Tag Archives: GLC-BX-D

Cisco ME 3400 Series Switches Cabling Solution

Cisco is the leading provider of switches in telecommunication industry. Its switches cover a wide range of applications. One of them is deigned for Metro Ethernet application, which is widely used and known as Cisco ME 3400 series. It is a series of switches which support data rate ranging from 10 M (Mbps) to 1000 M (1 Gbps) with advantages of safety, flexibility, simple deployment and trouble shooting in network. There are several Cisco ME 3400 switch modules with different configurations to satisfy different market needs. The following table is the detailed port information of these switches.

Switch Model Port Information
Cisco ME 3400-24TS-AC 24 10/100 FastEthernet ports and 2 SFP module ports, AC power
Cisco ME 3400-24TS-DC 24 10/100 FastEthernet ports and 2 SFP module ports, DC power
Cisco ME-3400-24FS-A 24 100BASE-FX SFP module ports and 2 Gigabit Ethernet SFP module ports, AC power
Cisco ME 3400G-12CS-AC 12 dual-purpose ports and 4 SFP module ports, AC power
Cisco ME 3400G-12CS-DC 12 dual-purpose ports and 4 SFP module ports, DC power
Cisco ME 3400G-2CS 2 dual-purpose ports and 2 SFP module ports, AC power
Ports On Cisco ME 3400 Switches

Although Cisco ME 3400 has a variety of port configurations, there are mainly three types of ports on the panel rear of Cisco ME 3400 switches concluded from the above table. They are RJ45 port, SFP port and dual-purpose port. The following part will illustrate how to use these ports to connect Cisco ME 3400 switches in network.

RJ45 Port Connection
RJ45 Ports on Cisco ME 3400 Switches

It is widely known that RJ45 port are based on copper. The RJ45 Ethernet ports on Cisco 3400 switches can be connected with 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, or 1000Base-T devices via copper cables that are attached with RJ45 connector (shown in the above picture). One of the benefits of using these ports is that they can configure themselves to operate at the speed of attached devices from 10 M, 100 M to 1000 M. If the attached ports do not support auto-negotiation, the specific speed and duplex parameters can be set to the required value.

Cisco ME 3400 SFP port connection
SFP Ports on Cisco 3400 Switches

The SFP ports on Cisco ME 3400 switches are base on either fiber optic or copper. For a fiber optic connection, a fiber optic SFP module should be plugged in the SFP port firstly, then one end of fiber optic cable with fiber optic connector (usually LC connector) should be inserted into the interface of the SFP module (shown in the above picture). Then insert the other cable end into a fiber optic connector on the target device. When the status LED of the port turns green a fiber optic link is established. If the connection is based copper cable, copper SFP module and copper cable attached with RJ45 connectors should be used to link the switch and target device. Two Cisco ME 3400 switches could be connected with SFP module patch cable (as shown in the following picture).

two Cisco ME 3400 Switch connected by SFP patch cable
Dual-Purpose Ports on Cisco ME 3400 Switches

A big highlight of Cisco ME 3400 switches is its dual-purpose port. Please note that only Cisco ME 3400G-12CS-DC/AC and Cisco ME 3400G-2CS have such kind of ports. Literally, dual-purpose can be used in two different ways. One is for fiber optic connection and one is for copper connection. These ports can be can be configured as either 10/100/1000M ports or as SFP module ports according to the needs. The switch dynamically selects the media type for each dual port (10/100/1000BASE-T or SFP). When a link is achieved on one media type, the switch disables the other media type until the active link goes down. If links are active on both media, the SFP module port has priority. The following picture shows part of the Cisco ME 3400G-12CS dual-purpose ports. The Cisco ME3400G-2CS switch dual-purpose ports are similar to those shown in this section.

Cisco ME 3400 dual-purpose port information

The following picture shows both fiber optic cable and copper cables connection with Cisco ME 3400G-12CS via dual-purpose ports. For the RJ45 ports, RJ45 connector and copper cable are used. For the SFP ports, both fiber optic connection and copper connection can be achieved by using fiber optic SFP module and copper SFP module separately. Thus, Cisco ME 3400 switches armed with dual-purpose ports can greatly increase it flexibility during cabling and network designing.

dual-purpose port connection details

Cisco ME 3400 Series Switches Cabling Guide

As Cisco ME 3400 series switches could be connected to a variety types of network and devices, customer might be confused during the selecting of cables, connector and modules. The following table offers the detailed information how to connect Cisco ME 3400 switches to the network.

Port Type
Data Rate
Connectors/Modules & Cables
RJ45 Ports 10BASE-T ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 3, 4, or 5 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
100BASE-TX ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 5 UTP
SFP Ports 100M GLC-GE-100FX LC duplex, MMF
GLC-FE-100FX
GLC-FE-100EX LC duplex, SMF
GLC-FE-100ZX
GLC-FE-100LX
GLC-FE-100BX-D LC simplex, SMF
GLC-FE-100BX-U
1000M (1G) GLC-SX-MM LC duplex, MMF
GLC-SX-MMD
SFP-GE-S
GLC-EX-SMD LC duplex, SMF
GLC-LH-SM
GLC-ZX-SM
GLC-ZX-SMD
GLC-LH-SMD
SFP-GE-Z
SFP-GE-L
CWDM SFP
DWDM SFP
GLC-BX-U LC simplex, SMF
GLC-BX-D
RJ-45, Cat 5
GLC-T
SFP-GE-T

All the above mentioned products can be provided in Fiberstore (FS.COM). If you are interested please contact sales@fs.com or visit FS.COM for more details.

