I use these on my network with 2 LC SFP+, pretty impressive. It is stable, GUI is crappy like you said but you do not mange the switch every day. Hint, if you do not logoff from one computer, you might be unable to connect to the GUI from another IP. Be sure to always properly logoff after you change config otherwise you might have surprise from another computer.
I bought the unmanaged version for £30. I bought a 2.5GGbE USB network card for DS218+ and I'm as happy as a child. Combined with WIFI 6 160Hz I have a 2GbE network always
Thanks TH-cam algorithm! I was looking at a $200+ Netgear 10G switch scratching my head wondering why the price tag haha. This will do nicely. Love your videos mate! Cheers!
You can buy these with 10Gb ethernet ports which is what you should do if that is what you are running. Putting in sfp to rj45 transceiver in that small of case is way too much heat without active cooling.
Thanks for this review, I just bought one like it and your video has helped me a lot. It allows me to see what I can expect from this Switch. Thank you.
I am seriously considering wiring my next home with fiber instead of Cat6. This would make a fantastic bridge for places where I am running legacy devices.
It fits very well with the single port 2.5g all-in-ones ISPs provide these days, fanning out the single 2.5g to your whole network, 2.5g wifi 6E/7 AP, and 10g between NAS-PC.
I wish they had this in 8+2. As primitive as you say the management UI looks, it sure does seem to allow for a lot of configurability. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Unfortunately, I've only seen that in unmanaged switches like the Gigaplus GP-S25-0802. But I suspect it won't be long until the other Realtek OEMs pick it up.
I had the 8 copper + two sfp version of that netgear switch. The crappy fan control and the flawed OS made for a very hateful relationship. Have gone back to 1ge with a ex2200c12 for the time being. Not sure what will be the next choice, but definitely keeping track of those tiny ones. If this one now even has management we move to the right spot.
There are several different branded versions of this same switch. LACP 802.3AD doesn't work properly with the 1.7 firmware (fixed in th 1.9 firmware). Management is basic. Vlans work. Haven't had time to test other features, but have deployed one and its been running well for a few months.
I have both the Sodola and Nicgiga 8 port switches for about 5 months now, and I agree. Rock solid and a lot of bang for the buck. I use them with Moca 2.5 and didn't have to run any new cables to upgrade to 2.5 on my home network (except patch cables to the switches).
I bought a 'Binardet', similar device from Amazon Australia a couple of weeks ago. I had to return it because I don't have spare / handy earth / ground lying around. Yes, we have an Earth for the house wiring (240v here in Australia). But I'm not going to run a wire from a 240v socket ! Question for everyone, how do YOU earth/ground devices like these ? It also had a very noisy fan, sitting less than a metre from me in my study - I just couldn't stand the supposed 40 decibels it was putting out. I have now bought a QNAP with 4x2.5Gbps and 2x10Gbps. No fan, and no need for a fibre to copper converter... Regards, Greg.
I have used a usb powered fan to blow a stream of air into the cooling slots beside the SFP+ and over the front of the case to help cool things down. Not prefect but will do while i work on a printed solution to mount a laptop cpu blower cooler to the side of the case.
sfp+ base-t adapters always run really hot (especially those rated for longer ranges) and they tend to use more power than both fiber and normal base-t ports. I'd like to see the power stats when fully populated with fiber in the 10gb ports and copper on the rest
@@ian-digitalhit YES and sort-of. Fiber SFP+ modules are much lower power and heat than copper RJ45 10G modules. Fiber modules are really the only thing you should be using in a fanless mini unit this size. They're also hot, but within "normal" hot for SFP modules. You should buy a different version of this same type of cheap switch that comes with a 10G Ethernet port built in if that's what you need. That way the copper 10G port isn't packed into a roasting hot SFP+ module with no fans to cool it.
The longer distance SPF+ to RJ45 run a lot hotter than the shorter distance versions. I would NOT feel comfortable with those temps running unattended 24/7... huge fire hazard. The temps are in the 200F range!
I missed where he measured the temps or does this switch report SFP+ temps in one of the screen recordings? I also prefer native RJ45 versus SFP+ wherever possible in a home network. Juggling compatibility, overheating, additional cost, much lower signal lengths, etc. is just too compromise, which can't offset the potential future gain of "one day, I might buy something that uses SFP+ natively". To clarify in case anyone doesn't understand the hyperbole: 200F (93C) for an IC or anything metal is not *truly* a fire hazard, but I get what you mean: it's hot. Nothing here is flammable: these copper transceivers just overheat → throttle or throw errors. Not a physical safety problem (even paper only burns at 451F / 233C).
Thanks for the review of this 2.5gb managed switch. Can you advise if you are able to turn off EEE(Energy Efficient Ethernet) on this switch. Reason I ask is live in UK and use Virgin Media as my ISP. There Hub 5 supports 2.5gb and been using an unmanaged 2.5gb switch. However Virgin have done a software update on the hub and I can no longer use the 2.5g option on my Virgin hub to connect to my switch as. Seems I need to be able to turn off EEE for it to work and can’t do this on unmanaged switch. Have been looking for managed switch which will turn off EEE but cheapest I could find was over £200, so If this £60 switch will let me turn off EEE, it’s a winner for me. Sorry for long comment. Thanks for all your content am new to NAS and you are helping make my decision as to which to get. Nick
Well got one and EEE was disabled as standard. So now getting access to the 2.5gb port on the Virgin Media hub. Using Speedtest, I jumped from 891 to 1140 download speed on my PC. Using the 2.5gb port. Can’t test the nas yet as still deciding on the one I want. However when I choose, now have the network to support it fully.
I got the same one, got my nas with an intel 520 connected with a DAC the rest of the network is 2.5G. But like always mine has a different color and it from a different brand got it for 64 euro's from Amazon. Hit 288Mb over the 2.5g ports from my nas.. perfect.. better then my old 1G :P (since my hd's only go at 250 is cool) They says 60Gbit capable but i think its more like 40
To clarify, is it 30 Gbps full-duplex (which switch manufacturers call 60 Gbps) or is it only 20 Gbps full-duplex? Switching capacity is measured, somewhat confusingly, the opposite of Ethernet. Ethernet is always quoted as full-duplex, so a switch with 4x 1 GbE ports has 4 Gbps full-duplex. But because switches handle both input & output simultaneously, they write it as 8 Gbps (which means each port can handle 1 Gbps ingress & 1 Gbps egress simultaneously, so, yes the switch itself can handle 8 Gbps of simultaneous traffic).
the catch is no quality control and no customer service. Unfortunately I got one that is not holding the settings after power down the unit. I was only contacted by them after a bad review and they promise to take care of the issue and then stop responding completely.
