SFP Module Installation

This is just a quick video on how to install SFP modules, and a bit of explanation of what to look for when purchasing SFP modules for your switches.
Amazon Affiliate links:
10Gtek - SFP 1Gbps - MMF (the ones I used in this video): amzn.to/2l25TvK
10Gtek - SFP 1Gbps - SMF: amzn.to/2l2bmmi
10Gtek - SFP+ 10Gbps - MMF: amzn.to/2lgOqm5
10Getk - SFP+ 10Gbps - SMF: amzn.to/2lAWIWh
Ubiquiti U Fiber - SFP 1Gbps - MMF: amzn.to/2m2srRh
Ubiquiti U Fiber - SFP 1Gbps - SMF: amzn.to/2kGkGjG
Ubiquiti U Fiber - SFP+ 10Gbps - SMF: amzn.to/2m2OIyH
Ubiquiti U Fiber - SFP+ 10Gbps - MMF: amzn.to/2kGbOuu
Switches used in this video:
US-8-150W: amzn.to/2lgHrJM
ES-24-LITE: amzn.to/2l29Qkd
Chris Sherwood with Crosstalk Solutions is available for best practice network, WiFi, VoIP, and PBX consulting services. Visit CrosstalkSolutions.com for details.
Crosstalk Solutions is an authorized FreePBX and Sangoma partner and reseller.
Connect with Chris:
Twitter: @CrosstalkSol
LinkedIn: goo.gl/j2Ucgg
KZbin: goo.gl/g4G58M

[@unicorn7337]

Hey Chris, I just wanted to say that your videos are excellent and thank you for the effort you put into them. I'm a freelance network engineer in the UK and your videos on all of the Ubiquiti products have been extremely helpful to me and the guys who work with me on larger installs. Keep up the great work!

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Thanks for watching!

[@dopod07]

Hey Chris, I love all your videos. SSS - Simple, Step by Step, Straightforward. Big thumbs up to you.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Big thumbs up to you for having great taste!

[@christic769]

Thanks Chris, I was just looking at this. Perfect timing. We have a site that we are adding cameras. There’s a total of three switches in three different rack rooms, With distances up to 1000 feet, luckily there is fiber in place. This will be awesome thanks again!!

[@thecybertech765]

THANK YOU!!! You cut through the bull-crap and explained it in such a way that even a newbie like me understood.I just got into 10gbe home networking and this video helped me a lot. so I have my lines all as cat8, and my desktops as 10gbe multi-mode fiber. Thank You

[@enpragma]

This video, and all of your US-8-150W related videos, helped me immensely. Thank you from a first-time owner of a UniFi switch.

[@enpragma]

I am installing 10Gtek 1000BaseT (copper) SFP modules into a US-8-150W. I could not find any instructions on how to do that on UniFi's site/documentation. From watching this video, it doesn't seem it's necessary to power-down the US-8-150W (or your EdgeSwitch), before installing the SFP modules. Do you know of any scenario where powering down either device would be necessary when installing/removing SFP modules? Thanks in advance!

[@podcaster_emeritus]

I really like Chris' videos. Always explained well.

[@emeraldgonzales9301]

Hey Chris, Simple, Easy-to-understand, highly recommended video. Hope to see more.

[@agustinrosso1353]

The information is provided practical, simple and fast. Thank so much!

[@djn3kkid]

