Cheap 8 Port Gigabit Switch Recommendations

We know that router plays an important role when building home network. It provides IP addresses to devices on your network as well as to route traffic to and from the internet. However, router usually has four Ethernet ports (LAN ports). That means you can only connect four network devices to the router via Ethernet cable. Is there any method to add more Ethernet ports? Of course, Ethernet switch can do that. This article will recommend several cheap 8 port Gigabit switches for you.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 1—TP-Link TL-SG108 Switch

TP-Link TL-SG108 8 port Gigabit switch is featured with eight 10/100/1000Mbps ports. It utilizes the latest innovative energy-efficient technologies that can greatly expand your network capacity with much less power. It costs about $24.99. TP-Link TL-SG108 switch is an eco-friendly solution for your home network.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 2—Trendnet TEG-S82G Switch

Trendnet TEG-S82G 8 port Gigabit switch is a compact, plug and play gigabit switch. It has 8 Gigabit auto-negotiation ports and it utilizes GREENnet technology to reduce power consumption by up to 70%. In addition, Trendnet TEG-S82G switch can boost your home efficiency and eliminate network congestion with Gigabit speeds and total switching capacity of 16 Gbps with Full-Duplex Mode. The price is about $22.99.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 3—D-Link DGS-1008G Switch

D-Link DGS-1008G 8 port Gigabit switch is part of D-Link’s comprehensive family of home devices that make use of D-Link’s Green Technology, providing energy savings, reduced heat, and a longer product life without sacrificing performance or functionality. D-Link DGS-1008G switch supports up to 1 Gbps of dedicated bandwidth per port and up to 2 Gbps bandwidth in full-duplex mode. The price is about $24.99.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 4—Linksys SE3008 Switch

Linksys SE3008 8 port Gigabit switch allows you to add up to eight devices to your home network with plug-and-play installation. The Gigabit ports provide 10 times faster connection than ordinary 10/100 Ethernet connections. Linksys SE3008 switch also uses energy-saving technology that power saver detects unused ports to minimize power usage. In addition, its Gigabit ports is auto-sensing which can adjust to maximize data flow rates for 10/100/1000 Mbps. The price is about $37.88.

Cheap 8 port Gigabit Switch Recommendation 5—TP-Link TL-SG1008D Switch

TP-Link TL-SG1008D 8 port Gigabit switch provides you an easy way to make the transition to Gigabit Ethernet. It can Increase the speed of your network server and backbone connections, or make Gigabit to the desktop a reality. Moreover, TP-Link TL-SG1008D switch adopts lower power consumption design. With the innovative energy-efficient technology, the switch can save up to 80% of the power consumption, making it an eco-friendly solution for your home network. This 8 port gigabit switch price is about $19.99.

Conclusion

All the above 8 port Gigabit switches are easy to use. They provide plug and play installations and can save the power consumption. And I hope this article can help you choose the best 8 port gigabit switch for your home network.

Practical Knowledge About Fiber Optic Cable

The increasing demand of higher bandwidth has become a trend, which push the development of the transmission media. Fiber optic cable is now popular among many users. Consisting of one or more optical fibers, fiber optic cable is used to transmit large amounts of information over longer distances and at higher bandwidths. It plays an important role in optic communication network. This article will focus on practical knowledge about fiber optic cable.

Overview of Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic cable has five parts: the core, the cladding, the coating, strengthening fibers and the cable jacket. You can have a basic understanding of the construction of fiber optic cable from the following figure. Fiber optic cable has many types according to different categories, such as singlemode fiber optic cable and multimode fiber optic cable, simplex fiber optic cable and duplex fiber optic cable, indoor cable and outdoor cable, etc. In addition, the common form of fiber optic cable used in networking application is fiber patch cable. Terminated with fiber optic connectors on both ends, fiber patch cable also has many types, such as LC fiber optic cable and SC fiber optic cable.

Advantages And Disadvantages of Fiber Optic Cable

The Advantages of Fiber Optic Cable

• Fiber optic cable has a higher capacity of transmission data rate than most other transmission mediums.
• Fiber optic cable can directly upgrade the transmission capacity without replacing the cable.
• Fiber optic cable is less susceptible to interference.
• Fiber optic cable is secure. It is difficult to tap because it does not emit signals that can be monitored.
• Fiber optic cable is light in weight.

The Disadvantages of Fiber Optic Cable

• Fiber optic cable is expensive—but price has dropped and it becomes more popular.
• Fiber optic cable is difficult to install, because it is susceptible to damage from the environment as well as during the cabling.

Applications of Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic cable is widely used in big data center, like 10G, 40G and 100G network, and it is usually used with fiber optic transceiver. Take Ethernet 40G for example, there are 40G QSFP+ SR4 transceiver and 40G QSFP+ LR4 transceiver. The former one is with MTP/MPO interface, so it has to be used with MTP/MPO fiber cable; the latter one is with LC interface, so it has to be used with LC to LC fiber cable single mode.

