Attaching hosts at 40G over 2-strand OM4 cable plant

[stuartkendrick]

I currently service high-end workstations over an OM4 cable plant -- 2-strand / LC connectors plugged into Intel X520-SR1 NICs on the host side and Nexus 93180YC-EX on the switch side (in the IDFs)

I want to migrate these to 40G ... and I'm beginning to think that no one offers a solution for this

* If I had an MPIO OM4 cable plant (i.e. 8 or 12 strands per station), then I could use Intel XL710-QDA1 NICs (host-side) and QSFP-40G-SR transceivers (switch-side)

* If I had a single-mode cable plant, several options

* If the distances were way shorter, then twinax (Direct Attach or Active Optical Cabling) would be available

* The N9K support Cisco's QSFP-40G-BDSR ... but I don't see that any NIC manufacturer supports this

Anyone have tips on doing 40G over multi-mode?

--sk

[Reza Sharifi]

Anyone have tips on doing 40G over multi-mode?

40Gig can work over multi-mode or single mode depending on the optic you use (see link) for the switch side optic.

https://www.fs.com/products/36157.html

So long as  XL710-QDA1 NICs supports MPO, this optic can connect the switch to the host if you have the proper cabling with MPO connectors in place.

The N9K support Cisco's QSFP-40G-BDSR ... but I don't see that any NIC manufacturer supports this

QSFP-40G-BDSR is a Cisco propitiatory optic and can only work on Cisco Nexus switches and not between Cisco and another vendor.

HTH