10 Gig: 3 Ways to Connect! Fiber vs Twisted Pair vs Copper

[@wirenutt57]

In 16 minutes you've explained these concepts better than a college professor did in a month. You even simplified single-mode and multi-mode fiber concepts well enough for practical usage. I had a fiber optics technician certification a few years back (I let it lapse, as the work I needed it for was completed) and fiber is fascinating stuff. Before the certification training, I thought multi-mode was better than single-mode also, but surprise! It's like the difference between shooting a bunch of ping-pong balls down a pipe that barely fits them vs shooting them down a 4-inch diameter pipe. They will arrive in the same order in which they were sent using the small pipe, but using the large pipe, the order will get all mixed up. With ping-pong balls, it doesn't matter, but with serial data, it's the difference between usable, formatted data, vs a jumble of random bits.

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks, I really appreciate the vote of confidence! I have many EE friends who I'm sure will cringe at my descriptions, but I'm trying to explain them as I see them, not how they necessarily are :-)

[@vincentstragier6628]

Your explanation is quite good. In single mode (due to the size of the fibre core), the light has only one mode of propagation (one light ray), so a pulse of light you would have sent at the input will be the same pulse sightly attenuated at the output (with a delay, etc.). With multimode, the core is bigger, and thus the light will propagate in a diffuse way, so you will have more reflected rays in the fibre which changes the length of the light ray, thus the pulse sent at the input will be spread in time and looks like a Gaussian distribution. This explains why single mode is often more expensive, since to produce the single ray, you need to be more accurate (reach the fibre with a precise angle). Also, coupling is more expensive, because you need to cut the fibre in a near perfect way, to clean it, to align the two fibres and to arc weld them (plus, test). The terminators are also tricky to make, etc.

[@Mikesco3]

I've been working in the industry for nearly over 20 years and your explanation is the most fuctional I've seen so far. I actually bookmarked it in my networking playlist for sharing if I need to

[@techguy3424]

Agreed, wish I would've had the foresight at the time to save myself from purchasing a piece of paper for 10's of thousands of dollars...

[@Chillkroete]

I never figured whats so hypnotising about ASMR. Now that I heard Dave plugging in SFP Modules I totally get it!

[@tomperrone1195]

3 years old and still one of the most informative videos on the subject. Thanks for straightening out there cables

[@jeanphilippebagel6414]

"We're doing it live" bit was CLASSIC!!! Bravo!

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks, I was wondering if anyone would remember that and get the reference... glad at least one person did :-)

[@jeanphilippebagel6414]

Howard Stern uses it all the time. I've watched that clip many times. What a goon!

[@JUSTDREAMFREE]

Fook It! We're doing it live! I loved that part of Bill!

[@CLINT-THE-GREAT]

@@DavesGarage “I’ll write and we’ll do it live!”

[@WarrenGarabrandt]

@@DavesGarage Every now and then I have an excuse to say that at work. I never miss the opportunity. I've got a few coworkers who have picked it up from me now. :D

[@conorflanagan5745]

My wife and I are both motion graphics artists and vfx compositors. We work locally on our machines and synchronise with syncthing between our workstations and a third machine for backup, which also runs backblaze for offsite. I'd love us to work of a 10gig network with centralised storage, but it just isn't affordable for us. We also don't live in American style enormous housing with stud walls so running cables is much more difficult. Loving your stuff Dave. It's the perfect tone, and not as niche as you think, 200,000+ views! When we work in studio, there's about 15-20 machines connected by 10gig for compositing. And it's fantastic for teams of that size.

[@mrmotofy]

Get some cat6 and hire an experienced wirepulling electrician to make your runs. It's NOT as difficult as you think.

[@nono_ct200]

Came from the Task-Manager post on reddit an stayed since then, I'm really enjoying listening to someone who is well educated in terms of IT👍

[@The-Weekend-Warrior]

Same here LOL :D:D:D:D

[@davidc-l9174]

Thinks only 2 other people are watching, but less than a year later nearly 400,000 people have watched LOL. I'm pretty sure this was the most real-world informative video I've ever seen.

[@robertmontgomery3892]

I'm a retired software engineer looking to upgrade my home network and this is the first video I've seen that really helps me understand this whole business of SPF/SPF+. Thank you.

[@joegee2815]

I used to work in a fiber optics lab at Bellcore (formerly Bell Labs). You hit on the reason multi-mode isn't as good for long haul, the time difference between the light that enters straight down the middle vs the light that bounces back and forth. The bits start spreading out until you can't tell a 1 from a zero eventually. They tried to use some variable refraction materials so the light would travel faster in the outer edges, it helped but then someone came up with single mode and that took over for distance applications. The connectors were a real pain in the ass, as was splicing fibers with such precision. I actually did splice single mode fibers using a microscope and micro positioning knobs with a local insertion and detection (bend the fiber and shine light into it) to maximize alignment. Sometimes it even worked! Good times.

