10GB wired router options

[MimiC808]

Hi. So I currently have two WAN lines coming in and I have been using an ASUS wireless router for dual WAN. The dual WAN failover/load balance is not amazing so I am looking to replace with separate units. I have been looking at the TPlink Omada gear but I am a bit confused. It appears that the ER8411 is the top of the line and has dual 10GB ports and the rest 1GB. One of my lines is 1.1GB and the other is 1GB so currently I could use one 10GB port for the 1.1GB line and one of the 1GB ports for the other 1GB WAN and then use the other 10GB to a 10GB PoE switch to feed WiFi 7 APs.

I am trying to future proof things and I don't want to buy kit that needs swapping out in a few years time. It is likely that my WAN connections will go up in speed, at least over, say the next couple of years so even if my 1GB line goes up to 1.1GB then does it not render this router obsolete?

Can anybody point me in the direction of anything that would be suitable? Is a router with at least three 10GB ports a big ask for less than £500? Ideally I don't want to build my own I want something fully managed. Cheers.

 

[TheLostSwede]

How about this? It has three 10 Gbps ports and six 2.5 Gbps ports.

QHora-322 | Next-Generation three-port 10GbE SD-WAN Router, providing a secure networking experience for NAS and IoT environments

The QHora-322 enables high-speed connection with 3 x 10GbE and 6 x 2.5GbE ports, while also providing enterprise-grade Mesh VPN networking. You can achieve multi-site LAN development via the cloud through QuWAN Orchestrator, with full software-controlled routing to build a next-generation...

www.qnap.com

Someone else in the forums got one. It also fits your budget.

 

[Tech9]

I wouldn't overpay now for features I won't be using any time soon. By the time I need 10GbE WAN this router will be EoL/EoS already.

 

[Tech Junky]

buy kit that needs swapping out in a few years time.

DIY then. Take a PC and turn it into a router and you can swap out parts as needed. If you wanted you could get a dual 2.5GE for under $50 and solve your dual WAN issue. If you need 5GE then you can swap in a nic for that as well or go to the other extreme and put a 100GE into it. The options are endless and cheaper than dealing with plastic boxes you can't modify to fit your needs. You can go cheap and grab an old PC and put the cards in that you need or go custom and build a box from scratch if you have other functions you want to add.

All you need is Linux for the OS and a few modules to make it work. No more crappy FW updates to deal with. Stable connection. Tighter control on the firewall.

If all you wan to do is use it for routing then you don't need much horsepower on the CPU to accomplish is. Mine sits at under 1%. You can use it as a NAS as well if you throw some drives into it and add samba to the mix.

 

[MimiC808]

So I can see all your points. I suppose I wanted something I could buy where a lot of the hard work had already been done. I am not opposed to DIY builds at all but at the same time I don't want it to become my whole life! All I want is something that is rock solid at managing dual WAN to act as my gateway, that I can just leave on 24/7. Do you honestly think I would be better doing a cheaper self build for the router and then I could use the saved cash to put into a APs and PoE switch?

 

[MimiC808]

And run OPNsense on the DIY router?

 

[MimiC808]

I already own a QNAP TVS-128T3 that has a 2 port 10GB NIC in I could add another and test it. My only issue was that it uses a fair amount of electricity sat on 24/7 so I thought a smaller dedicated router would be much more efficient to run.

 

[Tech Junky]

You don't have to pend a whole lot of tweaking beyond the initial setup unless you setup things.

As for using the QNAP it should be able to setup a container using a dual port card and SFPs. The only issue is if you might need another card to feed the LAN site since you'll be suing the ports for the WAN.

Going DIY opens the door to use whatever OS/container/etc you can think of you come across. It's the nice part pf not being boxed into using off the shelf hardware.