On Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:26:55 -0500, Colton Conor wrote [snip] > Maybe I should just ditch the 40G QSFP+ optics and use all 10G optics, > but the switches I am using have 48 10G SFP+ ports and 6 QSFP+ ports > built in. I know there are 40G breakout cables, but the whole point of > 40G is to aggregate VLAN/circuits.
Depending on switch vendor, it might be possible to create real 40GE interface also from 4 consecutive 10G SFP+ ports. Then you can use standard 10G CWDM/DWDM SFP+ optics and still benefit from wire-speed 40G uplinks. Note that this is *not* etherchannel/LAG, but true HW-based 40GE mode. M.