Last week my trusty UniFi US-8-150W caught some stray something from a lightning strike in our backyard. I'm keeping it around to see if I can fix it, but we work from home here so I'm using this as an excuse for some new gear.
APs are UniFi and I'm happy with the management for those (UniFi Network in a container) but am considering Mikrotik options for switching.
I'd like 14+ total ports with at least some 2.5 GbE. I need 6+ PoE+ ports with at least 60 W total (normal load is around 56 W). I'm looking at:
- UniFi option
- UniFi Flex 2.5G PoE
- UniFi AC Adapter 210W (seemingly always out of stock)
- UniFi Lite 8 PoE
- Mikrotik option
- CRS310-8G+2S+IN
- RB5009UPr+S+IN (could replace the EdgeRouter X as well)
Both options have some compromises and some overkill, which is part of the reason I think I must be missing some better option. Also, space is a consideration. I'd like to stick with 10"-ish format so I don't have to completely rework my physical setup.
(Also, hi! New to Lemmy but not the fediverse in general.)
Okay, here's what I ended up with. I managed to wedge a Cisco WS-C2960L-16PS-LL in there after moving my patch panel slightly. It's really too big for the space but only an issue if I need to plug/unplug devices.
The switch is a compromise, but cheap enough that I won't feel bad buying something else if we ever get fiber here. Functionally it's fine, but there are little things like enabling LLDP causes one of my old Ubiquiti APs to boot loop. And (possibly related) I can't read actual PoE usage from the switch, only budget. But it's handling all of the power load just fine, and it's really nice having everything on one switch now.
So this is your typical "new person asks for advice, gets advice, ignores advice" except that I actually returned to say what I ended up doing. ๐ Thanks for the input.