M4300-12X12F 10GBASE-T and SPF+ connectivity setup
Hi there,
I am planning to purchase this model for connecting with another switch, Cisco ME 3600X (provided by vendor and I have no control of). The setup is as followed:
1. fibre input to the Cisco from vendor
2. the data is split and transmitted via 2 gigabit ethernet ports and these would connect to M4300-12X12F
3. my server has Solarflare card that would be connected to M4300-12X12F to receive the data
So that, to summarize it, it is two inputs to the 10GBASE-T and output from SPF+ to my server.
I would like to know if this setup will work fine. Many thanks.
It should work just fine at Layer 2 and Layer 3, good pick with M4300-12X12F
If you have no control over the ME 3600X, I would encourage you to contact your other vendor for the following:
Ensure there's no loop when connecting 2 ports out of the ME 3600X onto M4300-12X12F (usually, best way to achieve this is Link Aggregation with LACP, so EtherChannel setting on the Cisco switch with the 2 ports, and LAG with default LACP / hash on the NETGEAR fully managed switch. You can see exemples on the NETGEAR side for LAG on M4300's in this post)
Ensure there's no Layer 3 routing protocol on the ME 3600X that would not be supported on M4300-12X12F (M4300 comes with RIP, OSPF, PIM etc... but without BGP)
On your server side, that should be easier, provided this is legacy Ethernet application and NIC. If this is dual port NIC, same settings shall be applied on each side, for instance LACP bonding on the server and LACP LAG on the M4300 switch.
Let us know how it goes, M4300 models are NETGEAR top of the line 1G and 10G Ethernet access and distribution switches.
M4300-12X12F: Full 10G switch model with twelve 10G copper ports and twelve 10G fiber ports in a half-width chassis. Support 1G link, too. Satisfy the needs of you.
You can check the product data sheet as below link:
