Fiber or Cat6?

[anishppatel]

Our office is currently taking over office space adjacent to us. Originally the space next to us (lets call it "OS1") and our office space (OS2) was one large office with all the cabling going to a server room in OS1. Once we moved in we created a new server room in OS2 and ran new cat6 cabling in the individual offices in OS2. Since then OS1 has never been touched. The OS1 server room is still in that space and the cat6 cables in individual offices in OS1 run to that server room. Instead of running new cat6 from the individual offices in OS1 to the server room in OS2 I was planning on placing a switch in the OS1 server room and connect the current cat6 cable in OS1 to that switch. My questioning is about connecting the switch in OS1 to OS2 they are about 600 feet apart. Should i just run one cat6 cable between the two spaces or is there a benefit of buying a fiber converter and running fiber between the two server rooms? Running either wire will be easy through the dropped ceiling.

I appreciate any input you can provide.

 

[AndyFlysTrikes]

No choice to be made really...... Fibre = unlimited bandwidth and effectively baring natural disaster will not need to be touched until the building is demolished. Twisted pair copper on the other hand will need to be replaced every time a new standard comes out cause our bandwidth hunger doesn't seem to be abating any time soon.... Cat 6...or Cat 6a ? ( and ignore anything you see about cat 6e it doesn't exist except in the mind of marketeer's......

Oh and one more thing....longest run for UTP is 100m...or 328ft or 695 millipede bounds.... for the only other country that doesn't use metric :<) So if you intend to run copper then there best be some midpoint device if you want to stay within specifications... 200m for fibre is nothing....longer distances need specific fibre type and matching gbic's but not for what you want.

Oh and one last thing...running UTP in ceiling space can be problematic if you have heaps of fluoro lighting and run the cables over or around the lights. Being tightly twisted in nature means that the cable is inherently good at rejecting induced electrical noise......but not as good as fibre is :<)

Andy

 

[Dreamslacker]

If you can run fibre (have the budget for it), that would be a better solution.

Cat 6 will only get you 10GbE if you're lucky enough (short distance, proper termination, minimal interference).

Fibre can often be upgraded by changing the end devices - be it switches (with SFP) or media converters.

Ultimately, you have to decide if the additional cost is worth it.
Some questions you might have to think over:
Cost - Pulling fibre is more expensive, also requires SFP or media converters. If you're the decision maker for this (rather than having to propose the solution and get the budget approved) then all is fine and dandy.
Will you stay long enough in the premises that you *might* expand to require higher bandwidth? Factors like rent increments and tenant-landlord relationships come into play.
Also related to the above, is the premise large enough to accommodate expansion? In some cases, you can own the premises but you have to move out to a larger unit because it can't hold enough employees.
Alternatively, do you foresee that you will need additional bandwidth between the 2 offices?

 

[azazel1024]

Cat5e can handle 10GbE over short distances with proper termination. Spec'd to, what? Around 35-45m? Cat6 is spec'd to I think 55m and Cat6a is spec'd to the full 100m for 10GbE. I have seen people run 10GbE over Cat5e over modest distances. I don't think I've ever seen anyone try to push the limits, but I've seen 15ft connections over cat5e and 10GbE between a server and a switch that hit full specification on link rate AND tested speed.

I certainly wouldn't try Cat5e for that. Cat6a or Cat7 probably wouldn't even cut it, as even with larger conductors in there, you are likely to drop below minimum SNR over 200+m between server rooms. Not sure what gain you might get from 5e to the one jump larger conductors in 6, and twisted pair seperation...but I doubt it would be a doubling in the run (for GbE).

I'd deffinitely go fiber on this one. 200m of basic fiber should run too much, and then you have no worries about a pedestrian 200m, nor signal interferance. I don't know what fiber runs for a length that long, but I've been looking at pre-made cables for a future project extending my wired network out to a shed that I am tearing down and rebuilding as a combo dettached shed and studio/guest bedroom that is around 100-130ft from my house and about a 150ft total run from my basement server space. 150ft pre-made cables that'll support typical 1.25Gbps GBIC (which ends up being 1GbE in the end) I think were only around $60-80 when I was looking at them, plus a $40 fiber converter to host the other GBIC (my switch will take a pair of GBICs) is pretty cheap compared to trying to run 150ft of Cat5e or 6, or better yet 6a if I ever want to upgrade to 10GbE some day out there (unlikely to ever happen. I really just need a basic internet connection out there some day AND to slap in an AP to extend my Wifi network as that area of my yard is a blackhole for wireless).

Also fiber = no worries about lightning strikes (proper surge protection/lightning strike isolation seems to be a lot harder with network cables/networking gear than it is for regular old mains), and the line will be running at least 100ft buried through my yard. Plus probably being able to upgrade the speed over the fiber beyond any copper I'd possibly consider burying, some day, if I get crazy (I am eyeing up 10GbE gear, but until a 5+ port switch and a pair of 10GbE RJ45 based NICs drop below $500 total in price, I can't justify it, running a pair of 1GbE NICs in my server and desktop now with SMB3. 240MB/sec speeds are nice, but 1000-1200MB/sec would be nicer).