Hello,
I discovered Routeros and MikroTik a few days ago because I was looking for a router that supports my new Internet connection.
I have a 2000Mbps/1000Mbps fiber and I would like to buy a router that:
Supports SPF (because I have a switch with).
Can aggregate several network cards from my box to do a load balancing or agregation (my box is limited with Gigabit ports) but I can not directly connect my fiber without the box because the TV decoder would not work (I think?).
Can aggregate several Gigabit cards into LACP for my NAS synology.
Supports IGMP sponning (for my TV)
Supports DHCP.
Supports L2TP VPN (optional).
I was thinking of buying MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S + in do you think my choice is good?
Is there a list of SFP modules compatible with this router? How do I know if they are compatible when I buy them from a reseller or a store (ex: Amazon)?
Are SFP cables supported directly or are I likely to experience compatibility issues?
Sorry for these question of noob I discover that and there is so much information that I lose myself.
CRSxxx devices are switches with some limited IP functionality. While they can route, the routing capacity is waaay lower than your WAN speed. For that you need a higher capacity router. A RB4011 would do, but it only has single SFP+ interface, the rest are 1Gbps copper interfaces. Or look at CCR series of routers (mind that CCR series cope well with large number of medium-speed connections, not so well with a few high-speed connections).
None of routers would cope with bonding requirements very well. For that CRS3xx switches are the right choice.
Even if you choose to go with CRS3xx+RB4011 it could be just fine. You can use CRS as a <VLAN capable switch and RB4011 as a “router on a stick” meaning that the 10Gbps link would be used as trunk for both for WAN (via VLAN and another SFP+ interface on CRS) and LAN (via another VLAN) … the rest of RB4011 ports could be used for LAN devices which require mostly internet and lower speed towards other LAN devices not to overload the RB<->CRS link.
Mikrotik devices are quite picky about SFP modules and DAC cables. I suggest that you investigate thoroughly. MT publishes SFP compatibility table, but it only contains their own modules. There are 3rd party modules and cables known to be compatible (search around this forum, there are a few topics and posts about success (and fail) stories).
I can use the RB4011 as a router, by connecting several RJ45 copper ports to my box to do load balancing (my fiber has a maximum speed of 2000mbps so two ports should be enough) and keep the SFP + port for plug to the CRS3xx switch.
I read that CRS3xx could be managed by router os so I naively thought that it would turn the switch into “router + swicth”. I thought that router features (IPTV, LAN, WAN, VPN, Load Balancing, Fail Over, Firewall..) were a matter of firmware and not hardware. I thought that only the speed of the processor could affect the performance of the switch (since it is not intended for this use).
In any case thank you for your very precise answer, I have more than to place my order and join the community;)
Your summary is fine. There’s a (slight) gotcha when it comes to bonding: bonding on RB4011 is done by main CPU, but copper ports are linked to CPU with interconnect with limited throughout. Ether ports are run by 2 switch chips, 5 ports each (ether1-5 first chip, ether6-10 the second, you can check it by inspecting block diagram) and each CPU-switch interconnect is only 2.5Gbps. A 2x1Gbps trunk uses up most of available bandwidth.
Bonding on CRS3xx is done by switch chip so it is easy on main CPU.
What I wrote about CRS as router: I used word capacity, not capability. Meaning CRS as router has all the bells and whistles of other Mikrotiks, it just can’t do it wirespeed. Test results indicate that realistic routing capacity tops at around 350Mbps (give or take, depending on firewall setup and any other L3 functionality enabled). Which is, IMHO, miserable for an all-10Gbps device (but great for a switch). RB4011, for comparision, can route with speeds around 2.5Gbps (same considerations apply). Which is fine for a top-level SOHO device with a single 10Gbps interface in addition to a few 1Gbps interfaces.
You actually raise points I did not think about. I thought (again naively) that the routers and switch had a capacity in adequacy with the transfer rate of its interfaces.
I think I will reevaluate my needs (connections and speed of my different devices) but stay on a RB4011 that still seems to me a good basis for my use.
Remains the fiber problem (my ISP is Orange France) who uses GPON technology and it seems to me that MikroTik no longer manufactures SFP+ GPON because they had overheating issues.