MikroTik CRS326-24G-2S+IN Review: More Speed for Less

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Just asking the ethernet ports supports PoE out?

One of the worst manegeable switch I owned. TX drops everywhere even with super low traffic.

Can this switch be used as a router? Cus it has the full router os right? So i can just hook my wan up & setup it as a router & firewall?

The CIA loves the firmware in MicroTik

This was a great review I would like one of these to replace a 10 year old Dell Power Connect 2816. I currently use PFsense to perform routing so for me this would be used for routing between subnets.

It can load balancing and bandwidth manager, no competition, it is very cheap with a lot of function.

It is confusing, but that 'Upgrade firmware' / 'Current firmware' thing makes a little more sense when you get what it's referring to. It's not referring to your RouterOS OS version. Rather, it's referring to the RouterBoard firmware version, which is a separate thing. If you want to upgrade it, just press that upgrade button at the top and reboot.

After installing the firmware, you need to manually press "Upgrade" and then reboot. Then you have the latest version in "current" firmware. Reason: As long as this is not done, you can roll back easily, without reinstall the old version.

Wow so much for an “expert”…

Recommending internal power supplies when they are EXACTLY the same as the external ones!!!

It is cheaper to use external ones as those are STANDARD and made in the millions, where your internal PS may or may not be off the shelf, but even if it is, it is still more expensive to produce as it is not as common!

i think part of the reason they went ahead with this refresh is in preparation for RouterOS 7 (jokes aside, beta has been out for over a year now i think).
their 300 series switches have newer ASICs that support a lot more features, one of which that is already enabled in the latest RouterOS 7 beta is L3 hardware offloading. this will effectively change these switches into extremely powerful routers and the only thing they wont be able to do is BGP at the edge (too many routes) or firewall (technically it does offload NAT but it looks quite limited). i don't think there are any other L3 switches in the market with this feature set and at this price point.

I wish you talked about capabilities. You just babble on and on

external power adaptor is far superior due to the ease of service..
yes a std power cord is handy and odds are most places have a spare but any real issue it NOT "user serviceable"

However the external means even my grandmother could have been walked through a diag/swap the phone

Notice mikrotik is being smart using the most common size barrel jack and its wired for wide input voltage range so many common wall warts can be good enough (The beauty of a simple inexpensive buck converter and autovoltage up/down conversion)

So while i do like the std power cord used for so much PC world and others (even my moms kettle uses the same cord) the fact is their choice is the smarter one esp for a unit in this clsss

no its not a simple cost issue
its a serviceability issue not to mention with the poe option of having ac to dc internal is a potential waste and added complexity with no benefit,


not to touch on worldwide grid types etc etc

Great video, just a heads up regarding the Packages/Firmware point

On Mikrotik's it seems the installed "Packages" version can be different to the running/active "firmware" version.

So, for example, you can be running Packages of 6.48.2 still with active Firmware 6.47.7

Simply after every "Packages" update, via Winbox go into System -> RouterBOARD and click the UPGRADE button to update the "Firmware" to the latest version of which is included in the latest installed Packages version.

Why the firmware isn't applied with the latest packages automagically, I have no idea.


Cheers,
Quenten

I'm on the fence upgrading 10 port sg300 to something like this, if mikrotik came out with a 2.5GbE switch, I'd buy in a heartbeat

Where is the link you said you were going to link to the guy that reviewed all of the switches? Thanks.

Also works for the ZP450 and ZP455 models. Thanks for the tip!

Thank you kindly for this video! I found it to be very helpful, as well as the article in the description.
I help manage six 48 port HPE Aruba switches and one (outdated) 24 port HP switch onprem at work but only have wireless routers at home. How challenging is it to learn, become familiar, and troubleshoot MicroTik switches and routerOS in comparison to Aruba? My primary concern when when considering to purchase a MikroTik switch is possibly not having enough time to learn and become familiar with RouterOS and troubleshooting issues like SFP & DAC compatibility.

you never go that screen for firmware.. you go to system->packages and select your stream.. thats where you bhest check for firmware and not confuse others

every mikrotik product ive had with the LCD screen I ran into serious resource issues.. my first thing to do whan I buy any MT wit han LCD is turn it off and gain quite a bit of throughput

For a switch which comes with a non-standard console port I'm a little surprised an adaptor cable was not included.

You didn't mention one little but very important feature that is common for MikroTik: wide power input on the DC jack :) You can use 12v power adapter easily if 24v one get lost...

I own a CRS326-24G-2S+RM myself for two years now (using it as a router atm until I can afford one of their actual routers) and I love it quite a lot.
It was really affordable, rarely has random issues and it has all the features I need + more.
Only downside about it is that it's CPU is getting hammered severely when I use my full download speed (just 250mbit, nothing major) D:

Well that and the MikroTik ecosystem (as in software) is kinda "meh"...
Integration with other devices like APs is pretty loose :\

Why even have a case at all, Would prefer if the PCB would be held up by rack ears and heatsink. Even better if heatsink, rack ears can be used from previous generations and different products. So we end up with less waste :)
Would prefer to order PCB without parts that I don't need. DC input is better for me, cause I can run it directly from off-grid solar.

