Transceiver programmer
- Thread starter kse
- Start date
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Hi. I've never tried them before, but cursory reading indicates that reprogramming is mainly effective with white-label optics (e.g. FS, Finisar, etc) and it doesn't necessarily mean that you can pop in a Cisco or HP original SFP and reprogram them to a different make/model.
Reason being is that the each manufacturer may have
1) password protected their SFP and you may have to brute force the password to be able to reprogram it
2) specific programming routine/nonstandard formatting to match
The actual SFP reprogrammer, as I understand it is simply a I2C interface with specific software to aid in programming the manufacturer's signature/pattern.
SFPTotal makes one, and they aren't a transceiver manufacturer. May work - perhaps someone who has actually tried them can shed some light on it.
Reason being is that the each manufacturer may have
1) password protected their SFP and you may have to brute force the password to be able to reprogram it
2) specific programming routine/nonstandard formatting to match
The actual SFP reprogrammer, as I understand it is simply a I2C interface with specific software to aid in programming the manufacturer's signature/pattern.
SFPTotal makes one, and they aren't a transceiver manufacturer. May work - perhaps someone who has actually tried them can shed some light on it.
I think @fohdeesha had some posts about reprogramming the eeprom? in sfp+ or qsfp+ third party cables/transceiver somewhere.
I have the fs.com one and it is setup to just work with their own stuff, at least with the software they provide. However, I don't have many non fs.com transceivers around anymore to test in it to see what it could do.
Under the hood they are all setup to just re-program the eeprom in the transciever via i2c, there are several generic ones out there. The hardware is simple and could be done with a adruindo or RPi and a small investment in sockets and getting a board spun for it. The trick is more the code database to reprogram with so your brand-X transceiver shows up as supported equipment. When you buy a recoder from someone that is where a decent % of the value is, they did the hard work of getting original transcievers and gleaning the codes from them so you don't have to
Of note - HP stuff needs a different / extra chip in it to show up as HP, which is why the HPE compatible transceivers are more expensive than all the others. For example - HPE version is $23 HPE J9150A 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver Module where all the others are $18 Juniper EX-SFP-10GE-SR 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver Module and buying genero DAC cables can be so hit or miss from eBay or new unless explicitly targeted for HPE.
Under the hood they are all setup to just re-program the eeprom in the transciever via i2c, there are several generic ones out there. The hardware is simple and could be done with a adruindo or RPi and a small investment in sockets and getting a board spun for it. The trick is more the code database to reprogram with so your brand-X transceiver shows up as supported equipment. When you buy a recoder from someone that is where a decent % of the value is, they did the hard work of getting original transcievers and gleaning the codes from them so you don't have to
Of note - HP stuff needs a different / extra chip in it to show up as HP, which is why the HPE compatible transceivers are more expensive than all the others. For example - HPE version is $23 HPE J9150A 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver Module where all the others are $18 Juniper EX-SFP-10GE-SR 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver Module and buying genero DAC cables can be so hit or miss from eBay or new unless explicitly targeted for HPE.