Networking

Earlier before this year we did not anticipate the shared bikes would be widely spread all over the world, but now at the end of this year they are already everywhere. Shared bike is one of the instances of the Internet of Things (IoT), and there are many other applications that have witnessed the development of network-dependent technologies, such as self-driving cars, smart mobile phones/pads, etc. They are all calling for high bandwidth and low latency. But the old network infrastructure of data centers is not capable enough in such an environment, especially for those data centers that should deal with a huge amount of traffic. So some data centers are upgrading from 10G networking to 40G networking by using 40 Gigabit Ethernet switch, of which a 32-port 40G switch is a typical choice. Limits of Old Data Center Network Infrastructure What are the limits of old data center network infrastructure? In the past, the major traffic in data centers is in the north-south direction. ...

Network switches are categorized into different types according to different principles, such as fixed switch and modular switch based if you can add expansion module to it, and managed switch, smart switch and unmanaged/dumb switch depending on whether you can configure it and the complexity of the configuration. Another way to classify the type of a network switch is by the role it plays in a local area network (LAN). In this case, one switch is considered to be an access switch, an aggregation/distribution switch or a core switch. In small networks we do not see core switch. So many people are having questions about what core switches are. Do you know what is core switch? Is there only one core switch in a network? What are the differences between core switch and aggregation/access switch? What Is Core Switch? If we spend some time looking up dictionaries for the meaning of core switch, we will find a definition similar to “A core switch is a high-capacity switch generally posi...

When will we consider to buy a managed fanless Gigabit switch 24-port or Less? Common situations where we use fanless Gigabit managed switches are for small office connectivity or for home lab upgrading. In these occasions, we pursue the speed of Gigabit because they can improve the end user experience or enhance work efficiency. At the same time, we require the machine to cause low noise so users in these environments will not be disturbed. As for the management functions, different people want different levels of managing of their network. But in overall managing a fanless Gigabit switch 24-port or less is not expected to be as complex as managing an fully-managed switches. Otherwise, the user experience will not be enhanced but in contrary be decreased. This post will recommend some easily managed 8-24 ports fanless Gigabit switches. For more information of whether to choose a fanless switch or with fan switch, please read the post Should You Buy a Fanless Switch or Switch With Fan...

More than ten years ago 10GBASE-T was still a bud that had not shown its real beauty to us, but now it has been brought to data centers for almost ten years. A few years after 10GBASE-T copper was introduced into the market, it became widely available as LAN on Motherboard (LOM, a chipset that has been embedded directly on the motherboard and capable of network connections) or add-in adapters on servers. Why is it popularly adopted in data centers? What benefits does 10GABSE-T copper bring to data centers? Plentiful Benefits of 10GBASE-T Copper Adoption The benefits of 10GBASE-T copper can be measured in more than one aspect, including both obvious hardware part and hidden profits it can bring. Nature Endowed Benefits Like previous copper BASE-T standards, 10GBASE-T copper is backward compatible with 10/100/1000BASE-T. So using 10GBASE-T allows for a seamless migration from lower data rate to 10GbE. When used with already existing copper BASE-T, they can auto-negotiate t...

When we have more than one switches on hand we often seek to a better way in making use of them and managing them. There are mainly three technologies that we might use when we interconnect or combine several switches together, which are switch stacking, cascading and clustering. For many people that firstly get in touch with these terms, they can’t figure out the differences between them. Some discussions of the switch stacking versus switch clustering and switch stacking versus switch cascading have been put forward, but a comprehensive comparison between them has not been made. So this post is a discussion of switch stacking vs cascading vs clustering. Switch Stacking vs Cascading vs Clustering The comparison of switch stacking, cascading and clustering should be based on knowing the meaning of these technologies. So firstly we will see what switch stacking, cascading and cluster are. What Are Switch Stacking, Cascading and Clustering? Switch stack...

When we have about 30 PoE and non-PoE mixed connections in our network, the problem of buying a 48-port PoE switch vs. 2 x 24-port PoE switch always puzzles us. If we already have one 24-port PoE switch in use and we’re just adding more ports, we can choose to buy a single 16-24 ports PoE switch or a 16-24 ports Ethernet access switch to connect the increased devices. But as for a newly built network or 30 newly-deployed PoE devices, we have to balance the pros and cons of choosing one 48-port switch vs. 2 24-port switch. PoE Connectivity: 48-Port Switch vs. 2 24-Port Switch Debate In terms of the cost, usually one 48-port PoE switch will cost more than two 24-port PoE switches of the same model, but it does not mean always. For example, buying the 48-port PoE+ managed switch FS S1600-48T4S is lower than buying two 24-port PoE+ managed switches FS S1600-24T4F. If we have a tight budget and concerns cost saving most, the 1 x 48-port switch vs. 2 24-port switch debate can end her...

KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switch is hardware device that can ease local or remote monitoring on multiple computers/servers via a single keyboard, video monitor and mouse console. Best KVM switch is not typically the most expensive but the one that has the exact features you need, not more or less. Before buying a KVM switch, ask yourself the following questions to figure out the best KVM switch that suits you. How many computers/servers do I want to monitor? This is the key factor in choosing the best KVM switch. It is like buying Christmas gifts for your kids, one gift for one kid and the number should not be less than the kid. Since the KVM switches are available with different port counts, you can choose the one the can connect all your computers/servers while having no ports wasted, unless you have near plan for adding more networking devices. A single KVM switch can usually connect directly 2 to 32 computers/servers. It should be noted that though multiple devices are co...

