QSW-2104-2S: 6 ports, including 2x 10 GbE SFP+ ports (10G/1G) and 4 2.5GbE RJ45 ports (2.5G/1G/100M) i doubt the switches i mentioned have poe, so unless your setup has plans to be poe powering up devices, then shouldn't be an issue. i use some poe switches, to power up things like unifi ap lite, very useful but they come at a premium for the added feature but it's worth it if you have many poe capable devices.

other options are QNAP 6-Port 10GbE & 2.5GbE (QSW-2104-2T-US) or QNAP 5 Port 2.5 (QSW-1105-5T). both of these are unmanaged. As mentioned above, these are my personal favorites in terms of the best 2.5Gb Switches that I think you can use based on certain tests run on each device. Despite its growing popularity among hardware manufacturers, 2.5G technology is often overlooked. This is unfortunate, as it is becoming more common in computers and motherboards and is a cost-effective way to upgrade to multi-gigabit speeds. For example, 2.5G cards and dongles are reasonably priced, and 2.5Gbps speeds can be achieved with existing Cat5e cabling. TRENDnet has released an affordable unmanaged 2.5G switch, called the TEG-S380, which is an 8-port Unmanaged 2.5G Switch and part of the brand’s Multi-Gigabit Networking Solutions family.

We’ll first take a look at the differences between Managed and Unmanaged Switches before looking at some of the best 2.5GbE Switches. With that said, they’re not necessary in a lot of cases, so for many, they’ll be a “nice to have” more than a necessity. TRENDnet’s Unmanaged 2.5G PoE+ Switches are a great solution to expand network bandwidth and alleviate traffic congestion. These switches are equipped with 2.5GBASE-T RJ-45 ports, which provide faster gigabit speeds of up to 2.5Gbps over existing Cat5e or better cabling. The switches come with durable metal enclosures and can be mounted on the wall for easy installation. The fanless design ensures low energy consumption and eliminates operating noise. These reliable and cost-effective 2.5G PoE+ switches can increase your network’s performance. Additionally, this PoE+ switch has a 55W total PoE power budget, which can supply up to 4 PoE+ devices with up to 30W per port. QTS is the operating system for entry- and mid-level QNAP NAS. WIth Linux and ext4, QTS enables reliable storage for everyone with versatile value-added features and apps, such as snapshots, Plex media servers, and easy access of your personal cloud. System

Warning: Using unsupported modules may degrade performance, cause errors, or prevent the operating system from starting. Keep in mind that outside of the port-specific changes on the Switch, a lot of this can be done with a Layer-3 Switch that’s the “primary” Switch, or even at the firewall level (using something like pfSense).The addition of two 10GbE ports is important since it increases the bandwidth of the switch significantly. We actually got slightly better performance on the SFP+ versus the 10Gbase-T links on this unit comparing QNAP to QNAP. The 2.5GbE ports were about the same. If you want better performance, and the ability to use fiber, the QNAP QSW-2104-2S-A with two SFP+ ports is probably better. If you have 10Gbase-T clients and want something easy, this is fairly close. QNAP QSW-2104-2T-A PoE and Management Capabilities The QSW-2104-2T features 10GbE and 2.5GbE RJ45 ports for connecting various bandwidth-demanding devices, and supports the NBASE-T™ standard for connection using Cat 5e or Cat 6a cabling. With the QSW-2104-2T, you can easily create a hybrid high-speed network in homes and offices to accelerate file transfer, virtual machine applications, multimedia streaming/sharing, and more. Port Trunking cannot break the speed limit of a single Ethernet device, but it offers a sufficient amount of bandwidth for multiple users connecting at the same time. For example, if two 1Gb NICs are used for Port Trunking, the aggregated network bandwidth will be increased to 2Gb, but the network speed will remain 1Gb.

Managed Switches (like the UniFi Controller) will allow you to configure additional features, while Unmanaged Switches are plug-and-play (with no fancy features). i also have a bunch of other devices that are limited to 1gbe, so i could use my existing 1gbe switch for those, but add something like this QSW-2104-2T for the 2.5gbe devices that are now becoming standard, but still have an option for 10gbe (e.g. the main nas, desktop).

Where to Buy

something like this qsw-m408-4c (managed switch) has a mix of 1gbe and 10gbe. instead of this i have 2 switches, 1 with many 1gbe and the other will have just have 2.5gbe. not sure about power consumption but i can imagine it probly being better to just run 1 switch than 2 separate switches.

Dynamic Link Aggregation) is the No.5 mode according to the IEEE 802.3ad specification. It uses a complex algorithm to aggregate adapters by speed and duplex settings to provide load balancing and fault tolerance but requires a switch that supports IEEE 802.3ad with LACP mode properly configured. D-Link could be clearer about the benefits of the turbo mode feature and customization options for the LEDs are limited, but overall, it is a sturdy, solid, and high-performing piece of equipment. Additionally, with the increasing affordability of 10GbE and the widespread use of 2.5GbE ports in WiFi 6 client hardware, this switch has a wider audience than it would have had just a couple of years ago. Overall, it is a great piece of equipment and I highly recommend it. Gigabit networking allows you to get 2.5x higher speeds than 1 Gigabit networking. Not only that, you’ll also have the benefit of being able to use your existing Cat 5e cables and not having to upgrade to Cat 6 and you’ll see all of the speed increases. Management interfaces can be extremely helpful – from limiting specific ports to an individual VLAN, flat-out disabling ports, or just for testing and validation, the interface can be extremely beneficial.

Overview:

Featuring 10 GbE and 2.5 GbE connectivity in one device, the QSW-2104 series can connect various bandwidth-demanding devices and helps users create a hybrid high-speed network in homes and workplaces. This is especially useful for accelerating file transfer, virtual machine applications, video streaming/sharing, and everyday tasks," said Frank Liao, Product Manager of QNAP, adding "for users looking to fully upgrade their network infrastructure, QNAP offers a range of 2.5 GbE/10 GbE-ready QNAP NAS and PCIe/USB adapters for desktops, servers, and laptops to take advantage of the game-changing bandwidth provided by next-generation networks." In general, 2.5Gb Switches aren’t exactly easy to come across and there isn’t a huge variety – plus, if the goal is to simply have upgraded networking speeds, all options above will technically handle that. There are enterprise-grade Switches (Unifi has one) that are designed to offer enterprise-grade features, but as of right now, 2.5 Gig isn’t really standard on most devices so the benefit of them is minimized.