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Questions tagged [fiber]

Fiber (Fibre) generally refers to optical fiber, a very thin, flexible glass strand which is used for the transmission of optical signals in high performance networks.

An optical fiber is a very thin, flexible glass strand that transmits light along its axis, by the process of total internal reflection.
There are two main classes of optical fibre used in telecommunications applications, Single-mode Fiber (SMF) and Multi-mode fiber (MMF)

Multi-mode Fiber is mostly used for communication over short distances, such as within a building or on a campus. Typical multimode links have data rates of 10 Mbit/s to 10 Gbit/s over link lengths of up to 600 meters.

Single mode fiber is used for communication over very long distances. It is not so common in the datacenter environment.

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Upgrading from 100BASE-FX to 1000BASE-SX fiber?

I've been trying to upgrade our small fiber network from 100BASE-FX to 1000BASE-SX. The cables are 62.5/125 multimode fibers, all terminated in patch panels with ST plugs (the round ones). As I understand whatever sources I could find, this…
Morten Siebuhr
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New office cabling: should we use CAT7 or CAT6a?

We are going to do the cabling in our new office building and we are thinking to lay down 10Gbit cables since we use HP switches that come with 10Gbit ethernet ports. We will also lay down few fiber optic cables, just in case :). What we are…
I don't know.
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What kind of cable is this?

I need to cost out some switching and figure out how to network a PC to this type of network. Clarifying: This is to connect units in a high rise facility. Each unit has the top picture in a closet. In every other floor in the hallway the cables…
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Mixing SFP's with different speeds

I need to install new SFP's in a location; however, I need them to connect to existing switches and I'm not sure what SFP type they are. All I know is I've got MM Fiber. If I installed Cisco GLC-SX-MM 1000Base SFP's, would that cause an issue if…
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If fiber runs 1gig fine, are there any concerns when considering upgrading to 10gig transceivers?

We had fiber installed (connecting ~10 buildings) around 5 years ago and it has been working great. The initial setup involved Procurve 2848 and 2824 switches w/ 1gig transceivers. However, lately we have been considering upgrading our network both…
Eric
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Is 10Gbps fiber (aqua or teal clad) backwards compatible with 4Gbps/8Gbps (normally orange clad fiber) FC equipment?

Just like the subject says. I've got a mess of FC hardware in a rack that I'd like to replace the cabling on. Looking at Monoprice I see that LC/LC cables are really close in price between 10Gb and "normal" ($9.18 for a 1m 10Gb, $8.91 for a 1m…
Bill Weiss
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Very slow write speed (NVME drive) on 10G network

Setting up an experimental lab cluster, the write speed for data received via 10G fiber connection is 10% of the local write speeds. Testing transfer speed between two identical machines; iperf3 shows good memory to memory speed of 9.43Gbits/s. And…
roman
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Connecting two buildings, 250 meters, heavy snow country, high lighting risk

I will have a new fiber optic Internet connection coming in to building A, and need to set up an access point in building B. Both are commercial buildings. The fiber Internet is currently 20 Mbps, but potentially up to 1000 Mbps. The buildings are…
Bryce
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100BASE-FX single-mode, confusing distances

I'm new to Ethernet over Fiber, so please bear with me. According to the standard, 100BASE-FX over SMF supports distances up to 10 Km. Technical documentation of some products states support for 100BASE-FX with typical distances of up to 40…
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Can internet gateways be plugged straight into a layer 2 switch?

tl;dr Internet gateways (eg., cable modems, fiber optic gateways) don't function properly when they aren't behind a device with "layer 3" or routing capabilities, correct? Incredibly long backstory I'm in an argument with my boss about the root…
Eric L.
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Network cabling Tips

I'm looking for some useful information about how to design network cabling for a building. I'm not so much interested in wiring standards such as 568A, but more interested in physically wiring the building. For example: Is it better to have all the…
Bryan
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fiber to the desktop - which connector

in putting together a new installation, one of the requirements is that we use fiber to the desktop. we are going to use multimode, but im not sure which connector. is there a material (ie cost) difference between SC and LC? what about…
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What kind of fiber is used in Intercontinental connections? Are repeaters used?

I'm curious about the underwater Internet infrastructure that interconnects continents to each other. Can anyone elaborate on how it works, or any other details (such as security) of these wires?
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50um vs. 62.5um fiber compatability

I've heard that there are compatibility problems when using 50um fiber with some fiber converters. After some research I'm thinking this is a legacy issue when using slower devices (100 Base FX) that used LEDs. I was told that the fiber converters…
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Small Scale Point-to-Point Fibre optics

I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma with regards to stretching a 100base-T network from building to building. The site is a racetrack (cars) with a control tower, housing race control, admin and a small air conditioned server room. About 200m away,…
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