[AusNOG] Copper versus fibre in the DC

[Paul Gear]

I'm considering specs for a new site at the moment.  Distances are 
likely to be < 500 m in all runs. It seems that there are new-ish 
standards for both MMF & SMF : OM4 & OS2.  Should I be concerned about 
the differences between them and their older counterparts?  Neither OM4 
nor OS2 seems to be available from Simpletech, our usual supplier for 
fibre components, but their price differences between OM3 vs. OS1 and SX 
vs. LX SFPs are trivial.

Considering the short distances and the fact that we're not worried 
about having more than 10 GbE per run, is it worth worrying about SMF?  
Most of our other intra-site runs are OM1 or OM3.

Thanks,
Paul

On 10/12/2013 06:55 PM, James Braunegg wrote:
>
> MMF SFP's are cheaper than SMF SFP's although it also depends on your 
> supplier !!
>
> With Finisar/ ModuleTek the delta difference is only 20% or so in cost 
> for 10gbit SFPs and much less for 1gbit SFPs
>
> SMF fibre vs MMF fibre patch leads are the same price (depending on 
> your supplier)
>
> I find the benefit of keeping everything SMF is it's the same SFP in 
> most cases which minimizes spares (apart from long range SFP's)
>
> Kindest Regards
>
>  ...
>
> *From:*Peter Tiggerdine [mailto:ptiggerdine at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Saturday, October 12, 2013 6:56 PM
> *To:* James Braunegg
> *Cc:* Alastair Waddell; ausnog at ausnog.net
> *Subject:* Re: [AusNOG] Copper versus fibre in the DC
>
> SMF for carrier to rack but I don't see any problems with MMF inter 
> rack. The delta between SFP cost is well worth it.
>
> On 12/10/2013 5:51 PM, "James Braunegg" <james.braunegg at micron21.com 
> <mailto:james.braunegg at micron21.com>> wrote:
>
> Dear Alastair,
>
> I would recommend
>
> Single mode Fibre for any rack to rack communications , or rack to 
> carrier communication .
>
> Today the same single mode fibre will run 1gbit, 10gbit, 40gbit and 
> 100gbit ... and I'm sure it will run 400gbit in years to come and 
> that's before you look at wavelength technology.
>
> I also find fibre has an placebo effect on people thinking it's more 
> important than copper so they take more care when touching it....
>
> I would only use copper for Switch to Server communication within a rack
>
> Kindest Regards
>
> ...
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