Best way to connect 10GBase-T to DEC740

[Tjh3]

Tl;DR is, my ISP's "handoff" involves an XGSPON box that only has an "RJ45" jack that is wired for 10GbE. Idk what is the best way to connect. So far my options are:

• 10GBASE-T SFP+ module: I tried the 10gtek one with really bad results (unreliable speeds in one direction - it would go down to double digit Mbps). I'm also worried about heat and power usage as the DEC740 is an embedded appliance and is fanless.
• Media converter
• Unmanaged switch: qnap qsw-308-1c includes a 10gb combo port.
• Managed switch: by far the most expensive option

I like the SFP+ module option, as an extra switch and/or converter is one more point of possible failure, but I'm worried about the heat and power usage on an appliance device like DEC740.

I would like, if possible to get reliable speeds with as low latency as possible. The RJ45 cable I'll be using is cat6 of about 13m.

[Greg_E]

If you were able to either eat the cost or return the 10Gtek module, you could try an FS.com module, I have one of these running in a Netgear AV Line m4250 going to our Tricaster which only had a twisted pair interface. So far so good but I haven't pushed more than about a gigabit worth of connections through it (3 cameras and a few other devices).

Alternate, have you contacted 10Gtek? They might have a different firmware that you need. https://www.10gtek.com/contact.html but looking over the site, this might not work out.

FS.com will get back to you and maybe they would be a better choice. I've talked to sales many times and they were really nice and helpful, can't remember if I ever talked to technical support. Something I need to remember going forward.

If you need a 10gbps switch, I'm happy with my Mikrotik CRS309-1G-8S+, I have 2 of these running as "top of rack" in my XCP-NG system (production and lab), then you might be able to use a DAC cable between switch and firewall, and the 10Gtek module between switch and XGSPON.

The Cat6 should be fine for that distance, but I'm also seeing cat6a for around $35usd in a 15 meter length.

[Tjh3]

i was able to return the 10gtek module and get one from fs.com. Thank you. It is working a lot better. CRS309 is actually the one i'm using as my main switch (it then connects downstream to a netgear switch via sfp+ for Wifi and IOT stuff).

I do have a new problem though: When connecting the fs.com SFP-10G-T and cable from my ISP box directly to my computer i am fully able to saturate the 8Gbps speeds from my ISP via a speedtest. I am also able to get near 10Gbps, and about 6Gbps to DEC740 using iperf3. however I cannot for the life of me go above 6Gbps or so on speedtest through the DEC740 to the internet. Just to re-iterate:

1. Internet connected directly to Desktop using RJ45 cable and SFP-10G-T from fs.com = 8Gbps
2. iperf3 test to router from desktop using DAC cable = 9.5Gbps
3. Internet connected to DEC740 which in turn is connected to router using DAC cable (same as #2) = 6Gbps

why is #3 so low? The oddest thing is #2 is high as i'd expect, meaning the actual connection to the router is perfectly fine. The specs said that DEC740 is able to do upto 8.5Gbps,and aside from 4 NAT rules and Adguard home, i'm not running anything else. And CPU usage never goes above 50% either way.

Unless the firewall portion doesn't get hit when I do the iperf test to the dec740 itself and that device is actually not capable of 8Gbps speeds with my settings? I tried just connecting a cat7 cable, and although i was able to get a bit higher (actually hitting 6 and 6.1), still not able to reach the 8Gbps speeds i saw when directly connected.

[Greg_E]

Turn off Adguard and see what happens, I wouldn't expect it to drag the speed down much, but maybe.

[Tjh3]

I did try that. As you suspected, it didn't really make much of a difference. The odd thing is, getting **to** the firewall i can hit line speeds. And i watched all the cores during the speedtest and there were only a few brief peaks of no more than 50% each CPU.