This content comes from @WHAT IS WORTH BUYING APP, and the opinions only represent the author's own｜Author: Geek Research Monk
As a creator in the digital area, I have recently begun to struggle with the decoration of my new house. One of the important links is Pre-laying of various lines and procurement of equipment. And [Building a Family 10 Gigabit LAN Environment] is one of the tasks that I attach great importance to currently.
Although this is the first home, I always want to plan for the long term. In addition, I have already purchased some 10G equipment, and I have begun to consider the solution of pre-laying optical fiber, which is relatively cheap and flexible for later upgrades. Below is the topology diagram of my preliminary plan, which can be enlarged to take a look.
Because this article is long, it is divided into three large sections for display. The first major section is "Terminal Equipment" , which mainly introduces 10G NAS hard drives and other accessories. The second largest section is "Audio and Video Equipment" , which mainly displays Apple TV 2021 4K and iclick universal remote control. The last one, "Front-end Equipment" , is mainly a list of equipment required for home 10G optical fiber network laying. You can read it selectively according to your needs.
1. [Terminal device side]: If you want to play with the 10G home network, you also need terminal equipment for extra points
In the first part, we mainly talk about the application scenarios of the 10G home network, mainly focusing on the content of NAS accessories. The picture below is the equipment rack of my rental house. What products can you recognize?
❶ NAS device : Synology DS1621+ / Synology E10G18-T2 10G network card
First of all, I laid out 10G for the NAS scenario. I have previously shown you the Synology DS1621+, which can achieve 20Gbps link aggregation through PCIe expansion and the Synology E10G18-T2 10G network card, and the experience is excellent.
Interested students can check out the previously written review " The Ultimate Ideal Type of Home Dual 10G NAS: DS1621+ Detailed Experience, and Review of DSM 7.1 Function Upgrade" . This time we will focus on its peripheral accessories.
❷ [warehouse disk] : Seagate Coolwolf Pro NAS hard drive 8TB × 4
NAS. The most important thing is the hard drive. Hard drives are expensive. If you buy all the storage and , it should be the biggest expense for the whole-house network, even higher than NAS. For example, Synology DS1621+ supports up to 6 SATA hard drives and 2 M.2 cache hard drives, so I arranged it all at once.
including 4 8TB Seagate IronWolf Pro NAS hard drives, 2 1TB Seagate IronWolf 125 SATA solid-state drives and 2 1TB Seagate Coldplay 510 M.2 solid-state drives. The combined price has exceeded the 10,000 yuan mark. . If you include NAS and expansion cards, the total reaches 2W+.
Let’s talk about hard drives. Currently, the hard drive sequences of Seagate for NAS scenarios are mainly "Cool Wolf" , "Cool Wolf Pro" , "Galaxy" . The difference between the first two is that with Pro This version has the following advantages:
"AgileArray™ Optimized Network Storage" : Supports AgileArray NAS optimization, with double-sided balancing and time-limited fault recovery functions "Rotational Vibration (RV) Anti-Vibration Technology" : Built-in Rotational Vibration (RV) Sensors that provide vibration resistance and consistent performance in multi-bay systems "Workload Rated Load (WRL)" : 180TB/year for CoolWolf, 300TB/year for CoolWolf Pro "MTBF Mean Time Between Failures" : Cool Wolf is 1 million hours, Cool Wolf Pro is 1.2 million hours "Seagate Rescue Data Recovery Service" : Both Cool Wolf and Cool Wolf Pro series come standard with Seagate Professional Labs free Rescue rescue service once (within three years) "Five-year limited warranty" : Cool Wolf has a 3-year limited warranty, and Cool Wolf Pro has a 5-year limited warranty.
Therefore, the Cool Wolf series is positioned close to home use or small studios, while Cool Wolf Pro is for commercial and enterprise-level environments. Of course, if you want better specifications, you can consider the Galaxy series enterprise-class hard drive .
The specific parameters of the CoolWolf Pro series 8TB hard drive that I got my hands on are as follows. Overall, the configuration is very solid, and it deserves to be considered a civilian-level ceiling. After all, it is for "capitalists" like NAS who squeeze hard drives 24/7, and stability and reliability are the most important. And I personally value the free Rescue rescue service provided by Seagate Professional Labs within three years. If you are unlucky and the hard drive fails, you will still be saved.