They also do a 24 port 2.5gbe version with 2 sfp ports with rack ears or table top. I wish someone would do a review on the larger format switches of 2.5gbe, so many for the 6 or 9 port versions but none for the 24 or 16 port versions. The web management is basic / crappy but it seems to work as it should as long as you save configuration before exiting and lets face it for most people it will be a set and forget case so its not something your looking at every day. Hopefully someone does a review on the larger 16 or 24 port switches soon or I will have to take a gamble and go for which I feel is best.
Failure rate is going to be high - failure rate doubles every 10C junction temperature. At this price point this device is using commercial grade, not MILSPEC. Mounting this for max airflow will help.
I got the unmanaged 5 port version for a tricky location (even cheaper at sub 50 nicker) I needed a switch that could handle a combination of 10/100/1000/2500 speeds on different ports. Not a lot of 2.5GbE switches go down to speeds lower than 1GbE, certainly not the Zyxel MG-105 or the Netgear MS305, but this one does, and uses less power to boot! I'm not utilizing the SFP port, so I've got: 1 x 10MbE 2 x 1GbE 1 x 100MbE 1 x 2.5GbE Uplink All auto-sensing and working fine. As per the review, this might not be for your mission critical network infrastructure projects, but for home/home office/hobby use I can't really fault it.
These are so affordable its almost madness. Nearest I can find from a brand is Dlink or Qnap 4+2 both unmanaged at around £160. There's a few 2.5gb only branded unmanaged at maybe £100. For home use its a no brainer.
Copper like a normal person 😂 I wish I knew what the hell sfp is. When I buy cat6e ethernet cables online are they copper or fibre? Is that what you’re referring to?
Sfp is a different plug type. Your cat 6e has RJ45 connectors rather than sfp. RJ45 is copper. SFP+ can support fiber or copper I believe. You'd know if you were buying Fibre. Your wallet would ask WTF you're doing 😅
@@kenwilliams3279 That's exactly right. Luckily, all of these switches also come in RJ45-only version, but it may be a different OEM. Just to clarify: SFP is 1G only. SFP+ is 10G. And, exactly, SFP & SFP+ can both be converted to either fiber (many types) or RJ45. However, it is not _as_ good as a native RJ45 solution because 1) the SFP+ to RJ45 conversion is a lot of power in a very tiny module (expect 70C, 80C, 90C on the external bit sticking out-it's like touching a hot pan) and this can quite a headache in a fanless switch (many vendors will not support / don't recommend 2x SFP+ to RJ45 modules right next to each other unless you add active cooling), 2) SFP+ to RJ45 do not support the full 100m cable length that RJ45 native can, unless you pay $100+ per transceiver (the module) and most models are limited to just 30m. They also can be dicier with 10G, as this counts as another termination that weakens the signal. 3) SFP+ compatibility can be a little tricky; not every SFP+ module works in every SFP+ switch. 4) Some 10G SFP+, especially first-gen modules (plenty still on the market), may only support 1G or 10G, meaning they cannot scale to 2.5G nor 5G, so unless everything always works at 10G, you're back to 1G speeds, unfortunately. Now, there are "better" modules: the newer 80-meter rated (still short of the 100 meter RJ45 standard) modules often run cooler at shorter (30m) cable lengths because they don't need to max their output power. But the older 30-meter rated ones are pushing well over 2W (which, when concentrated in a 1-2" of exposed metal, can leave a nice little burn unless you're careful). That is, if you don't expect to run fiber soon, go with RJ45 and use cooler, more compatible, and simpler RJ45-native switches and use nice CAT6 or CAT6a cabling to avoid all these headaches. Only in exceptional cases of likely-going-fiber-in-a-year or unshielded-Ethernet-next-to-loads-of-AC-wiring, then consider SFP+ with fiber. Problematically, some vendors (ahem, Ubiquiti) won't use 10G RJ45 and expect you to fork over another $65 to buy a worse-than-native SFP+ to 10G RJ45 adapter, so SFP+ has gained some unfortunate popularity even for people running 100% copper. However, luckily, other vendors have recognized SFP+ for home usage has always been a handicap.
@@kenwilliams3279 I found a 2 metre 10Gb/s SFP+ DAC Cable (H!Fiber brand 10GBase-CU Passive Direct Attach Copper Twinax SFP+ Cable) fully made up with connectors on Amazon for £12.00. The idea is to get two of these to connect a PC and NAS PC (UnRAID) together via this switch. Pretty cheap methinks?
@@ikjadoon Sounds like you know your stuff! I found a 2 metre 10Gb/s SFP+ DAC Cable (H!Fiber brand 10GBase-CU Passive Direct Attach Copper Twinax SFP+ Cable) fully made up with connectors on Amazon for £12.00. The idea is to get two of these to connect a PC and NAS PC (UnRAID) together via the SFP+ ports on this switch. (Both devices getting a PCI-e SFP+ NIC). Would this work? Also, difference between active vs passive SFP+ cables? A bit wary of RJ45 due to thermal issues so your advice would be valued! Thanks in advance.
People didn't believe me network switches were 135W. I believe the first one you showed is such a model. Increasing speed increases heat. Until the chips catch up and become, through magic of node side reduction, less power hungry and cheaper.
That's absolutely insane. Can you imagine 2x 10GbE in SMB Multichannel? Damn, I wanna get this just to try it out on my network... But then I will need to buy a double port 10GbE PCI-E card for my PC... ugh.
Really wish they would start adding options with at least 3 SFP+. 2 is nice, but then essentially they are really only good as a high speed backbone, or to connect two high speed devices together. 3 would add so many options.
I'm just impressed overall how we managed to move from dumb as brick 5 port 10mbps switch from 00s to this screaming monstrosity whilst retaining the price.
