SFP mini GBIC port on switch

[jokb]

hi guys, need your help again. we have a 24 port gigabit switch with 2 combo SFP(mini GBIC) ports on it. What type of cable is required to connect this one to another switch with the same type of port? Will this be faster as compared to using the normal cat6 cable? thanks your help in advance.

 

[El0him]

multimode fiber LC connector

 

[jokb]

thanks elohim!

there are many types of this cable. Can you suggest one? what's the difference between LC and SC multimode? LC is better, right? By the way, what do you call the connector for this one? Is it a transceiver? sorry for asking a lot of questions. thanks again.

 

[El0him]

LC and SC refers to the connector type. Fibers are multimode (orange fiber) or singlemode (yellow mode). Multimode fibers are usualy 850 nm. I'm not gonna lecture on light refractions and levels and other characteristics of fiber. The LC connectors are the SFP (small form pluggable). The SC connectors are the regular gbics.

I suggest to keep things simple.. get 62.5 nm multimode fiber with LC connector if that is what's require.

 

[michaelahess]

It's possible those gbics are single mode, I'd check that before going to far. My network only uses single mode, costs more but we have many links over 20 miles.

 

[jokb]

Thanks for the info guys but is it really worth getting fiber cables when you're just connecting switches in the same bay rack? or will link aggregation do the trick?

 

[michaelahess]

Aggregation will work but think how many ports you'll need to get giga out of 10/100 ports......not worth it in my opinion. What's the model numbers on the gbics, and what kinda switches? A couple patch fibers are still cheap, even single-mode.

 

[jokb]

actually i have giga switches. i have dell powerconnects and dlink dgs 1224Ts. so if i link aggregate 2 ports for each switch, will it be better? I'm doing a star topology.

I'm just thinking if getting fiber optics is worth the cost when I already have giga switches. anyways, not that much passes thru the links. I'm just making more bandwidth for the file and exchange server.

 

[kdxrider9262]

I was looking into getting SFP fiber connectors for my switch and I definetly decided it was not worth it for my house....that is hela expensive almost 250 dollars for one SFP card.

 

[jokb]

I know buddy. the cheapest transceivers are around $250. and the cables are $60. that's like getting a new switch.

 

[kdxrider9262]

multimode fiber LC connector

thats not the only type of connector they make for SFP.. You have to decide which type of fiber is right for you..

 

[michaelahess]

I get sx gbics for around $120 through my company, shouldn't be too much more, you certainly don't want lx or zx, they'll fry the receivers with that short of distance. When you consider the cost of most switches that NEED them, they are dirt cheap. If you already have a giga switch there is no need to use the fiber unless you have long runs that exceed ethernet.

Single mode 3m patches are around $30 and multimode are $20 both for duplex cables. If you don't know if you have 65um or 50um, get 65 as it will work with both (multi-mode).

LC is a small connector with a tab you push down on top to release, sc or snap and click is a square connector with a sheeth that click into place, they are about 3 times the size of LC, and st or stick and twist, are round metal things kinda like a keyed bnc.

Aggregation of two gige ports is kinda useless for what you're running, a 2 gig backbone is a lot for most small business'! Almost all ethernet networks today are star, bus is a very poor topology for network resiliance.

I'd throw a traffic monitoring program on the switch and see what kind of traffic you have right now, unless you have a link saturated at 70% or more under load, you don't need to aggregate links.

 

[jokb]

thanks a lot Michaelahess for the very useful information. just curious, would LC be lock and clip?

I think my network setup for now is fine since I'm not running long cables nor is my traffic consuming more than 70%. I was just planning ahead but I guess what I already have is fine. What type of traffic monitoring program are you using by the way?

 

[michaelahess]

Good one!

I personally use a pfsense firewall with two additional interfaces that I connect between the lan and system I'm monitoring and throw an allow all rule in, then open the bandwidth graph and sit back and relax. You would do this to each machine one at a time, then add up all the systems and see what percentage you have.

Opmanger will also monitor snmp and show graphs if the switches support the proper snmp mibs. Go here:
http://manageengine.adventnet.com/products/opmanager/switch-monitoring.html

 

[jokb]

Isn't that too much work? Do you know of any network monitoring software that would monitor the traffic of the whole network from one box?

I've got the Opmanager, I'll try it out soon as I get the chance. thanks!

 

[michaelahess]

Depends on how reliable you want the results, with the firewall I know there is no other traffic trying to go to the box, better control of the environment. You could also use iperf and see how much traffic your links can actually handle, give you a baseline for percentages, it won't tell you the current load though.

 

[jokb]

that's ok. I just need to check the overall traffic of the network. Like who's causing the most traffic. do you know of any software / freeware that can do that? thanks

 

[michaelahess]

I recall something about GFI, I used to use their languard product, you might check them out.

 

[petko789]

Great information thanks for sharing

http://www.versatek.com/index.php/products-and-solutions/media-converters.html

 

[shibupk]

Hi Jokb,

you can try with a software called "Iview" which is a reporting software coming free...Actually that is a part of Cyberoam UTM,but you can download the software alone also.

Thanks

Shibu Kurian

that's ok. I just need to check the overall traffic of the network. Like who's causing the most traffic. do you know of any software / freeware that can do that? thanks