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Professional Discussions => Routing and Switching => Topic started by: LynK on February 24, 2015, 11:18:40 AM

Title: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: LynK on February 24, 2015, 11:18:40 AM
Is there such thing as a minimum distance on a cable, in which is needed to perform a CRC check?

is it different between cable/fiber? I am not aware of any limitations for CRC
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: Otanx on February 24, 2015, 05:53:13 PM
So shooting from the hip. I would think for full duplex copper there is no minimum distance. Half duplex there would be a minimum distance based on how long a NIC can transition from sending data to listening for the collision. Optical cables the minimum distance is dependent on the optics. The transmitter in some optics have a power level high enough to damage a receiver, and attenuation over distance brings the level down so the receiver can see it. Even before you get to power levels that will damage the receiver you can still have a power level high enough to blind the receiver without damage. There is a NANOG presentation that covers all the optical stuff somewhere. It is a very interesting read.

-Otanx
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: deanwebb on February 24, 2015, 06:45:26 PM
I've heard 3' as the minimum length on full duplex copper.
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: killabee on February 24, 2015, 07:20:29 PM
Based on this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_physical_layer#Minimum_cable_lengths), not for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, and 1000BASE-T.

For fiber, what Otanx said....though I still wonder if there are optics out there that will tell the sender that its Tx power is too strong and to lower its...that's a question for javentre :)
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: deanwebb on February 24, 2015, 08:01:12 PM
Quote from: killabee on February 24, 2015, 07:20:29 PM
Based on this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet_physical_layer#Minimum_cable_lengths), not for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, and 1000BASE-T.

For fiber, what Otanx said....though I still wonder if there are optics out there that will tell the sender that its Tx power is too strong and to lower its...that's a question for javentre :)

LOL, it was an old guy that said it. :)
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: javentre on February 25, 2015, 06:11:11 AM
I had this discussion with a number of folks back in 2008, regarding copper cables.  I thought it was 1', other folks agreed, but no one could point to something as proof.  I was unable to find any standards based documentation which stipulated a minimum cable length.

With optical links, if you have high power optics (ER/ZR) with short spans, you often need to use pads to attenuate the signal so you don't burn out the receivers.   Most of the Cisco 10G-SR transceivers have a maximum TX that is weaker than the maximum RX, so you'll never need to attenuate them, assuming the optics are in spec.  For example, most Cisco 10G SR optics have a maximum TX of -1.2 but the maximum Rx is -1.0, so you're good.  For 10G LR, the max TX and RX are the same, so you're fine most of the time.

Quote from: killabee on February 24, 2015, 07:20:29 PM.I still wonder if there are optics out there that will tell the sender that its Tx power is too strong and to lower its...that's a question for javentre :)
You'll want to read about active DWDM systems, specifically something called APC:)
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/optical/15000r9_0/dwdm/reference/guide/454d90_ref/454d90_networkref.html#wp335800
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: LynK on February 25, 2015, 07:51:43 AM
What I am most concerned about is 2 ASAs running 1G with GLC-SX-MM transceivers with 62.5/125 fiber. The whole reason I am curious is we have 2 ASA 5525x's which are using gi1/5 (1G fiber) for the failover interface between the two. Right now they are literally 2u apart from one another. Currently we have a 3m cable interconnecting the two, but if I could get a .3m cable and there would be no issues with CRC/failover i would prefer to go the route with no slack.
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: javentre on February 25, 2015, 07:57:17 AM
You're fine.

1000SX is even better than 10G.   TX maximum is -3 and RX maximum is 0.
Title: Re: Minimum cable distance needed for CRC?
Post by: Otanx on February 25, 2015, 09:23:13 AM
NANOG fiber presentation - https://www.nanog.org/meetings/nanog48/presentations/Sunday/RAS_opticalnet_N48.pdf

-Otanx