The only caveat I would add is that the quality tends to vary. I bought a Vimin 2.5Gb switch that packed up or rather the psi packed up in less than a year. The switch still works and fortunately I had a spare 12V supply but you do need to factor in the possibility it will crap out after a few months. Oh and the SFP ran really hot as well which I doubt contributes to the long term reliability.
The interface is an unbranded TP-Link. Or TP-Link branded their interface around this instead. But the TP-Link switches work well in my opinion, so this should as well.
I have had tp-link switches since over 10 years, and seen dozens but can't see anything in the ui that looks like the tp link ui. Which one does it remind you?
@ericjodoin7682 You seem to think you're making sense but you absolutely are not. It's not far from saying that because you can make electric power in a generator with gasoline, you can top your laptop batteries up with diesel fuel. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this thing or TP-Link, far from it - I'm saying there is something wrong with the way you seem to "reason" about this. Have a good one.
Love this type of review - looking to upgrade my home network to 10G and don't want to use fiber - house is wired with Cat 6E and I'd like a router with native copper RJ45 10G capabilities without adapters...
Thanks! I have the Zyxel XMG1915-10E on my whistlist, 8 x 2.5 and 2 SFP+, fort around € 180, would love to see you opinion on / review of this! It would be so much more convenient if the 2x10Ge ports on these 'home' switches would have a copper option!
I have some experience as UI developer with channel-grade network equipment and industrial PC. This UI is fine - it`s allow you setup switch, what do you need above it? Yes, its old-fashioned, but it maddens for Linux console users. I don't care if it does they job well.
I have both the Sodola and Nicgiga 8 port 2.5 and SFP+ switches on my home network. The only problem I had was an old TiVo device that was only 100 megabits ethernet. I had to put back my old netgear gig switch on the network to support that. I also used the Sodola SFP+ that only supports 2.5, since my home office needed that extra interface. I use Moca 2.5 and it is rock solid and just plug and play. I just recently replaced my 2014 R7000 router with a WiFi 7 router that supports the higher speeds (Google fiber is busy running fiber and I can't wait until I can actually sign up). Synology on the other hand sucks since my DS423+ still is limited to 1 gig interfaces. Less than 1 year old, and I want to replace it already. So far, the cheap 2.5 switches and Moca 2.5 really rock.
I hate that Synology won't upgrade its interfaces to 2.5 GbE even on higher-end models, but I know they are desperately trying to figure out how to manufacture 2.5 GbE software license unlocks to sell to us at some point. They won't give us $0.01 in hardware without some 200% upcharge, unfortunately. If the DSxx4 (2024) versions don't include 2.5 GbE across most / all of the lineup, I don't think I'll consider Synology again. They don't offer enough utility to be so cheap with network interfaces. Even the QNAP TS-216G ($239 MSRP) now has 1x 2.5Gbe + 1x 1GbE native: no upgrades, no little add-in cards, no license costs. And, of course, enough CPU grunt to handle ~290 MB/s reads & writes.
@@ikjadoon I just put in for the Kickstarter UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro 6-Bay. More expensive than the DS423+, but far more capable. I delayed until I found out it would support different operating systems, I just wish it had ECC.
This company also sells a 6x2.5GbE 2x10GbE (Rj45) managed switch for $125. The glaring downfall is that if you switch it to dumb rather than managed the switch is stuck on that.
I have only 2 things in 2.5GbE, my computer and my qnap NAS, and for my computer Asus manage to put a defective 2.5GbE card in the motherboard... I can't wait for the year 2000 so that we have cars that fly and 2.5Gbe/s ports in our devices.
Serve the home did a roundup of these switches in all their different branding and tested for exactly that. Short answer was no, they couldn’t detect any outbound data from them. You can always leave the gateway field blank if you’re really concerned.
@@davsan5329 Like the switch could not figure out it's own IP address and gateway if the goal was to surreptitiously export your confidental data to somewhere in Asia?
Does it support Management over ssh, SNMP versions, firmware updates? Wish it had a few more 10G ports... my fiber provider swisscom delivers 10Gb so I'm looking for a good 10Gb firewall and switches.
I wonder about their security, how good (or bad) they withstand hacker-attempts. Now bur especially in the future when a vulnerability is being discovered. (such as recently yet another Apache vulnerability, such as CVE-2023-38709. (out of 2279x ones also found too) Where I assume the firmware should be upgradable/updatable, otherwise would be a huge no to me. Security is only as good as your last update ....
I have router with 4 Ethernet ports But i need 6 Ethernet port now My question is i have a 4 port switch It seems slow am using 4 Ethernet port on router and 2 on the switch Or show get an 8 port switch and not use the Ethernet port on the router Would that make a difference
The video mentions that the switch supports link aggregation but I didn't catch a configuration screen for that as the various screens were shown. Does it happen to support MLAG?
MLAG is Multi-chasis Link Aggregation which applies to two or more stacked (virtual or physical) switches where we you create the LAG across the different switches for hardware redundancy. He said the switch supported LAG and at the 7:55 mark you can very briefly see the "Trunk Group Setting" page where it looks like you can create a LAG from multiple ports. Some web managed switches use the name "Trunk Group" for LAG's, an older HP Procurve 1810G I had did that. Trunk can mean different things depending on the vendor. There's very little settings on the page so I'd assume it's a LACP active LAG by default. Normally there's a toggle for the LACP mode on/off/auto.
I mean, I would trade the web GUI by a CLI. Easily. But four 2.5Gbps, two 10Gbps SFP+ slots, supporting VLANs, trunks, STP, port mirroring, for $65!? That IS a steal and I'm strongly considering becoming a thief myself 🤣
IIRC, I thought these *can* be configured with CLI, but it is not an officially supported method. I think some of them even got ported to OpenWRT. There's some info on the STH forums and OpenWRT forums.
Ok im maybe stupid but its hard to find any info online on this, so on of those spf+ ports is input and the other one is out? Am i right or am i getting something wrong pls help thanks
I think I'd avoid running a 10GBase-T SFP+ module in this switch. The power required to run 10GBase-T for it's distance requirement and it's heat generation is a big negative on those types of connections. If you have to run 10GBase-T I'd get a actively cooled switch. Passive DAC/TwinAX which is lower power draw and much less heat but subsequently much shorter runs will be the way to go with this switch if you can do it. Put this switch on a desk between the NAS at 10G DAC, main desktop at 10G DAC or uplink to other switch with 10GBase-SR fiber SFP+ module and other desktops or WAP's on the 2.5G ports. Considering the vast majority of 2.5G/10G switches in this price bracket are unmanaged, the Web interface looks like it's got enough features for most prosumer / homelab users.
