it can prabobly be even cheaper.
Those switches are custom Broadcom come variants of T4048-IX8. They run onie and Broadcom os. I can say from my initial play time, without the license the switch still works. However its limited to 16 ports only i think, to unlock the rest of the ports you need a license. Abviously that limitiation only applies when running Broadcom os. I havent tried putting sonic on it yet.
 
Last edited:

Bene11660

New Member
Jan 26, 2019
13
6
3
Looks like a great deal, especially with ongoing software support.
I am also very interested in how much power they draw at idle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
844
484
63
Did you try the debug commands on the serial port to generate free indefinite licenses for everything?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir

Bartosz Grzelak

New Member
Feb 26, 2018
26
9
3
31
Switch itself is semi loud. Power usage according to datasheet is 225w. I haven't checked real power consumption on my pdu yet. I wonder if with the other os'es it's possible to bring the usage down a bit and quiet the fans a little. But fans are blowing a lot of heat and there are a lot of them. In total there are 14 x 40mm fans, and they come in modules 2 per module. My switch came with back to front blowing configuration and I bet this one is the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir and ttvd

oneplane

Well-Known Member
Jul 23, 2021
844
484
63
Not sure where would I find those commands?
Well, it depends on the firmware version(s), but almost everything based on the lower-level switchdrvr package from Broadcom from the LB6 and LB9 era is likely to have this:

Code:
(Switch) #dev sysapiDebugAdvanceLicenseKeyGenerate
(Switch) #reload

While that was for QNOS, that NOS is mostly a modified version of the Broadcom reference kit, and the licensing all happens inside switchdrvr, which is a monolithic binary that handles the entire ASIC configuration, including feature control. So far it seems to work on PPC and X86 switches, but ARM would work all the same.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Samir