just a quick question regarding the sfp+ ports on a switch…
i dont run any sfp+ in my house, its all new to me… but now that im upgrading my network and pc, it has come into play.
im upgrading so my home is 10gig capable. i have all the hardware picked out for my pfsense and my pc (all rj45), but once i get into switches, a 10gig switch is quite pricey at the moment.
this is where i need the sfp guys to chime in.
if i were to get a 8-16 port gigabit switch with 2-4 10gig sfp ports, i could swap the rj45 nic’s out for sfp, not a big deal, since my pc and pfsense is the only thing i will be running that i want to take advantage of the speed. everything else being hardwired at the moment runs max 1gig.
if i convert to sfp+ from the modem to pfsense to switch, then hardwire my computer in with the second sfp port on the switch to take advantage of the speed boost, will that network connection run in tandem with the gigabit ports? or will it only cover the sfp+ ports and i’ll need to run a separate connection to the gigabit connections as well?
i know its probably a noob question, but i’ve never worked with sfp before so i just want to be clear on what the limits are with it.
trying to do a fully backwards compatible network up to 10gig
Other than the form factor SFP and SFP+ operate the same. It’s often used because you can connect things for either greater distance runs use fiber or for shorter runs using DAC cables. And because SFP+ is cheaper than 10G RJ45 ports 10G DAC is a popular option.
So if I run sfp(+) from my modem to pfsense into the sfp wan of the switch, then to my computer from the lab of the switch, the connection with cross over to the Ethernet ports?
Or will I have to run a separate wan Ethernet to enable those ports?
Other than the form factor SFP and SFP+ operate the same as the RJ45 ports on the switch.
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thanks, i knew it was probably a dumb question, but im new to that connection and not sure how they worked on switches
To be clear, SFP and SFP+ are small form-factor pluggable standard cage that allows you to insert different transceivers depending on your need. You can get transceivers that will run traditional cat5 or cat6 ethernet cables up to 10G (SFP+ only) or DAC or Fiber cables.
Does your modem have a SFP port? I’m not familiar with one that does, but assuming it exists, you’ll need to decide which transceivers you’ll want to use to connect to your switch. For such a short run, either DAC or cat 6 ethernet seems to make the most sense.