MikroTik ROSE Data Server (RDS) - RDS2216-2XG-4S+4XS-2XQ

The ROSE Data Server is unlike anything else in MikroTik's product range — or the market at large. It combines enterprise-grade 100G networking with 20 U.2 NVMe storage slots and full containerised application support in a device managed through a special ROSE edition of RouterOS. For enterprises, hosting providers, and data centre operators in Kenya and Uganda looking to reduce hardware sprawl, power consumption, and operational complexity, the RDS consolidates what would typically require a separate NAS, server, and router into a single, coherent platform. It's a genuinely novel approach to data centre infrastructure

The 20 NVMe storage slots support a wide range of deployment scenarios — S3-compatible MinIO object storage for private cloud workloads, Nextcloud document management with BTRFS enterprise features for snapshots and compression, iSCSI and NVMe-TCP database clusters for PostgreSQL and MariaDB, and RAID configurations for high-availability storage. TCG-Opal self-encrypting drives provide hardware-level security with no performance overhead, and block device encryption is available as a fallback — making GDPR compliance straightforward for businesses handling sensitive data. For enterprises in Uganda and Kenya running cloud-like workloads on-premises, the RDS provides the infrastructure to do it securely and at scale.

The networking side of the RDS is equally serious — two 100G QSFP28 cages, four 25G SFP28 ports, four 10G SFP+ ports, and two multi-speed Ethernet ports for management or copper connectivity. The 16-core 2GHz CPU with 32GB RAM ensures the networking and storage functions don't compete for resources under load. Uniquely, the RDS can extend storage to branch office routers (such as MikroTik hAP devices) via NFS, SMB, or NVMe-TCP — allowing distributed deployments across Uganda and Kenya to share centralised storage without local NAS hardware at each branch. Hundreds of remote routers can run containerised apps and access shared data from a single RDS deployment.

For organisations in Uganda and Kenya that are moving away from expensive public cloud dependencies — or building hosted services for their own clients — the RDS provides the foundation for a fully private, self-hosted cloud environment. Whether it's a private social platform, a secure document management system, or a high-performance database cluster, the RDS is designed to handle it. Simplifi Networks supplies the ROSE Data Server to enterprise and data centre clients across East Africa. Contact our team directly for a technical consultation and B2B pricing on this platform.