$ 480 Gigabit L3 Switch with PoE - Simple and Easy

Ubiquiti Networks is constantly improving its products and expanding its product line. One of the latest innovations is the EdgeSwitch line of managed switches . In this review, we will talk about the capabilities of the new line of Ubiquiti switches, and with a small bonus we will attach several photos of the inside of the 250 W model.



This line includes four models of switches that differ in the number of ports (24 copper + 2 optical, 48 copper + 4 optical) and maximum total power (250, 500, 750 W) of PoE outputs. EdgeSwitch has a wide range of Layer-2 features and switching protocols, as well as Layer-3 routing capabilities.

EdgeSwitch switches are carrier-grade gigabit switches with extensive functionality. EdgeSwitch allows you to supply power to devices connected to it using the PoE protocol. The device supports the popular PoE + IEEE 802.3af / at and Passive PoE standards with a voltage of 24 V. Connected 802.3af / at devices are detected automatically, Passive PoE is configured independently on any port.
EdgeSwitch are available with 24 or 48 Gigabit Ethernet ports and are also equipped with SFP ports, which allows you to integrate copper and fiber networks without the need for additional environment conversion equipment. 48-port models include two SFPs and two SFP + ports, which provide up to 10 Gb / s uplink.

First look

Outwardly - nothing out of the ordinary: black, 1U. On the front panel of the ES-24-250W are 24 Gigabit Ethernet ports, each of which is equipped with LED indicators for connection, activity and PoE mode. Two SFP 1 Gb / s ports, compatible with any modules that comply with this standard. The total throughput of the router is 26 Gbit / s for all ports - accordingly, the manufacturer claims a switching capacity of 52 Gbit / s.

The total maximum power for powering PoE devices is 250 watts. The maximum power on the port can reach 34.2 W in PoE + mode and 17 W in Passive PoE mode. When working in 802.3at mode, the voltage is 50–57 V, and when working in 24V Passive PoE mode, the voltage range is 20-27 V. If you look at the datasheets of Ubiquiti equipment (for example, see the characteristics of their UniFi AP), you will find that the power consumption of the devices with Passive PoE it doesn’t break through the 10 W shelf, and the most “gluttonous” access point of the Uqiquiti AP AC consumes up to 22 W. Therefore, this switch can be safely positioned as an excellent solution for providing the cable infrastructure of the UniFi system, when the number of access points overcomes the capabilities of the previous ToughSwitch line .



The switch ports are equipped with ESD / EMP Protection with a voltage of up to 24 kV, which does not eliminate the need for mandatory (we emphasize - mandatory ) use of STP cat5e and higher cables and shielded connectors when connecting external Ubiquiti equipment.

EdgeSwitch is assembled in a metal case with a 1U rack-mount form factor, the device weighs 3.7 kg. Under the bonus spoiler you can see the build quality, the organization of the space inside the case - for a device of this price range this is a very good indicator.

Management and features of EdgeSwitch

EdgeSwitch is running a proprietary operating system - EdgeOS. The operating system has a simple and intuitive interface and at the same time powerful functionality. You can also manage the switch using the command line interface using the SSH or Telnet protocols.

Appearance of the menu:


Briefly about the functionality of the switch:

• MSTP / RSTP / STP;
• VLAN, Private VLAN, Voice VLAN;
• Link Aggregation
• DHCP Snooping, IGMP Snooping;
• TACACS +, RADIUS, 802.1X, ACL, MAC filtering;
• DiffServ, CoS;
• Static routing, policy-based routing.

Platform features:

• The number of VLANs is 255;
• The number of MAC - 8k;
• MSTP Instances - 4
• The number of LAG groups - 6;
• There are 100 entries in the ACL, with a maximum of 10 entries per port;
• There are 8 traffic queues.

A complete list of switch features is available on the datasheet on the manufacturer’s website .

Actually, one of the most important points of this review: the cost of the ES-24-250W in CompTek is $ 480 , which for a switch with L3 functionality and 24 PoE ports is a very, very interesting price.