Switching to fiber home network - review my choice

[Gaben22]

Hi everyone, I am new to fiber, would like to switch my internal home network to fiber but since I am new to this I could easily pick incompatible parts so would like to ask some help to review my choices and of course for suggestions. I am trying to do a buy once/cry once approach but I am fully aware it is overkill no matter what. I don't need to cover long distances (less than 15 metres), my ONT will be in PPPoE passthrough, OPNSense will do the authentication.

Primarily I'll have a DIY router/self hosted server running a few things (Proxmox + OPNSense + self hosted services), the server will be a small desktop computer with off-the-shelf components built by me, my main computer is a desktop computer too (Arch Linux), I'll connect my main computer to the DIY router/home server directly with SFP28.

Parts that I picked:

• NICs:
  • server: Intel E810-XXVDA4 - SFP28
  • main computer: Intel Intel E810-XXVAM2 - SFP28
• Modules:
  • server + main computer (+ spare): Intel SFP28 - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC - 850nm
  • for my potential future switch (UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE): Ubiquiti 25G Multi-Mode Optical Module - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC - 850nm
• Fiber:
  • OM4 - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC to LC/UPC - 850nm/1300nm
• RJ45 to SFP+
  • 1 is needed between my ISP's ONT and my DIY router/home server
  • Intel Compatible 10GBASE-T SFP+ Copper 30m RJ-45 Transceiver Module (LOS)
  • maybe use a separate "box" to do this instead of a module to avoid heat generated in the NIC?
• Switch (probably later for other devices):
  • UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE
• WiFi (probably later):
  • UniFi U7 Pro XG Wall

Would you please review the parts that I picked to see if they are compatible with each other? Also open for any suggestions. I used to have a Mikrotik router (haP AX3), looked hard for a Mikrotik switch but the one I found probably too loud, others had not that good combination of ports/price for my home use hence the UniFi product(s) chosen.

 

[mattventura]

I think they would be compatible, but if this fiber is going through your walls and thus isn't trivial to replace, you'll save yourself headaches later if you pay a little more now and go with single-mode fiber.

 

[Gaben22]

I think they would be compatible, but if this fiber is going through your walls and thus isn't trivial to replace, you'll save yourself headaches later if you pay a little more now and go with single-mode fiber.

Thank you for spending time checking my question. Could I ask what would be the benefit of that? Based on my very basic knowledge on short distances should not make much differences. I was thinking and had to spent significant amount of time trying to "Lego" parts together using singlex approach and going with very thin fiber. That would have been easier to go trough walls in the future but as of now fortunately no drilling is required.

 

[blunden]

Avoid 10GBASE-T transceivers whenever possible, and especially avoid the ones rated for 30 meters as they tend to run very hot. The ones rated for 80 or 100 meters tend to be much better in that regard. This is especially true at 10 Gbit/s speeds.

Also, PPPoE tends to hurt network performance massively when doing it in software on a general purpose CPU. Just be aware of that when you plan your hardware setup for that router. A network focused SoC will handle PPPoE in hardware without any meaningful performance impact, but that obviously isn't an option if you want to run anything FreeBSD based.

 

[nexox]

Could I ask what would be the benefit of that?

Single mode fiber will support much higher speeds in the future by simply swapping transceivers, multi mode is somewhat more limited.

 

[Scott Laird]

Yeah, the fastest optics that I've seen over MM is 50G per fiber. Physics starts limiting the speed of multimode fiber somewhere around there; OM-5 has a limit of 3500 MHz * km, which translates to something like 80m for 100 GHz operation. Singlemode doesn't have an equivalent limit. If you're willing to spend the money today, then you can easily by 800 Gbps over a single frequency on a single strand of fiber, and with WDM people have demonstrated > 1 Pbps over a single strand.

You're probably not ever going to care about running 1 Pbps in your house, but you might want > 50 Gbps someday. Since there really isn't much of a cost difference between SM and MM these days, in general you're better off sticking to just singlemode.

 

[Gaben22]

Thanks everyone for the review and suggestions, I "Legoed" together single mode parts, here is the list, would you eyeball them?

• Modules
  • server + main computer (+ spare): Intel SFP10/25GBASE-LR - singlemode - duplex - LC/UPC - 1310nm
• Fiber
  • OS2 - single mode - duplex - LC/UPC to LC/UPC - 1310/1550nm
• RJ45 to SFP+
  • Intel - <1.8W - 100m - insanely expesive though

 

[nexox]

I usually go used for optical transceivers and various import brands of 10GbE modules, but I forget if that generation of Intel NIC is vendor locked, which would increase the price quite a bit.

 

[blunden]

Yeach, the more power efficient 10GBASE-T transceivers rated for 100 meters are really expensive from FS.com, FlexOptix, etc. but they can be found for cheap on AliExpress.