"Model" : IronWolf Pro hard drive (ST8000NE001) "Cache" : 256MB "Speed" : 7200 rpm, "Rate" : Sustained data transfer rate is 240MB/s "Track Technology" : Full Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR) technology "Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)" : Up to 1.2 million hours "Workload Rated Load (WRL)" : 300TB/year "MTBF Mean Time Between Failures" : 1.2 million hours "Seagate Rescue Data Recovery Service" : Seagate professional laboratory free rescue rescue service once (within three years) "Warranty Service" : Five-year limited warranty
Coolwolf Pro series mechanical hard drives were placed in 1-4 by me The warehouse is "RAID 5" , RAID 5 has a disaster recovery disk, and the remaining three hard drives have a combined capacity of 21.8TB. If you choose RAID 6, you will have 2 disaster recovery disks, but the capacity will further drop to about 14TB. In the future, I may consider replacing the two SSDs with 8TB HDDs and directly configure 6 hard disk groups with RAID 6 or even RAID 10 to improve security.
When you use it for the first time, I personally recommend that you use the hard drive serial number to register on the Seagate official website, so that you can subsequently enjoy the free Rescue service provided by Seagate's professional laboratory.
In addition, Seagate also provides IronWolf Health Management (IHM) for IronWolf Pro hard drives. Compared with the common S.M.A.R.T. detection, it can monitor 200 hard drive indicators and proactively report potential risks before problems occur.
Taking Synology DS1621+ as an example, you can turn on the IronWolf health monitoring function in Storage Manager → HDD / SSD → Status Information. I also set up a regular detection scheduler for it, and check it once a week, so that I can detect hard drive failures in advance. risk.
❸ [warehouse disk] : Seagate IronWolf 125 SATA solid state drive 1TB × 2
If you want to take advantage of the strength of 10G NAS, in addition to the large-capacity HDD, you also need the SSD that can read and write at high speed. I also chose the IronWolf 125 SATA SSD from Seagate. This hard drive is currently only sold through Amazon overseas purchase, and there is no official channel in China.
As a relatively rare SATA SSD in the Seagate family, the quality of IronWolf 125 is still good. The appearance uses a black metal casing, with a red "IronWolf NAS" pattern printed on the front, which represents its positioning for NAS, and a product information sticker on the back.
The port of IronWolf 125 is SATA 3.0, and its continuous read and write speed can be stable at: 560MB/s and 540MB/s.
So I set up the Seagate IronWolf 125 SATA solid state drive 1TB in RAID 0, with an actual usable capacity of 1.8TB. I usually use it to store some camera photos and video materials that require high-speed reading and writing. I can directly use Adobe Family Bucket on the Mac and Final Cut Pro performs post-processing and editing rendering work.
After inserting six hard drives into Synology DS1621+, the hard drive slots locked with a click, which is really a cure for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The six-bay DS1621+ does have better flexibility than the previous four-bay DS920+.
❹ [cache disk] : Seagate CoolPlay 510 1TB M.2 solid state drive × 2
Synology DS1621+ also reserves two hard drive slots for M.2 cache. Please note: a single solid state drive can only be used for reading Acceleration, both solid-state reading and writing can be accelerated through cache. So I prepared 2 1TB Seagate Coolplay 510 M.2 SSDs and plugged them in.
Seagate CoolPlay 510 M.2 SSD has been tested in detail before. Its transmission mode is PCIe 3.0 × 4, NVMe 1.3 standard, the flash memory particles are 3D TLC, the cache is 28GB dynamic SLC cache, and the sequential reading speed 3450MB/s, sequential writing speed 3200MB/s.
In terms of durability, the Seagate CoolPlay 510 M.2 SSD has a mean time between failure (MTBF) of 1.8 million hours and a 5-year limited warranty.
I put the Seagate CoolPlay 510 M.2 solid-state drive in the Synology DS1621+ to form a RAID 1. Thanks to the new function of DSM 7.1, the cache can be allocated to multiple storage pools, so I allocated it to the HDD 500GB. That leaves 431GB for the SSD, as shown in the picture below. Caching can play a role in accelerating reading and writing. I will show you the effect later.
❺ [External disk] : Seagate Ruiyi series mobile hard drive 2TB
Finally, I will add another dish for everyone, because Synology DS1621+ has three USB-A (5Gbps), and I connected the back 2 USB-A through Greenlink Hard drive expansion box and UPS, the front one can be used to connect an external mobile hard drive or USB flash drive.
Seagate happens to have a large and cheap "Ruiyi Series Mobile Hard Drive" , which is very suitable for backup work in an external scene. I chose the 2TB version. The
hard drive adopts a black twill design and a silver logo. The recognition is still very good, and the weight is only 159g. Moreover, this hard disk is the default exFAT file system, which can be plug and play for macOS and Windows users without formatting.
