Considering Microtik to add some 10Gb to my network… but more I look at models the more overwhelmed I get.
Pretty good idea what I want over 2 scenarios and hoped to get some advice - looking for the mythical get exactly what you want with a budget of ‘as little as possible’, but could stretch to something ideal with room to grow, so basically a unicorn.
Coming in with allot to learn so looking dual boot to start with SwitchOS, one experiment with RouterOS.
Looking at tacking onto my existing setup:
4 to ideally 5 SFP+ ports
1GB uplink (either 1GbE or SFP) to my existing poe switch
don’t mind fans, rackable and PoE IN would be a bonus
Dual Boot SwOS/RouterOS (would consider just SwitchOS)
thinking CRS309-1G-8S+IN, CRS310-1G-5S-4S+IN or CRS305-1G-4S+IN (in that order)
Alternatively push boat out a little and get rid of existing switch - in which case
Adding 10Gb to the mix but 1Gb uplink ? What's the 10Gb for then ?
As for ROS/SWOS, that's for me a no-brainer. ROS.
Some devices can dual boot but you will loose a lot of functionality/flexibility when using SWOS. But that's me.
(FWIW I do have CSS318 as switch in my home setup so I am familiar with it. I just prefer ROS).
Good question - should have made that clearer. I have a TrueNAS and a Windows PC with a Tape Drive so at the moment do 10Gb fibre transfers between them on a dedicated machine to machine link and a 2nd adapter for general network and internet connectivity.
The TrueNAS box also has a 2nd direct fibre link to my desktop Mac, it was a bit of a what do I have sitting around coupled with some things I was supplied free to see if it was worth pursuing.
Whilst it all works, it could be better and also while it didn’t cost me anything is a bit ott to have 3 network links to do what 1 could with the proper equipment.
I get ROS is better, but day 1 I just want it to work and as I understand it SwOS will be a easier config.
As usual, took something that worked - looked at the bare minimum to make it better and now curious if I should stop messing around even if that means waiting longer to get it, plus you never know what you can pick up for cheap on eBay sometimes it just takes knowing what you are looking for.
Am I looking at the best suited models for each scenario?
We're clear that you're looking for a switch, not a router, correct ?
Because CRS devices can do some minor routing, but their main business is switching.
How many ether ports do you need (since you say to get rid of an existing switch) ?
What speeds are needed on those ports ? 1Gb or also 2.5Gb ?
How many SFP ports do you need for 10Gb connections ? I already count 3 (unless you keep direct connection between TrueNAS and Mac ?).
Why POE out ? To power what ? What POE-type those device use ? Power budget ?
I suppose the uplink of 1Gb is towards your ISP router ? That device will take all the burden of routing, DHCP, firewall, ... ?
I only need two sfp+ one to a 10gig capable switch and one to my ISP (going from 1 gig to 1.5 gig and eventually within5 years to 8 gig ), thus probably going for this one…….. similar but less plus and more G
If you see no need for more than 1gig in the next five years on the WAN side ( ISP is going to upgrade etc), then you really should think about **a Switch only.
**
Seems like that is what is required LOL. In that case, THis seems to be a good fit. https://mikrotik.com/product/crs309_1g_8s_in ( dual boot ).
Higher up models have dual power supply redundancy.
If you want to go cheap then suggest the CRS304-4XG-IN
(even multiple power sources)
@holvoetn answers to those questions were exactly laid out in the original post.
@anav I’m looking at switches and equally thought the CRS309-1G-8S+IN would be the best fit - thanks.
As for the 2nd scenario the CCR2004-16G-2S+ you mentioned only has 2x SFP+ in which case I’d want 2.5GbE also (or 4x SFP+ and a bunch of 1GbE)
As mentioned in original post I only came up with CRS320-8P-8B-4S+RM whilst it is only a single power (dual was only desirable) it does look like it can have a 2nd added
What would having a new switch do to help the current situation?
If you were planning to add more devices with SFP+ ports for connecting to the TrueNAS system, then yes, that would be more flexible. From a performance standpoint, what you have now is probably close to optimal.
Your original post did say "with a budget of ‘as little as possible’".
If you do go with a new switch, be aware that you can't migrate the config from SwOS to ROS, so if you ever need features that you won't get with SwOS, you will have to start over from scratch when you do migrate to ROS. So to minimize what you need to learn, you would be better off to skip SwOS and make the effort to configure with ROS at the start.
If vlans are not involved, configuring ROS for switching is reasonably straight forward. I don't know if the CRS309 has a defconf built in or not, if it does, then that will do most of the work. But even it it doesn't have a defconf, it would be relatively simple.
Here's the CRS310 defconfig from tangent's defconf database which doen't have an entry for the CRS309, but it would be similar other than the interface names.
CRS310-8G+2S+IN defconf
(1) By khx73 (khx_73) on 2025-05-02 19:35:04 [source]
# 1970-01-02 00:06:49 by RouterOS 7.13.5
# software id = ####-####
#
# model = CRS310-8G+2S+
# serial number = ###########
/interface bridge add admin-mac=D4:01:C3:67:10:8D auto-mac=no comment=defconf name=bridge
/ip hotspot profile set [ find default=yes ] html-directory=hotspot
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether1
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether2
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether3
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether4
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether5
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether6
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether7
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=ether8
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=sfp-sfpplus1
/interface bridge port add bridge=bridge comment=defconf interface=sfp-sfpplus2
/ip address add address=192.168.88.1/24 comment=defconf interface=bridge network=192.168.88.0
#error exporting "/ip/ssh" (timeout)
/system note set show-at-login=no
/system routerboard settings set boot-os=router-os
You say nothing about vlans, but unless your existing switch supports vlans, then integrating with the existing switch will limit the existing switch to service a single vlan (if you expect non-vlan aware devices to be able to be members of different vlans). Both SwOS and ROS will support vlans. But again, other that experience with vlans in general, what you learn on SwOS won't transfer automatically to ROS.
New switch would potentially increase the amount of clients that can have 10Gb, simplicity as I’m running multiple IP ranges to account for the direct connection and lastly means that I can find out why I keep seeing recommendations for Microtik switches and learn a few new skills.
I wouldn’t need the switch to handle multiple VLANs, just the one network range.