I have a client who's infrastructure is been redesigned. For Routing, WiFi and Switching deployment we are using Mikrotik, this switch in particular is going to be a TOR (Top of the Rack) switch, and we are using two more, one on each floor of the building, connected with 10g SFP+, The testing we have done has been fantastic, this unit is a beast. Forget about Cisco or Aruba or anything else. Easy config and deployment. 100% recommended.
I’m thinking this might be the perfect at home switch. 4x 10gbe for PCs in the house, 1 x 40gbe for a mega Nas and 1x 40gbe for a virtualised server. If I’m reading the performance correctly, 4x 10 + 2x40= 120gbps, meaning if this lot were full speed, then it wouldn’t saturate the switch but it’d be 99% on a small packet size. The 48 x 1gb could be then used for more “consumer” devices eg chrome cast, receiver, r pi, hue hubs, internet, cameras, tv etc...
For a small business this seems great, I can have 40 desktops of employees, with a POE injektor some surveillance cams, two 10G wifi 6 APs for employees using their phone/laptop, a 10/40G Server, a 10G internet router, a 40G NAS, and a good amount of further expansion options
Hi STHV, as I wrote above, these unit (with and without poe) are great and I personaly waited for these units sice their announcment on 2018 MUM. I work for large comany as network admin and 99% our network is based on Mikrotik, because of me. I am using Mikrotik devices since 2008 and cannot be happier with quality (hw and sw) of mk devices. For crs354 line-up I would like have stronger CPU but...these are switches. Nobody should buying this for L3.... Also crs354 line-up (at least imho) first hw not made in Lithuania - which is not so good for me. I have my doubts about "made in china" stuffs. I will use this in heavy duty work and we will see. I think it is gonna be ok. Also crs354 are on louder side of this category but it mented to be used in server room, so it is actually fine. Also I like to see more QSFP accesories... Sorry for my poor eng.
Thanks for the overview. POE would have put this into a completely different price segment, comparing with equivalent solutions with those uplink options. It's obviously not a router, hence the performance there. It seems to serve small packet sizes very well at L2, especially given the price point, so I'm unclear on your recommendations.
you definitely dont want to route anything through it, it's a L2 switch. though they've started implementing some L3 functions in their 300 series switches, so MAYBE it could support L3 stuff in the future.
Thanks for this great video Patrick. One thing that I am looking for and I wish STH would either do a video or an article with some instructions: All those Microtik switches are great for L2, but what is the recommendation for L3? for 10G, 25G, 40G.. Thanks again
Great feedback. We need to get Rohit some help with the networking reviews so we can expand more. We just increased networking focus in Q4'19. I get the frustration with how fast this is going, but we have to look at it like it is a process to get there.
It‘s really nice how you describe the product and all the „physical“ features with all the possibilities. But some actual demo of the software features and especially the performance when using them would be a lot more helpful. What good is a switch like that for example, if using QoS will brake down everything far below 40Gbit/s or even 10Gbit/s? So I‘d like to see if the hardware is actually capable of delivering full or near full speeds when the switch has actually to do some work with the packets. That‘s because I already got burnt once or twice in that regard.
The only issue is the end user ........ which means the ones that will be connected on the 1gbe port, they will only get 1gbps upstream-downstream....it would be really really interesting if mikrotik really decided to inovate witha 48port 10gbe-t ports with 12 QSFP+ 40gbe ports in order to achieve full total troughput of 480gbps
mikrotik products are definitely not Enterprise grade in terms of hardware quality, that includes their CCR and CRS lineup, but still, they're a steal for the price and they just work. I've been using various mikrotik products for more than 10 years now. the only problem I had was with the RB951 units, they failed me 3 times and needed a restart in a hot environment (37 c with no active cooling), but I can't complain since these units are not meant to be running in such an environment. other than that, their products run perfectly fine, I've had units run for 2+ years without a single downtime.
Well, yes. Why not? I'am using switches (and not only switches) from Cisco, HPE/3com, Dlink, SMC, Ubiquiti and Mikrotik and there are indeed differences... Cisco has specific implementations of some protocols and technologies (i.e. proprietary and not compatible with others) and sometimes automaticly disables random ports. And I still don't count Linksys as a Cisco devices ;-) HPE/3com (and yes, I have a few 3com branded switches still running) sometimes resets to default. Dlink devices has tons of security bugs. SMC switches dies on daily basis (but yes, they are old). Ubiquiti switches is thermal hell (at least some of them). Mikrotik switches are slow in L3 / RouterOS, but it's known and documented. So I see Mikrotik as good as others, but yeah Cisco and HPE has "name", "support", PRICE and funny certificates :-D Ofcourse all of then has many more pros and I wrote just cons. You must compare switches in the same segment and not Cisco 7xxx vs. Mikrotik CRS. Let's say Cisco SG200 and Mikrotik CRS are in the same league. Cheap/expensive doesn't allways mean bad/good.