Electricity is one of the things that we rely on most in modern life and work, which is even more fundamental than the Internet. It has been utilized to serve human beings for centuries, and the technologies and standards in this filed have been developed and improved for better usage globally. The computer power cord C13 is a typical example of the achievements through power cord standardization. Do you know why use the letter C and the number 13 to name it? This post will explain the standards that power connectors comply to and the most commonly used power cord types. International Power Cord Types: C13, C15 and C19 C13 power cord is specified by the power cord standard IEC 60320, which is recognized as an international standard by most countries in the world. The standard determines the electrical, mechanical, thermal requirements and safety operations of the specified power cord type . It also describes the shape, size and dimensions of the appliance to be connected to wit...

When it comes to connecting a lot of VoIP phones and IP cameras, a 48-port PoE switch is great for powering them. Whether it is for home use or business use, a 48-port PoE switch can best solve the problems of installing these PoE network devices in places that has no power lines. Due to the high capacity and power supply feature, a 48-port PoE switch price is often higher than a standard 48-port Ethernet switch with no PoE. In this post, we will introduce some cheap 48-port PoE switches and do a comparison between them. Comparison of Four 48-Port PoE Switches Prices and Functions The four 48-port PoE switches that we’re going to discuss are UniFi US-48-500W, TP-Link T1600G-52PS, D-Link DGS-1210-52MP/ME and FS S1600-48T4S . They are inexpensive compared with most enterprise class 48-port PoE switches. Let’s have a look at these switches. Difference Between the Four 48-Port PoE Switches The table below gives some basic parameters of these four switches, including the ...

Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) has been earning a good reputation in data centers, whether it is of the entire branch offices, the IT duties of small and medium businesses (SMBs) or the virtual desktop infrastructure deployments. HCI offers numerous integrated services such as backup, data protection and solid-state drive storage, and allows seamless management and expansion of various compute, storage and network devices, i.e., users can scale the network flexibly by adding a new appliance to the hyper-converged cluster. For SMBs, the requirements for network switches is not the same as large enterprises when adding a 10G appliance. This post is to suggest some affordable 10G SFP+ switches for SMBs during hyper-converged appliance (HCA) expansion. 10G SFP+ Switches Requirements for SMB HCA Expansion In today’s SMBs, applications are requiring higher data rate and some management features. For a SMB with a considerable size, the core switches might be requir...

For recent years, the advent of 10Gbase-t copper solutions has seen growing adoption. Compared to fiber optics, copper has made great advances in latency and power consumption. 10Gbase-t is thus becoming more popular in network switches and servers. If you have not got any 10G switches, you should get 10Gbase-t switches, such as 12 port, 24 port, or 48 port 10gbase-t switches which are cost-effective 10g sfp+ copper switches for data centers. This post mainly talks about 48 port 10gbase-t switch. Why You Need 48 Port 10gbase-t Switch? Like other BASE-T technologies, 10gbase-t uses the standard RJ45 Ethernet jack. 10gbase-t is backward compatible, auto-negotiating between higher and lower speeds, thereby not forcing an all-at-once network equipment upgrade. It means that the 10G copper connections can also work with 1 Gigabit Ethernet devices without requiring any expensive hardware replacements. The ability to autonegotiate between 1 and 10 gigabit speeds allows 10gbase-t server u...

Fiber optic waterproof cables are widely used in outdoor applications to connect the major fiber optic lines or receivers or splice enclosures. According to different requirements, both fiber optic patch cords and fiber optic pigtails are available. Water proof fiber cable usually adds a water blocking material between the outer jacket and the inner fiber (or inner jacket) to protect the fiber surface from unwanted damage, such as an armored cable or loose-tube gel-filled cable, or water-tolerable tight-buffered cable. Since there are different types of structure for waterproof cables, is there an easy way to determine which waterproof fiber optic patch cable to choose? In order to help select a right waterproof fiber optic cable quickly, this post will introduce the basic knowledge of waterproof ratings and the features of our waterproof fiber optic cable. How Is a Waterproof Cable Rated? Like choosing any other fiber optic patch cables, the connector type, fiber count, fiber t...

In order to meet the overwhelming trend of growing bandwidth, different standards for single-mode and multimode fibers are published, and parallel fiber connector (MTP/MPO) is designed to solve the problem of increasing fiber count. Though the fiber types are changing, the use of the parallel connector seems not to be outdated, not only for present 40G and 100G applications, but also for future 200G and 400G. This post will discuss the issue on a new fiber type and the role of parallel fiber in 40GbE and beyond networks. Overview on Multimode and Single-mode Fibers Since the establishment of multimode fiber in the early 1980s, there has been OM1 and OM2, and laser optimized OM3 and OM4 fibers for 10GbE, 40GbE and 100GbE. OM5, the officially designated wideband multimode fiber (WBMMF), is a new fiber medium specified in ANSI/TIA-492AAAE. The channel capacity of multimode fiber has multiplied by using parallel transmission over several fiber strands. In terms of single-mode fiber,...

Multifiber MTP/MPO cable is a preferable choice for high-density telecom and datacom cabling. For the outer jacket of MTP/MPO cable, there are many terms to describe it, such as CM, LSZH, CMP, CMR, PVC, etc. FS.COM carries several of these technologies. Do you know the differences between them? And what are the characteristics of each type? Most importantly, which one do you need for the task? This post will introduce some major jacket types for  MTP/MPO cables  and the other acronyms for communication cable ratings. Figure 1: MTP/MPO cabling. CMP CMP (plenum-rated) MTP/MPO cable complies the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 60332-1 flammability standard. CMP MTP/MPO cable is designed to be used in plenum spaces, where air circulation for heating and air conditioning systems can be facilitated, by providing pathways for either heated/conditioned or return airflows. Typical plenum spaces are between the structural ceiling and the drop ceiling or under a ...