richbrowncardiff Posted February 21, 2017 Posted February 21, 2017 Hi All, very strange this. Installing our new Ubiquity switches with new Microtik SFP's / SFP+ modules and am getting a lot of disconnects and some switches light up at one end but not the other (Activity light) Can confirm fibre is ok. New Patch leads too! Anyone seen this before or any ideas? schools back in next week and I need to sort this out ASAP. Any advice gratefully received!
LytchettNM Posted February 21, 2017 Posted February 21, 2017 This does sound a little strange! So are they your new SFP's, SFP(1Gb) or SFP+ (10Gb)? Have you checked the that the fibre is om3 etc, and what distance is the fibre you already have in the ground? Are you connection say 2 new switches across this fibre? Are the SFP's compatible with the switches you are plugging them into?
richbrowncardiff Posted February 21, 2017 Author Posted February 21, 2017 Yes new switches and new mods. both 1gbps and 10gbps fibre I'm told is all OM3 (some areas are working on 10gbps fine) distance is well below 200 mtrs. I'm told by the supplier they are compatible and according to the ubiquity support are known to work this is what's confusing me! all "should" be fine.....
CAWJames Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) Without wanting to teach you to suck eggs, you have got receive to transmit the right way round? ie, have you tried swapping the plugs around? This is usually my fibre problem, snap aprt the patch ends, reverse them and presto! Edited February 22, 2017 by CAWJames
jbunoomally Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 Sounds like one of the ends is the wrong way around or you have the wrong fibre patch leads. JB.
richbrowncardiff Posted February 22, 2017 Author Posted February 22, 2017 haha thanks all I'm known to be a bit slow but no i have tried reversing the polarity to no avail. one thing i noticed tho is if i put the fibre back the old core switch it works fine. i suspect its the "Compatible" SFP mods which are causing the problems but for no i working solution. i think I'm going to run new fibre in the summer though and will buy the proper sfp+ mods. 1
LytchettNM Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 I'm assuming you have unpacked the new switches and installed them into your network cabinets? Can I suggest you you take one of the new switches out of its cabinet and take it to the switches that playing up? This way you can prove that the two GBIC's work with each other and the new switches. I would also double check the current fibres that are in the ground for type which should be printed in the side of the cable and cross check that the patch cables are the same type. Good luck
LytchettNM Posted February 22, 2017 Posted February 22, 2017 *frowns at "compatible" SFPs. I've used compatibles SFP's for years as long as you get the right advice you will save yourself a shed load of money. These guys have been excellent http://www.gbics.com.
PotNoodleTech Posted February 23, 2017 Posted February 23, 2017 I've used compatibles SFP's for years as long as you get the right advice you will save yourself a shed load of money. These guys have been excellent http://www.gbics.com. When I run out of HP SFPs I will actually order a pair from that website to trial. I'll put my money where your mouth is and get back to you! 1
richbrowncardiff Posted February 23, 2017 Author Posted February 23, 2017 i can second Gbics.com are great never had an issue using their gbics with HP or netgear kit
richbrowncardiff Posted February 23, 2017 Author Posted February 23, 2017 Thanks yes have found the issue is some faulty / intermittent switches RMA done and new ones on the way! I'm assuming you have unpacked the new switches and installed them into your network cabinets? Can I suggest you you take one of the new switches out of its cabinet and take it to the switches that playing up? This way you can prove that the two GBIC's work with each other and the new switches. I would also double check the current fibres that are in the ground for type which should be printed in the side of the cable and cross check that the patch cables are the same type. Good luck 1
AlanD Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 I'd like to add my vote of confidence in compatible mods too. Had no end of trouble with genuine Netgear ones costing hundreds of pounds each failing - so eventually bought some at £10 each from china. Had to wait a month for them to arrive - but they have been brilliant - had 10Gb and 1Gb modules - all great - even on long and age old fibre runs...and unlike the genuine ones - they never seem to fail. I've also bought some from Gbics.com - not quite as cheap - but worked brilliantly too.
synaesthesia Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 Ditto here for compatible SFPs. I shall point out though that "Mikrotik" is hardly an untrustable random supplier of compatibles. I'd trust their hardware over and above any cheap Netgear stuff.
