Why Cisco stopped accepting third-party SFPs after IOS 15.2, and Cisco's support policy
2
The poster asked why third-party SFP modules stopped working after upgrading Cisco switches to IOS 15.2, whereas other vendors accept Cisco or other optics, and whether this is a technical limitation. No model, log output or interface details were given despite requests. In a later update the poster stated that the classic workarounds 'service unsupported-transceiver' and 'no errdisable detect cause gbic-invalid' are no longer available on the Catalyst 1000 and the newer Catalyst 9000 platforms, leaving no way to use non-Cisco 10G SFP+ modules there.
- Hardware: Cisco Catalyst 1000, Cisco Catalyst 9000 series
- Transceivers: third-party 10G SFP+ (unspecified), third-party SFP/QSFP (generic)
- Form factor: SFP, SFP+, QSFP+
Symptoms / messages:
third-party SFP not accepted after IOS 15.2 upgrade
'service unsupported-transceiver' not available on Catalyst 1000 / Catalyst 9000
non-Cisco 10G SFP+ unusable
Comments 4
A respondent asked how the failure is observed: check 'show logging' right after boot with the module inserted, and provide the full device model.
Cisco does tolerate some third-party optics if you configure 'service unsupported-transceiver' or 'no errdisable detect cause gbic-invalid'; the poster replied that these commands are gone on C1000 and C9xxx.
Officially Cisco will never support third-party SFPs, but in practice third-party SFP, SFP+ and even QSFP optics work well; many third-party makers re-flash the module EEPROM so it passes Cisco's checks.
A Cisco employee quoted the warranty guideline: if Cisco attributes a fault to third-party memory, cables, GBICs or other components it may withhold warranty or SmartNet support and bill time and materials; support continues when the fault is unrelated to the third-party part.