Cat5/5E/6/6A Cable

[Sidewinder]

OK,

I'm having issues with the connection reliability in one of the cable drops in our network.

The cable is an old Cat5.

Our network is now running GB connections in most places.

We are fine with this over 5e to get the initial connection, what the actual transfer rate is, I'm not sure, but the connection devices report 1GB.

That's enough realistically.

One of the reasons I can't get a serious connection down the Cat5 is that I suspect due to interference from nearby loads, power cables etc.

No chance of serious re-routing, so looking to "upgrade" the cable.

Now I am linking two D-Link DGS-1210 switches, which have fibre optic ports, so that would obviously be the best option, however, I am at a loss to know which cable and connectors to use, I have looked at the info, but, it is a bit new to me, when I did fibre optics it was our proprietary system, so we knew what we had to use!!!

Thus, my question is, 5e (which I have some of), get a hank of 6 or 6a, or should I bite the bullet and drop in a fibre, if so, anyone done this and know what the connector & cable spec is / have sources for said fibre optic materials please?

I have a draw wire in (the Cat5!) I reckon it's a man day whatever I put in due to the route, I know fibre will be the most EM immune, the thing is, is it worth the expense of 6/6a, or will 5e do?

The 5e I have is utp, i suspect stp would be better.

Just looking for ideas and suggestions from those who install higher end networks stuff really, as I avoid it when I can, but this one is for me!

Thanks.

 

[green-hornet]

Hi Sidewinder, I have been installing cat6 as a standard for a while now, the Excel range is better and the higher spec cable is shielded so would help with interference.

I forgot to say you should get cat6 A its far far better, and double the standard of ordinary cat6

 

[M107]

Over the past year (13 months infact & we now have the training centre to do as an extra) me & my mate have rewired all 20 RBFRS fire stations in Cat6A.

Cat6A was specified as it has greater shielding properties with regard to EMI & RFI than the old Cat5 that was in use & we were getting drop out issues across various sites where the Cat was in use.

We also use (another in house project I've done) Cat6A for audio over the PA systems at all stations.

 

[Sidewinder]

OK, so Cat6A, or...

As I am linking a pair of D-Link DGS1210's which have SFP ports, so I could link them with fibre and even port trunk 2 fibre ports.

I have been looking into this since I posted.

This just seems too easy/cheap.

IF I port trunk then I need 4 adaptors & 2 cables.

So 4 of these:

http://www.fs.com/new-adtran-1200480l1-compatible-1000base-sx-sfp-transceiver-module-p-16044.html

Along with 2 of these:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/16180-optronics-lclcom3dpu20-z/

Else half of these.

Should give me serious speed connection between the two switches?

So, for £46.95 I could have the materials to potentially have a 20Gb connection between the two units.

Anyone think these bits would work?

 

[jdmjrmdam]

Fibre has the advantage that you'll be able to support higher bandwidth links when you upgrade you're switches on the future.

If you go with copper I'd install a few cables so you can at least use link aggregation once you're bandwidth requirements grow beyond 1G.

What length is the cable run?

 

[Sidewinder]

Run is just a shade over 10m to be fair, however, things will move shortly & I think that 20m should do it, I know that 20m is OK in copper, but, fibre is EMI immune.

The run is not EMI clean, so it would need to be STP for copper.

I'm just thinking that the kit I've linked to would be a plug & play solution?

I have set up LinkAgg before, in fact one of the switches is running link agg now, so it would just be set that up on the 2nd, and another set on the 1st & plug them in, I could do this to prove it worked OK then bury the cable in the building as it were, because the route along the floor is about the same as through the structure IYKWIM.

 

[jdmjrmdam]

OK, so Cat6A, or...

As I am linking a pair of D-Link DGS1210's which have SFP ports, so I could link them with fibre and even port trunk 2 fibre ports.

I have been looking into this since I posted.

This just seems too easy/cheap.

IF I port trunk then I need 4 adaptors & 2 cables.

So 4 of these:

http://www.fs.com/new-adtran-1200480l1-compatible-1000base-sx-sfp-transceiver-module-p-16044.html

Along with 2 of these:

http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/products/16180-optronics-lclcom3dpu20-z/

Else half of these.

Should give me serious speed connection between the two switches?

So, for £46.95 I could have the materials to potentially have a 20Gb connection between the two units.

Anyone think these bits would work?

Oops hadn't read this before my previous post looks good give me 5 mins to follow you're links

I reckon that'll work a treat only unknown is will the sfp work with you're switches? For the money though it's worth a punt.

