10 gig managed switch review

havoc · November 28

Bought one of those ultra cheap aliexpress 8x SFP+ managed switches and some people seemed interested so couple of notes

Horaco - ZX-SWTGW2C8F - likely being sold under other brands too

Good

Inexpensive - paid 95 USD / 72 GBP
Switching it to English is idiot proof
Doesn't feel cheap - normal metal consumer level switch case, decent looking power plug with UK pins (no janky adapter)
Fanless
Wide compatibility. Thus far tried 2.5G RJ45 transceiver, 10g DAC and SFP+ 10g fiber
Reports temps/watt on adapters where available
Web interface feels functional, though somewhat spartan. Haven't seen anything broken yet
Has SNMP - new to me but looks interesting

Bad

Mine shipped in 1G/10g mode so thought its broken cause my 2.5G RJ45 transceivers couldn't reach web interface, meaning you need 10G to enable 2.5G
Saw forum mentions of there being a hidden factory account - no idea if true. Doesn't seem to have any online features so I just skipped setting gateway and blocked it at FW for good measure.

Ambivalent

No dedicated management port
No rack ears/holes
UI is pretty spartan - not much explanations / guidance
Manual included seems to be for 2.5G/10G model
Struggled to change management IP - likely user error
Mixed messaging on what exactly 1G mode it supports - some places refer to 1000M others to 1.25G