[HELP] Need to connect 2 buildings using existing fiber run

[NETWizz]

That comment contradicts itself. They don't need "enterprise grade" but it is a new network that you want to be able to grow even "rapidly". Situation like this I personally would not do anything less than enterprise grade. This is the kind of situation that is ideal for doing enterprise grade now so that you don't have to come back and do it all again later. I design networks for a living and believe me I have learned this lesson the hard way.

As others I am not that fond of tp-link for business networks. My switch preference for business networks is Cisco or HP. With that being said based on what I have read about your situation I would just be happy seeing you use anything higher-end (enterprise grade) regardless of brand.

Naw... No need for Enterprise grade stuff. What you need is Campus LAN Access stuff.

For example, this is Enterprise Stuff:

https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/B...s-managed-desktop-rack-mountable/3223525.aspx
It's $15,000 (we buy them for about $12,000 and probably have 30 of these at the edge of our Ethernet Fabric)

 

[Mercenary Roadie]

While you are, indeed, correct... virtually nobody I know ever cleans fiber, and it just plain works (most of the time). Every-time I ever had a problem it was mismatched transceivers, speeds, bad patch cables (which may have simply needed the ferrules cleaned), etc. Honestly, I very rarely ever clean them and have literally connected thousands without an issue. The only transceivers you have to watch out for are the Long-Haul ones, some of which require a special attenuation patch cord. Otherwise, a dirty fiber will merely result in attenuation, which could link problems, but the actual transceivers should be fine.

When/if the fiber has attenuation problems or connection issues, I just call my cabling contractor our... He or she can clean, re-terminate, replace the LIU or pull new fiber for all I care.

What a great attitude to have. Do a half ass job and if you cause a problem let someone else handle and pay for it. Real professional.

 

[NETWizz]

What a great attitude to have. Do a half ass job and if you cause a problem let someone else handle and pay for it. Real professional.

Here is why...

Maintenance Windows:
I do NOT mean to sound obnoxious, and I acknowledge you are correct that it would be good practice to clean them, but you fail to understand the reasoning for what I say is simple experience. The truth is we do a completely different job with different constraints. While you might have "as long as the job takes," I am working on "live" networks where I have to put in Change Management Requests just to get a small after-hours maintenance window. For example, I might need to upgrade the firmware on twelve switches, swap an existing switch out for RMA, find out why there is a problem on a couple of Cisco ASAs in High Availability where one is frozen (and its IPS is not working)... Put this into a two(2) hour maintenance window and see if "cleaning" enters your mind.

Experience:
I have done thousands of these with ST, SC, and LC in both single mode (blue or yellow) and multi-mode (aqua or orange); I have used fiber on Adva, Ciena, Cisco, Brocade, Aruba, Fiber Channel Brocade, Nexus, Palo Alto, Check Point, and Juniper... I have used GBIC, mini-GBIC, SFP, SFP+, and QSFP+ It has NEVER been a problem as far as I know though I have deemed some fiber to be "bad runs" at one particular site... there were probably six (6) entire extra pairs, so I just used those. It might have been dirty cabling! That said Layer-1 is generally the last thing I even think about as a Network Manager... Most of my job is dealing with the logical architecture not the physical architecture of a network.

Cable Contractors on Contract:
It also steps from having continuous, recurring Government contract... It is NOT my job to clean cables or pull cable. We have a continuously open Purchase Order. If I call, someone will be on-site in fewer than 4 hours (generally within two). That person has all the training and tools.

I have a Fluke OptiView, but I do NOT have the modules to certify the fiber. My cable contractor DOES. If I have ANY problems, he can certify it!

Multiple Connections:
MOST of What we use are in Brocade LAGs, Cisco EtherChannel, or Brocade VCS Fabric. That which is not, is generally inter-connected via two or more sub-nets.

Here is a snippet from something connected via two (2) /30 subnets and simple static routing:
In this example it is something providing data services on vlan 123 with a Default Gateway of 10.123.1.1 and two (2) Layer-3 Routes back to the network's distribution layer via two tiny 192.168 network sub-nets with just enough room for two endpoints on each one

vlan 1 name DEFAULT-VLAN by port
untagged ethe 1/3/1 to 1/3/2
router-interface ve 1
!
vlan 123 by port
untagged ethe 1/1/1 to 1/1/12
router-interface ve 123

!
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 192.168.5.41
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 192.168.6.41
!

interface ve 1
ip address 192.168.5.42 255.255.255.252
ip address 192.168.6.42 255.255.255.252
!

interface ve 123
ip address 10.123.1.1 255.255.248.0
ip helper-address 1 10.0.5.1
ip helper-address 2 10.0.5.2
!

ALL Fiber Statistics are Logged:

Code

SSH@SWITCHNAME(Config)# optical-monitor

SSH@SWITCHNAME#sh optic  1/3/1

Port  Temperature  Tx Power  Rx Power  Tx Bias Current

+----+-----------+--------------+--------------+---------------+

1/3/1  34.0000 C  -005.0459 dBm -006.7923 dBm  5.568 mA

  Normal  Normal  Normal  Normal


SSH@SWITCHNAME#sh optic 1/3/2

Port  Temperature  Tx Power  Rx Power  Tx Bias Current

+----+-----------+--------------+--------------+---------------+

1/3/2  35.3125 C  -005.0751 dBm -006.4627 dBm  6.708 mA

  Normal  Normal  Normal  Normal

Any issues will be reported to the Syslogging Server


Anything in SNMP will be reported to Manage Engine's Operations Manager
https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/


We have over 500 devices in it.



**********************************************************************

I just hope you can see it is me not being able to switch focus from working in a State-Wide Enterprise with hundreds of inter-connected offices ... It is different when you have the equipment and money we do.

 

[Nerm]

Where is a :facepalm: emoticon when you need one?

...Anyways back to the topic at hand...

If the customer already has sticker shock with TP-Link's "enterprise" grade switches then Cisco or HP should not be a problem. This is one of my problems with TP-Link's higher end stuff it is just as expensive as the same thing from the big boys. For example the "enterprise" grade 28-port gigabit switch they have is actually about $200 more (for me) than the same features and more in a gigabit 48-port 2960X from Cisco. Haven't compared their numbers to Procurve but I am sure it would probably be about the same if not even more price difference. Again though as long as you stay away from SOHO or SMB grade stuff you should be fine regardless of the brand. In fact for SFP/SFP+ modules my preferred brand is actually Trendnet (and every tech shutters reading that) lol. One thing I will agree with Netwizz on is to stay away from media converters if you can. They add an additional failure point to the network and seem to die easily.