Speed between Switches & IDF MDF

[xdxml12]

Hello,

I had a question reguarding the types of speed and cable one should use when connecting switches in an IDF togeather, and then connecting those swtiches back to an MDF.

If I connect each switch in the idf togeather with gigabit ethernet, probably cat 6 cables, how do I know that these 1 gigabit inter-connections will support all the traffic between the switches without issues? What if the right speed that I should have used was 10 gigabit? How often is 10gigabit used to interconnect switches in the idf?

And this is the same issue im trying to figure out with connecting the IDF back to the MDF. Would 1 cat6 via gigabit ethernet speed be enough for all that traffic goign back to the MDF? Is there a general rule or something to follow so that I know what speeds to use when?

Also, why use fiber 1gb vs 1gb over cat6 if distance between mdf and idf is less than 100m.

Thank you for your time

 

[m4ilm4n]

I'm sure someone with more info will chime in on this, but I would think that you'd run inter-switch trunks at the maximum speed supported on the selected trunk ports. Whether the switches will throttle any traffic would be determined by the throughput of the backplane.

The only reason I can think of offhand for using fiber instead copper in a same-speed run shorter than 100m is security - fiber is not susceptible to inductive tapping.

 

[stubnski]

Hi,
That is a question only you can answer since we do not know what type of data will traverse your network - users surfing the internet, accessing internal servers, medical diagnostic images, voice, video...the list goes on. Each switch has it's own needs depending on the network use of the users attached to it; 1 gig uplinks will be fine for some while 10 gig uplinks will be needed for others. Do you have 10 users or 100, 1000...? Define what type of data will be traversing your network, how many users will be on that switch, will your needs grow, and plan accordingly.

I would configure any uplink in an etherchannel so you can easily add links for future growth.

==> Also, why use fiber 1gb vs 1gb over cat6 if distance between mdf and idf is less than 100m

You can use either but to add to m4ilm4n's comment - I've found that it is easier and more cost effective in the long run to run a few pairs(depending on need) of fiber between closets so you can add more lines for future growth or for different services. The fiber cable is much smaller, usually well protected, and doesn't breakdown as bad as copper over time. I've had a copper wire uplink get nicked during installation but it wasn't noticed until 5 years later when it was breaking down and causing all sorts of fun issues.


Stubnski

 

[xdxml12]

That makes sense. Very helpful posts . Thank you