Fiber optic cable also gains great popularity among home networking users. Recently, some residential internet providers have invested in extending their fiber installations to suburban neighborhoods for direct access by households, such as FTTH (Fiber to the Home) and FTTD (Fiber to the Desk) project.

What’s more, fiber optic cable is applied in different fields, such as mechanical inspections, surgery and dentistry, military and space application, automotive industry, and so on.

Conclusion

As an advanced transmission media, fiber optic cable provides a convenient, cost-effective and easy solution to networking applications. This article mainly introduce the advantages and disadvantages as well as applications of fiber optic cable. And I hope after reading the article, you can have a better understanding of fiber optic cable.

Know More About LC And SC Fiber Patch Cable

Fiber patch cable plays an important role in optical links. It is a fiber optic cable terminated with one fiber optic connector on both ends. Among the various types of fiber patch cables, LC to LC patch cable and SC fiber optic cable are two of the most commonly used fiber patch cables. It is not difficult to understand that the difference between LC and SC fiber patch cable lies in LC connector and SC connector. So, learning about LC connector and SC connector will help you know more about LC and SC fiber patch cable.

Overview of LC Connector And SC Connector

LC connector has a push and latch structure, with plastic shell and accurate 1.25mm ceramic ferrule. It is in small size and has good performance. Standing for Subscriber Connector or Square Connector or Standard Connector, SC connector is a kind of push and pull connector. It has a locking tab which can make accurate alignment through ceramic ferrule. The following figure shows LC connector and SC connector.

Comparison Between LC Connector And SC Connector

This part will make comparison between LC connector and SC connector from three aspects: size, handing and application.

Size: LC connector is half the size of SC connector. The ceramic ferrule of LC connector is 1.25mm, while SC connector’s ceramic ferrule is 2.5mm.

Handing: LC is a push and latch connector while SC is a push and pull connector. You can have better understanding of this from the above figure.

Application: Structured with half the footprint of the SC connector gives LC connector huge popularity in data communication and other high-density patch applications. In addition, the combination of small size and latch feature makes LC connector very popular and widely used for dense installation. While SC connector features low cost, simplicity as well as good durability, and it remains the second most common connector for polarization maintaining applications. The SC connector is ideally suited for data communication and telecommunication applications including point to point and passive optical networking.

Another Fiber Patch Cable

As LC connector and SC connector have their own advantages, both LC patch cable and SC patch cable are widely used in optical network deployment. But, is there a kind of fiber patch cable that combines LC connector and SC connector? The answer is “Yes”. There is a kind of SC to LC patch cable on the market. As the figure below shows, it is a high quality 50/125μm OM4 multimode fiber patch cable. This LC to SC cable is housed in a PVC (OFNR) retardant jacket, with UPC polish. It support 850/1300nm wavelength. It’s a great option for high-speed, high bandwidth transmissions over Gigabit Ethernet/fiber channel networks.

Conclusion

As the demand for higher bandwidth is increasing, fiber patch cable is commonly used in network deployment. Both LC patch cable and SC patch cable are designed to achieve such a kind of transmission, and they have their own advantages. What’s more, LC to SC fiber patch cable is also available to realize the transmission between devices terminated with LC and SC connector.

Characteristics of 10GBASE-T Technology

The rapid development of telecom technology is driving the increasing need for higher bandwidth in data center. In recent years, 10GBASE-T technology, which uses twisted-pair copper cabling and RJ45 interfaces, has been utilized by many data center managers. When it comes to 10GBASE-T, we firstly think of Ethernet network cable, such as Cat6 UTP cable and Cat6a cable which support 10G speed over 55 meters and 100 meters respectively. They are cheap and easy to run in data center. And this is just one of the most prominent characteristics of 10GBASE-T technology. This article is going to give a detailed introduction to characteristics of 10GBASE-T.

Background of 10GBASE-T

In data center, fiber optics also generally gain popularity because of their high speed and low latency. Many data center managers choose to use a combination of Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables for short distances (up to 7 meters for Top-of-Rack connections) and fiber optic cabling for longer distances (for End-of-Row connections) to fulfill the migration to 10GbE networks. However, the costs associated with a Top-of-Rack switch and expensive cabling and optics limited the widespread adoption, especially in data centers where 1GbE is already broadly deployed. On the contrary, 10GBASE-T is backward compatible with 1000BASE-T, and it can be deployed in existing infrastructures that are cabled with Cat6 and Cat6a or greater cabling, helping data center managers to keep costs down while offering an easy migration path to 10GbE. Therefore, 10GBASE-T technology is extensively used. From the chart below, we can clearly see the growing trend of 10GBASE-T.

