topic Re: Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor? in ONTAP Hardware

Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor?

aborzenkov — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:02:54 GMT

I am listening training FAS3200 Series Troubleshooting and slide 15 of module 1 has quite interesting statement:

the switch and cable must come from the same vendor

Is it really hard requirement? Is it specified anywhere else? Ot is it just my English (I interpret "must" as hard requirement; while slide itself is titled "Best practices", so IMHO "should" would be more appropriate).

Re: Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor?

joseph_harlan — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:14:02 GMT

I believe that is correct. We have seen in some cases where twinax cables appear to run some microcode or something similar on them that check the vendor of the switch and will fail if it is not as expected. This is not to say that someone out there doesn't make a cable that plays well with others, but we have not seen them. The key here though is to remember that NetApp Global Support may require certain cables and switch combinations depending on the devices and configurations using them, else you risk being unsupported. Be sure to check the compatibility guide and follow the current requirements for all of your configurations and designs.

Re: Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor?

aborzenkov — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 07:15:29 GMT

I became curious and tried to check some well known vendors. I failed to find any Twinax interoperability statement on Brocade site. As for Cisco, it explicitly supports Twinax cables from multiple vendors (see as example http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps10110/data_sheet_c78-568589.html) as well as offering reasonable support for non-certified cables.

Be sure to check the compatibility guide

Would you please provide a link to NetApp compatibility guide for Twinax cables?

Re: Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor?

rdenyer001 — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 06:10:32 GMT

Here is some experience I have recently had

We ordered two Brocade TX24 10GbE switches along with plenty of Brocade cables. (We distribute Brocade)

Installed with NetApp FAS3140A with 10GbE adapters, and HP Servers with HP 10GbE cards - HP Servers refused to bring up connection, ended up having to order HP Twinax cables to get the solution working.

Brocade switch does not seem to be affected. FAS to Brocade switch with Brocade cable is OK.

A reseller of ours was trying to connect an IBM Blade Center to a 10GbE CISCO environment with the IBM CNA (believe its a re-badged Brocade) with CISCO cables - would not work - sent them a couple of Brocade cables and they worked.

Have not been able to find any definitive document that explains what goes with what yet

If you add a 10GbE Adapter in Partner Edge, it now asks you to specify if you want CISCO or Brocade cables.

I did post a comment on Mike McNamara's Blog but have not yet seen any more comments on this area. Here is the link to the blog http://blogs.netapp.com/sanbytes/2010/11/rockin-in-nawlins-10-gigabit-40-gigabit-and-100-gigabit-ethernet-at-sc10.html

Re: Must 10G Twinax cable and switch really come from the same vendor?

rdenyer001 — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:05:11 GMT

Hi All,

Got an update from Mike McNamara, he has forwarded a white paper,

SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Interoperability Demonstration White

In summary

The 10GSFP+Cu interoperability demonstration and this white paper are the result of collaboration

between a broad set of semiconductor, system, and cable vendors. Full matrix interoperability to the

limits of the specification impressively demonstrated that the specification was adequately developed.

The favorable results also give IT managers a high degree of confidence that an interoperable and

highly-available 10 Gigabit Ethernet network can be achieved when using equipment from multiple

vendors with SFP+ host ports and SFP+ cable assemblies that are compliant to SFF-8431.

Full White Paper is attached.

Regards,

Richard