[tech] Re: UCC uplink network upgrade

[Nick Bannon]

On Wed, Jun 11, 2003 at 01:22:13AM +0800, David Cake wrote:
> >Does the UCS link come into the Guild ground floor comms cupboard or
> >the new Guild comms room?
> 
> 	New Guild.
> 
> >Will the fibre to Cameron Hall come into the Guild ground floor comms
> >cupboard or the new Guild comms room?
> 
> 	Probably direct from the new guild.

That sounds good - the more direct, the better.

> >It's a pity about the blown fibre tubing - how much would that have
> >been?
> 
> 	Its still an outside possibility, but unlikely.

Sounds like price is a major factor throughout - not suprising. You're
not making it easy - I'm going to have to do some major googling and
price guessing here. ::-)

You mentioned that the GR fibre installation quote was a bit over
$3000... Is that one run between the buildings, plus the internal one
between the comms cupboard and new comms room? or something else, too?

It looks like they don't get extort you too much for blowing through
fibres - 25% or less of the cost of dragging conventional cable. So...
the real question is how much does empty blowable fibre tube cost to
buy/install per meter compared to full cables?
http://www.brand-rex.com/millen/cases/recovery.htm

[...]
> 	It might yet happen - but even a few hundred dollars might be 
> enough to put them off.

UCC can handle _that_ easily - a few thousand extra dollars might be
pushing it. ::-) However, it's a major capital expense that we'd really
rather not do twice if we can possibly avoid it...

[...]
> 	Extra pluggables. The switches are probably going to be Dlink 
> 3225GFs, with a single fibre port, and an option module that can 
> support 2 more. 3 is the max - but thats all we will need.
> 	Any advice about what exact switches to get is appreciated. 
> It does look like the DLink will be enough cheaper than Ciscos once 
> you figure in the cost of media converters, but I would appreciate 
> any advice about the exact DLink gear.

Hmmm, not a bad switch. What's your price for each DES-3225GF and each
module?

Looks something like 3 x $1385.47 + $341.82 .
http://www.downtown.com.au/new1888.htm
http://www.downtown.com.au/new1032.htm (not exactly the right part,
  should be DES-362FM - 2 port 100BaseFX (MT-RJ))

Does Cameron Hall really need a switch that big? Do the Guild building
switches need fibre between them or is copper OK? (I guess the answers
are: Possibly not, but it's the right thing to do)

Can someone check out the Cisco options? Media converters aren't
necessarily a killer - if the base units have the slots to support it,
there's the USD$80 1000Base-SX GBICs and USD$175 1000Base-LX new GBICs ;
http://www.coast2coastaz.com/cisco/cisco.htm

Next option is Alloy. The ESS-24T02M looks like a good replacement for
the DES-3225GF. 24 10/100 ports and a module port for $594, $115 for a
single 100Base-FX module, $203 for dual 100Base-FX and very affordable
gigabit. An extra media converter for the central switch is $216 ;
http://www.alloy.com.au/products/ESS-24T02M.htm
http://www.alloy.com.au/products/fec120.htm

There's also cheaper but still potentially useful semi-managed? switches ;
http://www.alloy.com.au/products/ns1601fs.htm
http://www.alloy.com.au/products/switch.htm

Then there's more ad-hoc solutions. Perfectly fine by the UCC, but they
have a risk of inconsistency headaches for you. ::-) Of course as far as
UCS is concerned that might already be a small issue as regards not
using their favourite media converters, etc.

So... Brand new 24 port 10/100 Layer 3 switch-routers for buy-it-now
USD$199? USD$299 with 2 gigabit uplinks?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3029784753
What's the catch? Ah...
http://www.falconstor.com/npisupport.asp
The manufacturer is out of business and merged into another company.
Nevertheless, they're still looking tasty!

> 	The patch cabling is going to be a bit of a mess - looks like 
> we have all three kinds of fibre terminator.

I can see how that could happen <grin>. ST's are in place already, SC's
are common and cheap, yet MT-RJ's certainly look like a sensible form
factor in their own right.

> >I appreciate that, but I'm not sure the UCC's resources have been taken
> >into account. We can certainly organise a cable across Cameron Hall,
> >but we might be able to do more, like scrounge up a whole switch, or
> >transceivers, or pay for an upgrade of the cable runs.
> >
> >Pulling the cable between buildings is the real bugbear and I was
> >really keen to get us as close as we could to a fibre pair running
> >straight from the UCC clubroom all the way to the UCS uplink, via a
> >fibre patch panel if needed.
> 
> 	If UCC is willing to pay for an extra pair, then it can 
> definitely happen - and we would not be expecting UCC to pay for any 
> of the base labor, only the extra cable cost. I will ask GRs for 
> quotes on adding an extra fibre pair.

Right.

> >Even if that fibre is initially dark, I think that cable run has got to
> >have a chance of lasting through 8 years of upgrades rather than 2.
> 
> 	Well, we still have the option of upgrading the cable to 
> gigabit later on without pulling fibre.

If the UCC gets its own fibre all the way to the new Guild comms room,
there'll be more options and fewer obstacles in the way of the next
upgrade.

> 	We have about a week to finalise this for Guild finance and planning.
> 	Cheers
> 		David

Right.

Nick.

-- 
   Nick Bannon   | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick-sig at rcpt.to | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal