#471 in Computer networking products
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Reddit mentions of MikroTik 5-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 4 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports (CRS305-1G-4S+IN)
Sentiment score: 4
Reddit mentions: 10
We found 10 Reddit mentions of MikroTik 5-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 4 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports (CRS305-1G-4S+IN). Here are the top ones.
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The CRS305 is a compact yet very powerful switch, featuring four SFP+ ports, for up to 10 Gbit per portThe device has a 1 Gbit copper ethernet port for management access and two DC jacks for power redundancy, plus it's very sleek and compact metallic case without any fans, for silent operationIt has a “Dual boot” feature that allows you to choose between two operating systems - RouterOS or SwOS. If you prefer to have a simplified operating system with only switch specific features, use SwOSIf you would like the ability to use routing and other Layer 3 features in your CRS, use RouterOS. You can select the desired operating system from RouterOS, from SwOS or from the RouterBOOT loader settings800 MHz CPU nominal frequency, 141 x 115 x 28 mm Dimensions, 512 MB RAM, 16 MB Storage size, 802.3af/at PoE in
Specs:
| Height | 0.9842519675 Inches |
| Length | 5.511811018 Inches |
| Weight | 1.10231131 Pounds |
| Width | 4.5275590505 Inches |
I set up a 10 Gbps backbone for my home network this year, with 3 10 gig devices connected to it. FreeNAS server, unRAID server, and one Windows desktop. I don't use pfsense, so you should double-check that pfsense includes drivers for the cards you pick, or you could be in for some pain.
While you can achieve 10 Gbps over quality copper network cables, I went with fiber optic. Fiber optic networking has been around for a long time in many forms, so there are a lot of standards. There are two main types of cable. Multi mode and single mode. This cable type must match the fiber optic transceivers you use on each end. Then there are different qualities of cable. OS1, OS2 for single mode, and OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 for multi mode. Higher numbers indicate better cable quality. Read up on the limitations of each. Finally there are a bunch of different connector types. LC is the most common from what I have seen. There are actually two kinds of LC, and one of them has an angled end, but those are a lot less common than ends that are cut off at 90 degrees. I'm not really clear on why two kinds exist.
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ANYWAY these are what I bought and they all work fine together:
8x transceiver: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Finisar-FTLX8571D3BNL-10GB-SFP-SR-850nm-Transceiver/173943155751?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
2x NIC card: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mellanox-MHZH29-XTR-ConnectX-2-VPI-Standard-Profile-Network-Adapter/333292618107?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
1x NIC card: https://www.ebay.com/itm/MHZH29-XTR-MELLANOX-CONNECTX-2-VPI-DUAL-PORT-NETWORK-ADAPTER-CARD/223585259766?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
1x switch: http://amzn.com/B0723DT6MN
1x switch: http://amzn.com/B07LFKGP1L
1x long armored cable (Multimode, LC-LC duplex, OM3): http://amzn.com/B07JHKKCVY
Plus a bunch of different length patch cords (Multimode, LC-LC duplex, OM3) from fs.com
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I specifically chose new Mikrotik switches as opposed to buying older used enterprise switches because the price difference isn't that great, and the Mikrotik switches are fanless.
Saved a boatload of money buying used NICs, and also quite a bit buying used fiber optic transceivers. New 10 GBE transceivers can easily run $20+ each, and new NICs can easily be $100+ USD each.
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Total cost was still a few hundred USD, but that is a LOT lower than it could have been!
I haven't played with it yet, but I got a Mikrotik CRS305-1G-4S+IN. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LFKGP1L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Cheapest >2 port SFP+ switch I've seen.
And yeah, UBNT is great, but the cheapest switch they have with SFP+ is 500 bucks. Which is an awesome switch, but total overkill for most applications.
Mikrotik now has a full line of fairly affordable 10gbps SFP+ switches now.
4x10g + 1x1g:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LFKGP1L
8x10g + 1x1g:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NFXN4SS
16x10g + 2x1g:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0747TC9DB
Fiber on fs.com is SUPER cheap, cheaper than CAT6 and OP
https://www.fs.com/products/40228.html 15m (~49' 3") for $5.90 (OS2 1350nm for single mode)
No free shipping but if you order all your transceivers and cable shipping is only $7 and pretty cheap overall. Single mode (OS2 1350nm) transceivers are about $20. You can go multimode (OM3 850nm) for slightly cheaper, ~$13-15, still good to 300 meters at 10G, fiber is pretty much the same cost, which is stupid cheap and makes most copper xBaseT look like Monster Cable nonsense.
I have the 4+1 switch, three multimode and one single mode running a NAS, two PCs, and an old Proliant server. All runs great, hit up to 700MB/s off my NAS cache drive to my main PC's NVMe drive. Even non-cached read is 160-170MB/s--the native speed of my underlying RAID/HDDs, or about 80% faster than I'd get over my old copper 1gbps network. 1gbps is choking 5400rpm HDDs.
I'm going to upgrade to the 16 port once I buy my new rack...
This is probably the cheapest "real" 10Gb switch available right now:
MikroTik 5-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 4 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports (CRS305-1G-4S+IN) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LFKGP1L/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_h2Q3Db2HZV929
Add some $30 Mellanox cards off eBay and a couple of DAC cables from fs.com and you're in business for about $250
I'm with u/Ghan_04 once I expand my homelab with more servers I plan to pick up one of the two below. Mine will be for a dedicated storage network. Nothing else in the house needs 10gig.
MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+in Switch 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port and 4X SFP+ 10Gbps Ports https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LFKGP1L/
Or
MikroTik 9-Port Desktop Switch, 1 Gigabit Ethernet Port, 8 SFP+ 10Gbps Ports https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NFXN4SS/
I use the Mellanox ConnectX cards, they are cheap and work with almost all Linux/Debian/Windows distros without any special drivers.
You should be able to use a DAC (Direct attached cable) between your server and desktop machine for up to 10Gbps transfer speeds.
I haven't done it personally, but it should be able to work.
There are also a few cheap switches out there with 10Gb capabilities.
https://www.amazon.com/MikroTik-CRS305-1G-4S-Gigabit-Ethernet-RouterOS/dp/B07LFKGP1L
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDiiHN0MPdA
FYI $130 on Amazon. I am so incredibly tempted.
Have a CRS226-24G-2S+IN, but 4x SFP+ would be better...
My NICs and my switch are linked below. I wish I had saved the link where it said that VMware 10Gb NICs didn't support auto-negotiate. I don't recall it being specific to a chipset. I may dig into my history this weekend, 'cuz if that's not it, I'd like to know what I did to fix this issue. It was a PITA!
MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+in Switch 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
]Mellanox Connectx-2 PCI-Epress x 8 10GBe](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016OYD0D4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Late to the game, Amazon
I'm wondering what use case you have for pfSense to need a 10gb connection. Do you have 10gb internet? Otherwise it seems like a waste to me.
For cheap 10GB switching, get one of these. It's a bit over your budget, but not much. Then just get a couple of these. They come with the cable, so that's all you need. You could get just two of the cards and one cable and go direct from PC to server to start, then get the switch later on when you need to add a 3rd device.