Administrator Guide
● Split a single 40G port into 4-10G ports.
CONFIGURATION mode
linecard {0–11} port {0–20} portmode quad
○ The range of switch line-card numbers is 0 to 11.
○ The range of port numbers on a 40G port to be split is 0 to 20.
To verify port splitting, use the show system linecard {0–11} fanout {count | configure} command.
● The quad port must be in a default configuration before you can split it into 4x10G ports. The 40G port is lost in the
configuration when the port is split; be sure that the port is also removed from other L2/L3 feature configurations.
Converting a QSFP or QSFP+ Port to an SFP or SFP+ Port
You can convert a QSFP or QSFP+ port to an SFP or SFP+ port using the Quad to Small Form Factor Pluggable Adapter (QSA).
QSA provides smooth connectivity between devices that use Quad Lane Ports (such as the 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapters) and
10 Gigabit hardware that uses SFP+ based cabling. Using this adapter, you can effectively use a QSFP or QSFP+ module to
connect to a lower-end switch or server that uses an SFP or SFP+ based module.
When connected to a QSFP or QSFP+ port on a 40 Gigabit adapter, QSA acts as an interface for the SFP or SFP+ cables. This
interface enables you to directly plug in an SFP or SFP+ cable originating at a 10 Gigabit Ethernet port on a switch or server.
You can use QSFP optical cables (without a QSA) to split a 40 Gigabit port on a switch or a server into four 10 Gigabit ports. To
split the ports, enable the fan-out mode.
Similarly, you can enable the fan-out mode to configure the QSFP port on a device to act as an SFP or SFP+ port. As the QSA
enables a QSFP or QSFP+ port to be used as an SFP or SFP+ port, Dell Networking OS does not immediately detect the QSA
after you insert it into a QSFP port cage.
After you insert an SFP or SFP+ cable into a QSA connected to a 40 Gigabit port, Dell Networking OS assumes that all the four
fanned-out 10 Gigabit ports have plugged-in SFP or SFP+ optical cables. However, the link UP event happens only for the first
10 Gigabit port and you can use only that port for data transfer. As a result, only the first fanned-out port is identified as the
active 10 Gigabit port with a speed of 10G or 1G depending on whether you insert an SFP+ or SFP cable respectively.
NOTE:
Although it is possible to configure the remaining three 10 Gigabit ports, the Link UP event does not occur for these
ports leaving the lanes unusable. Dell Networking OS perceives these ports to be in a Link Down state. You must not try to
use these remaining three 10 Gigabit ports for actual data transfer or for any other related configurations.
NOTE: You can use the QSA adaptor to establish connectivity between a high-density 100 Gigabit platform and a relatively
lower-end 1 Gigabit switch or a server. The QSA acts as an interface between the QSFP28 ports (that support 100 Gigabit
speeds) and SPF optics with a maximum speed of 1 Gigabit per second. Depending on the type of optics you plug into the
QSA connected to a 100 Gigabit port, the system automatically detects the supported speed of the optics and sets the
interface speed accordingly. For example, if you plug in optics that support 40 Gigabit speeds, the speed of the interface is
set to 40G. Similarly, if you plug in optics that support 1G speed, the speed of the interface is set to 1G.
Important Points to Remember
● Before using the QSA to convert a 40 Gigabit Ethernet port to a 10 Gigabit SFP or SFP+ port, enable 40 G to 4*10 fan-out
mode on the device.
● When you insert a QSA into a 40 Gigabit port, you can use only the first 10 Gigabit port in the fan-out mode to plug-in SFP
or SFP+ cables. The remaining three 10 Gigabit ports are perceived to be in Link Down state and are unusable.
● You cannot use QSFP Optical cables on the same port where QSA is used.
● When you remove the QSA module alone from a 40 Gigabit port, without connecting any SFP or SFP+ cables; Dell
Networking OS does not generate any event. However, when you remove a QSA module that has SFP or SFP+ optical
cables plugged in, Dell Networking OS generates an SFP or SFP+ Removed event.
Example Scenarios
Consider the following scenarios:
Interfaces
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