MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN Block Diagram
Here is the block diagram for the router:
Overall, that is how we would expect. This is actually a fairly capable platform. The Marvell 88F7040 is a quad-core Arm Cortex-A72 chip.
The Marvell 88E6393 is an industrial switch “Link Street” platform that has L3 routing support.
The switch is not the highest-end unit that Marvell sells by any means, but it is notable since it has the 2.5GbE SerDes and the 10GbE SerDes. The idea is that you can have a 10GbE uplink port at a line rate since it is non-blocking.
MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN Performance
MikroTik publishes standard performance data on its parts.
As you can see, this is not something that if you wanted a 10GbE IPSec VPN appliance or even a very high-end router that you might want to use. On the other hand, for most users, this is going to run 2.5GbE speeds without issues except on smaller packet sizes.
MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN Power Consumption and Noise
The included power adapter is going to look very large at around 96W. The router itself uses 15W or so. The reason we have such a large power adapter is that not only can the router’s RJ45 ports handle PoE-in, but they can also handle PoE-out via PoE/ PoE+. Having 802.3af/at on a router like this that can take the place of switches in many scenarios is really nice.
In terms of power consumption, we saw idle figures in the 7.4W range. The maximum for this unit, without providing PoE power and without cables plugged in should be about 15W.
MikroTik says that the maximum for the entire unit, including PoE device draw is 150W. Since there are no fans in this unit, it is silent.
Final Words
The MikroTik RB5009UPr+S+IN is a cool router platform. It is pretty simple, but having PoE-in and PoE-out on this form factor is very nice. The list price on these is usually around $299, or about $80 more than the RB5009UG+S+IN non-PoE version. They are often sold out so you will find street pricing in the $475 to $499 range which shows the demand. Still, this is a nice platform if you want to use RouterOS and want PoE/PoE+ ports with some 2.5GbE/ 10GbE connectivity as well.
We are going to go into these more in a future piece as well as the non-PoE version. In the meantime, if you are looking for an inexpensive 2.5GbE switch to pair with this unit, check out The Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Mega Round-Up.
Seeing this review I was excited. But then I looked at the rated performance. A max of 760k packets per second, with jut 25 ip filter rules. That really doesn’t make this a viable L3 device for 10G and 2.5Gb ports. The Bridging/VLAN throughput seems viable as a managed L2 device.
I bought one of these a few months ago based on the PoE-in on all ports, but when I got it it turns out MikroTik made a mistake in the specs (since fixed), and it only supports 802.3af/at PoE-in on the 2.5G port. The other ports only support passive PoE, and only with one pair arrangement (Mode B). My PoE injector only puts power out in Mode A, so it was unable to power the RB5009. The PoE specs state a device must be able to receive power in either Mode A or Mode B to be 802.3af compliant, which is why they had to relabel the 1G ports as passive PoE Mode B only.
Unfortunately I had to return the device as I had intended to power it via the 1G ports from an 802.3at Cisco switch, which turned out not to be possible. I probably could’ve come up with a workaround but I was a bit cheesed off that it was falsely advertised and the previous MikroTik switch I had ordered was DOA, so it tarnished their reputation in my eyes.
I bought this a few months ago and I really love this device. The poe out powers two of my switches and two WiFi access points from unify.
I run unifi controller to control those WiFi access points and it works great via docker.
There are documented problems with ports on this router in the forums and on reddit. If you have a greater than 1G internet connection and so utilize the SFP+ and 2.5g port for lan/wan, anything on the 1G ports or downstream at 1G gets much worse than 1G performance from the WAN for a lot of people.
How does it preform with jumbo packets?
I know you guys have been looking at mini pc/routers in the sub $300 mark. I was interested to know your take on the Beelink EQ12. it has a N100 processor (intel 12th gen). It has two 2.5GB/s ethernet ports allowing it to potentially be used as a router.
I am new to the networking scene and this is just a hobby for me.
No mention was made as to what the USB port is used for?
What this is good for is to replace ISP GPON optics / routers.
It will also SQM 1 GB WAN so a low cost option than going x64.