Hey Chris! Telecom/fibreguy from Norway here again! And I just wanted to point out a few things that you might want to mention in a followup/similar video in the future: 1st: SM vs MM ... You say that MM is more cost effective. Now this might be different in USA, but in here in norway and as far as i can know, europe in general, SM is WAY cheaper then MM. Prices of SFPs I do not know, but SM pigtails, cables and patchecords are roughly a third (or better) of MM, as well as you saied, spans can be longer. MM is usually 550meters (1500 feet or so), while SM is in the 100s of miles range. But that is greatly dependent on the SFPs in use. Also note that there are two MM standards, but im not sure if they are interchangeable or not. 62,5/125 and 50/125 (Micrometer core of the fibre/micrometer size of the entire fibre). So thats is worth checking as well when buying gear for a cable or cable for gear :) 2nd: You should never take out the rubber things from the SFPs, and the plastic caps on the patchcords until "just before" you are about to connect them, as dust might come into the SFP, and thus adding attenuation to the connection, and worst case that ive personally encounted, washing the connectors/SFPs removed about 20dB of attenuation. 3rd: As breafly mention in the end of #2, you should always clean the ends of the patchcords as well as the port you are connecting them into, it be a ODF or SFP or otherwise. Google "LC cleaning pen" or similar. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS! It WILL reduce the ammount of support you need to by ALOT. 4th: You probably know this, but worth mentioning all the same ... MM always have gray connectors, both 50 and 62,5, while SM have either green or blue, depending on the type of connector. UPC and LC are blue, and APC and SPFs with "ALC" connectors (not sure if thats the correct term as we never use them) are green. And they are NOT interchangeable. APC are _USUALY_ on long spans with SPFs with high output, but not exclusivly. Best Regards! Thomas!

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Great info! Bottom line - clean your ends before you stick it in.

[@Taylexwow]

Crosstalk Solutions that's what she said!

[@progtom7585]

what you call an "ALC" connector are known as "APC" (angled polished connectors) in the UK - green boot and strain relief.

[@RobvandenBoogaard]

Great info from Thomas indeed. I would like to add that working with fiber is a completely different ballgame then copper. In the professional world we have the mantra: test (laser), inspect (fiberscope) and clean. The fiber strand is smaller in diameter then a human hair, so any tiny amount of dust or debris will degenerate the signal enormously. Also, ESD! I’m not one to be overly concerned with Electro Static Discharge, but SFP’s are sooooo delicate! You have to take precautions and pull out the old wrist strap.

[@tepitokura]

Great insight. Thanks for your support and being so professional.

[@mjfutures]

Great Video! Enjoyed the simple/clear explanations.

[@user-po9bl4vm1p]

Heya! I am just started to learning about how networks work, and your video gave me the visuals I needed really much. And you have a beautiful house! Thank you for showing all of that

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Cheers - thanks!

[@ferminhernandez4268]

Great video! Keep doing the good work. Greetings from Méxicali México!

[@u27g8mdm]

Hi, tks for the video. Would it be a good idea to follow up with a video on the fiber cables?

[@TerenceGardner]

This was helpful to see the assembly process. Thanks so much!

[@angelinali6501]

It was so nice to see your video, very simple setup. It always good to be same Speed, same mode on the both two sides. Recently UBNT stop providing Edgeswitches, it really puzzles me, cause I still use the old ES-8-150W switches and fs sfp in it. I wonder whether I should switch to a new brand switches.

[@loupitou06fl]

Hi Chris, great video as always, do you know if you can use the sfp connection between an Ubiquity gateway pro and a Poe switch .?

[@ahmedatm]

Im from egypt and what i like in your videos is your simple language..i can understand most of your English so easy thanks to you...keep up the great work (thanks a lot MR criss)

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

+ahmed tarek Thanks for watching! Greetings from the US!

[@tyleroconnellt]

Excellent video mate! :)

[@runwithdaisy]

Hi, great video. May I ask a question about the length of the fiber cable? Is it possible to use a 10m single mode cable with SFP modules that are rated at 20km? Would it burn out media converters on either end? (1GB converters) - Thank you!

[@Thankz4sharing]

Scary tech jargon can make simple things seem scary. Thanks for showing how easy this setup is. (When using compatible components, of course.)

[@robertchan4102]

Thanks alot bro Was really helpful keep up the good work

[@thomasshredster4627]

hi , thanks for the vid, i have a dell switch , do you happen to know if there's anything to configure besides installing the module physically ? :) thanks

[@truptilimbani8200]

Hey Chris..thank you for this video.. would you please let me know when GLC-T is being used?

[@donnyjack2625]

Thank you! That was very helpful.

