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diff --git a/content/blog/2026-07-30-10gbps.org b/content/blog/2026-07-30-10gbps.org new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8be8338 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2026-07-30-10gbps.org @@ -0,0 +1,249 @@ +#+date: [2026-07-30 Thu 17:14:00] +#+title: Upgrading My Homelab to 10 Gbps +#+description: Moving my homelab off 1 Gbps and onto a 10 Gbps backbone. +#+slug: 10gbps +#+filetags: :self-hosting: + +* Why 10 Gbps? + +The short answer: fiber finally became available at my current residence, so I +jumped on it immediately. + +The slightly longer answer is that I'd previously enjoyed proper 1 Gbps fiber, +but for a while now I'd been stuck limping along on "1 Gbps" cable from Cox +that, in reality, often crawled along at 100 Mbps regardless of what I did to +fix it. New modem, new cables, different ports, calls to support - nothing +mattered. It ran at whatever speed it felt like that day. + +So when [[https://fiber.google.com][Google Fiber]] showed up in my neighborhood, I ordered the 8 Gbps package +immediately. I'll upgrade to their 10 Gbps package the moment it's released, but +I'm not exactly suffering in the meantime. + +A quick note on the title before we go further: my /internet/ is 8 Gbps for now, +but this post is really about rebuilding my /internal/ network to 10 Gbps end to +end. The WAN is just the excuse to upgrade everything. + +#+caption: My WAN status over the past month. +#+attr_html: :alt A chart of my WAN status and activity over the past month. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/wan_history.webp + +In the screenshot above, you can see that Google Fiber was installed on 7/20 and +UniFi entered WAN failover mode (the blue bar) and then I unplugged Cox on 7/22, +resulting in the green Google Fiber bar. + +As you can also see, Cox was a /train wreck/ - cycling between yellow +(disconnections, lag, etc.) and red (no internet connection) for the previous +month. + +* What I Was Running Before + +Nothing exotic. My network was built entirely on 1 Gbps gear: + +- A 24-port UniFi switch in the rack. +- Two 8-port UniFi switches serving other rooms. +- A Cox "1 Gbps" WAN that, as mentioned, frequently delivered closer to 100 + Mbps. + +It worked. For years, it was more than enough - I've written before about how my +[[https://cleberg.net/blog/homelab-maintenance.html][homelab basically maintains itself]], and the network was no exception. But once I +had real bandwidth coming into the house, 1 Gbps internally became the +bottleneck instead of the ISP. + +As a result, I installed the hardware I'll list in the next section. You can see +the 10G connections in blue and the 1G connections in green. + +#+caption: My homelab infrastructure. +#+attr_html: :alt A network diagram of my homelab infrastructure. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/infrastructure.webp + +* The Hardware + +Everything here is UniFi. I'm already knee-deep in the ecosystem, and at this +point fighting it would cost me more time than it's worth. Staying in one +platform means everything shows up in a single controller and I don't have to +think about it - which is exactly how I like my homelab. + +#+caption: My homelab rack. +#+attr_html: :alt A photo of my homelab rack of UniFi gear. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/rack.webp + +This rack shows: +- UDM Pro router. +- 10G 24-port switch. +- Switch panel with keystone jacks. +- 1G 24-port switch. +- My server. + +This is *before* the Google Fiber installation, so you can see that the WAN RJ45 +port is in use on the UDM Pro instead of the SFP+ port. + +I also removed the old 1G switch after this picture and plan to sell it. I just +didn't want to box it up quite yet when I took this photo. + +** Switch + +Two switches did the heavy lifting for the upgrade: + +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/switching-professional-max-xg/products/usw-pro-hd-24-poe?variant=usw-pro-hd-24-poe][USW Pro HD 24 PoE]]: the new core switch in the rack, replacing my old 1 Gbps + 24-port unit. +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/switching-utility/products/usw-pro-xg-8-poe?variant=usw-pro-xg-8-poe][USW Pro XG 8 PoE]]: a smaller 10G switch serving another room, replacing one of + the old 8-port units. + +** NICs + +Neither of my two most important machines shipped with 10G, so both needed a new +network card: + +- *Windows gaming PC*: an Intel X520-DA1, a 10G SFP+ card. +- *Server*: an Intel X710-DA2, a dual-port 10G SFP+ card. + +Both are enterprise Intel cards you can find used for very little money, which +is half the reason I went with them. + +The Ubuntu server already had Intel drivers installed, so I wasn't required to +install anything. I simply slotted the NIC into the PCIe port on the motherboard +and it worked. + +#+caption: The 10G NIC in my server. +#+attr_html: :alt A photo of the 10G NIC installed in my server. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/server_nic.webp + +However, the Windows machine was a different story. It did come with an +installation CD-ROM, but I of course ignored that since I have no disc drive in +my PC. I tried to find the right drivers online, but Intel's websites are a vast +wasteland of useless downloads and circular links. + +Eventually, I pulled a USB-C disc reader from storage and used the CD, which +magically installed on the first try and everything started working from there. + +That'll teach me (not really). + +#+caption: The 10G NIC in my Windows gaming PC. +#+attr_html: :alt A photo of the 10G NIC installed in my Windows gaming PC. