connecting N5K and Brocade CNA 1860

[mile.ljepojevic]

Tried 1, 3 and 7 m Cisco twinax cables, but Brocade is always reporting unsupported SFP. What should be used? Is there any twinax vendor that's is supported by both?

Thanks.

[rewilkin]

Are you using a black twinax cable with a fused sfp on each end?

Sent from Cisco Technical Support iPhone App

[mile.ljepojevic]

Yes. Standard Cisco twinax cable. We tried passive and active ones, still not working.

I would like to know if anyone had connected Brocade CNA and N5K, and with what.

[rewilkin]

mile,

Here is your answer.

http://brasstacksblog.typepad.com/brass-tacks/2010/12/should-i-use-optical-fiber-or-twinax-cable.html

Hope this helps.

[mile.ljepojevic]

yeah, I found that link to and this part is disturbing:

"If you want to connect a Brocade CNA to a Cisco ToR switch (Nexus), you could use the EMC active twinax cable.  Otherwise, you'll need to use optical since the Cisco switch will log an error if you attempt to use the Brocade cable."

But going optical is very expensive, we have over 20 servers and we would need 40 SFP+ for CNA and 40 SFP+ for Cisco...

I need someone who actually have  up and running connection btw Brocade CNA and N5K to share what he used