XikeStor SKS7300-4X4T Management
Logging in, we get an English logon page where we use admin as our login credentials. We are not prompted to change those credentials after logging in.
Also, logging in, the default on our system was Chinese.
The toggle box at the top right allows us to swap to English.
This is a fairly robust web management interface for this class of device.
Here is a quick look at the ports. Something to notice is that we had a 2.5GbE port connected over a 2m cable to connect the switch and the system. That led to only a 100M autonegotiation.
We can set up link aggregation.
Here we can see a bit more detail on the ports. The strange thing is that the 2.5GbE NIC on the other end was a Realtek based NIC as well. We have no idea why some of the Realtek-based NICs were only linking at 100M on this switch.
There is a decent VLAN setup.
Here is the main STP page:
Here is the QoC or Class of Service page:
There are also features like sFlow.
Overall, we expect this switch to be deployed more as one that maybe has a few VLANs setup rather than one that uses many of these features. Still, there is quite a bit more in this switch than you would expect from a low-cost device.
XikeStor SKS7300-4X4T Performance
Here is what we saw passing traffic through the switch.
The 10Gbase-T ports performed slightly worse than the SFP+ ports. This was a consistent difference between the two. Not great, but we were able to get decent speeds for a $210 8-port switch.
XikeStor SKS7300-4X4T Power Consumption and Noise
The switch came with a 12V 4A 48W power supply.
At idle we got 7.6W, which is decent for an 8-port 10G switch.
Plugging in a 10Gbase-T port we got 10.3W, a jump of 2.7W which is quite a bit.
As we see with many low-cost switches, adding a SFP+ to 10Gbase-T adapter only adds around 1.7W.
Even though this is a relatively low power device, it is also very loud for drawing so little power. The fan, even with the single 100M link up, was very audible. It measured 42dba in our 34dba noise floor studio. That is too loud for a desktop switch, especially one in this power envelope.
Final Words
The good part of this switch is that when you run 10G links, you get both port diversity with SFP+ and 10Gbase-T. The switch is also inexpensive as we purchased it for $210 on Amazon, or only a bit more than a 4-port 10Gbase-T switch like the MikroTik CRS304-4XG-IN.
This is one of those products that from a security perspective could be much better. Also, the 100M autonegotiation issue we saw a few times with different systems and cables. Frankly, the noise issue is just silly. That is probably a $10-15 issue to fix properly, so the fact that it was left as a noisy heatsink/ fan combination is mind boggling. Perhaps is this a cheap switch that might not be one that we would buy and deploy, but at least we wanted to show STHers what it offers.
Where to Buy
We purchased ours last quarter on Amazon (Affiliate link.) Stock is often low there, but you can find it on AliExpress as well (Affiliate link.)
This is great, it’s more what I’ve been looking and waiting for with 4x SFP+ and ideally 8 TX ports ports, but I can probably live with 4.
I have a QNAP currently I might replace with this that has 4x 10g SFP/TX combo and 8x 1g TX/POE, but QNAP is the worst management ever, and doesn’t even support things like using a management IP on a VLAN that is NOT VLAN 1, and their CLI is an afterthought, so consider it non-existent.
Never buy a managed QNAP switch if you have to actually manage it.
If this class of switch all runs on Realtek chips, is there any sort of open source firmware you can flash on them to get a consistent interface?
> Never buy a managed QNAP switch if you have to actually manage it.
I’d shorten it to – never buy a QNAP switch. Learned that one the hard way – so many odd behaviors, bizarre SFP compatibility, and zero updates or support once its shipped. Maddening and from the reviews, not at all uncommon.
Hell I’ll still keep pimping the Zyzel line of 10G switches – replace the fans – and they – while not the dirt direct from china cheap – still a good deal, powerful and reliable. Disorganized UI but all the features you’d want(outside layer 3 routing/switching of course, lets be realistic)
I’ve been using a 10G switch at home for 2 months now, its the JT-COM 8 port 10G SFP switch. The unmanaged version cost just around $60 and around $65 for the managed version. Would love to know what you guys think about a dirt cheap switch. Not sure if its regulatory approved tho.
That management webpage looks suspiciously a lot like a Netgear one.
@Malvineous, there is some activity on OpenWRT for the L3 chipsets from Realtek. But not there yet i think.
Any recommendation for a similar switch? Looking for one like this that mixes both SFP+ and copper.