<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" alt="" src="https://px.ads.linkedin.com/collect/?pid=2975524&amp;fmt=gif">
BLOG

Connecting The Dots: Multimode Fiber Connectors

February 7, 2014

As previously discussed, when your network grows to 40G or 100G, you may find yourself adrift in a sea of cables and connectors that don't work. At Garland, whether you are a client or not, we want to help you understand that Multimode (MM) Fiber connectors are actually quite simple.

In the chart below, I want to show you just how straightforward the setup for each network size really is in 1/10G, 40G, or 100G networks.

Thanks to our Senior Systems Engineer, George Bouchard, for the illustrations below.

 

Multi-mode Fiber Connectors Go-to Chart
Multimode Fiber Connectors Go-To Chart

As you can see, each MM Fiber cable has 2, 12, or 24 10G fibers inside. In a LC-2 connector (1 or 10G networks), there is one single multimode fiber in each direction. Following the same logic, there are four multimode fibers – in each direction – in a 40G connector and ten in a 100G. In a 10G-SR link, you transmit (Tx) 10G of traffic and receive (Rx) 10G of traffic in a full duplex link over the 2 fibers. In a 40G-SR4 link, you transmit (Tx) 40G of traffic over 4 fibers and receive (Rx) 40 G of traffic over 4 fibers in a full duplex link, totaling 80 gigabits of traffic; the same applies to 100G. It really is pretty simple, right?

So, that is our first Fiber February blog, and we can't wait to show you what we have in store for next week. Remember to check out our other posts, and tweet any questions about Fiber to @GarlandTech with the hashtag #FiberFebruary.

Learn about fiber connectors and better network management by reading more of the Garland Blog.

See Everything. Secure Everything.

Contact us now to secure and optimized your network operations
Contact Us

Heartbeats Packets Inside the Bypass TAP

If the inline security tool goes off-line, the TAP will bypass the tool and automatically keep the link flowing. The Bypass TAP does this by sending heartbeat packets to the inline security tool. As long as the inline security tool is on-line, the heartbeat packets will be returned to the TAP, and the link traffic will continue to flow through the inline security tool.

If the heartbeat packets are not returned to the TAP (indicating that the inline security tool has gone off-line), the TAP will automatically 'bypass' the inline security tool and keep the link traffic flowing. The TAP also removes the heartbeat packets before sending the network traffic back onto the critical link.

While the TAP is in bypass mode, it continues to send heartbeat packets out to the inline security tool so that once the tool is back on-line, it will begin returning the heartbeat packets back to the TAP indicating that the tool is ready to go back to work. The TAP will then direct the network traffic back through the inline security tool along with the heartbeat packets placing the tool back inline.

Some of you may have noticed a flaw in the logic behind this solution!  You say, “What if the TAP should fail because it is also in-line? Then the link will also fail!” The TAP would now be considered a point of failure. That is a good catch – but in our blog on Bypass vs. Failsafe, I explained that if a TAP were to fail or lose power, it must provide failsafe protection to the link it is attached to. So our network TAP will go into Failsafe mode keeping the link flowing.

Glossary

  1. Single point of failure: a risk to an IT network if one part of the system brings down a larger part of the entire system.

  2. Heartbeat packet: a soft detection technology that monitors the health of inline appliances. Read the heartbeat packet blog here.

  3. Critical link: the connection between two or more network devices or appliances that if the connection fails then the network is disrupted.

NETWORK MANAGEMENT | THE 101 SERIES