Just received my first test set of GPEN21! So excited, then so disappointed. I’m trying to terminate ActiveE FTTH into apartments and power access points with PoE using the same device. GPEN21 fits the usage case precisely. However, during testing, we are finding that no communication is possible between the internal PoE-out ethernet port and the SFP port. I suspect this caused by software ie “port isolation.” Is this a feature or a bug?
I suppose that you are trying to connect GPEN21(1) → ETH2 to GPEN21(2) → SFP (S-RJ01).
Right?
Regards.
Yes. I confirmed with a support case that it ins’t the intended design and isn’t a support operation. They may add support in SWos in a future release.
That’s too bad, this is my primary use case. Already bought two GPEN21, tried to configure them, failed, and then found this forum post. Haven’t found anything about this limitation in user manual, quick start guide or your website. Please document this limitation on your website and try to fix it in the next swOS release!
For now I switched to the RB260GSP to connect a LHG to Fiber.
We just deployed 20 of these today in exactly the same setup, only to find it does not work 
.. Going to have to work out a hash with a power lead and splitter now.
I don’t get why it’s like this. If it’s a combo port then it should be marked as such. It looks great as a fibre to ethernet with poe
Ran head-on into the same trap today. Expected the GPEN21 to be basically a three-port switch, with one copper PoE in, one copper PoE out, and one SFP. Found out that ETH2 to SFP isn’t switched at all, maybe even an undocumented combo port. Cool. The AP behind the ETH PoE is now isolated from network. All this makes it much less usable as a “smart injector”.
Just finding out now that in the brochure it says “GPEN21 has an Ethernet and an SFP port for fiber connectivity. These ports can be used for simultaneous external connections, but not for cross-port
communication.”
Now I’m kinda asking myself: Why?
I also dont get it, it would have been nice
A block-diagram would be helpful to avoid this confusion
We ended up still using 360 of these to run a large FTTH deployment. Instead of using a cap AC poe-powered, we ended up using an external router and a barrel power cord splitter. Still looking to get this working. Since you can simultaneously communicate between the external RJ and both the SFP and internal RJ, it looks purely to be software related. This product availability comes on the heals of us using (190) RBFTC11 for FTTH. One heck of a build, but everyone has 1Gbps connection, and now shared splitters or ports to worry about.
Just to follow up here a couple years later - the networks that we’ve built with this setup have been a resounding success. CRS328-4C-20S-4S+ switch supports (24) 1Gbps customers with BiDi optics and a GPEN21.
Actually you can use all three ports simultaneously, but between two of them forwarding is not possible.
The port which is selected at Forwarding → Set As Uplink Port ca communicate to the other two ports.