Re: Arista unqualified SFP

[Stanislaw <me () nek0 net>]

Hi all,
If somebody is following my epic adventure of getting uqualified SFP to 
work on Aristas, here is the unhappy end of it.

I've written to Arista support and got the following dialogue:
Support guy:
Hi,
Thank you for contacting Arista Support. My name is **** and I'll be 
assisting you on this case.
Could you please provide the "show version" output from this switch?

Me:
Hi,
Here it is:
<show version output here>

Support guy:
Hi,
Thank you for the information.
Unfortunately, we are unable to activate your 3rd party components. To 
ensure ongoing quality, Arista devices are designed to support only 
properly qualified transceivers.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Me:
I do not understand,
But there is a command which allows using non-Arista transceivers. Why 
have you implemented it but don't provide an access key to your 
customers when they ask for it?
If it is required to sign some papers which declare that I am aware of 
all the risks and losing my warranty - I agree with that, lets do it. 
Any way what are the conditions to receive that access key?

Support guy:
I'm afraid that there is nothing I'm able to do regarding this 
situation. If you have any other questions regarding enabling 3rd party 
options in Arista switches, I suggest to contact your local account team 
(or sales) for further discussion on this matter.


Next, i've tried inserting various QSFP+ DAC cables I have - none of 
them has been even detected on the switch, it was acting like nothing 
has been inserted. I guess that even if I get the key, most of my 
transceivers/DAC (which work like a champ in Juniper or Extreme 
switches) cables wouldnt work.

I'm writing this post to make somebody who considers buying their 
switches be aware of what they'd get. Just buy Juniper instead.


Stanislaw wrote at 2016-08-17 23:25:
> Hi Tim,
>
> Thanks for your expressive answer. Will try it :)
>
> Tim Jackson писал 2016-08-17 22:57:
>
> > I'd suggest bitching and moaning at your account team & support until 
> > they give you the key to unlock them..
> >
> > --
> > Tim
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 17, 2016 at 2:50 PM, Stanislaw <me () nek0 net> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi all,
> > > Is there a way for unlocking off-brand transceivers usage on Arista 
> > > switches?
> > >
> > > I've got an Arista 7050QX switch with 4.14 EOS version. Then it has 
> > > been found out that Arista switches seem to not have possibility to 
> > > unlock off-brand xcievers usage (by some service command or so).
> > >
> > > I've patched /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/XcvrAgent.py, made the 
> > > checking function bypass the actual check and it helped: ports are 
> > > not in errdisable state anymore. But despite of xceivers are detected 
> > > correctly, links aren't coming up (they are in notconnect state).
> > >
> > > If anyone possibly have does have a sacred knowledge of bringing 
> > > off-branded transceivers to life on Arista switches, your help'd be 
> > > very appreciated. Thanks.