What is the Combo Port on my Managed Ethernet Switch?

A Gigabit Ethernet Combo port is an Ethernet port and a Mini-GBIC port (also called SFP´s) that share the same switch fabric and port number. A Combo port is a way to provide different types of connectivity without taking up unused switch fabric. These Combo ports can also be labeled as tied, meaning two different physical ports that can only be used one at a time. A Gigabit Ethernet Combo port consists of one 1000Base-T Gigabit over Copper port (provided), and one Mini-GBIC port (empty port that requires Mini-GBIC module).

Note: If a Mini-GBIC port is being used, then the corresponding 1000BASE-T copper port is automatically disabled and vice versa.