28 ms·

Ubiquiti SFP Wizard

260 points by eXpl0it3r 1y ago

aetherspawn 1y ago
UniFi SFP modules work fine in Dell and Synology servers, so contrary to most of the anecdotes in this thread I’ve always just bought the 20 packs and had no issues. Didn’t need reprogramming. The quality is fine, oldest modules more than 5 years old and only 1 failure in 100.
- locusm 1y ago
  What nics are you using on the server end? Im looking at moving from 10Gbe copper to 25Gbe/100Gbe between Mikrotik switches and 14/15th gen Dell servers
  - aetherspawn 1y ago
    Broadcom in nearly all cases (default Dell option, I think). Elsewhere, Intel.
    - locusm 1y ago
      You're not using DAC's ?
      - aetherspawn 1y ago
        No we buy our OM4 fiber cables for pennies on FS, so we stock a box of virtually every length in 1ft increments. DACs would be way more expensive to stock in every length.
weinzierl 1y ago
"The SFP Wizard is a pocket-sized powerhouse that checks the health of any SFP or QSFP module and programs them in just seconds." I never knew you could program them. How smart are they? Are there ones capable of running Linux?
- Maxious 1y ago
  Yes, eg. This one runs a ssh server https://www.glbb.jp/en/hardware/gs3/ https://www.glbb.jp/en/hardware/gs3/
  - weinzierl 1y ago
    Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I have been looking for and it seems not even excessively priced. Only issue is that I did not find a distributor that ships it to Europe yet.
  - deleted 11mo ago
    [deleted]
- aksss 1y ago
  Can you play Doom on an SFP?
jiveturkey 1y ago
Seems to have only basic usefulness as a diagnostic tool. > Instantly tests SFP and QSFP module health, including Rx/Tx power. Most SFP modules will fail due to heat, like LED bulbs. So an instant test is of course instantly useful, but not indicative of production-use SFP health. As a programming tool, of course it's awesome. Of course, in typical ubiquiti fashion, it's out of stock with no way to backorder.
VerifiedReports 1y ago
Why is this spam on the front page?
bedhead 1y ago
Most innovative and disruptive (and generally just profoundly interesting) company that hardly anyone knows about in the grand scheme of things.
carlgreene 1y ago
This is not for me as I'm not a professional network engineer, but I do want to say that Ubiquiti has made home networking SO fun for me. Everything truly "Just Works." My setup is definitely more on the prosumer side, but it's been so build out and inspect my network with their tools.
- pshirshov 1y ago
  > Everything truly "Just Works." Right. Just like 5Gbit PPPoE uplinks over VLAN. In fact there is no Ubiquiti router which can handle 1.5Gbit+ PPPoE for some reason. So, I have a mikrotik in front of UDMPM just to termiate PPPoE and I had to buy a IPv4 /29 subnet to avoid double not. Everything just works, sure.
  - pshirshov 1y ago
    * double NAT.
- v108 1y ago
  Same experience for me. I am eyeballing the new NAS to play with soon.
- xyst 1y ago
  I don’t know about it "just works." Still have to perform a monthly reboot of equipment otherwise performance kind of drops off. Still 100X better than the competition though. My UDM has worked wonderfully with support for dual IPs and seamless failover
  - simoncion 1y ago
    Yeah, my experience with the UAP-AC-LITE and -LR was that it would get wonky if not rebooted every month or so. That (combined with the realization that its software load is pretty much just OpenWRT with the serial numbers filed off) caused me to dump the official firmware and switch to OpenWRT. I was quite a lot happier after the switch, as I didn't have to hassle with UniFi and my APs stopped needing roughly-monthly reboots.
joelccr 1y ago
I love this. However, I'm very interested to see the maths on "offering up to 1000% savings compared to industry standards"
- BonoboIO 1y ago
  The more you buy the more you save
- mystifyingpoi 1y ago
  infinite money glitch
- wrs 1y ago
  It’s simple, they pay you 9X the standard industry price for each one you take…?
- OliverGuy 1y ago
  Cisco etc have truly insane pricing on optics, like $1000 for something generic that cost $20-50 from fs.com etc. The only difference is how it presents itself to the switch (ie, says its a Cisco optic), not actual difference in performance. Often Cisco/etc will refuse support cases if you aren't using their optics, if the switches/routers even work with them in the first case, which isn't a given as often they'll refuse to work with non branded optics. Really just a money grab by the big network vendors. This box allows you to flash the firmware on the optic to say its from whatever brand you want (Cisco, Dell, Aruba, Juniper etc) so that you can get it to work in that companies switch/router. For most SMEs, the brand of optics makes no difference. Maybe keep a few legit branded ones around for debugging and when you need to raise a support case. But otherwise, the generic ones flashed to look like branded ones work just fine.
  - cturner 1y ago
    "The only difference is how it presents itself to the switch (ie, says its a Cisco optic), not actual difference in performance." That's not the only difference. I have had situations where I ran equivalent optics side-by-side, and then touched one and it was hot, and touched the other and it was not hot. They do contain different components. In the case of that test - the atgbics SFP was cool, and the other clone unit was hot. My dealer was able to get me in contact with someone technical at atgbics (the cool-running unit) who explained the difference, "The DSP might be say 13nm where more modern more expensive ones are 5nm." But you definitely do not need to pay for "genuine" optics to get high-reliability optics. You just need to shop around the clones - atgbics is a clone.
bananapub 1y ago
