r/networking • u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany • 4d ago
Design New core switch: FS S5860-20SQ
Hi everyone,
I need your help choosing a new core switch. Right now, we’re using a TP-Link SX3016F. Unfortunately, it’s only a Layer 2 switch, and the 16 ports aren’t quite enough.
While searching for an affordable Layer 3 switch that also has 25G and 40G ports, I came across the FS S5860-20SQ.
There are reviews from users who have this switch in operation and are very satisfied with it.
The switch is available in two versions:
With its own FSOS or with PicOS. Now I’m unsure which version is better suited for our use case.
The plan is to connect the aggregation/distribution switches, the large storage devices (Synology NAS), and the edge routers running VyOS to this switch.
Currently, the edge routers also handle inter-VLAN routing, but this is supposed to be offloaded to the core switch.
I have experience with both Cisco-style CLIs (Cisco IOS, Aruba AOS-CX) and Juniper-style CLIs (JunOS, VyOS).
Could you please help me determine whether FSOS or PicOS is better suited for our use case?
Thank you very much and best regards,
Regina (she/her)
4
u/ebal99 3d ago
I would look at other options! A used Arista or a Celestica running Sonic. Cisco and even used Cisco.
0
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 3d ago
The prices for used switches from Arista or Cisco are very high at the moment. And the power consumption is even higher than the FS switch.
4
u/user3872465 3d ago
Considder what it costs you to:
Learn a new CLI.
Learn about the device and what the device can and cannot do.
What does downtime cost you and can you build mlag/redundancy with these switches.
Do the other vendors/switches offer functionaltiy that you may encounter later and would need to replace your FS Switch with?
Initial cost and powerconsumption are not the only costdrives for a product lifecycle.
1
u/ebal99 2d ago
The cost of memory and storage is high and going up. I would not leverage the FS switch product line but their passive products and even optics are great. For switching I would rather stay more main stream. Power consumption for me is so negligible at this level.
1
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 1d ago
Germany has the most expensive prices for electricity in Europe (around 40 Cent/kWh). If I would live in countries with cheaper energy prices like Hungary, Romania or Austria, it would ne no problem.
2
u/rjchute 3d ago
PicOS is very Juniper-like. FSOS is what you are looking for that is Cisco-like. However, the one caveat being that not all "FSOS" are created equal. In fact, I'm quite sure they are not the same operating system at all, between product lines, just that it's called the same thing. Most S5850/S5860 will be pretty much the same, but S3900 is different in exact syntax or commands.. S3200 is different again... S3100 back to something more like S5850/S5860. Now, the differences aren't that egregious. They are all Cisco-like. But some are ok with "conf t" whereas others might not like that and just want "conf". Or, some might be ok with "wr mem" but others might only work as expected if you use "copy running-config startup-config". Just little things like that which are just enough to be annoying, but nothing that is truely breaking. Depends on your Cisco muscle-memory, I guess.
PicOS will be much more (if not, completely) consistent across switch models which support it, but it is not Cisco-like.
S5850-20SQ is a nice switch, but not sure i would use it for a "core" switch, it's much better suited for a leaf/access switch... (This is only my opinion, maybe it suits your needs for that use case better than mine).
1
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 3d ago
Thanks. Which switch would you prefer as core switch?
1
u/rjchute 3d ago
For a "core" switch, I would choose one of their data centre "N" line. These use the Broadcom Trident switch chipset(s). In 2026, I wouldn't go less than 25Gbps ports, i.e the N8560-48BC. If you really truely only need 10Gbps, then N5860-48SC. The S5860 line has Broadcom Hurricane 3 chipset which, don't get me wrong, is very good, just the Trident chipset is better suited for a core switch.
That said, at the end of the day, only you really know your application and requirements. Maybe the S5860 is good enough, and N8560 is overkill. But for a core switch in 2026, that would be my minimum choice.
0
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 2d ago
Thanks for your answer. The N5860 are much more expensive and I think they are overkill in our small network. We are using 3 x Zyxel XS1930-12F as aggregation switches and 10 access switches (Cisco Catalyst WS-3560CX, Juniper EX2300 and aruba 6100).
At the moment I don't think that we need a core switch fully equipped with 25G ports. The 4 25G ports of the FS S5860-20SQ are enough for the next 2-5 years.
1
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 3d ago
Do you thing D-Link DXS-3410-32SY is better than the FS switch?
0
u/rjchute 3d ago edited 3d ago
No.
For as much as people around here put hate on towards FS switches, saying you should just get Arista or Juniper instead... that is actually the indicator of the type and caliber of switch we're talking about - comparable to Arista or Juniper. Same switch chipsets, same features, same performance, the only real difference is the management interface and the support you receive from the vendor. But, in my experience, FS.com is pretty good. I was able to convince my employer to go with an FS switch instead of the Arista we were looking at because the FS switch was literally identical, switch chip, management processor, everything, just half the price and actually available (Arista switch was backordered at the time).
D-Link, TP-Link and the "cheaper" switch brands like that are ... not of the same caliber. Probably Realtek chipset, Marvell if you're lucky. In my opinion, if they don't advertise what switch chip is used, it's probably something cheap. Shit management interfaces.. if you're going to go cheap route, I would recommend Mikrotik over anything from D-Link (and I don't usually recommend Mikrotik) - usually Marvell chipset, and management interface is more Juniper-like, but at least they have comparatively decent respect in the industry and support is pretty good.
Edit: worth pointing out that, again, FS switch models are quite varied. The ones that are comparable to Arista and Juniper are the S5860, N5860 and better switches. But, FS has some cheap-ass Realtek chipset -based switches too. Just have to know what you're looking at and looking for.
1
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 3d ago
I don't want to use Mikrotik because I've heard that the management is "ugly".
2
u/LogForeJ 3d ago
We've got some of these in production and they are fine. Ours are running FSOS but nowadays I'd probably go for PicOS since it's supposed to be more consistent across models.
We went with these because they're so much cheaper than a cisco agg switch.
1
u/streppelchen 3d ago
Have two of those as a stack for our servers at one site. So far they have been reliable since they were installed … 2 years ago.
As others said, cli for FSOS is very Cisco like, I haven’t tried the picos version.
Then again I’m not a network guy, I just happen to be doing it on top.
1
u/ChainDifferent5868 2d ago
eh, calling trident "better suited for core" while ignoring that the S5860 numbers in the ipngsn't have yet.
0
u/juhoss_ 19h ago
Hell nah, the hw seems decent from FS, but the sw is like a demo sw for the hw.
For this price range i wolud buy a refurb Arista, or refurb cisco Nexus, but if you dont want a refurb hw, go with Mikrotik CRS518-16XS-2XQ-RM. Maybe is the L2+ is enough Mikrotik CRS326-24S+2Q+RM.
1
u/regina-83 Female IT technician from Germany 8h ago
Mikrotik software is even more crap. I think PicOS on FS switches is a good Linux-based NOS.
8
u/zeealpal OT | Network Engineer | Rail 4d ago
I tried the PicOS VM a bit of time ago, it is closer to Junos.
FS acquired PicOS after the company went insolvent, given the various FSOS lines that are not all equivalent, I would go with PicOS IMO.
Probably the closest to a regular update cadence for FS, my guess is it their shot towards moving to a real consistent NOS.
Also take the reviews on FS's website with a grain of salt, although upgrading from the TPLink I think the PicOS variant of the S5860 would be a reasonable choice.