Can you connect two gigabit fibre NICs together?
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Posted by Adam Nielsen on August 6, 2006, 6:57 am
Please log in for more thread options Hi everyone, I've recently gotten hold of a couple of gigabit network cards, and as they're both fibre cards and I have no experience with fibre, I could use some advice! The cards are both Intel PRO/1000 (82542 chipset) and I'd like to use the cards to connect two servers directly together. They'll be less than a metre apart, and the cable I'm using is about two metres long, with "SC" connectors on both ends (which according to intel.com is what the cards use.) I figured connecting the TX port on each card to the RX port on the other would be enough to get a link, but the OS reports no link detected and the link LED on the cards doesn't light up. Carefully checking the cards reveals a faint point of red laser light shining out of one of the ports (I assume the TX port, as they're unmarked) so the cards seem to be okay. Shining a light into one end of the fibre shows bright light coming out the other end, so the fibre cable seems fine. Despite this I still can't get a link. A suggestion on this newsgroup in the past was to connect the TX port of one card back to its own RX port, as that should cause a link to be established - but unfortunately this doesn't make a difference. Drivers should be fine (widely used "e1000" module under Linux 2.6.16) so I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be, or anything I could try to narrow down the problem? Thanks, Adam. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Justa Lurker on August 6, 2006, 8:50 am
Please log in for more thread options Adam Nielsen wrote: Just a quick guess or two: do the cards run single-mode optics while the fiber is multi-mode, or vice versa ? Also, might you need an attenuator inline in case you are overloading the receiver with such a strong signal into it ? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Al Dykes on August 6, 2006, 9:03 am
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>Adam Nielsen wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> >> I've recently gotten hold of a couple of gigabit network cards, and as >> they're both fibre cards and I have no experience with fibre, I could >> use some advice! >> >> The cards are both Intel PRO/1000 (82542 chipset) and I'd like to use >> the cards to connect two servers directly together. They'll be less >> than a metre apart, and the cable I'm using is about two metres long, >> with "SC" connectors on both ends (which according to intel.com is what >> the cards use.) >> >> I figured connecting the TX port on each card to the RX port on the >> other would be enough to get a link, but the OS reports no link detected >> and the link LED on the cards doesn't light up. >> >> Carefully checking the cards reveals a faint point of red laser light >> shining out of one of the ports (I assume the TX port, as they're >> unmarked) so the cards seem to be okay. Shining a light into one end of >> the fibre shows bright light coming out the other end, so the fibre >> cable seems fine. Despite this I still can't get a link. >> >> A suggestion on this newsgroup in the past was to connect the TX port of >> one card back to its own RX port, as that should cause a link to be >> established - but unfortunately this doesn't make a difference. >> >> Drivers should be fine (widely used "e1000" module under Linux 2.6.16) >> so I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what the problem >> could be, or anything I could try to narrow down the problem? >> >> Thanks, >> Adam. >
>Just a quick guess or two: do the cards run single-mode optics while the >fiber is multi-mode, or vice versa ? Also, might you need an attenuator >inline in case you are overloading the receiver with such a strong >signal into it ? Does anyone recommend a "Fibre for Dummies" Book? -- a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m Don't blame me. I voted for Gore. A Proud signature since 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Al Dykes on August 6, 2006, 9:05 am
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>Adam Nielsen wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
>> >> I've recently gotten hold of a couple of gigabit network cards, and as >> they're both fibre cards and I have no experience with fibre, I could >> use some advice! >> >> The cards are both Intel PRO/1000 (82542 chipset) and I'd like to use >> the cards to connect two servers directly together. They'll be less >> than a metre apart, and the cable I'm using is about two metres long, >> with "SC" connectors on both ends (which according to intel.com is what >> the cards use.) >> >> I figured connecting the TX port on each card to the RX port on the >> other would be enough to get a link, but the OS reports no link detected >> and the link LED on the cards doesn't light up. >> >> Carefully checking the cards reveals a faint point of red laser light >> shining out of one of the ports (I assume the TX port, as they're >> unmarked) so the cards seem to be okay. Shining a light into one end of >> the fibre shows bright light coming out the other end, so the fibre >> cable seems fine. Despite this I still can't get a link. >> >> A suggestion on this newsgroup in the past was to connect the TX port of >> one card back to its own RX port, as that should cause a link to be >> established - but unfortunately this doesn't make a difference. >> >> Drivers should be fine (widely used "e1000" module under Linux 2.6.16) >> so I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what the problem >> could be, or anything I could try to narrow down the problem? >> >> Thanks, >> Adam. >
