Brocade ICX Series (cheap & powerful 10gbE/40gbE switching)

[BoGs]

Where is the good choice for buying OS2? I have no problem spending a bit more for being super future proof. If going OS2 would I still need a pair of the cable or is that only for OM3 and OM4 because they are "multimode"?

You pretty much are doing what I did. I have ~300ft between two buildings and I ran 12 strand OS2 MTP fiber between the two buildings. I use a cassette to break it out on both sides to dual LC and plug that into the switch using LR transceivers. This future proofs me if I ever need more then 10Gbit or if I need additional runs.

You can look here to see https://www.fs.com/products/57016.html an example in their "10G Cable Trunking". I used the regular basic 1U mount with 1 cassette on each side. Make sure if you do cassette "Mode A" on one side and "Mode AF" on the other. The example is not a very sturdy cable as its just plenum rated and no protection.

I ran an industrial armoured cable to be sure (https://www.fs.com/products/70220.html) as it will be covered (in wall or in a conduit). You can customize it as needed and even put pull eyes on both sides. Just make sure the connector matches with the cassette if you are going that way. Most of the time you want MTP Female.

Good luck!

 

[kpfleming]

If you want to do something simpler, a single pair of SM fiber with simplex (not duplex) LC connectors and two pairs of this SFP+ (BiDi SFP+ 10GBase-LR Tx1270/Rx1330nm 10KM) will give you a full ring and nothing extra. If you like you can order the SFP+ transceivers with "Brocade coding" (that's what I did) but it's not strictly necessary.

 

[BoGs]

If you want to do something simpler, a single pair of SM fiber with simplex (not duplex) LC connectors and two pairs of this SFP+ (BiDi SFP+ 10GBase-LR Tx1270/Rx1330nm 10KM) will give you a full ring and nothing extra. If you like you can order the SFP+ transceivers with "Brocade coding" (that's what I did) but it's not strictly necessary.

This is an option as well just make sure if you are doing BiDi the one receiver is 1270/1330 and the other is 1330/1270 or else it will not work (you cannot get qty 2) you need to get a different receiver.

 

[Doomreaper]

I am having TFTP issues setting up my second Brocade ICX 6610-48P. I had no issues getting my non POE 6610 up and running. I can get into the boot monitor and set my IP. the problem comes when i try to load things from the TFTP server running on my pc. It connects starts 4 transfer windows and times out on the brocade side. I will include my Wireshark log below. Any help would be great as I don't know what to do next.

 

[R3Z3N]

Oddly I had same problem over wifi. Went wired and smoothly.

 

[Doomreaper]

Already running wired. I will try to run the TFTP server on another computer.

 

[dbvader]

I can get into the boot monitor and set my IP. the problem comes when i try to load things from the TFTP server running on my pc.

Are the switch and the tftp server supposed to be on different subnets (is the box running the tftp server multi-homed or is there an intermediate router)? Does it work if the switch and the host running the tftp server are in the same subnet?

 

[blunden]

If going OS2 would I still need a pair of the cable or is that only for OM3 and OM4 because they are "multimode"?

You use a pair because one is for sending and one is for receiving data.

You can also do both over a single fiber using different wavelengths, but that requires more expensive transceivers and makes it necessary for the transceivers on each end to be different (wavelengths swapped).

 

[R3Z3N]

^ I think he is confusing pair of cable vs pair of strands....

 

[blunden]

^ I think he is confusing pair of cable vs pair of strands....

Depends on what the question was referring to.

 

[Doomreaper]

Are the switch and the tftp server supposed to be on different subnets (is the box running the tftp server multi-homed or is there an intermediate router)? Does it work if the switch and the host running the tftp server are in the same subnet?

Turned out I forgot the cheap router was pushing everything into the 192.168.1.??? subnet while everything I had set up before was on the 192.168.0.??? subnet. they will send requests, but no packets will transfer. Set them both to the same subnet and everything worked properly.

