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I have an expensive piece of network equipment that has an SFP+ port on it. It came installed with a 10-gigabit fiber optic transceiver installed the port. According to the device's specifications, it supports both 1- and 10-gigabit rates via the SFP+ port. I don't currently have a 10-gigabit-capable device to plug into the other end, so I'd like to run it in its 1-gigabit mode.

Are SFP+ modules universal in the sense that I can just pop out the current fiber module and replace it with a 1-gigabit copper module that has an RJ45 in it? Or, would this be unsafe (or non-functional) in some way?

Jason R
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1 Answers1

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You can probably use a copper 1GbE SFP adapter without issue. Hard to know without the specific details of your gear... But it's easy to test!

I've had to do the same with "expensive pieces of networking equipment", where my interface and environmental needs dictated copper instead of fiber or DAC.

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ewwhite
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  • Thanks for the info. Since I'm unfamiliar with the use of SFP modules in general, I just want to avoid any potential damage to the device in question. Sounds like it is worth a try. – Jason R Jul 02 '14 at 21:34
  • What type of gear is it? – ewwhite Jul 02 '14 at 21:37
  • It's just a one-off device from a custom hardware vendor. I don't have great documentation for it, hence my quick sanity check. – Jason R Jul 02 '14 at 22:02