Thanks for that, great comment. That's exactly what I intend doing: SFP+ NIC in a desktop PC, SFP+ NIC in an UNRAID NAS PC with this switch connecting the two. Distance about 2 metres. What isn't clear is why are some people using Ethernet instead of DAC modules? Also, what speed will CAT6 yield, vs DAC?
@@boerboel7777 They are using ethernet for much longer runs or to use existing cabling. Or they have a machine like a MAC Mini that has a builtin 10G ethernet port. Passive DAC is good for 7 metres and active DAC for 10m, active cables much more expensive though. DAC will give you 10G where as CAT6 may give you less depending on how far the run is and the quality of the cable terminations etc.
@@lordcarnorjax8599 Legend, thank you sir! Been looking at 10G Ethernet switches but they're super expensive so for home setup SFP+ mini switches seem a better option.
Hello, thank you very much for your review, I bought one of these switches and if you can help me I appreciate it, if the router is on the default IP 192.168.0.1 and the switch on 192.168.2.1, of the two subnets on which IP should it be? be the PC? to access the Switch settings, why can't I access the Switch from my PC
@@joeyyung911 No. It was a quip about using 14 x 4 ports (less a few to join them up) providing 48 ports available and then replacing the existing 48 port switch. But it might make sense to buy the 8 SFP one (8 x 10Gb), 8 x SFP to RJ45 adapters and a dual 10Gb expansion card for the Synology and run the high traffic gear through there and link it to the existing 48 port switch.
bought one this week and works pretty well, used a ethernet sfp 6com and got so d*mn hot XD, was trying to update firmware but can´t find the support page, can anyone share the link? Regards!
Sorry, but I don't see the problem with the management software it seems great for so little money, the fact that it's a managed switch is amazing. I believe that having the SPF connections in something like this is the only drawback. Someone with an optical infrastructure is unlikely to be using this kind of switch. Clearly, it could be a trojan horse for you know what Great Power, so people in countries that could be the target of a kill button should stay away from it, but in Latin America that seems like a very nice option.
I have that one and another 8 (10) port switch from Sodola and they are running awesome so far. Love the price point. But yeah the gui is kinda --- meh... but who cares
Nice but generic. There are a couple of different configurations of such switches on offer for a couple of quid more. So PoE and management as well as a few more ports can be had for not much more. I have one similar to the model here (albeit a dumb switch) and it’s a nice bit of kit. Quick and dirty gets the job done, Bob’s your Uncle.
@@utooboobnoobThe better bands are Ubiquiti, Microtik, old Brocode, Cisco, Lucient,... the brands are at least 1.5 times more expensive, but they are more reputable companies who probably have better warranty support. (It will be a few years before we know if these small rebranded sellers last. So far I've emailed one with a question (LACP) and got a response quickly)
Look...If you saw my collection of Casio calculator watches, toy batmobiles and windows xp merch... You might well agree that I have not been a normal person for a very long time...
"Listen boy. Someday when you are older, you could get hit by a boulder. While you're lying there screaming: come help me please! The seagulls poke your knees."
You realise that I am saying "knicker" so I don't have to list off dollars, pounds, euros, CAD, AU $, etc.....right? You may think you are a fun guy.... You aren't
I came for the NAS news. I stayed for the latest in British slang
I will admit it was little awkward not be used to hearing that word often in the US. 😅
Just to be clear, he's saying nicker, not ni**er that it sounds like sometimes... That's no more acceptable in British slang than in US!
rofl
Also not knicker... 😁
I enjoyed both
I use these on my network with 2 LC SFP+, pretty impressive. It is stable, GUI is crappy like you said but you do not mange the switch every day. Hint, if you do not logoff from one computer, you might be unable to connect to the GUI from another IP. Be sure to always properly logoff after you change config otherwise you might have surprise from another computer.
There's also an option with 9 2.5G and 1 SFP+ managed and that's reasonably priced as well. Blows my mind
I have 2 of them already for more than a year - super nice, and price as well
I bought the unmanaged version for £30. I bought a 2.5GGbE USB network card for DS218+ and I'm as happy as a child. Combined with WIFI 6 160Hz I have a 2GbE network always
Ive got the 9 port version, great switch, does the job, works as it should
Thanks TH-cam algorithm! I was looking at a $200+ Netgear 10G switch scratching my head wondering why the price tag haha. This will do nicely. Love your videos mate! Cheers!
You can buy these with 10Gb ethernet ports which is what you should do if that is what you are running. Putting in sfp to rj45 transceiver in that small of case is way too much heat without active cooling.
Thanks for this review, I just bought one like it and your video has helped me a lot. It allows me to see what I can expect from this Switch. Thank you.
I have a couple of Horaco unmanaged switches that have the same port layout and they are fantastic.
Thanks for this great video. Helped a lot. I already have the unmanaged 2.5gb for a while and it performs very well.
The disadvantage of copper is the power consumption. Would have been interesting to see the difference. Especially when the thing gets that hot!
You'll always notice, but the copper sfp modules are like normally 1.9 to 3w depending on quality/chip it's not massive massive
I am seriously considering wiring my next home with fiber instead of Cat6. This would make a fantastic bridge for places where I am running legacy devices.
In your next home just run conduit. Then you can pull any cable you want
If you are thinking of Cat 6, you might as well go Cat 8 which is what I have just done.
It's on Black Friday sale at Amazon this week for $35.. I'm not saying it's excellent but for $35 it's a bang on deal
The management UI is great given the price, it's about the functionality, not the asethetics. They should open-source the GUI.
It fits very well with the single port 2.5g all-in-ones ISPs provide these days, fanning out the single 2.5g to your whole network, 2.5g wifi 6E/7 AP, and 10g between NAS-PC.
I wish they had this in 8+2. As primitive as you say the management UI looks, it sure does seem to allow for a lot of configurability. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Unfortunately, I've only seen that in unmanaged switches like the Gigaplus GP-S25-0802. But I suspect it won't be long until the other Realtek OEMs pick it up.
