Port configuration recipes per NOS: speed, FEC, breakout, overrides
Once a module is accepted, the port still has to be told what to do with it: which speed, which FEC, whether to auto-negotiate, whether to break out, and — on strict platforms — whether to tolerate a third-party identity. The commands differ per NOS and often per platform and release. This page gives representative forms for the common systems side by side; treat them as a map of what to configure and confirm the exact syntax in the platform's guide.
What has to match on both ends
| Setting | Why | Default trap |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | SerDes lane rate and module rate must agree | 25G port with a 10G module, or a dual-rate module left at the wrong rate (Speed & rate) |
| FEC | mandatory on most 25G+ PMDs; both ends must run the same code | one end RS-FEC, the other none: levels fine, no link (FEC & AN) |
| Auto-negotiation / link training | required on DAC at 25G+, forbidden on most optics | AN left on for an optic, or off for a DAC |
| Breakout | parent port split into children | configured on one end only, or on a WDM optic |
| Media / mode | combo ports, SGMII vs 1000BASE-X on copper SFPs | wrong media type active |
| Third-party override | policy switch on strict platforms | port errdisabled although the module is fine (Vendor lock) |
Recipes by NOS
Angle brackets mark placeholders; … marks platform-specific parts.
Cisco IOS-XE (Catalyst)
interface TwentyFiveGigE1/0/1
speed 10000 ! or 25000 (where the platform allows per-port speed)
fec cl74 ! cl74 = BASE-R, cl91/cl108 = RS-FEC, off
no negotiation auto ! optics; DAC keeps auto
service unsupported-transceiver ! global, hidden on many releases
no errdisable detect cause gbic-invalid
errdisable recovery cause gbic-invalid
show interfaces transceiver detail
Cisco NX-OS (Nexus)
interface Ethernet1/1
speed 25000
fec rs-fec ! rs-fec | fc-fec | off | auto
no negotiate auto
interface breakout module 1 port 1-4 map 25g-4x ! or: hw-module breakout … (older)
service unsupported-transceiver
show interface ethernet1/1 transceiver details
Cisco IOS-XR
controller Optics0/0/0/0
breakout 4x25 ! or: hw-module port-range 0 3 location … mode 4x25
interface HundredGigE0/0/0/0
fec standard | none
show controllers optics 0/0/0/0
Arista EOS
interface Ethernet1
speed forced 25gfull ! forced 10000full, 40gfull, 100gfull …
error-correction encoding reed-solomon ! fire-code | disabled
no negotiation
interface Ethernet33/1-4 ! breakout: configure speed on the /1-/4 children
speed forced 25gfull
hardware port-group 1 select Et33/1-4 ! some platforms
transceiver qsfp default-mode 4x10G ! platform default for QSFP+ ports
show interfaces transceiver dom
Juniper Junos (QFX/EX)
set chassis fpc 0 pic 0 port 0 channel-speed 25g ! breakout 4x25G on QFX
set chassis fpc 0 pic 0 port 48 speed 10g ! per-port speed on some models
set interfaces et-0/0/0 gigether-options fec fec91 ! fec74 | fec91 | none
set interfaces et-0/0/0 ether-options no-auto-negotiation
show interfaces diagnostics optics et-0/0/0
show chassis pic fpc-slot 0 pic-slot 0 ! lists "unsupported" optics
Huawei VRP (CloudEngine)
interface 25GE1/0/1
port mode 10GE ! or: speed 10000 on S-series
fec-mode rs-fec ! base-r | rs-fec | none (per platform)
negotiation auto disable
port split dimension interface 100GE1/0/1 split-type 4*25GE ! breakout, then commit/reboot on some
transceiver phony-alarm-disable ! system view: suppress non-Huawei optics alarms
display transceiver interface 25GE1/0/1 verbose
H3C Comware
interface Twenty-FiveGigE1/0/1
using tengige ! change port mode
port fec mode rs-fec ! (syntax varies)
transceiver phony-alarm-disable
display transceiver interface Twenty-FiveGigE1/0/1
HPE Aruba AOS-CX / AOS-S
! AOS-CX
interface 1/1/49
speed 25000-full
error-control rs-fec ! or: fec … per platform
allow-unsupported-transceiver
show interface 1/1/49 transceiver detail
! AOS-S (ProCurve)
allow-unsupported-transceiver
show interfaces transceiver detail
Dell OS10
interface breakout 1/1/1 map 25g-4x
interface ethernet1/1/1:1
speed 25000
fec CL91 ! CL74 | CL91 | CL108 | off
no negotiation
show interface ethernet 1/1/1:1 transceiver
SONiC
config interface speed Ethernet0 25000
config interface fec Ethernet0 rs ! rs | fc | none
config interface autoneg Ethernet0 disabled
config interface breakout Ethernet0 4x25G ! dynamic port breakout (platform support)
show interfaces transceiver eeprom -d Ethernet0
show interfaces status
Nvidia Cumulus (NVUE)
nv set interface swp1 link speed 25G
nv set interface swp1 link fec rs
nv set interface swp1 link auto-negotiate off
nv set interface swp1 link breakout 4x25G
nv config apply
l1-show swp1
MikroTik RouterOS
/interface ethernet set sfp-sfpplus1 auto-negotiation=no speed=10G-baseSR-LR
/interface ethernet set sfp28-1 fec-mode=fec91 ! fec74 | fec91 | off | auto
/interface ethernet monitor sfp-sfpplus1
Linux host (server NIC)
ethtool -s eth0 speed 25000 duplex full autoneg off
ethtool --set-fec eth0 encoding rs # rs | baser | off | auto
ethtool -m eth0 # identity and DDM
# Intel ixgbe/i40e: allow non-Intel SFPs (module parameter; check the driver's docs)
modprobe ixgbe allow_unsupported_sfp=1
Verifying the result
- Link up on both ends at the intended speed; no
LOLor FEC uncorrectable counters (VDM & FEC metrics). show … transceivershows the module as supported (or tolerated) with DDM values (Verifying optics on a switch).- Counters clean after a few minutes of traffic (Link flapping).
- Configuration saved; on platforms that need a reload for breakout or port-mode changes, the change survives it.
In CodingBox
The recipes tell the port what to do; the module tells the port what it can do. Before configuring a speed or breakout, read the module's rate codes and CMIS applications on Check transceiver — a port cannot be configured into a mode the module does not advertise.
The full server-side toolbox behind the Linux host recipe — ethtool, mlxlink, bnxtnvm, Windows and ESXi commands, reading DDM from a NIC: NIC tools and diagnostics.
Interface naming behind each recipe (Gi1/0/1, et-0/0/48:1, Ethernet0, swp1s0…): Port naming & LEDs; the LAG/MLAG side of uplink configuration: Stacking & MLAG.