5G Base-T networking on laptop

[Camofelix]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm trying to pull more from my FreeNAS Box to maximize performance. My development box which also hosts my FreeNAS install is running 2 Xeons, 144GB Ram, 256GB NVME L2arc, 3*3TB Z1

 

My client device is a 2014 MacBook Pro retina 15 inch with DGPU. It has 2 thunderbolt 2 ports and 2 usb3.0 gen 1 ports. 

 

Since Thunderbolt 2 gear is wicked expensive, I was thinking of using the USB ports for networking, and with the advent of 802.3BZ adding support for 5Gb/s and 2.5Gb/s being able to hit 5gbit on my laptop. 

 

My thinking is I could connect the server via SFP+ to the crs305 (a 4 port SFP+, 1 gigabit rj45  switch ), use an RJ45->SFP+ converter to connect to my current cat6A cabling, then terminate at the laptop with a 5G Ethernet to USB3.0 adaptor. 

 

I was wondering if anyone was aware if the CRS 30X (in my case I'm looking at the 305) supports the 802.3bz specification for 5G and 2.5G. Otherwise, if the adaptor supports auto negotiation with the usb to ethernet adaptor, do I have to care about the switch supporting it? Would it essentially just see the other device as a slow 10G device? 

 

More than happy to provide clarification, other data 

 

Felix CLC

 

 

[mynameisjuan]

The CRS30x series supports 2.5/5 with their S+RJ10 series SFPs. These are RJ45 SFP+s.

 

You biggest issue is finding a USB adapter that uses 2.5/5. 10gig adapters are hard to find let alone 2.5/5. You are almost better spending an extra $1-200 on a TB 10gig adapter. 

[Camofelix]

7 hours ago, mynameisjuan said:

The CRS30x series supports 2.5/5 with their S+RJ10 series SFPs. These are RJ45 SFP+s.

 

You biggest issue is finding a USB adapter that uses 2.5/5. 10gig adapters are hard to find let alone 2.5/5. You are almost better spending an extra $1-200 on a TB 10gig adapter. 

Does it have to be the mikrotik rj45 to sfp+ adapters, or will the generics from FS do the trick? 

[flashiling]

i'd suggest asking on ixsystems.com/community/

it's a freeNAS forum

[Camofelix]

3 minutes ago, flashiling said:

i'd suggest asking on ixsystems.com/community/

it's a freeNAS forum

I'm not overly worried about the freenas side, only concern is the crs being able to negotiate a link at 5g. If so I'm probably going to pull the trigger around the holidays. Have sent an email to mikrotik,and posted on their subreddit so waiting on that for now. 

Otherwise am waiting on a response from FS.com on their SFP+ -> Rj45

[mynameisjuan]

1 hour ago, Camofelix said:

Does it have to be the mikrotik rj45 to sfp+ adapters, or will the generics from FS do the trick? 

FS might work, I'm mean it it doesn't your only out $15. Mikrotik is pretty open with their SFP compatibility, just not sure about 2.5/5. Haven't tried yet

[Camofelix]

Gotcha!

if it does work this could end up being one heck of a setup for inexpensive 5 gig per client with a 10g backhaul (or more depending on ports) 

[Camofelix]

On 11/21/2019 at 8:46 AM, Camofelix said:

Gotcha!

if it does work this could end up being one heck of a setup for inexpensive 5 gig per client with a 10g backhaul (or more depending on ports) 

Update: 

From Mikrotik support:

 

Hello,

CRS305-1G-4S+IN supports only 10G and 1G links on the host side of the SFP+ interfaces.
But if the 10G copper SFP+ module itself supports 802.3bz 5GBaseT and 2.5GBaseT like the MikroTik S+RJ10 does, then it will be possible to make the described connections.

https://mikrotik.com/product/s_rj10

https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/MikroTik_SFP_module_compatibility_table#S.2BRJ10

Regards,

Jānis B.

[mtz_federico]

I found a 5 Gigabit USB adapter, it is usb C but it comes with an adpater

 

article:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14381/qnap-launches-qnauc5g1t-a-usb-30-to-5-gbe-adapter

 

amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RKLQPLP?tag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=anandtech-7781754520679885484-20