Fibre circulators?
Hi guys, Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them. Cheers Sam
On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell
Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea. In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps. Cheers -Mike
1.) Shenzhen Gigalight: http://www.gigalight.com.cn/
2.) Always buy cassette based packages that slot into 19" rack frames
3.) Always use LCA connectors and attenuators
4.) Always have spare patch leads on hand
5.) TEST EVERYTHING before you deploy it, including your spare patch leads
and attenuators, to make sure they behave as expected
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell
wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
Cheers -Mike _______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell
wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
I'll 2nd what Mike says here. When they work they work really well. The problem is that when things get slightly strange you can still have a port being up but you then have what you're advertising out being reflected back. When every MAC you send out a port is advertised back at that port then "interesting things happen". Dave
Does that still happen if you use angled connectors? It shouldn’t..
On 16/01/2014, at 12:09 pm, Dave Mill
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
wrote: On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
I'll 2nd what Mike says here. When they work they work really well. The problem is that when things get slightly strange you can still have a port being up but you then have what you're advertising out being reflected back. When every MAC you send out a port is advertised back at that port then "interesting things happen".
Dave
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In this case it was LCA on all of the circulators and duplex LC on the
active equipment.
This was a pretty special case what we were doing here. But just figured
I'd chime in that my experience with circulators hasn't been great so far
and I seem to have similar issues to Mike.
Dave
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 1:22 PM, Nathan Ward
Does that still happen if you use angled connectors? It shouldn’t..
On 16/01/2014, at 12:09 pm, Dave Mill
wrote: On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
wrote: On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell
wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
I'll 2nd what Mike says here. When they work they work really well. The problem is that when things get slightly strange you can still have a port being up but you then have what you're advertising out being reflected back. When every MAC you send out a port is advertised back at that port then "interesting things happen".
Dave
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Thanks to everyone who replied. The Hoff has put me in touch with one of
the guys at gigalight, and I'm going to try and get some kit in to play
with before subjecting customers to it. I'll catch you in a couple of weeks
& share a beer and hopefully have something to show for it by then.
http://i.imgur.com/WeVJDGT.jpg
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Dave Mill
In this case it was LCA on all of the circulators and duplex LC on the active equipment.
This was a pretty special case what we were doing here. But just figured I'd chime in that my experience with circulators hasn't been great so far and I seem to have similar issues to Mike.
Dave
On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 1:22 PM, Nathan Ward
wrote: Does that still happen if you use angled connectors? It shouldn’t..
On 16/01/2014, at 12:09 pm, Dave Mill
wrote: On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
wrote: On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell
wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
I'll 2nd what Mike says here. When they work they work really well. The problem is that when things get slightly strange you can still have a port being up but you then have what you're advertising out being reflected back. When every MAC you send out a port is advertised back at that port then "interesting things happen".
Dave
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I second what Mike and Dave say here.
The _seem_ like a good idea, but they are not something you want to deal with at 3am.
Sure you can use angled connectors on the circulators, but it’s unlikely you’ll find active equipment that has angled connectors and most fibre providers will use un-angled connectors. Only the smart ones use angled connectors on on long distance fibre ;)
On 16/01/2014, at 9:22 am, Nathan Ward
Does that still happen if you use angled connectors? It shouldn’t..
On 16/01/2014, at 12:09 pm, Dave Mill
wrote: On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 11:54 AM, Mike Jager
wrote: On 16/01/2014, at 11:16, Sam Russell wrote: Does anyone recommend a supplier for fibre circulators, preferably with LC connectors? I'd be keen to hear anyone's experiences/horror stories with them if you're willing to volunteer them.
At first glance, they seem like a nifty idea.
In my experience they end up being a lot more hassle than they’re worth (finding somewhere to locate them in a rack, especially when that rack isn’t yours; optics that launch a little bit too bright or receive a little bit too dim resulting in ports standing up to themselves when the line side of the circulator is disconnected), especially with availability of single fibre optics up to 10Gbps.
I'll 2nd what Mike says here. When they work they work really well. The problem is that when things get slightly strange you can still have a port being up but you then have what you're advertising out being reflected back. When every MAC you send out a port is advertised back at that port then "interesting things happen".
Dave
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_______________________________________________ NZNOG mailing list NZNOG(a)list.waikato.ac.nz http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/nznog
-- Daniel
participants (6)
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Daniel Griggs
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Dave Mill
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Jonathan Brewer
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Mike Jager
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Nathan Ward
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Sam Russell