We have been slacking a bit on a new round-up of cheap network switches. There are now well over a dozen units in the queue to review and do a round-up video of, but we are going to start with one that has perhaps the funniest name. The “ienRon” 8-port 2.5GbE and 1-port SFP+ 10GbE switch has a funny name. Someone took “Enron” and added “i” to it like an iPhone and came up with iEnron. Despite the name, this little switch has a unique feature so we wanted to review this one first.
If you just want a link to where to get the switch, you can find an Amazon affiliate link here. This switch also became the subject of one of our super quick shorts that you can find here:
ienRon HG0801XG 8-port 2.5GbE 1-port 10GbE Fanless Switch Hardware Overview
The front of the switch has eight 2.5GbE ports and then a SFP+ port that is not properly labeled (it says SFP instead.) Still, that means we get a 10GbE uplink for the little switch which can be very useful.
The big feature difference between this switch, and several of the other 9-port switches we have reviewed is the “VLAN” switch that can be OFF or ON. This switch we have seen in a few other units, and controls port isolation. When it is on, the ports (say 1 and 8) cannot talk to one another directly, but they can communicate through to the SFP+ uplink. If you are unsure if you want that feature, we would leave that off.
On the side, there is a vent.
On the other side, there is a vent and a “Tear invalid” sticker.
On the back, there is nothing. Many of these switches have a little grounding point screw back here, but this does not. This is mostly a save-all-costs switch. So much so that it did not come with rubber feet to keep the unit from scratching a desk.
Taking off the top is as easy as removing four screws.
This is another Realtek RTL8373-CG plus RTL8224-CG design, with a very simplified internal design. The PCB is even smaller than other units we have seen like the YuanLey YS25-0801.
Next, let us get working with the switch.
Other than blocking inter-port traffic, what else does that VLAN toggle do? Will it allow the switch to recognize VLAN/tagged traffic and route it up/down to the port(s) where devices are broadcasting/listening on the appropriate VLAN? Will it automatically tag/untag traffic up/down the 10Gb port (e.g.: port 1=VLAN11, port 2=VLAN12, etc.)?
Providing some information about that functionality would be quite helpful. I could see some uses for those potential features in a homelab setup, for instance.
“The Smartest Switches in the Room”
Incidentally the Enron collapse is now over 20 years old, so I indeed feel pretty old.
I’d like to see the power consumption with the sfp+ working not just an adapter plugged in , that would be more realistic
Regarding the ‘vlan’ switch, I have a similar one on a Vimin switch, and it really doesn’t do any tagging. It just isolates the RJ45 side from the SFP+ side. So it’s kind of pointless. No real VLAN whatsoever.
Is it good I found the 30 port 2.5g on Amazon but worried about the label sfp without + for 10g
Will it be good for a homelab
I bought this one and it’s 4+2 cousin. The higher idle power consumption may come from the power status LED on the power adapter itself, combined with a constantly flashing internal green LED.
The 4+2 unit has locked up twice on me already in the last 5 days, but not sure if it’s the 10G-BaseT SFP+ module running at 2.5G to my router (temporary until fiber w/ 10G handoff gets installed next month) or just “you get what you pay for” at this price point.