[@thudtheace]

Ugh.. hand splicing SM fiber sucks... I would use an automatic fusion splicer with premade pig-tails (easy mode). I only did a couple terminations with MM fiber (so much fun bonding and lapping a ceramic ferrule, and praying it works).. Cheers!

[@joegee2815]

@@thudtheace I was working there early days, mid 1980s when such devices were not yet available. We had a splicing setup for experimenting on that used a microscope and micropositioners to align the cores. It didn't work very consistently. Later systems came out that bent the fiber before and after and injected laser light near the splice that could be aligned automatically. But I never played around with those.

[@nirvanajew1]

I Love that your NAS is named LilNasX. That made me giggle. I like funny easter eggs in my education.

[@vylbird8014]

Useful trick on the fibre: You can unplug the individual fibers from the clip that holds them and improvise an instant loopback cable. Handy for testing if the interface is physically functional.

[@JimMacko8]

By far the best explanation of 10gig networking set-up I've seen. The videos where someone just opens their network closet and points at stuff don't even come close to being this valuable. Thanks Dave.

[@paulaugart8000]

Thank you - Thank you - Thank You - Dave!! That one comment about connecting an SPF and SPF+ to each other, saved me many hours of debugging my system. Thanks again Dave. For the others that missed Dave hint about connecting a SPF and SPF+, is to manually set the the SPF+ to 1Gb (not 10Gb) i.e. manually set the SPF+ to a slower speed.

[@x35gaming]

the sound of those direct copper cables is so satisfying

[@xXx_DMFN_xXx]

It isssss

[@JuanPablodelaTorre]

The sound of the transcievers sliding and clicking into place is the best ASMR

[@boballmendinger3799]

The telecom offices I work in are so noisy, I can barely hear the click!

[@exceladdict]

This is the first of your videos I've watched. I love it. My favourite things: - Your high speed delivery of lots of content - Your gloves - Your jokes Subscribed.

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks! Glad you found the channel! Tell some friends :-)

[@firestorm734]

If you want to blow your mind, watch his videos on Windows Task Manager.

[@BenState]

@@DavesGarage totally agree with the OP, well done Dave!

[@NicholsPCS]

In here to set up my home network with 10 gig on a server, desktop, and switch. Been through several IT courses and this video held more weight than all of the education.

[@eformance]

Auto-crossover has been part of the Ethernet standard since GbE was introduced. Prior to that *some* 100BaseT cards supported auto MDI-X and others required crossover cables.

[@matthewshapiro1676]

YES. I was wondering if he didn't know MDX exists?! Is there actually such a thing as "crossover" or "straight through" gigabit? Or just cables wired random lol. It uses all pairs bidirectionally, kind of sidestepping the entire concept.

[@mihaitha]

Some 100BaseT cards, but *most* 100BaseT switches. I can't remember the last time I've seen a switch that didn't automatically negotiate MDI/MDI-X.

[@chrisb9319]

@@matthewshapiro1676 there is no crossover for gigabit connections since they are using all pairs for sending and receiving at the same time. But you can't just mix up the cables. A twisted pair should still be wired correctly since one cable of the pair is negatively mirroring the other cable, meaning if you send 1 on one cable then you send -1 on the other. And it simply won't work if the pins on one end don't connect to the same pins on the other end. Would likely be a much more complex negotiation if you had to find out how both NICs are actually connected to each other.

[@wayland7150]

@@mihaitha Yes it was the introduction of switches on 100mbps that did away with cross over cables. I know that only two pairs of the 4 pairs actually do anything on 100mb but I've not kept up with how 1gb uses the conductors. We used the unused pairs for passive PoE. You can actually power 12v routers with their own power supplies from quite a distance over Ethernet.

[@mihaitha]

@@wayland7150 PoE is still to power cameras (protocol 802.3). Indeed it uses the 4-5 and 7-8 pairs to provide about 50 volts of DC current to the device.

[@VGCollectaholic]

Thanks Dave! I'm just starting to dive into 10gb-itizing my home network and have been googling incessantly for a concise basics course on the SFP/fiber/RJ45/copper for days with not luck. After watching your overview I feel like I'm finally ready to actually buy my NICs, cables, and switches and get this project of mine off the Tarmac. Thanks!

[@DaveVT5]

Took me down memory lane... Token Ring - 1996 at Virginia Tech running cables down the dorm hallway to play multiplayer Quake.

[@DavesGarage]

That's funny because the only time I set up a small Token Ring was for Doom when we were testing the DirectX port after work or something!

[@PrinceWesterburg]

Although I have grey hair mostly because of Micro$oft bloatware and its colossal problems, I do love this channel and its great to hear this stuff from the horses mouth! Much appreciated candour.

