Searching for a small SFP+ and PoE+ Switch for my shed - 250ft fiber run

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VirtualBacon

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Aug 21, 2017
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I am building a shed at the very back of my yard with an attached porch area that we can hang out. Its just far enough away from my house and detached garage that I lose WiFi from my 3 x Ruckus AP's. So, the shed will of course need networking for an AP. If I'm adding networking, I may as well add a camera or 2 as well. The shed is about 150ft off the back of my garage, but the AP on the (Brick) garage is around the corner, so you just don't get good signal all the way back there.

Since I'm trenching power out to the shed, it only makes sense to use that same trench to run fiber (No way will I run Cat6, too much lightning around here! and fiber is cooler) I already have the fiber, I'm running about 250ft total of SMF back to the rack inside my house.

So, I'm looking for a switch that has SFP or SFP+, and an amount of PoE+ Ports for AP's and cameras, maybe environmental monitoring, etc. It of course needs to be managed so I can VLAN the cameras and have all of the VLAN backed SSID's on my wireless network available. I don't think I currently have a need for PoE+, however I plan to put this switch in there and forget it, and I don't want to add a device a year down the road that needs PoE+ and be out of luck. SFP+ is a bonus over SFP since the switch it will connect to, is SFP+. So if a small increase in dollars gets me 10Gb, its worth it I think. I have no idea what I might do with this shed in a few years time, while it will just store our yard junk, its possible I could add some "off site" backups since its so far away, and then having 10Gb could be handy. And with AP's getting faster and faster, its possible I end up really maxing out that 1Gb link.

Size is pretty key here, I want to mount it up in the corner and not take up a bunch of room, so a full sized 1u switch isn't ideal. Also, it won't be air conditioned so it will have to hold up to hot Texas summers and possibly freezes in the winter.

The current "Winner" in terms of price and features is the CSS610-8P-2S+IN. It has a built in PSU and doesn't require me to buy one myself. It has 2 x SFP+ ports and it does PoE+. I just don't know how good SwitchOS Lite is

The FS.COM IES3110-8TFP-R switch looks very interesting and has very high temperatures ranges. The downside is that its only SFP, and it requires a PSU that is not included, bumping the cost up by $30 which takes it very close to the Mikrotik above

The FS.COM S3100-8TMS-P is super interesting. It does SFP+, PoE+ but also has 2 x 5Gb/2.5gb/1gb Multigig ports. Very useful for a fancy AP, but its pretty expensive at $360. Is it worth spending that for a shed? I don't know.

Here is my current spreadsheet thinking. Can anyone see if I'm perhaps missing an interesting product that I should look into?

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rekd0514

Member
May 11, 2015
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Only SFP but around the same price. Maybe look at the QNAP offerings.
Aruba Instant On 1930 8G Class4 PoE 2SFP 124W Switch (JL681A)
 

VirtualBacon

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Aug 21, 2017
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I've narrowed the search a lot. I've decided it MUST have SFP+. My AT&T Fiber comes from the back of the yard where this shed is, and I would like the possibility of perhaps terminating into this switch and having it on its own VLAN back to the firewall. Since its a symmetrical gigabit connection, with the possibility to upgrade to 2 or 5Gb, SFP+ is needed

Current contenders are the RUCKUS ICX 7150-C12P assuming I can find one for a good deal. People are very proud of them!

Or, the FS.COM S3100-8TMS-P to get that Multigig PoE action. But its over $100 more expensive
 

reasonsandreasons

Active Member
May 16, 2022
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SwitchOS Lite was kinda a mess for a while, but my impression is that the 2.17 update from a few months ago ironed out a ton of the issues folks were having. I have my CSS610 (non-PoE model) in pretty light duty, though, so I can't speak to it.
 

VirtualBacon

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Aug 21, 2017
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I am tempted to pass on the CSS610 just because for the money, I think I'd rather have the Ruckus with a legit CLI
 

VirtualBacon

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Well, got myself an ICX 7150-C12P for $217 including tax and shipping, not too bad

Why do people think these switches are worth $400? Nuts!
 
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