10/25G are pretty simple – a single port is a single port, and total count matches the switch spec. On the contrary, 40/100G ports can be used either
as a single port or turned into four 10/25G ports.
For example, Netberg Aurora 720 switch offers 32x100G ports and could be used as 128 25G ports switch or with other port configuration, such as 104х 25G + 6x 100G.
Of course, the switch mechanical design remains the same. In that case, you need to use so-called break-out or pigtail cables with QSFP/QSFP28 on one side
and four SFP+/SFP28 ports on the other side.
BTW, let’s not forget that 25/100G are backward compatible with 10/40G using the same cables.
The image below demonstrates how Netberg Aurora 220 switch is connected with Netberg Aurora 720 using eight 10G ports on the former and two 100G ports on the latter.
In this case, you need to perform some adjustments only to Aurora 720 settings. We use ICOS 3.2 for this article.
This is the CLI output before any changes:
(nba720) #show port all
Admin Physical Physical Link Link LACP Actor
Intf Type Mode Mode Status Status Trap Mode Timeout
———— ——— ————— —————— ————— ———— ———— ———— ——–
0/1 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/2 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/3 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
….
0/32 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/33 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
0/34 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
0/35 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
0/36 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
0/37 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
…
Ports from 0/1 to 0/32 are 100G ports. Ports from 0/33 to 0/160 are reserved for 25G interfaces; they are disabled so far and not listed to conserve space.
You can change the mode for the one or a group of ports same time:
(nba720) (Config)#interface 0/1
(nba720) (Interface 0/1)#hardware ?
profile Configures a 40G port as 4x10G or 1x40G. Configures a
100G port as 4x25G or 1x100G
These are all options available:
(nba720) (Interface 0/1)#hardware profile portmode ?
1x100G Configure the port as a single 100G port
1x40G Configure the port as a single 40G port
4x10G Configure the port as four 10G ports
4x25G Configure the port as four 25G ports
And for the particular port:
(nba720) (Interface 0/1)hardware profile portmode 4x25G
You need to reboot the switch for the changes to take effect and don’t forget to save changes.
Now the CLI output will show different picture:
(nba720) #show port all
Admin Physical Physical Link Link LACP Actor
Intf Type Mode Mode Status Status Trap Mode Timeout
———— ——— ————— —————— ————— ———— ———— ———— ——–
0/1 Enable 100G Full Detach Enable Enable long
0/2 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/3 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
….
0/32 Enable 100G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/33 Enable 25G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/34 Enable 25G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/35 Enable 25G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/36 Enable 25G Full Down Enable Enable long
0/37 Enable 25G Full Detach Enable Enable long
…
Interface 0/1 down, 25G interfaces in the range from 0/33 to 0/36 are up.
If you want to use 25G port in a 10G mode, you have to declare the speed using the CLI “speed” command:
(nba720) (Interface 0/33)#speed ?
100G Set speed to ‘100G’.
10G Set speed to ’10G’.
25G Set speed to ’25G’.
40G Set speed to ’40G’.
auto Enables/Disables automatic negotiation on a port.
(nba720) (Interface 0/33)#speed 10G
As we all know, 25/100G technology can downgrade to 10/40G speed.
In Broadcom Tomahawk chipset, ports are organized as groups of four signal pairs into one SerDes block. All four ports in the group must have the same speed. If you change speed for one of four ports, other ports will be a malfunction.
In a physical 100G port you need to maintain the same speed for the each fan-out port, i.e. they all have to be 25G or 10G.
For the 25G gear, such as Aurora 620, there are the same rules about the port speed.
Ports 1-4 are grouped in one FalconCore SerDes; ports 5-8 are in another FalconCore SerDes and so on. You have to change them all at one time to avoid malfunction:
For example, Port 5, 6 are all 10Gb and have the link already up. Now change the port 6 to be 25Gb, after that, the port 5’s link will go down very soon.
This is a technology-related caveat and cannot be avoided on the path to 100G.
Netberg announced the new Aurora 810 400G model programmable switch with Intel Tofino 2 Intelligent Fabric Processors (IFPs) at its heart. The new platform has 32x 400G QSFP-DD Ethernet ports and a 12.8Tbps switching capacity.
Taipei, Taiwan, 24th of October 2022. Netberg participates in the new round of the Fast Forward Initiative by Intel (FFI'22). The program supports academic and research organizations today, aiming at accelerating tomorrow's best network programmability research.
Taipei, Taiwan 13th of July 2022. Netberg launches its hardened SONiC distribution for Intel Tofino and Marvell Teralynx platforms.
Taipei, Taiwan 8th of November 2021. Netberg’s SONiC platform code for Aurora 715 and Aurora 615 Innovium Teralynx-based switches is accepted into the official GitHub repository.
Taipei, Taiwan 1st of June 2021. Netberg, a leading open networking vendor, announces two new Aurora 715 and Aurora 615 models - high-performance 25/100G switches for future-proof Cloud, Enterprise, and Edge data centers.
Taipei, Taiwan 17th of November 2020. Netberg announces new services - custom networking software and hardware development.