MDS9124 & SG200-50P Silly question?

[michaelwalton-uk]

Hi all,

Looking for some advice and new to swtiching optics. We are looking for a fibre switch to connect our SG200-50P's to and are considering a MDS9124 we have left over from our old SAN. Currently we are testing them but and not getting any activity or lights, Fabric Manager reports the link is down.

Are these two going to play together or is this switch not suitable for general use? We have no problem if we daisy chain the GBIC's on the SG200's together.

Both are 850nm, MMF, is there something obvious I'm missing?

Here is our inventory:

SG200-50P with MGBSX1 GBIC's

MDS9124 with DS-SFP-FC4G-SW

LC-LC MMF patch cables (Krone)

I've also attached the config of the MDS9124

Thanks!

Mike

[Marvin Rhoads · Accepted solution]

The SG200-50P GBICs are Gigabit Ethernet Interface Converters. The MDS9124 interfaces are 4 Gbps Fibre Channel. Both use the same fibre jumpers and nominal wavelength but the signalling is fundamentally different and incompatible.

In other words, you can't connect Ethernet directly to fibre channel and get a working link.

[michaelwalton-uk]

Thanks Marvin,

Your answer makes complete sense.

So how would one normally connect several gigabit ethernet interface converters? Is there an ethernet switch with GBIC's we should look at?

[Marvin Rhoads · Accepted solution]

You're welcome.

Something like the Catalyst C3750X-12S-S switch would do the job. It offers 12 GE SFP Ethernet ports (and there's a -24S model with 24 ports). You'd need to fill in the SFPs with GBICs as needed for your uplinks to your SG200s.

Larger installations would typically use a modular card (or cards) with fiber interfaces on a higher end chassis-based switch like the 4500 or 6500 series.

[michaelwalton-uk]

Thanks very much Marvin, much appreciated.