Network Redesign

[Pyroman]

Hi guys,

 

Need some input on a new project we're having done.

 

Basically we're having the network ripped out and renewed with brand spanking cabling and i need some advice on fibre switches.

 

So far we have a fibre run between point Y in the office to point X at the other end of the building with copper from the cab at Y to C1 to C7(i know i put 67 on the drawing!) and we have copper from point X to C8-C11.

 

We're now adding a couple more cabs to improve performance so i want to go from point Y to point Z with fibre aswell as point Y to point X and then add another fibre run from point X to point W.

 

I need some advice on which fibre switches i need to be using, the current Fibre switches are at point X and Y but they're ancient HUBS! and need replacing.

 

Then point Z will feed C1-C7

point X will feed C8-C11

and point W will feed the machines up there.

 

it looks as though i will need switches with 2 sets of fibre connections AND some ethernet so i can run to other switches in the cabs at point W X Y and Z

 

does this all make sense?!

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

p.s dotted line represents gap of 50 metres and wiggly line is to a seperate building (they're going to dig a trench and run the fibre from X to W

Edited May 16, 2011 by Pyroman

[Pyroman]

pps or can i just use media converters at the end of the fibre run to then ethernet into a switch?

 

So confused! never played with fibre before!

[glennda]

You could use media converters but i'm not a fan of them - i would rather buy a switch with SFP (fiber) ports in them.

 

Not sure how many connections you need but maybe an HP 2610 (10/100) or HP 2810 (10/100/1000)

 

I would run the fiber from Cab X to the Cab Z and Cab W which then route directly back to Cab Y without touching switching in Cab X With a decent core switch. See Below

 

[Pyroman]

Here's what the cabling guy is currently advising as it's a lot easier to run from Y to Z than it is from Z to X

[Pyroman]

any other thoughts?

[plexer]

Can they not go directly from Y to W from the Office?

 

If not then conecting through at X wouldn't be much of a problem.

 

As has been said I would go for switches with their own slots for fibre modules rather than media converters.

 

Ben

[mjs_mjs]

If X is currently roughly the middle of your site - make it the 'core' of your network and branch out from their. if you have an existing core then use that surely. or make it option where your core can be as in glennda's example. in fact thats what i would do, as it gives alot of flexibility in the future.

[Pyroman]

Thanks guys :-) just trying to get my head round all this fibre stuff, never done it before and it's a bit daunting!

[plexer]

Just think of your fibre as special cat5 if you well versed in speccing using that apply the same to your fibre.

 

Ben

[glennda]

Thanks guys :-) just trying to get my head round all this fibre stuff, never done it before and it's a bit daunting!

 

Its not that complicated once you actually get it in place - its just getting it installed which can be complicated but there are people that do it for a living and are good at it.

 

Its pretty simple once you see it in place!

[Pyroman]

it's just the whole running 2 pairs of cat 5 from one cabinet that confuses me, do i need 2 switches with a fibre port each or do i need 1 switch with 2 fibre ports. Using my cabling example, at point Y and point X i'll have an incoming and outgoing fibre (or looking at @glennda 's example i'll need 3, one to recieve from point Y and 2 to push to point W and point Z)

[Pyroman]

Its not that complicated once you actually get it in place - its just getting it installed which can be complicated but there are people that do it for a living and are good at it.

 

Its pretty simple once you see it in place!

 

The problem is the company installing the fibre can supply switches but they want me to spec them :S

[glennda]

You can do what the Cable Guy suggested - it seems pretty simple. Then at point X just come straight out of the patch panel from X to Y and patch straight through to W

 

Then just get a decent switch at point Y and normal switches at X W Z

[plexer]

Decent switch at point Y something with more than 2 SFP Ports for future use.

 

Edge switch at X, W & Z with 2 x SFP for fibre modules and as many copper ports as needed.

 

W will loop through on the fibre back to Y giving you a direct connection from W to Y.

 

If you need more than 48 copper points at X, W or Z then you can stack multiple switches or use your fibre to link them back to Y.

 

So say you have an 8 core fibre going from Y to X but you have 2 switches at X you can connect both of them back to Y using up 4 cores of your 8 core fibre.

 

Each edge switch will connect to your core via 1 fibre module in each switch over 2 cores of your fibre, send and receive.

 

Ben

[matrixnet]

I would go with your cabler's idea of running a new (8-core) from Y to Z run diversly from your existing fibre

I would also go with a new 8-core between X & Z budget permitting

New 8-core across from X to W and patch via spare cores back to Y as others have suggested

this setup would then offer you some resilience / failover (rare event) should your old 8 core fibre fail

Either manually repatch all links or of course you could apply spanning tree and have an automated failover

sounds confusing but it isnt really

cheers Stef