RE: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-27 Thread Justin M. Streiner

On Thu, 26 Sep 2013, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List wrote:

To follow up, all of this fiber is mm and all light is sx to sfp. 
Currently all 1gbit, but it will be repulled as 10gbit capable soon... I 
guess I'm going to have to be a little less cheap and shoot for 
something under $1000.  I had an off list suggestion of the below 
listed fluke.  Any other suggestions or reccomendations?


Fluke makes good stuff.

What flavor of multimode fiber are you dealing with?  The answer 
and the distance you can run becomes substantially more important at 10G.


Hopefully you're at least dealing with OM3.  OM1/OM2 imposes distance 
limitations and you'll likely need mode-conditioning jumpers to work at 
10G.


jms



Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-27 Thread Jeff Kell
On 9/26/2013 6:53 AM, Justin M. Streiner wrote:
 What flavor of multimode fiber are you dealing with?  The answer and
 the distance you can run becomes substantially more important at 10G.

 Hopefully you're at least dealing with OM3.  OM1/OM2 imposes distance
 limitations and you'll likely need mode-conditioning jumpers to work
 at 10G.

Excellent point.  We have some over-a-decade old 62.5u MM that is
useless for 10G (practically useless at 1G).  It was fine at the time
for 10Mb 10FL, but is now deprecated into oblivion.

New runs are SM between buildings, and 50u OM3/OM4 inside.

Another surprise that can vary by vendor... but retail Cisco LRM is
cheaper than their SR, and is made for MM fiber (granted, OM3/OM4 ideally).

Jeff




Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Steven Hill

On Thu, 26 Sep 2013, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List wrote:

(snip)


$1000


You might get a JDSU OLP meter for that sort of money...

http://www.jdsu.com/en-us/test-and-measurement/products/a-z-product-list/Pages/olp-smart.aspx

I've used one of theirs (and a matching source) for buzzing out links at 
work. Simple enough to use, and can withstand my colleague dropping it 
off the top of a rack.


--
Steven Hill

I'm not a goth, I just can't afford the colour license



Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Niels Bakker

* blake.mailingl...@pfankuch.me (Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List) [Thu 26 Sep 
2013, 05:28 CEST]:
To follow up, all of this fiber is mm and all light is sx to sfp.  
Currently all 1gbit, but it will be repulled as 10gbit capable 
soon... I guess I'm going to have to be a little less cheap and 
shoot for something under $1000.


I'm not aware of testers in your price range that will tell you This 
fiber will/will not work for 10GbE but can second the recommendation 
for an OTDR, especially if you have metro fibers.


If you're repulling (I'm unfamiliar with the word but assume you mean 
taking out current infrastructure and putting in new fiber through 
existing ducts), why not go singlemode?  That will save you so much 
headaches with 10G, and SFP optics are only slightly more expensive.



-- Niels.



Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Niels Bakker

Welp.  Not my duplicate (Received: headers show it happened inside
the nanog mailing list server).  Already asked them to investigate.


-- Niels.



RE: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Kate Gerry
If you're looking for cheap then go for a RY3200C, it retails for around $140.

Kate


Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Chuck Anderson
On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 02:23:37AM +, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List wrote:
 I am in the market for a simple fiber tester.  I have about 80 pairs running 
 through my complex and we are running into some possible issues with some of 
 the really old ones.  The pen light to confirm that it's the right strand is 
 going to require a little bit more insight to determine if there is an issue 
 with fiber in conduit or patch.
 
 I don't need something super fancy, just need something that gives a good, 
 bad or holy crap is that concrete you are testing on for starters.  I am 
 also shooting for about $150-250 tops.
 
 Any suggestions?

How about using the built-in Digital Optcis Monitoring (DOM/DDM) in
modern SFPs?  Assuming your switches/routers and SFPs support it, you
can read the received power level right from your switches/routers.
The cost might be zero if you already have capabile equipment...

Combine that with a flashlight for identifying strands, and it might
be all you need...



Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-26 Thread Carlos Alcantar
I would also suggest you use a ferrule cleaner every single time you touch
an end 

http://www.fiberoptics4sale.com/p/Fiber_Optic_Connector_Reel_Cleaners/SFM25
0.html


Carlos Alcantar
Race Communications / Race Team Member
1325 Howard Ave. #604, Burlingame, CA. 94010
Phone: +1 415 376 3314 / car...@race.com / http://www.race.com





-Original Message-
From: Chuck Anderson c...@wpi.edu
Date: Thursday, September 26, 2013 10:52 AM
To: nanog@nanog.org nanog@nanog.org
Subject: Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

On Thu, Sep 26, 2013 at 02:23:37AM +, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List
wrote:
 I am in the market for a simple fiber tester.  I have about 80 pairs
running through my complex and we are running into some possible issues
with some of the really old ones.  The pen light to confirm that it's the
right strand is going to require a little bit more insight to determine
if there is an issue with fiber in conduit or patch.
 
 I don't need something super fancy, just need something that gives a
good, bad or holy crap is that concrete you are testing on for
starters.  I am also shooting for about $150-250 tops.
 
 Any suggestions?

How about using the built-in Digital Optcis Monitoring (DOM/DDM) in
modern SFPs?  Assuming your switches/routers and SFPs support it, you
can read the received power level right from your switches/routers.
The cost might be zero if you already have capabile equipment...

Combine that with a flashlight for identifying strands, and it might
be all you need...






Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-25 Thread Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List
I am in the market for a simple fiber tester.  I have about 80 pairs running 
through my complex and we are running into some possible issues with some of 
the really old ones.  The pen light to confirm that it's the right strand is 
going to require a little bit more insight to determine if there is an issue 
with fiber in conduit or patch.

I don't need something super fancy, just need something that gives a good, bad 
or holy crap is that concrete you are testing on for starters.  I am also 
shooting for about $150-250 tops.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Blake


Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-25 Thread Darius Jahandarie
On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 10:23 PM, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List
blake.mailingl...@pfankuch.me wrote:
 I am in the market for a simple fiber tester.  I have about 80 pairs running 
 through my complex and we are running into some possible issues with some of 
 the really old ones.  The pen light to confirm that it's the right strand is 
 going to require a little bit more insight to determine if there is an issue 
 with fiber in conduit or patch.

 I don't need something super fancy, just need something that gives a good, 
 bad or holy crap is that concrete you are testing on for starters.  I am 
 also shooting for about $150-250 tops.

 Any suggestions?

The keyword is Optical Power Meter. There are some all-in-one meters
and some simpler meters, it depends on exactly what sort of fiber
you're testing and so forth.

The more advanced tool is an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer, which
can tell you where the splices, breaks, and their locations are, but
they are considerably more expensive and that's not what you're
looking for from the sound of it.

-- 
Darius Jahandarie



RE: Suggestion on Fiber tester

2013-09-25 Thread Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List
To follow up, all of this fiber is mm and all light is sx to sfp.  Currently 
all 1gbit, but it will be repulled as 10gbit capable soon... I guess I'm going 
to have to be a little less cheap and shoot for something under $1000.  I had 
an off list suggestion of the below listed fluke.  Any other suggestions or 
reccomendations?

http://www.flukenetworks.com/datacom-cabling/fiber-testing/SimpliFiber-Pro-Optical-Power-Meter-and-Fiber-Test-Kits

Thanks,
Blake

-Original Message-
From: Darius Jahandarie [mailto:djahanda...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 9:09 PM
To: Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List
Cc: NANOG (nanog@nanog.org)
Subject: Re: Suggestion on Fiber tester

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 10:23 PM, Blake Pfankuch - Mailing List 
blake.mailingl...@pfankuch.me wrote:
 I am in the market for a simple fiber tester.  I have about 80 pairs running 
 through my complex and we are running into some possible issues with some of 
 the really old ones.  The pen light to confirm that it's the right strand is 
 going to require a little bit more insight to determine if there is an issue 
 with fiber in conduit or patch.

 I don't need something super fancy, just need something that gives a good, 
 bad or holy crap is that concrete you are testing on for starters.  I am 
 also shooting for about $150-250 tops.

 Any suggestions?

The keyword is Optical Power Meter. There are some all-in-one meters and some 
simpler meters, it depends on exactly what sort of fiber you're testing and so 
forth.

The more advanced tool is an Optical Time-Domain Reflectometer, which can tell 
you where the splices, breaks, and their locations are, but they are 
considerably more expensive and that's not what you're looking for from the 
sound of it.

--
Darius Jahandarie