[@mekt0r]

There's a couple other SFP+ cable options you didn't mention: Active Copper cables (as opposed to passive) and Active Optical Cables (fiber with a SFP+ transceiver permanently attached to both ends rather than the traditional LC) Great video and explanations!

[@NETWizzJbirk]

As a network guy… I must say good work. I would add that after SFP+ is SFP28, and it goes to 25 Gbps. Then there is quad or QSFP, QSFP+, and QSFP28 transceivers each of which are just 4x faster due to the Quad. Next you might want to talk about fiber connectors…. Those are LC, but other common ones are ST, SC, and even MTRJ. It is not rocket science… you just match the transceivers on each side, match speed, and use the proper medium. Hence your 10 Gbps multimode is 10G-Base-SR where 1 Gbps multimode is 1000-Base-SX. Bottom line is you match, so a 10G-Base-SR will connect to another 10G-Base-SR even if one type is different form factor and connector

[@sintheticgaming]

Just wanted to point out @ 11:20 single mode fiber is actually much more common in datacenters than you might think. We use quite a good bit of it in the datacenter I work in. All of our switch uplinks are SM fiber. Id say we use about 50/50 between SM and MM.

[@ifeoluwawinjobi5933]

I believe this is the first time I am subscribing to a channel. Your way of explaining is both funny and very helpful at the same time. Thanks you.

[@neosmith7272]

Automatic medium-dependent interface crossover (Auto-MDIX) is a feature that allows the switch interface to detect the required cable connection type (straight-through or crossover) and automatically configure the connection appropriately.

[@Saqibss]

Yep, and many PC NICs have this feature, so no need to use a crossover cable.

[@wlhyatt100]

@@Saqibss AFAIK it was a requirement for gigabit and up. I've not made a crossover cable in at least 10 years.

[@jfbeam]

This is an artifact of gigabit using all four pairs for both send and receive.

[@laszu7137]

@@wlhyatt100 Even many 100BASE-TX switches had auto-MDI-X.

[@saldenhoven76]

“It’s just you and me and two other people interested in this stuff” 400k+ views :D

[@terendo4514]

I've done something quite similar, when installing the second FTTH connection from a different internet provider in my home environment. That proved to be very useful in these WFH-only era, when an entire provider fails for hours and you have important meetings to be in!

[@ryanlea750]

This channel seems like a little gold mine of information. Been a while since I was this excited over someone's content. Super cool stuff Dave!

[@AndyGrover]

You can use a regular cable machine-to-machine. Ethernet adapters these days support auto mdi-x.

[@IntermitTech]

Exactly, was thinking the same thing while watching it, any 1Gbps era and past should support MDI-X making cross-over cables a thing of the past for many years now.

[@danielgstohl9993]

Yup, I got into networking about 10 years ago and I have not once needed to worry about that.

[@bertblankenstein3738]

And modern switches do auto mdi-x too.

[@DavesGarage]

Current ones absolutely do! The support was mixed on earlier ones, so I figured I'd cover the concept, but you're right... odds of running into one that DOESN'T autonegotiate is low.

[@ligarsystm]

@@DavesGarage I could be wrong but I think is was mandatory with 1gbe (the 4 pair version, there is a 2 pair version)?

[@gumboe2007]

Thanks for taking the time putting these videos together, it was all very interesting. A simple thing but I like the idea of using red cables for PoE

[@DavesGarage]

You're welcome! I was concerned that the skinny "thinnet' cables couldn't carry enough power, but it's tiny amperage. I think it's 24/48V and at most a few watts per cable, it seems. And they're only a foot or so long.

[@deineroehre]

This is a clear presentation of how to connect. Thank you! Now, 2 years later, there are even rather affordable 100Gbit/s Switches (Mikrotik CRS504-4XQ-IN or if you have several clients wirth 25Gbit/s SFP+ and 2 Servers with 100Gbit then CRS518-16XS-2XQ is suitable). Of course not useful for everybody, but some may find these switches useful.

[@andrewmccallum5699]

Dave - mere words can't describe how you make something that seems so complicated to be so simple yet powerful! Awesome video mate, this should be on Plurasight! Really well laid out and straight to the point, thanks! Please keep up the great work, am looking at rewiriing my home & office setup for test lab, dont know how I found your page though extremely grateful!

[@ericg6421]

@Dave's Garage I could listen to you all day. All that networking stuff gets my blood going. I've been thinking of upgrading my 1Gig to 10Gig network for quite sometime and just don't know how to execute it well. Thank you for this.

[@DavesGarage]

What else do you want to hear about 10G? I could use topic suggestions!

[@loligesgame]

Now I feel like running fiber across my home. I litearly have no reason to.

[@David-Alfonso]

"I feel like... I literally have no reason to." this format is the foundation of my existence.

[@loligesgame]

@@David-Alfonso mood

[@BlizzetaNet]

I always have a reason to run fiber, even when there's no real rhyme or reason.

