[geeks] fiber ethernet (1000baseSX)

David L Kindred (Dave) d.kindred at telesciences.com
Fri Dec 20 10:43:13 CST 2002


>>>>> "kevin" == kevin  <kevin at mpcf.com> writes:

    kevin> On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:18:24 -0600 Bill Bradford
    kevin> <mrbill at mrbill.net> wrote:

    >> On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 09:39:39PM -0500, Kevin wrote:
    >> > This may be a silly question, but i figured someone here might
    >> > know.  If i wish to connect two fiber gigabit Ethernet NICs
    >> > together, can i just plug one cable into the other or is it
    >> > mandatory to use a switch?  In other words, i want to do with
    >> > fiber 1000baseSX NICs what you would do with 100baseT NICs and
    >> > a crossover cable? Is this possible?  I'd like to test out some
    >> > things and my switch wont be here for another week or so.

    >> You can - you just need to "flip" the cable ends (put TX into RX,
    >> RX into TX).  I've done this with two Blade 1000s with gigabit
    >> fiber cards.

    >>

    kevin> Great, that was my assumption but my fiber experience is very
    kevin> minimal so i wanted to ask first.

    kevin> Does the same apply to ATM?

The only ATM I've played with is the inter-switch links between some Bay
Networks Centillion switches.  In that case you simply connect the
output of one to the input of the other.

Also, be careful with the fiber "cables", they really are more fragile
than they look.  Nothing more frustrating than finishing up a long run
to plug everything together and have one of your "fault" LEDs stay on.

    kevin> Thanks, /KRM


-- 
David L. Kindred <mailto:d.kindred at telesciences.com>
Unix Systems & Network Administrator
Telesciences, Inc. <http://www.telesciences.com>
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