Interesting. I got a 309-1G-8S+IN, for the backbone of my homelab/home network, and I am pretty happy with it, so good a price, not all plastic, etc. but wow yeah.. its already said, the management is not the greatest.
I'd love to see more videos about the management of it.
Cisco switches were the first switches I learnt how to do VLANs on(older ones), and I didn't like it to begin with, but I started to love it, and after trying to make VLANs on a mikrotik, I love the Cisco way even more lol, even when all Commandline. ... Mikrotik VLANs: "mode enable.. strict.. optional or any.. + any, only untagged or only tagged".. what on earth?? the confusion was massive!. Correct me if wrong, but you can configure it so many ways that wouldn't make sense.
Nowhere do you find the wording "Trunk" or "Access", which to me are like a standard.
Now I have figured out most... somewhat... it's not leaving me confident.. I know, its not always easy when you learnt it one way, those who started with mikrotik might feel same about Cisco, or HP, etc. visa versa.
Then had a whole other mystery issue where id loose access to the webgui, in SWOS, you can tick off which ports are trusted for managment, okay, I only want the dedicated RJ45 console port, and it was plugged directly into one network, on a access port on Cisco switch... but this was not enough, and I cannot explain, how or whats going on there. I haft to tick off my trunk ports, but its not comming directly from there, managment is not configured as on vlan.

If only it had 4 SFP+ :(

GZ-STH-YT-48K-SUB

I just wanted to say the audio quality/microphone quality seems to be top notch. Sounds good. Keep it up.

I love this channel and my Microtik router (I got the smaller one) rocks!!!

Mikrotik makes great products with great features, but they need to work on the look and feel of their management GUI.

RouterOS Upgrade is devided in two you first upgrade packages.

System > Packages it will automatically reboot if you choose to upgrade from the Internet as opposed to manually load the packages.

Once the switch or router comes back ON you need to upgrade the Board Firmware.

System > RouterBoard > Upgrade

Is not going to reboot however for upgrade to complete you must reboot it.

System > Reboot.

Done whole process is like 3-5 mins..

If these were the same price as Ubiquiti which would you choose?

NGL, the RouterOS "Firmware" situation is an odd one. The package you get includes RouterOS software (for system) AND firmware (for hardware) in one package... As most do I guess.
Upon reboot when the package is dropped onto the switch/Router/AP the system will install the latest Software to the device. After that is done, you must reboot to upgrade the firmware (and depending on your settings - if auto upgrade not selected - you must activate the upgrade prior to the reboot)

Is odd, but the whole process takes about 2 mins for the system + 30 seconds for the firmware. Most Linux based switches I have worked with take about 5 mins just for the "one touch" upgrade, and any downtime is about the same if not longer in total.
Use enough of them, it becomes a natural part of the process of a RouterOS upgrade.

Still rocking my CRS125-24G-1S-2HnD that did work as a router when speeds were below 50Mbps. The RB4011iGS+ router now does a great job for my 100Mbps connection. I do have a CRS112-8P-4S for powering a few cameras and powering the RBwAPG-5HacT2HnD. I have thought to jump over to Ubiquiti Unifi after using them in a number of small businesses as a managed service, but the Mikrotik gear is so solid and lower cost its hard to make the jump. And yes I typed out all those crazy model numbers, they do have a meaning like 24G is 24 1 gig ports, 2S+ is 2 SFP+ ports, and so on. I found out about Mikrotik from my friend who ran a WISP I helped build in 2002, he ran all his backend off Mikrotik along with the CPEs and Tower radios, now Ubiquiti has some slick fast, and low-cost equipment to make that so much less frustrating.

i actually quite like the DC power port because i can easily hook it up to a 12 or 24v battery backed up system, meaning i don't need a (compared to DC/DC converters) inefficient AC inverter and AC power supply

Can you do some videos of the new Aruba AIO stuff ?

Patrick, I think it would be really interesting if you would do reviews of some Cisco hardware. I feel like their networking hardware is really fascinating since it’s bleeding-edge data center gear and the golden standard but it seems to be so illustrious to the average non-data center networking person. The pricing isn’t very far off of many of the expensive servers you review.

Just my two cents!

If this guys could make a switch like this but with four 2.5G nics and four more POE+ and the rest 16 ports at it is, even for 300 USD it will be a world champ selling device.

If you are worried of the power brick failing, you can get a poe injector and an additional power brick and power it both with the power brick and the poe injector. I believe /system health would show both voltages and you would be able to monitor power failure for both power sources.

I wish everything was like the mikrotik naming scheme. You can figure everything out by reading the name. CRS/CSS (routeros vs switchos) 326 (product name) 24G (24 1-gig) 2S+ (2 sfp+ ports) IN (Poe In) or RM (rack mount)

Regarding your comment about firmware version - there is a difference between RouterOS and firmware (RouterBOOT). Even though versioning is the same for both since some 6.xx release, they have completely different role. You probably shoud update firmware using the upgrade button or /system routerboard upgrade from CLI
On a side note, RouterOS has some major bugs since 6.48 release, you might want to check the forum...

I have this switch in my homelab. Very happy with it

So this is basically a new chassis for the CR326-24G-2S+RM that STH reviewed two years ago... given all they have done is change the the sheet metal, hardly worth a 25min review...

It would a killer switch if it had 4 SFP+ ports. Two ports? Hard to guess a use case imho.

Hey Patrick, You do excellent reviews of these devices and they're literally second to none. But would you be able to speak more towards the support you get with these devices (or the lack thereof) and any pit falls you may encounter. As a person who is looking to buy these things for my home lab (and some of the things you talk about in my corporate environment) it would really be nice to know what we're stepping into if we ever do need support from these companies.