[@DavesGarage]

Do it! Or at least do one run... that's what I did. I told myself it was so that the whole thing was electrically insulated from the cable modem, but it was just for fun!

[@StephanieDaugherty]

I think the biggest real world reasons are runs between buildings, since you've got longer range and eliminate both electrical interference and ground loops. Even for a short run where you don't necessarily need the range, there's a strong case for isolation between buildings.

[@sagetechnology4913]

I run a 30m 10gbps OS2 line across my house. (I got single mode by mistake, but only realized after running the cable, and decided it would be easier to just replace the transceivers instead of the cable), I have a Mikrotik CRS305 too, and a CSS326. Also crossover cables are no longer needed, just about every PC and ethernet transceiver supports auto-MDIX now. Also, generally I open the retention clip on the transceiver before putting in the fiber cable, but I think that's just me. Overall a pretty good video. EDIT:1 Fiber does not support auto negotiation.

[@mar4kl]

This is the best high-speed networking primer I have ever seen.

[@northeastoutrider2124]

Thanks fir these Home Network videos. I’m facing a similar upgrade across 10KSqFt over two buildings that make up my home. I got board with the pandemic lockdown and processes to replace every switch that wasn’t already Crestron controlled with WiFi smart switches. After reading 106 WiFi devices, I hit a brick wall with no room on the network left. I’ve since replaced the WiFi network with another brand that’s more of a gaming system. Didn’t work. So I’m waiting for the UniFi Dream Machine, Pro 48 PoE Switches and array of Unity Access Points to be delivered this coming week. I already have fiber run between the two buildings and Cat6 in the walls for the Access Points, so it should pretty much be plug and play. But your videos have really helped me to understand the SFP chain and other connectors to better connect to the modem and other devices. Not sure why I purchased a bunch of Cat8 cable at this point. Guess they will still work...

[@howarddickson636]

You’ve lit up my life in a fibre optic laser way. Your diatribe has been a fantastic run through of the detail that has up till now eluded me.

[@DavesGarage]

Glad it was useful!

[@davidg4288]

Nice video, I used to do data communications for a living up to a couple of years ago. I remember installing a 10Base-T network when it just came out and everyone thought I was crazy, "you need coax for networking"! By the time I retired 10 gig was pretty much data center only, maybe still is. We used gigabit (with POE for phones) to the desktop in offices, and if every switch wasn't grounded to the building things would be destroyed in the first thunderstorm. We always used fiber between buildings or even between rooms in industrial settings for electrical isolation. For home use I'd run fiber to a detached garage or barn for the same reason. Those SFP's are really a nice way to mix and match media on an Ethernet.

[@notofinterest]

I know a dude who marked his cables with x for ‚not crossed‘. Higher expert level...

[@jmcbri]

No idea.

[@scbtripwire]

If it makes sense to him, that's what matters!

[@notofinterest]

@@scbtripwire it does makes sense to him, but not to anyone else. working in a team with him makes everybody using wrong cables...

[@mackknapp8325]

What maximum intelligence gets you

[@scbtripwire]

@@notofinterest Ah. You didn't say it was in a professional context.

[@r3v0lv3rz]

Really appreciate the video Dave. You certainly are a great teacher. It’s easy to follow and understand what you’re saying even when you’ve never encountered the subject matter beforehand.

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks! It means a lot to me that it makes sense to people, since I'm basically explaining it the way I think about it!

[@DRSpalding]

OMG, I remember those UB networks at MS when I started too. I distinctly remember the "beep of death" when the network crashed and our whole test lab had to be attended to!

[@markcheshier3398]

I stumbled across your channel today and I have no idea how I've never seen you before. I'm literally binge watching dang near every video you have to get caught up! Love your channel Dave!

[@vangildermichael1767]

I thought that "gimmie three steps", there at the beginning of this short. Boy does that take me back about 25 years. I haven't listened to Skynyrd for a long, long time. That was a nice trip, thx.

[@JJay512]

“Life’s Been Good” by the Eagles.

[@vangildermichael1767]

@@JJay512 Oops. like I said 25 years. It seems pretty obvious now that I listen again. Oops. Ok, I see what what the problem might have been. The video is 15 minutes. By the time it finished, I was reminiscing about Skynyrd. And I thought it was so. At least that makes a little bit of sense.

[@JJay512]

@@vangildermichael1767 It’s all good! I like them both. Learned how to (try) play guitar to them. Grew up on them with my parents playing them on the radio. Even seen .38 Special in concert. Yeah... my age puts me in the millennial age bracket unfortunately (33), but at least I have a respect for ALL music. I am an airline pilot and fly into Detroit frequently, and most of the newer (younger than me) pilots have no idea what the waypoints are named after on the arrivals and departures. I frequently hear everyone say “rocket city arrival” on the radio. It’s not “Rocket City”, it’s named the RKCTY or “Rock City” arrival because it has for example the Simmons and Frehley waypoints named after the band Kiss for “Detroit Rock City.” It also has the Valli waypoint for Motown’s Frankie Valli. The FAA tries to come up with clever names for the waypoints on the procedures, usually to pay homage to the area. But I digress... Crank the music with the windows down and the world disappears, and remember, “rock n roll ain’t noise pollution!”