Related Articles: Deploying 48-Port Gigabit PoE Managed Switch in Different Networks

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Connect Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches to Network

Cisco Catalyst 3750 series switches are widely used in today’s access layer of the network, which can provide Ethernet speed of Gigabit. There are a variety of configurations in this series of Cisco switches. They can fit different applications and offering forward data rates from 32G to 128G by using Cisco StackWise technology. It is an economical solution to many midsize enterprises and office. However, to make full use of these switches, how to connect them to network becomes very important. This post will illustrate Cisco Catalyst 3750 series switches connection in details.

cisco catalyst 3750 and optics

Do You Know Cisco Catalyst Series Switches?

The ports on switches decide what types of connectors and cables can be connected with the switches. Thus, let’s get a close look at Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches ports details first. As mentioned, one of the biggest advantages is that Cisco Catalyst 3750 can support Cisco StackWise technology. Up to nice physical Catalyst 3750 switches can be interconnected into one logical switch with a high performance of 32G or 128G. This is largely depending on the StackWise ports on the rear panel of the switch as shown in the following picture.

Cisco Catalyst 3750G-48TS rear panel

Another great advantage of Cisco Catalyst 3750 switch is its great flexibility and adaptability owning to its various configurations. The Ethernet ports of Cisco Catalyst 3750 can support data rage from 10M to 1G. For instance, or example, Cisco Catalyst 3750G-12S contains 12 SFP ports, Cisco Catalyst 3750G-24TS-1U has 24 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports plus 4 SFP uplinks in 1 rack unit (RU) height, Cisco Catalyst 3750G-48PS is armed with 48 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports with IEEE 802.3af PoE and 4 SFP uplinks. The following picture shows the detailed ports information of Cisco Catalyst 3750G-48TS, which has 48 Ethernet 10/100/1000 ports and 4 SFP uplinks.

Cisco Catalyst 3750G-48TS front panel

Connecting Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switch to Network

There are mainly two types of ports on Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches: RJ45 and SFP. Different cables and connectors are used to connect the switches to network. The following will offer detailed information about how to connect these ports.

Cisco Catalyst 3750 Switch 10/100/1000 Ports Connection

10/100/1000 Ports on Cisco Catalyst 3750 are RJ45 ports, which should be connected with copper cables (as shown in the following picture). For different applications, the cable types are also different. For example, when connecting Cisco Catalyst 3750 to workstation, servers, router, the straight-through cables are suggested to use with RJ45 connector. When it the switch is connected to repeaters, crossover cable is recommended. When connecting to 1000Base-T-compatible devices, be sure to use a twisted four-pair, Cat5 cable.

Cisco Catalyst 3750 RJ45 connection
Cisco Catalyst 3750 Switch SFP Module Ports Connection

Most Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches have several SFP ports on their front panel. They can support Gigabit Ethernet, by using SFP modules related. Both copper and fiber optic links can be built with these ports and SFP modules. If connected with fiber optic 1000Base-LX or 1000Base-SX SFP modules a link supporting Gigabit Ethernet based on fiber optic can be built. If connected with copper SFP module like 1000Base-T, a copper link will be built. The following picture illustrates the connections with fiber optic SFP module port and Copper SFP module port from left to right separately.

Cisco catalyst 3750 SFP port connection

Cabling Solution for Cisco Catalyst 3750 Series Switches

More related cables and modules that Cisco Catalyst 3750 switches supporting are listed in the following chart for your reference.

Port Type
Data Rate
Connectors/Modules & Cables
RJ45 Ports 10BASE-T ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 3, 4, or 5 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP)
10BASE-T PoE ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 3, 4, or 5 UTP cabling power pins 1, 2 (negative) and 3, 6 (positive)
100BASE-TX ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 5 UTP
100BASE-TX PoE ports  RJ-45 connectors, two-pair Cat 5 UTP, power on pins 1, 2 (negative) and 3, 6 (positive)
SFP Ports 100M GLC-GE-100FX LC duplex, MMF
GLC-FE-100FX
GLC-FE-100LX LC duplex, SMF
GLC-FE-100BX-D LC simplex, SMF
GLC-FE-100BX-U
1G GLC-SX-MM LC duplex, MMF
GLC-SX-MMD
SFP-GE-S
GLC-EX-SMD LC duplex, SMF
GLC-LH-SM
GLC-ZX-SM
SFP-GE-Z
SFP-GE-L
CWDM SFP
DWDM SFP
GLC-BX-U LC simplex, SMF
GLC-BX-D
GLC-T RJ-45, Cat 5

All the above mentioned products are fully tested in FS.COM Test Center. Please contact sales@fs.com for more details.