They have as n 8 port SFP model, but yeah... I agree
The UI actually reminds me of early netgear stuff I had, basic, just drop down text boxes on a grey background :)
I had the 8 copper + two sfp version of that netgear switch. The crappy fan control and the flawed OS made for a very hateful relationship.
Have gone back to 1ge with a ex2200c12 for the time being. Not sure what will be the next choice, but definitely keeping track of those tiny ones. If this one now even has management we move to the right spot.
Does it come with any backdoors?
There are several different branded versions of this same switch. LACP 802.3AD doesn't work properly with the 1.7 firmware (fixed in th 1.9 firmware). Management is basic. Vlans work. Haven't had time to test other features, but have deployed one and its been running well for a few months.
I have the SODOLA 8 Port 2.5G Switch,1 10G SFP Slot,60Gbps Switching Capacity for 9 months and is solid. Just wish these were managed!
I have both the Sodola and Nicgiga 8 port switches for about 5 months now, and I agree. Rock solid and a lot of bang for the buck. I use them with Moca 2.5 and didn't have to run any new cables to upgrade to 2.5 on my home network (except patch cables to the switches).
I bought a 'Binardet', similar device from Amazon Australia a couple of weeks ago. I had to return it because I don't have spare / handy earth / ground lying around. Yes, we have an Earth for the house wiring (240v here in Australia). But I'm not going to run a wire from a 240v socket ! Question for everyone, how do YOU earth/ground devices like these ? It also had a very noisy fan, sitting less than a metre from me in my study - I just couldn't stand the supposed 40 decibels it was putting out. I have now bought a QNAP with 4x2.5Gbps and 2x10Gbps. No fan, and no need for a fibre to copper converter...
Regards, Greg.
I have used a usb powered fan to blow a stream of air into the cooling slots beside the SFP+ and over the front of the case to help cool things down. Not prefect but will do while i work on a printed solution to mount a laptop cpu blower cooler to the side of the case.
sfp+ base-t adapters always run really hot (especially those rated for longer ranges) and they tend to use more power than both fiber and normal base-t ports. I'd like to see the power stats when fully populated with fiber in the 10gb ports and copper on the rest
New to this, so it's the SFP+ to rj45 conversion that creates the heat? Is using sfp/fibre hot as well?
@@ian-digitalhit YES and sort-of. Fiber SFP+ modules are much lower power and heat than copper RJ45 10G modules. Fiber modules are really the only thing you should be using in a fanless mini unit this size. They're also hot, but within "normal" hot for SFP modules. You should buy a different version of this same type of cheap switch that comes with a 10G Ethernet port built in if that's what you need. That way the copper 10G port isn't packed into a roasting hot SFP+ module with no fans to cool it.
@@advil000 thanks for the info! Where does using a DAC cable fit in on the heat scale Vs the other two?
@@ian-digitalhit Sorry can't really tell you, never used one of those. I'm sure someone else will chime in eventually.
@@advil000 thanks again
The longer distance SPF+ to RJ45 run a lot hotter than the shorter distance versions. I would NOT feel comfortable with those temps running unattended 24/7... huge fire hazard. The temps are in the 200F range!
I missed where he measured the temps or does this switch report SFP+ temps in one of the screen recordings?
I also prefer native RJ45 versus SFP+ wherever possible in a home network. Juggling compatibility, overheating, additional cost, much lower signal lengths, etc. is just too compromise, which can't offset the potential future gain of "one day, I might buy something that uses SFP+ natively".
To clarify in case anyone doesn't understand the hyperbole: 200F (93C) for an IC or anything metal is not *truly* a fire hazard, but I get what you mean: it's hot. Nothing here is flammable: these copper transceivers just overheat → throttle or throw errors. Not a physical safety problem (even paper only burns at 451F / 233C).
@@ikjadoon These temps are not reported, they occur only in the SFP+ convertor. Using a temp laser you can measure it (and I have).
Thanks for the review of this 2.5gb managed switch. Can you advise if you are able to turn off EEE(Energy Efficient Ethernet) on this switch.
Reason I ask is live in UK and use Virgin Media as my ISP. There Hub 5 supports 2.5gb and been using an unmanaged 2.5gb switch. However Virgin have done a software update on the hub and I can no longer use the 2.5g option on my Virgin hub to connect to my switch as. Seems I need to be able to turn off EEE for it to work and can’t do this on unmanaged switch. Have been looking for managed switch which will turn off EEE but cheapest I could find was over £200, so If this £60 switch will let me turn off EEE, it’s a winner for me. Sorry for long comment. Thanks for all your content am new to NAS and you are helping make my decision as to which to get. Nick
Well got one and EEE was disabled as standard. So now getting access to the 2.5gb port on the Virgin Media hub. Using Speedtest, I jumped from 891 to 1140 download speed on my PC. Using the 2.5gb port. Can’t test the nas yet as still deciding on the one I want.
However when I choose, now have the network to support it fully.
Can you run 2 of those switches on the same network? There was a cheap switch that used the same MAC address for a run of switches! Doh!
DAC cable is not a fibre cable that comes with the tranceivers preattached, it is a copper cable.
I got the same one, got my nas with an intel 520 connected with a DAC the rest of the network is 2.5G.
But like always mine has a different color and it from a different brand got it for 64 euro's from Amazon.
Hit 288Mb over the 2.5g ports from my nas.. perfect.. better then my old 1G :P (since my hd's only go at 250 is cool)
They says 60Gbit capable but i think its more like 40
To clarify, is it 30 Gbps full-duplex (which switch manufacturers call 60 Gbps) or is it only 20 Gbps full-duplex?
Switching capacity is measured, somewhat confusingly, the opposite of Ethernet. Ethernet is always quoted as full-duplex, so a switch with 4x 1 GbE ports has 4 Gbps full-duplex. But because switches handle both input & output simultaneously, they write it as 8 Gbps (which means each port can handle 1 Gbps ingress & 1 Gbps egress simultaneously, so, yes the switch itself can handle 8 Gbps of simultaneous traffic).
the catch is no quality control and no customer service. Unfortunately I got one that is not holding the settings after power down the unit. I was only contacted by them after a bad review and they promise to take care of the issue and then stop responding completely.
I guess it does not have the ability to set the management VLAN, right?
