Optics and Hardware Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, Cisco IOS XR Releases

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Optics and Hardware Configuration Guide for Cisco 8000 Series Routers, Cisco IOS XR Releases

Cisco QSFP-DD800 modules

Updated: June 16, 2026

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Explains the capabilities of Cisco QSFP-DD800 modules for high-density 800G Ethernet connectivity, detailing configuration requirements for 2x400G and 8x100G breakout modes to support scalable data center and enterprise network deployments.

The Cisco QSFP-DD800 modules offer advanced high-density 800 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for modern data centers and enterprise networks, featuring:

  • increased density and flexibility to support web customer deployments,

  • utilization of QSFP-DD800 optics technology for efficient, high-density ethernet connections, and

  • enhanced scalability for seamless data center interconnection and network growth.

Table 1. Feature History Table

Feature Name

Release Information

Feature Description

Configure 2x400G and 8x100G breakout modes on Cisco QSFP-DD800 modules

Release 25.3.1

Introduced in this release on: Fixed Systems (8200 [ASIC: Q200, P100],(select variants only*); ; Modular Systems (8800 [LC ASIC: Q100, Q200, P100])(select variants only*)

You can now configure 2x400G and 8x100G breakout modes on the 8212-32FH-M routers and 88-LC1-36EH line cards using the QSFP-DD800 optical modules.

This feature introduces these changes:

CLI:

*This feature is supported on:

  • 8212-32FH-M

  • 88-LC1-36EH

Guidelines for using Cisco QSFP-DD800 optical modules

Use these guidelines to operate Cisco QSFP-DD800 optical modules:

  • When operating 800G optical modules in supported port pairs, only the first port in each pair (e.g., Port 0, 1, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 16) is active, while the second port in the pair (e.g., Port 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18) remains inactive.

    For example, in the first port pair (ports 0 and 2), port 0 is enabled, whereas port 2 is disabled.

  • The major alarm hw_optics: OPTICS Module is not supported on this portdoes not appear when a Cisco 800G optical module is installed in a port configured with mode 800.

Supported port pairings on Cisco 8212-48FH-M Router

800G optics are supported on these port pairings of the Cisco 8212-48FH-M Router:

Port 1

Port 2

0

2

1

3

4

6

8

10

9

11

12

14

13

15

16

18

17

19

20

22

21

23

24

26

25

27

28

30

29

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

Configure 800G optics

To support 800G modules, configure the mode as 800 on the designated port pairings. This setup activates the primary port for 800G module insertion while disabling the secondary port in each pair.

Procedure

1.

Enter the global configuration mode.

Example:

Router# configure terminal
2.

Configure mode 800 using the hw-module port-range mode 800 command for the desired port pairing. Insert the module into the first port number of the pair.

Example:

Router(config)# hw-module port-range  0 0 instance 0 location 0/RP0/CPU0 mode 800
3.

Commit the configuration.

Example:

Router(config)# commit

Configure 8x100G breakout mode

You can configure the Cisco QDD-8X100G-FR optical module for 8x100G breakout mode to operate as eight separate 100 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The Cisco QDD-2X400G-FR4 optical module operates by default in 2x400G mode and does not require a breakout configuration.

Procedure

1.

Enter global configuration mode.

Example:

Router# configure terminal
2.

Access the controller optics configuration for the port where the QDD-8X100G-FR optical module is inserted.

Example:

Router(config)# controller optics 0/0/0/13
3.

Apply the breakout 8x100.

Example:

Router(config-Optics)# breakout 8x100
Router# commit
4.

Verify the installed 800 GbE modules and their configurations using the show inventory | include 8x100.

Example:

Router#show inventory | i 8x100
NAME: "EightHundredGigE0/0/0/13", DESCR: "Cisco QSFPDD 8x100G FR Pluggable Optics Module"
NAME: "EightHundredGigE0/0/0/38", DESCR: "Cisco QSFPDD 8x100G FR Pluggable Optics Module"