[Network|UniFi] USW-Aggregation Review | Affordable UniFi 10G switch for Home Network

*1/12/2021 – Latency testing section added.

My recent network focus has been building 10Gbps network in my home. Having said this, I have very limited number of devices that are capable of 10Gbps data transfer rate. So there is a balance between how much I want to spend here to achieve this hobby. UniFi’s newly released Aggregation switch perfectly fit my budget and my need. Here is actual review of the switch in home network environment.

USW Aggregation Specification

Currently, there are limited options for multi-port 10G capable switch in UniFi line.

One can see significant price advantage of USW-Aggregation over the others. However, this price difference can be a bit misleading if one does not plan one’s usage ahead. USW-Aggregation have only SFP+ ports. Most network wiring uses ethernet cable. So there is a need of SFP+ to RJ45 conversion. For this, one needs a transceiver unit, which can cost around $40-$80 range per piece.

For example, four long range SFP+ to RJ45 transceiver can cost additional $300+. This can basically take USW-Aggregation to essentially US-16-XG or US-XG-6POE range. At this price point, US-16-XG still has 12 unused SFP+ ports. While 6POE have only 2 more SFP+ port remaining, four RJ45+ ports are capable of PoE and N-BaseT support in addition to the Layer 3 support.

Aggregation Switch

What is aggregation switch anyways (detail here)? This is a network term but think as a backborn switch(s) for other end device connected switches (access layer switches). In traffic analogy, local roads connecting various homes/facilities/stores in town are typical switch. While aggregation switch is like a highway/freeway connecting different cities. Just like the traffic analogy, aggregation switch should have higher throughput. So more typical use/setup for Aggregation switch in small office setup is like one has multiple USW Pro Switches each supplying each floor in the building. Aggregation switch connects these at 10Gbps rate on the backbone.

However, in the network enthusiast home setup, it is more likely a combination of 10G client devices and access layer switches.

My setup

Here is my current network setup after adding USW Aggregation switch.

There are 5 total devices connected to USW Aggregation via 10Gbps Cat 6 cables. Since UDM Pro and USW Pro 24 Gen 2 switch have SFP+ ports and they are located in the same network rack as USW Aggregation, I use DAC $16.

Qnap NAS has 10GbE port as well as couple other 1GbE ports. Here I use regular SFP+10GBASE-T Transceiver Copper RJ45 Module, which I own four from three different brands. They all seem to work fine.

Mac mini 2018 is less than 30m in distance from the network rack so here I also use standard SFP+10Base-T transceiver RJ45 module.

On the other hand, iMac 2020 is right at 30m but using standard transceiver module failed to achieve full 10G speed. So I have purchased long range module. This has successfully achieved full 10G iPerf test between my Qnap NAS and iMac 2020.

Value

With all transceivers and DAC after using 5 ports, I have essentially spent additional $16 x 2 + $39 x 2 + $76 = $186 i.e. total setup cost is $455. This is still well under $599 price tag of alternative UniFi switches; however, depending on the one’s setup cost difference may be not only smaller but could even be higher with USW-Aggregation option. So mileage here varies.

Feature

This is a basic 10G switch. There is no layer 3 feature. No build in RJ45 Ports i.e. no option for PoE. No N-BaseT support. It serves the main purpose i.e. 10G switch that integrates fully on the UniFi network system but otherwise, simply not much additional feature.

Performance

In a nutshell, it is suffice to say that everything is working as intended.

Wired

At approximately 90 to 100 ft distance using iMac 2020 with 10G Thunderbolt 3 to ethernet adapter, iPerf test achieved full 9.4 Gbps speed constantly both up and down.

• 

• 

Below is an another 10G client device test results using MacMini 2018 with built in 10G Ethernet port, located well under 30m limit with regular SFP+ to RJ45 transceiver module.

• 

• 

WiFi

iPerf from WiFi which goes through USW-24-Pro PoE Gen 2 switch to USW-Aggregation achieves max expected speed. For instance, iPad Pro 2018 (2×2) achieves over 600 Mbps.

MacBook Pro 2016 15” (3×3) achieves 700-800 Mbps.

• 

• 

Latency Test

Per the request of reader, here is a crude latency testing.

Setup

The client device I used is iMac 2020. Destination are either router (UDM Pro) or NAS server.

There are two potential pathways were evaluated. 

FS Transceiver was used in 10G Pathway where iMac 2020 was connected to USW-Aggregation. Both UDM Pro and NAS were also connected to USW Aggregation Switch either via DAC (UDM Pro) or ethernet to transceiver (NAS). Of note, iMac end used ethernet to thunderbolt 3 adapter for 10G connection.

In 1G pathway, iMac was connected to USW Pro 24 Gen 2 directly by cat 6 ethernet cable. There is also 1G direct ethernet connection between the switch to NAS. So this pathway has no transceiver. Connection to UDM Pro here require Gen 2 switch to go through USW Aggregation switch with two being connected by DAC.

Testing Method

I have run around 20 (17-21) “ping” command from iMac to the destination.

Result

Discussion

The result interpretation above is simple. When we look at the average, there just isn’t enough difference amongst tested conditions. One may look at first and think 10G pathway to the NAS is slower than the other 3 condition; however, when I re-run the 10G pathway to LAN, it became 0.169/0.241/0.349/0.040. In another word, I think above numbers are just margins of errors when I test. 

Let’s take a closer look now.

Let’s assume 1G pathway to the NAS as a reference in this test because it does not use USW-Aggregation switch, any transceiver module or DAC.

If we replace USW-24-Pro POE and direct ethernet connections with USW-Aggregation, couple transceiver modules, and thunderbolt to ethernet cable adapter, I get 10G pathway to the NAS which is still essentially the same latency.

Conclusion

USW-Aggregation is an affordable UniFi 10G switch. It works well. However, if one is planning to use this a mean of regular 10G switch i.e. feeding client devices directly, one must add SFP+ to RJ45 transceiver module costs. These modules costs $40-$80 per piece. If you are planning to slowly build 10G network and anticipating not more than 8 total devices needing 10G connection, this is a great option.