Popular discussions about programming, compatibility and testing of optical transceivers.
A user guide for an SNR SFP/SFP+ reprogramming solution: USB programmer plus Windows/Linux software (FTDI drivers required) supporting SFP and SFP+ per INF-8053, SFF-8472/8431, INF-8077i and INF-8438. The workflow is connect, read the module to display vendor/model/wavelength, load a new firmware…
We keep a couple of ONIE boxes in the lab rack for testing, and one of them is an Edgecore AS5114-48X-O-AC-F-EC running dentOS. Port 18 is supposed to carry a 10G link to a neighbouring switch and it simply refuses to cmoe up, even though the platform clearly sees the module. Switch: Edgecore…
The poster was building a server that needed a 1 Gbps single-mode fibre uplink and wanted a PCIe card with two to four SFP cages so any optic could be used later. The core doubt: switches usually accept plain 1G SFP optics in SFP+ ports, but is the same true for 10GbE server NICs, or would the NIC…
An operator asked how to use non-Intel SFP+ modules for 10G fibrre on Intel adapters under Linux. The replies summarised the practical rules: for 82599/X520 class NICs the ixgbe module parameter allowunsupportedsfp must be set, and on dual-port cards it must be given per port…
After upgrading a CRS309-1G-8S+IN from RouterOS 6.48.6 to 7.14.1 (and 7.15beta8), ports 5 and 7 with 10Gtek ASF-GE-T (FTRJ8519P1BNL-PT) copper SFPs showed sfp-rx-loss: yes and no-link when auto-negotiation was enabled; disabling auto-negotiation and forcing 1G full duplex restored the link…
The poster bought a Cisco SFP-10G-SR on eBay (markings suggesting 2007 manufacture) and, warned about counterfeit Cisco optics with longevity and safety risks, asked how to tell whether it was genuine before deploying it. Hardware involved: Cisco SFP-10G-SR. Reported symptoms/messages: authenticity…
The poster connected a Dell server to a Cisco Catalyst C9500-48Y4C (IOS XE 17.9.3) using a Dell L56SF018-SD-R 3 m DAC (DAC-SFP-3M). The cable is not in Cisco's optics compatibility matrix, and 'show interface status' shows port TwentyFiveGigE1/0/35 as err-disabled. Logging shows…
Several pairs of 3COM 2928 switches (JE007A-like, HP 1910-24G family) were linked over J9281B SFP+ DACs. After upgrading from 5.20 1108P01 to 5.20 1519P03 the links no longer came up. Before the update display transceiver interface showed STACKSFP / Tyco Electronics and simple LINK UPDOWN events…
A USB coding-board product line to reprogram optical transceivers so they match different equipment vendors. Supported form factors span GBIC, SFP, SFP+, SFP28, XFP, QSFP, QSFP28, QSFP-DD plus RJ45, DAC and AOC. The software reads, decodes, edits and writes module memory, ships about 400 well-known…
A UDM Pro (port 11 set to 1G) and a US-16-150W (port 17) connected by a 1 m Ubiquiti DAC (UDC-1) did not talk: the switch showed a link light, the UDM Pro showed nothing. Setting both sides to 1G and rebooting both devices did not help; reversing the cable and removing the parallel copper uplink…
A Dell R720 with the integrated i350/X520 daughter card ran Proxmox VE; Cisco-branded 10G multimode LC SFP+ modules that worked elsewhere were rejected as unsupported. Adding options ixgbe allowunsupportedsfp=1 to the module options had no visible effect. Respondents walked through GRUB kernel…
The poster spent two days trying to bring up a single-mode fiber link between an older Arista switch and a Cisco Catalyst 3650 (IOS-XE 3.7.5) with Cisco GLC-LH-SMD (SFP-LH-SMD) optics; the path runs through five patch cords in the same building and had been tested by the cabling contractor. At…
The poster wanted to use third-paty SFP modules in a Cisco Catalyst 2960L-48TS (LAN Lite feature set, image c2960l-universalk9-mz.152-6.E2b). Entering 'service unsupported-transceiver' in global configuration mode only produced a command error because the CLI does not know the command on this…