[@craven3190]

Thanks Dave, learned a lot about fibre. Connecting to 10 GB switches together to run from my Plex server to the rest of the house.

[@Robinzano]

Before watching this video: Fiber exists. It's used at my job. After watching this video: The I.T. guys lied to me at work! They told me they gave me a 10 gig connection to my equipment, but this is yellow OM1! Thanks Dave! Also, thanks for Windows 95 and NT!

[@DavesGarage]

Glad I could help!

[@H3xx1st]

Thank you Dave. Your method/style is perfect. My ADHD/OCD is appeased. I know you know how much that means. I wish I could do what you do.

[@CBaggers]

This was the best intro on the subject I've seen. Thanks so much for putting this together!

[@davidsonshine9678]

Thanks Dave - I'm studying for the Comptia Network+ exam and this video was educational

[@PWingert1966]

was in a Walmart store with a temp agency and the telecom contractor was rigging a 300m connection from the front of the store where the cashiers were to the server room in a basement of the store. Started by going up from the Cashier terminals across to the east side of the store then north to the back of the store where a wiring conduit to the basement was available, into the basement along a hallway to the server room a closet about 6 x 6 with its own AC. Tied into a 24 port CISCO switch with all SFP+ ports that then tied into a router and several servers in a shelf cabinet (IBM server swith the miniservers that stacked side by side in its own custom cabinet). They were using single mode fiber for the entire installation. They also had a 96-fiber cable coming into the building from the telecom company but were using only three of those fibers. Primary, backup and control line for switch and router management since their admin network was external to the data network.

[@substandard649]

Thank you so much for this video. I have to (badly) explain this stuff to other IT nerds often, now I'm just sharing your excellent video.

[@DouglasFish]

It boggles my mind that this gets so many views but the lights don't. I like all your videos so far

[@systemofapwne]

I find your comments around 10:30 funny regarding "with less bounces" referring to single- vs multi-mode fibers. Just to add: In fact, with single-mode fibers, there is "no bounce" of the light since the fiber acts as a waveguide and preserves the wave all over the whole fiber. Here, as you correctly state, alignment and a coherent source like a laser is key! For multimode fibers, the light really "bounces" in a classical non-wave picture and creates a funny transversal mode profile. Pro: Incoherent light sources can be coupled in easily. Con: Due to the "bounces", not all "pulses" arrive at the same time, limiting the maximum modulation rate.

[@DavesGarage]

You sound like you might know, so: is it true you can shoot multiple streams of info/light by sending them in at different "bounce angles" and then aligning the receiver the same way?

[@jma89]

@@DavesGarage Not over any sort of length. Since the cable won't restrict diffraction you are left relying on the focal quality of the lenses at the source. Nothing being perfect: The initial laser-like beam will spread over the distance of the cable, leaving you with a full-width beam of light at end far end of the cable. Multiple signals within a cable is accomplished by using different wavelengths (colors) from different transmitters, and then combining them with prisms into a single cable. Similar prism/mirror devices then split the signal back up to matching receivers on the far side. This is similar to how the BiDi SFPs that Ubiquiti offers work: They use a single strand of fiber for bidirectional communication by using one wavelength for A->B signals, and a different wavelength for B->A signals. (This is also how Fiber-to-the-Home is delivered over a single strand via GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network), but there's more magic mixed in there.)

[@Saqibss]

Thanks a great video. One little extra that I would liked to have seen is how LC -> LC cables can sometimes not work as they need flipping (transmit to receive), many a time I’ve had to pull apart the little plastic clip hold the two together at the end and flip which side they’re on.

[@jimreynolds2399]

Tut tut Dave. You need to insert the SFP before you connect the cable - copper or fibre. The little clip that flips up activates a retainer so that the SFP can't drop out e.g. if you accidentally pull on the cable. The reverse process is to remove the cable, flip the retainer down and pull the SFP out. Many copper gig port automatically sense the polarity which makes the crossover cable redundant. This is the case with routers although not sure about NICs. You can actually get SFP optics that can drive a fibre for 70Km at 1Gbps - they're SM laser based instead of LED. Auto-neg needs to be enabled at both ends to work. On the subject of UB - the U is Ralph Ungermann who was one of the founders of Zilog and produced the Z80!!

