Overview
The Brocade ICX 6450 serves as the core switch in my home lab. It provides enterprise-level features at a very affordable price on the used market.
Why This Switch?
- Enterprise-grade hardware at homelab pricing
- Layer 3 routing capabilities
- 10Gb SFP+ uplinks
- Extremely reliable and stable
- CLI experience similar to Cisco
Key Features
- VLAN segmentation for network isolation
- Inter-VLAN routing handled directly on the switch
- Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) configuration
- Link aggregation (LAG) for increased throughput
- PoE support (depending on model)
- Rapid Spanning Tree (RSTP) - which is what I use
Basic VLAN Configuration
Example of creating a VLAN and assigning ports:
Inter-VLAN Routing
The switch is configured to handle routing between VLANs using virtual interfaces (VE). This reduces load on the router and significantly improves internal network performance.
Use Cases
- Segmenting IoT, servers, and personal devices
- Improving network security through isolation
- High-speed backbone for my home lab servers
- Managing traffic between services efficiently
Future Improvements
- Expand use of 10Gb connections
- Fine-tune STP settings
- Implement VLANs
My Thoughts & Opinions
This switch has been one of the biggest upgrades to my home network. Before this, I plugged straight into my router. This has allowed me to add more networked devices to my lab. When implementing this switch, I ran cabling through my attic from my garage to my router. I also added a small network cabinet to mount this switch, along with most of my other devices. Thanks to the PoE provided by this switch, my unifi AP has a single cable. It has one for both uplink and power.
The CLI took a bit of getting used to, but once I got comfortable with it, the flexibility and control it offers is on a completely different level compared to consumer gear. Most of what I learned from the CLI, directly carried over to work, in terms of working with cisco equipment. That to me, is one of the hugest benefits. For the price I got it for($50), it’s honestly impossible to beat.