Fiber Connectivity with Bigleaf routers

Bigleaf routers support fiber connectivity with small form-factor pluggable (SFP) modules. Some Bigleaf routers are shipped to you with compatible modules, although in many cases, you may need to provide your own. Refer to the table at the bottom for our recommendations.

Different Bigleaf router models can support both SFP and SFP+ modules, while some models may only support SFP or SFP+.

General guidelines for fiber connectivity:

• Fiber cabling that plugs into SFP/SFP+ modules compatible with Bigleaf routers must have a LC connector.
• SFP modules typically support 100Mbps and 1Gbps speeds, while SFP+ modules support 10Gbps speed.
• There are two types of fiber cables: multi-mode fiber (MMF) and single-mode fiber (SMF). Fiber module selection should ensure there is compatibility between the fiber cable wavelength, fiber cable type, and SFP/SFP+ module between equipment on either side of the fiber cabling.
• You cannot connect an RJ45 Cat5e/Cat6 network cable directly into an SFP/SFP+ module. You must use a SFP/SFP+ transceiver that supports the media conversion, such as 1000BASE-T SFP or 10GBASE-T SFP+.
• MSA (multi-source agreement) compliant optics modules should work with any Bigleaf router.

Bigleaf-specific guidelines for our router models:

• You cannot use a fiber and copper port for the same ISP WAN port on the Bigleaf router at the same time.
• The BLR-108 router supports only 1GbE SFP modules.
• The BLR-112 router supports 1GbE SFP _or_ 10GbE SFP+ modules with the appropriate fiber expansion card.
  
  • The 10GbE SFP+ expansion card for the BLR-112 only supports 10GbE SFP+ modules. It is NOT compatible with dualrate SFP+ modules to negotiate down to 1GbE. 1GbE SFP modules will also NOT work with the 10GbE expansion card.
  • Please ensure you order the BLR-112 fiber expansion card that meets your network requirements. If there are questions, contact Bigleaf Support.
• The Edge 400 and 800W router 10GbE SFP+ ports are backward compatible with 1GbE SFP modules.

For additional questions about using SFP/SFP+ modules with your Bigleaf router, view the full technical datasheet information.

Recommended SFP/SFP+ modules

The following table lists the modules we recommend for each specified Bigleaf routers.

* BLR-112 10G must use 10G SFP+ card, 1G must use the 1G SFP card.
  BLR-EDGE-400 AUX and WAN4 ports only support 1G SFP. EXP1 and EXP2 support 1G SFP and 10G SFP+.
  BLR-EDGE-800W AUX and EXP1 ports only support 1G SFP. EXP2 and EXP3 support 1G SFP and 10G SFP+.