Hello,
I currently have a small mini appliance running PFsense that then serves a couple switches for each network (server and home lan)
I just bought a new server and I am planning out building a small rack.
Is there a rack mounted switch that I should install that would substitute the PFsense appliance and its downstream switches?
The wants would be:
- primary set of ports would be 10gb or 2.5gb with 10g SFP+
- 10 ports minimum desired but somewhat flexible
- somewhat industry standard so I’m not learning something I couldn’t potentially use at work
- Could be something new or used, but price range is about 400 bucks.
- ideally acts as router and downstream switches in the current setup
You’ll need to keep the pfSense, as that will remain your default router, as well as firewall and vpn if youre using it. You would then trunk your VLANs to a managed switch.
A Cisco WS-C3850-12X48U-L is a 48 port gigabit switch that includes 12 100Mbps/1/2.5/5/10 Gbps Base-T UPOE Ethernet ports, but you would need to bump your budget to about $600. It has a network module slot that can accommodate 10 and 40 gig SFP+ If you wanted to run a fiber uplink
If you dont wanna blow the budget on the switch, something like a WS-C3750X-48P would be perfectly usable, its a 48 port 1G Base-T PoE+ switch with modular and redundant PSUs, and it has the option for a 2 port 10g SFP+ network module and you can usually find switches with the C3KX-NM-10G module installed for $100 or less.