Manawyrm | Sarah1d ago

Just patched a long fiber link, which would've absolutely _sucked_ to get CAT.7 cable through.
The steel-armored OS2 cable is cheap and super robust/easy to work with. The LC connectors are even smaller than the hole for CAT.7 would've been.

This is nice \o/

What I want to say is: Don't be afraid of fiber for DIY networking people, it's awesome and often muuuch better than copper cable!

I also didn't have to do any annoying LSA+ terminations or crimps and the link will do 10G+ easily :)

Show threadanne.💫1d ago
@manawyrm I've been curious about trying this once I actually make a permanent cable run to my tinker shop...what equipment did you use for either end of the cable? :)
Show threadManawyrm | Sarah1d ago

@ann3nova

No-name china 1270nm/1330nm SMF BiDi SFP transceivers (12$ on Amazon)

One side is my regular big Ethernet switch, which already had some SFP ports.
The other side is a TP-Link SFP media converter (also 15$).

Show threadMarcus Müller
@manawyrm @ann3nova hey, because energy for a year can quickly become more expensive than the hardware: do you happen to have a wall-power measurement for the media converter? (just an order of magnitude, not something detailed. I want to know whether we're talking 4€/a in electricity, or 50€/a.
Mar 24 at 1:21pmPhanpy
Show threadManawyrm | Sarah1d ago

@funkylab @ann3nova
Mine's a TP-Link MC220 and it draws 1.3W from the wall (with an active 1000MBit/s link), including the SFP module.

So yeah, 4 Euro/Year sounds about right.

Show threadMarcus Müller1d ago
@manawyrm @ann3nova nice, that's super helpful!
Show threadManawyrm | Sarah1d ago
@funkylab @ann3nova Seeing (and thinking about) this number made me realize why I like my solar setup soo much... 😆
Show threadMarcus Müller1d ago
@manawyrm @ann3nova yeah, used to be that that 1 W·a = 3€, now we're a bit above that, still a useful rule of thumb to estimate OPEX when "just" adding another fridge, heater, electric hamster or server to your zoo of devices.
Show thread~n1d ago
@funkylab @manawyrm @ann3nova If you have SFP+ anyway, surprisingly the power draw is much higher for copper. 10GBaseT sucks about 2-3W while even an LR 10G optic will often consume less than one Watt.
(also something to be mindful of in high-density applications, the dissipated head adds up more than one would think)
Show threadMarcus Müller1d ago
@nblr @manawyrm @ann3nova yeah, I mean, my workstation has 2.5-GBase-T on motherboard, but I do have an Intel X520-2 for talking to SDRs, which I'm currently not using.
From knowing people who used that specific card in battery-powered devices, I do get the feeling that card specifically isn't the most energy-efficient end-to-end, but I haven't done a loopback test (X520 port A - SFP+ - 10-GBase-SR - SFP+ - port B, all artificially set to 1000Base speed) with a power meter for the whole system.
Show threadManawyrm | Sarah1d ago

@funkylab @nblr @ann3nova If energy saving is the target, there are some fancy very new chips on the market now from Realtek, etc., which are much much more energy efficient.

I still like to have my good Mellanox/Nvidia cards so I get their awesome driver quality (instead of the crap Intel/Broadcom/Chelsio/etc. are shipping).

Show threadMarcus Müller1d ago
@manawyrm @nblr @ann3nova uff, my only mellanox NIC is an ancient FX2, and that takes ~ forever to boot, and gets very very warm.
Show threadMarcus Müller1d ago
@manawyrm @nblr @ann3nova (but note that I bought that second hand like a good decade ago, I think? It might neither be the best model nor the best speciment)