Item: MikroTik Cloud Router Switch
Rating: 9
Author: Leonardo Rafael Ortiz Marquez

Overall Satisfaction with MikroTik Cloud Router Switch

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use MikroTik Cloud Router Switch as access switches and aggregation. We think that the throughput is enough for our operation as an ISP. Their features and flexibility allow us to deploy Edge and enterprise environments, especially where the cost-efficiency and feature density are very important. MikroTik Cloud Router Switch helps us to address several business problems:
1 - Cost.Effective Layer 3 Hardware offloading allows us to upgrade the utilization of a switch as an L3 Switch to use routing in scenarios where RSTP or MSTP are not ideal.
2 - Multibrand support, you could connect with other brand devices and keep standard protocols running perfectly.
3 - Flexible port configuration and vlan management, in this section we can find some interesting features like vlan segmentation, port isolation, LACP, trunk, access and hybrid configuration are available.
4 - Dual OS (Router OS and SwOS) Depending of the use case you can choose between this two operative systems. SwOS is very light with all features for a pure switching environment. RouterOS is a more complete system for special configurations like L3 HW.

Pros and Cons

Pros

L3 Hardware Offloading
Vlan segmentation
Traffic troughput
Port density
Cost effective
Port Isolation
Trunk, access and hybrid configurations

Cons

L3 features like firewall IPsec NAT
LACP with more than 4 interfaces
Centralized Management platflorm
Limited Hardware offloading insight
Outdated web interface
CLI usability

Return on Investment

Significant Cost Savings
Rapid deployment and flexibility
Bottlenecks in wrong scenario of use
Manual configuration overhead
Perception and vendor approval barriers

Usability

Powerful features at a low price: MikroTik Cloud Router Switch provides a good variety of features that are not present on more expensive brands. Flexible deployment options: SwOS for simple switching use cases and RouterOS for more advanced configurations. Winbox is a fast and responsive tool for configuring, maintain and monitoring the traffic or other variable.

Why it doesn't score higher, we think that the learning curve for new users could be hard. Sometimes the logic configuration can be unintuitive example: bridge filtering, vlan interfaces. Inconsistent UX Across RouterOS versions, some features may change without clear documentation causing confusion missconfig or incompatibility between versions. Documentation and support are poor, official documentation is fragmented and depht in some cases, the active community should be your best friend.

Alternatives Considered

We chose MikroTik Cloud Router Switch because it met our technical requirements without significantly affecting our budget. MikroTik Cloud Router Switch offers a performance reliable and scalable for access and aggregation roles and is easy to integrate with our existing infrastructure (Mikrotik CCR).

While it doesn't offer enterprise-class UX, or automation frameworks out the box, its disruptive focus, control and granular configuration convert it in an attractive option for ISP operations.

Key Insights

Do you think MikroTik Cloud Router Switch delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with MikroTik Cloud Router Switch's feature set?

Yes

Did MikroTik Cloud Router Switch live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of MikroTik Cloud Router Switch go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy MikroTik Cloud Router Switch again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Juniper MX Series, Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches, Aruba Instant On 1930 Switches

Likelihood to Recommend

MikroTik Cloud Router Switch work very well as layer2/3 switches in enterprise environments, aggregation or distribution layers. Example: in our case (ISP) we use CRS326 and CRS317 at multi-dwelling units to finish the customer lines, manage vlans of service and apply basic qos. They offer a good variety of ports 1/10G, which is perfect for connecting other ISPs or connecting corporate end users.

MikroTik Cloud Router Switch would work fine in low-traffic Routing and Switching, you could configure L3 Hardware offloading and serve some significant traffic, but you may missing some features like, mangle, nat, firewall or other things that may be solved with other device in an upper layer of infrastructure.

Based on our experience MikroTik Cloud Router Switch is not good for high performance traffic, they are not optimized for heavy L3 routing task. Example: if you use a CRS as core or router in a small DC or IX the result is traduced on high cpu usage and load performance. If you are looking for special works, MikroTik Cloud Router Switch in this aspect is out.

Comments

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MikroTik Cloud Router Switch the master Cost-Effective for small and medium ISP environments