Question Home Switch Recommendations

[userman78]

I am looking for a switch for myself for my home. Here are some of the requirements:

• Decently quiet (are cisco switches loud? I have a dell r710 next to me, which does not bother me)
• 24 or 48 ports
• 100mbps-1gbps(preferred)
• vlan support
• layer 2 & 3
• Under $200
• Managed switch
• 802.1x support

I was looking at this one: https://router-switch.com/pdf/ws-c3560g-48ts-s-datasheet.pdf https://www.ebay.com/itm/CISCO-WS-C...645e1d868:g:F9oAAOSwbdpWZ9lx&autorefresh=true, but am concerned with a) noise and b) cost over time to run device (or energy efficiency).

 

[mikeford]

Sticker on the back rates the power at 300watts, 365x24 operation will cost you.

You must have an interesting home network to need 24 to 48 ports. OTOH I am likely doing it wrong with several 8 port switches split off from my 5 port router.

 

[sdifox]

3560 shouldn't be loud. You can shutdown unused blocks of ports to save some power.
My BayStack 5520 48 POE is a banshee. Good thing it's in the basement. I also have a R710 with dual L5640.

 

[userman78]

Does shutting down blocks of ports use less energy?

 

[sdifox]

Does shutting down blocks of ports use less energy?

Of course. The 300W rating is at full load anyway.

 

[JackMDS]

May be this can Help.

Digital Power Monitor Meter Usage Energy Watt Amp Volt KWh Electricity - - Amazon.com

Digital Power Monitor Meter Usage Energy Watt Amp Volt KWh Electricity - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[Fallen Kell]

Do you care if you buy new or used?

If you don’t mind used, you should look into a brocade ICX 6450 like the following:eBay Brocade ICX6450

This particular one has 24x1Gbe rj45 ports and 4x10Gbe SFP+ ports. It is easily modded for extremely quiet fans. And it is a full layer 3 switch (in other words it is also a router) with VLAN support and about 25W power draw for the 24 port version (excluding any PoE devices if you use PoE). They also have 48 port versions. You should be able to find them for around $140-180 shipped.

The switch OS is Fastiron which is very close to CISCO IOS in syntax and usage. There are a bunch of YouTube videos on how to configure certain things as well.

If you want to spend a little more you can look at the ICX6610, but they are far from quiet. However they will support 2 devices at 40Gbe, and 16x10Gbe (on top of the 24 or 48Gbe). I got one for $200 shipped.

 

[killster1]

Do you care if you buy new or used?

If you don’t mind used, you should look into a brocade ICX 6450 like the following:eBay Brocade ICX6450

This particular one has 24x1Gbe rj45 ports and 4x10Gbe SFP+ ports. It is easily modded for extremely quiet fans. And it is a full layer 3 switch (in other words it is also a router) with VLAN support and about 25W power draw for the 24 port version (excluding any PoE devices if you use PoE). They also have 48 port versions. You should be able to find them for around $140-180 shipped.

The switch OS is Fastiron which is very close to CISCO IOS in syntax and usage. There are a bunch of YouTube videos on how to configure certain things as well.

If you want to spend a little more you can look at the ICX6610, but they are far from quiet. However they will support 2 devices at 40Gbe, and 16x10Gbe (on top of the 24 or 48Gbe). I got one for $200 shipped.

just bought one of the ICX6610 24 port from your recommendation. it said it had "premium lic" so i assume that means 8 ports on top are 10gbe ? Maybe i can mod it somehow to make the noise tolerable. I forget if it said it was the POE model (which i wanted ) and it has only 1 psu, i looked on ebay for psu's and it looks like 125+$ wow, they also have some kinda side fan for 65$.

 

[Fallen Kell]

just bought one of the ICX6610 24 port from your recommendation. it said it had "premium lic" so i assume that means 8 ports on top are 10gbe ? Maybe i can mod it somehow to make the noise tolerable. I forget if it said it was the POE model (which i wanted ) and it has only 1 psu, i looked on ebay for psu's and it looks like 125+$ wow, they also have some kinda side fan for 65$.

There is a pretty HUGE thread on these switches over on Serve The Home:
Serve The Home Brocade ICX Switches

There are links for the various models which go over basic first time configuration/firmware/OS updates. I highly encourage reading at least the first page and the setup/config for your particular switch. It will go over how to backup existing licenses, where you can get additional licenses, etc.

Also, for the ICX6610, there are really only 2 fan mods that has been successful. One is pretty involved using PWM signal generator(s) in order to communicate back to the switch's main board spoofing the high RPM fan speeds of the stock fans (allowing their removal) while making a new top panel for the switch with new holes cut for 120/140mm fans and cutting away some of the housing of the power supplies in order to allow airflow into them (pretty complex and potentially dangerous with the power supplies). The other involved removing the top panel and essentially placing a fan tray on the top of it (the tray is usually used at the top of racks for exhausting air up and out and has 4 120/140mm fans on it). In the second mod, the internal fans are all still connected, but the additional cooling from the top fans allows them to run quieter.