ZYOPM 10GBASE-T 100 m (make sure to select the regular one, not the HPE/Aruba model)

Xicom 10GBASE-T 80 m (make sure to pick the 80 meter one)

At least ZYOPM claim to be able to program it to be Intel compatible. You could always ask them to confirm ahead of time though. Make sure it is programmed to look like a 10GBASE-SR transceiver too as Intel NICs usually don't officially support 10GBASE-T transceivers.

I own one of each, as well as a FlexOptix equivalent. They all behave similarly in my, admittedly limited, testing.

 

[bugacha]

Hi everyone, I am new to fiber, would like to switch my internal home network to fiber but since I am new to this I could easily pick incompatible parts so would like to ask some help to review my choices and of course for suggestions. I am trying to do a buy once/cry once approach but I am fully aware it is overkill no matter what. I don't need to cover long distances (less than 15 metres), my ONT will be in PPPoE passthrough, OPNSense will do the authentication.

Primarily I'll have a DIY router/self hosted server running a few things (Proxmox + OPNSense + self hosted services), the server will be a small desktop computer with off-the-shelf components built by me, my main computer is a desktop computer too (Arch Linux), I'll connect my main computer to the DIY router/home server directly with SFP28.

Parts that I picked:

• NICs:
  • server: Intel E810-XXVDA4 - SFP28
  • main computer: Intel Intel E810-XXVAM2 - SFP28
• Modules:
  • server + main computer (+ spare): Intel SFP28 - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC - 850nm
  • for my potential future switch (UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE): Ubiquiti 25G Multi-Mode Optical Module - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC - 850nm
• Fiber:
  • OM4 - multimode - duplex - LC/UPC to LC/UPC - 850nm/1300nm
• RJ45 to SFP+
  • 1 is needed between my ISP's ONT and my DIY router/home server
  • Intel Compatible 10GBASE-T SFP+ Copper 30m RJ-45 Transceiver Module (LOS)
  • maybe use a separate "box" to do this instead of a module to avoid heat generated in the NIC?
• Switch (probably later for other devices):
  • UniFi Pro XG 8 PoE
• WiFi (probably later):
  • UniFi U7 Pro XG Wall

Would you please review the parts that I picked to see if they are compatible with each other? Also open for any suggestions. I used to have a Mikrotik router (haP AX3), looked hard for a Mikrotik switch but the one I found probably too loud, others had not that good combination of ports/price for my home use hence the UniFi product(s) chosen.

Dont use multimode, only OS2 single mode fiber

Buy transceivers from fs.com they work great

E810 is too expensive and pointless, buy Connect4X-lx for $40-$50


Unifi stuff is overpriced. Tplink/CRS510 do great job

 

[bugacha]

Yeach, the more power efficient 10GBASE-T transceivers rated for 100 meters are really expensive from FS.com, FlexOptix, etc. but they can be found for cheap on AliExpress.

ZYOPM 10GBASE-T 100 m (make sure to select the regular one, not the HPE/Aruba model)

Xicom 10GBASE-T 80 m (make sure to pick the 80 meter one)

At least ZYOPM claim to be able to program it to be Intel compatible. You could always ask them to confirm ahead of time though. Make sure it is programmed to look like a 10GBASE-SR transceiver too as Intel NICs usually don't officially support 10GBASE-T transceivers.

I own one of each, as well as a FlexOptix equivalent. They all behave similarly in my, admittedly limited, testing.

10GBASE-T is junk

overheats, impossible to cool down, runs at 80C easily at full speed

 

[blunden]

10GBASE-T is junk

overheats, impossible to cool down, runs at 80C easily at full speed

Modern PHYs are less bad, but yes. Sometimes you don't really have a choice though.

The ones with the Broadcom PHY run at more like 40-60°C and Realtek's new PHY is even more efficient (and presumably also cheaper). That one hasn't shown up in SFP+ transceivers yet though as far as I know.

 

[Gaben22]

ZYOPM 10GBASE-T 100 m (make sure to select the regular one, not the HPE/Aruba model)
Xicom 10GBASE-T 80 m (make sure to pick the 80 meter one)

At least ZYOPM claim to be able to program it to be Intel compatible. You could always ask them to confirm ahead of time though. Make sure it is programmed to look like a 10GBASE-SR transceiver too as Intel NICs usually don't officially support 10GBASE-T transceivers.

Thank you and everyone for the suggestions. I'll give the Zyopm a try, they already answered and said their stuff can be used with Intel and the module is "labeled" 10G-SR. This will save quite a bit of money, it is crazy how expensive the the RJ45 to SFP+ converters are. Too bad the Realtek ones are indeed nowhere (at least could not find them with Google not even the chip you mentioned), the more power efficient the better would be.