[@danphilpott6302]

Awesome content as usual! I am currently and drastically upgrading my home network. I work most often from home and my family can have as many as 3 or even 4 concurrent video conference calls happening. However, my network is target for performance and future proofing. I therefore putting infrastructure for 10g everywhere, while keeping existing cat 6 for devices that will never need higher speed, such as printers. I also taking the UniFi leap with APs, video, etc. We currently have fibre with 1.5 g and will get the expected 5 or 6 g service when available later this summer. I, like many others are waiting on the UDM SE, which is not available in Canada currently. I already have the XG 24 and 24 PoI enterprise switches. My question: how do I connect these two devices - SFP+ to SFP28? Will a UniFi DAC SFP+ cable do the trick? Or do I need an SFP28 cable? Something else? Thx

[@mckeznak]

If you have a 1Gbps SM SFP and you discover you have a long length of MM fibre, that you can't replace, you can use a Mode Conditioning patch cable in a pinch. Basically just a MM patch cable with a short piece of SM fibre on the transmit side that provides an offset for the laser that prevents differential mode delay over long distances.

[@ArlinSandbulte]

What about running fiber through conduit / tight spaces? Can it be field terminated (like CAT cable)? So it can be cut to length? How durable is it for pulling strength and around corners?

[@jolsky11]

Thanks. That was what I needed.

[@mackjsm7105]

omg dude.. you really helped me out.. thank you for keeping it SIMPLE..

[@frasermanley9903]

I'm planning my uni end of year project, IT infrastructure for 60 employees (2 servers and 12 printers too). We're a very Cisco heavy uni however I have been considering Ubiquite. Do you have any recommendations for 48 port Ubiquite with layer 3 functionality? Thanks.

[@DL4YWO]

Hey Chris, best regards from Germany :) I would tell you, that the SFP-Mobul A7446B from HP work also fine in the Unifi Switch 24 Port. also with Link-Aggregate, with this feature you have 2 GBit as Load-Balance. It is interesting when you have IP-Camera in this network an the NVR is on the other switch...

[@GiullioV]

hello great video, take me out a question, As for cisco devices two switches of the same model sg220 using mini gbics I can use patch cords MM Duplex LC / LC? to UpLink?

[@arksurvivalevolved9190]

Vey interesting. I do have a doubt. Can I use on my X520-DA2 SFP+ slot into my dlink switch SFP slot? Using what you recommend 2 x SFP and Fiber multimode?

[@duaneaxelton6886]

Can you do more videos on connecting Fiber between routers and switches? Love your videos!

[@vpnhitmany]

Nice, I am planning to wire with fibre between Edgeswitches

[@DanCockrell]

Excellent! Very helpful. Thank you.

[@igadget7982]

Hi Chris, Great Videos. Can you link the Gateway Pro4 to the Unifi 24POE switch to use Wan1 as the link to the internet via SFP's rather than the Wan1 Ethernet Port?

[@itsdouetthierry]

And as alwyas, great video, still up to date. Question: Can I use and SFP to RJ45 converter that would give me essentially an extra ETH port on my edgerouter? I have no use for SFP port#5 otherwise. Thanks!

[@tepitokura]

Yes, of course. www.amazon.com/s?k=spf+rj45&ref=nb_sb_noss

[@schism8286]

Hello Chris, what fiber should I run for the MM fiber? I ordered the Ubiquiti MM SFP's and have an 8 port unifi PoE switch and need to interconnect it to an 8 port PoE Edgeswitch. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[@Damien360]

I use the SFP port of my US-8-150W switch to connect to my ISP. Works well!

[@febby7266]

Wow, that's actually the answer I was looking for, so actually it is the WAN post then, can you also manage that port? I know it's been a year since you posted this, don't know if you read this, a big thumbs up.

[@Mak100ish]

But how about DHCP? Do you need something for that or do the switch handle it?

Hi Chris, thank you for the video. I just want to know that if we have any FFTH optical by ISP, can it be connected directly to EdgeRouter via Ubiquiti U Fiber - SFP 1Gbps - SMF technically? Or not because ONU (=optical modem) is needed to connection (OLU sends packages to all ONU and ONU checks and filters the packages which belongs to its) to and we can not bypass modem device in our infrastructure. I know there is other side, it may ISP doesn't allow user's devices.

[@superlinux]

thanks for the explanation.