some context that's perhaps not obvious to non-networking people: essentially all networking hardware above 1G doesn't have rj45 or fibre ports in it, it has holes that you put modules in, "SFP+" modules for 10G, "SFP28" for 28gig networking, etc. most manufacturers of devices - the things with the holes, NICs, switches, routers - make their devices only officially work with modules that claim to be manufactured by that same manufacturer. so, you can either buy modules from that manufacturer, or buy modules from some other company (e.g. fs.com, 10gtek) who programs the modules to claim that they are from that manufacturer. "officially" can mean anything from "we won't help you if you open a support case" to "the device will make a whiney log message on boot if it's not one of our modules" to "it simply doesn't work unless you hack an EEPROM on the device". this is somewhat annoying, since it means you need to buy specific modules for specific devices, you can't just keep a pile of SFP+ 10G-LR modules around, you need some "Intel SFP+ 10G-LR" and some "Cisco SFP+ 10G-LR", etc. so, these third party manufacturers of the modules, like fs.com and 10gtek, will also sell you programmers for the modules, which lets you change what manufacturer the module claims made it. these programmers have been, historically and hilariously, tied to the actual manufacturer of the modules! so you can buy some 10G-LR SFP+ modules from fs.com and a fs.com programmer to set make some "Intel" and some "Cisco", but if you buy some 10gtek 10G-LR modules, you would need to buy a 10gtek programmer. ~so, this device that Ubiquiti has made is the meta-programmer - it can apparently program any module, from any actual manufacturer, to claim to be made by any manufacturer.~ edit: the post seems deliberately confusing - what they are actually selling is a device that can re-program Ubiquiti SFP+ modules by copying the manufacturer code from another SFP+ module that you insert into the programmer. so it's the same as what fs.com and all the other sell, but Ubiquiti's is ~1/10th the price (e.g. https://www.fs.com/uk/c/fs-box-3389 https://www.fs.com/uk/c/fs-box-3389).
- superice 1y ago
  Minor pedantic correction: 2.5gbit, 5gbit and 10gbit RJ45 is getting more affordable and more common, and for short runs should run over CAT 6 and CAT 6a fine, and plenty of reports it does ok on short runs even on CAT 5e. With devices like the USW Flex Mini 2.5 at ~50-60 EUR / USD, you can affordably outfit your home for higher than gigabit speeds without rewiring everything with new CAT cable or fiber. Over here in NL we now get more and more access to >1gbps speeds, the office of my small business for instance has a 4gbps connection, and the ISP offers up to 8gbps on a standard consumer / small business package. We're in the process of upgrading our gear to take advantage of that. With WiFi 7 we've seen some real world throughput speeds of 1800-2000mbps going through a Ubiquiti U7 Pro straight to the ISP supplied router. I wasn't really keeping up with networking gear, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked into this stuff recently and figured out the gear has just magically gotten better and running 2.5gbit everywhere is surprisingly easy.
LostSoulUniFi 1y ago
This will make the life soo easy for many
headwayoldest 1y ago
For those outside the IT/networking realms, SFP use uniform connectors for both the networking device and the fiber cable, but the major vendors (Cisco and friends) have used firmware flags and settings to provide vendor lock-in for at least the last 15 years. It used to be that in the event of a major outage or hardware failure you would need to issue additional debug commands to the effect of "I know this isn't your approved SFP but please just try it," if you were trying to replace a first party SFP with a third party one. TAC would more or less laugh at you and hang up if you sought support. I'm not sure if this product will _actually_ change any of that, but here's hoping.
- dheera 1y ago
  Is there anything here from Ubiquiti that can allow me to plug an AT&T Fiber directly into my Unifi switch and get rid of the BGW620 crap? One would think AT&T Fiber is so common in Ubiquiti's target market that they should make an official SFP module for this already. I know there are these XPS-GROUPON with "8311 firmware" SFP modules or something to bypass it but they cost $130+ and just wondering if there's something for <$50 before I pull the trigger. Also > 1000% lower pricing What the hell does that mean? If some other vendor sells it for $1000, you sell it for -$9000?
  - oakwhiz 1y ago
    If it's a PON then it's not Ethernet media. You would then be looking for an ONT SFP but those are far from ordinary SFPs. They are not just dumb devices, there is a lot going on inside them since they crammed a whole ONT into the SFP, and it communicates SFI back to the host equipment as if it would have been Ethernet. https://hack-gpon.org/ont-wo-mac/ https://hack-gpon.org/ont-wo-mac/ You would need the ISP to "adopt" your ONT into their network similar to what is observed with cable modems.
  - esseph 1y ago
    Consider that AT&T fiber device to be a literal component of their network in a way that is: adopted into the network management system, configured with appropriate settings for the particular network and network segment, maybe the device is named in a particular way for their billing/CRM solution, there may need to be e911 info configured in the device if they often do VoIP service, etc. In short, a gpon network is not quite the same as rolling to Walmart or whatever and just grabbing a replacement cable/dsl modem.
zdw 1y ago