Adding a 100G link between two racks on an X690 that has been quietly doing 10G access work for a couple of years. The uplink cage will not take the speed at all. ExtremeSwitching X690-48x-2q-4c 1 m QSFP28 direct attach cable, Q28+CR41m port 57, one of the QSFP28 uplink cages The cable comes up as…
Users needed to write to password-protected SFP/QSFP/XFP modules from HP, Cisco, Finisar and JDSU. The thread documents the two protection levels: a host/user password protecting the user-writable area (A2h offset 7Bh on SFP, A0h offset 7Bh on QSFP/XFP) and a manufacturer password protecting the…
Intel X520 (82599) cards enforce a list of approved SFP+ modules; under Linux the ixgbe parameter helps, but on Windows or ESXi there is no such option. The gist provides a Python script that reads the card EEPROM with ethtool -e and sets bit 0 of the byte at offset 0x58 (0 = Intel modules only, 1…
Running a CWDM ring at the access layer, Catalyst 3750 at aggregation. I got plain modules with no vendor encoding, case marking TTG965D1, 1470-1610 nm grid. The link comes up, traffic flows, but the switch treats them as SX modules: in both inventory and monitoring it shows SX instead of CWDM, so…
A Synology RS3614xs+ with a supported Intel X520-DA2 rejected the wrongly ordered SFP+ modules as unsupported. Putting options ixgbe allowunsupportedsfp=1 into /etc/modules.conf had no effcet, and even when the kernel log showed ixgbe: allowunsupportedsfp Enabled the driver still reported failed to…
A MikroTik CSS610-8G-2S+IN showed an active SFP+ link, but Intel X520-DA1/DA2 NICs (Windows, Linux, ESXi) reported no link, reproducibly across multiple transceiver pairs, DACs and two cards. Firmware 2.12, 2.13rc6, 2.13rc12, 2.13rc25 and the final 2.13 were tested. Hardware involved: MikroTik…
On a Protectli Vault 6 with Intel X710 SFP+ ports (ixl0/ixl1) a 1G EZConn ETB43315-7S34-FR SFP showed no carrier. Logs contained Invalid advertised speed; valid flags are: 0x06, ixl1setlink: Error getting phy capabilities -37, aq error: 8 and Link failed because an unqualified module was detected!…
A Linux server with an Intel 82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ controller showed no 10G interface and dmesg contained failed to load because an unsupported SFP+ or QSFP module type was detected after an untested SFP+ module was inserted. The article explains that the ixgbe driver only enables modules it…
I am specifying a fibre ring for a customer's plant network and the switch choice is already fixed: Moxa EDS-518A. The BOM went out with generic 1G optics, because our stock room is full of them, and now the customer's own engineer insists that only Moxa-branded modules may be fitted. switches…
After UniFi Network 10.0.140 / switch firmware 7.2.123 several operators saw SFP+ ports (UI optics, UACC-OM-MM-10G-D, MikroTik XS+DA0001 DACs, UACC-CM-RJ45-MG copper modules) flapping on US-XG-16, USW Pro Max, UDM Pro and USW-24-Pro units, with STP State Flapping alerts, ports blocked, and switches…
The psoter planned to install an Intel X520 adapter (Cisco PID N2XX-AIPCI01) into a Cisco UCS C240 server and use Cisco SFP-10G-SR or SFP-10G-LR transceivers, and asked whether the combination has compatibility problems. A later reader asked whether the Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU3M= twinax cable would work…
On a Mellanox MSN4600C (ACS-MSN4600C) running SONiC in a T1 topology, the test testchcksfpusingethtool failed because ethtool -m sfp[ID] returned rc=1 with Cannot get module EEPROM information: No such device, i.e. the module EEPROM was not accessible on that platform during the test. Hardware…
