RB816 Daughterboard for RB800/RB600
It’s been something of a running joke; “When is Mikrotik going to make a switch?” Well, it appears as if they just did.
Heffe, would you say I have a plethora of ports?
Yes El Guapo...I would say you have a plethora.
Those shots look pretty good…I’m going to assume Normis took those 😛
Any way, this will increase the RB800/600s port density to 19 ports, which is a moderate size switch. Another interesting point is that this is designed with two sets of switch ASICs so they can be set to switch in groups of 8. If you want all 16 to be on the same L2 segment, you will have to create a bridge interface or hard cable the switches together.
Looks like the intro price on these guys is going to be around mid $60s. The RB800 is around $340 and the RB600 is around $160, so this isn’t the cheapest switch out there. You can get a 24 port 2950 for around $80. If you really need the density to physically be on your MTK, this looks like a good option.
Nice
The notion of consolidated network gear (router, firewall, VPN endpoint, access point, switch) in a small package with a single management interface is a good one, especially for smaller offices. Furthermore, Mikrotik has always been good at delivering excellent value — quality hardware at low prices.
The switch being split into two L2 segments seems like a harsh limitation, though. You suggested two workarounds for a single logical network:
1) Create a bridge interface in RouterOS. This limits the overall bandwidth between the two 8-port segments to whatever the processor can handle. It also robs processor cycles from other functions (e.g., routing, firewall, VPN).
2) Hard cable the L2 segments. Besides being unsightly, it takes two ports out of use while also limiting the bandwidth between segments to 100Mbps in each direction.
Too bad Mikrotik didn’t add another crossbar switch IC to handle traffic between each 8 port cluster, similar to other 16, 24, and 48 switches.
Their existing design seems to limit the potential applications for this daughterboard — and by extension, its potential market.
Daniel,
First, thanks for the comment.
It does seem like offices want a “box”. As in a device you can just plug into the wall, then plug your computer into it and it does everything. We are seeing the industry respond. No one is better at boxes than Cisco; see their UC520 device(router/firewall/VOIP PBX/voice mail server/8 port PoE switch). The only problem is you will pay $3K for it. I’m not saying I don’t love them, cause I do…we are BFFs. Some companies just don’t have the faith to purchase something that expensive.
But I digress. 🙂 Mikrotiks and I are good friends also. We have the two halves of the heart pendant.
You are quite correct on the points you have listed. I don’t really care for the connectivity options available for the two halves of the switching ASICs. I really don’t think they are trying to make a powerful L3 switch, so I’m not sure which specific market they are targeting. One would obviously save money getting a 750G, a 2950G and a copper GBIC. You could then just run VLANs to your switch and get the port density, save cash and get roughly the same performance(depending on scenario).
Perhaps they are testing the waters with this DC…maybe they want to see how many people are interested in the higher density MTK only solution?
“Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education.”
Dredging up some old movie quotes aren’t we there buddy? 😉
Ha! You are the only other fool that got it, so perhaps it was a trap, carefully laid, to ensnare you!
LOL….it worked then!
“No, we will not die like dogs! We will fight like lions! Because we are… “
The Three Amigos! 😛