QNAP QSW-1105-5T 2.5Gbe Switch Hardware Review

QNAP has really been making aggressive moves into the word of network switches in the last two years. We have seen multiple 10Gbe switches for copper and fibre connectivity arrive on the market from them (managed and unmanaged) that have made the cost of upgrading the hub of your network equipment to 10Gbe a great deal more affordable. That said, with numerous 5Gbe and 2.5Gbe solutions in their NAS portfolio AND most users looking to make only a small jump above 1Gbe, the appeal and affordability of switching to a 2.5Gbe setup (eg 2.5x that of traditional ethernet in the typical small scale office) has been greater than I would have expected. As an answer to this, and as a means to allow more users to take advantage of the growing number of 2.5Gbe equipped solutions out there, QNAP have released the QSW-1105-5T switch. Arriving with a fanless, silent architecture, 5 ports providing a total 12.5Gbe of 5 lane network bandwidth, it is another solution that users looking to make smaller upgrades (side-grades?) may find very appealing indeed – as well as leaving some users scratching their heads at the point of a relatively small jump up in the grand scheme of things. So, let’s take a look at the QNAP QSW-1105-5T and see if this small little upgrade could mean big things for you and your network.

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[Spreadie]

Given that QNAP have released a range of NAS devices with twin 2.5Gbe ports that support trunking/channel bonding, I'm surprised they don't offer a similar switch that supports trunking. Seems to be an oversight.

A small 5 to 8 port 2.5Gbe managed switch at a reasonable price could really grab the market.

[DerekDavis]

You 'review' a switch but don't actually power it on and do some benchmark tests? No discussion about cabling issues, or devices that have 2.5gb ethernet support? wtf?

[neilm]

6:57 - More than double was your comment .... I would 5 times is significantly more than double.

Synology are missing a real trick with their network connectivity on their NASes, the lack of 2.5 and 5 Gbe.

[Shamboopy_]

Great video! I just picked one up. Would set up go like this: I plug one of the available 2.5 ports into my 2.5 port on my router, and now I have 4 ports left that now have direct access to 2.5 download speeds?

[jodajackson]

IIRC the QNAP QSW-M408-4C will do VLAN, LAG, trunking and so on. Its ~$300 USD though and the QNAP QSW-110-5T is 1/3 of that price at only ~$100 USD.

Another option is the CRS305-1G-4S+IN which is 10GbE but about ~$135 USD and SFP+.

The QNAP QSW-110-5T isn't a great value for what you get out of the box but it does fill a 2.5GbE niche. The QNAP QSW-110-5T is hard to find in stock at or near the MSRP. I just got one of the QNAP QSW-110-5T switches to help offload 2.5GbE devices from my 10GbE MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+IN switch.

[larsandersson]

How much power draw when idle?, is it cheap because it doesn't have any power saving features? like netgear etc... Having something suck allot of watt when idle is not ideal.

[joseppacheco]

Sorry have you got some video to configure this qnap with One nas qnap ts x53? Thanks

[scotchyscotchyscotch]

Does this or does this not have trunking?. You said it doesn't but going by the main QNAP website it says it has "IEEE 802.3x Full-Duplex Flow Control" supported.

I'm wanting to buy a new Asustor 2 or 4bay (AS6604T) Nas that has the 2x2.5gbe and fully utilize both ports for port aggregation.
So on this switch
Port 1: 1gbe Internet wireless modem ethernet cable coming in
Port 2: To the 2.5gbe port on the Asus wireless router
Port 3: To the new Asus AS6604T 2.5gbe port
Port 4: To the other 2.5gbe port on the AS6604T NAS
Port 5: Probably use as spare port in future

Will this QNAP switch work at using both 2.5gbe ports on my Nas for duel aggregation? so it pushed the read and write speeds higher up then using a single 2.5gbe port. Thanks

[grafixnetz]

The power connection issue is not small. If wall mounted, it's very easy to have something pull it out.
If desk mounted as you state.
Move it to the back AND add an extra security clip to hold it in place would make a world of difference.
(I'd even tape it to the chassis.)

[chrisipad]

Thanks for the great content but please use a microphone for better audio :)

[pbrigham]

Just got the Mikrotik css610-8G-2S+IN switch for 100 EURs, this is the best 10G managed switch that you can get right now. And for 130 EURs you can have also the same version but with 24 Ports with 1 Gbe instead of 8. ( SS326-24G-2S+RM)

[frostmedia]

i like that the powerconnect is on front.

[vinylmonster]

the worst part of this device is that all of the connections are in the front of the device, which makes it difficult to conceal. Why on earth would they design it like this, it is so off putting