Dear forum,
we plan to upgrade our Cisco Switch with the new sd-switch product line.
Small office scenario, 3 floors, several desktop pc‘s and LAN devices spread over 3 VLANs, 4 Wifi APs in a private home like building (200m2).
29 LAN ports (incl. 4 POE / POE+) needed to cover everything
The switch(es) shall be installed in a 10“ (300 mm deep) or 19“ (450mm deep), wall mounted, closed cabinet (Glas door, metall walls with some holes for ventilation) in the main supply room (13 m2; ground floor). This room has no HVAC or split cooling unit installed. Usually in summer we leave the room door open to have a bit wind through the windows towards the office room beneath it.
Which combination would you recommend:
2 x SD-Switch 16 rugged (quiet)
1 x 24 rugged plus 1 x 8 or 16 rugged (quiet but more expensive)
1 x 48 enterprise (huge amount of reserve ports, cheaper then the 2. combination, but maybe very noisy??)
I am a bit frightened to order an 48 enterprise sd-switch, as it has one (ore more?) ventilator(s) making me unsure how noisy it will be - plus the power consumption is much higher.
I fear to disturb the workers with the open supply room door in summer despite installation in the cabinet as we are no data center (which is the usual home of these huge switches)…
Unfortunately PL provides no noise level information for them.
How is your experience? Any recommendation on the 48 enterprise sd switch?
For the rugged versions: how many HU would you recommend to leave spare for sufficient cooling in such a wall mounted closed rack?
1 Like
Well, all the products you mention are good. But, you are correct, the 48 port switch does have fans and I must say they are not quiet. And, you would want to take a close look at its depth -400mm deep which does not include the AC cord assembly. Might be a little tight.
For this application we’d probably select a combination of the Rugged models, as you suggest. We’d likely separate the switches by 1 RU and we’d also add a couple of quiet fans to circulate air around the switches and upward. I think it’s unlikely we would rely on convection cooling alone in the situation you describe. We’d select large fans which turn relatively slowly – not small “screamers.” Or, you can use a made-for-purpose rack-mounted fan assembly. All of these switches show their temperatures on the GUI dashboard so you can get an indication if more cooling is needed.
3 Likes
Thanks alot, Rick. I appreciate your response.
Makes sense. How many reserve LAN ports would you recommend (32 ports is enough (4 spare) or better more)?
Do you see a problem with the 1 x 24 rugged in the 45 cm deep 19“ case?
1 Like
Ports: That’s a difficult one as I’m not in touch with your likely future requirements. I’d be certain not to use all the ports on the first day, however. ;<)
Not knowing what else is likely to be in that case and exactly the what the arrangement would be, it’s difficult to answer that one also. However, it would seem that there would be ample clearance in the rear. The spec sheet is here.
2 Likes
Thanks alot, Rick.
I have choosen 1 x 24 port rugged and 1 x 16 port rugged SD-Switch, finally. 
2 Likes
Hello Christopher ( @ckirch ),
Remember with the SD Switch 16 Port Rugged that it does not come with any RU Rack Mount; you will need the ACW-741 kit “Metal rack, 6x screws”, or you will need to create your own rack shelving. The ACW-741 is designed to hold two of the 16 port rugged switches and is compatible with the PepXIM SD-PMU.
Happy to Help,
Marcus 
3 Likes
Thank you very much, Marcus.
Highly appreciated!
So good you gave me that ordering number, as I did not find them on the PL web page.
Ordered.
1 Like
Hello Christopher ( @ckirch ),
You can find product details and PDF on our website as an alternative
Happy to Help,
Marcus
1 Like
Can you maybe recommend some suitable SFP modules to connect both switches via optical cable? I am unclear which modules are compatible as the 24-port sd-switch uses SFP+ and 16-port sd-switch SFP only. Usually SFP+ is not downwards compatible…
Found this older PL archive forum article regarding SFP modules
Link
@mldowling and @TK_Liew
Hello Marcus and TK_Liew
unfortunately none of these are available for me in Germany e.g. via webshops offering EU international shipping or Amazon, where I am located. My Peplink partner had also no other list, unfortunately.
I‘d like to connect a 16 port SD-Switch (SFP) to a 24 port SD-Switch rugged (SFP+) with RJ-45 LAN cable.
Which 2 modules are compatible to interconnect in this scenario and EU available?
I‘d really appreciate any advice.
It would be really helpful to have a consolidated list of “what works” by Peplink model, ideally where each product was tested by Peplink. Or, if not that, then crowd-sourced" compatibility reports. We too have found this to be rather frustrating.
2 Likes
When I added the 2 new SD-SWITCHES to my Incontrol2 Organization, this created a new VLAN with VLAN-ID = 1 (used as Default VLAN by both SD-Switches).
I really wonder, why I cannot add the existing “untagged LAN” , that I am using on our Balance 20X router, to the SD-Switches?
