Dell PowerSwitch E3224F-ON 1GbE Switch

The Dell PowerSwitch E3224F-ON is a 1RU fibre access and aggregation switch with 24 line-rate 1GbE SFP ports, four 10GbE SFP+ uplinks and two integrated 100GbE QSFP28 uplinks, forwarding at 733 Mpps across a 528 Gbps non-blocking fabric under Dell SmartFabric OS10.

It is the fibre member of Dell's E3200 edge line, and it is the one model in that series that runs OS10 rather than SONiC, takes DC power, and carries no PoE at all.

Why a fibre access switch still exists

Copper Ethernet stops at 100 metres. That single number is why buildings have fibre in them, and it is the whole case for a 24-port SFP access switch.

The situations that produce one are consistent and they are not going away. A campus with buildings 300 metres apart. A distribution frame feeding remote closets that are too far for copper. A manufacturing or utility site where the electrical environment makes copper a liability and galvanic isolation between buildings is a safety requirement rather than a preference. A secure facility where fibre is specified because it does not radiate and is harder to tap unnoticed. A riser in an older building where fibre was pulled once, correctly, and nobody wants to open the walls again.

In all of those, the aggregation point wants to be a proper Layer 3 switch with real uplinks - not a media converter shelf and not a copper switch with two fibre ports borrowed for the job.

Twenty-four gigabit fibre ports, four 10GbE, two 100GbE

The 24 access ports are line-rate 1GbE SFP. Each takes a standard 1000BASE-SX or 1000BASE-LX transceiver for multimode or single-mode fibre respectively, and the choice of optic - not the switch - sets the distance.

Above them sit four 10GbE SFP+ ports and two rear 100GbE QSFP28 ports. That is a deliberately large amount of uplink for 24 gigabit access ports, and the reason is the same one that applies across the E3200 series: the uplinks are sized so the switch can attach directly to whatever the rest of the network runs at, rather than forcing a speed-conversion tier in between. Line-rate Layer 2 switching and line-rate Layer 3 routing are both non-blocking across all of it, so there is no oversubscription trade-off to reason about.

Optics are worth planning before the switch arrives. The access ports need 1G SFP transceivers matched to your fibre type, the SFP+ uplinks take 10GBASE-SR optics or passive 10GBASE-CU direct-attach copper, and the 100GbE ports are offered with 100GBASE-CR4 passive DAC. Tell us the fibre plant and the distances with your quote request and we will confirm the loadout - optics are the part of a fibre switch order that most often gets specified wrong.

SmartFabric OS10 - and why this model differs from its own siblings

This is the E3200 model that runs Dell SmartFabric OS10. The two 48-port PoE models in the same series run Enterprise SONiC Distribution by Dell Technologies. Dell says so twice in one specification - once in the feature summary and again in the ordering table, which lists the two PoE models under "Enterprise SONiC options" and this one under "OS10 option".

That matters if you are buying more than one. Assuming a family shares an operating system is a reasonable assumption that happens to be wrong here, and it is the sort of thing that surfaces during commissioning rather than during procurement.

OS10 is Dell's disaggregated network operating system: a Linux base with a modular networking stack, designed for interoperability in multivendor networks and with a lower learning curve than SONiC for teams coming from a traditional CLI. Dell's own framing is that OS10 is chosen for "easier deployment, greater interoperability and a lower learning curve for network administrators", which is a fair description of the trade being made.

Feature-wise this is a full Layer 3 switch: advanced IPv4 and IPv6 routing with BGP, VRF, BFD, PIM-SM/DM/SSM, IGMP/MLD, RIPv1/v2 and OSPFv2/v3, VXLAN for overlays, and VRF-lite for partitioning one physical switch into isolated virtual routers. On a building-aggregation switch VRF-lite earns its keep immediately - corporate, building systems and security networks arriving over the same fibre plant, kept genuinely separate rather than separated only by VLAN discipline.

