Architecture
Mikrotik

MikroTik CRS304-4XG-IN

  • 4x 10G Ethernet ports (RJ45 copper): ether1, ether2, ether3, ether4
  • 1x Gigabit management port: ether5 (MGMT/BOOT)
  • CPU: Dual-core ARM
  • Switch chip: Marvell Prestera
  • Power: PoE-in (36-57V) or DC jack
  • NO SFP+ PORTS - All ports are 10GBASE-T copper RJ45

Physical topology 

Internet (PPPoE)
        │
        ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│   pfSense Netgate 2100          │
│   WAN: PPPoE                    │
│   LAN (Port 4): 192.168.100.1   │
│   LAB (Port 3): 192.168.200.1   │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
         │                │
    Port 4           Port 3
         │                │
    ┌────▼────┐      ┌────▼──────────────────────┐
    │  QNAP   │      │  MikroTik CRS304-4XG-IN   │
    │ QSW2104 │      │  Bridge: ether1-4         │
    └─────────┘      │  IP: 192.168.200.2        │
         │           │                           │
    192.168.100.x    └───────────────────────────┘
                              │
                         ┌────┴─────┬──────┬──────┐
                         │          │      │      │
                    Proxmox    Devices via DHCP
                  .10 (static)  (.200-.250)

SFP Media converter and DAC cable

During my initial deployments, my pre-installation checks kept failing, as I didn’t have a 10G interface on my Minisforum.

I got a TP-Link Omada10G Multi-Gigabit SFP Media Converter with a DAC cable and connected port 2 of Mikrotik to TP-Link and then used a DAC cable to connect to Minisforum.

This wasn’t really required, as I learnt that I could just disable the 10G pre-installation check.

ProxmoxDepot