Meraki SFP's/SFP+'s and Twinax Copper compatibility with Cisco SFP's/SFP+'s and Twinax Copper Cable

[LuisCovarrubias]

Hi everyone, hope you all doing great

I'm planning to connect 2 x Cisco Catalyst 9300-24P-A in VSS that it's a Top of Rack (T.o.R.) in a DataCenter with 2 x Meraki MS425-32-HW in FlexibleStacking through copper or fiber (the client had the final decision depending on the final location of both switches), and then the MS to a ISR 1100, i have these scenarios:

1st Scenario - SFP+ for SMF to Catalyst 9300 and SFP to ISR 1100

Use a pair of SFP+'s for SMF to interconnect both pair of Switches, and then the MS to the ISR 1100 with and SFP, so, does the Cisco SFP's/SFP+'s are compatible with the Meraki SFP's/SFP'+s?

2nd Scenario - Copper Twinax and SFP to ISR 1100

Interconnect both pair of Switches through a pair of Copper Twinax 10GB Cable, and then the MS to the ISR 1100 with and SFP, which brand cable should i use, a Cisco Twinax or Meraki Twinax Cables? and, does the Cisco SFP's/SFP+'s are compatible with the Meraki SFP's/SFP'+s?

3rd Scenario - Copper SFP

Use a pair of SFP+'s for SMF to interconnect both pair of Switches, and the MS to the ISR 1100, so, does the Cisco SFP+'s are compatible with the Meraki SFP's?

Unfonately, i can't find any info about the compatibility between those accessories for this two brands.

Hope you can help me

Regards

[Adam]

I like the twinax cables for simplicity.  They also tend to cost less than getting the SFP's and fiber.  And to generally answer your question.  SFP will work in an SFP+ port but an SFP+ device will not work in an SFP port.  

[PhilipDAth]

Don't use SMF unless you have to - it's expensive, and if you don't need the range then there is no performance gain.

Like @Adam I like using TwinAx for up to 5m cables.  They are cheap.  Note that Meraki only supports copper passive TwinAx cables.

HOWEVER which ISR 1100 has an SFP+ port?  I think they only have SFP ports - in which case you wont be able to use TwinAx.

[Happiman]

Hi,

I will use the  Copper Twinax-10G and SFP for 1G

10G: MA-CBL-TA-3M - Catalyst 9300-24P-A and MS425-32-HW

1G: MA-SFP-1GB-SX - ISR 1100 and MS425-32-HW

[msosa]

   I have a similar question about compatibility of Meraki Twinax with Cisco enterprise devices, and I just want to be sure that this is a fact, is that right??

   thank you un advance!

Regards

Mauricio

[DrFiber]

I use Cisco DAC and SFPs with Meraki switches - to date - no issues

Most Cisco compatible 3rd party devices seem to work well 

[JoRett]

I'm using 10m 10G Twinax (Cisco SFP-10G-AOC10M) between a MS350 Stack and a C9500 stack.

[GiacomoS]

Hey all,

As a rule of thumb, Meraki supports only Meraki twinax and SFPs, same as Cisco supports only Cisco twinax and SFPs. 

I'm sure, however, that many of you know that other brands of (for example) SFPs, do work well with Cisco kit. 

The same applies for Meraki kit. You can plug in Cisco (or other brands) SFP and should be recognised and should work, BUT if you encounter any problem Meraki support cannot assist with it. 

Hope this helps 🙂

Giacomo

[msosa]

  I´m agree with you, but what happened when you want to use Meraki Twinax cable? that comes with both SFP+ Connectors so in this case the Cisco Enterprise device should have an empty SPF+ slot to get it connected, and that is exactly want I want to do and be sure it would work.

  Thank you!

[GiacomoS]

Hey @msosa ,

As @Adam right fully mentioned on the first response, you can use an SFP cable in an SFP+ port but not viceversa.

The Meraki twinax cable is ultimately an SFP+ connector with a cable already attached, so if the Cisco device supports copper SFPs (and it has an SFP+ port) you should be able to use it.

I would point you to the datasheet of the Cisco device as that should give you indication of the compatibility with the various types of connector.

Giacomo

[Mio]

1st Scenario - SFP+ for SMF to Catalyst 9300 and SFP to ISR 1100

Yes, it does! Cisco SFP's/SFP+'s are compatible with the Meraki SFP's/SFP'+s

2nd Scenario -  Copper Twinax to Catalyst 9300 and SFP to ISR 1100

Cisco twinax and Meraki twinax cables are both ok for u! And many third parties work well with Cisco and Meraki, such as 10Gtek.

Yes, it does! Cisco SFP's/SFP+'s are compatible with the Meraki SFP's/SFP'+s

3rd Scenario - SFP+ for SMF to Catalyst 9300 and SFP copper to ISR 1100

Ur question should like this: Does the Meraki SFP+'s are compatible with the Cisco SFP's?

Yes, it does. The ISR 1100 has SFP+ ports, and the MS425 device is multi-rate and it has SFP+ ports (backwards compatible with SFP), so you can use SFP transceivers with a patch cable or SFP DAC to connect the two devices. However, the SFP DAC is not recommended for the it does not integrate DDM function. It is not excluded that some devices may have problems when use SFP DAC. So it is recommended to use the SFP transceiver directly. 10Gtek provides SFP+ twinax cables and SFP, SFP+ transceivers for u that compatible with Cisco and Meraki.

Hope this helps

Thank you!