Random, unclassified and probably not fully accurate bunch of information about network connectors, transceivers, cables, PHY protocols for copper, fiber-optics, and so on...

Connectors

Optical fiber connector on wikipedia

• RJ45. Supports 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps (10GBASE-T). Everybody knows them...

  RJ45 male connector

  RJ45 wiring

• CX4. What fiber-optic transceivers are able compatible with CX4?:
  • XENPAK: yes
  • XFP: yes but takes some room around the XFP, so multiple XFP shouldn't be too close.

  CX4 male connector

  CX4 female connector on a XFP mini-GBIC

• SC

  SC male connector

  dual SC male connector

• LC

  LC connector

  Beware: LC is not the acronym for Large Connector, and SC is not the acronym for Small Connector, but actually it is the opposite.

Fiber-optic transceivers

• XENPAK. For 10 Gbps.

  XENPAK module (Cisco, CX4)

• GBIC. For 1 Gbps.

  GBIC module (SC connector, front view)

  GBIC module (SC connector, rear view)

  GBIC module (1000BASE-T RJ-45 GBIC Transceiver)

• SFP Mini-GBIC (Small Form-factor Pluggable). For 1 Gbps. Exists with LC connectors, but probably not with SC connectors.

  SFP mini-GBIC module (LC connector)

  SFP mini-GBIC module (1000BASE-T SFP Transceiver)

• XFP Mini-GBIC. For 10 gbps. Exists with LC or CX4 connectors, but probably not with SC connectors.

  XFP mini-GBIC module (LC connector)

  XFP mini-GBIC with CX4 connector dimensions

• X2. For 10 Gbps.

  X2 module

• XPACK. For 10 Gbps.

  XPACK module

Cables

• Cat-5
• Cat-6
• Multimode fiber (should be orange). For 1 Gbps.
  I think it's not officially supported for 10 Gbps (excepted with 10GBase-LX4 which is specifically designed for it), but it seems that on short distances it works.
• Monomode fiber (should be yellow). Up to 10 Gbps on long distances.

Fiber-optic 1 Gbps and 10 Gbps PHY Protocols

Can I plug a 10GBase-LR with 10GBase-SR? Do they operate on an shared frequency? (undocumented feature?) cf. discussion

• 10GBase-CX4 10 Gbps copper, up to 15m
• 10GBase-SR 10 Gbps fiber-optic, short range
• 10GBase-LR 10 Gbps fiber-optic, long range, up to 10 km
• 10GBase-ER 10 Gbps fiber-optic, extended range, up to 40 km
• 10GBase-ZR 10 Gbps fiber-optic, up to 80km

Miscelaneous

• Cisco TwinGig: 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet on the Same Half-Card. The Cisco TwinGig Converter Module converts a single 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 interface into two Gigabit Ethernet port slots that can be populated with SFP optics, enabling customers to use Gigabit Ethernet SFPs on the same card in combination with 10 Gigabit Ethernet X2 optics.

  cisco twingig