In addition, the Ruiyi series of mobile hard drives also enjoy a 3-year limited warranty and a Seagate original data rescue within 3 years. After-sales and data security are both guaranteed. The data cable used is Micro USB to USB 3.0, which is common in mechanical hard drives and . The peak bandwidth can reach 5Gbps, and the measured read and write rate is around 130-140MB/s.
You can take it with you when you go out. After you go home, plug it into the front USB-A port of Synology DS1621+, set the automatic backup function in the DSM system, and you can automatically back up the mobile hard disk data to the designated area of the NAS.
❻ data speed test
Finally, let’s take a look at the performance of built-in SSD, HDD, and external mobile hard disk in a 10G network environment. The first is the bandwidth test. The speed of "macOS" passed the Disk Speed Test test. It can be seen that the write rate is 597.2MB/s and the read rate is 1045.8MB/s. This data performance is quite eye-catching.
In the upstream and downstream bandwidth test of "iPerf3" , the iPerf3 test tool was installed in Docker on the NAS side, and then the NAS and Mac were used as the server side to test the upstream and downstream bandwidth.
▼ "Mac is the server, NAS is the monitor" : The uplink bandwidth is 10.9Gbps
▼ "NAS is the server, Mac is the monitor" : The downlink bandwidth is 8.20Gbps
The next step is the actual Performance testing, mainly through large files The copy time is used to calculate the average read and write. The IMAX movie of "Ambulance" is used. The file capacity is 25.88GB, which is more than enough for the test.
From the actual test, the peak downlink rate can reach 1140MB/s, and the peak uplink rate is also 670MB/s. The performance of Seagate hard drive with Synology DS1621+ is indeed good.
Below are the results of all hardware tests. You can see that the HDD hard disk speed of RAID 5 is also very impressive, which I could not foresee. The speed is slightly improved after adding the cache group of M.2. The SSD speed of RAID 0 is quite satisfactory. After adding M.2 cache, the speed increases suddenly, basically reaching the ceiling of 10G bandwidth.
"Seagate Cool Wolf Pro - RAID 5" : writing speed 587.18MB/s, reading speed 1132.47MB/s "Seagate Cool Wolf Pro + Seagate CoolPlay 510 Cache" : writing speed 625.35MB/s, reading speed 1140. 96MB /s "Ironwolf 125 -RAID 0" : Writing speed 475.16MB/s, read speed 1057.93MB/S "Hagil Cool Wolf IR Onwolf 125 + Seagate Cool Play 510 Caches ": write speed 670.04MB/s, read Speed 1141.46MB/s "Seagate Ruiyi series mobile hard drive 2TB" : writing speed 155.89MB/s, reading speed 146.20MB/s
10G network environment + Seagate hard drive’s ultimate destination is productivity scenes. In the past, I was doing some photo editing , when working on video processing, also try to put the materials in the NAS for processing. But the actual experience is not ideal. The biggest problem is the card. When I use Lightroom to import RAW footage shot with A7R4 for editing, it involves the synchronization of modifications. With a single file capacity of 120MB, coupled with the reading speed of the mechanical disk in the NAS, the reading speed will inevitably become very slow. Even if the external mechanical hard disk is used, the problem will still exist. Only when the material is stored locally or in an external mobile solid-state drive will it improve. When it was replaced with 10 Gigabit network + Seagate hard drive, the speed was obviously improved.
The most intuitive feeling is: before it was like an old man climbing stairs and taking a break, but now it is like eating and , and can't stop at all. When it comes to zooming and switching photos, the scenes become very smooth.I tested Adobe Lightroom to process 100 RAW format pictures (120MB each) taken by Sony A7R4. After modifying the pictures, I installed 4000 pixels on the long side and exported the effect with a capacity of less than 5MB. It finally took 5 minutes and 51 seconds, which is very close to the speed. MacBook Pro local export efficiency.
So how does the video perform? I followed the Dolby Vision workflow that I introduced to you directly. It is also relatively close to the local processing speed, and the playback of the original 8K video material shot by the Canon R5C is relatively smooth, which is almost the same as the material on the local hard drive.
However, I am far from draining the performance of the 10 Gigabit LAN, so in the future I will also find ways to open up the high bit rate 4K HDR workflow, and also make strategic reserves for the editing of 8K video materials. Maybe I will in the future Create a studio and use DS1621+ as a data center to achieve simultaneous material access and editing by multiple terminals. I believe that only in this way can the true value of the 10 Gigabit LAN be unleashed.
