Fiber speed and connections

[detjo]

Hi all

 

Im unsure of how connection between switches works, with regard to speed, so could use some help.

 

Q: Does the data travel thru fiber at the speed of the port it's connected to (in our case GBIC port and OM1 fiber), or once it leaves the port it travels at the capable speed of the fiber (assuming the fiber is faster)?

ie: if we leave the GBIC switch in place, and upgrade the fiber to 10Gb, will it travel at 10Gb speed (until it reaches the other end) even if the transmitting port is GBIC ?

[Michael]

Data travels down the fibre as decided by the switch and transceiver or GBIC, typically at 1Gbps. Like Ethernet, the cabling itself does have its limitations, so it's important to read up on these.

 

A good example of this, is you can't run 10Gbps on CAT5e, but you can CAT6 up to 55m and CAT6a up to 100m.

 

If you upgrade to 10Gbps, you'll need to upgrade the fibre from OM1 to OM3. It will work with OM1 at very short distances.

[detjo]

Thought as much. One can hope!

thanks @Michael