Optical Transceivers for FIs

Understanding FIs

A FI is the core component of a UCS solution. FIs are typically configured as highly available clustered pairs in production environments. It’s possible to run a single FI-based design as a proof of concept test deployment before actually implementing it in production. FIs provide the following two capabilities:

1. Network connectivity to both LAN and SAN
2. UCS infrastructure management through the embedded management software, UCSM, for both hardware and software management

FIs are available in two generations, namely Cisco UCS 6100 series and Cisco UCS 6200 series. The core functionality is the same in both generations; however, UCS 6200 series has a newer generation Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), higher throughput, and increased number of physical ports. Both generations can be upgraded to the latest UCSM software.

FIs provide converged ports. Depending on the physical Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers and FI software configuration, each port can be configured in different ways. Cisco 200 series FI ports can be configured as Ethernet ports, Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) ports, or Fiber Channel (FC) ports. On the other hand, 6100 series converged ports only support Ethernet and FCoE (they also support FC, but only in the expansion slot).

In production, FIs are deployed in clustered pairs to provide high availability. Cisco-supported implementation requires that clustered FIs be identical. The only possibility for having different FIs in a cluster is during a cluster upgrade.

Exploring Connectivity Transceivers for FIs

A variety of SFP transceivers are available for The Cisco UCS 6200 series. These transceivers provide south-bound IOM connectivity and north-bound network and storage connectivity. They are based on industry-standard SFP+ specifications.

Transceivers can be selected depending on the technology, for example, Ethernet or FC, and also according to the distance requirements. For shorter distances between FIs, IOMs, and north-bound network switches, twinax cables with integrated SFP is an economical alternative as compared to fiber optic SFP.

The most commonly used transceivers include following:

• Cisco SFP-10G-SR: This is a multimode optical fiber 10Gbps Ethernet SFP that can be used for distances up to 400 meters.
• Cisco SFP-10G-LR: This is a single-mode optical fiber 10Gbps Ethernet SFP that can be used for distances up to 10 Km.
• Cisco SFP-10G-TET: This is a low power consuming multimode fiber optic 10Gbps Ethernet SFP that can be used for distances up to 100 meters.
• Cisco SFP-H10GB-CuxM: These are the twinax cables providing low cost 10Gbps Ethernet connectivity and are available in 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 meter configurations.
• Cisco SFP-H10GB-ACU10M: This is a 10-meter-long twinax cable providing 10Gbps Ethernet. At a length of 10 meters, this cable requires active transceivers at both ends.
• Cisco GLC-T: 1000BASE-T SFP or SFP-compatible ports only,these are based on the SFP Multi Source Agreement (MSA) and compact RJ-45 connector assembly. For SFP-compatible ports only.
• Cisco GLC-SX-MMD: These modules supporting dual data-rate of 1.25Gbps/1.0625Gbps and 550m transmission distance with MMF, for SFP-compatible ports only.
• Cisco GLC-LH-SMD: These modules supporting dual data-rate of 1.25Gbps/1.0625Gbps and 10km transmission distance with SMF, for SFP-compatible ports only.
• DS-SFP-FCxG-xW: These are multi-mode and single-mode fiber optic FC transceivers that are available at 2, 4, and 8Gbps transfer speeds.

Where to buy These Optical Transceivers

Fiberstore provide a full range of optical transceivers, such as SFP+ (SFP Plus) transceiver, X2 transceiver, XENPAK transceiver, XFP transceiver, SFP (Mini GBIC) transceiver, GBIC transceiver, CWDM/DWDM transceiver, 40G QSFP+ & CFP, 3G-SDI video SFP, WDM Bi-Directional transceiver and PON transceiver. All our fiber transceivers are 100% compatible with major brands like Cisco, HP, Juniper, Nortel, Force10, D-link, 3Com. They are backed by a lifetime warranty, and you can buy with confidence. We also can customize optical transceivers to fit your specific requirements.

Article Source: Fiber Optic Transceiver

Cisco GLC-LH-SMD Compatible SFP For Your Network

With the development of the businesses, must also have the development of the networks.This is a cannot be avoidable side-effect of expansion and maturation in a company.

If you meet the point, you just begun to consider buying a larger property, or being planned in another workplace. You may return to the past ten years of the limitations of technology. Standard baseT100 Ethernet is fine for a small office, but it isn't suitable for handling heavier network use. Since your network expands, you may experience problems like:

• Dropouts in your VoIP calls
• Sluggish data retrieval speeds
• Spotty WiFi coverage across a large areas
• Difficulty leveraging Cloud-based applications
• Or poor video streaming quality

If any of this sounds familiar, it might be time for you to start considering upgrading to gigabit Ethernet, which fast at 10 times the speed of traditional Ethernet.

