What Is SFP Port on a Gigabit Switch?

The SFP port on the network switch is designed for use with small form factor (SFF) connectors, and offers high speed and physical compactness. The SFP port enables a Gigabit switch to allow optical or copper links by inserting the corresponding SFP module (fiber SFP or copper SFP). Regardless of the optical port or electrical port link, the only difference is the physical layer (media). When the SFP port is inserted in 1G SFP with electrical ports, the network cable (Cat5e/Cat6/Cat7 cable) must be used for data transmission. Whereas, when the SFP port is plugged in Gigabit SFP with optical ports, fiber jumpers (LC fiber) need to support fiber connections. Therefore, the RJ45 SFP module is generally used for short-range uplinks to connect between an all-SFP distribution switch and an all-copper edge switch, and the fiber SFP module is most commonly used for a high-speed fiber uplink over longer distances.