They also do a 24 port 2.5gbe version with 2 sfp ports with rack ears or table top. I wish someone would do a review on the larger format switches of 2.5gbe, so many for the 6 or 9 port versions but none for the 24 or 16 port versions. The web management is basic / crappy but it seems to work as it should as long as you save configuration before exiting and lets face it for most people it will be a set and forget case so its not something your looking at every day. Hopefully someone does a review on the larger 16 or 24 port switches soon or I will have to take a gamble and go for which I feel is best.
They have 8x2.5gbe and 2x 10gbe (managed and not) for reasonable prices.
Failure rate is going to be high - failure rate doubles every 10C junction temperature.
At this price point this device is using commercial grade, not MILSPEC.
Mounting this for max airflow will help.
I got the unmanaged 5 port version for a tricky location (even cheaper at sub 50 nicker)
I needed a switch that could handle a combination of 10/100/1000/2500 speeds on different ports. Not a lot of 2.5GbE switches go down to speeds lower than 1GbE, certainly not the Zyxel MG-105 or the Netgear MS305, but this one does, and uses less power to boot!
I'm not utilizing the SFP port, so I've got:
1 x 10MbE
2 x 1GbE
1 x 100MbE
1 x 2.5GbE Uplink
All auto-sensing and working fine.
As per the review, this might not be for your mission critical network infrastructure projects, but for home/home office/hobby use I can't really fault it.
Why does the seagulls fly over the sea? Because if they fly over the bay they would be bagels.
take you 'like' and GET OUT!
These are so affordable its almost madness. Nearest I can find from a brand is Dlink or Qnap 4+2 both unmanaged at around £160. There's a few 2.5gb only branded unmanaged at maybe £100. For home use its a no brainer.
Copper like a normal person 😂 I wish I knew what the hell sfp is. When I buy cat6e ethernet cables online are they copper or fibre? Is that what you’re referring to?
Sfp is a different plug type. Your cat 6e has RJ45 connectors rather than sfp. RJ45 is copper. SFP+ can support fiber or copper I believe. You'd know if you were buying Fibre. Your wallet would ask WTF you're doing 😅
@@kenwilliams3279 That's exactly right. Luckily, all of these switches also come in RJ45-only version, but it may be a different OEM.
Just to clarify: SFP is 1G only. SFP+ is 10G.
And, exactly, SFP & SFP+ can both be converted to either fiber (many types) or RJ45. However, it is not _as_ good as a native RJ45 solution because 1) the SFP+ to RJ45 conversion is a lot of power in a very tiny module (expect 70C, 80C, 90C on the external bit sticking out-it's like touching a hot pan) and this can quite a headache in a fanless switch (many vendors will not support / don't recommend 2x SFP+ to RJ45 modules right next to each other unless you add active cooling), 2) SFP+ to RJ45 do not support the full 100m cable length that RJ45 native can, unless you pay $100+ per transceiver (the module) and most models are limited to just 30m. They also can be dicier with 10G, as this counts as another termination that weakens the signal. 3) SFP+ compatibility can be a little tricky; not every SFP+ module works in every SFP+ switch. 4) Some 10G SFP+, especially first-gen modules (plenty still on the market), may only support 1G or 10G, meaning they cannot scale to 2.5G nor 5G, so unless everything always works at 10G, you're back to 1G speeds, unfortunately.
Now, there are "better" modules: the newer 80-meter rated (still short of the 100 meter RJ45 standard) modules often run cooler at shorter (30m) cable lengths because they don't need to max their output power. But the older 30-meter rated ones are pushing well over 2W (which, when concentrated in a 1-2" of exposed metal, can leave a nice little burn unless you're careful).
That is, if you don't expect to run fiber soon, go with RJ45 and use cooler, more compatible, and simpler RJ45-native switches and use nice CAT6 or CAT6a cabling to avoid all these headaches. Only in exceptional cases of likely-going-fiber-in-a-year or unshielded-Ethernet-next-to-loads-of-AC-wiring, then consider SFP+ with fiber. Problematically, some vendors (ahem, Ubiquiti) won't use 10G RJ45 and expect you to fork over another $65 to buy a worse-than-native SFP+ to 10G RJ45 adapter, so SFP+ has gained some unfortunate popularity even for people running 100% copper. However, luckily, other vendors have recognized SFP+ for home usage has always been a handicap.
@@kenwilliams3279 I found a 2 metre 10Gb/s SFP+ DAC Cable (H!Fiber brand 10GBase-CU Passive Direct Attach Copper Twinax SFP+ Cable) fully made up with connectors on Amazon for £12.00. The idea is to get two of these to connect a PC and NAS PC (UnRAID) together via this switch. Pretty cheap methinks?
@@ikjadoon Sounds like you know your stuff! I found a 2 metre 10Gb/s SFP+ DAC Cable (H!Fiber brand 10GBase-CU Passive Direct Attach Copper Twinax SFP+ Cable) fully made up with connectors on Amazon for £12.00. The idea is to get two of these to connect a PC and NAS PC (UnRAID) together via the SFP+ ports on this switch. (Both devices getting a PCI-e SFP+ NIC). Would this work? Also, difference between active vs passive SFP+ cables? A bit wary of RJ45 due to thermal issues so your advice would be valued! Thanks in advance.
People didn't believe me network switches were 135W. I believe the first one you showed is such a model.
Increasing speed increases heat. Until the chips catch up and become, through magic of node side reduction, less power hungry and cheaper.
That's absolutely insane. Can you imagine 2x 10GbE in SMB Multichannel? Damn, I wanna get this just to try it out on my network... But then I will need to buy a double port 10GbE PCI-E card for my PC... ugh.
I cant be the only one who thinks the ongoing struggle with the seagulls is hilarious? 😂❤
*looks at your dead in the eyes* www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fy8umtpe09b271.jpg
Really wish they would start adding options with at least 3 SFP+. 2 is nice, but then essentially they are really only good as a high speed backbone, or to connect two high speed devices together. 3 would add so many options.
I'm just impressed overall how we managed to move from dumb as brick 5 port 10mbps switch from 00s to this screaming monstrosity whilst retaining the price.
The only caveat I would add is that the quality tends to vary. I bought a Vimin 2.5Gb switch that packed up or rather the psi packed up in less than a year. The switch still works and fortunately I had a spare 12V supply but you do need to factor in the possibility it will crap out after a few months. Oh and the SFP ran really hot as well which I doubt contributes to the long term reliability.
