Do It Yourself

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In-house fiber network (beehaw.org)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org to c/diy@beehaw.org

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Not sure if I should post this here or over in Technology, but here goes.

So I need to run two Gigabit (or better) network cables from the main switch in the garage into another room.

The problem is that that room is a shelter (small bunker), which according to Swiss regulations means no holes in the walls, and the 'door' is an airtight 35cm thick slab of reinforced concrete and steel. So the only way into that room is a small conduit for electricity. There's no way two Cat7 cables fit into that conduit, and power and data cables are not allowed to share the same space anyway. That means the only viable option is fiber - and, considering the conduit's dimensions, only fiber without a connector will go through.

There are copper/POF adapters readily available (such as this one), and they would probably do the job. However, POF is effectively limited to ~1Gbit half-duplex. If I go through all the trouble of installing fiber, I don't want it to be inferior to the existing Cat7 copper cabling. If there's a multimode solution that doesn't require me to buy two four-figure Cisco switches and five-figure tools, I'd much prefer that. Has anyone here heard of such a thing?

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[–] Radiant_sir_radiant@beehaw.org 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

In case anybody stumbles across this thread and has a similar problem: I've successfully installed two fiber connections this week and they're working very well so far. I'm very happy!

My hardware shopping list:

Lightwin single-mode (OS2) simplex fiber with preattached LC plugs (link)
Lightwin LC/APC female/female adapter
Ubiquiti 10Gbit SFP+ modules (sold as a pair, product code UACC-OM-SM-10G-S-2)
Two Zyxel XMG-105HP switches with five 2.5Gbit, PoE++ RJ45 ports and one 10Gbit SFP+ port

The Lightwin cables have relatively short plugs with small and narrow protector caps, which is very important in my case.

The 2.5Gbit switch is fine for me because everything else in the house is 1Gbit and I didn't want to spend three times the amount for two 10Gbit switches just yet. Though the OS2 fiber should be able to handle anything we might throw at it in the foreseeable future.

Pulling the cables with the attached connectors through the narrow pipe was a bit tricky. I used a standard pull-in string and strong, inflexible adhesive tape to attach the fiber cables to it so that there would be a distance of 2-3cm between the string and the first plug, with a thick wad of tape inbetween, and the second plug following at a similar distance. Then I applied a generous amount of lube to the pipe and slowly pulled the cables through. They just so went around the corners, but once the plugs came out at the other end it was smooth sailing.

The internet fiber plugs directly into the OTO socket on one side, and connects to the modem via an LC f/f adapter on the other side. The LAN fiber has a switch at each end.