What is an SFP and How is it Used?
2017-10-15
Mayday, mayday. We have a problem! We have two switches who desperately want to talk to each other but the walls of their switch cabinets are restricting conversation and they are located 7 feet away from each other. Luckily there is a transceiver that can help us out: the small form-factor pluggable.
The small form-factor pluggable (SFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable transceiver used for data communication applications. These small metal devices plug into a special switch slot and support communication over either fiber optic or copper networking cable.
Types
To select the right transceiver, you will need to base it on the type of cable you are using, copper or fiber. To communicate over fiber optic cable, make sure you select a transceiver that matches the slot bandwidth and speed of the device you are connecting to (1Gbps or 10Gbps) and your cable’s connector type (LC or SC). To communicate over copper, select a transceiver with an RJ-45 Ethernet port. Some transceivers support specialty applications such as Infiniband (sometimes used in high-speed storage networks). Make sure you understand your application requirements first, then select your transceiver accordingly.
Optical Transceiver options
GBIC- Originally named Gigabit Interconnect. Typically used for the Cisco 2900 & 3900 series switches, 10/100 megabit.
SFP- Originally named Small form factor pluggable. Commonly used for the Cisco Catalyst 3560 & 3760 series switches amongst others. These SFPs will support Gigabit uplink connection
SFP+- Higher throughput with an enhanced version that will give you 10G uplink capability. Commonly used for 3560x & 3750x series switches amongst others.
Benefits & Why You May Need One
These SFP transceivers are hot-swappable and have the capability to allow modifications which can be added after the initial purchase. These transceivers can also be deployed in “mix-use” environment of single-mode/multi-mode SFPs and a variety of hardware providing a flexible and customizable solution. If you are looking to have your switches communicate at a faster rate, installing an SFP may be useful. If you are looking for a little more speed in your transfer rates, you will need to have a switch or expansion module that supports 10GbE to use a 10GbE SFP+ transceiver, but not all switches/modules support that.
From the looks of it, these SFP’s fits the bill for all of our switches and/or routers to communicate with each other. If you are in the market to buy any type of SFP, check out Fiberland as we offer a variety of options from Cisco Original, and compatible options.
The small form-factor pluggable (SFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable transceiver used for data communication applications. These small metal devices plug into a special switch slot and support communication over either fiber optic or copper networking cable.
Types
To select the right transceiver, you will need to base it on the type of cable you are using, copper or fiber. To communicate over fiber optic cable, make sure you select a transceiver that matches the slot bandwidth and speed of the device you are connecting to (1Gbps or 10Gbps) and your cable’s connector type (LC or SC). To communicate over copper, select a transceiver with an RJ-45 Ethernet port. Some transceivers support specialty applications such as Infiniband (sometimes used in high-speed storage networks). Make sure you understand your application requirements first, then select your transceiver accordingly.
Optical Transceiver options
GBIC- Originally named Gigabit Interconnect. Typically used for the Cisco 2900 & 3900 series switches, 10/100 megabit.
SFP- Originally named Small form factor pluggable. Commonly used for the Cisco Catalyst 3560 & 3760 series switches amongst others. These SFPs will support Gigabit uplink connection
SFP+- Higher throughput with an enhanced version that will give you 10G uplink capability. Commonly used for 3560x & 3750x series switches amongst others.
Benefits & Why You May Need One
These SFP transceivers are hot-swappable and have the capability to allow modifications which can be added after the initial purchase. These transceivers can also be deployed in “mix-use” environment of single-mode/multi-mode SFPs and a variety of hardware providing a flexible and customizable solution. If you are looking to have your switches communicate at a faster rate, installing an SFP may be useful. If you are looking for a little more speed in your transfer rates, you will need to have a switch or expansion module that supports 10GbE to use a 10GbE SFP+ transceiver, but not all switches/modules support that.
From the looks of it, these SFP’s fits the bill for all of our switches and/or routers to communicate with each other. If you are in the market to buy any type of SFP, check out Fiberland as we offer a variety of options from Cisco Original, and compatible options.
RECENT BLOG POST
-
012019-10With the continuous development of 5G communication technology, 100G modules are gradually becoming popular. We know that there are many kinds of packages for 100G optical modules. From 2000 to now, the optical module package types have been rapidly developed. Its main package types are: GBIC, SFP, XENPAK, SNAP12, X2, XFP, SFP+, QSFP/QSFP+, CFP, CXP. In the fast-developing network era, some 100G optical modules avoid the risk of being eliminated, and upgraded and revised with the wave of the Internet, such as 100G CFP optical modules.
-
012019-101. What is the CWDM SFP? The CWDM optical module is an optical module using CWDM technology to implement the connection between the existing network device and the CWDM multiplexer/demultiplexer. When used with a CWDM multiplexer/demultiplexer, CWDM optical modules can increase network capacity by transmitting multiple data channels with separate optical wavelengths (1270 nm to 1610 nm) on the same single fiber.
-
012019-10AOC is the abbreviation of Active Optical Cables, which is called Active Optical Cables in Chinese. AOC active optical is to encapsulate two optical modules and cable together. Because the medium of transmission in the middle is optical cable, AOC optical module, which contains laser devices, has a higher price for DAC. However, its optical aperture is not exposed, it has high reliability, and its working distance can be customized for a long distance of less than 100 meters.
-
012019-10Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology is capable of transmitting data in an optical fiber using bit wavelength parallel transmission or string line transmission using the wavelength of the laser.It is widely used in different fields of communication networks, including long-distance backbone networks, metropolitan area networks (MANs), residential access networks, and local area networks (LANs).The DWDM optical module is the optical module that uses this technology, so the DWDM optical module has high bandwidth and long-distance transmission characteristics.
