Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to fiber optics and could really use some help. I recently took over some sysadmin duties at my job after my colleague passed away, and I've been thrown into the deep end with fiber cable stuff. I know there are different types of connectors like LC, SC, and SFP, and I'm a bit lost. In our building, we have SC connections leading to a switch that only has SFP+ and Ethernet ports. I assume I can't just re-terminate the cables like I would with Ethernet, so I might need to find some adapters.
The tricky part is, I can't find SC to SFP+ adapters, but I've seen SC to Ethernet ones, although they're limited to gigabit speeds. I want to utilize the 10G speeds if possible. Any advice or resources you could share about fiber optics and what I need to know would be super helpful! Thanks!
2 Answers
What you can do is buy a 10 Gb SC-to-LC fiber patch cable and insert a 10G-SR LC SFP+ module into your switch. This way you won't have to worry about re-termination or any cumbersome adapters—it's pretty much plug-and-play at that point.
You'll want to use duplex LC ports for SFP+ modules. Since your existing setup uses SC connectors, just grab some jumpers that are LC on one end and SC on the other. You might also need an SC-SC coupler, depending on your setup. Just make sure the fiber type matches (like single mode or multi-mode) which is usually indicated by the fiber jacket color.
Thanks a ton for the explanation!
It's awesome to hear I can do this. Thanks a ton for the tip! Is it fairly common to do this in an enterprise environment?