My problem is that I already found the “Cisco Gigabit Ethernet Transceiver Modules Compatibility Matrix” and the “ISR 4000 Compatibility Matrix Link” etc. pages that your link links to before I posted my question, BUT, they do not list the SG500’s SPFs on either page.
Sure, I can buy the 1GB optical interfaces for each unit - but I don’t see anything written down, or even implied, on those links that says ‘SFP unit from family/product line A’ works with ‘SFP unit from family/product line B.’ - Unless they are using a different name, the SG500’s SPFs are not even listed on those links.
One would think that a “ISR 4000 Compatibility Matrix” would list each individual 4000 Series SPFs on one side while listing each individual SPF from whatever family/product line (including their own) that said ‘each individual 4321/4000 Series SPF’ are compatible with on the other side.
I need to KNOW that they will fully work, not just that the lasers will sync with each other at the same speed. I have no problem going back to 1980 and learning how to issue script commands through a terminal interface, BUT, as a small business dropping a few hundred bucks on a glorified patch cable - I have to be right the first time I issue the PO. (I’m actually hot because I just found out this morning as I’ve reading the documents that various searches have returned, that the non-X SG500s are not fully level 3 compatible as I was led to believe. “Yes, it’s a Level 3 switch” I was told when I asked “Is the SG500-52P a Level 3 switch?” when I called Cisco pre-sales support a few months ago.
So, to give more details:
Right now, I only need a 3' cable as that the switch is on the top of the rack and the router is just below it above the patch panel strips (I got 4Us - switch, router, 2 x Panduit 24 port patch panel.) One foot would do the trick, but I like a little extra cable in case I have to move things/make changes (like putting the router on the bottom in case there is a heat build-up issue between it and the switch.)
In the future, aka "as soon as I can convince the boss to spring for a 4321 at the largest store location" (they were the first location to get a SG500 because of the 10+ PoE phones and the 16 PoE cameras that I upgraded that location to.) I’ll need to use one of those premade 100' to 150' fiber optic cables. I did put an extra Cat 6 run between the main floor wiring closet and telco services section in the server/computer room - so copper is an option for that location. (Am also considering putting a SG500-24P in that same server/computer room because most of the computers are down there in the basement at that location and they are currently running off a cheap 100MB D-Link switch that is plugged into one of the existing router’s ports.)
But that is a future question: linking SG500-52P to SG500-24P spanning the Vlans across the two, and then linking the Vlans to the 4321.
Thanx in advance.
P.S. What I really really care about is the Vlans because if I can put the debit/credit terminals on their own Vlan I can then install public and private WiFi in the stores. (I know that some people cheat, aka violate the terms and conditions, and have their debit/credit terminal traffic running across the same network as their private (and probably public) WiFi, but I’m not that guy who takes those kinds of risks with our customers and the a risk of having debit/credit processing services shut off.)
The problem is that the "budget" IP Telco provider who rents us their router (made/designed by some Lithuanian company) has not, for over 6 months, after repeated requests, managed to turn those router ports into Vlan ports (I would have just run a wire from a port on each Vlan grouping on the SG500 to a port on their router and I would not be here if that were the case) - And whenever we find that a TCP port that needs opening, later we find out the hard way that another TCP port that was open/working is no longer working after they "fixed" the TCP port that we needed opened.
I have convinced the boss that we should take control of our own internal IP phones’ infrastructure, aka get routers that we have the passwords to (I have also been asking for a read-only ID on their router so I can least look to see what might be going wrong), in the existing locations that have IP Phones and in the future as we continue to convert other locations over. He’s okay with paying the premium for Cisco because at the main location, I installed an SF300-24 along with whatever the non-WiFi router in that family was that sold for around $500 at the time, has not had a single problem over the last 10 years 24/7/365 - no rebooting needed etc.
