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I always get confused with these, but are sfp/sfp+ ports also called ethernet ports? For whatever reason I associate ethernet with cat5/6 cable ports.
by pavs 10y ago
I always get confused with these, but are sfp/sfp+ ports also called ethernet ports? For whatever reason I associate ethernet with cat5/6 cable ports.
- dsp1234 10y agosfp/sfp+/qsfp are just the connector types, and can terminate cables that are made of copper or fiber. This is a separate issue from what protocol (ethernet/infiniband/etc) is running over that cable. For an example, take a look at Mellanox's cable page which lists a large number of combinations of connectors and cable types. So in general, to call a random sfp cable/port an ethernet port would be confusing unless both parties already knew it was passing ethernet traffic. http://www.mellanox.com/page/cables http://www.mellanox.com/page/cables
- pavs 10y agoThanks for the explanation.
- ecnahc515 10y agoI'm mostly mentioning this because it's something I just recently re-learned about. The actual connector and cable are mostly independent of each other. The most common connector for an ethernet cable is RJ-45 (what you're referring to as "ethernet ports"). But it's just as possible to have SFP, coaxial, or USB even.