RB4011iGS+RM WAN port and LAN switching

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Good morning

I intend to rewire my whole network at home and therefore will replace my small 750 router with the RB4011iGS+RM model as it has a SFP+ port…

Now my simple questions (o;

  • The diagram shows 3 switch block connected to CPU, so it is best to just hook up eth1 as WAN port to the provider and use eth6 - eth10 as LAN ports, though total capacity is limited to 2.5GBits/sec…

  • Is the SFP+ port meant to be a WAN port as well or can it be used as a LAN port in the same switching domain as eth6 - eth10? I would need this SFP+ connection to a 10GB capable Mikrotik switch in the next room…

  • Or is it best to just use eth1 as WAN and SFP+ as the only LAN port to a CRS309-1G-8S+IN switch? I assume I can use my old Cisco SFP-T modules for supplying 1000baseT.


    Wish there was Mikrotik router with just few SFP(+) ports as I always use fibre cable between rooms and floors (o;


    thanks in advance
    richard

2

If you are not using any advanced switch-features (VLAN etc.) then the group will be switched at full speed without passing the CPU. No port is meant for WAN, it’s up to you to decide.

You could group the clients on the two switch-groups in such a way that you minimize the need for passing between the CPU. (in terms of bandwidth heavy)

I think the primary reason for the SFP+ is to connect to an SFP+ 10G switch or NAS/Server. Cisco SFP-T will probably work great, alltrough I have no experience with RB4011.

3

You can use the SFP+ port in the same bridge as the rest of the ports. That will work; I run my 4011 (the one with WiFi) that way, with all interfaces in a single bridge (I actually bought it as a 10G-capable wireless AP and don’t use the gig ports at all).

Just keep in mind that, as you already noticed, the two switch chips (ethernet 1-5 & 6-10) only have a 2.5Gbps connection off-chip, so spreading your 1000BASE-T hosts over the two chips may take some planning, if you have a lot of local (host-to-host) traffic.

4

Okay…makes sense…

Well I intend to use a NAS with SFP+ card as well…and have some ProLabs SFP+ MM modules spare…

So the SFP+ cage is the same as the SFP cage?

5

Yes, it is. You can connect the NAS to the SFP+ port with your SFPs, and you won’t use any internal bandwidth between the switch chips that way, as it has its own connection to the CPU.

6

Okay…

Well I just ordered now the CRS309-1G-8S+IN switch…which will do the distribution in the house…and currently use my hEX RB750GR3 as a router…

One of my Linux stations will get a 10GB card as well, and maybe a Mac machine, just in case I do network rendering with Octane… so the RB4011iGS+RM alone won’t be enough…

In a second step some small switches need replacement, those old D-Link and TP-Link switches with no or old management (o;
Well..depends on the SwitchOS experience first (o;

There is no 3rd party SFP(+) compatibility list for Mikrotik products?
But basically all routers/switches with SFP+ can accept SFP+ I conclude…

Will keep you posted on how it goes with 3rd party SFP and SFP+ modules…

7

The CRS309-1G-8S+IN

Only SFP modules that don’t work (and I have=) are those Cisco GLC-T copper modules…

GLX-SX-MM and GLC-LH-SM work fine..also a Prolabs SFP-10G-SR-C.

8

Ah this is what I get for the installed GLC-T module:

[admin@DIstribution_Switch] > /interface ethernet monitor 4
                      name: sfp-sfpplus4
                    status: no-link
          auto-negotiation: failed
               advertising: 
  link-partner-advertising: 
        sfp-module-present: yes
               sfp-rx-loss: no
              sfp-tx-fault: no
                  sfp-type: SFP-or-SFP+
    sfp-link-length-copper: 100m
           sfp-vendor-name: CISCO-METHODE
    sfp-vendor-part-number: SP7041
       sfp-vendor-revision: F
         sfp-vendor-serial: 00000MTC135104HW
            sfp-wavelength: 16653.93nm
  sfp-dwdm-channel-spacing: 1Ghz
           eeprom-checksum: good
                    eeprom: 0000: 03 04 00 00 00 00 08 00  00 00 00 01 0d 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            0010: 00 00 64 00 43 49 53 43  4f 2d 4d 45 54 48 4f 44  ..d.CISC O-METHOD
                            0020: 45 20 20 20 01 00 00 00  53 50 37 30 34 31 20 20  E   .... SP7041  
                            0030: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20  46 20 20 20 41 0c c1 e9           F   A...
                            0040: 00 10 00 00 30 30 30 30  30 4d 54 43 31 33 35 31  ....0000 0MTC1351
                            0050: 30 34 48 57 30 39 31 32  31 38 30 31 00 00 00 47  04HW0912 1801...G
                            0060: 00 00 0e b8 4c 5e f8 24  e8 c1 c4 14 be 1d 2d d9  ....L^.$ ......-.
                            0070: 4e 06 9c 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 01 4f 68 46  N....... .....OhF
                            0080: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            0090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00a0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00b0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00c0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00d0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00e0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
                            00f0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ........ ........
9

Okay…GLC-T works too (o;

Need autoneg off on switch side and on Linux host side for example:

ethtool -s enp5s0 speed 1000 duplex full autoneg off
10

I’ve used various SFP+ modules on RB4011 without any issues.

CISCO-AVAGO 10Gbase-SR SFBR-709SMZ-CS2
CISCO-AVAGO 10Gbase-LR SFCT-739SMZ
FS 10GBase-ER SFP-10GER-31
OPTIC 10Gbase-SR S+85DLC03D
MikroTik 10Gbase-SR S+85DLC03D
And a few more (mainly 1Gbit) that I don’t recall at the moment.

As a matter of fact, I’ve used all of the above on MikroTik (CCR & RB4011) and also Cisco devices (Nexus 7700, C2960XR, C3850, etc) without any problems (except for the Nexus which by default it complains about non genuine cisco SFP modules, and you need to run “service unsupported-transceiver” for them to start working).