MikroTik CRS312-4C+8XG-RM – Network Switch L3, 10G, Ethernet (100/1000/10000), 1U, White

Great layer 3 switch!! A L3 switch is a switch with routing features, so his performance as a switch is equal or better than a layer 2 switch with similar features; the difference is in the routing performance: his performance is a bit lower than a pure router (with the same features). This is because the main motherboard hardware of the L3 switches is built to be a high performance switch. The main motherboard hardware of the routers is built to execute routing tasks, so a router is better than a L3 switch in these tasks. To compare their routing software performance, just see their software routing features (L3 protocols, etc). The performance of a router is mainly measured by his routing hardware capacity, not by his routing software features because the software features are added just buying/installing/enabling a software license and/or changing the NOS (Network Operating System). You can compare their routing hardware performance (between a L3 switch and a Router), looking for the packet throughput (measured in pps (packets per second)) and the total BW throughput (in Gbps) in each brochure/datasheet The CRS312-4C+8XG-RM has a packet throughput of 178 Mpps (is called forwarding rate) and a BW throughput of 120 Gbps The switching performance is measured by the switching throughput also called switching capacity, 240 Gbps for the CRS312-4C+8XG-RM => it is good as router and very good as high speed switch. L3 Switches are good "cheap" solution for small enterprises or SOHO networks, because they replace the router and switch functions, all in one box. If you really need more performance, then you go for a separate real router and a high speed L2 or L3 switch.The CRS312-4C+8XG-RM has only 12 available physical interfaces. 8x10Gbps interfaces and 4+4 combo 10Gbps. The combo interfaces are physically 8 (4 copper RJ45 jacks and 4 SFP+ modules) but you can use only 4 at the same time, so can only have 4 active links. For example, if you insert a copper cable link in the 1T RJ45 combo1 port and also a SFP+ cable link in the 1F SFP+ combo1 port, only the 1F port will be enabled. The SFP+ port has priority over de RJ45 jack port , in the combo interfaces. When you remove the SFP+ module, then the RJ45 jack port becomes immediatly enabled/active. In summary, 8 x 10Gbps copper interfaces plus 4 x10Gbps copper/SFP+ interfaces, total max 12 enabled/active interfaces (only 12, never 16).I recommend upgrading the routerboard firmware (use the 6.48.2 stable or higher) and the packages, using RouterOS 6.48.2 stable version and never install the default-configuration. As a professional Network Engineer, I ALWAYS use the command line to configure the networking devices, so I recommend using it. AFTER upgrading the default firmware to the 6.48.2, the fan noise is really quiet (as Ubiquiti routers); just each 2 hours approx. it starts a short cooling process (a couple o minutes) with a more loud noise (is not annoying) and next continues in its silent mode. This kind of device is in the professional segment, so it is for pro networks and is designed to be configured by professionals => not recommended for beginner users because you need to know what you want, the network protocols that you want, how they work and then learn to use the RouterOS cli (Winbox is good for amateurs or to monitoring, but limited for advanced/expert configurations). That is why I recommend this dog for network engineers. If you know other cli 's like Cisco IOS, etc, is pretty easy and quick the learning curve! This is an small Aggregation L3 professional switch. If you are beginner in networks and you are not pressed, the learning curve could be long but you could learn and practice a lot of features/protocols of Routing & Switching and even Network Automation (yes! You can do Network Automation on MikroTik using Python!)

Was looking to make the jump to 10GB with my home network. Wanted to stay with Ethernet since my cabling is all Cat 6 and above. This worked perfectly. The password for the device is on a piece of paper, setup, on the inside of the packaging. Once in, upgrade and modify. I switched it SWOS as it's all I need for it to do. It connected at 2.5GB and 10GB with no issues. Both the Router and Switch OS are not hard to figure out. I used with some Cat8 cable and my intra network speed between my main machines is outstanding.The only concern I had was noise I had read about in researching the switch. It is loud for a home environment, but normal to quiet for a dedicated server environment. I swapped out the 4 fans for Noctua fans and it's basically completely quiet and I can place it anywhere. It becomes good for home use since it's not so loud anymore. Overall a very easy and less expensive 10GBe upgrade. For the future if I decide to go Fiber, I can always use the 4 shared SPF+ ports for 10GB. For the price a great upgrade and easy way to switch to 10GBe for home use.

Great switch also with L3 hardware offloading. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because I opened a bug report and Mikrotik has not responded within one week. It turns out there is no bug, and the switch is behaving correctly. There is actually good documentation in the RouterOS manual if you are willing to read it.Just be aware that if you require IP Firewall rules then packets sent or received on ports requiring that have to be handled by the CPU, which is only 650 MHz. If you require significant packet firewall inspection at high packet rate, then you need a different router. If you only need to do srcnat (masquerading), then you still get hardware offloading. Only the first few packets for every connection are handled by the CPU if you configure L3 HW Offloading and IP Firewall FastTrack rules correctly. I am able to max out my srcnat'ed Internet uplink with such a configuration. It is 1 Gbps up and down.

Very solid switching performance and stability. Unit stays cool and quiet at all times. The power redundancy is a welcome feature, as well as ROMAN. If you haven't used enterprise gear or Mikrotik before, there is a learning curve -- but config is easy once you're used to it.

WARNING: THERE IS NO MANUFACTURER WARRANTY! Mikrotik products sold through Amazon do not have a warranty beyond the 30 day return period! The CRS312-4C+8XG I purchased from GETIC died after 3 months, and Mikrotik does not offer direct to consumer warranty service and forces you to deal with the reseller. The reseller GETIC in this case is giving me the run around. I wasted too much of my time and money on this crap...

Needed a 10G switch for my home lab to handle shared storage and live migration for a three-host virtualization cluster. Split the switch into two, six-port VLANs, one for shared storage, the other for live VM migration. Works great and runs quieter than what I had feared. Even with the fans running at 3400 rpm or so, it is not too distracting sitting in my office next to with me. (Will probably rack it in the basement sometime in the future once the configuration is finalized.) Simple, but usable web UI and CLI give you control over all important aspects of the configuration. Most people still don't need 10Gbe, but if you have the use case, this is the most affordable managed solution out there based on what I've seen. MikroTik is a Latvian company and they seem to be giving the established brands some serious competition in this market segment. I like it!