[j-nsp] SFP Compatibility

[Tim Durack]

On Jan 10, 2008 5:38 PM, Richard A Steenbergen <ras at e-gerbil.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 10, 2008 at 05:03:40PM -0500, Eric Van Tol wrote:
> > Yeah, I'm just wondering when this will end.  I've spoken with a few
> > different vendors about their plans for optics and they all say that "we
> > don't lock you out *now*".  I'm thoroughly unimpressed with this answer,
> > as it could lead to massive outages if they one day decide to implement
> > CRC checks like Cisco in a new software upgrade.
>
> The new strategy (and I call it a strategy because I've actually heard it
> described as such, its not just coincidental :P) seems to be "if we can't
> outright deny them the use of the optic completely without pissing off the
> customer, we can deny the use of extra "value added features" like DOM for
> not-our-branded optics".
>
> Cisco 6500/7600 has broken DOM support (on 10G at least, but the SFP
> blades never supported it anyways) in SXF11+, SRA4+, SXH/SRB code.
> Apparently Foundry plans on implementing similar in the near future as
> well, and I heard some grumbling that HP implemented vendor locking on
> their switches out of the blue with no notice and significant downtime
> caused to users who tried to upgrade code.
>
> Reselling rebadged optics at extreme markup is a billion dollar industry,
> don't expect hardware vendors to let it go lightly. :)

This makes my blood boil everytime I think about it.

Aside from the fact that it is $100 for a Finisar SFP, or $500 for a
rebranded Finisar SFP from vendor of choice, I'm trapped in the
sparing game. Plus if vendor doesn't support exotic optics, I'm stuck
using OEO.

At least cisco gives me the "no service-unsupported transceiver"
switch. But how long will that last? If I buy non-vendor optics, will
I regret it during an OS upgrade?

I have spoken to an HP ProCurve dude who understands all the arguments
but says there is no way HP will reverse their decision. I'd like to
say I could vote with my feet, but it's not that simple. And vendors
know that...

Anyway, I'll shut up now.

Tim:>