 

[ano]

random, never read this thread much, but hey thanks @fohdeesha for the resources, also pinout help for usb hax cable

power draw on 7250-48P
67w idle
70w idle with 2 optics (10g)


now disable 44 ports
your down to
58w idle
61w idle with 2 optics

almost 24 port numbers for power usage!

 

[J--]

now disable 44 ports

You disabled 44 ports... so you only use 4?

2.5/10G desktop switches come in at 1W idle now...

 

[ano]

it was for getting wattage readout with the stuff I had, to get an idea what could be done, and how it was on power usage vs other 24 ports

I will only use about 10 ports on it I think... but I might also be able to replace the oob/1G switch in one of my racks with it, since it has enough 10g sfp+ ports!

kinda bummed (I knew this) no redundant PSU's on it

wonder what a 24 or 48 port 7450 actually use. then again I do like my arista 7010t

 

[servethehomefan]

Depends on what the question was referring to.

"pair" meaning 2 cables of OM3. In other words, I run two physical different OM3 cables from one ICX to another ICX so then I also need to obtain four transreceivers. Correct?

 

[klui]

No, a "cable" means a physical entity that could contain separate components inside. Sometimes those components might be encased in an outer sheath, and other times those components might be attached to each other, like speaker cables.

Look at a Category ethernet cable. It has individual pairs of conductors that are encased with their own insulation. But the cable comprise of the whole assembly.

Same for fiber. There are cables that have multiple strands of fiber inside the outer jacket. If your needs require two fiber strands get a cable with duplex connectors of your choice. One transceiver is all you need to use such a cable assembly on each end. There are exceptions like MPO trunk cables.

See https://www.commscope.com/globalassets/digizuite/182077-p360-ujvmxmxal-comprehensiveexternal.pdf. This cable assembly has 96 fibers and each end has 8 MPO connectors.

Just because ISPs tend to use single strand fiber in the last mile doesn't mean you need to follow that practice.

 

[blunden]

"pair" meaning 2 cables of OM3. In other words, I run two physical different OM3 cables from one ICX to another ICX so then I also need to obtain four transreceivers. Correct?

2 of the OM3 cables where each cable has two connectors on each end? If so, then yes. You are plugging each OM3 cable into a different SFP+ port on the switch, correct?

If you want to be 100% sure, you could always upload a photo or send us a link to the cables you have.

 

[servethehomefan]

2 of the OM3 cables where each cable has two connectors on each end? If so, then yes. You are plugging each OM3 cable into a different SFP+ port on the switch, correct?

If you want to be 100% sure, you could always upload a photo or send us a link to the cables you have.

The cable I have is from Monoprice OM3 LC/LC 50/125 Type, Multi Mode, 10GB. Fiber count says "Duplex" so I suspect there are 2 fibers in the cable. I then intend to use Brocade 10GB 57-0000075-01 off of eBay (like $10 each) for each end. I don't understand whether I need two of these cables or just one to create a stack using Brocade ICX switches.

Switch one and Switch two are 100 feet away from each other and I want them to stack.

 

[sic0048]

Only one connection is required to create a stacking link. If you are stacking three or more switches, then using two connections per switch will ensure connectivity between switches even if one switch fails (when wired together correctly - see the stacking manual for more details). In your case, you are only stacking two switches, so one connection is all that is needed.

Long story short, you'll need one duplex fiber run with a SFP+ fiber module at each end.

 

[m0rphl1ng]

Incredibly novice question--is there a good way to connect an ICX6610 to a 2.5GbE RJ45 switch like a Netgear MS108UP?

In my mind I figured I could just use an SFP+ to RJ45 module that can do 2.5GbE, but then I realized that I wasn't certain that the SFP+ port on the ICX6610 could do that speed--and upon reading through the documentation, it sounds like these ports are only either 10gig or 1gig--with nothing in between.