Apologies if this already has been suggested elsewhere, but beyond a two port high performance router (viewtopic.php?p=956928), I didn't find anything too relevant.

When planning the evolution of my network I seem to be hitting a gap in the current lineup, as I don't need a large port density because due to wiring constraints I find my topology more leafed out, but still would like a 10Gbps backbone to aggregate to my WAN.
The new CRS310-8G+2S+ (219$) I think is great addition for my use case. Same goes for the CRS309-1G-8S+ (269$) for L3HW FastTrack and NAT for intervlan routing in the core or CSS610-8G-2S+IN as a relatively cost efficient access switch for 1GbE clients (119$).
But a companion router for my fiber connection and VPN tunnels seems to be missing. I can't imagine I'm the only one who finds themself presented with such a scenario.

What I would like is a router that has:

• >=10Gbps routing potential
• =<10" rack form factor, ideally RMK-2/10 compatible
• >= 2 SFP+ slots for an XGSPON module and switch uplink
• 1GbE management port
• sufficient CPU for 1Gbps VPN tunnels (Wireguard, IPSec), OSPF, BGP, multicast routing and the odd container

I think my current ideal would really be CRS309-1G-8S+ port configuration in a CRS310 formfactor and the CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS block diagram.

In the current lineup I feel:

• The RB5009UG+S+IN is close but falls short on the >2 SFP+ port requirement. Pricewise, 219$ is very competitive.
• The CCR2004-16G-2S+ sitting at 465$ is a 112% cost increase, that buys you 16x1GbE that you can't get in the same L2 plane as the SFP+ ports (AFAIK not without using a CPU bridge anyway; to work with the downstream switch handling intervlan routing) while occupying a full 1U of scarce rack space.
• The CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS is again more expensive at 595$. It will probably be the last router I need (provided the hardware doesn't fail at some point), but at a hefty investment sum, excessive port count and again full 1U.

For a better differentiator to the latter, perhaps the CRS310-1G-5S-4S+ port configuration for the proposed router is better marketingwise. Don't know about the manufacturing economics, but I'd say at 300-350$ halfway between the RB5009UG+S+IN and CCR2004-16G-2S+ would be a nice pricepoint considering the current lineup (only occupied by the RB1100AHx4 having an entirely different feature set). That's however all for @Normis c.s. to research.

"But, if you're going to put them in a rack together anyway, why not pick a CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS for the combined cost of router and switch", you ask? a) no hardware switchchip and b) >1GbE SFP(+) copper modules are expensive and run hot, so IMO it would then still be more economical to add a CRS310-8G+2S+.

One could further reduce the port count to go into RB5009 or even CRS305 form factors, but I imagine thermal management will become an issue.

Hi,

I'm facing a very similar issue. Currently I'm using a Rb5009. The upstream link is currently using the 2.5Gbps port to connect the router to a firewall isolating the LAN from the DMZ. For now this does the job as the firewall is then connected to the WAN through a 300Mbps link only. However, probably end of next year, I'll have access to fiber optics for WAN, and then 10Gbps will be available... I will then have to change the router and for now I have no clue what device will be the best candidate. CRS2004 have lots of ports I don't need and are big.

If Santa Claus is reading I would like to see a new router appear in the range. It would have the RB5009 format with 8x SFP+ cages and 1x 1Gbps port for management.
If Santa Claus has the ability to bring an additional gift, I would choose a switch in RB5009 format with 8x SFP+ cages and 1x 1Gbps port for management.

Regards,
K.

I have a hard time seeing the problem you're trying to solve. You could set up the RB5009 with a CRS3XX in a router-on-a-stick configuration, with the RB5009's CPU handling the Internet and VPN traffic, and the CRS3XX handling inter-VLAN traffic and switching. One of the CRS3XX's SFP+ ports would go to the RB5009, a second one (tagged into a special Internet VLAN) could host your XGSPON SFP+, and the remaining SFP+ ports would connect to servers. 1Gbps ports on the 5009 or CRS3XX would serve the rest of your devices with nearly a dedicated gigabit each.

The real marriage of CPU & L3HW offload is the CCR2116. Yes, at $700-900 it's up there, but you're also getting 16GB of RAM, 16 cores (vs. 4), an NVME disk slot, all in 1U. I've modded one of mine to support an external SATA caddy with six SSD's. That box truly handles 10Gbps with firewall/NAT rules, Wireguard VPNs, etc. without breaking a sweat (I have 7 in production).

another compact but powerful device:

CCR2004-16G-2S+PC

https://mikrotik.com/product/ccr2004_16g_2s_pc

Maybe trading RB5009's 5 Gigabit ports to 2 2.5Gb/s would cover such needs without involving too much dev effort.