Using two ports on a SFP switch as media converter?

[fredrbus]

I am planning a new network layout at home, and was considering an Ubiquiti USG as firewall and router.

 

I am connected to my ISP via fiber, so I have to go from SFP to RJ45 somewhere, and as I see it, i have 3 options.

1) Spend way too much money on an USG Pro 4 with SFP-port,

2) Buy a media converter (SFP to RJ45) and a regular USG

or 3) Buy a managable Edgeswitch with SFP and PoE+ (going to need a PoE+ switch anyways) and use a private VLAN (or a better solution?) to "bridge" the SFP-port to a RJ45-port so only they can talk together.

 

Is option 3 possible? And is it efficient?

 

Posting a diagram of what i want to do.

 

Thanks.

[mtz_federico]

Option 3 seems possible and I would go with that

[brwainer]

Option 3 is commonly referred to as a “Core Switch” and is used at almost any Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt (and their related sub-brands) that was installed in the last 3 years and even longer. Having a DMZ VLAN is nothing unusual. It is used in the industry because it makes it easier for multiple devices to connect directly to the internet (versus having many LAN-side ports on a router) and can allow you to reroute traffic if a particular device (other than the core switch) goes down and you need to quickly provide a temporary solution.

 

EDIT: By the way you can also use VLANs so that you only need a single ethernet between the USG and the switch. This gives you more options in case in the future you want a server (maybe with VMs) to access both LANs.

[beersykins]

I had to do option 3 in a deployment recently.  Chucklehead orders copper handoff, demarc extension requires about 200 meters of distance.  Media converter in the telco room for UTP -> MMF, only provided an ASA for the edge device which contains no SFP.  Had to terminate a SFP switch port on an outside VLAN and then use another port on that same VLAN which was copper to pass it over to the outside interface of the firewall.

 

It works but it's kind of messy, your diagram looks right for that though.

[fredrbus]

Thanks for all the answers, although I just went with an ER-4 with SFP instead.

 

The problem has forced me to learn more about VLANs, which proved to be useful further down the line in my new network.

Thanks again.