I want to have a couple of 2.5GbE PoE+ ports so in the future, since I plan on building my own server closet, I plan on utilizing multiple EnGenius Wi-Fi 6 access points for a house that I plan to build in the future.
My budget is around $1,000 however I don’t mind stretching it a little higher. For those who do not know me, I passed my Cisco CCNA exam since October 18, 2021 and I am good until I renew my CCNA certificate by October of 2024. I’m planning on stepping up to CCNP in the future, so I really do not mind spending money on enterprise-grade equipment in a home network. A warranty is not a thing for me as I will be replacing the stock fans with some Noctua fans, so I want it to be quiet even in a server closet.
I don’t know if Cisco has something similar to the Netgear switch that I linked to Amazon above; however, I’m not willing to spend $5,000 for a similar switch. No, way. Even if I’m Cisco CCNA certified, I still want to keep an open mind regarding which higher-priced 2.5Gbit switches are out there just for access points, as the 2.5Gbit switch will be connected to an Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 16-XG 10GbE switch that I plan to buy in the future and use that 16-XG as a core/distribution switch.
Now I do NOT mean UniFi because from my point of view, I see it as it’s made for beginners and not for network engineers such as myself. Besides, I’m a CLI guy even if I don’t mind using a web interface for network configuration. I have a console cable that I could make use of just like I do in Cisco Packet Tracer! I’m a “use that console cable in Packet Tracer to connect from a host to a switch” kind of guy! Sure, UniFi is awesome, but nah. I’m done with too many web UI changes made to the UniFi Controller. Know what I mean?
With all that babbling aside, can anyone recommend a rack-mountable 2.5Gbit/10Gbit PoE switch? Again, I don’t mind spending more money that is going to last a long time.
PS: Don’t get me started regarding TP-Link that copied the design and faults of UniFi Controller. Nope. Won’t buy it. (arms crossed)
Congrats on your CCNA! It’ll open doors and when you get your CCNP, it’ll open even more doors. I think it’s smart investing in gear that will give you experience on the actual stuff you will be supporting. If you are interested in a Cisco solution I would take a look at a Cisco Catalyst C3560CX-8XPD-S. It is a small switch, but it should meet all your requirements and you can buy rack mounts for it. I use these in my networks and they offer a lot of features in a nice form factor. Looks like they are less than $1K on eBay.
It looks like the Cisco Catalyst C3560CX-8XPD-S has only 2 multi-gigabit PoE ports which is fine for me with only 2 access points with 2.5GbE Ethernet port. I probably do not need more than 2 2.5GbE access points.
Instant On… I would prefer a switch that does not require me to create an account at Aruba’s website.
Actually, in a second thought, I’m going to stick with 1GbE for access points as I don’t think I will be saturating 2.5GbE even if both the wireless laptop and server makes use of NVMe drives for copying files over a wireless network. Plus, I use my desktop computer over Ethernet about 99% of the time compared to when I use my smartphone or even a laptop. 2.5GbE is great to have for a wireless access point, but then I’ll probably not want one until sometime in the future. Maybe when there will be switches with 8 2.5GbE PoE+ ports and 40 1GbE PoE+ ports.
Speaking of FS that I saw earlier in the thread, the only one switch that I saw with 2.5GbE is the one below:
Honestly, I could cut the price down by substituting 40 2.5GbE ports with only 40 1GbE ports, as I do not need or want 48 GbE ports which is overkill for me. Plus, it seems like there’s no PoE/PoE+, so that would require me to make use of midspans
While the cloud management is not an issue for me, it sounds like it can also be locally managed. I just know that price is hard to beat with that feature set. If you only need 2.5gb there are a ton of cheap unmanaged desktop options. Local Management for Switches
The developers of Home Assistant has an idea and a vision that data stays at home, so I want to extend that idea and vision to networking, which is important to me. No offense, but I don’t care if cloud management is not an issue for you as this is my thread. If anyone here is not familiar with Home Assistant, the link below is what I’m referring to:
At least I get the idea that I can manage an Instant On switch locally. Thanks.
I was mostly looking at the FS S5860-24XB-U which has multi-gig ports up to 10gb, plus the SFP+ and 25gb SFP28 ports. POE was ++ for something over 60 watts per port. And you can stack them on the SFP28 ports. But it is also over $3000 usd each and my company went a different direction with Extreme 5420 series which are gigabit with 10gbSFP+ and some SFPDD stacking ports. About $5000 usd each. I was also looking at Juniper EX3400 which were a little cheaper but similar features to the Extreme.
Software contracts are the real killer on the Extreme, Juniper, Cisco, etc. FS and Mikrotik seem to provide software upgrades for much longer, though some say the quality of the OS is not great (for the FS). I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do to bring 10gb to my test lab, or even if I can take advantage of it with the drives in my NAS. I’m likely to go with Mikrotik but still looking.
Sure, UniFi is awesome, but nah. I’m done with too many web UI changes made to the UniFi Controller. Know what I mean?