10gb questions….

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Dreamerbydesign

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Hi guys I am new to 10gb networking.

I am wondering if and or how the following is possible:

The switches I have are 4 x 2.5 gbe , 2 x 10 gb SFP+ per switch. I do not have and will not be buying a 10gbe copper switch, they are just too costly for me currently.

My server has a 10 gb SFP+ card
Desktop/Workstation has 10 gbe installed (no option for a sfp+ card, it’s a HP Elite Mini)

Can I run a 10gbe Ethernet cat6a or cat7 cable to one of the 10gb SFP+ ports on my switch if I use the proper 10gbe adapter/transciever?

Probably a dumb question. But I truly do not know.
 
Yeah, that should work. However, 10GBase-T SFP+ transceivers typically draw more power and get hotter than optical ones, so make sure the switch can handle it.

Also, Cat 6a is perfectly fine for 10 Gb up to 100 meters, so there's no reason to pay more for Cat 7.
 
BlueLineSwinger said:
Yeah, that should work. However, 10GBase-T SFP+ transceivers typically draw more power and get hotter than optical ones, so make sure the switch can handle it.

Also, Cat 6a is perfectly fine for 10 Gb up to 100 meters, so there's no reason to pay more for Cat 7.
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I purchased all cat6a since the runs were less than 10m each.

I did see the power usage increase by going to copper. But where it’s at the copper has been run. I was going to default back to 2.5 the if my 10gb plan did not work out.
 
Cat5e also tends to work for 10G-BaseT. If you're doing new wiring, it's reasonable to use something better, but if you've already got Cat5e in the walls, it's worth a try. The specs are for 100 meter runs, with most of that in dense conduit, and all of the cables running the same speed; most runs in your house are going to be way less than 100 meters, and tend not to be in dense conduit (maybe you've got a bit of density right at the patch panel, but after that, it'll be fine). I've got two longer runs at 10G on Cat5e, and everything looks good so far.

I've also run 1G on a run with a section of Cat3, so I'm no stranger to ignoring the specs. :)
 
toast0 said:
Cat5e also tends to work for 10G-BaseT. If you're doing new wiring, it's reasonable to use something better, but if you've already got Cat5e in the walls, it's worth a try. The specs are for 100 meter runs, with most of that in dense conduit, and all of the cables running the same speed; most runs in your house are going to be way less than 100 meters, and tend not to be in dense conduit (maybe you've got a bit of density right at the patch panel, but after that, it'll be fine). I've got two longer runs at 10G on Cat5e, and everything looks good so far.

I've also run 1G on a run with a section of Cat3, so I'm no stranger to ignoring the specs. :)
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I can echo this...

When I got my house back in 2009, I ran a ton of cat5e all over the house. Every room has multiple cat5e drops because I don't trust wifi. About a year ago, built a nas and did iSCSI over 10gbe for the gaming computers to store the games. I thought 'well, either my cat5e will work with at 10 or it will fall back to 5 either way it won't matter because my spinners won't be able to keep up' Well, it works at 10 for all the places I've tried.
 
dogDAbone said:
Truedat, however, IF running new cables, Cat7a will provide some future-proofing down the road, so there's that :)
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Unlikely, I believe. Compared to fiber runs copper is slower (higher latency) and uses more power. I don't believe any of the ethernet standards >10 Gb even specify any kind of twisted pair connectivity.

One could argue that fiber is too complicated/fiddly for the average home/SOHO user or installer, and I'd agree. But I don't see this as an issue. 1 Gb ethernet over copper is still typical, and 2.5 is just starting to take off. It'll be a long time before 10 or even 5 Gb is common. And most people just want to set everything up on WiFi anyways.
 
BlueLineSwinger said:
Unlikely, I believe. Compared to fiber runs copper is slower (higher latency) and uses more power. I don't believe any of the ethernet standards >10 Gb even specify any kind of twisted pair connectivity.

One could argue that fiber is too complicated/fiddly for the average home/SOHO user or installer, and I'd agree. But I don't see this as an issue. 1 Gb ethernet over copper is still typical, and 2.5 is just starting to take off. It'll be a long time before 10 or even 5 Gb is common. And most people just want to set everything up on WiFi anyways.
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Yeah, anything above Cat6 will likely be a waste for future proofing. Wireless for non business/small business. Fiber for everyone else. Only ones looking for Cat7 plus will be fringe enthusiast cases.
 
Future proofing, if possible, is something I always recommend since it's the only time the labor will be that cheap. We spec'd 400Mhz rated wire back in the early to mid-1990s for our parents house. There was only one manufacturer and it was super expensive (2x the 100Mhz rated wire that was more common). This was right around when the 'cat' specs were being introduced for wires and wireless ethernet was almost non-existent. Today this same cable plant will iperf 900Mb/sec (where it was termianted correctly), and I want to try 2.5Gb and see how it does on that as I think it should be fine. It might top out at 5Gb, but if it can run 10Gb, then it's a 25year+ investment that has allowed a 100x increase in speeds over that time period--one heck of a return on the investment. :)

Wired > wireless, and get the best wire you possibly can, or even pre-terminated fibre as that's 100Gb+.
 
Thank you guys for all the info. I ended up getting it all setup. I ended up running 10gb fiber between my switches for throughput (I have many wired devices at this site) and then ran 2.5 gbe from each of those switches to the clients. I put a SFP+ card in the desktop in question that primarily uses and needs the benefits of 10gb, as well as the NAS build. Everything else uses 2.5 or 1 gb depending on the device.

This has worked out great. Idk if the fiber run between the switches was absolutely needed but it was here and ready to go so I did it. I haven’t surveyed to see what kind of throughput is used on this site.

If it were a more critical application I’d look into it. But it’s worked great so far for what it was intended to be used for.
 
SamirD said:
Future proofing, if possible, is something I always recommend since it's the only time the labor will be that cheap. We spec'd 400Mhz rated wire back in the early to mid-1990s for our parents house. There was only one manufacturer and it was super expensive (2x the 100Mhz rated wire that was more common). This was right around when the 'cat' specs were being introduced for wires and wireless ethernet was almost non-existent. Today this same cable plant will iperf 900Mb/sec (where it was termianted correctly), and I want to try 2.5Gb and see how it does on that as I think it should be fine. It might top out at 5Gb, but if it can run 10Gb, then it's a 25year+ investment that has allowed a 100x increase in speeds over that time period--one heck of a return on the investment. :)

Wired > wireless, and get the best wire you possibly can, or even pre-terminated fibre as that's 100Gb+.
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Ya, this is one place if you can do it, since re-running cables in walls can be a PIA!

Moving to a new house, and before I reno the basement, plan to run fiber to as many rooms as I can along side cat cabling - this will be our forever home now until we retire to where ever, so do it right now and not have to worry about it in 10 years or so.
 
Dreamerbydesign said:
Thank you guys for all the info. I ended up getting it all setup. I ended up running 10gb fiber between my switches for throughput (I have many wired devices at this site) and then ran 2.5 gbe from each of those switches to the clients. I put a SFP+ card in the desktop in question that primarily uses and needs the benefits of 10gb, as well as the NAS build. Everything else uses 2.5 or 1 gb depending on the device.

This has worked out great. Idk if the fiber run between the switches was absolutely needed but it was here and ready to go so I did it. I haven’t surveyed to see what kind of throughput is used on this site.

If it were a more critical application I’d look into it. But it’s worked great so far for what it was intended to be used for.
Click to expand...

for short runs, DAC cables are also a great option.
 
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