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    DELL SFP+ DAC cable compatibility

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    • S
      Sytec
      last edited by

      Hello,
      I purchased two Netgate appliances 8200 that I want to connect with two switches Dell N5048F using the Dell SFP+ DAC cables (SFP+ 1M Dell Twinax V250M).
      Is this cable compatible with the applicance?

      Thank you.
      Regards.

      keyserK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • keyserK
        keyser Rebel Alliance @Sytec
        last edited by

        @sytec said in DELL SFP+ DAC cable compatibility:

        Hello,
        I purchased two Netgate appliances 8200 that I want to connect with two switches Dell N5048F using the Dell SFP+ DAC cables (SFP+ 1M Dell Twinax V250M).
        Is this cable compatible with the applicance?

        Thank you.
        Regards.

        Officially no. The builtin 10Gbe SFP+ cage does not officially support DACs or RJ45 SFP+ trancievers.
        However - it all depends on how that DAC cable “presents” itself to the OS. If it says it’s a LR or SR tranciever it will very likely work without issue. There are several examples of both DAC and RJ45 SFP+ trancievers that works just fine even though they are not supported.

        Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

        S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          Sytec @keyser
          last edited by

          @keyser said in DELL SFP+ DAC cable compatibility:

          @sytec said in DELL SFP+ DAC cable compatibility:

          Hello,
          I purchased two Netgate appliances 8200 that I want to connect with two switches Dell N5048F using the Dell SFP+ DAC cables (SFP+ 1M Dell Twinax V250M).
          Is this cable compatible with the applicance?

          Thank you.
          Regards.

          Officially no. The builtin 10Gbe SFP+ cage does not officially support DACs or RJ45 SFP+ trancievers.
          However - it all depends on how that DAC cable “presents” itself to the OS. If it says it’s a LR or SR tranciever it will very likely work without issue. There are several examples of both DAC and RJ45 SFP+ trancievers that works just fine even though they are not supported.

          Hello,
          thank you for your promptly reply.
          Ok, if the DAC doesn't work I could use a Dell transceiver like this SFP+ 10Gb SR LC Dell AFBR-709SMZ-FT1 WTRD1?

          Thank you.

          keyserK 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • keyserK
            keyser Rebel Alliance @Sytec
            last edited by

            @sytec Yes, that will very very likely work as expected.
            The thing is that SFP/SFP+ trancievers are not a 100% “wellknown size”. There are trancievers out there with funny firmwares that can cause issues. But unlike the big networking vendors, pfSense does not restrict which models/vendors of SR/LR trancievers it supports, so any vendors tranciever that complies with the SFP+ specs and firmware requirements should just work.

            Love the no fuss of using the official appliances :-)

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • S
              Sytec @keyser
              last edited by

              @keyser said in DELL SFP+ DAC cable compatibility:

              Yes, that will very very likely work as expected.
              The thing is that SFP/SFP+ trancievers are not a 100% “wellknown size”. There are trancievers out there with funny firmwares that can cause issues. But unlike the big networking vendors, pfSense does not restrict which models/vendors of SR/LR trancievers it supports, so any vendors tranciever that complies with the SFP+ specs and firmware requirements should just work.

              Thank you.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Most DAC cables are expected to work in the 8200. It's specifically RJ-45 SFP modules that are not supported; though some do work it's unpredictable.
                Generally though if you can use fiber do so. 😉

                Steve

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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