Adding fiber link between two locations

[BuzzedDarkYear]

We recently did an office renovation and down sizing. As part of that work we had all the internal wiring upgraded to CAT6 and we added a fiber backbone between my switch closet and our server room. They used OM3 multimode fiber. I spoke to an HP tech over the phone to find out what I needed to purchase to link the two locations together via the fiber link. He told me for my two HP 2920-48G-POE+ Switch (J9729A) I needed 2 J9731A (HPE 2-port 10GbE SFP+ Modules. I ordered those along with 4 HPE X132 10G SFP+ LC SR Transceiver (J9150A). I have installed one of the modules but did not have the transceivers yet. When we did the cut over I could not see the switch on the network that I had installed the module into minus the transceivers. I assume the reason is because it did not have those GBICS installed yet? So we used my other switches and a CAT6 copper cable to connect the locations until I obtained the GBICS. Once I receive the transceivers is the installation pretty much plug and play or is there further configuration that I need to complete? I will be doing this work over this coming weekend and want to have all my ducks in a row before hand as I have never used fiber links before as we never had a need for them.

[akg7]

Hello,

Mostly it will be plug and play but it also depends how you are going to use those interfaces.

Thanks!

[BuzzedDarkYear]

Well these two modules one in each switch are specifically just to connect two different network segments together with a fiber 10gbe link. I ordered 4 GBICS because I wasn't sure if I needed to have all 4 slots occupied or not and to have spare transceivers.

[parnassus]

Hi @BuzzedDarkYear if you're going to have 4 J9150A SFP+ Transceivers AND you have (say) 4 Fiber Optic OM3 Multi-Mode cables between your Switch and your Server Room why not to use them all?

The point is...actually you wrote you're interconnecting your two HP 2920 with a (single?) Cat. 6 cable and you're able to reach both ends...once you have those 4 SFP+ Transceivers on your hands why not to aggregate two links together (on each side) to form a 2x10Gbps port trunk (link aggregation) with LACP as link aggregation control protocol? that way both HP 2920 will be interconnected with enhanced bandwidth and resilient links (better than using just one single 10Gbps link).

It will requires some just a CLI command.

In any case (single link or aggregated link) you should also take care of - or at least verify - your inter-switch link's tagging (what VLAN is passing through the actual link?).

Say you're using now the port 48 on both ends with the copper cable...verify tagging with the command show vlan port ethernet 48 detail, the output on both ports should match.

The same should be said and done if you decide to aggregate 2x10Gbps links together (per side): trunk A1,A2 trk1 lacp and then show vlan port ethernet trk1 detail

If you need to tag/untag the trk1 logical interface with specific VLANs you need to do that with other commands (VLAN focused or port focused).

[BuzzedDarkYear]

Parnassas,

                   Thank you for taking time to respond. I wasn't aware I could aggregate those links as you mentioned for increased performance. I certainly will do that but I do not have extra fiber patch cords at the moment. All I want to do is get both modules installed and plug the GBICS into the modules and get this link functioning so that the network portion of this project/move is completed. Unfortunately FedEx did not deliver the GBICS so I have to pick them up at their facility on my way to work tomorrow ...........ARGHHHHHHH!

[parnassus]

Hi! you can also deploy your toplogy by using single link downlink(s)/uplink(s)/inter-switch link(s)...it's not an issue or a bad design di-per-sè (one can just say that starting with aggregated links makes your life easier "since beginnig" but it's not necessarily mandatory especially if required additional cabling paths and/or Transceviers aren't yet readily available).