I think I’m ready to elevate from bonded 1G networking to 10GB. I tend to have used/old netgear equipment at home, purchased on the cheap. I think I’m finally seeing enough latency when trying to run OS’s on my proxmox server with storage on my TrueNAS that I want to move to 10G networking.

Looking to replace my existing 12-port L3 switch (6 ports are occupied) with either RJ-45 or SFP based 10G, I think I will need realistically 16 ports. Storage will specifically be moved from my 48 port L2 witch with 4-1G bonds, carrying storage and networking, to probably 2 10G bonds dedicated to storage, which currently means I need an additional 6 ports right now, so 12 total used, then planning for future expansion, 16 port minimum.

I’ve been crawling ebay, but the barrier to entry is way higher than my foray from unmanaged to managed networking. I keep landing on Netgear M4300, where the price ranges from about $1000-$2400. I can save up for these, but is there a better way to get into 10G? I’ve seen some HP Procurve switches that seem way more cost reasonable, but my networking peers have told me to completely stay away from HP networking.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

  • SteveTech@programming.dev
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    1 year ago

    If you can live with only 4 10G ports, those types of switches are far cheaper than 16 port ones, I’ve gotten them for ~$100AU off eBay auctions before.

    And if you’re fine with spending a bit more you could get a 8 port ubiquiti aggregation switch, and then upgrade to a bigger switch once the price comes down.

  • Terrasque
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    1 year ago

    I went the middle road and settled for 2.5G - still a nice boost, and a lot cheaper. Might be worth a consideration if you can’t find cheap enough 10G gear.

    Edit: Cost me around 300 dollars to upgrade my network. 2x 8 port switches, and 4x network cards.

    Edit2: As a bonus, I could continue using the 1gbit devices directly plugged into the switch, since 2.5G use ethernet and the switches support 1g too.

    • Hyacin@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      This. FS or there’s some shockingly good (looking) stuff on Aliexpress I’ve been considering and have heard good (perhaps sponsored) things about.

    • TheButtonJustSpins
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      1 year ago

      How does it compare to e.g., Netgear in terms of functionality and reliability?

  • terribleplan@lemmy.nrd.li
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    1 year ago

    Mikrotik stuff is pretty good and quite inexpensive. They all run RouterOS, which is their linux distro for switches/routers. Fully managed and can do basically anything L2 or L3 you could want. Worth noting that availability and pricing has been pretty variable from their resllers for a while, and you will pay a premium via Amazon. Here’s a list of relevant product product pages with the port counts and MSRPs:

    Also these may help for some corner cases or change your ideas on what you want to build:

    • surfrock66@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      I have an actual bedroom closet with a 45U rack and dedicated power and cooling, so noise/power are not a concern, I’ll look into it. How is the mgmt of them?

      • nezbyte@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Management is mostly done through CLI. You need a generic console cable to get it on the network and then you can do everything remotely. There is a web ui as well, I mostly use it for quick status checks.

        I have only used an ICX6610-48P-E. As this was my first non-Unifi managed switch, I spent a few hours setting it all up. Now, I just go back to the guides on ServeTheHome whenever I want to change VLANs or something complicated.

        My home server is connected to the switch using a Mellanox ConnectX-3 and a QSFP DAC cable. It was about the same price as a 10G card and link so I figured why not go 40G to future proof it.