[@morganmcgary921]

Hi Chris! Love your videos. I used this to hook up my Ubiquiti SFP+ DAC between my UMD-Pro and USW-48-POE Gen 2. However, I also had to add the ports to the LAN profile and then auto-negotiation still didn't find them and I had to manually set both ports to 1GBps even though they both support 10GBps. The switch didn't even have 10 as an option even though it's in the specs. Any thoughts on the auto-negotiation feature and the lack of 10GB option on the switch?

[@petervandebeek5980]

The Standard USW-48-POE (non-Pro) just have SFP ports (1G) and no SFP+ ports (10G). And it is known that the auto-negotiation goes wrong, most of the time. However, maybe a future firmware will make that better. But 1G DAC is stille better then 1G ethernet. So congrats!

[@ruddymartinez1675]

Wonderfull Chris, good explanation for beginner like me and other thing I liked is your pronunciation, because I'm not fully english speaker.

[@srijansingh8160]

fantastic dude

[@ammar779]

Thank you for the video , I have question what is different if u used UTP or Fiber connection between the tow switches. Is it faster ??

[@Treddian]

In this demonstration, it looked to me like the ping actually increased 1 ms after switching to the fiber. I've heard that fiber is ideal for handling many connections at a reasonable speed while copper is faster for small networks without too many nodes active at once.

[@hhernandeza06]

Great video Chris, this is like connecting sfp modules for dummies!, super easy to follow, thanks for the amazon affiliate links. Can you do a video on DAC cables as well (connecting switches , nas & servers)? Thanks again Cheers 🍺

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Yea - I meant to mention DAC in this video, but forgot. I'll have to order a DAC patch cable and do a follow-up.

[@johnvillalovos]

10Gtek also makes DAC (Direct Attach Copper) cables. It worked for me.

[@nkojima]

Thanks man, could u do u guide on port mapping sfp port on USG pro to LAN.

[@carltontheengineer2599]

Thanks Sir, I'm now studying my Comptia network + , those infos helps

[@TheJonathanRaper]

Is there a way to connect an edge router to a edge switch using SFP? I need exactly 24 ports and it would be great if that would work.

[@vigneshsekar2619]

I am a beginner, its really very useful for me..... Thank you brooo

[@dshack4689]

Great scenario to demonstrate fibre and SFP modules and that they're hot pluggable. PLEASE don't remove the dust caps of any part until you're about to connect - for example only remove the dust caps off 1 end of the cable while you plug it in, and then when you're ready to plug the other end of the cable in only then do you remove those dustcaps. Multimode might survive some dust particules but degrade, but Singlemode the entire core can be covered by a single spec of dust.

[@darienlai2843]

yes

[@partv5978]

Hi Sir thank you for the video. Is there a process to enable SFP port?

[@suleymanseker]

very useful video thank you for your efforts. :))

[@fkmobile1]

Hi. How can we use the Ubiquiti OM3 MPO cable, SR4 cables with the switches?

[@Thefatveganchef]

I have seen other videos where they will clean the tips of the fiber before plugging into the SPF, even on brand new cables. Is this necessary to do or not? I have seen fiber tip cleaner/kits range from $20-$200 and not sure if that expense is worth it for 4-6 cables.

[@brianpedersen3439]

Yes, always clean new cables, and the way Chris is doing it here is wrong, it is a typical IT guy failure, the dust caps (not rubber stoppers, as he calls them) must first be removed right before you're are ready to insert the optical cables.... I am working with fiber every day, and the most common failure, is IT Guys, the leave the patch cables, and connectors, without dust caps, finds and old cable in a drawer, wipes then of with a finger, ore in the shirt, and that is just making a bad connection, looking up a connector in a microscope is very interesting, when people think that they are clean...

[@surenkhadgi817]

Love your videos As always

[@JayJay-rb6rt]

Thank you for this video...

[@HAMZEHAWADALLAH]

its worth it to change from Ethernet cable to fiber ? big difference ?

[@stephenphyo28]

Very nice explanation and demonstration

[@campagnollo]

@Crosstalk Solutions, I'm about to build my home network. The basic topology consists of a Google fiber jack going to a switch, ES-8 150w, on vlan 2 by Ethernet, connected to a router by sfp trunk, router-on-a-stick. Would this create any bandwidth issues of sharing the WAN and LAN on a single physical link?