Hey Patrick, be nice to see a to spec comparison against Edgeswitches, Edgerouters. My looking says Mikrotiks are about 3 times better performers, but not sure if things like pps are 1500 or 64 bytes which makes a huge difference, so might be around the same.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Cool, hope he shws a direct comparison, it might make a few certain fanboys jaw drop, I know mine did when I saw the 354..... has about the same pps/backplane as some of the more heavily used Junipers - just without the price tag :) which incidentally looks on paper to have much more than cataylsts
This is certainly a step below Cisco. Ours have worked surprisingly well (I think we have 6 or so of them running.) Still, these are really lower cost for those that do not need everything Cisco offers.
CRS354 are broken devices. The Mikrotik forum is full of complains and mikroshit could fix the issue (even is more than 5 months old). The problem: some group ports (1-8) stop forwarding traffic and you need to reboot the device. They just cant fix it or dont care about it. Check Mikrotik forum.
Ugh. I have spent the last several days trying to get this switch to work. It fails to do basic things like VLANs and LACP without crazy convoluted configs. Even, then, it is highly unstable. It just stops working and requires a reboot. Many times I had config options greyed out and only a reboot would let me select them. The admin interface also randomly stops responding even if the switching stays working. It is basically useless. Now, I would say I just have a bad unit, but this is exactly the same experience I had with a different switch model before. MikroTik is just not good for anything more advanced than a single-VLAN dumb-switch situation.
I’ve used a lot of Mikrotik gear at work and never found the config convoluted or had random instability issues. The main issues we experienced were a higher failure rate than our Cisco or juniper kit, but the Mikrotik gear is so cheap you just bin the old unit a slam a new one in the hole, and the BGP convergence time is very slow if you have a large routing table. The advice we were given when we started to bring Mikrotik gear into our mix was to keep the configuration simple and not turn on too many features at once. If you want to firewall with it, just make it a firewall, if you want to do bgp with it just do bgp. That’s on top of your normal bridges and vlans. Anywho, I’m sure different peoples mileage will vary.
@@Alan.livingston I think the big issue is that they are trying to do switches using the same config methods as a layer-3 router and it just doesn't work. There is no easy way to set up VLANs, for example. I have not really messed with anything other than the switches, but the experience has made me pretty much put Mikrotik on the "never buy" list. At least until they fix their configurations and make it usable. Making a switch should not be all that difficult. The amount of extraneous crap in the config is just so overwhelming. I returned the Mikrotik and got a Juniper switch. It took me about 5 minutes to it configured the way I needed for multiple VLANs and it has been happily running ever since. No random lockups or strange issues with configs stopping working (which happened with all 3 Mikrotik switches I tried). I suppose if you need a dumb L2 switch with no configs, then the mikrotik are fine and the price is good. But if you need anything more advanced at all, you should just step up to a real brand with proper configurations.
@@thomasbonse Sure, but did it HAVE to be said every 30 seconds in a 17 minute video ? (Exaggerated, i know - but repeating it as many times as here, is too)
Mikrotik has the POE version of this switch out now too (CRS354-48P-4S+2Q+RM) with 700W of 802.3af/at for an MSRP of $899.
I have a client who's infrastructure is been redesigned. For Routing, WiFi and Switching deployment we are using Mikrotik, this switch in particular is going to be a TOR (Top of the Rack) switch, and we are using two more, one on each floor of the building, connected with 10g SFP+, The testing we have done has been fantastic, this unit is a beast. Forget about Cisco or Aruba or anything else. Easy config and deployment.
100% recommended.
I’m thinking this might be the perfect at home switch. 4x 10gbe for PCs in the house, 1 x 40gbe for a mega Nas and 1x 40gbe for a virtualised server. If I’m reading the performance correctly, 4x 10 + 2x40= 120gbps, meaning if this lot were full speed, then it wouldn’t saturate the switch but it’d be 99% on a small packet size. The 48 x 1gb could be then used for more “consumer” devices eg chrome cast, receiver, r pi, hue hubs, internet, cameras, tv etc...
I see a use with small editing companies. 4 editors on 10gb, 2 servers on the 40gb, plenty of connection for everything else.
I see a use of me blowing a paycheck for some cool numbers on my computer
For a small business this seems great, I can have 40 desktops of employees, with a POE injektor some surveillance cams, two 10G wifi 6 APs for employees using their phone/laptop, a 10/40G Server, a 10G internet router, a 40G NAS, and a good amount of further expansion options
is this how car enthusiasts feel like when looking at cheap high-end cars?
Sure does.
