As we all know, Gigabit Ethernet switches generally have two types of ports: RJ45 ports and SFP ports. Both types of ports can carry Gigabit Ethernet transmission, so what is the difference between them? What kind of port Gigabit Ethernet switch should be used to realize Gigabit Ethernet connection?

What is the RJ45 port on the Gigabit Ethernet switch?
The RJ45 port of the Gigabit Ethernet switch is a built-in port. This type of port can be used for server access in the data center, LAN, and the uplink of desktop switches or Gigabit to desktop bandwidth applications. When two Gigabit Ethernet switches are connected, standard twisted-pair cables are usually used, such as CAT-5, CAT-5, CAT-6, and CAT-6 network jumpers

What is the SFP port on the Gigabit Ethernet switch?

SFP port (small hot-swappable interface) is also called mini-GBIC port, the transmission rate is 1G, and it can support copper link or optical link (in Ethernet, SFP port rate is 1Gbit/s, in fiber channel system In, the SFP port rate can reach 4Gbit/s). When inserting an electrical interface module into an SFP port, it is usually connected with a network cable (Cat5/Cat5e/Cat6) for data transmission. When the optical port module is inserted into the SFP port, you need to use the LC jumper to transmit in order to achieve longer distance transmission. In addition, in applications such as data centers and local area networks (LAN), the switch’s SFP port also has a 100/1000Mbps adaptive function.

RJ45 port VS SFP port

From the above point of view, the performance of the RJ45 port and the SFP port are basically the same; but from the cost point of view, the wiring cost of the SFP port is higher. Nevertheless, the SFP port is still necessary because it can support two types of SFP electrical port modules and SFP optical port modules. When using SFP optical port optical modules, the transmission distance is also longer than that of RJ45 ports. In practical applications, it has High flexibility, and scalability is also relatively high.