[@jrherita]

Veteran of Coax Ethernet reporting for duty here (both for mainframe/terminals and 10 mbps “thinnest” using radio shack terminators, cable, and t-couplers)

[@guerra_dos_bichos]

10gb token ring , now that's an idea I never thought about

[@JeffTiberend]

I took a networking class in the early 90's at my local community college. They were using Microsoft Lan Manager over IBM Token Ring and had an IBM Mainframe on campus as well.

[@paulrobertmarino7623]

So I would like to give a quick explanation ( trivia ) about the lased vs LED in fiber (not to be confused with fibre which describes both fiber optic and coper direct attach cables) its been a few years since I worked in with this stuff so this may have changed but I highly doubt it. The lasers used for multi-mode are commodity lasers specifically the same ones used in optical burner drives. CD burner heads for 100mb, DVD burner heads for 1gb and Blu-ray for 10-100gb. This is actually an elegant solution since the heads are able to both send and receive laser signals it makes their production significantly less expensive. these laser aren't as accurate as the lasers required for single mode, so multimode was actually invented mostly as a method to utilize them. As an additional planed bonus the proliferation of the matching optical media allowed cost to be reduced because of economies of scale in production of the laser heads , but due to relatively poor in comparison proliferation of Blu-ray as a consumer standard the expected economy of scale never paid off with 10-100gb laser heads. that said its easy to see how someone might confuse a Blu-ray laser head with an LED they look almost identical on the surface. Blu-ray heads actually have one more cool hat trick they support using multiple frequencies (colors) of light at the same time. in reality 100GB fiber is actually 10x10gbs connections running in parallel this is why you can find transceivers with breakout prisms this allow you to split a 100gb into 10 10gb ports.

[@paulrobertmarino7623]

One more thing where LED's do actually get used is lower speed plastic based fibre (again Fiber is only used to describe glass in this context) cables which historically have been used in some consumer standards such as the older optical Toslink used for audio on older HiFi stereos

[@schmitzi99]

Thank you. As a software engineering apprentice sitting among system integration people, this is very helpful for learning. Before that I didn't even know that patch panels are a thing. ;)

[@DrDGr2]

Perfect video…. Clear and no freakin’ music in the background!

[@TomCee53]

Thanks for the overview. I must admit that the main reason I watched was to see how you differentiated between copper and twisted-pair which is copper. Thanks for pretty much always saying “direct attached copper”. I am retired, so don’t do much of this anymore. I can still remember when computers went from 9600 to 19200 bps, which seemed blazingly fast. My first wireless data connection was a phone with a 14400 modem.

[@krizzo]

The twisted-pair setup with the cross over thinking about that at 10Gb sends so many red flags in my mind. A few other notes to cover, CAT6 is only rated for 10G a little over half the maximum distanced so 55m whereas cat6A (the cables way bigger then you would want) is rated at 10G for the full 100m length. Also speaking from experience the reliability of each transceiver option I would put as follows. GE-T

[@DavesGarage]

Wow, I wasn't aware myself of the eye risk issue - is that true for multicode as well? I would think the light is so diffuse that you're safe. But I could see how single-mode could shoot out in a coherent beam and do damage just like the original laser. Is that kind of what you mean?

[@krizzo]

@@DavesGarage MMF is pretty safe due to the LEDs and as you said it is diffused when it comes out the end. There are also safety measures built into the SFPs where they do a handshake before transmitting at full power. Still, I would not get in the habit of looking down a fiber strand as you don't always know what type of device is shining at the other end. You'd have to look at it for a long time to possibly damage your eye with MMF or it could be a couple of seconds depending on the wavelength and power of the SMF. Since the wavelengths are not in the visible spectrum you wouldn't know until it's too late. The ones that use lasers are a bit more dangerous, if you need to trace fiber or test it for breaks use a VFL (Visual Fault Locator) or overkill an OTDR (Optical time-domain reflectometer).

[@964tractorboy]

@@krizzo That's kinda handy to know. Thanks!

[@joeyyung911]

Great examples of real-world situations. Could've used this during my exploration into 10GB.

[@wayland7150]

A couple of years ago I daisy chained two servers and a PC together using dual port SFP+ 10GB, it still works great.

[@crashwnpg]

Obviously some people are watching upside down, and are hitting the wrong like button. Cuz this is great content Dave, thanks for your time and knowledge!!! You had me at taskmgr and format . (Bow)

[@shawnrainer]

I love this channel. It's sometimes a little over my head, but I learn something every time. Great delivery and production, and a lot of fun. Thank you!

