Chelsio Compatible SFP Trancievers?

Ryan Haver

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Jul 6, 2013
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I found a Chelsio T540-CR on eBay for $50 and of course, I had to buy it. Now I am looking for some compatible trancievers or DAC cables.

Does anyone have a list of compatible Chelsio SFP transceivers? I'm thinking of buying from fs.com with Chelsio firmware flashed on them, but wondering if anyone has experience with any other brands working well with their Chelsio NICs.

I currently have a QFSP to SFP+ breakout DAC cable, but the SFP+ side is all Intel compatible. I haven't found anything online regarding interoperability between Chelsio NICs and Intel SFPs. Is anyone using Intel SFPs with their Chelsio NICs in FreeNAS?
 

blanchet

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Apr 17, 2018
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If it may help:

my iXsystems FreeNAS-certified server was delivered with a Chelsio T520-SO-CR NIC and JDSU transceivers. The model is JDSU PLRXPLSCS4342B

Code:
   
media: Ethernet 10Gbase-SR <full-duplex,rxpause,txpause>
status: active
plugged: SFP/SFP+/SFP28 10G Base-SR (LC)
vendor: JDSU PN: PLRXPLSCS4342B SN: ________ DATE: 2017-11-04
module temperature: 36.38 C Voltage: 3.26 Volts
RX: 0.48 mW (-3.15 dBm) TX: 0.60 mW (-2.19 dBm)


I have also tried a DELL DAC SFP+ cable with this Chelsio NIC and it worked well.
 

Ryan Haver

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Jul 6, 2013
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@blanchet thanks for your reply. I think the JDSU transceivers are supposed to be OEM so that makes sense. It's really good to know that the Dell DAC cables work. My main concern is if generic transceivers will perform well or not. I think I'll test with what I have and report back with results if there is anything interesting to report.
 
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My experience with some older Chelsio NIC's (T520, I think) was that they wanted Chelsio branded optics. The T580 I am using now seems less particular on the QSFP's. If you are mixing brands of servers and switches, it is much easier to give each side what it wants with fiber optic than it is with DAC cables.
 

Mlovelace

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Aug 19, 2014
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I found a Chelsio T540-CR on eBay for $50 and of course, I had to buy it. Now I am looking for some compatible trancievers or DAC cables.

Does anyone have a list of compatible Chelsio SFP transceivers? I'm thinking of buying from fs.com with Chelsio firmware flashed on them, but wondering if anyone has experience with any other brands working well with their Chelsio NICs.

I currently have a QFSP to SFP+ breakout DAC cable, but the SFP+ side is all Intel compatible. I haven't found anything online regarding interoperability between Chelsio NICs and Intel SFPs. Is anyone using Intel SFPs with their Chelsio NICs in FreeNAS?
I've used Finisar, Fiber Store and Axiom SR transceivers in Chelsio T420-CR, T520-CR and T540-CR cards without issues. I think the finisar is the cheapest on ebay at the moment.
 

danb35

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I buy my SFP+ optics at fs.com. $18 ea. (less in quantity) for compatible optics for just about anyone. Never had a problem with them in my Chelsio cards, Intel cards, or Dell or Mikrotik switches.
Edit: link:
Looks like Chelsio may take a custom order right now, though there's no extra charge for that.
 
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Ryan Haver

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Jul 6, 2013
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I also buy from fs.com. I did test my existing intel and finisar optics and they seem to work fine, but in an effort to ensure performance and compatibility I ended up buying a custom DAC breakout cable from FS.com with brocade compatible QSFP+ on the switch side and 4 chelsio compatible SFP+ on the server side.
 

Gcon

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Aug 1, 2015
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As for DACS my newly-purchased T520-CR didn't like the 10Gtek 3 meter DAC cable model "CAB-10GSFP-P3M". I have been using that model DAC fine between Ubiquiti ES-16-XG and intel X520-DA2 and intel X710-DA2 cards, so was pretty disappointed when I found out the Chelsio said nyet to that. I use them as they are on the EdgeSwitch - SFP/SFP+ and DAC Compatibility List (here). Unfortunately that only accounts for the compatibility at one end.

Web searching for Chelsio DAC compatibility I get to a PDF which says that the 10Gig T5 adapters are only compatible (officially) with the Chelsio TAPCABLE1M, TAPCABLE3M and TAPCABLE5M passive SFP+ twinax DAC cables. None of those are listed on the EdgeSwitch compatibility guide or the associated compatibility thread. I ordered one regardless to see if it'll work in the ES-16-XG (can't hurt to try).

I've also ordered a Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU3M DAC to see if the Chelsio T520-CR likes that. Probably not but I'll give it a go. The UBNT ES-16-XG should like it.

I've gone the optical route with SR transcievers for now, while waiting for those two other DAC cables (Chelsio and Cisco) to show up.

EDIT: The Chelsio ended up working with the 10Gtek DAC cable after all. It just doesn't bring up the port up until the drivers and/or firmware loads in TrueNAS.
 
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NugentS

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danb35

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Prices are creeping up at fs.com; it's now $20 ea. for their optics. And Chelsio is still a custom order (though there's still no additional charge for that). But they continue to work flawlessly for me.
 

Mlovelace

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I originally recommend Fiber Store to this forum back in April 2016, and they have remained my go to since. I've referred dozens of people to them and they all have had exceedingly positive results.
 
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