Way more affordable than other solutions, like the $370 FS BOX from fs.com: https://www.fs.com/products/96657.html https://www.fs.com/products/96657.html Which, while it works, is the poster child for how NOT to develop desktop software as it's a really shitty .NET GUI app they shoehorned onto non-Windows platforms.
cillian64 1y ago
Isn't this exactly the same as flexoptix and FS have been doing for years?
- wmf 1y ago
  Ubiquiti doesn't invent anything; they make it cheap with a better UI.
  - phoronixrly 1y ago
    Better UI is stretching it a bit... Maybe for the amateur/enthusiast (homelab) market... I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad? And their clunky web UI is both limiting and slowing me down. Thanks, I'm perfectly fine with a console and simple LEDs.
    - theshrike79 1y ago
      That’s their exact niche.
      - einsteinx2 1y ago
        That and SMB’s. I’ve seen a lot of Ubiquity gear in small hotels, random small businesses, etc. Especially hotels, they seem to be super common (not big chains like Hilton or whatever but smaller boutique hotels).
    - aaronax 1y ago
      The UI for the fs.com programmer is merely "not bad". This could easily be great in comparison.
    - Sesse__ 1y ago
      > I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad? I find it mind-boggling that you can hardly buy _RAM_ anymore without programmable RGB LEDs, but that managed switches do not come with a per-port RGB LED to let me mark VLANs or cables that need replacements or whatever. Come on! A nice little square all around the port, please. Instead, we get the QR code plus an app that needs to talk with the cloud.
efitz 1y ago
Ubiquiti is awesome, but their IPv6 support leaves something to be desired. I have two ISPs, one with IPv6 (Starlink) and one without (Frontier). I want to use Frontier for all IPv4, with IPv4 failover to Starlink, and I want to use Starlink only for IPv6. UniFi networking won’t let you configure this, and I’m not going to SSH in to my UDM to manually set routes, that will be lost at next boot.
- LeoPanthera 1y ago
  I use Unifi for everything except my router, for which I use a Supermicro server running OPNsense. The Unifi gateways are just too limited.
  - gonesilent 1y ago
    Same setup for me. Unifi just has to many limits to advanced networking. Trying to force tunnels to just do basic routing.
- SkyPuncher 1y ago
  What’s the reasoning behind this? IP type seems like a weird segment since it’s essentially random what supports it right now.
- ectospheno 1y ago
  This is why my router isn’t ubiquiti. I like the switches and access points but my router will stay an OpenBSD box.
  - beala 1y ago
    I've only been using it for a couple months, but OPNsense (FreeBSD based) is such a solid piece of software. I installed it on a cheap Beelink mini PC with dual 2.5 gb NICs and an N150 processor (model EQ14), and it's been reliable and a pleasure to use as my router. I have a TP-Link Omada setup which I've been pleased with, but I feel no need to purchase one of their gateways.
  - 1y ago
whalesalad 1y ago
The same excitement I used to feel in the late '00s/early '10s for Apple is what I now feel for Unifi. I must have it all. They are capitalizing on autism better than anyone else in the history of the world, except for maybe Lego.
- nirav72 1y ago
  I just wish they had Apple level inventory on hand. Sometimes I’ve waited months for product or component to be back in stock. Then gone in matter of hours. Currently waiting on the G4 pro doorbell. (WiFi version).
xyst 1y ago
Anybody go through the trouble of outfitting their entire home/condo with fiber? Probably overkill for residential but I am also thinking it might need to be shrouded in EMT conduit
- ericd 1y ago
  I did a few rooms with fiber and copper for 10G, you don't need EMT, I found the blue flexible smurf tube perfect for this.
- simoncion 1y ago
  I've run fiber in my apartment, but it's running along baseboards in no-traffic areas and draped high up along wall and window moldings in nonzero-traffic ones. > I am also thinking it might need to be shrouded in EMT conduit Why would you need to run your fiber in metal pipe? EMI isn't a problem with fiber.
- elevation 1y ago
  I ran conduit for fiber to a couple rooms. Because pre-terminated cable assemblies [0] can be 10% of the cost of a more modular link, I used conduit large enough to pass QSFP28 with ease. May not be possible in every home but I'm happy with the result. [0]: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116804914246 https://www.ebay.com/itm/116804914246
- bobmcnamara 1y ago
  I did a 10 gig backbone between my three switches, and it's awesome. I didn't bother placing conduit - just tacked up preterminated lengths using coax clips and ordered a spare in case one of them ever goes down. I also have Wi-Fi mesh routers on each switch, which provides low speed redundancy until I have time to replace a fiber. I considered doing conduit - mostly I didn't because I don't expect to be in this house for too many more years. I don't know that I would run fiber to many more places - I did place a jumper through the wall for my wife's desktop if we wanted that in the future. But most consumer devices still seem to have rj45s, so I wouldn't want to put down a media converter for each. If this were a new build I might consider placing fiber and only lighting it as needed. This is the SFP DAS and fiber links in the current place: workstation - switchUpStairs - switchMainFloor - switchBasement - nas Edge devices are a mix between 100meg, 1gig, 2.5gig, so anything wired is limited mostly by its own nic or the ISP.
FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago
FiberStore (fs.com) have offered vendor neutral and reprogrammable SFPs and other modules for years (they're also dramatically less expensive).
- Someone1234 1y ago