Twisted Copper vs Fiber Optic Gigabit Ethernet

Another major consideration would be to determine whether or not you need to keep using copper-wire cabling or upgrade to fiber optic cabling in your offices. It's more costly, but fiber optic provides several benefits over copper, while still supplying the same gigabit speeds.

Fiber optic cable supports far longer cable lengths than twisted copper. Copper can only run for around 100 meters, whereas fiber can go between 200 and 500 feet, or even more, without signal loss.

Fiber has gives off no radio interference, letting it to coexist easier in an office with a lot of wireless devices. Because of the lack of interference, fiber is also harder to hack into than copper. Just as with copper, a standard GLC-LH-SMD transceiver links fiber optic Ethernet with your existing equipment.

If you have looked ahead to the future, leaving copper might be a good choice. Fiber optics are increasing steadily in popularity among businesses that have taken over largetwisted-copper office buildings, created expansive complexes, or have an obligation to collaborate with remote offices immediately.

Using GLC-LH-SMD Transceiver To Connect Fiber Optic Network

The greatest benefit of Cisco SFP product is just entirely hot-swappable. No matter what the device is, it from servers to your switch to simple Ethernet cards: If it includes a SFP port on it, it could support many transceivers for different functions, through one standardized interface. In fact, that standardization shows that compatible modules can produce transceivers which are as good as official Cisco units. (cisco compatible sfp transceiver)

Cisco even has a compatible Matrix, that will help you select the best transceiver to do the job. So, if you think that fiber optic gigabit Ethernet is exactly what you require for your future business communications needs, the GLC-LH-SMD transceiver is truly easy to install and utilize. Simply plug it on your switch or any other device, plug in the brand new network cable, and it should recognize the network in a few moments.

There are a few different gigabit Ethernet standards to choose from. So you must research and think which is the most suits for your situation or for the future of your business. Just remember that you will need transceivers such as the GLC-LH-SMD to connect your current devices to the new network.

More about Brand Compatible SFP Modules:
Brand Compatible SFP For Optical Communications

Finisar Compatible 1000BASE SFP Transceivers

SFP (small form factor pluggable) transceivers are hot-swappable in industry-standard cages and connectors, and offer high-speed performance in a compact package. SFP is used for data rates up to 4 Gb/s and DWDM, including tunable versions. SFP and SFP+ (enhanced SFP) transceivers are interchangeable and can be used in the same cages as SFP transceivers. The electrical interface to the host board is a serial interface. Nowadays, the widely used Brand SFP and SFP+ transceiver like cisco, finisar and netgear. But some third-party SFP has also been widely used. Firstly, let us see the Specification of the original Finisar 1000Base SFP modules.

As we all know, Optical SFP modules are commonly available in four different categories: 850nm (SX), 1310nm (LX), 1550nm (ZX), and WDM, both DWDM and CWDM. Commercially available transceivers have a capability up to 4.25 Gbit/s for transmission applications, such as Finisar 1000Base SX SFP. Finisar FTLF8524P2xNy are 1000BASE SX SFP transceivers.

Product Specification 4.25 Gb/s RoHS Compliant Finisar's FTLF8524P2xNy Short-Wavelength SFP Transceiver.

PRODUCT FEATURES

• Up to 4.25 Gb/s bi-directional data links
• Hot-pluggable SFP footprint
• Built-in digital diagnostic functions
• 850nm Oxide VCSEL laser transmitter
• Duplex LC connector
• RoHS Compliant and Lead Free
• Up to 500m on 50/125m MMF, 300m on 62.5/125m MMF
• Metal enclosure, for lower EMI
• Single 3.3V power supply
• Extended operating temperature range: -20°C to 85°C

APPLICATIONS

• Tri-Rate 1.063/2.125/4.25 Gb/s Fibre Channel
• 1.25 Gb/s 1000Base Ethernet (Rate selectable version)
• Wireless C OBSAI, CPRI

Finisar's FTLF8524P2xNy Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP) transceivers are compatible with the Small Form Factor Pluggable Multi-Sourcing Agreement (MSA). They are compatible with Fibre Channel FC-PI-2 Rev. 7.0. Rate Selectable versions are also compatible with Gigabit Ethernet as specified in IEEE Std 802.3. They are RoHS compliant and lead-free per Directive 2002/95/EC and Finisar Application Note AN-2038. Digital diagnostics functions are available via the 2-wire serial bus specified in the SFP MSA.