On a Juniper EX4600 running Junos 14.1X53-D27.3 the poster inserted a non-certifiied 1G single-mode WDM (BiDi) SFP, 20 km, TX 1550 / RX 1310 nm with DDM, into ge-0/0/1. The interface never appeared: show interfaces returned error: device ge-0/0/1 not found, and the log recorded XCVR: Unit 1, Fibre…
While rolling out single-mode fiber between Cisco CBS350-8MGP-2X switches (firmware 3.4.0.17) with SFP-10G-LR modules, the poster hit strange behaviour: the link only comes up if the duplex LC connector is split and the TX fiber is inserted first, then the RX fiber. Inserting the joined LC…
A notes repository on hacking SFP/QSFP EEPROM: SFPs present EEPROM at I2C 0x50 and DOM plus vendor/password features at 0x51; locked moddules need a 4-byte password written to 0x51 bytes 0x7b-0x7e. It lists several known unlock passwords and evaluates write methods (off-the-shelf coder limited to…
After a power outage an Aruba Instant On 1930 (24 ports plus 4 SFP) still recognised inserted SFP modules but every SFP port stayed down; inserting a new transceiver made the port LED blink once and then nothing. The poster asked for diagnostics or replacement options. Hardware involved: Aruba…
The poster programmed an OEM copper SFP with a 256-byte firmware dump; the switch recognised the type but the module received no data, whereas the original worked, and no password error appeared. It failed on several units. Hardware involved: OEM copper SFP (24C02 EEPROM). Reported…
Two Cisco Catalyst C1200-48T-4X switches were connected back-to-baack with Cisco SFP-10G-LR modules in the ge49/te1 SFP+ slots. Both switches recognize the transceivers, the interfaces are administratively up, both ends transmit light and the DOM optical values are good, yet no link is established…
On an Extreme Summit X670 two QSFP+ ports were configured as 4x10G, the ports were set to 10000 full duplex with auto off and VLANs assigned, but a breakout cable with an MPO connector to six LC connectors produced no link on the QSFP+ sie or on the SFP+ side. Hardware involved: Extreme Summit…
On a Minisforum MS-01 running Proxmox (i40e, kernel 6.8.12-10-pve) the X710 SFP+ port enp2s0f0np0 recogniesd a Ubiquiti SFP+-to-RJ45 module (ethtool listed 10G Base-SR capability) but the link never came up: Link detected: no, interface DOWN, no dmesg errors, ip link set up made no difference…
I look after a small pool of FreeBSD boxes and I am adding 10G to one of them. The card went in, the machine boots fine, but the OS refuses to make an interface out of it. Server on FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE-p1, stock GENERIC kernel QLogic FastLinQ QL41112 dual-port 10GbE SFP+ adapter SFP+ optics in…
On Aruba 2930F switches (JL255A) the poster installed new J9151E 10G SFP+ transceivers (part 1990-4727) that the transceiver guide lists as supported, but every unit was reported as Unsupported Transceiver (SelfTest Err#128000) and show tech transceivers showed ?? for type and serial. J9281D DACs…
The poster's Cisco Catalyst C9500-48Y4C switches (IOS XE 16.12.04 after an upgrade) refuse to work with a batch of genuine Cisco SFP-10G-SR modules (VID V03, serials AVD2231D3TE and AVD2231D3RW): 'show inventory' lists them as 'GE ZX' instead of 'SFP+ 10GBASE-SR' and the ports stay non-functional…
The poster wanted to run 100 Mbps fibre SFP modules in a D-Link DES-3200-28F but the vendor compatibility list only named older switches (DES-1228, DES-1252, DGS-3612G). The question was whether the list was simply stale or whether the modules would be rejected by the newer switch. A related…
The poster connects a Cisco Catalyst C9300X-24Y to a FortiGate firewall with a 25G SFP-H25G-CU2M DAC. Whenever the DAC is inserted the switch logs '%PLATFORMPM-6-MODULEINSERTED: SFP module inserted with interface name Twe1/0/23' followed by '%PLATFORMPM-6-DIFFERENTMODULEINSERTED: Warning: SFP…