Many people have burned out their switches attempting to do a direct fan swap to slower/quieter fans. The factory fans are really the only choice in the form factor as they are the only fans on the market which can move the amount of air at the proper pressure levels in order to cool these switches.:
Brocade ICX 6610 fan mods

 

[killster1]

There is a pretty HUGE thread on these switches over on Serve The Home:
Serve The Home Brocade ICX Switches

There are links for the various models which go over basic first time configuration/firmware/OS updates. I highly encourage reading at least the first page and the setup/config for your particular switch. It will go over how to backup existing licenses, where you can get additional licenses, etc.

Also, for the ICX6610, there are really only 2 fan mods that has been successful. One is pretty involved using PWM signal generator(s) in order to communicate back to the switch's main board spoofing the high RPM fan speeds of the stock fans (allowing their removal) while making a new top panel for the switch with new holes cut for 120/140mm fans and cutting away some of the housing of the power supplies in order to allow airflow into them (pretty complex and potentially dangerous with the power supplies). The other involved removing the top panel and essentially placing a fan tray on the top of it (the tray is usually used at the top of racks for exhausting air up and out and has 4 120/140mm fans on it). In the second mod, the internal fans are all still connected, but the additional cooling from the top fans allows them to run quieter:
Brocade ICX 6610 fan mods

yea i messed up and didnt buy the POE version i got the F version which has 24 sfp ports apparently. wow i had no idea they even made a version with no rj45 arrrgh. maybe i can get them to cancel the order if they havnt shipped by today.

 

[Fallen Kell]

yea i messed up and didnt buy the POE version i got the F version which has 24 sfp ports apparently. wow i had no idea they even made a version with no rj45 arrrgh. maybe i can get them to cancel the order if they havnt shipped by today.

Yeah, sorry, with enterprise grade stuff there are usually like a dozen or more versions for all the various options (PoE, non-PoE, front-to-rear cooling, rear-to-front cooling, 1 PSU, 2 PSU, 1 fan module, 2 fan modules, 24 ports RJ45, 48 ports RJ45, 24 ports sfp, 48 ports sfp), and all the combinations there in.

Hopefully they let you cancel.

Also, double check the PoE capabilities. There are I think 2 or 3 different PoE standards, and the 6XXX switches being older was based on the original standard.

 

[killster1]

Yeah, sorry, with enterprise grade stuff there are usually like a dozen or more versions for all the various options (PoE, non-PoE, front-to-rear cooling, rear-to-front cooling, 1 PSU, 2 PSU, 1 fan module, 2 fan modules, 24 ports RJ45, 48 ports RJ45, 24 ports sfp, 48 ports sfp), and all the combinations there in.

Hopefully they let you cancel.

Also, double check the PoE capabilities. There are I think 2 or 3 different PoE standards, and the 6XXX switches being older was based on the original standard.

i should have went ahead and got this one.

Ruckus ICX 7150-C12P Compact 12 Port Ethernet Switch - ICX7150-C12P-2X1G | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Ruckus ICX 7150-C12P Compact 12 Port Ethernet Switch - ICX7150-C12P-2X1G at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

i think i can get away with 12 ports. I already have a few POE+ netgear switches incase the poe is wrong.

i wonder if i could use a LOT of adapters to use the 24f. 12$-20 for each adapter could kill this. the 48 port poe 6610 was 370?

 

[Fallen Kell]

Yeah, it looks like prices have gone up a bit in the last few weeks on the 48 port units. When I bought my 24 port switch back in February/March, the 48 port switches could be found for around $240 (the 24 ports were 180-200). I think more and more people are reading up about these, so the prices are going up with sales. And/or the number of companies that have been dumping these as they upgraded their internal networks is slowing down (they are mostly jumping onto the SFP28/QSFP28 trains for 25Gbe/100Gbe/400Gbe speeds, which doesn't leave much room for the older 10Gbe/40Gbe speeds of these switches).

I can't blame the raising of prices a bit, I mean, look at the price of typical home networking switches lately. Especially for anything that even remotely comes close to having true 10Gbe support, let alone full hardware bandwidth to all ports and L3 support like these ICX switches.

 

[killster1]

Yeah, it looks like prices have gone up a bit in the last few weeks on the 48 port units. When I bought my 24 port switch back in February/March, the 48 port switches could be found for around $240 (the 24 ports were 180-200). I think more and more people are reading up about these, so the prices are going up with sales. And/or the number of companies that have been dumping these as they upgraded their internal networks is slowing down (they are mostly jumping onto the SFP28/QSFP28 trains for 25Gbe/100Gbe/400Gbe speeds, which doesn't leave much room for the older 10Gbe/40Gbe speeds of these switches).

I can't blame the raising of prices a bit, I mean, look at the price of typical home networking switches lately. Especially for anything that even remotely comes close to having true 10Gbe support, let alone full hardware bandwidth to all ports and L3 support like these ICX switches.

got a refund for the other one and purchased a ICX7250-24P with supposed 8x10gb sfp license.
https://www.ebay.com/c/16031296950 (but offered 300 and accepted) 8 poe ports and 3 x 10gb sfp is all i need so this should give me some room to grow and run a 10gb network heh