  They're dramatically less expensive than original OEM, but UB clearly is targeting them with this release/aggressive pricing. It remains to be seen if UB's pricing (particularly $50 on the "Wizard") is just temp to get their foot in the door. I suspect it is; and we'll see the price increase later.
  - xienze 1y ago
    > I suspect it is; and we'll see the price increase later. I used to use Ubiquiti gear a number of years ago, but left when they started moving into an Apple-esque "prosumer" direction with corresponding price increases. That, and the constant bugs.
    - Someone1234 1y ago
      Just to add context: Ubiquiti's G3 Instant entry level camera was launched at $30 in 2021; which is $55 adjusted for inflation, but they're actually selling it for $80. The G4 Instant is $99 and G6 Instant is $180(!). Keep in mind this is their cheapest, entry level, offering in the camera space. Whereas if you contrast these prices with a Reolink E1 Pro which is $55 (with free shipping) and superior to the G4 Instant in every metric (lens quality, pixel count, PTZ, ONVIF support, et al). This essentially makes this a space that Ubiquiti is no longer interested in competing in.
      - xienze 1y ago
        One of the more egregious examples in my opinion is their rack mounted cable modem. I would love to get it but -- $279? No thanks.
dawnerd 1y ago
Looks cool but their text on that page is very clearly written by LLM and pretty exhausting to read.
donatj 1y ago
Early this year I started redoing the backbone of my home network with 10 gb. Some of it's fiber, some of it's 10 gb copper Ethernet. It's been genuinely frustrating the weird incompatibilities between switches and SFP+ modules. All my switches are MikroTik. My SFP+ modules are MikroTik, Ubiquiti, and some 3rd party ones from before I knew better. I've had modules that will only run at gigabit in one switch but will give me the full 10 gb in another. I've had modules that refuse to work in one MikroTik switch but will happily work in a different MikroTik switch. I've just had a world of pain. I've got everything basically working after months of fiddling and I'm inclined to just not… touch… anything.
- cmckn 1y ago
  Have you had any issues with cooling? I have a 10GbE SFP+ module (made by Ubiquiti) that seems to have issues with overheating, I had to remove it to keep my network up consistently.
  - samplatt 1y ago
    Copper 10gbe or fibre? All copper 10gbit devices produce a lot more heat than their 1gbit brethren. It's one of the reasons I switched to running fiber even to desktops at home; it's like 1/10th the heat output.
    - cmckn 1y ago
      Yep, copper! I’ve shied away from fiber at home just…because? But maybe for a trunk line it’s worth it. Thanks!
  - phongn 1y ago
    You want one of the latest ones rated for 100m (1.8W peak); the older 80m (2.5W) ones run hotter and the 30m ones are really hot.
- jabart 1y ago
  I've had great luck with 10gtek modules both with Mikrotik gear, with DACs, and one that is connected to an upstream juniper switch. I'm curious what modules were the most troublesom. * I will note that the 10gb sfp+ modules from 10gtek on a Mikrotik just don't work.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
karotte 1y ago
Interesting, that's pretty much the same thing I developed 6 years ago, though with a nicer display and QSFP slot: https://github.com/carrotIndustries/hubble/ https://github.com/carrotIndustries/hubble/
tripdout 1y ago
Does it only clone the EEPROM from one SFP module to another (so you need to physically posess both), or can you write arbitrary data? And does it only write to SFP modules from Ubiquiti (looking at you FS BOX)? Another tool you can use for this (without a nice UI) is the SFP Buddy: https://oopselectronics.com/product/SFPB https://oopselectronics.com/product/SFPB
qwertyuiop_ 1y ago
Just bought an SFP+ module that works with Cisco, Dell, Juniper but won't work with Unifi. Is this supposed to test all generic modules even the cheap Chinese brands ?
gojomo 1y ago
WTF is 'SFP'?
- tuetuopay 1y ago
  Small Form-factor Pluggable, a common optics format for 1 to 25Gbps networks. See the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Form-factor_Pluggable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Form-factor_Pluggable
raaxe 1y ago
The technical information for this thing seems to be light on the ground. What kind of diagnostic stats are provided? How is it figuring out true Rx/Tx power without a light meter? Also, reading "Just insert any brand’s SFP or QSFP module, select Copy, and insert any UI module to write the profile." suggests that this only works to reprogram UI optics
- dfex 1y ago
  > The technical information for this thing seems to be light on the ground. What kind of diagnostic stats are provided? How is it figuring out true Rx/Tx power without a light meter? The programming boxes (Ubiquiti's and others) get the Rx/Tx power from the DDM (Digital Diagnostics Module) built into most SFPs - it exposes the power levels from the receiver and transmitter inside the SFP and dumps it onto an SPI bus in a standardised way which is read by the box. > Just insert any brand’s SFP or QSFP module, select Copy, and insert any UI module to write the profile. It's pretty common for SFP rewrite boxes to only allow writing to that particular brand's SFP modules. It's partly a sales tactic, but also often vendor "genuine" optics will ship with a write-protected EEPROM (requiring a passcode) that stops them from being written to. If you're after something a little more "open", Reveltronics[1] make a barebones version along with software for brute-forcing EEPROM keys. [1] https://www.reveltronics.com/en/products/sfp-qsfp-xfp https://www.reveltronics.com/en/products/sfp-qsfp-xfp
encom 1y ago
>updates via the UniFi mobile app Oh come on!
sedatk 1y ago
Sold out already.

