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[Question] Open Source operating systems to run on compatible switches for homelab? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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publication croisée depuis : https://lemmy.world/post/448925

Hi there, I was looking for combinations of switching hardware and open source switching software. Stratum and Cumulus Linux caught my attention, but these seem to be focussed towards the industry and would likely be very difficult to run in a homelab. I'm not going to touch the likes of Ubiquity, but as of now the only choice seems to be closed-source software from TPLink and/or Cisco. I'm going to try and harden the inside of my network too with ACLs and any other features I find on the switches, and having an open source OS with regular updates would be very nice to have.

Any suggestions? I was trying to find something to run on a MikroTik switch, since I find their L2 OS a bit lacking.

Cheers!

Edit: a kind user mentioned OpenWRT, which I should have looked into more seriously before posting this. I'm going through it right now, any suggestions are welcome!

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thank you, I did consider OpenWRT (thanks for the mention, I'll add it to the post). Since OpenWRT is mostly considered a "router-first" OS, I didn't think it would suit a switching-only landscape: but now that you mention it, OpenWRT should be able to run very well as a switch with plenty of L3 features. And it's linux!

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll go read up on it a bit

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

theres a reason you wont find many L2 "software" its extremely inefficient and kills processors. Switches use purpose built hardware to be able to hit millions of I/Os without using a lot of power because of this. If you are trying to use a generic x86 processor for this, well you will have a bad time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Hi, I'm not looking for L2 features - I'm specifically looking for software that is L3 or above. I would like to run said software on dedicated switching hardware. Unfortunately, OpenWRT does not seem to have builds for the newer Mikrotik devices.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Seems x86 only, is there COTS x86 with switching fabric?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you want L3 features you want a router, not a switch.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I understand what you mean. Unfortunately, I need a switch to link different parts of my homelab together, and most routers on the market that I can run a custom OS on simply do not have the network backplane like dedicated switches. I was looking at Mikrotik's offerings and whilst they have great hardware, there is no OpenWRT support for their newer models. Same with the TPLink ER series.

If something like a Qotom box had a dedicated switching controller and ports switched through hardware instead of me having to do it via software, I'd likely purchase one of those anyway