10g Copper SFP+

Phil_G

We recently purchased about 25 Zyxel switches and love them so far. One issue is perplexing me though...

We have several of the XS1930-10 switches with 8 copper ports capable of up to 10g. We also have some XGS1930 series switches we would like to downlink from the XS over 10g copper. As the XGS only has sfp+ for 10g, I purchased some 10g copper SFP+ modules to uplink them to the XS1930-10 copper ports. I've used two different Cat6 patch cables for testing purposes, but I can't get traffic to pass between the switches. Both ends light up at 10g and port showed some tx but no rx. Maybe an incompatible module? I've tried 2 different modules to make sure.

It will work fine on fiber or DAC but I need to uplink more than 3 switches at 10g so it needs to be copper to have more than 4 10g links which is where the XS1930 comes in. Any ideas as to what's going wrong? 

PeterUK

Does Port Status show as FORWARDING ?

You could see if linking them down to 1Gb works or not

Phil_G

Thanks, PeterUK. It was showing disconnected even though I had link indicators. They were solid instead of flashing rapidly. I took your advice and throttled the SFP+ port down to 1g, link light disappeared. Then I set the port back to 10g and it started flashing and finally got 10g connectivity. So I know the trick to get it to work. Unfortunately, when the switch restarts, it goes back to the same state. As these ports will be the uplink for the switch, that won't work for me. 

Based on the fact that it can work but only after throttling the port down then back up, makes me think its a SFP+ incompatibility. I'm using the FS brand Cisco compatible 10g copper gbic. My fiber gbics are FS but HP compatible and those are working perfectly. Does anyone have experience on which switch brand compatibility works best with Zyxel other than the Zyxel gbics themselves?

Zyxel_Jonas

Hi @Phil_G,

Regarding your test results, it's more likely related to IOP incompatibility. 
As for the SFP compatibility, only certain models of transceiver are guaranteed and verified working with our switch, you may see below sheet for your reference or visit this link.





It may not support all brands of transceivers because there are numerous manufacturers in the market. It is impossible to verify each of them for compatibility.

However, we've found out some reviews from other users using this transceiver. The Zyxel switch is not the same model, but you may try.

Hope it helps.