Zyxel CX4800-56F review: A port-dense, scalable aggregation switch at a tempting price

Zyxel has traditionally focused on the SMB switching market but the CX4800-56F signals a first move into the enterprise and service provider spaces. It comes in with a big bang as this 1U Layer 2/3 switch presents no less than 48 10/25GbE SFP28 fiber ports and teams them up with eight high-speed 100GbE QSFP28 uplink ports.

Aimed at top-of-rack (ToR) deployments and core network aggregation services, the CX4800-56F is designed to deliver plenty of headroom to handle future growth as businesses look to move from 10GbE to 25GbE. Zyxel also has AVoIP (Audio-Visual over Internet Protocol) networks on its radar as the switch's management console offers an option to swap directly to a Network AV Mode that presents a condensed web interface with only the features required to monitor and maintain these types of networks.

Management options look good as you can run the switch in standalone mode or hook it up with Zyxel's Nebula Control Center (NCC) service for full cloud access. For the latter, the switch includes a 1-year NebulaFlex Pro Pack licence which enables all NCC features.

Zyxel CX4800-56F review: Hardware features

The switch has a 2.1GHz quad-core Intel Atom C3538 CPU in the driving seat, partnered by 64MB of Flash memory and 8GB of DDR4 RAM with a 32GB M.2 SSD looking after the operating system. The CX4800-56F is the first of Zyxel's next generation of switches to feature its new Linux-based FaOS software which is designed to retain the look and feel of ZyNOS but offer improved security, flexibility, and hardware compatibility.

Hardware redundancy looks good as the switch sports dual hot-plug 650W PSUs at the rear and Zyxel offers AC or DC versions. Cooling is also handled well as in between the PSUs is a bank of four field replaceable hot-swap fan modules.

The switch clearly won't have any problems handling a very high demand. It boasts a fast 4Tbps backplane teamed up with an impressive 2 billion packets per second (Bpps) forwarding rate – easily the match of more expensive core switches.

Zyxel CX4800-56F review: Standalone management

A dedicated network port at the rear can be used for out-of-band (OOB) management and first contact with the local web interface requires the default admin password to be changed. You can then choose standard mode if you want full access to all settings or the Networked AV mode for simplified management but don't worry if you change your mind as all each mode does is present a different interface without changing any settings.

The home page dashboard has a switch graphic showing all ports, their connection status, and negotiated speed. In standard mode, you get a system status and utilization table below plus quick links to common tasks while AV mode changes the page layout to list bandwidth usage for all ports.

There are a lot more configuration options in standard mode which are all neatly categorised in the left-hand menu. L2 features are extensive and include support for 802.1q, port, MAC, protocol, and IP subnet based VLANs along with static and LACP link aggregation groups.

For security, the switch supports access control lists (ACLs), port security plus 802.1x port authentication and has the ability to move users with incorrect login details to a secure guest VLAN. Monitoring features include support for all versions of SNMP and the switch has an internal sFlow agent which can send packet samples from selected ports to four different collectors.

We received an early review sample that only supports Zyxel's L3 Access Standard features – similar to the entry-level XGS2200 switch series. Services yet to be enabled include L2 features such as physical stacking for two switches and support for 100GbE to 4 x 25GbE breakout ports plus advanced L3 routing features like RIP, OSPF, ECMP and VRRP. Alas, it's going to be a long wait for these as Zyxel advised us they won't be available until December 2025.

Zyxel CX4800-56F review: Cloud control

The OOB port can't be used for cloud management so before deploying the switch in this mode, you need to ensure it has a management VLAN configured for internet access. Adding the switch to our NCC cloud account was simple as we used the Nebula iOS app on an iPad to scan the QR code label located inside the box lid.

The switch duly appeared online in our cloud portal and took all its settings from those we'd previously configured for our site. The customizable NCC dashboard told us everything we needed to know about our Zyxel devices with the topology view showing all connections to the CX4800-56F for our PoE switches, access points, servers, and clients.

Select the switch from the device menu and you can view all its details including available firmware updates, check on the status of the fans and PSUs from the hardware monitor, and see all port connection speeds. Selecting a port from the main switch graphic presents a bandwidth utilization graph with a more detailed traffic table below.

The NCC Configure tab provides menus for all cloud-managed device categories. The switch section allows you to access and configure individual switch ports, assign port profiles, implement switch stacking, and set up features such as static routes, port mirroring, and access control lists.

Zyxel CX4800-56F review: Is it worth it?

It certainly will be when all the advanced features have been enabled with future firmware upgrades. An RRP of £4,999 excluding VAT makes the CX4800-56F competitively priced as similarly specified switches from Aruba, Cisco, and Netgear cost around 2-3 times as much.

The CX4800-56F is very versatile as it delivers a high density of 10/25GbE ports, teams them up with 8 100GbE ports, and offers a choice of two management modes. Larger businesses and enterprises looking to upgrade their infrastructure from 10GbE to 25GbE will find this a powerful and cost-effective solution.

Zyxel CX4800-56F specifications