260 points by eXpl0it3r 1y ago

UniFi SFP modules work fine in Dell and Synology servers, so contrary to most of the anecdotes in this thread I’ve always just bought the 20 packs and had no issues. Didn’t need reprogramming. The quality is fine, oldest modules more than 5 years old and only 1 failure in 100.

locusm 1y ago
What nics are you using on the server end? Im looking at moving from 10Gbe copper to 25Gbe/100Gbe between Mikrotik switches and 14/15th gen Dell servers
- aetherspawn 1y ago
  Broadcom in nearly all cases (default Dell option, I think). Elsewhere, Intel.
  - locusm 1y ago
    You're not using DAC's ?
    - aetherspawn 1y ago
      No we buy our OM4 fiber cables for pennies on FS, so we stock a box of virtually every length in 1ft increments. DACs would be way more expensive to stock in every length.

weinzierl 1y ago

"The SFP Wizard is a pocket-sized powerhouse that checks the health of any SFP or QSFP module and programs them in just seconds." I never knew you could program them. How smart are they? Are there ones capable of running Linux?

Maxious 1y ago
Yes, eg. This one runs a ssh server https://www.glbb.jp/en/hardware/gs3/ https://www.glbb.jp/en/hardware/gs3/
- weinzierl 1y ago
  Thanks a lot, this is exactly what I have been looking for and it seems not even excessively priced. Only issue is that I did not find a distributor that ships it to Europe yet.
- deleted 11mo ago
  [deleted]
aksss 1y ago
Can you play Doom on an SFP?

jiveturkey 1y ago

Seems to have only basic usefulness as a diagnostic tool. > Instantly tests SFP and QSFP module health, including Rx/Tx power. Most SFP modules will fail due to heat, like LED bulbs. So an instant test is of course instantly useful, but not indicative of production-use SFP health. As a programming tool, of course it's awesome. Of course, in typical ubiquiti fashion, it's out of stock with no way to backorder.

VerifiedReports 1y ago

Why is this spam on the front page?

bedhead 1y ago

Most innovative and disruptive (and generally just profoundly interesting) company that hardly anyone knows about in the grand scheme of things.

carlgreene 1y ago

This is not for me as I'm not a professional network engineer, but I do want to say that Ubiquiti has made home networking SO fun for me. Everything truly "Just Works." My setup is definitely more on the prosumer side, but it's been so build out and inspect my network with their tools.

pshirshov 1y ago
> Everything truly "Just Works." Right. Just like 5Gbit PPPoE uplinks over VLAN. In fact there is no Ubiquiti router which can handle 1.5Gbit+ PPPoE for some reason. So, I have a mikrotik in front of UDMPM just to termiate PPPoE and I had to buy a IPv4 /29 subnet to avoid double not. Everything just works, sure.
- pshirshov 1y ago
  * double NAT.
v108 1y ago
Same experience for me. I am eyeballing the new NAS to play with soon.
xyst 1y ago
I don’t know about it "just works." Still have to perform a monthly reboot of equipment otherwise performance kind of drops off. Still 100X better than the competition though. My UDM has worked wonderfully with support for dual IPs and seamless failover
- simoncion 1y ago
  Yeah, my experience with the UAP-AC-LITE and -LR was that it would get wonky if not rebooted every month or so. That (combined with the realization that its software load is pretty much just OpenWRT with the serial numbers filed off) caused me to dump the official firmware and switch to OpenWRT. I was quite a lot happier after the switch, as I didn't have to hassle with UniFi and my APs stopped needing roughly-monthly reboots.

joelccr 1y ago

I love this. However, I'm very interested to see the maths on "offering up to 1000% savings compared to industry standards"

BonoboIO 1y ago
The more you buy the more you save
mystifyingpoi 1y ago
infinite money glitch
wrs 1y ago
It’s simple, they pay you 9X the standard industry price for each one you take…?
OliverGuy 1y ago
Cisco etc have truly insane pricing on optics, like $1000 for something generic that cost $20-50 from fs.com etc. The only difference is how it presents itself to the switch (ie, says its a Cisco optic), not actual difference in performance. Often Cisco/etc will refuse support cases if you aren't using their optics, if the switches/routers even work with them in the first case, which isn't a given as often they'll refuse to work with non branded optics. Really just a money grab by the big network vendors. This box allows you to flash the firmware on the optic to say its from whatever brand you want (Cisco, Dell, Aruba, Juniper etc) so that you can get it to work in that companies switch/router. For most SMEs, the brand of optics makes no difference. Maybe keep a few legit branded ones around for debugging and when you need to raise a support case. But otherwise, the generic ones flashed to look like branded ones work just fine.
- cturner 1y ago
  "The only difference is how it presents itself to the switch (ie, says its a Cisco optic), not actual difference in performance." That's not the only difference. I have had situations where I ran equivalent optics side-by-side, and then touched one and it was hot, and touched the other and it was not hot. They do contain different components. In the case of that test - the atgbics SFP was cool, and the other clone unit was hot. My dealer was able to get me in contact with someone technical at atgbics (the cool-running unit) who explained the difference, "The DSP might be say 13nm where more modern more expensive ones are 5nm." But you definitely do not need to pay for "genuine" optics to get high-reliability optics. You just need to shop around the clones - atgbics is a clone.

