All about Expansion (EXP) Ports

The BLR-112, BLR-EDGE-400, and BLR-EDGE-800W routers come with flexible Expansion (EXP) Ports that can be configured for different port functions. Typically, they are fiber ports.

Refer to Fiber Connectivity with Bigleaf routers for guidance on fiber connectivity with Bigleaf routers.

Configuring EXP ports

By default, the EXP ports do not have any functions assigned to them, they must be explicitly configured as either LAN, AUX, R2R, or WAN ports. You can configure the EXP ports on the Site Configuration -> Devices and Ports page in Bigleaf Cloud Connect.

You must have Super Admin privileges to do this. If you don’t, contact your company's Super Admin for assistance.

BLR-EDGE-400

The BLR-EDGE-400 has 2 EXP ports, seen above. They are 10GbE SFP+ ports which are backward compatible with 1GbE SFP modules.

BLR-EDGE-800W

The BLR-EDGE-400 has 3 EXP ports, seen above.

The EXP1 port is a combo 1GbE combo SFP or RJ45 port. The EXP2, EXP3 ports are 10GbE SFP+ ports that are backward compatible with 1GbE SFP modules.

BLR-112

BLR-112 EXP ports are provided via add-on fiber expansion cards that have four additional fiber ports.

We have two different fiber expansion cards that can be ordered for the BLR-112:

• A card with ports that support 1GbE SFP
• A card with ports that support 10GbE SFP+*

Using an EXP port as a WAN port

When an EXP port is configured as a WAN port, the existing WAN port on the router ceases to function.  For example, if EXP1 is configured as WAN3, then the WAN3 GbE RJ45 port cannot be used.

Note: on a BLR-EDGE-800W, an EXP port cannot be configured as WAN4.

Using an EXP port as a LAN port

When an EXP port is configured as a LAN port, the expansion port is added to the LAN bridge. The port labeled LAN continues to function as a LAN port and multiple EXP ports can be configured as additional LAN ports (but be careful not to create a layer 2 loop, please read Troubleshooting Switching Loops with High Availability).

We commonly see customers configure the AUX port as a 2nd LAN port or additional EXP ports as LAN ports to connect multiple firewalls to the Bigleaf router(s). Please be aware of how Spanning Tree Protocol may work in these topologies along with the risks of creating a loop.

For 2Gbps and 3Gbps (multi-gig) service plans with the BLR-112, 2 EXP ports with a 10GbE SFP+ must be configured as LAN and R2R (Router2Router) ports.

Using an EXP port as an R2R port

An EXP port can only be configured as a R2R for our Premier service tier, which is a Highly Available (HA) configuration.

When an EXP port is configured as an R2R port, the AUX port no longer has the R2R function associated with it.

If using a multi-gig service plan with the BLR-112, be sure to configure one EXP 10GbE SFP+ port for R2R. If redundant connectivity is needed between the Bigleaf routers, you can configure 2 EXP ports with the R2R function. The Bigleaf routers will automatically create a bonded LAG connection between themselves on the 2 R2R ports for high availability.

* The 10GbE SFP+ fiber 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.