QNAP QSW-M7308R-4X Management
Something that was very notable with this switch is that, unlike some bigger brand 100GbE half-width switches, it comes with a QSS web management interface. That makes it much easier for SMBs and home users to integrate.
In there, we can do our typical features like breaking out the QSFP28 ports to 25GbE and setting VLANs.
We can also setup MC-LAG.
With 100GbE especially, doing RDMA networking is more common. This has an easy interface for PFC.
It also does for ECN. Something you might see is that on the right side there are fairly detailed in-context help guides for the screen you are looking at. We have many users who just want a CLI and will see all of this as fluff. For others who will have perhaps this switch and then maybe a lower-speed PoE switch in their networks, the web GUI is more accessible. Having the in-context help is excellent.
You can even do some routing in the platform.
As a quick note, although features like that in-context help are present, this interface is considerably different from the web management we saw in the QNAP QSW-M3216R-8S8T 16-port 10GbE Managed Switch Review, and there is a lot more you can do here.
Next, let us get to the performance.
QNAP QSW-M7308R-4X Performance
In terms of performance, we actually tested this switch some time ago, so it is still using our iperf3 setup instead of the Keysight CyPerf setup we are using on our new gateway reviews. We might be getting a big test chassis soon, and perhaps this is one to revisit if/ when we do. Doing multiple 100GbE links is expensive.
Performance was fairly good from this switch and about what we would expect. Hopefully, this is an area we can improve our testing on, but we are certainly seeing solid speeds despite this being a lower-cost 25GbE/ 100GbE switch.
QNAP QSW-M7308R-4X Power Consumption and Noise
At idle, without any optics plugged in, we saw power consumption in the 27-28W range. Noise is only 38dBa, which is really good for this class of switch. We have seen many 10GbE switches that are louder than this unit.
QNAP says this can utilize a maximum of 55.153W, which we did not get to in our testing, but that usually requires higher power optics instead of DACs. Still, if you took 27W to 55W (or even to be safe 65W) that is awesome. Two of these in 1U is roughly 1A at 120V maximum, which means it is actually a good solution for even low-cost colocation as well.
Final Words
This was a switch that we first saw at Computex in June of 2023 and that we were very excited about. For around $999 this has 600Gbps of ports, for about $1.67/ Gbps. Or on a price per Gbps basis, it would be like a $13.33 8-port 1Gbps switch.
As a half-width switch, you can put it alongside a QNAP QSW-M3216R-8S8T in a rack for example and get 1U with lots of port diversity. Being able to break out the QSFP28 ports is also a nice feature, since for many environments where you just need a low-power and low-cost 25GbE switch, this can be useful.
We might end up buying a second one of these for the lab, but it faces stiff competition from switches like the MikroTik CRS504-4XQ-IN, MikroTik CRS510-8XS-2XQ-IN, and MikroTik CRS520-4XS-16XQ-RM. Given that the MikroTik CRS812 DDQ 400GbE offers over 2.5x the performance with higher speed ports at only $295 more (or less) that may end up being a better option now, but that is not a half-width switch, nor is it as quiet as the QNAP.
Overall, this has worked well for us. Something that we were not expecting is that this has a totally different web management interface compared to the QSW-M3216R-8S8T. On the other hand, since this is a relatively quiet and compact 25GbE/100GbE option, that web management makes it very accessible compared to many of the cheap used 25GbE switches out there.
Where to Buy
If you just want to find these online, here is an Amazon affiliate link and a B&H Photo affiliate link.