>Just a quick guess or two: do the cards run single-mode optics while the >fiber is multi-mode, or vice versa ? Also, might you need an attenuator >inline in case you are overloading the receiver with such a strong >signal into it ? Can someone recommend a "Fibre for Dummies" book? It's not that big a topic at the overview level, really. Make that web site or magazine article. -- a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m Don't blame me. I voted for Gore. A Proud signature since 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by stephen on August 6, 2006, 12:10 pm
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> Hi everyone,
> > I've recently gotten hold of a couple of gigabit network cards, and as > they're both fibre cards and I have no experience with fibre, I could > use some advice! > > The cards are both Intel PRO/1000 (82542 chipset) and I'd like to use > the cards to connect two servers directly together. They'll be less > than a metre apart, and the cable I'm using is about two metres long, > with "SC" connectors on both ends (which according to intel.com is what > the cards use.) you need to have the exact part codes for the adaptors - and then check them on the Intel web site. a quick scan of theweb site implies the adaptors you have are for servers if they have fibre interfaces (assuming they arent a non current model). there are a lot of versions (there is 3/4 Mbyte PDF describing all the different flavours) looking at the support pages for drivers http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-012904.htm gives a message about end of support: http://www.intel.com/support/network/adapter/1000/eoisindex.htm but this page has a lot of support info, help notes and so on. >
> I figured connecting the TX port on each card to the RX port on the > other would be enough to get a link, but the OS reports no link detected > and the link LED on the cards doesn't light up. > > Carefully checking the cards reveals a faint point of red laser light > shining out of one of the ports (I assume the TX port, as they're > unmarked) so the cards seem to be okay. Shining a light into one end of > the fibre shows bright light coming out the other end, so the fibre > cable seems fine. Despite this I still can't get a link. a bad idea to look into a fibre port, although you can try shining onto something and looking at that. AFAIR all the various 1000 Base standards use infrared light? >
it should - but check the Intel site in case there is something else
> A suggestion on this newsgroup in the past was to connect the TX port of > one card back to its own RX port, as that should cause a link to be > established - but unfortunately this doesn't make a difference. > needed - or there might be a diags tool of some sort if the card distinguishes between a valid non looped signal and just incoming Ethernet? > Drivers should be fine (widely used "e1000" module under Linux 2.6.16)
--
> so I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what the problem > could be, or anything I could try to narrow down the problem? > > Thanks, > Adam. Regards stephen_hope@xyzworld.com - replace xyz with ntl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
>
> I've recently gotten hold of a couple of gigabit network cards, and as
> they're both fibre cards and I have no experience with fibre, I could
> use some advice!
>
> The cards are both Intel PRO/1000 (82542 chipset) and I'd like to use
> the cards to connect two servers directly together. They'll be less
> than a metre apart, and the cable I'm using is about two metres long,
> with "SC" connectors on both ends (which according to intel.com is what
> the cards use.)
>
> I figured connecting the TX port on each card to the RX port on the
> other would be enough to get a link, but the OS reports no link detected
> and the link LED on the cards doesn't light up.
>
> Carefully checking the cards reveals a faint point of red laser light
> shining out of one of the ports (I assume the TX port, as they're
> unmarked) so the cards seem to be okay. Shining a light into one end of
> the fibre shows bright light coming out the other end, so the fibre
> cable seems fine. Despite this I still can't get a link.
>
> A suggestion on this newsgroup in the past was to connect the TX port of
> one card back to its own RX port, as that should cause a link to be
> established - but unfortunately this doesn't make a difference.
>
> Drivers should be fine (widely used "e1000" module under Linux 2.6.16)
> so I'm running out of ideas. Does anyone have any idea what the problem
> could be, or anything I could try to narrow down the problem?
>
> Thanks,
> Adam.