Choose RJ45 port switch or SFP port switch

Gigabit Ethernet switches generally have two ports: RJ45 port and SFP port. Both of these ports can be used for Gigabit Ethernet transmission. Then, what is the difference between RJ45 port and SFP port. And how to choose?

With the development of science and technology, people’s demand for networks is increasing, and network upgrades in data centers or server rooms are imminent. Therefore, Gigabit Ethernet has become more and more common. So, which port Gigabit Ethernet switch should be used to realize Gigabit Ethernet connection?

RJ45 port

The RJ45 port of the Gigabit Ethernet switch is a built-in port. To connect two Gigabit Ethernet switches with RJ45 ports, you only need to use a Category 5 or Category 6 network cable.

SFP port

The SFP port of the Gigabit Ethernet switch complies with the 1000BASE-T (IEEE802.3ab) standard, and the transmission rate can reach 1000Mbps. Different from the above-mentioned RJ45 port, the SFP optical module must be inserted into the SFP port of the switch first, and then the network cable (Cat5e/Cat5e/Cat6 network cable) can be used for data transmission. In addition, in applications such as data centers and local area networks (LAN), the SFP port of the switch also has a 100/1000Mbps adaptive function.

The figure below is an example of the RJ45 connection and SFP connection of a Gigabit Ethernet switch. Among them, the left side is the SFP connection, and the right side is the RJ45 connection. SFP connection requires two SFP electrical optical modules and a Category 5 network cable, or two SFP optical modules and an optical fiber jumper; while RJ45 connection only requires a Category 5 network cable.

Summary

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. The transmission distance when using SFP optical port optical modules is also longer than that of RJ45 ports. High flexibility, and scalability is also relatively high. So in the end, we have to choose according to the specific cost and usage.