Anyone know about fiber?

[Kremlar]

We have 2 buildings connected via fiber cable and need to purchase switches to connect the 2 together.

I know nothing about fiber, but have at least determined that the cable we have is terminated with SC connectors.

After that, I'm lost in the dark.

How can we tell if we can use gigabit fiber switches?

How can we tell if we need multi-mode or single-mode fiber modules?

Can anyone clue me in???

Thanks!
Mike

 

[spidey07]

You can read the writing on the cable and fine out.

It is most likely Multimode fiber cable, suitible for gigabit ethernet. How long the cable is end-to-end and how much light is lost will determine what kind of gigabit ethernet you should use.

Multimode cable will say 50 or 62.5 micron on the side and is usually orange in color.
Singlemode cable (also suitible for gig ethernet) is usually yellow in color.

 

[Kremlar]

Says 62.5 Micron and is orange.

So I guess that's it!

Any other tips when shopping for a pair of switches?


Thanks,
Mike

 

[jleon]

Depends on what the job that switch will be functioning. If your looking for a mid-size switch with fiber, you can take a look at the Cisco cat 4003.

 

[azev]

and your budget is ???

 

[Kremlar]

Whoops - sorry!

Very inexpensive.

We're just doing very basic peer-to-peer, but 1 station is across the driveway in another building.

Is all multi-mode gigabit capable?

I was looking at a couple of SMC models, possibly a Netgear.

Thanks again!

 

[Pheran]

Kremlar,

If you've got multimode fiber (and it sounds like you do), you can do gigabit on it. You can use a 1000BaseSX connection if the fiber is not longer than around 500m. Otherwise you need 1000BaseLX, which is more expensive. However, if you're only connecting one computer, you probably don't need gigabit and could just use 100BaseFX instead which is pretty cheap and has quite a long range.

Another possibility instead of getting a switch with fiber ports is to just use a pair of media converters to convert copper to fiber and back again, then you could use any switch. Something like a D-Link DFE-855 would do the job.

 

[cmetz]

Not all 62.5u MMF is gigabit capable - there are other metrics necessary. However, if it's reasonably recent fiber and the run's not too long, you're probably okay. If it's terminated with SC connectors, that's a very good sign (the era in which SC appeared is modern enough).

I know I've seen no-name 10/100 copper + gig SC uplink switches on EBay for incredibly cheap. I'd suggest you check that option out.

 

[Kremlar]

FYI, I ended up going with a pair of D-Link copper - fiber converters (100Mbps) and a pair of D-Link 24-port switches. Worked like a charm, and perfect for our needs.

Mike