Cheap HPE stuff (modules, AOCs, DACs, cables), smells fishy to you?

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tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
HPE AJ838A LC/LC FC 30m Multi-mode OM3 Cable (491028-001) | eBay check out his other items like brand new MM SFP for 3 usd, and others. It feels like genuine hpe stuff shouldn't cost this cheap. There's even offer button available. 30m om3 lc/lc cable is us $8.9 with offer available. 10+ available. Am i missing something? I bought few om3 1 to 5m cables on amazon for starters, they were like over 10 usd each, and not a famous brand like hpe.
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
Crazy how good it's all packaged. Rarely see such a good work. And everything looks pretty much authentic. I still need to test it but it's just so surprising... how low can i roll the ball?
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
On the other hand, those 4 transceivers i got for 3 usd each are clearly fake, they don't look like anything on google by searching for JD118B... When i put those into my 2530 this is what i see(port 10 is fs hpe-coded module)

Code:
swE(config)# show interfaces transceiver detail

Transceiver in 10
   Interface Index    : 10 
   Type               : 1000SX         
   Model              : J4858D 
   Connector Type     : LC                             
   Wavelength         : 850nm                           
   Transfer Distance  : 550m (50um), 300m (62.5um),                     
   Diagnostic Support : DOM   
   Serial Number      : F2000000000    <-- redacted

 Status
   Temperature : 33.472C         
   Voltage     : 3.2838V         
   Tx Bias     : 12.308mA       
   Tx Power    : 0.2784mW, -5.554dBm     
   Rx Power    : 0.0134mW, -18.728dBm   <-- this is because it's actually using SM fiber not MM as supposed to, but no TX/RX errors so i left it as is lol

swE(config)# show interfaces transceiver ethernet 9

Transceiver Technical Information:

                     Product      Serial             Part
 Port    Type        Number       Number             Number
 ------- ----------- ------------ ------------------ ----------
 9          ??         ??         unsupported                 


The following transceivers have extra information:
 Port #       Message   
 --------     -------------------------------------
 Port   9     Not an HP Networking Transceiver. Please go to:     
         www.hp.com/rnd/device_help/2_inform for more info.


swE(config)#
Then also, the 7m AOCs i received they do work, and not that i bought them for hpe hardware in particular, rather it was a cheap and supposedly "branded" offer, they actually identify themselves as vendor AVAGO , model number afbr-7qer07z-hp1 which also seems weird. Pictures in later post. I'll also test these sfps in a regular NIC a bit later.
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
Not sure what exactly is wrong here but m31 is for fs hp-coded module, and m32 is this "hpe" module. Neither shows up a vendor name of HP or anything but maybe the P/N is the important thing here. Anyways, i assume this isn't authentic even though it kinda looks like one.
Code:
root@mlx3tools:~# ethtool -m m31 | grep Vendor
    Vendor name                               : FS
    Vendor OUI                                : 00:00:00
    Vendor PN                                 : SFP1G-SX-85
    Vendor rev                                : A
    Vendor SN                                 : F2000000000
root@mlx3tools:~# ethtool -m m32 | grep Vendor
    Vendor name                               : WTD
    Vendor OUI                                : 00:00:00
    Vendor PN                                 : RTXM191-550
    Vendor rev                                : 3.0
    Vendor SN                                 : CN84FSP2L4
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
So yeah, he offered me a refund for these because they are indeed fake. And what makes them particularly interesting they do have a hp-style data matrix codes, if you read one with HPE validate app it would display a red warning, also asking to submit report. Now i wonder where did this go wrong. This is what i hope we can figure out, unless they're willingly ripping me off. And not only me, that huge pile of transceivers in individual antistatic packs here HPE X120 1G SFP LC SX Transceiver JD118B | eBay is what i got a part of. If you look closely you can actually see they look different from larger zoom-in 1-3 pics of the item. Anyone who recently bought SFP ones are likely affected, plus i have doubts about the qsfp+ aoc now as they also look fake.
 

Bjorn Smith

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2019
876
481
63
49
r00t.dk
Just being on the cautious side, and not blaming seller or anyone but @Psycho_Robotico @grenskul @Bjorn Smith what did you guys buy, did you really closely inspect what you got there?
I bought 4 HPE "branded" 4TB Intel U.2 drives - and they show up as Genuine Intel drives and perform as such.

So I doubt they are fake - I even looked up the serial number with Intel - and they show warranty until 2024.

So my guess is that the seller thought he sold you genuine stuff, but he got burned somehow.
 
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tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
So my guess is that the seller thought he sold you genuine stuff, but he got burned somehow.
That's what I think too, we're working on this with seller now. There are two things that make me have some amount of doubts though, first is SFP transceiver in pictures 1-3 is probably a genuine one yet i got one from that pile on pic 4. Another one is QSFP+ pictures there again show cable in an antistatic bag, what i got is a cable in plastic tray.
Here are some pictures for better understanding. First is fake SFP, the other one is the same SFP between two trays with QSFP+ AOC. However i've found some results that look similar to my QSFP+ AOC cable. The label on QSFP+ transceivers is unverifiable in app though. If anyone knows how authentic QSFP+ AOCs from HPE/Aruba/HP they look like please let me know. I don't have HP QSFP+ switch on hand to test them...

sfp.jpgbox-small.jpg
 

grenskul

Active Member
Nov 8, 2020
146
68
28
Just being on the cautious side, and not blaming seller or anyone but @Psycho_Robotico @grenskul @Bjorn Smith what did you guys buy, did you really closely inspect what you got there?
I bought over 8 aruba aps and a bunch of flexlom network cards. The aps all had legit serials I was able to get support for (trough works hpe support contract ). The network cards I didn't need anything so I didn't check but they have all been working fine.
 
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tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
Yeah we should be fine, seems like he was screwed over by the upstream seller, he should refund me soon.
 

cheezehead

Active Member
Sep 23, 2012
723
175
43
Midwest, US
That's what I think too, we're working on this with seller now. There are two things that make me have some amount of doubts though, first is SFP transceiver in pictures 1-3 is probably a genuine one yet i got one from that pile on pic 4. Another one is QSFP+ pictures there again show cable in an antistatic bag, what i got is a cable in plastic tray.
Here are some pictures for better understanding. First is fake SFP, the other one is the same SFP between two trays with QSFP+ AOC. However i've found some results that look similar to my QSFP+ AOC cable. The label on QSFP+ transceivers is unverifiable in app though. If anyone knows how authentic QSFP+ AOCs from HPE/Aruba/HP they look like please let me know. I don't have HP QSFP+ switch on hand to test them...

View attachment 21461View attachment 21462
To verify the optics and AOC's, you'll need a SFP programmer to do a full read off the modules. In general programmers will modify the user portion of the EEPROM to make optics look like whatever so the switches are happy but the manufacture memory portion is restricted and a lot harder to change assumining it wasn't a one-way burn.
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
400
63
Japan
In the end he refunded me way more than he was supposed to, not sure how that happened but well, "ebayed" i guess. Everything but those SFP modules is legit and real cheap and super great packaging so I strongly recommend this guy.