[@febby7266]

What I was/am looking for if you could also use the port as a WAN port from your ISP, I found part of the answer in the comments, it works as a "port" in but can't really find if you can manage the port.

[@rendygunardi]

i never use fiber optic before. can can you make video about fiber optic. like the cable type and how to terminate fo.

[@cindyxin624]

i can teach you,i am ftth supplier from China,Email&Skype:[e-mail],whatsapp&Tel:[phone]

[@goodnandnotgoodisgood551]

Excellent house and window and environment

[@RandomUserName92840]

So, the UniFi Direct Attach Copper Cable are SFP+ (10Gbps). Yet the Hardware is SFP (1Gbps). Could you plug SFP+ into the SFP ports? Hardware referring to is Ubiquiti US-24 Unifi Switch, and Unifi Switch L2 PoE (US-L2-24-POE). Both list "(2) 1 Gbps SFP Ports"

[@bassman87]

typically direct attach copper cables are a fixed speed meaning a SFP+ cable is only rated at 10gig and cannot be changed to meet the 1gig speed of the SFP port.

[@rgauld31]

So once you connect the sfp connections do you disconnect the other lan connections between the devices, I connect a udm pro to the 16 port Poe switch?

[@LK-pc4sq]

I was installing a VERY heavy Juniper MX router and it had SFP adapters in the router.

[@samv1611]

Nice video! helpful!

[@mjikerd]

I'm connecting two devices together. One Nokia device is capable of gigabit ethernet and has a 100/1000BASE-T SFP plugged into it. Will it talk to an RLH 10/100BASE-T card using a CAT5 or CAT 6 copper cable? or does the SFP on the Nokia need to be a 100BASE-T SFP?

[@charleshines6155]

I have heard that sometimes even the brand of the SPF matters in some cases. Some brands don't work well with others. Is that true? I know it is a good idea to ask those questions when buying just to avoid having to send things back.

[@Aqxea]

This might be a dumb question, but if your ethernet and fiber ports are both limited to 1Gb/s, what difference does it make?

[@Greedis1984]

Thank you

[@artsmith638]

I have a spare EdgeRouter X and would like to use it as a smart switch. Is there any information on how to set it up and then 'program' it to allow certain ports to support specific VLAN's?

[@shalommiller6421]

wow thank you! u really explained it well

[@oldies81]

Hi Chris, I have a question does SFP have the capability of auto -MDIX to sense of the fiber patch is flipped just like copper regular ethernet cable they can sense TX to TX and change one side to RX without making any changes to the cable itself. Thanks

[@GeeDiv]

I was looking to get buy a LC-LC fiber cable but noticed there are OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4. From what I can tell, they all support up to 10GB but at different lengths. For connecting 2 UniFi switches, does it matter which OM I get?

[@sidneybekeleski9180]

Is it possible to make a connection between SFP ports on switches of different manufacturers? Specifically a Dell PowerConnect 2824 and a Unifi Switch 24 250W.

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

Yup - should be fine as long as you have SFP modules that are compatible with the switch it is plugged into.

[@johnvillalovos]

I got a DAC (Direct Attach Copper) cable to connect my EdgeSwitch 8 150W switch and a Mikrotik CRS125-24G-1S-IN. Works great. I bought the 1 meter size of: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WHS3NCA/ It supports 10Gbit, but I only have SFP so it runs at 1Gbit.

[@phillipdyson2689]

Cisco Catalyst switches are configured by default not to work with non-Cisco SFPs. When a SFP is inserted into a switch's GBIC port, the switch immediately reads a number of values from the SFP and if it doesn't like what it sees, it throws the above error message and disables the port. All SFP modules contain a number of recorded values in their EEPROM and include: Vendor Name Vendor ID Serial Number Security Code CRC How To Force Your Cisco Switch to Use 3rd Party SFPs Despite the error displayed, which leaves no hope for a solution, keep smiling as you're about to be given one. There are two undocumented commands which can be used to force the Cisco Catalyst switch to enable the GBIC port and use the 3rd party SFP: 3750G-Stack(config)# service unsupported-transceiver Warning: When Cisco determines that a fault or defect can be traced to the use of third-party transceivers installed by a customer or reseller, then, at Cisco's discretion, Cisco may withhold support under warranty or a Cisco support program. In the course of providing support for a Cisco networking product Cisco may require that the end user install Cisco transceivers if Cisco determines that removing third-party parts will assist Cisco in diagnosing the cause of a support issue. 3750G-Stack(config)# no errdisable detect cause gbic-invalid

[@MultiPheaktra]

Can you do a tutorial home network using fiber optic cable?

