CX4 to SFP+ Cable? (10g)

[Mymlan]

Hey there, STH. Long time lurker here; I've just run aground an interesting problem. I'm trying to find an affordable 10Gb switch for trunking between ESXi hosts and I've been offered an amazing deal on a Fulcrum FM2224 switch, equipped with 24 10g CX4 ports. Unfortunately, all my hosts use SFP+ NICs for fiber reaches.

TLDR; Is there any SFP+ to CX4 cable out there? Every one I've found is SFP to CX4 and maxes at 2.5Gb.

Thanks again, guys!

 

[Mymlan]

Well, it looks like I should've done more research before posting. Using a QSFP-to-CX4 cable in conjunction with a QSFP-to-SFP adapter should do the trick. Leaving this post for anyone in a similar boat.

 

[Jeggs101]

How much are you going to pay for adapters? Seems like that is going to get expensive.

 

[Mymlan]

Approximately $100 per link. Given my number of 10Gb hosts, it beats buying an SFP+ switch. While the solution doesn't scale well, it will work fine for small labs like mine and for folks on tight budgets.

 

[mrkrad]

CX4 is 2.5gbps parallel times 4 - so it may not be so easy to serialize that or perhaps it has to be chunked which increases latency.

My opinion is CX4 was 1st gen and the cards are buggy. Support is getting scarce.

Not worth it when you can get emulex $75 nic's all day long and cheap dac cables and $1200 24 port SFP switch . The newer cards are bit more stable.

 

[Madhelp]

How did this work out for you? I'm curious as I might do the same.