Since, my doctor recommend that I put more fiber in my diet- I decided to comply.
So… in a few hours, I will be running a few OS2 runs across my house, with 10G LR SFP+ modules.
Both runs will be from my rack to the office. One run will be dedicated for the incoming WAN connection (Coupled with the existing fiber that… I don’t want to re terminate). The other, will be replacing the 10G copper run already in place, to save 10 or 20w of energy.
This, was sparked due to a 10GBase-T module overheating, and becoming very intermittent earlier this week causing a bunch of issues. After replacing the module, links came back up and started working normally… but… yea, I need to replace the 10G copper links.
With only twinax and fiber 10G links plugged into my 8-port aggregation switch, it is only pulling around 5 watts, which is outstanding, given a single 10GBase-T module uses more then that.
Edit,
Also, I ordered the wrong modules. BUT… the hard part of running the fiber is done!
Question: How do you run this without destroying your walls? I’m not planning on doing it, but I have an Ethernet connection that my landlord put in when he redid the basement, but I can’t picture how it would be done otherwise.
I have a crawlspace, I can go straight through the floor. I also already have a nice tight grommet for routing cables to/from the server closet too, which makes it pretty easy to run more cables.
I will say, one of the really nice things around having a crawlspace, it makes it effortless to run cabling across the house.
I am not very good at doing sheetrock, and especially not good at re-texturing the sheetrock, as such, I typically rely on floor grommets hidden out of sight, and out of mind.
The effort of achieving this in the average UK house is so much more than what I am guessing is OPs American house.
Crawlspaces don’t exist and we replaced sheetrock for double skinned solid brick walls.
It also depends on the area too. Generally, the higher quality houses are a solid foundation without a crawlspace.
And- don’t make it sound like you get the short end of the stick! Having a solid house built from double-brick walls sounds fantastic, compared to my house built with 2x4s, which are not even 2"x4". Especially, when we get a ton of very strong wind…
Had a 100mph wind gust recently, knocked off half of the roofs in my town.
___I lived in a hundred-year-old row home and I feel your pain. I had to rent a hammer drill to run Ethernet to my office, which was draped along the outside of my house.
Did the same. Three story townhouse. To run Cat6 from top to bottom I went out, round the side of the house, up the wall, and back in.
Ahhh gotcha! You should document and post the process. I’d love to see it!
I have quite a bit of it already documented!
Might be worth a read.
Although, will note, the 40G project is quite a bit more interesting then these 10G runs. I did also run 100G a year or so back, but, never posted anything on it, due to a ton of firmware issues on the 100GBe nics.
Interesting blog!
Clicked on your NAS article (one of the first linked ones) and spotted an error… you write that Synology NAS boxes don’t use standard RAID, but they do. They have official docs up on how to hook them up to a standard Linux system for disaster recovery (it’s just Btrfs or ext4 on mdadm RAID).
Probably not super relevant for you or most readers, but just thought I’d point it out :)
Interesting, was not aware of that.
I am going to assume you found the post regarding the 500$ closet NAS I built a few years ago.
One of the driving reasons behind the inclusion of that, was actually taking a jab at drobo units, which after failure… which, while recoverable, takes a decent amount more effort then just plugging the drives in elsewhere.
Yeah Synology is pretty good with that kind of stuff (we use one at work). They’ve really just got a Linux system with custom management tools on top. Of course for DIY purposes, self-building is still cheaper and more flexible though.
I might have to give them another evaluation.
My current issue… is just the amount of energy needed to run this bulk storage array… I need to identify a solution that allows me to have a large number of drives, good performance, AND low energy usage.
Doublepost- but, here ya go!
Only took, oh, around 10 minutes, since I already have holes / grommets in place. Just- run the cable, staple it up, and done!
When I helped my father run ethernet in my family’s home, we ran cables up to the attic, dropped them down to specific rooms between the walls, then drilled holes for panels as needed.
I’ve never used OS2, but I’m pretty experienced with OS2/Warp!
Looks like you’ve got SR optics there, or are those in the picture for something else?
Shit, glad you caught that…
I ordered the wrong modules…
But, I should have a pair of LR modules around here somewhere… hopefully.
Double shit, I don’t have any LR optics. On the plus side, the hard part is over…
Arent SR modules okay for your run length? It doesn’t look like you have >300m (ca. 2 football fields if you are american) from your rack to your office
Yup, SR modules would have been perfectly fine to use. However, they don’t work over SMF.
LR modules “MIGHT” work over MMF, but, SR modules won’t work over SMF.
I mistakenly thought my WAN connection came in with LC-LC LR too, instead, it runs over GPON.
Just wanted to do something a tad different, since I already have a ton of MMF ran around here.
Couldn’t agree more. As we age it’s important that we take a more proactive approach towards caring for our well-being. It’s an investment in our respective future quality of life.
What made you go with single mode over multimode?
I assume distance, just wondering how big your house is haha.
My WAN connection, is a no-brainer, as it is already single-mode.
Regarding the connection to my switch back here though- since I was already ordering the single-mode regardless, I went ahead and decided to run it single-mode too.
That makes sense!
I’ve never really looked into running fibre into my house.
But when I worked in a DC I laid a lot of fibre so we didn’t really think too deeply on what to use except for distance and bandwidth, unless the network team had a specific reason.
Good to know!
I have fibre to my house but only 1G so no point switching just yet.
Its not a necessity for me, however, I do lots of interesting networking experiments in my lab.
A good example, is my 40G networking project
So, this is mostly just playing around, but, it does have a few benefits. Power savings is one of them.
Are you using a switch on the way in?
Yes.
Was thinking of going the same route, as my employer threw away a couple of good working 10G optic sfps, but alas, only 1 of my 2 netgear switches supports sfp+ modules. (Couldn’t even get a simple 1.25G utp sfp to work in it)
I have a 100$ or so mikrotik here in the office, which is on the other end of that fiber. Its not at all picky on module choice.
Also- neither my brocade nor unifi aggregation switch are picky on modules. They have so far, taken every module I have tried.
The Intel X520-based daughterboard for my r730 though, its extremely picky. Gotta be intel/dell.
The Netgear 324 I have is picky (seems to support only SFP, not SFP+, the 724 was gifted and accepts the 1.25G UTP module. I also have a Cisco 3560 24P with 2 sfp ports. No clue yet if that works correctly and how much power it’ll use, but I can test with a short fiber cable I have (when it’s not damaged to much) Also, no clue yet how I’d route the fiber trough the house, 4 floors up, 1 across and then 1 down. (about 15-20m) I have cat6 throughout the house, but that’s a tad less fragile.
I’m only missing a hole in the wall to do the same – and I could be running a 2x 40G link!
But the switch idles at 80 W and a starting jet noise level, so the hole in the wall will wait.
Must be an ICX-6610. I miss mine, but, it had to go due to noise/power/heat.
I still have my 40G link, but, its just running point to point directly from my gaming PC to my NAS.