mrbios Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 I'd recommend fs.com if you really want to save a shed load of money, even cheaper than Gbics.com. It's amazing how many people on /r/networking use them, even for entire data centers! I bought 28 of them, i only need 14, but at £16 each it seemed crazy not to. Only thing you've got to do with compatibles is make sure you test firmware updates before pushing one out to all your switches, but if you send them back they'll reflash them to work with newer firmwares if they ever break. (Granted you'd have to buy a second set - the reason for me doubling up - and post them off to the USA, but still cheaper than buying genuine by a loooong way.) HPE J9150A 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver | FS.COM vs https://www.gbics.com/j9150a/ vs HP SFP+ transceiver module 10 Gbps | J9150A | £243.99 | Insight UK
Norphy Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 My concern with compatible GBICs is that they have a habit of working wonderfully until you need to upgrade the firmware on the switch. The updated firmware detects that they're not genuine then disables them. I've had this happen at least a couple of times before with HP switches.
mrbios Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 My concern with compatible GBICs is that they have a habit of working wonderfully until you need to upgrade the firmware on the switch. The updated firmware detects that they're not genuine then disables them. I've had this happen at least a couple of times before with HP switches. That's why you test first, and flash back if need be, buy double the amount you need (with fs.com, that's no issue considering the price!) send half off to be reflashed to work with the new firmware (though you can buy kits to reprogram them yourselves...not really worth the cost though at our scale) then you're good to go. It's a pain, but considering 14 genuines would cost £3500 compared to 24 compatibles at £450, it's a massive saving. For that saving you can even have a spare switch or two purely to use for testing (and as a backup in case of failures). It's a win/win in my books. Fair enough if you have lots of money and don't want to then it's fair enough, but my position is that the budget i get is peanuts compared to what i actually need, so i make these savings wherever i can! 1
Norphy Posted February 25, 2017 Posted February 25, 2017 :shrug: For the peace of mind and not having to bugger about like that, I personally consider the extra outlay to be worth it. To each their own
PotNoodleTech Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 I'd recommend fs.com if you really want to save a shed load of money, even cheaper than Gbics.com. It's amazing how many people on /r/networking use them, even for entire data centers! I bought 28 of them, i only need 14, but at £16 each it seemed crazy not to. Only thing you've got to do with compatibles is make sure you test firmware updates before pushing one out to all your switches, but if you send them back they'll reflash them to work with newer firmwares if they ever break. (Granted you'd have to buy a second set - the reason for me doubling up - and post them off to the USA, but still cheaper than buying genuine by a loooong way.) HPE J9150A 10GBASE-SR SFP+ Transceiver | FS.COM vs https://www.gbics.com/j9150a/ vs HP SFP+ transceiver module 10 Gbps | J9150A | £243.99 | Insight UK 16 quid is ludicrous im gonna order a couple of those just to see if they actually work at all!!! BTW if you use a decent supplier you can get the originals significantly cheaper than above.
CAWJames Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 Jebus, just looking at that, some of the 1000base-SX ones are less than a fiver!!!
AndiMarv Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 I've been using Microtik SFPs in my EdgeSwitches for a while now, the only quirk is that for one reason or another they don't auto negotiate and will only connect properly when I manually set the connection speed. You might have already done this but its worth checking. 1
AlanD Posted February 27, 2017 Posted February 27, 2017 Its not that £16 is ridiculously cheap - its that £240 is ridiculously expensive. Pricing today seems to be based to "what will people pay" - rather than what does it cost to produce and market - whether its airlines seats, mobile phone contracts, or household energy. I guess for many businesses ICT infrastructure is peanuts - and so they are happy to pay these prices. In schools - our whole budgets are less than their petit cash spends.
Mark-wilde Posted March 6, 2017 Posted March 6, 2017 To avoid the problems like this, I think you should consult with your vendor in advance about the compatible issue. Or look into their support https://help.ubnt.com/hc/en-us/articles/212561258-UniFi-Which-SFPs-can-I-use-with-UniFi-switch to find the most reliable 3rd party vendors.
Mark-wilde Posted March 13, 2017 Posted March 13, 2017 Ubiquit has released a support solution about what SFP/SFP+ optics can be used in their switches. Both their original and other third party modules are tested to work fine in their devices. Used the fiberstore sfps in my unifi switch, and have no problem at all.
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