The Sodola SL902-SWTG015AS is a 5-port 2.5GbE and 1-port SFP+ 10GbE switch. We have seen many of these as part of our Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyers Guide, making it hard to differentiate. Sodola did that by using a lightweight aluminum chassis and magnetic mounting. It is an interesting idea, so let us get to the review.
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Sodola SL902-SWTG015AS Hardware Overview
The first item you will notice about the switch is that all of the ports are on the front.
First, we get a DC 12V power input via a barrel jack. Some prefer DC inputs on the rear, some on the front. The front is what Sodola went with.
Next to that, we get the five 2.5GbE ports.
We then get a SFP+ port for the 10GbE. Both ports 5 and the SFP+ port 6 hang off the Realtek switch chip in distinct I/O blocks from the ports 1-4 2.5GbE ports.
The chassis is made of aluminum. Since we have tested dozens of these switches, you can notice the weight difference immediately when it is in your hand.
On the sides, we get vents.
On the back, we get a grounding point.
On the bottom, we get a label and two mounting screw holes.
What is really neat is that Sodola includes four magnets. So you can remove these four bottom screws and install the magnets.
Then you can attach it to a rack or another metal surface that the magnets are attracted to.
Inside the switch, we get a very standard layout.
The chip heatsink was glued, but these are almost all the 30Gbps Realtek switch chips. Four ports of 2.5GbE are 10Gbps. There is a 10Gbps SFP+ port. Then the last 10Gbps interface is running through a DSP to get the 2.5GbE port.
Here is the conditioning.
Here is the RTL8221B DSP/ PHY chip for the extra port.
Next, let us plug the switch in and see how it works.