I think they are all based on Realtek RTL8372 switch chip. I bought mine (PoE version) for $35 from China. I'm very happy with it.
The interface is an unbranded TP-Link. Or TP-Link branded their interface around this instead.
But the TP-Link switches work well in my opinion, so this should as well.
I have had tp-link switches since over 10 years, and seen dozens but can't see anything in the ui that looks like the tp link ui.
Which one does it remind you?
Realtek chip, so rebrand of Realteks interface from when they made the chips.
@ericjodoin7682 You seem to think you're making sense but you absolutely are not. It's not far from saying that because you can make electric power in a generator with gasoline, you can top your laptop batteries up with diesel fuel. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this thing or TP-Link, far from it - I'm saying there is something wrong with the way you seem to "reason" about this. Have a good one.
Love this type of review - looking to upgrade my home network to 10G and don't want to use fiber - house is wired with Cat 6E and I'd like a router with native copper RJ45 10G capabilities without adapters...
Thanks! I have the Zyxel XMG1915-10E on my whistlist, 8 x 2.5 and 2 SFP+, fort around € 180, would love to see you opinion on / review of this! It would be so much more convenient if the 2x10Ge ports on these 'home' switches would have a copper option!
I have some experience as UI developer with channel-grade network equipment and industrial PC. This UI is fine - it`s allow you setup switch, what do you need above it? Yes, its old-fashioned, but it maddens for Linux console users. I don't care if it does they job well.
I have both the Sodola and Nicgiga 8 port 2.5 and SFP+ switches on my home network. The only problem I had was an old TiVo device that was only 100 megabits ethernet. I had to put back my old netgear gig switch on the network to support that. I also used the Sodola SFP+ that only supports 2.5, since my home office needed that extra interface. I use Moca 2.5 and it is rock solid and just plug and play. I just recently replaced my 2014 R7000 router with a WiFi 7 router that supports the higher speeds (Google fiber is busy running fiber and I can't wait until I can actually sign up). Synology on the other hand sucks since my DS423+ still is limited to 1 gig interfaces. Less than 1 year old, and I want to replace it already. So far, the cheap 2.5 switches and Moca 2.5 really rock.
I hate that Synology won't upgrade its interfaces to 2.5 GbE even on higher-end models, but I know they are desperately trying to figure out how to manufacture 2.5 GbE software license unlocks to sell to us at some point. They won't give us $0.01 in hardware without some 200% upcharge, unfortunately.
If the DSxx4 (2024) versions don't include 2.5 GbE across most / all of the lineup, I don't think I'll consider Synology again. They don't offer enough utility to be so cheap with network interfaces. Even the QNAP TS-216G ($239 MSRP) now has 1x 2.5Gbe + 1x 1GbE native: no upgrades, no little add-in cards, no license costs. And, of course, enough CPU grunt to handle ~290 MB/s reads & writes.
@@ikjadoon I just put in for the Kickstarter UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro 6-Bay. More expensive than the DS423+, but far more capable. I delayed until I found out it would support different operating systems, I just wish it had ECC.
Great switch) I like how it goes nowadays.
This company also sells a 6x2.5GbE 2x10GbE (Rj45) managed switch for $125. The glaring downfall is that if you switch it to dumb rather than managed the switch is stuck on that.
What options we have that are somewhat affordable and have copper 10gb ports?
Does it support Link Aggregation?
Does it have snmp options? Thanks
Which switch (brand/model) would you recommend for a Synology that has a 10Gbit LAN?
Pounds (money) is called nicker?
Nicker sometimes, although quid is more widely used in my experience.
can you somehow aggregate 2 physical ports?
I have only 2 things in 2.5GbE, my computer and my qnap NAS, and for my computer Asus manage to put a defective 2.5GbE card in the motherboard... I can't wait for the year 2000 so that we have cars that fly and 2.5Gbe/s ports in our devices.
The software looks fine to me. If it can do VLANs and port isolation, that is about as much as you need 99% of the time from a L2 switch.
What is the catch? Your sensitive confidential network data is routed overseas ?
Serve the home did a roundup of these switches in all their different branding and tested for exactly that. Short answer was no, they couldn’t detect any outbound data from them. You can always leave the gateway field blank if you’re really concerned.
@@davsan5329 Like the switch could not figure out it's own IP address and gateway if the goal was to surreptitiously export your confidental data to somewhere in Asia?
How is the power consumption? I don't want a network switch that uses more power than my hypervisor.
Skip to the chapters. It's between 1.1 and 10.2W (base level 1 connection to full saturation)
“FULL population, full SAT-UR-ATION!” 😂 👌 well done sir. Love your videos
Does it support Management over ssh, SNMP versions, firmware updates?
Wish it had a few more 10G ports... my fiber provider swisscom delivers 10Gb so I'm looking for a good 10Gb firewall and switches.
Is that wattage while active? Would it be so high if everything on the network was just chilling, or even off.
looking to use one of these just so my pc can talk to the nas, everythign else is 1gbe at best
Will this work with a 5GB NIC on NAS and a 10GB SFP+ module in the switch to auto negotiate to 5Gbps?
What sfp 10g rj45 copper adapters are compatible ? Besides sodola brand? Need cheap working ones from Amazon
Would you be able to figure out which chipset is in this thing? Would love to run something like OpenWRT on it...
I wonder about their security, how good (or bad) they withstand hacker-attempts.
Now bur especially in the future when a vulnerability is being discovered. (such as recently yet another Apache vulnerability, such as CVE-2023-38709.
(out of 2279x ones also found too)
Where I assume the firmware should be upgradable/updatable, otherwise would be a huge no to me.
Security is only as good as your last update ....
I think the SODOLA 8 Port 2.5G Ethernet Switch for £70 is a much better deal for home users
I have router with 4 Ethernet ports
But i need 6 Ethernet port now
My question is
i have a 4 port switch
It seems slow am using 4 Ethernet port on router and 2 on the switch
Or show get an 8 port switch and not use the Ethernet port on the router
Would that make a difference
Found the exact same switch for £40 on Aliexpress
The video mentions that the switch supports link aggregation but I didn't catch a configuration screen for that as the various screens were shown. Does it happen to support MLAG?