Finisar compatible SFP transceiver provided by Fiberstore
Key Features

• Data-rate of 1.25Gbps/1.063Gbps operation
• 850nm VCSEL laser and PIN photo detector for 550m transmission Hot-pluggable SFP footprint
• duplex LC connector Interface
• Class 1 FDA and IEC60825-1 Laser Safety Compliant
• Compatible with SFP MSA
• Compatible with SFF-8472
• +3.3V single power supply
• Average Output Power:-9.5~ -3dBm
• Receiver Sensitivity:-17dBm

Applications

• Fiber Channel Links
• Gigabit Ethernet Links
• Fast Ethernet Links
• Other Optical Links

Compare Prices

FTLF8524P2xNy	Finisar	Compatible SFP Form Fiberstore
ftlf8524p2bnl	$79.00	$ 8.40
ftlf8524p2bnv	$59.42	$ 8.40

When you are planning to upgrade your network, it makes sense to "cut corners" when those corners really aren't even being cut at all. Third-party SFP optical transceivers usually cost far less than the "official" units, especially in the case of Cisco, but can provide the exact same performance you'd expect.

Finisar SFP transceivers provided by Fiberstore are third-party optical modules certified fully compatible with Finisar Switches & Routers. The Finisar SFP modules can be mixed and deployed with Finisar OEM SFP transceivers for seamless network performance and interoperability. Our Finisar SFP modules are the most cost-effective and 100% tested before delivered worldwide. Fiberstore provides a series of Finisar compatible SFP transceivers which can be equivalent to FTLF8519P2BNL, FTLF8524P2BNV, FTRJ8519P1BNL, FTLF8524P2BNL, FTRJ1319P1BTL, etc. Furthermore, Fiberstore also offers cost-effective SFP transceiver compatible with equipment such as Cisco, HP, Juniper, NETGEAR, Finisar (Finisar SFP), Dell, etc. All the SFP transceiver modules are 100% tested before shipping and have a lifetime warranty.

Related Article: Brand Compatible SFP For Optical Communications

Brand Compatible SFP For Optical Communications

SFP Transceivers for Telecommunications

The SFP is the more compact optical transceiver used in optical communications. It interfaces a network equipment mother board to a fiber optic or unshielded twisted pair networking cable.

This is probably the most diffused transceiver format available with a variety of different transmitter and receiver types, allowing users to select the appropriate transceiver for each link to provide the required optical reach over the available optical fiber (e.g., multimode fiber or single-mode fiber).

A drawing of a SFP transceiver is presented in Figure 1, where the particular connector for the input and output fibers that, with different dimensions, is present in all the transceivers is evidenced.

Figure 1. A drawing of a SFP transceiver

Optical SFP modules are commonly available in four different categories: 850nm (SX), 1310nm (LX), 1550nm (ZX), and WDM, both DWDM and CWDM. SFP transceivers are also available with a copper cable interface, allowing a host device designed primarily for optical fiber communications to also communicate over unshielded twisted pair networking cable.

Commercially available transceivers have a capability up to 2.5 Gbit/s for transmission applications; moreover, aversion of the standard with a bit rate of 10Gbit/s exists, but it can be used only to connect nearby equipment, and is very useful to spare space and power consumption as interface in the client cards of line equipments.

Modern optical SFP transceivers support digital optical monitoring functions according to the industry standard SFF-8472 MSA. This feature gives the end user the ability to monitor real-time parameters of the SFP, such as optical output power, optical input power, temperature, laser bias current, and transceiver supply voltage. (More infomations about SFP transceiver)

SFP transceivers are designed to support SONET, Gigabit Ethernet, Fiber Channel, and other communications standards. A 1000 BASE SX SFP shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. 1000BASE-SX SFP 850nm

One common query we hear is actually one must use a Cisco SFP with Cisco hardware? The answer is "not really" although that is not the answer Cisco wants to give. Perhaps you have used third-party compatible SFPs for your networking, and the price gap is obvious.

Brand's SFPs And Third-Party Compatible SFPs

Brand's SFPs such as Cisco, Cisco wants their customers buying only Cisco hardware, which is to say the least more expensive than anyone else on the market. They conduct their own optical transceivers, and try very hard to convince buyers that only official Cisco hardware will work.

Actually, a few of their hardware such as the Catalyst line will not even access third-party SFPs without running undocumented commands first!

That said, it's simple enough to figure around. Plus, either way, the plain truth is that one optical transceiver from a reputable vendor is just as good as any other. It's a totally standardized technology, like spark plugs, and one brand's SFP is going to work fine with any other brand's hardware.

And, like with spark plugs, few people beyond enthusiasts really care about the brand as long as the SFP works once installed.