A note on software: a Dell software entitlement is bound to the unit's service tag and to a Dell account and does not automatically transfer on the secondary market. A refurbished unit may arrive with a working OS10 image installed and without an active entitlement or support contract. We do not promise a transferred Dell licence, a software subscription or a support contract with a refurbished switch. Tell us what you intend to run and we will confirm the state of a specific unit before it ships.

Power: the small one, and the only DC one

This is by some distance the lightest-drawing switch in the series. Maximum power consumption is 230W and maximum thermal output is 785 BTU/hr - against 1683W and 6573 BTU/hr for the 30W PoE model and 4869W and 18487 BTU/hr for the 90W PoE model. No PoE means no PoE load, and the difference is dramatic enough to change what circuit and what cooling the installation needs.

It ships with one 550W 80 PLUS Platinum hot-swappable supply and takes a second in the adjacent bay for redundancy. It is also the only E3200 model Dell offers with DC power - a 550W DC hot-swappable supply, with two fitted for redundancy. That is a meaningful detail for telco, utility and industrial sites where the plant is DC and an AC-only switch means an inverter nobody wanted to buy.

Airflow is I/O panel to power supply, and that is the only direction Dell builds in this series - every supply and the only spare fan module are I/O-to-PSU parts. There is no reverse-airflow variant to specify or to get wrong.

Deployment: designed to be installed by whoever is on site

USB auto-configuration lets the switch configure itself from a flash drive - no TFTP server, no DHCP option plumbing, no engineer dispatched to a remote building. Someone racks it and plugs in a drive.

Dual firmware images on-board give a failed upgrade somewhere to fall back to. Hot-swappable supplies and redundant variable-speed fans make a component failure a part swap. Dell Fresh Air compliance to 113 F (45 C) covers a warm riser cupboard. MLAG pairs two switches into an active/active domain with no spanning tree, with firmware upgrades that do not take the segment offline - which is how you make a single aggregation point stop being a single point of failure.

What it is not: an industrially hardened switch. Dell rates it 32 to 113 F (0 to 45 C) operating, it is actively cooled by fans, and it carries no industrial or extended-temperature rating. It belongs in a comms room, a riser or a distribution frame - not in an unconditioned outdoor cabinet, and not on a plant floor.

Common questions

What transceivers do the 24 access ports take?

Standard 1GbE SFP optics - 1000BASE-SX for multimode, 1000BASE-LX for single-mode, with distance set by the optic and the fibre rather than by the switch. Tell us your fibre type and run lengths with the quote request; optics are specified at quotation and are the most common thing to get wrong on a fibre switch order.

Does it do PoE?

No, and it cannot - these are fibre ports. If you need PoE, the E3248P-ON gives 48 copper ports at 802.3at 30W and the E3248PXE-ON gives 48 multigigabit ports at 802.3bt 90W, both in the same chassis and both with the same 100GbE uplinks.

Can I stack two of them?

No. The two 100GbE QSFP28 ports are uplinks on this model. Pair two switches with MLAG for active/active redundancy without spanning tree.

Does it really run a different OS from the rest of the series?

Yes. This model runs SmartFabric OS10; the two 48-port PoE models run Enterprise SONiC. If you are buying a mixed set, plan for two operating models or standardise deliberately.

Is it TAA compliant?

Dell states TAA compliance under the Trade Agreements Act for the E3200 series. Flag the requirement with your quote request so it can be verified against the specific unit.

Where it sits in the E3200 series

Availability, condition and how to buy

This model is supplied to order. Power-supply count, AC or DC supplies and the full optics loadout are confirmed at quotation, so use the quote request on this page and tell us the fibre plant you are landing on it.

Every unit is refurbished, professionally reconditioned, powered up, inspected and functionally tested before it ships, and it ships with warranty coverage. If you need a specific OS10 state, or a matched pair for an MLAG domain, say so with your request.

Specifications