MLAG is Multi-chasis Link Aggregation which applies to two or more stacked (virtual or physical) switches where we you create the LAG across the different switches for hardware redundancy. He said the switch supported LAG and at the 7:55 mark you can very briefly see the "Trunk Group Setting" page where it looks like you can create a LAG from multiple ports. Some web managed switches use the name "Trunk Group" for LAG's, an older HP Procurve 1810G I had did that. Trunk can mean different things depending on the vendor. There's very little settings on the page so I'd assume it's a LACP active LAG by default. Normally there's a toggle for the LACP mode on/off/auto.
@@lordcarnorjax8599It would be nice to have confirmation of whether this device supports MLAG.
I mean, I would trade the web GUI by a CLI. Easily. But four 2.5Gbps, two 10Gbps SFP+ slots, supporting VLANs, trunks, STP, port mirroring, for $65!? That IS a steal and I'm strongly considering becoming a thief myself 🤣
IIRC, I thought these *can* be configured with CLI, but it is not an officially supported method. I think some of them even got ported to OpenWRT. There's some info on the STH forums and OpenWRT forums.
Ok im maybe stupid but its hard to find any info online on this, so on of those spf+ ports is input and the other one is out? Am i right or am i getting something wrong pls help thanks
I think I'd avoid running a 10GBase-T SFP+ module in this switch. The power required to run 10GBase-T for it's distance requirement and it's heat generation is a big negative on those types of connections. If you have to run 10GBase-T I'd get a actively cooled switch. Passive DAC/TwinAX which is lower power draw and much less heat but subsequently much shorter runs will be the way to go with this switch if you can do it. Put this switch on a desk between the NAS at 10G DAC, main desktop at 10G DAC or uplink to other switch with 10GBase-SR fiber SFP+ module and other desktops or WAP's on the 2.5G ports. Considering the vast majority of 2.5G/10G switches in this price bracket are unmanaged, the Web interface looks like it's got enough features for most prosumer / homelab users.
Thanks for that, great comment. That's exactly what I intend doing: SFP+ NIC in a desktop PC, SFP+ NIC in an UNRAID NAS PC with this switch connecting the two. Distance about 2 metres. What isn't clear is why are some people using Ethernet instead of DAC modules? Also, what speed will CAT6 yield, vs DAC?
@@boerboel7777 They are using ethernet for much longer runs or to use existing cabling. Or they have a machine like a MAC Mini that has a builtin 10G ethernet port. Passive DAC is good for 7 metres and active DAC for 10m, active cables much more expensive though. DAC will give you 10G where as CAT6 may give you less depending on how far the run is and the quality of the cable terminations etc.
@@lordcarnorjax8599 Legend, thank you sir! Been looking at 10G Ethernet switches but they're super expensive so for home setup SFP+ mini switches seem a better option.
Hello, thank you very much for your review, I bought one of these switches and if you can help me I appreciate it, if the router is on the default IP 192.168.0.1 and the switch on 192.168.2.1, of the two subnets on which IP should it be? be the PC? to access the Switch settings, why can't I access the Switch from my PC
So I can get say 14 of them and replace my 48 port RJ45 switch?
You have 14 outlets to spare?
@@joeyyung911 No. It was a quip about using 14 x 4 ports (less a few to join them up) providing 48 ports available and then replacing the existing 48 port switch.
But it might make sense to buy the 8 SFP one (8 x 10Gb), 8 x SFP to RJ45 adapters and a dual 10Gb expansion card for the Synology and run the high traffic gear through there and link it to the existing 48 port switch.
can i plug an sfp gpon onu like LEOX LXT-010S-H to this switch instead of using a media converter?
bought one this week and works pretty well, used a ethernet sfp 6com and got so d*mn hot XD, was trying to update firmware but can´t find the support page, can anyone share the link? Regards!
Seen these on aliexpress for 30 quid and change
Sorry, but I don't see the problem with the management software it seems great for so little money, the fact that it's a managed switch is amazing. I believe that having the SPF connections in something like this is the only drawback. Someone with an optical infrastructure is unlikely to be using this kind of switch. Clearly, it could be a trojan horse for you know what Great Power, so people in countries that could be the target of a kill button should stay away from it, but in Latin America that seems like a very nice option.
I have that one and another 8 (10) port switch from Sodola and they are running awesome so far. Love the price point. But yeah the gui is kinda --- meh... but who cares
Again TH-cam unsubscribing people for no reason.
I would run unmanaged from a company like this if at all.
these are $15 on aliexpress
He could sell anything with that accent!
Anyone having trouble with the website?
The NC site is migrating to a new server. Apologies for the downtime in the meantime
Nice but generic. There are a couple of different configurations of such switches on offer for a couple of quid more. So PoE and management as well as a few more ports can be had for not much more. I have one similar to the model here (albeit a dumb switch) and it’s a nice bit of kit. Quick and dirty gets the job done, Bob’s your Uncle.
Why not mention the brand names or links to the better alternatives?
@@utooboobnoobThe better bands are Ubiquiti, Microtik, old Brocode, Cisco, Lucient,... the brands are at least 1.5 times more expensive, but they are more reputable companies who probably have better warranty support. (It will be a few years before we know if these small rebranded sellers last. So far I've emailed one with a question (LACP) and got a response quickly)
Never heard someone use the English slang for pants, instead of money, so much.
Seagull OP
"........like a normal person" 😂
Look...If you saw my collection of Casio calculator watches, toy batmobiles and windows xp merch... You might well agree that I have not been a normal person for a very long time...
7:49 Why can't they ever learn to spell in China, "Not Memeber"?
I also hate seagulls. They don't even taste nice,
So much to unpack in this comment *chef's kiss*
"Listen boy. Someday when you are older, you could get hit by a boulder. While you're lying there screaming: come help me please! The seagulls poke your knees."
...then you're cooking them wrong 😂
cool
65 nicker and not pants, whats not to like!
its 100 pounds now
Just ordered one for 45 in freedom units
Talks too fast with an accent.
Not even able to say the word pound. You may think you are cool street smart..... You aren't
You realise that I am saying "knicker" so I don't have to list off dollars, pounds, euros, CAD, AU $, etc.....right? You may think you are a fun guy.... You aren't
Love your show. Truly my inspiration on my latest build! @nascompares
The software looks very much like the standard TP-link 🫣