The poster planned a server with an Intel X710-DA2 dual-port SFP+ NIC connected to two Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 48 Lite units, with LACP between the switches. Six 10G SFP+ modules were needed (two for the server side, four for the switches) and the question was which modules would be recognised by both…
On a CRS326-24G-2S+ with RouterOS 7.7 three third-party 1G RJ45 SFPs failed: an HP 453156-001 (FCLF-8521-3-HP) showed no-link with auto-negotiation: failed, a Foundry E1MG-TX showed no-link with sfp-rx-loss: yes even with manual speed, and a Ubiquiti UF-RJ45-1G also stayed at no-link. Hardware…
On a Supermicro SYS-1019D-FRN8TP running VyOS 1.4 rolling the on-board Intel X722 (i40e) did not recognise an ISP-supplied 1310/1270 nm single-fibre SFP nor other spare optics; ethtool -m returned Cannot get module EEPROM information: Invalid argument. The poster asked how to apply the well-known…
Juniper-branded SFP modules were intermittently reported as unsupported or not supported in the chassis hardware output right after an EX or MX device booted. Rebooting the device or reseating the SFP made the module recognised again, which was frustrating in production. The poster wanted to know…
On an Alta Labs Route 10 the SFP+ ports recognised FS.com SFP-H10GB-CU2M and 10Gtek CAB-10GSFP-P2M DACs (which had worked on MikroTik CRS devices) but no link came up against a MikroTik CRS309-1G-8S+; forcing 1G baseT full gave a 1 Gbps link only. Staff requested diagnostics and ethtool -I output…
The poster spent a day and a half chasing an Intel 82599EB-based 10G SFP+ NIC that VMware ESXi 6 reported as down although the link LEDs were green on both ends of the fibre and the Cisco 8500 switch showed the port up/up. The cause turned out to be the Cisco SFP-10G-LRM module used throuhout their…
New ESXi host going into a rack that hangs off a campus 3850. Management on copper came up without drama, the 10G uplinks did not: as soon as the server boots, the switch port drops into err-disable and the host sees nothing on that vmnic. Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650, 7X06CTO1WW, with an Emulex VFA5.2…
The poster wanted to connetc Aruba 2540 switches (JL357A, firmware YC.16.09.0001) to Cisco Catalyst 9300 switches using Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU3M DACs. After enabling allow-unsupported-transceiver the cables were still not recognised: show tech transceivers listed the port as unsupported, the LED…
FS.com 40 km 1550 nm SFP+ modules (item 11592) showed their information in a MikroTik CCR1016 but never linked in the SFP+ ports, whatever the auto-negotiation, 1G/10G speed or flow-control settings; standard 10G modules (item 29851) worked in the same ports, and the 40 km modules ran at 1G in…
The poster wanted to verify whether an HPE StorageWorks 81B 8 Gb Fibre Channel HBA (AP769-60001) fitted with an AJ716B SFP could be used in an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 server (P02464-B21) and asked for a tool where part numbers can be entered to get a compatibility verdict. No error had occurred…
Two Aruba 2930F switches (JL256A, firmware 16.05.0003) were to be stacked with VSF over an HPE DAC. With allow-unsupported-transceiver enabled the DAC passed traffic on normal ports, but as soon as the ports were made VSF member links the stack would not form. Replacing the DAC with supported 10G…
An open-source hardware and software project to read and modify SFP/SFP+ EEPROM, aimed at changing the OUI and other identity fields so a module works with third-party transceivers where the vendor has not fully disabled write access. It uses a Cypress CY8CKIT-059 board as the USB interface. As of…
