Sfp+ question for setup

Looking to connect tz570 sfp+ port to sfp+ port on USW-Enterprise-48-Po… What should I be looking for … Dac cable, sfp+/rj45 or sfp/fiber?

Tz570 has max 5Gig on the sfp port

I always run DAC when connecting things closer together.

Can the USW run at 2.5gbps? As long as both devices can run at the same speeds, then you should be OK. Note that auto detect might not work, you may need to set each device to the speed you want/need. I ran into this problem with my Mikrotik switch (CRS309-xxx-xxx) with sfp+ ports, I wanted to add a gigabit copper module and it would not allow the connection to come up. After contacting support they told me to manually set the speed to 1gbps and it started working. You may have to do the same for your hardware and better to plan on needing this and find auto works than to not know and be stuck.

I have a mix of DAC and fiber cables, my production system is happy with the DAC but my lab was giving me problems so I went back to multimode fiber. All my DAC cables are from 10Gtek and they seem fine, I’m not pushing anything to maximum 10gbps speeds so hard to tell if they really perform to the maximum. Both my lab and production migrate VMs at the same speed so I think I’m good.

All that said, you can buy brand new 10gbps multimode SFP+ for $25 and another $6 to $10 for short MM fiber jumpers (prices may have changed since last purchase) so don’t be scared of fiber.

@Greg_E My bad the max on tz570 is 5 gig but even then I believe the USW only does 10g/2.5g/1gb.

I thought of one other Gotcha! Not all SFP+ can work at multi-gig speeds. Many of the older things I have will do 10 or 1 so your 2.5 may be out depending on the physical interface chip that is used. If you have a support plan for both devices, it might be worth contacting the manufacturer to make sure that DAC and 2.5gbps will work.

Hi Tom & Co, subscribers.
I’m looking for some information on interoperability between Ubiquiti SFP+ and HPE Aruba 1930 series switches.

I agree that DAC cables are the way to go, however does anyone have experience in connecting network devices from different manufactures, as in the use case I have above?

The issue with DAC cables is that they are typically for one vendor, with the same OEM brand of transceiver on either end. The issue is when you want to integrate two or more different brands of network gear. With fiber transceivers, this is typically not an issue as you can get the vendor specific transceiver on each end, but typical vendor/OEM DAC cables are complete with the same transceiver on both ends.

Right now I’m trying to find out if the HPE DAC cable (R9D18A, R9D20A series) is compatible with Ubiquiti’s SFP+ ports. Base on what I have found so far, it appears that Ubiquiti’s SFP+ ports are more generic, in that they adhere to the MSP SFP+ standard. But of course HPE/Aruba has be to different and appears to require* using only their transceiver’s.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.
John

Look at 10Gtek and see if their DAC cables claim to be compatible, going to be way cheaper than HPE cables. Same issues happen when you look at any other module that you might want to use, some manufacturers programmatically limit you by going around the standard, some do it just for warranty. I had to buy $1000 SFP+ modules for my new switches because other brands would “void” the warranty. Probably wouldn’t hold up in court, but who has time for that.

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I think all of the Ubiquiti’s SFP+ that I have worked with have never cared about any particular DAC.

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Don’t waste your time, your issue is the Aruba 1930 (or any Aruba for that matter).

The Aruba 1930 you are using is just an HP ProCurve inside a new white casing stamped Aruba with a shiny (but slow - and still sh*tty) web interface.

Unless you have an all Aruba network stack, I would strongly recommend that you replace it with something else as compatibility issue is all you will get - and you mentioned using an HP DAC cable, so of course things will not work as intended with other brand.

I myself have struggled with Aruba switches (higher specced models too - even between Aruba of different capacity, it’s crazy I know) connectivity between Cisco, Fortinet, Sophos and even FS.com switch that usually play well with everyone. When it’s not STP that behave erratically, it’s the LAGs that don’t bond properly, etc.

So we generally try to remove and resell them when we do network uplifting/fixing at clients. It cost usually less to replace it than to troubleshoot for 8h+.

As for Unifi/Ubiquiti switches, their DAC cables are usually compatible with other brands (I have one between an EdgeMax and a FortiSwitch that also works between the same FortiSwitch and a Pro Max or a older Cisco 3750.

PJ, thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I selected the Aruba 1930 (JL683B) as I wanted SFP+ uplink/downlink support and it has a power budget of 195W across the 24 ports. Not that I’m PoE/PoE+ on each port, but this gave me some options. The closest Ubiquiti switch is the USW-Pro-2-POE (400W). The list is $699 compared to the $375 for the Aruba model. The intent is to use the PoE for cameras and another PoE devices. The cams would be on their own VLAN and that traffic is then back-hauled through a the Araba SFP+ to a USW-Aggr switch, then to the SFP+ on the back of the UNVR. FWIW, I did try an HPE compatible DAC from fs.com between the Aruba and USW-Aggr and that did NOT work. I do have an SFP+ fiber connection that is working great. - thanks.