Anyone know if there is a command in Brocade NOS (4.x) to force the use of an unsupported transceiver? If so, what is it?
I've had a few offlist responses looking for the same or about coded optics.
I've been able to use Brocade -coded optics from FiberStore, but a DAC which should be universal (and passes the muster for the Intel NICs it's plugged into) returns, " 2018/03/21-15:14:00, [NSM-1028], 2679, DCE, ERROR, sw0, Incompatible SFP transceiver for interface TenGigabitEthernet 54/0/16 is detected."
Unfortunately, show media doesn't help because the interface is offline.
More offlist messages I figured I'd address in one e-mail.
VDX-6720 4.1.3b
These are the ones that I know work:
https://www.fs.com/products/36700.html
https://www.fs.com/products/40120.html
https://www.fs.com/products/36706.html
Hi,
We have been (and still) using all kinds of brocade hardware, including VDX from early NOS2.x
AFAIK, I couldn’t find an equivalent command to « unsupported transceiver ». So you will always get a syslog message, but usually it won’t stop port from coming up.
Regarding to optical transceivers, re-encoded 3rd party transceivers work very well.
But when it comes to DAC, and we have tested a lot for them, usually we use « original » brocade DACs.
We also tested successfully IBM an CISCO DACs, they work just fine but you’ll the usual syslog message. However, DOM information might be incomplete.
Best regards.
No one knows of such a command and apparently the VDX line is finicky with what passive DACs they'll work with. I just ordered more of the ones I know that work.
Tangent: Is it normal for these guys to still transmit light even when the interface is shut?
Yes, and they (old hardware plateformes) support only passive DAC. I remember being bitten by this at the time.
Tangent : hum 
... doesn’t seem normal to me. Maybe a bug ?!?
Best regards.
You need to program the passive dac to look like an active dac. Brocade wants active.
Ping me if you want help.
Eric
Hello Eric,
I got confused, you are absolutely right. Here is a thread I started a few
years ago when we bought our first units :
Best regards.