fc cables

mxms755 · April 29, 2006, 8:36am

hi friends,
we are using fc cables and fc switches,u might be aware of the cost factor of it so just wanted to know that
Why do we need FC switches and fiber-optic cables? Is it not possible
to use, say, twisted-pair copper cables instead of fiber-optic cables,
and achieve almost comparable data transfer rates at a lower cost?

sssow · May 1, 2006, 4:18pm

Apart from speed, fiber covers more distance making DR(disaster recovery) setup easy.

Eronysis · May 3, 2006, 12:28pm

Are the fibre cables your network connections or SAN?

Perderabo · May 5, 2006, 2:33pm

Despite the name, fibre channel works on copper. From: http://www.attotech.com/fcq.html...

Q: What are the rules for cabling Fibre Channel devices?
A: There are two types of cable medium that can be used with Fibre Channel; Copper or Fibre Optic. Copper cables can use either DB9 or HSSDC connectors and are good for distances up to 25 meters. An active cable is required for cable distances greater than 15 meters. Optical cables use SC or duplex SC connectors. There are two different types of optical cables allowed; multi mode and single mode. Multi mode should only be used with short wave laser transceivers while single mode cables are meant to be used with long wave laser devices. The fibers in multi mode cable come in either a 62.5 micron thickness, which is good for distances up to 175 meters, or a 50 micron thickness, good for 500 meters. Long wave lasers/single mode cables are good for distances up to 10 km.

A better name than "fibre channel" would have been nice. It isn't really a channel either. We really got bit by this one. We sent some systems that use FC over fibre to a computer room expecting FC over copper. (Interesting that the OP choose the IP forum for this question!)