Cheap and Low Power 25GbE and 100GbE Switch from MikroTik the CRS518

We take a look at the MikroTik CRS518-16XS-2XQ-RM. This is MikroTik's 16x 25GbE and 2x 100GbE network switch. This is a really interesting option on the market with better-than-average management and features. It is also a low-cost switch that is relatively quiet.

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Timestamps
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00:00 Introduction
01:40 External Hardware Overview
06:58 Inside the MikroTik CRS518-16XS-2XQ
08:48 Switch Management Options
12:27 Aggregate 100GbE and 25GbE Performance
13:27 CRS518 Power Consumption and Noise
16:39 Pricing and Market Positioning
20:34 Wrapping-up

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Other STH Content Mentioned in this Video
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[MoraFermi]

. . . I'm old enough to remember when $1600 would get you a 16x100Mbps + 2x1Gbe. In a white box, from 3com.

[lurick]

This definitely makes sense in a lot of smaller environments who don't have/need Juniper/Cisco/etc. style gear/density and I really think you hit on a super important point which is the 100/25g trickling down and I can't wait for that to push prices down more as time goes on :)

[troikos_toxotis]

I came here because this video was featured in Mikrotik's December newsletter. I'm a homelabber that upgraded my core network with this switch a few weeks ago. I had to also get a few new 25G NICs and SFPs to take advantage of it. I liked it so much that I pulled fiber from the rack to my office to get it to my desk too. This switch is awesome for the price tag!

[eltreum]

I have a MikroTik Cloud Routerboard 1100hx2 that powers my home and lab. Other than software updates and a couple of power outages it has ran constantly 24/7 for 5+ years trouble free. It's good to see they are still making solid stuff.

[synaptichorizons]

Really liked this particular review, and totally agree with your assessment, that many SoHo and mini Research Data labs are needing exactly this type of capability/capacity switch. They also can use the 4x100GbE version of the switch to connect their two MS WS-19 Servers and a AI Workstation to the networks all Native NVMe Flash 24-bay RAID Storage sitting on it's own 100GbE Communication Tier. I wish MikroTik also made a cheap and reliable 8-port 32/64Gbs Fiber Channel Switch. That would be great for the separate FC Communication Tier. So this would make it super easy to put together your co-low Oracle Server and co-low AI Edge Server in a small rack along with the 5000KVA UPS and Firewall Appliance. Really love the classic Triple Tier communication architecture 1-10Gbe, 25-100GbE and 32-64 Fiber Channel backbones. We're Hoping to move to 200-400GbE as a fourth Tier to support the 150Gbs capability between the External all Flash Storage and the AI Server.

[psedog]

Patrick over here with the 3 LTT screwdriver flex in the background, nice!

[alc]

I just got the router equivalent of this (CCR2216) for the office and loved the hole in the rack ear. It’s such a little thing but it’s so nice.

[FinlayDaGk]

Been using MikroTik for about 2 years now and I can't say I'm disappointed.
Lots of bang for the buck.
Just their wifi that lags behind the competition a lot but can't have everything.

[missydg]

We moved and I finally emptied my old computer stuff. Found my old Hayes dial up modem. My son figured out how to send dial number so it makes sounds. In a few weeks at the family Christmas he is taking the modem and my old Motorola Microtac flip cell phone. That was not that long ago.
We enjoy your videos and happy holidays

[CptPatch]

Apparently this model supports MLAG, which could make it a compelling option for some use cases. I've only ever configured those kinds of features on Cisco and Aruba CX, so I'm curious how well it works on Mikrotik. Would you consider doing an article or video on the redundancy features of these switches? I'd love to have a fully redundant core for my homelab network, if just for the flex.

[nandesu]

Thanks for the review! This is on my radar now. :)

[Galileocrafter]

Finally a switch worthy the 25 Gb/s plan of my ISP 🙂, i love Switzerland 😊.

[BobHannent]

Uncompressed UHD video is ~12Gbps, so 25Gbps per port is great for a small broadcast studio IF this could handle that kind of multicast UDP traffic.

[IkanGelamaKuning]

Tech going faster & faster. I still remember 10mbps switches as yesterday.

[nobodynemoq]

Cool stuff, although I'm not going to have it since it provides much more than I would need, at least for now.

For me, one of the coolest features in Mikrotik CRS switches is the possibility to simply run a network sniffer 😎
That's something that might really ease the diagnosis in any case of troubles.

What I like in Mikrotik and often can't find in quite recent switches from other vendors: if you put an SFP module, you immediately see all details - model, vendor, etc.

All these small details made me a great mikrotik fan - and I still remember how traumatized I was when I saw Webfig for the first time 🤣

Also, if we decide to go "all-mikrotik" - we get The Dude 😁

[bigpt_cpt]

Love these for how easy to work with they are and the insane value...
I previously work for for a small service provider that used these in our core, and the crs routers were great. Served UDP/voice so hit the packets per second limit real quick unfortunately. Check out the data sheet very carefully when comparing models...

[mrmotomoto]

This for the private network on a 11plus-node ceph cluster in a homelab... one day

[andljoy]

What i love about MikroTik ( and its silly but i like it ) is that they dont stop you doing dumb shit, like bridging a management port and a 100g port. MikroTiik knows you are a big boy now and you can look after yourself. Like the whole " critical " CVE they had, yeh well if you expose your management on the WAN its you that is the problem :D.

The advantage of this is that if you have something stupid old and none standard you need to bodge in a crazy way, it wont stop you :)

[DrivingWithJake]

Not bad pricing.
Sucks however as we had paid around $1300-1500 for an Arista 32x100g switch which could breakout into multiple 4x25g ports now they're around 10k each due to the market.
This however is a great option for someone looking for something in their office or a small datacenter switch.

[youtubecommenter]

Patrick, nice presentation but OCD me cannot unsee "Hardware Overiew", 1:40.