Dell Networking N3024F Managed Switch

The Dell Networking N3024F is a 1U managed campus access switch built on 24 x 1000BASE-SX (to 500m) or 1000BASE-LX (to 10km) SFP GbE, 2 x SFP+ 10GbE, 2 x GbE combo media, backed by a 212Gbps non-blocking switching fabric and a 58Mpps forwarding rate. It belongs to Dell's N3000 series, the distribution-capable tier of the N-Series line: full Layer 3 routing, two dedicated rear stacking ports, a hot-swappable expansion module bay and two hot-swappable power supply bays in a single rack unit.

Where this switch belongs in a network

The N3000 series was designed for the wiring closet and the small-to-mid campus distribution layer, not the data center row. Access ports terminate desktops, printers, cameras, access points and phones; the two dedicated 10Gb SFP+ ports carry the closet's aggregate traffic back to a core or distribution switch. Because the two SFP+ cages are dedicated rather than shared with the stacking fabric, a stacked N3000 keeps both 10Gb uplinks free - a distinction that matters a great deal against the cheaper N1500 series, where stacking consumes two of the four SFP+ ports. Two additional GbE combo media ports let you land either copper or fiber without spending an SFP+ cage.

Uplink capacity and oversubscription

With 24 gigabit access ports feeding 2 x 10Gb of uplink, the N3024F runs at roughly 1.2:1 oversubscription at line rate. For a campus access closet - where real utilisation is a fraction of link rate and traffic is overwhelmingly north-south - that is comfortable. If you intend to run this switch where sustained east-west throughput matters, the honest answer is that a 10GbE-native platform such as N4032 or N4064 is the right tier, not a 1GbE access switch with 10Gb uplinks.

Stacking

Two dedicated rear stacking ports run at 21Gbps each for 84Gbps of full-duplex stacking bandwidth, managed as a single IP address. Dell rates the series at up to 12 members, but with Dell EMC Networking OS 6.5.1.x and later the maximum stack for the original N3000 series drops to 8 - the N3000E series and the N3132PX-ON keep 12. This is a firmware-version-dependent limit worth confirming against the OS release you intend to run before you design a stack around it. Stacking cables are available in 0.25m, 1m and 3m, which constrains a stack to a single rack or two adjacent racks. If your closets are further apart than that, N3048ET-ON (an N3000E-ON refresh) or an N4000 with its 100m user-port stacking is the better shape.

Power and thermals

The N3024F draws a maximum of 67.1W and dissipates 204.6 BTU/hr - low enough that a closet with passive ventilation will generally cope. It ships with one 200W 80PLUS-certified supply and has a second hot-swappable bay for redundancy. Airflow is I/O-to-power-supply, so the cold aisle must face the port side; there is no reverse-airflow SKU in this family. It uses a standard C13 cord - the C15 cord that ships with the PoE models in this family is the wrong part.

Routing and software

All N-Series switches run Dell EMC Networking OS 6, with a single CLI and embedded web GUI across the family. The N3000 does full Layer 3: static routing, RIPv1/v2, OSPFv2 and OSPFv3, VRRP, PIM-SM and PIM-DM, policy-based routing and BGP (RFC 4271), plus VRF-lite for partitioning the switch into isolated virtual routers. Multi-chassis LAG gives active/active redundancy without spanning tree. For mixed-vendor closets, the switch speaks RSTP-per-VLAN (interoperating with Cisco RPVST+) and ISDP, which interoperates with CDP. Scale figures: 32K MAC addresses, 4,094 VLANs, 8,160 dynamic IPv4 routes, 6,144 ARP entries and 4MB of packet buffer.

Expansion module bay

The hot-swappable bay accepts a 2-port 10GBASE-T RJ-45 module or a 2-port 10Gb SFP+ module, taking the switch from two 10Gb uplinks to four. The 2-port 40Gb QSFP+ and stacking modules listed on the N3000 datasheet are N3132PX-ON parts and do not fit this chassis. Modules from the N4000 series are a different mechanical and electrical part and will not work here either.

Buying this on the secondary market

Dell has retired the N-Series; there is no current Dell listing competing with this model, and no new-unit channel above it. In practice that makes the used market the only market, and it makes spares planning a real consideration rather than a formality: power supplies, expansion modules, stacking cables and rail kits are all field-replaceable and all worth buying alongside the chassis while supply is good. Every unit is refurbished, tested and supplied with warranty. Compare against its siblings: N3024, N3024P, N3048.