[@unifiunifi5409]

SFP port config ? I have all unified product, I have a security gateway the small one and a 8 port switch 150w. my internet into the house is fiber, right now I have a TP link media converter ( SFP to network cable ) that is patched into the WAN port on the gateway and then logging into my provider using PPPOE Vlan ID-35 but what I would like to do is just use the SFP port on the switch and some how route it to the WAN port to pass my PPPOE using VLAN ID-35

[@mundheryousif85]

such amazing video 👍

[@jasonluong3862]

Why was the PING time not changed but stayed at around 25ms when the optical cable was used instead of the copper CAT? I thought latency is greatly reduced with the SFP connection?

[@thecryptoecho]

That was awesome.

[@agjr85]

With a modem having fiber out, I should be able to go from the modem to a UDM Dream Pro for internet, and then to my switch of choice?? Right?

[@sab0175]

Hey, Any chance you could do a video on using SFP uplinks to do link aggregation from a Edge Router 12 to 24 Port Unifi Switch? I can't figure out how to do it... Is it even possible?

[@afmoa]

I know this is an old video but I have questions. It's 2023 and I am adding connectivity to a new detached garage I am building. Friends strongly recommended fiber. I have a UDM Pro in the house. I am thinking 10Gtek SPF dual mode modules with a 40 meter outdoor armored duplex fiber optic cable with LC ends. On the garage end I am thinking of using the Ubiquiti UniFi Switch 8 port 150 watt switch you have in the video. It seems the perfect solution for an AP and IP security cameras.

[@julianelpro5513]

Hey Chris, Do you know how to connect UMP-PRO (SFP+) with UniFi Direct Attach Copper Cable to US-16-150W? maybe setting UDMP port to link speed of: 1Gbps :D

[@kleidav]

What's the benefit of using SFP (so 1 Gbps) over normal copper Ethernet cables? (also able to do Gpbs, but no need to buy SFP adapters)

[@jazzynet1]

Thanks for the video!

[@CVC-CSS]

Thanks you.

[@buttermilk_pie]

Thanks for the good content

[@Spitfireman01]

Hey Chris, great video. Any chance you could do a video showing how to use the SFP port on a edgerouter pro 8. Thanks

[@CrosstalkSolutions]

I did a video on how to install SFP's...it's somewhere on my channel. Check that one out...it's basically the same thing.

[@Spitfireman01]

Thanks for your reply, what I am looking for is this; if my LAN is on eth1 how do I either link eth1 to eth 6 or transfer the LAN connection to eth 6 this so that I can use the fibre connection to my LAN switch. Thanks

[@didikongable7856]

Hey nice video, you say mmf is for shorter ranges, what is the Limit here? i need to go like 150m, should be fine with mmf?

[@toddbenedict5967]

Can a SFP Fiber port from one switch to another be used instead of a Media Converter for long distance? Is there a distance limitation? It may sound like a stupid question but I can't find anything that indicates that it can.

[@vilikarac6776]

Hey Does any config need to be done on switches when connecting them with sfp? I have two aruba 2930s i want to connect. Are they typically plug n play? Like rj45? Ty

[@insights7292]

Hi Chris, what is 6 strand om3 fiber cable ?

[@progtom7585]

RE - the fibre patch cables - the "white little plugs" are dust caps, yes they protect the ends of the fibre but more importantly they keep dirt and dust off the fibre ends. Dirt is 99% of the problem in fibre optics and therefore you should never take yer dust caps off unless you need too...

[@dariusEMPEROR]

you need to know also the wavelength for your SFPs. most common are 1310nm and 960nm

[@C411m3Pr0ph37]

Does a 10Gbps Switch also support the 1 Gbps modules?

[@Sahulmultistau9195]

Please tell me difference between multimode sfp and single mode sfp

[@karifkhan]

Please tell me about juniper ex4200 switch routing engine