finishing implementing 10Gb networking at home

[thething55]

A few months ago I ordered myself a Intel 10GBASE-T dual Ethernet adapter for a server that runs downstairs in my house. Now currently I run short (under 30 meters) cat 6 cables up stairs to my networking stack of equipment however, at the moment both of theses cables are only being run at  gigabit.

I am currently only using gigabit switches upstairs which is limiting my 10gbase-t card and I am planning on getting myself a power connect which has 24 SFP+ ports and 4 10GBASE-T ports.  I am hoping to use 1 of the 10G-BASE-T ports to create a 10 gigabit link from my bottom server up into my network upstairs and I am planning on connecting the 10gig switch to my old switch either over gigabit or with a special 10 gigabit adapter (not sure if I will be able to get my hands on one as they are either sold old or overpriced) but anyway, I would also like to install SFP+ cards in a second server upstairs and my desktop using pcie SFP+ cards. I have see loads of pcie SFP+ cards on ebay however I am unsure if these cards can run in any server/computer or if they only function in specific machines. As an example here is the link to a 10 gigabit card on ebay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-NC550SFP-586444-001-Dual-Port-10GbE-PCIe-Server-Adapter-/112008541318?hash=item1a143ab486:g:DzIAAOSwBPNXRwzT

The last SFP+ card I got (an twin Intel X540) worked great in my hp server but will these other SFP+ cards (especially the branded ones like HP) work in other brands of servers and desktop computers? I see no reason why they wouldn't

[leadeater]

Yes HP/Dell etc ones will work fine, they are just re-branded OEM parts from Intel/Broadcom/QLogic. You might get a very rare bios posting issue with something like the PXE firmware but it's unlikely. I have had issues running multiple different RAID cards in a server before, even though the actual cards were LSI based.

[thething55]

Perfect thanks for confirming it. I'm hoping/trying to get all Intel SFP+ cards but at least I can swap to a different brand if I can't get my hands on them when I need them

[Quindor]

Yeah, vendor cards should work just fine.

 

Otherwise you could also get OEM Intel cards? Those should always work (unless your desktop board has a really crappy BIOS).

 

Depending on if you want to use SFP+ with Fiber, SFP+ with DAC cables or RJ45 you need to get different cards. DAC can be really cheap if the switch is close by. Fiber is great for long lengths (but you can't terminate them yourself) and RJ45 is needed if the cable needs to go through pipes and want to be able to terminate them yourself (best to use keystones).

 

Getting all Intel would also be my choice!

 

Some examples

DAC: Intel X520-DA2  http://goo.gl/pKbCdX

SFP+: Intel X520-SR2  http://goo.gl/iwuE7t

RJ45: Intel X540-T2  http://goo.gl/SvHI3O

 

 

[thething55]

Yea, I already have one dual port x540-t2. The switch i'm looking at has 10gbase-t and SFP+ so I am going cat6 there to save running more cables and then I going to start with one SFP+ card and create a single 10gb link between 2 devices. I am going to try and go for all DA stuff so I can either use direct attached or convert to fiber if I want. the X520-DA2 is looking like my best and preferred option but I guess it depends what's available at the time for a sensible price.