Thx for great video STHV, I already bought about 10 these unit and about 6 unit with poe - There are great switches.
We just got the POE version into the lab this week. A review will come soon. We would love to hear your thoughts in the meantime.
Hi STHV, as I wrote above, these unit (with and without poe) are great and I personaly waited for these units sice their announcment on 2018 MUM.
I work for large comany as network admin and 99% our network is based on Mikrotik, because of me. I am using Mikrotik devices since 2008 and cannot be happier with quality (hw and sw) of mk devices.
For crs354 line-up I would like have stronger CPU but...these are switches. Nobody should buying this for L3....
Also crs354 line-up (at least imho) first hw not made in Lithuania - which is not so good for me. I have my doubts about "made in china" stuffs.
I will use this in heavy duty work and we will see. I think it is gonna be ok.
Also crs354 are on louder side of this category but it mented to be used in server room, so it is actually fine.
Also I like to see more QSFP accesories...
Sorry for my poor eng.
Thanks for the overview. POE would have put this into a completely different price segment, comparing with equivalent solutions with those uplink options. It's obviously not a router, hence the performance there. It seems to serve small packet sizes very well at L2, especially given the price point, so I'm unclear on your recommendations.
Well the PoE variant is still
you definitely dont want to route anything through it, it's a L2 switch.
though they've started implementing some L3 functions in their 300 series switches, so MAYBE it could support L3 stuff in the future.
Thanks for this great video Patrick.
One thing that I am looking for and I wish STH would either do a video or an article with some instructions: All those Microtik switches are great for L2, but what is the recommendation for L3? for 10G, 25G, 40G..
Thanks again
Great feedback. We need to get Rohit some help with the networking reviews so we can expand more. We just increased networking focus in Q4'19. I get the frustration with how fast this is going, but we have to look at it like it is a process to get there.
I really wish there is a PoE version of this.
I just found that there is a PoE version as well CRS354-48P-4S+2Q+RM
but it lacks redundant Power Supply
It‘s really nice how you describe the product and all the „physical“ features with all the possibilities. But some actual demo of the software features and especially the performance when using them would be a lot more helpful. What good is a switch like that for example, if using QoS will brake down everything far below 40Gbit/s or even 10Gbit/s? So I‘d like to see if the hardware is actually capable of delivering full or near full speeds when the switch has actually to do some work with the packets. That‘s because I already got burnt once or twice in that regard.
The only issue is the end user ........ which means the ones that will be connected on the 1gbe port, they will only get 1gbps upstream-downstream....it would be really really interesting if mikrotik really decided to inovate witha 48port 10gbe-t ports with 12 QSFP+ 40gbe ports in order to achieve full total troughput of 480gbps
Fortinet FortiSwitch 548D has the same ports, although NOT the same price bracket....
Agreed. At 8-10x the cost, and some different features, we excluded that as an alternative "low cost" switch.
Can these switches be trusted in production env? Even if i put two for failover, its still cheaper then anything cisco, hp etc?
This switch is cheaper than a single cisco branded SFP+ transceiver...
mikrotik products are definitely not Enterprise grade in terms of hardware quality, that includes their CCR and CRS lineup,
but still, they're a steal for the price and they just work.
I've been using various mikrotik products for more than 10 years now. the only problem I had was with the RB951 units, they failed me 3 times and needed a restart in a hot environment (37 c with no active cooling), but I can't complain since these units are not meant to be running in such an environment.
other than that, their products run perfectly fine, I've had units run for 2+ years without a single downtime.
Well, yes. Why not? I'am using switches (and not only switches) from Cisco, HPE/3com, Dlink, SMC, Ubiquiti and Mikrotik and there are indeed differences...
Cisco has specific implementations of some protocols and technologies (i.e. proprietary and not compatible with others) and sometimes automaticly disables random ports. And I still don't count Linksys as a Cisco devices ;-)
HPE/3com (and yes, I have a few 3com branded switches still running) sometimes resets to default.
Dlink devices has tons of security bugs.
SMC switches dies on daily basis (but yes, they are old).
Ubiquiti switches is thermal hell (at least some of them).
Mikrotik switches are slow in L3 / RouterOS, but it's known and documented.
So I see Mikrotik as good as others, but yeah Cisco and HPE has "name", "support", PRICE and funny certificates :-D Ofcourse all of then has many more pros and I wrote just cons. You must compare switches in the same segment and not Cisco 7xxx vs. Mikrotik CRS. Let's say Cisco SG200 and Mikrotik CRS are in the same league. Cheap/expensive doesn't allways mean bad/good.
No POE? Not a problem!! But I just wondering, if I use DAC 2.5G/5G on the SFP+ slots then what speed do I get?
Hey Patrick, be nice to see a to spec comparison against Edgeswitches, Edgerouters.
