Dust Covers for Spare ports in ME3400 and ME3600 Cisco Switches

[tgprasant1]

I have several 100s of Me3400 and Me3600 switches installed in my sites. My client is requesting that the spare ports without SFPs need to be covered up using dust cover caps. These switches do not come with dust cover caps. I had previously read that if dust covers caps were to be put for these spare ports, the switches would overheat and fail. What is the best option here?

Thank you.

Tarun

[Reza Sharifi]

These switches are carrier switches and come with multiple power supplies and fans.  I don't think they exhaust heat from the SFP slots. If what you red about dust cover causing overheat than if you fill up the slot with SFPs it will do the same. If you have physical access to one you can find out where the heat gets exhausted.

HTH
 

[tgprasant1]

I had read this previously from an Employee of Cisco that dust covers can have an adverse effect on the switch due to over heating.

Now, is ti necessary to cover the ports up with dust covers? I have not seen a single cisco switch that comes with dust covers for their sfp ports. I have only seen them on the SFP modules. If it was essential to cover these ports up, wouldn't cisco actually provide the dust caps with the ports?

Thanks

Tarun