[c-nsp] SFP & GBIC module compatibility

[Affan Basalamah]

On 12/20/06, Affan Basalamah <affanzbasalamah at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12/20/06, Mikael Abrahamsson <swmike at swm.pp.se> wrote:
> > On Wed, 20 Dec 2006, Pak Tong Poy wrote:
> >
> > > From my understandings, SFP or GBIC are of open standard. And the standard
> > > modules should work with any router. Is it a marketing ploy that some
> > > vendors (say Cisco reseller) say that we must buy the modules from them in
> > > order have 100% compatibility?
> >
> > Yes and no. Generally GBICs have been open so you can use any brand. If
> > you run into trouble, the vendor of the equipment won't support you. With
> > SFPs it changed in that some manufacturers (mainly Cisco and Extreme
> > Networks afaik) started to make their software check so that any SFP
> > inserted into the equipment required to have a certain string/code in its
> > NVRAM, otherwise the software wouldn't activate the port.
> >
>
> This is the message I got in my Sup720 with SXF train when I insert
> 3Com SFP into Sup720 SFP interface :
>
> Aug 26 03:41:56.455: %GBIC_SECURITY_CRYPT-4-VN_DATA_CRC_ERROR: GBIC in
> port 65557 has bad crc
> Aug 26 03:41:56.455: %PM-4-ERR_DISABLE: gbic-invalid error detected on
> Gi0/21, putting Gi0/21 in err-disable state
>
> > Of course customers have realised this and cried bloody murder, so
> > eventually first Extreme Networks and then Cisco started shipping software
> > that did remove the optics checks, or at least introduced a command to
> > disable the check.
>
> Is there any way I can disable this SFP checks on Sup720 in SXF train ?
> I don't see this 'disable SFP check' on Feature Navigator. And also I
> would like to see this feature on lower class SFP devices such as
> 2960, 3560 and 3750.
>
> Regards,
>
> -affan
>