Hi there,
I’m currently using an RB4011 + a switch in my setup. I have a couple of cAP ac on the PoE out of the RB 4011 in a daisy chain.
I’m tempted to get a RB5009UG+S+IN mostly because of it’s size to free some space, but I’d be loosing poe out.
Are there any other devices (or plans) with a similar form factor like RB5009UG+S+IN that could be grouped to the advertised “up to 4 in a 1 HE space” with similar mounting options?
In the form factor of RB5009 it is hardly possible to add any port without sacrifying any of existing ports, there’s simply no space to do it. There are “ears” on both sides of RB5009 case and making case internally larger by removing “ears” would make needed space. However, those ears are essential for mounting devices in 2x2 matrix (one has to mount those adaptors to join two devices in a row).
So realistically only thing that might happen in same form factor is to add PoE out functionality and even that might only be available in passive mode, 801.3af/at PoE devices tend to generate quite some additional head compared to non-PoE relatives and extra heat might cause issues due to passive cooling of device.
Another possible change would be to replace a few RJ45 ports with SFP cages if there’s additional internal space available (SFP cages are quite much deeper than typical RJ45 connector block). This change might also affect cooling performance, RJ45 SFP modules are known to generate quite a lot of heat, specially if they support anything faster than 1Gbps. Optical SFPs OTOH are fine.
Including SFP+ might be problematic due to limits of switch chip used (Marvell 88E393X supports 1x10Gbps and 8x1Gbps ethernet ports and only 2x10Gbps for interconnect towards SoC).
I’m not looking for a single device that serves all of those.
The RB5009UG is advertised as “you can have 4 of these in a single 1U 19” slot".
I’m looking for not having 4x the same device mounted, but rather:
1x RB5009UG
1x small switch with PoE out ports (like this hEX PoE)
1x small switch with SFP+ ports (like this CRS305-1G-4S+IN)
1x small switch with 10/2.5/1 GB Ethernet ports (like a reduced version of this CRS312-4C+8XG-RM)
But all with the same form factor and case design like the RB5009UG.
Curretly I have 1x full 1U router + 1x full 1U switch.
My hope is to reduce that to only 1U in total but of course again with multiple devices .
Interesting idea, something like the Turris Mox. I see the power distribution on the side but what about some kind of standard interface between the devices on the side. So you don’t have use the present external interfaces.
My opinion is that the All in one idea might be nice for a home user…
In a production enviroment i dont really understand why would i need in a 1U rack space to have a switch, a Router and a POE switch all together… I will just use one more 1U space to place my POE switch and thats all…
The setup is powering a small office with
Office network with 2 loadbalanced/failover internet uplinks + vpn connection to the datacenter. Employee Network & Guest network with captive portal (router)
1 local fileserver (10G fibre connection to switch)
Multiple CAPs for the WiFi (PoE powered)
And several wired workstations + printers.
The people are moving large files (art for print).
I’d say this is quite productive, but of course not datacenter grade.
The devices are in a small 19" network rack where space actually does matter, because we inly have that small one.
I’m not saying, the current setup doesn’t work, but for example upgrading some of the stations with 10G copper connection on 10/2.5/1 G switch we cannot do due to lack of space in the network rack. (or we’d need to use a different brand and replace essentially everything, which is not a good idea, because all is in a working condition on mikrotik already)
The additional SFP+ switch in my imagined layout would be to interconnect the devices.
I believe there are many other small companies out there who don’t wanna have a full rack in their office space. Ofc you can also put stuff into a shelf without a rack at all, but most of the offices I know at least have a network rack anyways. So what’s so bad about putting quality devices in there?
btw: I also hope that there is some higher thought behind that small router going into this direction. A home user would not need having 4x the same router in 1U either, would he?
There are small/medium Racks , as well as wall mounted small racks…
Anyways, i do understand you, it would be nice if we could have everything consuming the least space possible…