[@EvilRSA]

5:02 "'Two cards, One cable', and a lot less messy" I see what you did there.. LOL

[@krtek2O2]

the 15-pin "gameports" were used to insert a converter, I have these converters for metallic and multimode optics, these connectors used to be for hubs, mostly on BNC types. Otherwise, in 1993, I made ARCnet networks. The cards had both a BNC with an unconventional cable value of 82 ohms and a twisted pair, one pair - it went 600m with a speed of 2.5Mbit

[@CatStroller]

13:37 Refer to RFC 1149, "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers," and RFC 2549, "IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service." (edit to add: Excellent time stamp to be discussing IPoAC)

[@ImNotADeeJay]

I guess it is safe to assume that IPoAC was prone to latency issues

[@jamie-ck6js]

This video is ridiculously good, the explanation form around 2:50 is the best anywhere I have seen, and I say that has someone who has implemented a bunch of network setups...if I had any advice, it would be to not worry about taking your time to explain things, that is what makes your particular presentation unique :)

[@spunkysandoval]

This may be an edge case, but hear me out. We had problems starting industrial gas turbines that were intermittent and hard to duplicate. We ended up isolating the cause as the copper cable being in the same cable tray as some very high voltage cables. This was causing enough signal loss or or who knows exactly what kind of signal malfunction between the controller and the equipment, that the gas turbines would just stop spinning up. It was a real pain in the ass and the solution was to run fiber and media converters. That is another neat fiber tool for making use of fiber.

[@DavesGarage]

Well, fiber is definitely immune to electrical interference!

[@chrisgardner4144]

Hey Dave, Interesting video to stumble across today. For the last two days I’ve been working on a project required 10 Gb networking and had to do a lot of “fake it till you make it”stuff. (I said to do a lot of that) just to order something, as there is a wide spectrum of equipment to do this. I just decided to go with a direct connect cables server to server to get the backup get off of the network and for whatever reason the Sophos UTM has a 10Gb, so I’m going to place one there too. (like we’ll ever have Internet like that in the time. This equipment will last. I’ll tell everybody it’s so that I get the full use of the other 48 ports. (But I just want to do it I think because it’ll look cool) I originally thought I was going to use fiber, But when I stumbled across the Direct connect cables I was sure this is the way I wanted to go. One thing I noticed if you wanted to use ethernet GBICs they are much more expensive than fiber or DDC. I presume it’s because there’s so much fiber gear out on eBay and the like. Question, I know finally the question What is the difference between GBICs that make them compatible with Cisco versus UniFi, etc. My gut tells me it’s Marketing but what do I know. Love your channel and only because you shared recently I think differently as well. Thanks for the support.

[@exponentmantissa5598]

How far things have come. I can remember getting super excited to be the first in my city to get an ISDN line at 64 kbps!

[@canngo123]

Told all 2.5 of my friends about this channel and told them to subscribe! Thank you for the content!

[@DavesGarage]

Why thank you! If they told 2.5 friends and they told 2.5 friends and so on and so, eventually ten generation later, 9536.7 people would know!

[@mpxz999]

I just watched this with my eyes wide open, as though it were my first time seeing an N64 all over again! This is awesome! Thanks for the great (informative!) video!

[@jimbo9305]

I'd like to add that you need to be aware of if your fiber optic cable is a crossover or straight through. I didn't know this until a few years ago but you can convert a fiber optic straight through into a crossover by taking the plastic clip off that joins the strands together on one end and then flipping the order of the individual strands. Some cables have one strand as one color and the other strand as a different color for ease of identification (the first fiber cable you showed had a yellow strand and a white strand). You have to do it so that the transmit of one device is the receive on the other device. As far as I know the cross over is always required for fiber optics at some point in the physical path.

[@LMde20]

Thanks, lol, makes more sense than most I've watched. Just gonna take lot of hitting the the pause button to trial and error my way through, that's all.👍😅

[@pcservice709]

Dave, I find this stuff fascinating man. Hello from St. John’s Newfoundland on the East Coast of Canada. I have 20 years in the IT sector myself.

[@fasilahamed6306]

When you remove the SFP it's sounds like remove magazine from gun, and also satisfying. 👌👌

[@MacherTV]

Excellent video regarding seting up a 10GbE home setup. Loved your demonstration with the NIC cards and wiring. As a beginner who is trying to setup 2 video editing PCs, a NAS and a microtec switch this was VERY helpful. Thanks :)

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks, glad you found it useful!

[@haroldpalmsesq2506]

If you are setting up video editing, consider a Thunderbolt 3 setup. 40Gbps from PC to NAS or other TB3 device. You can daisy chain them.

[@JOE-uo4cg]

I love your videos! I'm in the process of completely redoing my 100+ year old house's network, and I can't wait to see what you do!

[@LiyangHU]

What did your 100+ year old house network use? Carrier pigeons?

[@JOE-uo4cg]

@@LiyangHU I like the idea of mice better... In reality though, the several generations of previous owners have installed a rat's nest of telephone wiring, coaxial networks/boosters/hubs/terminators, some speaker-wire, and a few runs of uncertified CAT5 through air ducts. It's a project.

