Anybody know of a "cheap" 10GbE switch ?

[spyrule]

I'm trying to find a reasonably priced switch that can do at least 4 ports of 10GbE (preferably via SFP+ modules), and 10-24 GigE ports.

I'd like to keep it under $500 if possible (excluding the SFP's of course).

Any/All suggestions are welcome.

This is solely for home-lab use (primarily for vmware/cloud/cloud networking certifications).

 

[azazel1024]

Used or new?

I don't see anything new that comes even remotely close. Mostly in the $2000-3000 price range.

 

[Nikolai]

Netgear recently added S3300 Smart Switches with 4 10GbE ports

They have 24/48 ports plus 2 copper 10 GbE and 2 Fiber ones.
There are PoE options and without PoE:

http://www.netgear.com/business/pro...gabit-stackable-smart-switch-10g-uplinks.aspx

Nikolai

 

[spyrule]

Used would be fine.

 

[spyrule]

Netgear recently added S3300 Smart Switches with 4 10GbE ports

They have 24/48 ports plus 2 copper 10 GbE and 2 Fiber ones.
There are PoE options and without PoE:

http://www.netgear.com/business/pro...gabit-stackable-smart-switch-10g-uplinks.aspx

Nikolai

Holy! that's really damn close. Its too bad they didn't offer a version with 4xSFPs.... argh!

Unless there is a way to convert a ConnectX-2 card to 10G-Base-T...

 

[azazel1024]

Hmm, that 3300-28 is pretty spiffy and a pretty good price.

I like that it is two copper and two SFP+ (for my purposes, as I could easily hookup my sever with SFP+ if I wanted with a cheap 10Gb NIC and an SFP+ module and then use the existing in wall copper run to my desktop and go with a 10GbE NIC in it).

Sadly, still out of my price range as I can't justify >$1000 to go 10GbE.

$300-400 sure, but not that much. Getting close though. Getting close.

 

[spyrule]

I've seen the 3300-28 for as low as $599, and you order yourself two connect-x 2 cards for $35, and you've at least got two 10GbE connections for well under $800 after shipping and whatnot.

 

[spyrule]

It's the 10G-base-T that's gonna cost a small fortune for now.

That's why I'm digging for a switch like this with 4 sfp's instead.

 

[azazel1024]

True, and when it comes down to it, if i have 10Gbps, I really don't need dual connections.

I just keep thinking of my dual GbE connections and SMB Multichannel I have going on right now and keep equating that to wanting/needing a pair of 10GbE/10Gbps connections, but a single one would more than take care of it.

Problem is, it would be extremely difficult (though maybe not several hundred dollars difficult) to run fiber to my desktop. Reusing the in-wall cat cabling would be much simpler.

 

[spyrule]

yeah, with 10Ge you definitely don't need to worry about SMB multichannel. Unless your running a SAN/storage network at home that has 100+ disks and uber fast controllers.

At my last contract job, we have 2 NetApp controllers with 2+ Petabytes of storage and we couldn't max out two separate 10GbE interfaces (one one each controller) with 3k+ users connecting to it.

 

[Terry Kennedy]

It's the 10G-base-T that's gonna cost a small fortune for now.

The Netgear XS708E is an 8-port 10GBase-T switch (one port of which can be used as an SFP+ port). It sells for under $100/port ($799) at the usual places. I had one - it isn't bad, but suffers from the usual problem of Netgear semi-managed switches - it has a proprietary management interface that uses Adobe AIR. I sold it to another member here who has been quite happy with it.

You can get a 10/100/1000 copper switch with one or two 10GbE uplink ports and link it to the XS708E. That is likely to be a lot more cost-effective than a switch with a bunch of 10GbE copper ports that also do 10/100/1000.

Since people PM me and ask what I switched to when I sold the XS708E, I'll save you a step and post the info here - I have a Dell Powerconnect 8024 (not 8024F) which has 24 10GBase-T ports (4 of which are shared with SFP+ ports). I got it at a Dell clearance since they were moving to a new series. The 8024F is the mirror configuration - 24 SFP+ ports, 4 of which are shared with 10GBase-T. I have the 8024 connected to a Cisco Catalyst 4948-10GE (48 10/100/1000 ports + 2 X2 10GbE ports) via a pair of fiber ports.

 

[spyrule]

yeah, neither of those are "cheap", sadly.

The netgear is closer to $1k Cdn atm, and ther 8024's are 3k+

 

[spyrule]

Final update...

So I ended up biting the bullet and got myself a Quanta LB4M that came with 2 x 10G SFPs plus Dual PSUs, and management cable included... for $100 US including shipping. Couldn't argue the value/$. I then ordered two small Noctua 40x40x10mm fans ($8/each). When it arrived I removed the stock fans, cut two 80mm holes in the top panel, and replaced the stock fans with two 80mm Noctua's that I already had, and then I replaced the stock PSU fans in the switch with the Noctua's (had to change the pin wiring). I only replaced one PSUs fans, as I'm keeping the second PSU as a failover PSU.

I then purchased 1 x ConnectX-2 EN pcie card from ebay for $35 for my NAS.

So now I've got a 48 x 1G port, dual 10Gig switch that's running VERY quiet (literally 1.5ft from my ear and I cant hear it) with SFPs and connected 10Gig connection for a total of $150US including shipping. Would be $180 if I had to buy the 80mm Noctua's new (but I already had them from a previous project).

Awesomesauce!