Desktop Devices

A "Desktop" device is a network switch/router which isn't designed to be installed into a server rack using rails or "rack ears".

Most desktop devices are consumer-grade equipment, however, some brands/models can be high quality and work great within a datacenter setting.

Please be aware, that we can't guarantee that we'll be able to accept "desktop" devices (for individual colo) in every colocation rack or region - since to safely install them into our rack, they require us to have a "rack tray" available, and for there to be enough space left on that rack tray to fit your desktop device(s).

If you're leasing more than 1U of colocation rackspace from us, and have at least 1U of rackspace unused, then you could purchase a 1U rack tray, which we could use to install desktop mount devices, such as small 5-port/12-port consumer switches.

Unmanaged Switches

An Unmanaged Switch is a "dumb" switch - one which has no capabilities to be configured, whether via WebUI/SSH using it's IP address, nor via a physical console port.

Unmanaged switches are generally purely Layer 2 devices, they join all connected devices to the same layer 2 segment, and have no knowledge of higher level concepts such as IP addresses, IP routing, VLANs, gateways, etc. - they only care about network ports (Ethernet/SFP+), and MAC addresses.

The benefits of an unmanaged switch include:

• They Just Work out of the box, they don't require any configuration, and they generally don't allow you to touch their firmware, so no firmware updates to deal with, and no risk of locking yourself out / bricking your switch due to a misconfiguration or broken firmware update.
• They generally do everything in 100% hardware, so even cheap unmanaged switches can often perform great, since there's no software processing to slow it down.
• They don't interfere with any existing network setup - since they're generally Layer 2 only, they won't (/ can't) have an IP/subnet configured, nor DHCP, nor VLANs, or any firewalling - so they generally can't interfere with any existing network setup on other devices.
• They're usually much cheaper than equally specced Managed models
• They're usually extremely power efficient, with small <= 6-port 1gbit Ethernet switches usually consuming less than 5W, while medium-sized 8-20 port 1gbit Ethernet switches consuming between 5-20W.

For comparison, most Fully Managed switches generally consume at least 30W, or even over 100W for actual Datacenter 48-port Cisco/Arista/Juniper/Quanta L3 Switches.

Brand	Model	1gbit Ports	10gbit Ports	Avg Power (W)	Price (USD)	Notes
TP-Link	TL-SG105S	5	0	1.25	18.00
D-Link	DGS-105/B	5	0	1.25	28.00
TP-Link	TL-SG108S	8	0	2.5	27.00
D-Link	DGS-1008P/E	8	0	80.0	80.00	All ports are PoE+
TP-Link	TL-SG116	16	0	5.0	67.00

Suggested Brands for Unmanaged Switches:

• For unmanaged switches, TP-Link generally has the cheapest and most power efficient switches while still being high quality
• D-Link offers high quality switches just like TP-Link, though they're usually more expensive than TP-Link.
• Netgear offers high quality switches just like TP-Link, their prices are similar to D-Link (more expensive than TP-Link)
• Zyxel offers high quality switches, with several models that include higher-speed ports (2.5G + 5G + 10G RJ45, and 10G SFP+) mixed with standard RJ45 Ethernet for relatively cheap compared to other brands.

They also offer a basic WebUI on some of their unmanaged switches (such as the XGS1210-12) to allow configuring VLANs, port aggregation, link speed, and other layer 2 features. - QNAP are somewhat new to networking hardware compared to the other brands in this list, however, like Zyxel, they offer several switch models with mixed ports (2.5G/5G/10G RJ45 and SFP+) in configurations you might not be able to get from other brands.

If you just need a plain 1gbit Ethernet switch, we recommend going with one of the other brands mentioned - but if you want a switch with 5G/10G Ethernet or SFP+, QNAP are great for that.

Managed Switches

NOTE: Consumer grade "Managed" switches are generally just dumb L2 switches, with some basic management functions available via WebUI, SSH, or Telnet - allowing you to manage L2 features such as port speed, link aggregation (LACP), L2 VLANs, etc. - they generally are still incapable of router features.

Brand	Model	1gbit Ports	10gbit Ports	Avg Power (W)	Price (USD)	Notes
Zyxel	XGS1210-12	8	2x SFP+	7.5	280.00	+ 2x 2.5gbit Ethernet
QNAP	QSW-M408-4C	8 + 1x MGMT port	4x 10GBase-T RJ45 SFP+ combo ports	25.0	460.00	There's 8x 10G (4x RJ45 + 4x SFP+) ports, but they're only 4 logical ports, so you can only use either the RJ45 or SFP+ port on each logical port

Routers

Brand	Model	1gbit Ports	10gbit Ports	Avg Power (W)	Price (USD)	Notes
MikroTik	hEX	5	0	2.0	75.00	Supports BGP + OSPF + more
MikroTik	CRS305-1G-4S+IN	1	4x SFP+	10.0	175.00	Supports PoE input

NOTE: For affordable routers with advanced features that are useful in the datacenter, such as BGP, OSPF, and VPNs - we recommend looking at MikroTik and Ubiquiti brand routers.