[@LiyangHU]

@@JOE-uo4cg Let's write an RFC for that. Been helping a friend out with his WFH t'internets recently. The previous owner of his house was a plumber and had Cat3'ed (maybe a bit of Cat5?) and RG6'd and various forms of audio cable'd up the entire house, but left maybe 1km (seriously, not exaggerating here) of unmarked/unlabelled loose ends under the cupboard floorboards. That was fun to untangle. He should have stuck to plumbing.

[@JOE-uo4cg]

@@LiyangHU I, for one, have become enamored with conduit. It's a lifesaver for these types of mess!

[@teyemanon1970]

Three people. And where I am at there are no other people. Thanks Dave.

[@KattDa]

I've actually been trying to set up my first home server (or college server, I guess, lol) and I have 10 gig cards, and a few sfp+ ports on my switch. This has been enormously helpful for me to watch and learn at the same time in actually going through it. Thanks, Dave!

[@shekharmaela2308]

"I'm gonna wire it in a way that triggers people" hahahahahaha

[@DavesGarage]

I hope I'm not the only who care about the little things like that :-)

[@drescherjm]

He had me mildly annoyed on that.

[@BlizzetaNet]

@@DavesGarage Your cabinet is beautiful, but the wiring needs some work. Sincerely, Former Data Center Provisioning Dream Team.

[@mirror1766]

@@DavesGarage You still plugged it into the left card's port further from the adjacent connection without a hint of hardware mandating it. Thanks for presenting side by side hardware showing that modules pop in/out to build each connection the way you see fit. Surprised how often that isn't brought up with most content talking about only RJ45 or fiber that I have ran across.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@drescherjm It's how he filters autistic people. I know, I'm on the spectrum myself.But at age 50, I've learned to not let such things bother me anymore and I get the humor of it.

[@soberhippie]

9:43 Man, that is some proper cable management

[@mtdiy]

Actually, we can take advantage of SMB 3.0 (supported on Windows) to combine two or more 10Gb ports to get 20Gb (or more) performance.

[@harrisaastamoinen]

1984 was a great year! Also VH and their album "1984" was great at the time!

[@lawrencejob]

Single/multi and laser v LED is mostly about how “spread out” the pulse is by the end of the cable (if the light is bouncing around taking a funny route, there can be interference at the output or conflicts between one pulse and the next). Lasers are more coherent, collimated and monochromatic (less spread, more power makes it through the cable, can support multiple signals in one cable), and of course single mode steers the light better. The advantages are multifaceted.

[@av-mike]

I had a lightning strike travel my Ethernet network and fry everything. I now use fiber everywhere. It's cheap enough nowdays, super reliable, and most importantly for me - non-conductive.

[@jacobvanreese8934]

There may be a slight complication in the in wall cable, You may need to either have a patch panel at the switch end or flip the TX and RX fibers to prevent it from becoming a straight through connector

[@legoboy-ox2kx]

I used to work in a datacenter that used lots of crazy hardware, such as QSFP 100GBE Fiber trancievers and lots of 10GBE DAC and Multimode fiber cables like you got there.

[@truthontech]

Really appreciated Dave. Best fiber video on KZbin.

[@72chargerse72]

That was educational.. I am trying to learn about fibe. I worked for a guy that pretended he knew stuff but didnt so it's nice to find someone that knows more than me (at least in theory)

[@benpatch8692]

Excellent video! Already forwarded it to several people I've set up SOHO 10Gb networks for.

[@DavesGarage]

Excellent! I appreciate the sharing!

[@w0o1f]

Was wondering for quite some time how fiber home networks would work. Great and simple explaination. Greetings from Germany.

[@seephor]

LOL - "Two cards, one cable, a little less messy"

[@DavesGarage]

This video has been up like 6 months and you're the first to mention that!

[@seephor]

A hidden gem. Messy one that is...

[@mikefr24]

I also use fiber to electrically separate my internet service from my home network. I have had several lightning strikes come through my DSL modem and kill everything connected to my switch. NEVER AGAIN. The last lightning strike only killed the DSL modem and the media converter. Worked perfect!

[@levelnine123]

tIt's a shame that you haven't seen this great video anymore

[@DavesGarage]

Thanks! I'm guessing you mean you're surprised more people haven't seen it? Well, best thing would be to forward a link to a friend, saying "This dude is mildly entertaining, check him out" ;-). If everyone sent the link to a couple of tech friends it'd sure help grow the channel!

[@levelnine123]

@@DavesGarage yes 🙈 I will if one want to know something about 10gbe sfp+

[@DavesGarage]

@@levelnine123 Everyone wants to know abou 10Gbe sfp+ they just don't know they want to know yet :-)

[@samiolmari3821]

Every bit of this video was, again, so well carried out and made understanding things so easy! One sidenote I do have however: if one starts to build new fiberoptic network today, prices of anything singlemode is nowadays so damn close to multimode stuff that there really is no point specifically to get MM over SM.