Will UbiSwitch work with my SFP?

[botblox_admin]

– Rephrased from a customer email –

I want to use a [insert any SFP brand and model here]. Will it work with UbiSwitch?

[josh-elijah]

There are probably thousands of different SFP types and brands, and it is impossible for us to test UbiSwitch with every single type.

However, the general rule is that the UbiSwitch SFP ports will work out the box with any 10Gbps capable SFP. All 10G SFP use the same underlying protocol on the electrical side (10GBASE-R). Unlike some switches, UbiSwitch is designed to work with any SFP, and will not differentiate based on brand. In our lab, we have tested UbiSwitch successfully with the following brands and types.

H! Fiber ASF-10G2-T | 10G/5G/2.5G/1G Copper SFP
10Gtek ASF-10G-T | 10GBASE-T Copper SFP
Cisco SFP-10G-SR | 10G Optical SR SFP
Cisco SFP-10G-LR | 10G Optical LR SFP
Arista SFP-10G-LR | 10G Optical LR SFP
FS SFP-10GLR-31 | 10G Optical LR SFP
FS SFP-10GSR-85 | 10G Optical SR SFP
Lenovo 10GBASE-SR 10G Optical SR SFP
Panduit SFP 10G Copper DAC cable 3m | 10G Copper Cable

If your SFP is not a 10G SFP (For example, a 1G SFP), then UbiSwitch will not work out the box with your SFP. If you have to use a 1G SFP, you will need to modify some jumpers on the board, see the forum post below.

Getting UbiSwitch ports working with a 1G SFP

Ports 9 and 10 can be easily configured to work in 1G mode, instead of the 10G mode that the board ships with. Locate SM1 jumper [Screenshot 2023-09-14 at 12.40.29] Cut the track between the two pads with a scalpel. You can resolder it to re-enable 10G operation. For port 0, the process is a bit more involved, and is detailed in this forum post. https://forum.botblox.org/t/ubiswitch-10g-port-configuration-preference/40/2 Once the UbiSwitch management software is released, this wil…

[peci1]

FS SFP-10G-T | 10G/5G/2.5G/1G Copper SFP < 30m

This one works for us.

[josh-elijah]

After performing the steps outlined in the forum post below, we have confirmed operation with the following SFPs.

H! Fiber ASF-GE-T1 1G Copper SFP
QSFPTEK QT-SFP-0310D | 1.25G 1310nm 10k Optical SFP

Getting UbiSwitch ports working with a 1G SFP

Ports 9 and 10 can be easily configured to work in 1G mode, instead of the 10G mode that the board ships with. Locate SM1 jumper [Screenshot 2023-09-14 at 12.40.29] Cut the track between the two pads with a scalpel. You can resolder it to re-enable 10G operation. For port 0, the process is a bit more involved, and is detailed in this forum post. https://forum.botblox.org/t/ubiswitch-10g-port-configuration-preference/40/2 Once the UbiSwitch management software is released, this wil…

[botblox_admin]

– Copied from a customer email –

Once the BotBlox Switch Management software is released, will it support SFP diagnostics and offer a management interface for retrieving this data?

[josh-elijah]

With the present design of UbiSwitch, no. There is no way for the onboard microcontroller to query the SFPs because it does not have access to the SFP’s I2C busses.

We are considering adding this in the future, but that’s not confirmed yet.

The management software will be able to set the mode of the 10G ports on UbiSwitch programmatically though, meaning you can change between a 1000BASE-X and a 10GBASE-R SFP easily. It just won’t be able to interrogate the actual SFPs directly.

[josh-elijah]

Also works with

Antaira SFP-10G-WA20 | 10G Fiber SFP+ Transceiver WDM-A, Single Mode 20Km / LC / TX:1270nm RX:1330nm, 0 to 70C