How many of each desktop device can fit in 1U?

U = Rack Unit - A "full" rack is 48U, a "half" rack is 24U or 20U, a "quarter" rack is 10U or 12U, and average servers + rack switches/routers are 1U (some servers/switches/routers can be 2U, 3U, 4U, or even 8U)

A 1U slot is 19" (480mm) wide, 1.75" (44mm) high/tall, and between 18" (450mm) and 21.5" (540mm) deep.

Please see the following page written by a third-party (unaffiliated with Privex), which explains rack units in more detail, and has a table showing the measurements for each Rack Unit size: What is 1U, 2U, 3U, 4U, 5U, 6U, and 7U? | ComputerHope

5-port switch (TP-Link TL-SG105S)

A small 5-port switch: The TP-Link TL-SG105S is 4" wide, 4" deep, and about 1" tall. 19" / 4" = 4.75 switches, rounded down this means we can fit 4 of this switch model per row.

While for the depth, we need to take into account there needs to be padding between the rows, so that there's space to both plug in ethernet cables in the front of each switch, and the power cables in the back of each switch. 2" should be enough, so 4 + 2 = 6 inches depth per switch.

Assuming the rack is 20" deep, then:

20 / (4 + 2) = 3.33

So there's space for 3 rows.

3 rows with 4 switches per row = 3 x 4 = 12x 5-port switches (TP-Link TL-SG105S) per 1U.

12-port switch (Zyxel XGS1210-12)

The Zyxel XGS1210-12 is ~10" wide, 4.1" deep, and around 1" tall. It has 8x 1gbit RJ45 ports, 2x 2.5gbit RJ45 ports, and 2x 10gbit SFP+ ports (total 12 ports)

Just like with the TP-Link, we need 2" padding between each row, to allow space to plug in both network cables

19 / 10 = 1.9 - so one switch would fit comfortably, while it might be possible to fit in two if they can hang over the sides.

20 / (4.1 + 2) = 3.27 = 3 rows

3 rows with 1 switch per row = 3x 12-port switches (Zyxel XGS1210-12) per 1U

If it's possible for the switches to hang over the sides, then there could be 2 switches per row = 6 switches per 1U.

With 1 switch per row, since there'd be 9" unused row space, it would be possible to fit smaller switches in the leftover space, for example, 2x 5-port TP-Link TL-SG105S switches per row, with 3 rows, this would result in a total of 6x 5-port TP-Link TL-SG105S switches + 3x 12-port Zyxel XGS1210-12 switches (9 switches in total)

By mixing 12-port and 5-port switches, you could have up to (5 * 6) + (12 * 3) = 66 ports (6x 10gbps SFP+, 60x 1gbps RJ45).

Rack Mount Devices

Rack Mount Devices are devices that fit within standardised Rack Units (U), and come with rack rails, ears, extenders, or other accessories which allow the device to be properly installed into slots in a datacenter rack.

Generally rack mount devices are business/enterprise/datacenter grade, since average consumers don't have datacenter racks :)

Rack Routers / L3 Switches

Brand	Model	1gbit Ports	10gbit Ports	25gbit Ports	40/100gbit Ports	Avg Power (W)	Price (USD)	Notes
MikroTik	CRS309-1G-8S+IN	1x (MGMT)	8x SFP+	0	0	17.0	310.00	PoE input + RS232 Console
MikroTik	CCR2004-1G-12S+2XS	1x (MGMT)	12x SFP+	0	0	30.0	455.00	2x 25G - FULL ROUTING TABLE
MikroTik	CRS354-48P-4S+2Q+RM	48x + 1x MGMT	4x SFP+	0	2x QSFP+	70.0	690.00	All 48 ETH are PoE Out
Juniper	EX4200	48x + 1x MGMT	2x Fibre / XFP	0	0	120.00	70.00	Runs full JunOS just like Juniper routers, so OS is fully featured despite being designed to be mainly a Layer 2 switch. Price is USED/REFURB - check eBay and BargainHardware UK. First 8 ETH are PoE Out
Cisco	Catalyst 3750G	48x + 4x SFP (NOT SFP+)	0	0	0	160.00	70.00	Price is USED/REFURB - check eBay and BargainHardware UK.
Arista	DCS-7050S-64	1x (MGMT)	48x SFP+	0	4x QSFP+	125.00	3000.00	Price is USED/REFURB - check eBay and BargainHardware UK.
Cisco	Nexus 3064T	1x (MGMT)	48x SFP+	0	4x QSFP+	125.00	3500.00	Price is USED/REFURB - check eBay and BargainHardware UK.