bananapub 1y ago

some context that's perhaps not obvious to non-networking people: essentially all networking hardware above 1G doesn't have rj45 or fibre ports in it, it has holes that you put modules in, "SFP+" modules for 10G, "SFP28" for 28gig networking, etc. most manufacturers of devices - the things with the holes, NICs, switches, routers - make their devices only officially work with modules that claim to be manufactured by that same manufacturer. so, you can either buy modules from that manufacturer, or buy modules from some other company (e.g. fs.com, 10gtek) who programs the modules to claim that they are from that manufacturer. "officially" can mean anything from "we won't help you if you open a support case" to "the device will make a whiney log message on boot if it's not one of our modules" to "it simply doesn't work unless you hack an EEPROM on the device". this is somewhat annoying, since it means you need to buy specific modules for specific devices, you can't just keep a pile of SFP+ 10G-LR modules around, you need some "Intel SFP+ 10G-LR" and some "Cisco SFP+ 10G-LR", etc. so, these third party manufacturers of the modules, like fs.com and 10gtek, will also sell you programmers for the modules, which lets you change what manufacturer the module claims made it. these programmers have been, historically and hilariously, tied to the actual manufacturer of the modules! so you can buy some 10G-LR SFP+ modules from fs.com and a fs.com programmer to set make some "Intel" and some "Cisco", but if you buy some 10gtek 10G-LR modules, you would need to buy a 10gtek programmer. ~so, this device that Ubiquiti has made is the meta-programmer - it can apparently program any module, from any actual manufacturer, to claim to be made by any manufacturer.~ edit: the post seems deliberately confusing - what they are actually selling is a device that can re-program Ubiquiti SFP+ modules by copying the manufacturer code from another SFP+ module that you insert into the programmer. so it's the same as what fs.com and all the other sell, but Ubiquiti's is ~1/10th the price (e.g. https://www.fs.com/uk/c/fs-box-3389 https://www.fs.com/uk/c/fs-box-3389).

superice 1y ago
Minor pedantic correction: 2.5gbit, 5gbit and 10gbit RJ45 is getting more affordable and more common, and for short runs should run over CAT 6 and CAT 6a fine, and plenty of reports it does ok on short runs even on CAT 5e. With devices like the USW Flex Mini 2.5 at ~50-60 EUR / USD, you can affordably outfit your home for higher than gigabit speeds without rewiring everything with new CAT cable or fiber. Over here in NL we now get more and more access to >1gbps speeds, the office of my small business for instance has a 4gbps connection, and the ISP offers up to 8gbps on a standard consumer / small business package. We're in the process of upgrading our gear to take advantage of that. With WiFi 7 we've seen some real world throughput speeds of 1800-2000mbps going through a Ubiquiti U7 Pro straight to the ISP supplied router. I wasn't really keeping up with networking gear, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked into this stuff recently and figured out the gear has just magically gotten better and running 2.5gbit everywhere is surprisingly easy.

LostSoulUniFi 1y ago

This will make the life soo easy for many

headwayoldest 1y ago

For those outside the IT/networking realms, SFP use uniform connectors for both the networking device and the fiber cable, but the major vendors (Cisco and friends) have used firmware flags and settings to provide vendor lock-in for at least the last 15 years. It used to be that in the event of a major outage or hardware failure you would need to issue additional debug commands to the effect of "I know this isn't your approved SFP but please just try it," if you were trying to replace a first party SFP with a third party one. TAC would more or less laugh at you and hang up if you sought support. I'm not sure if this product will _actually_ change any of that, but here's hoping.

dheera 1y ago
Is there anything here from Ubiquiti that can allow me to plug an AT&T Fiber directly into my Unifi switch and get rid of the BGW620 crap? One would think AT&T Fiber is so common in Ubiquiti's target market that they should make an official SFP module for this already. I know there are these XPS-GROUPON with "8311 firmware" SFP modules or something to bypass it but they cost $130+ and just wondering if there's something for <$50 before I pull the trigger. Also > 1000% lower pricing What the hell does that mean? If some other vendor sells it for $1000, you sell it for -$9000?
- oakwhiz 1y ago
  If it's a PON then it's not Ethernet media. You would then be looking for an ONT SFP but those are far from ordinary SFPs. They are not just dumb devices, there is a lot going on inside them since they crammed a whole ONT into the SFP, and it communicates SFI back to the host equipment as if it would have been Ethernet. https://hack-gpon.org/ont-wo-mac/ https://hack-gpon.org/ont-wo-mac/ You would need the ISP to "adopt" your ONT into their network similar to what is observed with cable modems.
- esseph 1y ago
  Consider that AT&T fiber device to be a literal component of their network in a way that is: adopted into the network management system, configured with appropriate settings for the particular network and network segment, maybe the device is named in a particular way for their billing/CRM solution, there may need to be e911 info configured in the device if they often do VoIP service, etc. In short, a gpon network is not quite the same as rolling to Walmart or whatever and just grabbing a replacement cable/dsl modem.

zdw 1y ago

Way more affordable than other solutions, like the $370 FS BOX from fs.com: https://www.fs.com/products/96657.html https://www.fs.com/products/96657.html Which, while it works, is the poster child for how NOT to develop desktop software as it's a really shitty .NET GUI app they shoehorned onto non-Windows platforms.