 

[Lurch]

If you've got the option to go for fibre it's a no brainer.

Those 1Gbps fibre units are old hat now, hence the cheapness. Newer switches will have fibre ports that are 10Gbps or more so it's no different to copper technology, 10Mbps stuff was cheap when 10/100 was the norm, and now the 10/100 stuff is cheap as it is all 10/100/1000 now.

 

[Sidewinder]

Lurch, 

The switches are D-Link DGS-1210's, I can't decide if they are ! or 10 GBPS?

Any thoughts please?

 

[Sidewinder]

OK so would this be better still cheap!

http://www.fs.com/new-d-link-dem-431xt-compatible-10gbase-sr-sfp-transceiver-module-p-29372.html

 

[Lurch]

The switches are D-Link DGS-1210's, I can't decide if they are ! or 10 GBPS?

Any thoughts please?

For the age and price I would say 1000BASE. Which unit have you got, I don't think the backplane would support 10G on the smaller models.

 

[Sidewinder]

I'm linking a DGS-1210-24 & 24P.

All the DGS models share a common base platform they are enterprise class managed switches.

 

[Lurch]

Looking at the datasheets there is nothing that specifically states one or the other, however it does only mention 10/100/1000 in various places that seems to include SFP. I think if it was 10G it would be explicitly stated as such.

My money is still on the SFP being 1Gbps.

 

[Sidewinder]

Lurch,

I am tending to agree, as I've been looking too, so I can get a 2 x 1000Base link quite cheaply, and that will be as quick as the switches can cope with I think thus the cheaper transceivers.

As far as I can tell 2 off 311 compatible each end should give me 2 x 1000Base.

For the money, I may take a punt?

Any other comments please?

 

[jdmjrmdam]

Agreed the sfp ports on those switches only support 1G.

Forgot to say I'd run 4 fibre patches and aggregate all four sfp port to get 8Gb

 

[Sidewinder]

I could run 4 fibres, but, then I can't run a 2nd set to another switch, plus, I have a pair of Cu ports aggregated already on the 24P, and, I do not want to drop that aggregation.

I will need to add another switch at least if not two due to premises layout I think.

Not all will be 24 port, in fact the only reason I have the 24 & the 24P is that I needed to swap over to PoE for some devices, so really the 24 is much too big for our secondary needs.

I could probably get away with the 24P & 2 or 3 8P switches.

I only have 4 off SFP ports on the main switch, but, I could add another 8P switch at the origin to run 4 more fibres out from our incoming link.

I am using P as PoE rather than port.

It's PoE ports that I am looking at expanding on for ip phones, cameras, & Wi-Fi points to save the hassle of additional power supplies.

 

[Lurch]

I only have 4 off SFP ports on the main switch, but, I could add another 8P switch at the origin to run 4 more fibres out from our incoming link.

Or you could get a fibre switch for the core?.

I am using P as PoE rather than port.

Typo? Not sure what this bit means.

 

[Sidewinder]

I have switched out a "normal" switch for a PoE switch.

When I am describing the switches I am using the P to indicate where I need PoE switches rather than normal.

I could use a fibre switch at the core, but, not sure of the implications as i would still need copper at the core, and copper out from the core as not all points from the core could use fibre IYKWIM.

 

[Lurch]

I have switched out a "normal" switch for a PoE switch.

When I am describing the switches I am using the P to indicate where I need PoE switches rather than normal.

Aha, I got it after reading it all a few times!

IYKWIM.

IKWYM. I would consider building a fibre core though, or at least looking at moving that way when possible/feasible as in the not too distant future your copper core will be looking old fashioned. I spent money on new HP managed switches then shortly after decided that I wanted gigabit instead, then gigabit PoE came out, and now I am looking at NAS devices with fibre ports.

 

[Sidewinder]

I think that our Synology NAS will be OK with a 2x1GB link agg for a while yet.

So, I think that copper there will be fine.

I just want to be sure that I can get a good reliable 2GB right through the rest of the network.

I think if I went fibre core then I would be looking at at least 4 copper ports at the core probably 8.

Then if I went for 2 link agg to each sub-switch then I would need at least 8 fibre ports, as realistically due to the layout I'll need at least 4 switches.

Possibly 5, I've not seen a switch yet with say 8 copper & 8 fibre ports that will run separately.

All of ours are currently D-Link too, so it is helpful to stick with what you know!!!

I know I can daisy chain etc.

However, if I can star out from the core then it "should" be faster especially IF I can keep all my storage, external connections & server at the core.

Oh potentially moving to fibre is part of the reason for this thread really.