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/desktop_nic.webp + +** Cabling + +This is where 10G gets fiddly, and where most of my shopping list ended up. +Going 10G means leaving RJ45 behind for SFP+ almost everywhere: + +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-modules-fiber/collections/accessories-pro-direct-attach-cables/products/uacc-cm-rj45-mg?variant=uacc-cm-rj45-mg][SFP+ to RJ45 Adapter]]: bridges the Google Fiber RJ45 handoff into the SFP+ port + on my UDM Pro. +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-cables-dacs/collections/accessories-pro-patch-cables/products/uacc-cable-patch-el?variant=uacc-cable-patch-el-0dot15m-w][UniFi Etherlighting Patch Cable]]: short in-rack runs between the switch, the + other rack devices, and the fiber modem. +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-modules-fiber/collections/accessories-pro-direct-attach-cables/products/10gbps-direct-attach-cable?variant=uacc-dac-sfp10-0dot5m][10G Direct Attach Cable (DAC)]]: the short SFP+ runs from the rack switch to the + server, and from the second switch to the gaming PC. +- [[https://store.ui.com/us/en/category/accessories-modules-fiber/collections/accessories-pro-direct-attach-cables/products/10-gbps-active-optical-cable?variant=uacc-aoc-sfp10-20m][10G Active Optical Cable (AOC)]]: the long run between the rack and the 8-port + switch in the other room, where a copper DAC won't reach. + +** Cost + +None of this is cheap, so here's the full damage: + +| Item | Qty | Price | +|---------------------------+-----+-----------| +| USW Pro HD 24 PoE | 1 | $999.00 | +| USW Pro XG 8 PoE | 1 | $499.00 | +| SFP+ to RJ45 Adapter | 1 | $65.00 | +| UniFi Etherlighting Patch | 27 | $112.97 | +| Cat6A Keystone Coupler | 2 | $78.00 | +| 10G Direct Attach Cable | 3 | $43.00 | +| 10G Long-Range DAC (AOC) | 1 | $55.00 | +| Intel X520-DA1 NIC | 1 | $45.00 | +| Intel X710-DA2 NIC | 1 | $145.00 | +|---------------------------+-----+-----------| +| *Total* | | $2,041.97 | + +* The Upgrade + +With the parts in hand, the actual topology is straightforward. Bandwidth flows +in from the street and fans out through the rack: + +#+begin_src +Google Fiber + │ (RJ45 → SFP+ adapter) + ▼ +UDM Pro + │ (Etherlighting patch) + ▼ +USW Pro HD 24 (core switch) + ├─ DAC ──────────► Server + ├─ AOC ──────────► USW Pro XG 8 (other room) + │ └─ DAC ──► Windows Gaming PC + └─ ETH ──────────► USW 8-port (1G switch) +#+end_src + +The UDM Pro takes the Google Fiber handoff through the RJ45-to-SFP+ adapter, +then hands everything down to the new 24-port switch over an Etherlighting patch +cable. From there, the server hangs directly off the core switch on a short DAC, +and a long active optical cable carries 10G across the house to the second +switch, which finally feeds my gaming PC. My surviving 1 Gbps 8-port switch +still hangs off the core switch too, handling everything that doesn't need 10G. + +The physical installation was pretty easy. I needed to replace a drive in my +server's ZFS pool, so I already needed to get inside the rack. Since I don't use +rails, I had to unscrew and pull out each device by hand. + +From there, the NIC (and HDD) installation in the server was seamless. Just pop +out one of the metal slots on the back of the server, slot the NIC into the PCIe +lane, and line up the port with the new opening in the back panel. + +All in all, it was easy and simple. No physical snags, only one driver issue on +the Windows machine (which was my fault for ignoring the provided CD), cabling +runs were easy, and UniFi updates were minimal. + +* Benchmarks + +Let's nerd out on the numbers. + +** Before + +I don't actually have any speed tests from before the upgrade, but the Cox +connection had degraded even further by the end - down to roughly 70 Mbps for +the month prior to the upgrade. + +Occasionally, I was able to get ~800 Mbps when the connection would work +properly. + +** After + +So, here's the catch. I'm not getting the full 8 Gbps currently. When the Google +tech installed the modem, we confirmed ~ 8500 Mbps together, which means the +fiber is working through the ONT and the modem. + +However, they would not connect directly to my router, which means the Google +modem is in bridge mode for now. + +The speed test below shows an average speed, where I'm getting 5 to 6 Gbps to my +router. While not the full 8 Gbps, I'm not saturating it anyway, so I haven't +dug into my UniFi settings to determine what's causing the difference. + +#+caption: Speed test from the UniFi controller. +#+attr_html: :alt A screenshot of a speed test result from the UniFi controller. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/speed_unifi.webp + +A supplementary test showing speeds directly to my server: + +#+caption: Speed test from my server. +#+attr_html: :alt A screenshot of a speed test result from my server. +https://img.cleberg.net/blog/20260730-10gbps/speed_server.webp + +* Was It Worth It? + +Here's the honest part. + +Do I /need/ 10 Gbps between my gaming PC and my server? Probably not. The number +of times a day I move enough data to saturate even 1 Gbps is small, and for most +of what I do, this changes nothing I'll consciously notice. + +But that was never really the point. I finally have an internet connection that +delivers what I pay for, and a network that won't be the bottleneck for years to +come. After spending so long fighting a "1 Gbps" connection that never once hit +1 Gbps, there's something deeply satisfying about watching a transfer actually +move as fast as the hardware allows. + +Instead of constantly monitoring speeds and pausing services so our +work-from-home connections aren't impacted, I can let my server idle at 400 Mbps +24/7, not to mention all the other devices in my home. + +Was it worth it? For the peace of mind alone: yes. |