I finally bought a new switch for my home network/homelab. The new switch is Mikrotik CRS328-24P-4S+. I have been meaning to get this switch since last year but never got a reason to commit to buying it. I currently using a Juniper EX2200C switch, which is going to be replaced by CRS328, and before this was a Cisco 3560 8-port PoE switch. I finally got a reason to buy the CRS328 switch, and here I am posting about it.
Why Mikrotik CRS328-24P-4S+ and not something like Juniper, Cisco or Ubiquiti?
There are several reasons why I choose the CRS328 to be my main switch. The first reason was I can upgrade the switch’s firmware for free. If I were to go with Cisco or Juniper, there is no way I can upgrade the firmware of these models unless I get a contract which is very unlikely to happen. The second reason was its features. The CRS328 offers pretty much all I need to run my network/homelab. These features are basic trunking, bonding, 1GbE and 10GbE, power-over-ethernet (PoE) – passive, 802.3af and 802.3at, and layer3 routing if needed. The third reason is the port density. I need more ports. The Juniper EX2200C doesn’t have enough ports to support my network. The last reason was the price. The price was right. It is way cheaper compared it to other brands.
I am pretty happy with my purchase, but learning the Mikrotik CLI is a task itself. I may post something about my findings when I unboxed this switch.
Cheers!
