QNAP Releases new 2.5GbE + 10GbE Switches to the QSW Line

[The Benjamins]

Summary

 QNAP Releases new 2.5GbE + 10GbE Switches to the QSW Line, the QSW-M2108-2C($249) and QSW-M2108-2S ($299). This should be a nice entry for people looking for a 2.5GbE and 10GbE switch for there home. These are added to the other cost effective 1GbE + 10GbE switches part of the past line up. Some past examples are the QSW-308-1C ($139) (308 line) unmanaged switch with 8 1GbE & 2 SFP+ & 1 10GbE Combo port (RJ45/SFP+) and the QSW-M408-4C ($299) (408 line) managed switch with 8 1GbE 4 10GbE Combo port (RJ45/SFP+) (both lines with a few port configuration options)


 

Quotes

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The QSW-M2108-2C comes with two 10GbE SFP+/RJ45 combo ports and eight 2.5GbE RJ45 ports (ten ports in total). The QSW-M2108-2S comes with two 10GbE SFP+ ports and eight 2.5GbE ports (ten ports in total). The QSW-M2108-2C is compatible with 10GbE and NBASE-T technologies to support five networking speeds (10Gbps, 5Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 1Gbps and 100Mbps), allowing administrators to realize higher network speeds with existing Cat 5e and 6a cables. QSW-M2108 series switches also provide Layer 2 management functions (such as LACP, VLAN, ACL and LLDP) via a user-friendly Web GUI for efficient network bandwidth controls and enhanced network security.

 

My thoughts

These look like great switches for home users looking for entry into higher LAN speeds with out crazy costs. I plan to pick up the QSW-M408-2C soon.

 

Sources

https://www.qnap.com/en-us/product/compare-switches

https://hexus.net/tech/items/storage/147154-qnap-introduces-qsw-m2108-25gbe-10gbe-l2/

QSW-M2108-xx Pictures
 

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QSW-M408-4C Pictures
 

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QSW-308-1C Pictures

 

Spoiler

 

[Salv8 (sam)]

well i know what to ask santa for next year...

[porina]

Nice to have more 2.5G options but this doesn't really advanced affordable copper 10G. I did get their 5 port 2.5G switch earlier this year but there needs to be more affordable 8 port options at 2.5G and 10G. 

[FloRolf]

Why only 2 10g ports though

 

[The Benjamins]

1 hour ago, FloRolf said:

Why only 2 10g ports though

 

Ya wish there where a option with more 10GbE with the 2.5GbE, but if you dont care about the 2.5 as much the QSW-M408-4C has 8 1GbE + 4 10GbE combo ports that support 10/5/2.5.

I think the chip that handles the switching has a max of around 96-100 Gbps, the M408 has a max switching capacity of 96 and the M2108 has 80.

As I said i do plan to pick up the QSW-M408-2C some time soon.

[leadeater]

4 hours ago, porina said:

Nice to have more 2.5G options but this doesn't really advanced affordable copper 10G. I did get their 5 port 2.5G switch earlier this year but there needs to be more affordable 8 port options at 2.5G and 10G. 

The QSW-M408-4C might be more what you are wanting, it has 4 Combo copper 10G ports. But also you can just go to FS.com and buy 10GBase-T SFP+ modules rather cheaply for switches that do not have copper 10G ports or have many SFP+ ports.

[StDragon]

3 minutes ago, comander said:

The 2C has 2SFP+ and 2RJ45/SFP+ ports and is cheaper. If you're doing anything with SFP it'll be cheaper. 

Depending on distance between devices and the switch, going twinax with SFP+ might be preferable.

 

If it's just 10gbit between two devices, do a direct connection without the switch. Just omit the default GW from the IP stack. The other port can be plugged into a standard 1gbit switch for internet access.

[leadeater]

14 minutes ago, comander said:

The 2C has 2SFP+ and 2RJ45/SFP+ ports and is cheaper. If you're doing anything with SFP it'll be cheaper. 

Cheaper yes but the desire was for more than 2 10G ports. If noise isn't a problem then used TOR switches on ebay will give more than anyone should need at home 

[leadeater]

46 minutes ago, comander said:

The 2C has 4x 10GBE ports. The main difference vs the 4C is that only two of the four 10GBE ports are combo-ports while the other two ports are SFP+ only.

Oh right the 2C of the M408, missed that model on their switch comparison URL as it was on a different line. Thought you meant the M2108-2C .

