Linking multiple network Switches

[rudger]

I visited a new business customer today and they have a reasonable sized network and 2 HP Procurve V1700 (J9080A) 24 port Switches next to each other inside the cabling cabinet.

When I arrived these 2 switches were connected to each other via a 0.5m Cat 5 Cable between 2 100mbps ports on Each switch, I changed this over to use ports 24 on each of the switches as ports 23&24 are 100/1000mbps Capable now my main question is both switches have a fibre optic connectors would the customer see any improvement in network speed if they changed from a cat5 cable connecting the 2 switches together over to a fibre optic cable between the 2 switches, if so what type of cable do I require?

Thanks in advance

Rudger

 

[Vicenarian]

Don't know a whole lot about networking, but monoprice.com sells fibre optic cable CHEAP. You should be able to find what you want there for just a few dollars, and try it out, if nothing else. Hope this helps!

 

[silvano]

You would need two of these, plus the necessary fiber cable (1 for each switch and 4 cables total). http://www.thenerds.net/AMC.AMC_Optics_J4860C_AMCSFP_mini_GBIC_Module_for_HP.J4860CAMC.html?affid=8 Whether you'd see an improvement or not is debatable. When you install one of these, one port will be disabled, and the fiber connection will still only function at gigabit speeds. It's more useful if there is latency between the switches, or you've got a long cable run (>100m).

 

[angry_geek]

Those side ports are for modules. You would have to buy the fiber modules and the cables to enable them. As to whether or not it's worth it? That depends on the nature of their network. How many computers are there? Not copiers and printers. Are they continually moving large amounts of data across the network? Are they complaining about the speed of their server based resources? A lot of variables are at play here, and you need to address all of them in order to make a good recommendation to your customer. In my opinion, it's not worth the money to buy the modules for that switch. The V1700 series is not that great a switch. They're meant for small networks with little traffic and a small budget (less than $200 on newegg). If they are having performance issues on the network and are willing to spend the money to fix them, you are better off with something like this: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/powerconnect-2848/pd

or this: http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/powerconnect-5548/pd

Obviously, you can get real serious about networking; those 2 are somewhat on the low end of the spectrum. I have used the 5548's in a couple of situations. They are fantastic hardware! However, you need to do a proper evaluation of the customer's network before making a recommendation. You don't want to oversell or (far worse) undersell to your clients.

 

[NETWizz]

I run an HP ProCurve shop in an enterprise environment, and it is NOT worth it in this situation...

HP sells three major types of mini-gibc modules for the fixed-form-factor (non-modular) switches...

These modules support different optical fiber media types: SX, LX, and LH.

I have only used SX and LH... I.e the Switch will say "Media Type is 1000-BASE-SX" instead of "1000-BASE-T," but other than that you get NO advantages with the two switches being right next to each other.

Gigabit is supported via CAT5e or CAT6 at 100 Meters.

Fiber is for longer runs!

We use two different types of fiber at work between campus buildings:
62.5/125 µm or 50/125 µm (core/cladding) diameter.

Both are multi-mode fiber. The general rule-of-thumb is to match the building's fiber. If the LIU is supplied with the older 62.5/125 µm, you should use a 62.5/125 µm patch cable (if 50/125 µm... use 50/125 µm) or you have huge attenuation of signal!

The 50/125 stuff goes further and/or faster.

62.5 µm stuff goes 220 Meters...

50 µm goes 500 meters!!!

____________________________


These are the proper transceivers for that switch:
http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product/sku/3673145/mfg_partno/J4858C

They actually cost more than the cheap ProCurve V1700 piece-of-junk.


LC modules can use Multimode or SingleMode... They go 550 Meters on either... even the 62.5/125 µm. They also support 10 Kilometers on single-mode fiber!


the LH Fiber Transceivers use SingleMode, too... They can shoot a signal 70 kilometers Without a repeater... Single-Mode is typically 9/125 µm or 8.5/125 µm. We use it for connecting schools together with a gigabit WAN... it was installed by Sunesys http://www.sunesys.com/

_____________________________

If you want to speed things up, why not just get a better switch?


These are dirt cheap, support full command-line, and are good-quality gigabit Layer-2 switches:


HP E2510-48G Switch (J9280A)... They are only $900ish

http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/products/switches/HP_E2510_Switch_Series/index.aspx#J9280A


ALL 48 Ports are Gigabit, and it supports up to 4 mini-GBIC/SFPs

 

[rudger]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I spoke to the customer today they advised that the general feel of the network was a lot quicker all I did was connect the 2 switches using the gigabit port as opposed to a 100mbps port, the network itself is around 20 PC's a couple of plotters and lot of manufacturing machines (the majority are running at just 10mbps speed) and downloading files from the small business server via FTP.
The physical file sizes I have seen do not appear to be very large however all workstations have folder redirection configured on the my documents folder which may cause excess stress on the network infrastructure.

I checked with one of my suppliers and they advised me that I need a couple of Fibre optic modules (1 per switch) the same ones as you suggested Netwizz which are over £200 each plus the cables, I dont think the customer will go ahead with these if there is not going to be a massive performace improvement.

 

[angry_geek]

Those switches are less money than the modules. I think in this case, I would recommend a good 24 port gigabit switch for the servers and workstations and a 16 port gigabit switch for the machines and plotters. Cost would be about $400 US, and the speed increase would be significant. Right now everyone is pulling from a single 100 mb connection to the server.

 

[Martyn]

Those switches are less money than the modules. I think in this case, I would recommend a good 24 port gigabit switch for the servers and workstations and a 16 port gigabit switch for the machines and plotters. Cost would be about $400 US, and the speed increase would be significant. Right now everyone is pulling from a single 100 mb connection to the server.

I'm with this. You will see an increase in speed as a lot of the pcs and plotters will have gigabit nics in them. The switches are the bottleneck here. If the plotters are colour and are using rendering from the applications then the drivers can create some very large files.