Backbone - fiber or UTP

[bernard038]

Hello All,

Our small company is expanding, maybe i should start visiting mediumnetbuilders.com more often

We will be expanding in to the building next-door and of course our network also has to be expanded into the new building. I am thinking about having one (or two) backbone cables between buildings. I am in doubt which cables to use UTP or glass-fiber. AFAIK the pro's and cons are:

• UTP:
  • Pro: Cheap
  • Pro: Any switch can use UTP
  • Con: 'limited' bandwith
• Fiber:
  • Pro: greater bandwith
  • Con: More expensive (but on the scale of the investments we will be making...)
  • Con: not all switches can use fiber, switch has to have SFP-ports.

Which solution would you recommend and why? Maybe i am missing out on things and maybe there is even a different solution!

For your information:

• Both buildings are OLD, main structures are built in the 18th century but parts of both buildings are built in medieval times, so adding additional cabling is not done easily.
• For the creative minds: any wireless solution is out of the question, due to the sensitive information on our network.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts ans answers!

Cheers, b.

 

[degrub]

What are the distances involved for new cable runs ?
Compare this with the ethernet cable max distance limits versus bandwidth.
F/O has no practical limit for your application.

Are the two buildings on independent power panel earthing locations ?
This could drive you to fiber to avoid electrical ground loops which can destroy connected equipment and cause issues with lightning current dissipation if in a prone area.

 

[bernard038]

Hi Degrub!

Thanks for your reply! Cable-length will be somewhere around 15 metres, let's double that to 30 metres so attenuation shouldn't be a big issue with using UTP. What do you mean with (i am not a native speaker):

F/O has no practical limit for your application.

Thanks for the power panel tip!

Cheers, b.

 

[coxhaus]

If you go outside fiber is better. We had many campuses with copper. Storms would happen and invariably the copper would be burned out. It usually took out the directly connected equipment. We switched to fiber and no more problems with storms. If you go aerial you need armor because the squirrels will chew through the fiber. Under ground conduit tubes work the best. Even if you get water in the tubes the fiber still works. Copper eventually will go south on you with water in the tube. I vote for fiber.

Cisco Small Business switches will handle the fiber for you. You don't need lasers for that short of distance. Multimode will work. Pick a standard for your fiber and go with it.

One more thing is by the time you restring copper a couple of times it is cheaper to have used fiber to begin with.

 

[degrub]

F/O = fiber optic

 

[bernard038]

F/O = fiber optic

ROFL!!!!! I was aware that F/O meant Fiber optics, i am a bit unsure about the "...has no practical limit for your application" part, do you mean "has no limitations" or the "practical benefits are limited"?

Cheers, b.

 

[System Error Message]

first you'll need a pipe, and 2nd both cables can do 10Gb/s, only the fiber optics will be more expensive at it but at least you dont have to worry about someone running power cables and ruining your day.

cat6a can do 10Gb/s at longer distances, like what cat5e can do with 1Gb/s , as with fiber optics its not true regarding the SFP part, because you can get NICs, modems, etc that have it embedded, even a fiber optic switch. SFP+ switches are cheaper (like mikrotik ones), but the cost is in both the cable and the module (crazy pricey even for a 10Gbe SFP+ module).

So rather than going by which is for bandwidth decide between these factors:
fiber optics
- much longer range, can go into the kilometers for higher bandwidth (but your situation may not need that range)
- cannot be bent or rolled any tighter than a specific radius
- immune to interference along the way but does suffer from scattering and loss of light within the cable itself
- Cable costs more

Ethernet
- much cheaper
- standards only up to 100 meters
- 10Gbe switches cost more than SFP+ switches, but you should factor in SFP+ module costs too
- can get UTP/STP. For shielded cables, you just have to ground them so switches dont really need to have ground.
- can be bended and folded up to the extent of the material's breaking limit
- get full copper

Consider getting medium converters if you want to get SFP+, may be a much cheaper option combined with a 10Gbe switch, not sure what your current setup is but you can get mixed switches as well. Both can be used to do what you want so the choice really boils down to the equipment on both ends.

Another option is to use point to point wifi at multiple Gb/s.

 

[matthelm]

IMHO, if you are running outside a building, you really can only go with fiber. Any kind of wired connection will be subject to ground issues.

BTW, if done correctly, the cost of fiber will be a very small percent of the cost of everything else.

 

[System Error Message]

I would go with fiber optics too, but unlike what @coxhaus said i could hang them in between the buildings if there are no roads in between (dont want that vehicle carrying a weird load caught up), but regardless of how the cable is run, you should put it in a pipe. Even a good quality PVC pipe will be fine as long as its not reactive to acids/alkalines and chemicals as plenty of those in rains and drains while at the same time not being a target for lightning. The pipe also lets you run multiple cables too. Time to learn basic piping as well including joints.

 

[coxhaus]

I would not try to place PVC pipe in the air. I don't think it is a good idea. I have never seen pipe hung in the air. If you want to go aerial buy armored fiber. It is fiber with a metal casing around it. It is designed to be hung in the air.

If you want to go under ground they have a machine for drilling horizontal holes to put tubes in the ground. It is real fast and easy.

 

[sfx2000]

If you go outside fiber is better. We had many campuses with copper. Storms would happen and invariably the copper would be burned out. It usually took out the directly connected equipment. We switched to fiber and no more problems with storms. If you go aerial you need armor because the squirrels will chew through the fiber. Under ground conduit tubes work the best. Even if you get water in the tubes the fiber still works. Copper eventually will go south on you with water in the tube. I vote for fiber.

Absolutely agree here - challenge going between buildings is the ground potential differences, which can be problematic with copper...

Fiber costs a bit more, but worth the investment in the long term - knock on benefit is the bandwidth potential for the future...

 

[System Error Message]

I would not try to place PVC pipe in the air. I don't think it is a good idea. I have never seen pipe hung in the air. If you want to go aerial buy armored fiber. It is fiber with a metal casing around it. It is designed to be hung in the air.

If you want to go under ground they have a machine for drilling horizontal holes to put tubes in the ground. It is real fast and easy.

you dont hang pipes in the air, you mount them. What i was saying is that using a non metal and non reactive pipe will be needed irregardless of where you place the cable. Metal attracts lightning which could be a bad idea, this is why outdoor mounts are now made out of plastic, even outdoor antennas are metal covered with plastic.

 

[jlficken]

I trenched in conduit and ran non-armored OM3 fiber between my house and shop last year that are about 25yds apart. It was well worth the effort to avoid any grounding/lightning issues.

It was also fun playing with the new switches that I bought and fiber as I'd never used fiber before.

 

[coxhaus]

I trenched in conduit and ran non-armored OM3 fiber between my house and shop last year that are about 25yds apart. It was well worth the effort to avoid any grounding/lightning issues.

It was also fun playing with the new switches that I bought and fiber as I'd never used fiber before.

In some areas the ground is too rocky and you will need to trench to lay fiber which costs more than drilling a horizontal hole.