When you are intending to upgrade your network, it makes sense to "cut corners" when those corners really aren't even being cut at all. Third-party SFP optical transceivers usually cost far less than the "official" units, especially in the case of Cisco, but could supply the exact same performance you'd expect.

To get more brand compatible optical SFP transceivers (10GBASE-ER SFP, 10GBASE-LR SFP, 10GBASE-SR SFP, etc.), or other fiber optics equipment and any other questions you might have about your future networking needs, please don't hesitate to contact Fiberstore for everything you need to know!

Products Used In the Physical Layer

The Physical Layer, as the Layer 1 of ISO OSI Systems communications model where the mechanical and electrical specifications of physical network interface are defined. The physical network interface is considered passive network elements because they do not generate or alter data units traveling across the network. Network elements defined by the Physical Layer include (among others): Network transport media (cables) and connectors.

Network Media Types

Network media types used in Data Center today are copper and fiber optic cables.

The following copper cables are available: Cat 1 to Cat 5, Cat 5E, Cat 6, Cat 6a, Cat7 and Twinax cables. Twinax copper cable with two conductors in a coaxial cable, which is slowly wrapped around each other; originally designed to replace RS-232 and has been redesigned for high-speed computer applications under 10meters.

Fiber optic cable utilize light for data transmission, rather than electrical current on copper cables, Fiber optic cables have many advantages, for example, the are many times lighter and have substantially reduced bulk, no pins, a smaller and more reliable connector reduced loss and distortion, and are free from signal skew or the effects of electro-magnetic interference.

Cable connector types

Copper cable connectors. Currently, there are two copper connector standards are in use, RJ-45 and MRJ-21.

RJ-45: The most popular Ethernet connector in use nowadays. MRJ-21: Used in Brocade’s netlron MLX product family, provides 1GbE connectivity of up to 6 ports by the RJ-45 patch panel or RJ-45 connectors. It is a high-density, high-speed copper cable.

Optical cable connectors. Optical cable connector structure can be divided into: FC,SC, ST, LC, D4, DIN, MU, the MTP,MPO and so on in various forms.

Transceivers are either copper or optical

Copper transceivers, copper medium usually does not require any transceivers, as they are a part of the interface module. However, few of Brocade’s products use a copper SFP with an RJ-45 female connector for 1 GbE connectivity over copper medium, or XFP copper transceiver for 10GbE connectivity over CX4 copper. Figure 1 is a 1000BASE-T SFP Optical Transceiver.

Figure 1. Copper SFP Optical Transceiver

• XFP 10GBASE-CX4: Uses a CX4 connector to provide a connection to up to 15 meters over CX4 grade copper cable.
• SFP 1000BASE-TX: Uses a RJ-45 connector to provide a connection to up to 100meters over Cat5e or higher copper cable.

Optical transceivers

The following optical transceivers are available: (Figure 2 is a 10G CWDM SFP 10km Single-Mode Optical Transceiver)

Figure 2. 10G CWDM SFP+ Optical Transceiver

• SFP: Small form-factor Pluggable. Supports 100Mbps and 1Gbps Ethernet.
• SFP+: Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus. Looks are physically identical to the SFP port but support higher speeds. Supports 10Gbps Ethernet. Might also support SFP transceivers.
• XFP: 10 Gigabit Small Form-factor Pluggable. Supports 10Gbps Ethernet.
• XENPAK: XENPAK transceiver is a hot-swappable I/O devices that plug into 10-Gigabit Ethernet module ports. The XENPAK transceiver is available in either optical or copper interfaces. It is used in typical router line card applications, storage, IP network and LAN.
• X2: X2 transceiver is a standardized form factor for 10 Gb/s fiber optic transceivers that is used for data transfer rates from 10.3 Gb/s to 10.5 Gb/s. X2 transceiver is used in datacom optical links only (not telecom), and they are smaller than old generation XENPAK transceiver.
• GBIC) Transceiver: A gigabit interface converter (GBIC) transceiver can send and receive data, which is to digitally convert media between a gigabit Ethernet network and a separate fiber optic based network.

SFP+ Twinax cables are copper cables with two 10G SFP+ transceivers attached on either end. They are also known as Direct Attach Cables (DAC). Using SFP+ Twinax cable is significantly cheaper than connecting devices using two 10Gbps fiber optic transceivers over fiber cable. There are two types of SFP+ Twinax cables: active and passive. SFP+ Twinax cable provided by Fiberstore.com is available in lengths of 1m, 2m, 3m, 5m.

In addition, all those copper or optical products used in the Physical layer can be found in Fiberstore.com.