Originally Posted: January 3rd, 2020

UniFi Switch Leaf Preview

Update: this product has been removed from the EA store.

From Ubiquiti’s Early Access Store:

The UniFi Switch Leaf is a high-performance, 100G intelligent switch designed for the data center and high-capacity enterprise environments. It supports a range of interface speeds with forty-eight 10G/25G SFP28 ports and six 40G/100G QSFP28 ports to efficiently provide high-bandwidth connectivity to your spine switches and across your access network. With 1.8 Tbps switching capacity and 350W maximum fully equipped switch power consumption, the UniFi Switch Leaf delivers industry-leading value per port and excellent power efficiency.

-(48) 10G/25G SFP28 ports
-(6) 40G/100G QSFP28 ports
-1.8 Tbps switching capacity
-Layer 2 features, including 802.1D/w/s, 802.1Q VLAN, and 802.3ad LACP
- Layer 3 features, including OSPF 2/3, BGP 4, PBR, ECMP, and VxLAN
-Redundant 1+1 power supplies for high availability
-Redundant 4+2 fans with front-to-rear air flow for reliable cooling
- 1.7 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A57 processor
-1.3" color touchscreen display for instant system information
-Bluetooth for fast setup using UniFi Network app
-Managed by UniFi Network Controller via GUI or CLI (USB Type-C console)
-1U rackmountable (kit included)

Who is this for?

This is a confusing product. It’s labeled as a UniFi switch, but it’s more like an EdgeSwitch in a Unifi case. It’s managed by the CLI and monitored by the UniFi Controller. Typically, Unifi switches would be managed by the Unifi Controller, with CLI management requiring EdgeOS. The Unifi/EdgeMax split has always been a little fuzzy. The hardware is the same, but the firmware and features are not. Perhaps this is the first step in the Unifi line growing up to gain more of the features that currently require an EdgeMax? We don’t know yet. It isn’t clear what the CLI management will be like, or what features will be present besides what is listed on the store page. It’s still early, and the software is still under development.

Ubiquiti claims this is designed for the data center, but lacks basic features like MEC/MC-LAG, API support, ZTP or TFTP boot options, hot swap power supplies, replaceable fans or 24/7 support. Ubiquiti doesn’t have the best track record for stability or problem-free firmware updates, either. Given their history of buggy and incomplete features, I can’t imagine anyone wanting to deploy Unifi for anything mission critical. They will need to earn that trust over the next few years before any reasonable network professional should consider deploying this.

Unifi is a good option for a home lab, or a small business. Their market seems to be people who want cheap, decent networking equipment that is simple to operate. Those people don’t mind the subpar support, and they have no need for the scale or features needed in a true enterprise level data center. People buying 40G and 100G switches are not Unifi’s target market. If you ask an enterprise network engineer about putting a Unifi switch in the data center they will laugh in your face.

Ubiquiti’s direction

Honestly, I would love to know what Ubiquiti is thinking with their recent products. They have so many things in the works and half done. They appear to be expanding in a few new directions, but they leave products in limbo or missing obvious features constantly. They seem to be moving away from the EdgeMax line, but the Unifi software isn’t mature or full featured enough to take it’s place. They don’t yet have any Wi-Fi 6 capable APs besides their consumer-focused Amplifi Alien. They pushed out their 2nd generation switches, but don’t yet have the promised L3 support. They released a network rack, an LED lighting system, and a smart power outlet, but haven’t had time to update the USG in over 6 years. As a fan of their products, I wish they would focus on executing the basics.

Perhaps their software will improve, and they will be able to deliver on all their promises. Maybe they are starting to take enterprise networking seriously, but for now, keep this product far, far away from your data center.