I’ve purchased a Mikrotik CSR317-1G-16S+RM SFP+ switch. I aim on using this for my home network which consists of the following:
2 x VMware ESXi server (6.5) - 10Gb NIC’s installed (Dual 10Gb in each server)
Desktop PC (10Gb NIC installed)
Netgear Nighthawk R9000 - has a 10Gb SFP+ port.
I have two physical fibres installed, one goes to the router from the first ESXi server - this provides Internet/external access to my VM’s. That is working fine.
The second fibre is going to my spare room where my desktop PC will be.
I’ve purchased the Mikrotik switch to join all these parts together!
My question is, what is the best way to configure the switch (I’m happy to learn RouterOS…). I’d ideally like the management of the ESXi servers behind a separate network/VLAN and would like additional VLANs in the future.
I’m totally new to Mikrotik so after some basic pointers - as though I had just got it out of the box. I’ve tried a few times to configure the switch but it seems to get me confused!
I realise I need all fibre connections going into the new switch. I’ve read mixed articles on whether or not I need to plug the fibre from my router into a certain SFP+ port on the CRS317?
What are you having trouble configuring? There’s no “best way” to configure the switch nor do you need to plug it into a specific port to get it work. You configure each port individually based on your needs.
Here are a few pointers though:
The sfp+ port on the r9000 is there so you can setup a nas on the router and connect a 10g switch to it - it’s pointless to connect it to your server because you’re limited to 1g by the other ports…
You bought an aggregation switch which is meant to connect a bunch of switches together - not a small home lan(although you can use it for that).
Most people don’t setup a fiber network inside their house due to the higher cost and lower flexibility/scalability as compared to 10base-t switches.
Now that you have an sfp+ switch though, you don’t necessarily need to use all fiber. mikrotik has a module for copper > S+RJ10.
Focus on getting a basic config running first before looking at vlans, etc…
Simplest thing to do is set a master port and slave ports:
/interface ethernet set ether1 master-port=none
/interface ethernet set ether2 master-port=ether1
/interface ethernet set ether3 master-port=ether1
...
...
R9000 - I appreciate this can be used as a NAS connection, however, the way I am using it is working fine, it allows me to see all of my VMs without issue.
Costs - I already have the fibres installed, and 10G NIC’s installed so this is no issue. It may seem overkill but I was in a position to do it so “why not”!! No S+RJ10 modules needed.
I would love to have a basic configuration working, hence my post here. I’ve read conflicting documents on whether I need to plug my fibre connection in from my router to SFPPlus1 or whether it can go in any port - is sfpplus1 a WAN port?
I’ve managed to plug in the ether1 cable to a laptop and tap into the switch. I’m just after a step by step guide to get it passing traffic.
Your code above - master and slave ports. What exactly is that doing?
This seems like a great bit of kit but the documentation/how-to’s appear to let it down. I’ve read so much that I’m in a state of confusion!
I also have a Cisco SG300-10SFP and the setup on that seems significantly easier in comparison (I have 1Gb SFP modules to allow everything to run at 1Gb instead of 10Gb with the Mikrotik).
So you have an all fiber network? And it looks like your trying to connect the router > server > switch. If so, you need to connect the router > switch > server to get it to work out of the box.
There’s a good chance it may be setup as dumb switch with the default config.
go to /system reset-configuration (keep default).
plug the sfp port of the r9000 into the sfp1 port.
plug the port from the server into sfp2.
plug the remaining sfp ports in.
In a dumb switch, it doesn’t matter what ports you plug into - and if it is setup that way from the factory, it will work.
fyi, this is switch, not a router - there is no wan port.
You were right in how it was setup - router → server. It’s now router → switch and server → switch. I’ve done a reset using the command you listed and that has worked.
I’ve assigned it an IP on my default range and can now access it via a web browser! Suddenly things don’t seem quite so daunting.
It’s passing traffic and all internal/external access is as expected.
It’s in “bridge” mode at the moment - I assume I don’t need to change that.. As mentioned I’d like to set up some VLAN’s and make use of those to separate out parts of my network. I realise I’ll need to add static routes to my router to make this work properly.