[porina]

7 hours ago, leadeater said:

The QSW-M408-4C might be more what you are wanting, it has 4 Combo copper 10G ports. But also you can just go to FS.com and buy 10GBase-T SFP+ modules rather cheaply for switches that do not have copper 10G ports or have many SFP+ ports.

I guess from my viewpoint, I want consumer level hardware at consumer level pricing, and there is little beyond gigabit falling into that category. Don't want to pay for management features*, and anything with a fan is a major negative. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but those modules are not cheap either. 

 

(*That doesn't mean I don't want management features. After taking a CCNA course I kinda want to play with that stuff, but don't want to pay extra for it)

 

I did get their 5 port 2.5G switch earlier:

But it is full already. I have 4x 2.5G devices connected to it, and one connection to the rest of the world. This particular switch I see is now down to £90 with tax (US$100-ish without). And around there is my definition of "affordable" for a consumer use case. Gigabit is really cheap. An 8 port switch, if you don't care about brand, is sub US$20.

 

I suppose 10G is still outside my definition of cheap, given a network card alone is a good chunk of cost, multiply by number of systems... that's why I have hopes that 2.5G will some day take over from where gigabit is now. It'll take time but it'll be good to see some advancement to the baseline after so long at gigabit.

 

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

I suppose 10G is still outside my definition of cheap, given a network card alone is a good chunk of cost, multiply by number of systems... that's why I have hopes that 2.5G will some day take over from where gigabit is now. It'll take time but it'll be good to see some advancement to the baseline after so long at gigabit.

At least it is looking like it is starting to be the case for motherboards, I'm seeing a lot more coming with 2.5G/5G now, switches are taking their sweet time though that is for sure.

[porina]

5 minutes ago, leadeater said:

At least it is looking like it is starting to be the case for motherboards, I'm seeing a lot more coming with 2.5G/5G now, switches are taking their sweet time though that is for sure.

I got my first mobo with 2.5G built in recently, so that does seem to be a trend at least on some higher end mobos. Don't think I've seen 5G yet. It was the 5 port 2.5G switch that finally made an upgrade affordable enough for me to go through with it. Now if only they did an 8 port version. Fortunately much of my home network isn't performance critical so I can continue to use gigabit there, but some more affordable 2.5G ports would still be a help.

[williamcll]

I need to find a fibre modem.

[williamcll]

1 minute ago, comander said:

As an FYI, fiber isn't really "better" unless you need to span long distances or you're worried about electrical grounding. 

 

The chief use case would be connecting 2 buildings that are far apart and are on different grounding planes. Lightning strikes are bad. Also copper connections, while faster for short distances (like 30 ft), lose out to optical connections for longer distances, like 2 miles.

no no, the local ISP offers 2Gbps Fibre but the modem it comes with is bundled with an awful router that splits the line into two and 2x2 MiMMO.

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, comander said:

As an FYI, fiber isn't really "better" unless you need to span long distances or you're worried about electrical grounding. 

 

The chief use case would be connecting 2 buildings that are far apart and are on different grounding planes. Lightning strikes are bad. Also copper connections, while faster for short distances (like 30 ft), lose out to optical connections for longer distances, like 2 miles.

Actually, once you talk 25GbE and above fiber is king regardless of distance and even 10G copper chows down on electricity at about double the rate of fiber. (2.5w vs 1.5w)

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, Lurick said:

Actually, once you talk 25GbE and above fiber is king regardless of distance and even 10G copper chows down on electricity at about double the rate of fiber. (2.5w vs 1.5w)

10GE SFP+ modules also get hot as hell compared to fibre ones, at least MM short distance ones anyway.

[Lurick]

7 minutes ago, leadeater said:

10GE SFP+ modules also get hot as hell compared to fibre ones, at least MM short distance ones anyway.

Yah, I've seen docs from Cisco and others where you are forbidden from placing two 10G SFP+ copper modules next to each other due to heat worries in the dense 48 port DC switches. I know because I spent an hour trying to figure out why ones next to each other wouldn't come up

[leadeater]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

Yah, I've seen docs from Cisco and others where you are forbidden from placing two 10G SFP+ copper modules next to each other due to heat worries in the dense 48 port DC switches. I know because I spent an hour trying to figure out why ones next to each other wouldn't come up

haha wow, weird, On our HW ones only the first 8 ports support 1Gb so we can only have 16 iLO/IPMI per rack so the extras have to be patched across to another rack with switches for that. Fortunately iLO on HPE servers (some of them) support iLO port chaining which is why we started to move to using the TOR switch ports for iLO instead of dedicated 1Gb switches for that, purely in the name of cost cutting.