Not sure if I should post this here or over in Technology, but here goes.
So I need to run two Gigabit (or better) network cables from the main switch in the garage into another room.
The problem is that that room is a shelter (small bunker), which according to Swiss regulations means no holes in the walls, and the ‘door’ is an airtight 35cm thick slab of reinforced concrete and steel. So the only way into that room is a small conduit for electricity. There’s no way two Cat7 cables fit into that conduit, and power and data cables are not allowed to share the same space anyway. That means the only viable option is fiber - and, considering the conduit’s dimensions, only fiber without a connector will go through.
There are copper/POF adapters readily available (such as this one), and they would probably do the job. However, POF is effectively limited to ~1Gbit half-duplex. If I go through all the trouble of installing fiber, I don’t want it to be inferior to the existing Cat7 copper cabling. If there’s a multimode solution that doesn’t require me to buy two four-figure Cisco switches and five-figure tools, I’d much prefer that. Has anyone here heard of such a thing?
I don’t necessarily have a solution, but it might be useful to know why you need such a big connection to the room, if you’re willing to share. Might lead to some different solutions.
Hmm, Lemmy or Jerboa appears to have eaten my lengthy reply, so here we go again:
My aim is to have my router/firewall, mail server and VM host in the shelter, as it’s the most protected room in the house. That means I need at least two lines - one from the modem to the router/firewall, and one connecting everything to the internal LAN.
The internet connection is rated 400Mbit synchronous with the option of upgrading to up to 25Gbit, though at present I can’t imagine us ever needing that much and it’s probably more of a marketing gimmick anyway, so that line isn’t as critical, throughput-wise.
The rest of the house is currently a copper Gigabit affair, though the cabling is Cat7 and capable of more, so I wouldn’t want the fiber to be the bottleneck when we upgrade to 10Gbit a few years down the road. Hence multimode looks like a good idea. The question is whether (and how) there’s a way to cut, install and connect it myself. POF would be easier but comes with a number of question marks concerning 10GbE.
With fiber, you just want to buy pre-terminated patch cables, it’s not really possible to terminate them yourself.
This might be a stupid suggestion, but Wifi 7 is to arrive on this Dec. It’s going to allow tens of Gbit/sec. Depending on your conditions, you might just buy a Wifi router.
Wi-Fi 7 looks promising, but I doubt I’ll get two independent reliable Gigabit+ connections through 35cm of reinforced concrete.
I think OPs issue is a combination of available space and regulations. Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.
I‘m kind of in the same boat, as I would like to connect the garage and an annex building. However, the garage needs power to, prepared for EV - so, large power cable as well. Same for the annex one, in which I just want to have bandwidth available :)
Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.
That’s the thing. If I add anything else the house won’t pass the periodic electrical inspections.
For an EV we’re probably talking 11 or 22kW, so a rather thick cable. But you’re probably going to have it installed by a certified electrician anyway, or can you do that yourself in Germany?
You can pull the wiring yourself, but an electrician needs to do the connections and insulation tests :)
Fiber is the right way to go. Once the cable is installed you can always upgrade the terminations / transducers, in the future.
If you have networking gear that accepts sfp modules, then can easily upgrade as you requirements change in the future.
If you don’t have any sfp compatible switches now, you can look for OLD network gear in your local marketplace/classifieds. As long as it has a SFP you can use it as a low cost transducer. Though with the older hardware you tend to burn more power.
There’s no compatible hardware yet, though barring some very convincing custom converter kit, I believe SFP is the way to go. The question is whether I’ll be able to fit the fiber connectors myself without expensive hardware.
Can you not rent fibre splicing kit where you are. That’s what I’ve done in the UK when I’ve needed fibre installed on my jobs.
I don’t do enough to justify buying all the kit, so this works out better for me.
Here’s a switch with two sfp+ ports on it, which will each carry 10gbit over multimode or singlemode fiber.
https://www.amazon.de/Unmanaged-SFP-Ethernet-Switching-Capacity/dp/B0C5D4MYRF/
You can buy fiber and sfp+ modules from fs.com. These modules will work with either mmf or SMF.
https://www.fs.com/products/11556.html
https://www.fs.com/c/fiber-patch-cables-261
Should cost about €200 + shipping for two switches, two sfp+ modules, and a fiber cable.
fiber is definitely the future, since copper is bulky, expensive, and can’t go faster than 10gbit. If you install a singlemode fiber, there is already hardware on the market that will put 800gbit through that fiber.
Ubiquity also has some managed switches with sfp+ ports. They are more expensive than the one listed above however.
If you’re going to run fibre, run at least a 12 core bundle, it’s probably not going to be much more expensive to run 24 as well, though, I found 12 is overkill for my house -> shed connection. If you can manage it given the space issues, pre-terminated MTP fibres are relatively inexpensive, then get yourself some MTP -> LC or SC pigtails or casettes on both ends, I found some MTP -> LC cassettes on eBay for under AUD$50, also old mellanox SFP+ PCIe cards for < AUD $40 and new SFP+ modules for 10gb fibre were $20. stick OpenWRT or OPNSense on an old computer with these cards and you’ve got yourself a 10Gb router :)
I did spend up on the ubiquiti 10Gb SFP+ aggregation switch though, which made things a bit easier!
In case anybody stumbles across this thread and has a similar problem: I’ve successfully installed two fiber connections this week and they’re working very well so far. I’m very happy!
My hardware shopping list:
- Lightwin single-mode (OS2) simplex fiber with preattached LC plugs (link)
- Lightwin LC/APC female/female adapter
- Ubiquiti 10Gbit SFP+ modules (sold as a pair, product code UACC-OM-SM-10G-S-2)
- Two Zyxel XMG-105HP switches with five 2.5Gbit, PoE++ RJ45 ports and one 10Gbit SFP+ port
The Lightwin cables have relatively short plugs with small and narrow protector caps, which is very important in my case.
The 2.5Gbit switch is fine for me because everything else in the house is 1Gbit and I didn’t want to spend three times the amount for two 10Gbit switches just yet. Though the OS2 fiber should be able to handle anything we might throw at it in the foreseeable future.
Pulling the cables with the attached connectors through the narrow pipe was a bit tricky. I used a standard pull-in string and strong, inflexible adhesive tape to attach the fiber cables to it so that there would be a distance of 2-3cm between the string and the first plug, with a thick wad of tape inbetween, and the second plug following at a similar distance. Then I applied a generous amount of lube to the pipe and slowly pulled the cables through. They just so went around the corners, but once the plugs came out at the other end it was smooth sailing.
The internet fiber plugs directly into the OTO socket on one side, and connects to the modem via an LC f/f adapter on the other side. The LAN fiber has a switch at each end.
