Supermicro firewall SFP+ port back Compatible with UniFi switch USW SFP port

[avsion]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for pfsense hardware, I have UniFi USW-24 switch that has 2 SFP ports and I'm considering purchasing a Supermicro firewall SYS-5018D-FN8T that has 2 SFP+ ports. i would like to buy the router with room to grow however i prefer to keep the USW-24 switch and use the SFP ports. if i set/match on the pfsense UI SFP+ port speed to 1G full duplex, can i connect the SFP+ on the router to the SFP port on the switch, will that work? if so can i use the UniFi UF 1G modules on both ends or what modules can i use?

Thank you

[ndragun]

Your modules don't need to 'vendor match' on each end, but they'll need to negotiate a link speed between them. SFP+ modules are typically 10G, while SFP are 1G. You CAN plug an SFP into a SFP+ slot, but you can't do the reverse. You'll have to look at module specifics if you want a 10G fiber to negotiate down to 1G, I've never done it and I don't know how well it's supported. Since it's a Supermicro chassis, and not something proprietary like Cisco, you should be able to pretty much use any vendor module on that side; I can't speak to UniFi on what modules they accept.

So in a nutshell, you should be fine getting two 1G SFP UniFi (Ubiquiti) modules. Personally, I wouldn't pay $15+ for a 1G fiber module.