Should I move the Balance 20X to the new Default VLAN (there is an option to choose it) and delete the former “untagged LAN”?
Screenshots:
By the way: Can someone maybe please explain to me how to use the Inter-VLAN Routing settings on a SD-SWITCH 24 Port rugged by an example?
Screenshot:
If the VLAN 250 I am configuring in this screenshot for example would have e.g. 192.168.10.0/24 (and the SD-switch would have configured no fixed IP in the VLAN as not needed for ARP (see LINK)) how do I have to setup this Inter-VLAN Routing address then to reach other VLANs (e.g. VLAN ID = 220 or 230)?
Unfortunately, neither Germany nor in other European countries none (!) of the SFP modules from the Peplink testet SFP modules is available e.g. per Amazon or other vendors.
Example of an available module: D-LINK SFP RJ-45 or Fiber Mall (RF-45 SFP+)
So I (and others) kindly ask Peplink team to provide the appropriate information of SFP RJ-45 or SFP+ RJ-45 modules, which ones we can order from a European vendor or inform our Peplink partners which one they should offer to us.
Another Problem that I have in understanding the SFP topic with Peplink Switches is, which preprogrammed version of such a module (like the mentioned Fiber Mall above) we have to use for Peplink Switches. They are available (pre-programmed) for many different vendors (like Cisco, Juniper, Intel, HP, also Generic but not for Peplink). I am absolutely confused which one to choose???
The last problem is, if you own a SD-SWITCH 16 (SFP) and SD-SWITCH 24 (SFP+) like me, if the RJ-45 SFP and SFP+ - modules are compatible with each other in general or which tested models are compatible, e.g. if I would like to run 1 Gigabit LAN only (does the SFP+ 10 GBit RJ-45 module speak with a SFP 1 Gbit RJ-45 module or not?) . My target is, to connect these two Switches with each other to save a Standard RJ-45 port (this question is also unclear to many in the forum for the optical SFP+/SFP connections as well).
1 Like
We use SFPs/SFP+ etc. from FS.com and Flexoptix in Peplink products, either coded as generic or Cisco as that is what 99% of our stock is, the switches or Balance 380X/580X I’ve been putting these in have never given me a problem.
Both vendors also offer boxes to recode the optics on the fly, we use both brands in a lot of Juniper, Cisco, Arista, Fortigate etc. without issue after correctly coding them. Both also have warehouses in Germany (and the Flexoptix folks are super friendly and helpful if you really don’t know what to order).
Frankly speaking RJ45 SFPs are the work of the devil, do yourself a favour and either use SX/SR optics if its just to go from one switch to another or use a proper RJ45 port.
If you want 10G on copper then you need a 10G-BaseT SFP+, they exist, they are often also relatively expensive. We pretty much only do 10G or higher on fibre as its frankly cheaper and less hassle.
My reason for stating this is that vendors sometimes implement link detection on the RJ45 SFPs differently, they can totally work just fine (we have lots of Cisco GLC-T in use in Cisco gear) but without testing on Peplink I’d just use some cheap 1G-SX optics and a 1m LC-LC patch cable, the are literally €10 a piece from FS.com
An SFP+ port will typically accept a standard SFP just fine, there are some exceptions to this rule but my experience of Peplink is the SFP+ ports on them are dual rate and will either run at 1G with a regular SFP or 10G if I put an SFP+ in there.
An SFP port will not accept an SFP+.
So for your requirements I’d consider ordering 2x 1G-SX SFP and a short LC-LC OM3 or OM4 patch cable.
https://www.fs.com/products/144158.html (1m OM4 LC/LC duplex cable)
https://www.fs.com/products/75332.html?attribute=947&id=285789 (generic coded SX SFP)
https://www.fs.com/products/75324.html?attribute=945&id=284166 (generic coded RJ45 SFP - not tested these in Peplink myself)
1G SFP SX | 550 m, λ850 nm, DDM, LC-Duplex, Multimode (select MSA standard, or order a Flexbox at the same time for free and do it yourself - they have some caveats about the free box thing so read those first).
2 Likes
Thank you soo much. I really appreciate! Ordered them from FS Germany.
I really wasn’t aware that they exist / ship to Germany.
As the good information provided by @WillJones got lost due to the forum crash, here the 2 SFP Optical Modules that I ordered based in his advice and that work fine between a SD Switch 16 and 24 rugged. I was not aware that FS.com is delivering to Germany as well.
Generic SFP Transceiver
Fiber Optic Patch cable
He recommend to not use the SFP RJ-45 modules. 
1 Like
Dear Marcus, I have installed the ACW-741 metal rack you recommended and placed the SD SWITCH 16 in it. I really have no idea how I can securely fix it with the screws in the package? Do I need an additional mounting kit to prevent the SD Switch 16 from moving around? Do you maybe have a photo how to fix the Switch in this rack? Any help would be highly appreciate.