My looking says Mikrotiks are about 3 times better performers, but not sure if things like pps are 1500 or 64 bytes which makes a huge difference, so might be around the same.
We have Dmitrij testing routers now with a pretty fancy setup on the main site. We have not made videos of those though.
@@ServeTheHomeVideo Cool, hope he shws a direct comparison, it might make a few certain fanboys jaw drop, I know mine did when I saw the 354..... has about the same pps/backplane as some of the more heavily used Junipers - just without the price tag :) which incidentally looks on paper to have much more than cataylsts
are these devices reliable ? durable?
I mean this brand?
can we consider it similar to Cisco or Fortinet level devices?
This is certainly a step below Cisco. Ours have worked surprisingly well (I think we have 6 or so of them running.) Still, these are really lower cost for those that do not need everything Cisco offers.
There is a af/at POE version of this at $900, and SwOS is not available on these.
can we use it as a router ?
Love the content! Audio is a little bit crap unfortunately!
All a process. Just know this is not going to be the plateau and it will improve.
There is another version for this switch along with POE!!!!
They put the information for that online the day we went live with the video and review!
YIKES! An extra $400 (USD), but it does offer up to 800W.
@@fcinecinin1 700w of POE, not 800. 800w is the switch's maximum power utilization.
Can we swap out the fans for small noctuas?
Yes, they're 4 pin.
Trying to imagine QFSP+ production workloads that I would trust to this switch.
sorry is it layer 2 or layer 3
CRS354 are broken devices. The Mikrotik forum is full of complains and mikroshit could fix the issue (even is more than 5 months old). The problem: some group ports (1-8) stop forwarding traffic and you need to reboot the device. They just cant fix it or dont care about it. Check Mikrotik forum.
Would like to see more high speed ports and less 1Gbe.
There is a 24 port SFP+, 2 QSFP+ router/switch available.
@Benny T That would be it.
@Benny T The specs of this are also faster - higher switching throughput
Here you go
CRS326-24S+2Q+RM
Only took three takes to recite the model number. :-)
SW OS is supported in this model?
All CRS 3xx models can boot to either Router or SWOS.
@@heyjacleu Yes today. Not yet at that time.
Ubiquity needs to take some notes.
Ugh. I have spent the last several days trying to get this switch to work. It fails to do basic things like VLANs and LACP without crazy convoluted configs. Even, then, it is highly unstable. It just stops working and requires a reboot. Many times I had config options greyed out and only a reboot would let me select them. The admin interface also randomly stops responding even if the switching stays working. It is basically useless. Now, I would say I just have a bad unit, but this is exactly the same experience I had with a different switch model before. MikroTik is just not good for anything more advanced than a single-VLAN dumb-switch situation.
I’ve used a lot of Mikrotik gear at work and never found the config convoluted or had random instability issues. The main issues we experienced were a higher failure rate than our Cisco or juniper kit, but the Mikrotik gear is so cheap you just bin the old unit a slam a new one in the hole, and the BGP convergence time is very slow if you have a large routing table. The advice we were given when we started to bring Mikrotik gear into our mix was to keep the configuration simple and not turn on too many features at once. If you want to firewall with it, just make it a firewall, if you want to do bgp with it just do bgp. That’s on top of your normal bridges and vlans. Anywho, I’m sure different peoples mileage will vary.
@@Alan.livingston I think the big issue is that they are trying to do switches using the same config methods as a layer-3 router and it just doesn't work. There is no easy way to set up VLANs, for example. I have not really messed with anything other than the switches, but the experience has made me pretty much put Mikrotik on the "never buy" list. At least until they fix their configurations and make it usable. Making a switch should not be all that difficult. The amount of extraneous crap in the config is just so overwhelming. I returned the Mikrotik and got a Juniper switch. It took me about 5 minutes to it configured the way I needed for multiple VLANs and it has been happily running ever since. No random lockups or strange issues with configs stopping working (which happened with all 3 Mikrotik switches I tried). I suppose if you need a dumb L2 switch with no configs, then the mikrotik are fine and the price is good. But if you need anything more advanced at all, you should just step up to a real brand with proper configurations.
📝
never use router os on this device, traffic stops after 10min - 24 hours. only swos
ok, i get it.. it's under $500
It's a bit of a big deal for the capabilities.
@@thomasbonse Sure, but did it HAVE to be said every 30 seconds in a 17 minute video ? (Exaggerated, i know - but repeating it as many times as here, is too)
@@eidodk Yes... Yes it did 😁
Mikrotik is building awesome hardware but the OS is terrible. We should definitely talk about this
RouterOS terrible? You must be joking, especially considering the price of the devices it comes with.
For almost a year mikrotik can't fix forward issues this switch has. Pathetic.