Can you connect two gigabit fibre NICs together?

Can you connect two gigabit fibre NICs together?
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Subject Author Date
Can you connect two gigabit fibre NICs together? Adam Nielsen 08-06-2006
Posted by Adam Nielsen on August 6, 2006, 6:57 am
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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.)

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.

home networking made easy, greater protection, less stress, introducing nm 5.0, 728x90
Posted by Justa Lurker on August 6, 2006, 8:50 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 ?

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

Posted by Al Dykes on August 6, 2006, 9:05 am
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options


>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

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?
>
> 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.
>
it should - but check the Intel site in case there is something else
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



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