cillian64 1y ago

Isn't this exactly the same as flexoptix and FS have been doing for years?

wmf 1y ago
Ubiquiti doesn't invent anything; they make it cheap with a better UI.
- phoronixrly 1y ago
  Better UI is stretching it a bit... Maybe for the amateur/enthusiast (homelab) market... I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad? And their clunky web UI is both limiting and slowing me down. Thanks, I'm perfectly fine with a console and simple LEDs.
  - theshrike79 1y ago
    That’s their exact niche.
    - einsteinx2 1y ago
      That and SMB’s. I’ve seen a lot of Ubiquity gear in small hotels, random small businesses, etc. Especially hotels, they seem to be super common (not big chains like Hilton or whatever but smaller boutique hotels).
  - aaronax 1y ago
    The UI for the fs.com programmer is merely "not bad". This could easily be great in comparison.
  - Sesse__ 1y ago
    > I certainly don't need or want their rack augmented reality... 'feature'? fad? I find it mind-boggling that you can hardly buy _RAM_ anymore without programmable RGB LEDs, but that managed switches do not come with a per-port RGB LED to let me mark VLANs or cables that need replacements or whatever. Come on! A nice little square all around the port, please. Instead, we get the QR code plus an app that needs to talk with the cloud.

efitz 1y ago

Ubiquiti is awesome, but their IPv6 support leaves something to be desired. I have two ISPs, one with IPv6 (Starlink) and one without (Frontier). I want to use Frontier for all IPv4, with IPv4 failover to Starlink, and I want to use Starlink only for IPv6. UniFi networking won’t let you configure this, and I’m not going to SSH in to my UDM to manually set routes, that will be lost at next boot.

LeoPanthera 1y ago
I use Unifi for everything except my router, for which I use a Supermicro server running OPNsense. The Unifi gateways are just too limited.
- gonesilent 1y ago
  Same setup for me. Unifi just has to many limits to advanced networking. Trying to force tunnels to just do basic routing.
SkyPuncher 1y ago
What’s the reasoning behind this? IP type seems like a weird segment since it’s essentially random what supports it right now.
ectospheno 1y ago
This is why my router isn’t ubiquiti. I like the switches and access points but my router will stay an OpenBSD box.
- beala 1y ago
  I've only been using it for a couple months, but OPNsense (FreeBSD based) is such a solid piece of software. I installed it on a cheap Beelink mini PC with dual 2.5 gb NICs and an N150 processor (model EQ14), and it's been reliable and a pleasure to use as my router. I have a TP-Link Omada setup which I've been pleased with, but I feel no need to purchase one of their gateways.
- 1y ago

whalesalad 1y ago

The same excitement I used to feel in the late '00s/early '10s for Apple is what I now feel for Unifi. I must have it all. They are capitalizing on autism better than anyone else in the history of the world, except for maybe Lego.

nirav72 1y ago
I just wish they had Apple level inventory on hand. Sometimes I’ve waited months for product or component to be back in stock. Then gone in matter of hours. Currently waiting on the G4 pro doorbell. (WiFi version).

xyst 1y ago

Anybody go through the trouble of outfitting their entire home/condo with fiber? Probably overkill for residential but I am also thinking it might need to be shrouded in EMT conduit

ericd 1y ago
I did a few rooms with fiber and copper for 10G, you don't need EMT, I found the blue flexible smurf tube perfect for this.
simoncion 1y ago
I've run fiber in my apartment, but it's running along baseboards in no-traffic areas and draped high up along wall and window moldings in nonzero-traffic ones. > I am also thinking it might need to be shrouded in EMT conduit Why would you need to run your fiber in metal pipe? EMI isn't a problem with fiber.
elevation 1y ago
I ran conduit for fiber to a couple rooms. Because pre-terminated cable assemblies [0] can be 10% of the cost of a more modular link, I used conduit large enough to pass QSFP28 with ease. May not be possible in every home but I'm happy with the result. [0]: https://www.ebay.com/itm/116804914246 https://www.ebay.com/itm/116804914246
bobmcnamara 1y ago
I did a 10 gig backbone between my three switches, and it's awesome. I didn't bother placing conduit - just tacked up preterminated lengths using coax clips and ordered a spare in case one of them ever goes down. I also have Wi-Fi mesh routers on each switch, which provides low speed redundancy until I have time to replace a fiber. I considered doing conduit - mostly I didn't because I don't expect to be in this house for too many more years. I don't know that I would run fiber to many more places - I did place a jumper through the wall for my wife's desktop if we wanted that in the future. But most consumer devices still seem to have rj45s, so I wouldn't want to put down a media converter for each. If this were a new build I might consider placing fiber and only lighting it as needed. This is the SFP DAS and fiber links in the current place: workstation - switchUpStairs - switchMainFloor - switchBasement - nas Edge devices are a mix between 100meg, 1gig, 2.5gig, so anything wired is limited mostly by its own nic or the ISP.

FuriouslyAdrift 1y ago

FiberStore (fs.com) have offered vendor neutral and reprogrammable SFPs and other modules for years (they're also dramatically less expensive).

Someone1234 1y ago
They're dramatically less expensive than original OEM, but UB clearly is targeting them with this release/aggressive pricing. It remains to be seen if UB's pricing (particularly $50 on the "Wizard") is just temp to get their foot in the door. I suspect it is; and we'll see the price increase later.
- xienze 1y ago
  > I suspect it is; and we'll see the price increase later. I used to use Ubiquiti gear a number of years ago, but left when they started moving into an Apple-esque "prosumer" direction with corresponding price increases. That, and the constant bugs.
  - Someone1234 1y ago
    Just to add context: Ubiquiti's G3 Instant entry level camera was launched at $30 in 2021; which is $55 adjusted for inflation, but they're actually selling it for $80. The G4 Instant is $99 and G6 Instant is $180(!). Keep in mind this is their cheapest, entry level, offering in the camera space. Whereas if you contrast these prices with a Reolink E1 Pro which is $55 (with free shipping) and superior to the G4 Instant in every metric (lens quality, pixel count, PTZ, ONVIF support, et al). This essentially makes this a space that Ubiquiti is no longer interested in competing in.
    - xienze 1y ago
      One of the more egregious examples in my opinion is their rack mounted cable modem. I would love to get it but -- $279? No thanks.

dawnerd 1y ago

Looks cool but their text on that page is very clearly written by LLM and pretty exhausting to read.

donatj 1y ago

Early this year I started redoing the backbone of my home network with 10 gb. Some of it's fiber, some of it's 10 gb copper Ethernet. It's been genuinely frustrating the weird incompatibilities between switches and SFP+ modules. All my switches are MikroTik. My SFP+ modules are MikroTik, Ubiquiti, and some 3rd party ones from before I knew better. I've had modules that will only run at gigabit in one switch but will give me the full 10 gb in another. I've had modules that refuse to work in one MikroTik switch but will happily work in a different MikroTik switch. I've just had a world of pain. I've got everything basically working after months of fiddling and I'm inclined to just not… touch… anything.

cmckn 1y ago
Have you had any issues with cooling? I have a 10GbE SFP+ module (made by Ubiquiti) that seems to have issues with overheating, I had to remove it to keep my network up consistently.
- samplatt 1y ago
  Copper 10gbe or fibre? All copper 10gbit devices produce a lot more heat than their 1gbit brethren. It's one of the reasons I switched to running fiber even to desktops at home; it's like 1/10th the heat output.
  - cmckn 1y ago
    Yep, copper! I’ve shied away from fiber at home just…because? But maybe for a trunk line it’s worth it. Thanks!
- phongn 1y ago
  You want one of the latest ones rated for 100m (1.8W peak); the older 80m (2.5W) ones run hotter and the 30m ones are really hot.
jabart 1y ago
I've had great luck with 10gtek modules both with Mikrotik gear, with DACs, and one that is connected to an upstream juniper switch. I'm curious what modules were the most troublesom. * I will note that the 10gb sfp+ modules from 10gtek on a Mikrotik just don't work.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

karotte 1y ago

Interesting, that's pretty much the same thing I developed 6 years ago, though with a nicer display and QSFP slot: https://github.com/carrotIndustries/hubble/ https://github.com/carrotIndustries/hubble/

tripdout 1y ago

Does it only clone the EEPROM from one SFP module to another (so you need to physically posess both), or can you write arbitrary data? And does it only write to SFP modules from Ubiquiti (looking at you FS BOX)? Another tool you can use for this (without a nice UI) is the SFP Buddy: https://oopselectronics.com/product/SFPB https://oopselectronics.com/product/SFPB

qwertyuiop_ 1y ago

Just bought an SFP+ module that works with Cisco, Dell, Juniper but won't work with Unifi. Is this supposed to test all generic modules even the cheap Chinese brands ?

gojomo 1y ago

WTF is 'SFP'?

tuetuopay 1y ago
Small Form-factor Pluggable, a common optics format for 1 to 25Gbps networks. See the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Form-factor_Pluggable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Form-factor_Pluggable

raaxe 1y ago

The technical information for this thing seems to be light on the ground. What kind of diagnostic stats are provided? How is it figuring out true Rx/Tx power without a light meter? Also, reading "Just insert any brand’s SFP or QSFP module, select Copy, and insert any UI module to write the profile." suggests that this only works to reprogram UI optics

dfex 1y ago
> The technical information for this thing seems to be light on the ground. What kind of diagnostic stats are provided? How is it figuring out true Rx/Tx power without a light meter? The programming boxes (Ubiquiti's and others) get the Rx/Tx power from the DDM (Digital Diagnostics Module) built into most SFPs - it exposes the power levels from the receiver and transmitter inside the SFP and dumps it onto an SPI bus in a standardised way which is read by the box. > Just insert any brand’s SFP or QSFP module, select Copy, and insert any UI module to write the profile. It's pretty common for SFP rewrite boxes to only allow writing to that particular brand's SFP modules. It's partly a sales tactic, but also often vendor "genuine" optics will ship with a write-protected EEPROM (requiring a passcode) that stops them from being written to. If you're after something a little more "open", Reveltronics[1] make a barebones version along with software for brute-forcing EEPROM keys. [1] https://www.reveltronics.com/en/products/sfp-qsfp-xfp https://www.reveltronics.com/en/products/sfp-qsfp-xfp

encom 1y ago

>updates via the UniFi mobile app Oh come on!

sedatk 1y ago

Sold out already.