Characteristics of 10GBASE-T

Reach: DAC cables support 10Gbps over very short distances, while 10GBASE-T technology can reach much longer reach with Cat6a cable, up to 100 meters. This makes 10GBASE-T cabling with Cat6a the best universal solution for 10GbE requirements in today’s data centers.

Backward compatibility: 10GBASE-T is backward compatible with 1000BASE-T, so it can work with existing structured cabling system. Unlike SFP+ cabling, a 10GBASE-T connection can auto-negotiate and auto-select the proper port speed when plugged into a GbE port. This gives data center managers much flexibility in cabling system.

Installation: Fiber optic cable is easily damaged, while Cat6 cable and Cat6a cable are easy to manage. Even if you want to DIY your own cable length, you just need bulk Ethernet cable, crimping tools and RJ45 connectors. As RJ45 connectors are compatible with existing 1GbE infrastructure, the installation of Cat6 and Cat6a cable is easy.

Power: When 10GBASE-T standard was released at the beginning, 10GBASE-T PHYs consumed too much power which limited its widespread adoption. With process improvements, both the power and cost of the latest generation of 10GBASE-T PHYs have reduced.

Cost: Fiber optic cable is more expensive than Ethernet network cable, and usually fiber optic cable is used for long transmission distance application. While Cat6 cable and Cat6a cable are low cost, which can provide cost-effective and easy-to-use solution for 10GBASE-T short distance network deployment.

Conclusion

10GbE has been the mainstream of telecom data center right now. The low cost and easy installation of 10GBASE-T makes it widely applied. In addition, 10GBASE-T provides investment protection via backward compatibility with 1GbE networks. On the market, there are not only Cat6 cable and Cat6a cable for 10GBASE-T cabling, but also some other 10GBASE-T products, such as 10GBASE-T switch and 10GBASE-T adapter. These simplifies data center networking deployments by providing an easier path to 10GbE infrastructure. These characteristics of 10GBASE-T will help drive 10GBASE-T to a prominent place in the data center. 

Originally published at: http://www.fiber-optical-networking.com/characteristics-of-10gbase-t-technology.html

Compatible Issues of Optical Transceiver

When deploying the cabling system, sometimes you may encounter such situation when there is already brand A switch, but you got brand B optical transceiver. Then, the compatible issue is what you most worry about. Just like the following figure shows, Cisco SFP-10G-SR transceiver definitely works well when plugged into 10G SFP+ port on Cisco switch, so does HP SFP-10G-SR transceiver with HP switch. But when you plug Cisco SFP-10G-SR transceiver into 10G SFP+ port on HP switch, will the link perform well? The answer is “Yes”. However, not all cases that mix brands will get the answer “Yes”. There are still some important aspects that you have to take into consideration. This article will focus on compatible issues of optical transceiver.

Important Aspects of Optical Transceiver

To ensure the whole link works at high performance level, before you use mixed-brand optical transceiver and switch, there are some important aspects of optical transceiver that you must think about.

Standard

We know that optical transceiver has different standards, such as 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, 10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-ZR, 10GBASE-T, and so on. Different standards are applied to different network infrastructure. And you have to pay attention that you use optical transceivers of the same standard at each end, for example: both sides with 10GBASE-SR SFP module. You can’t connect 10GBASE-SR SFP module with 10GBASE-T SFP+ transceiver. Otherwise, you have to undertake the risk of link failure.

Port

Usually, there are multiple ports on the switch. Take 10G switch for example, it often has about 24 SFP ports and 2 10G SFP+ ports. And some may have 10G RJ45 port. It is not hard to understand that you plug SFP module into SFP port, 10G SFP+ module into 10G SFP+ port, and plug 10G copper SFP into 10G RJ45 port. But in fact, some SFP modules can work in SFP+ port, only performing at 1G speed. While 10G SFP+ will only work for 10G SFP+ port. Therefore, remember to check if you plug the optical transceiver into the right port on the switch.

Wavelength

Optical transceiver works at a certain wavelength, such as 850nm, 1310nm or 1550nm. It is essential that the wavelength of the optical transceivers on both end matches. Because a transceiver working at 1310nm will not talk to a transceiver working at 850nm. The wrong wavelength may cause loss and degradation along the optical link. So, make sure your transceivers will work at the same wavelength.

Cable Type

Optical transceiver must be used with corresponding fiber optic cable. For example, 10G SFP+ transceiver made for multimode fiber isn’t going to work well with singlemode fiber. Besides, though the transceiver is used with multimode fiber, OM3 or OM4 may have different results. But the most important thing is that you have to choose the cable according to the standard of the optical transceiver as well as its interface.

Conclusion

From the above content we can conclude that, in most cases, when connecting two optical transceivers of different brands, the optical link will work well as long as you use optical transceivers with the same standard and wavelength, plug it into the right port and choose the suitable cable type.