❼ uninterruptible power supply equipment: Schneider BK650M2
In addition, in order to ensure the safety of the NAS hard drive (power failure will damage the hard drive), I also purchased a Schneider BK650M2 uninterruptible backup power supply. I chose "Schneider BK650M2" . This UPS provides 4 three-prong sockets and 2 USB-A ports, as well as USB communication interfaces, phone & network anti-surge interfaces. The maximum power is 390W, and the voltage is also 160-278V wide voltage input, which is relatively practical.
According to the official backup time data, 240W can last 7.5 minutes, 116W can last 16 minutes, 79W can last 25 minutes, and 40W can reach 48 minutes. Low-power devices like NAS can last even longer. And I value the independent battery compartment of this UPS, because the battery life is generally only 2-3 years, and subsequent replacement is a big plus.
UPS + Synology is still very simple to use. Just plug the RJ45 to USB into the UPS and Synology DS1621+ respectively, and at the same time turn on the uninterruptible power supply system in the DSM system, can automatically recognize . It is worth mentioning that you can also set the power outage time and automatic restart function for incoming calls in Synology. The 6ms-10ms conversion time does not require you to worry about power outages during switching, which is quite easy to use. If you use a computer, you will need APC PowerChute automatic shutdown software to achieve the same function.
❽ abostudio Dust-proof net
During actual use, I found that the dust-proof ability of Synology DS1621+ is relatively weak. After using it for a week, the edges are basically dusty. It's normal when you think about it. The NAS's 7+24-hour uninterrupted working mode determines that it is a fixed-position vacuum cleaner , so abostudio's dust filter is installed.
The installation of the dust filter can not only reduce the potential risk of dust inhalation to internal hardware in the room to a certain extent, but also simplify the cleaning process. Moreover, abostudio's coverage is relatively comprehensive. The front, sides, bottom, corners, and cracks are all fully protected. After using it for a while, I found that there was dust on the dust filter. After a simple cleaning, it was back to like new. Fortunately, most of the dust did not enter the NAS, otherwise it would have been a hassle.
2. [Audio and video equipment]: Apple TV 2021 4K + iclick super remote control
The last part will introduce to you my current equipment list and control plan in audio and video, mainly around Apple TV, the ecology of Apple It really tied people up.
❶ Apple TV 2021 4K
Apple TV has now iterated to the sixth generation, which is the newly released Apple TV 2021 4K. The new generation is a huge upgrade compared to the fifth generation. The processor has been upgraded from A10X to A12, the process technology is 7nm, and the number of transistors has more than doubled to 69 million. The remote control has also been greatly improved, adding a turntable touchpad, supporting gesture operations, and supporting Siri voice buttons.
The power port and Gigabit Ethernet port remain unchanged, but the HDMI port has been upgraded to HDMI 2.1, supporting 4K 120fps and even 8K 60fps video images. In addition, Apple TV 2021 4K also supports audio sharing, and two pairs of AirPods can be connected at the same time. Wi-Fi 6 is also included in the upgrade category, but I personally still look forward to a 5Gbps network port.
The core APP that wants to play with Apple TV is "Infuse 7 Pro" . It may be the best professional player, if not one of them. Infuse can directly search the film sources in the NAS to form a poster wall. 4K HDR is trivial. Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos can be decoded normally. The seventh generation also adds support for Mac.
In addition, the movie interface will also search the video's poster image, cast and crew information, video specifications and other content from the Internet. The video is also recorded simultaneously on multiple platforms. For example, if you watch half of the movie in the living room, you can continue playing it when you go back to the bedroom with your iPhone or iPad. If you turn on family sharing, you can share it with your family for free. The only drawback of
Infuse is that it requires payment. I chose 70 yuan/year, which I split equally with my junior brother. Because the buyout system can only control the current generation of Pro series, you will need to pay again to upgrade to Pro in the future. Moreover, the price increase of the 7th generation is serious, and it is not worth buying out.
With infuse 7 Pro to solve the streaming of local NAS resources, the cloud streaming depends on personal preference. Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Disney and even Apple TV are all good.
However, Internet streaming media has requirements for bandwidth capabilities, and if the bandwidth is low, it cannot adapt to high bit rate video specifications. Moreover, this type of streaming media platform is not cheap, so it is recommended to consider purchasing in a group to share the cost. However, it is recommended that you consider "MiaoProject" , which is a popular website B in China.
This software supports directly binding the account of Bilibili to access video resources. It has membership functions and video barrages. It can be said that it is more professional than the official one. However, this App also requires payment. Fortunately, the price is affordable. It is said that it topped the list of the AppStore on the day it was launched, which shows the strong demand. You can pay more attention to Station B. As for Aiyouteng, you can play it by yourself.
❷ iclick super remote control
Because there are many digital products in my room, I often need to switch between in different remote controls. For example, the picture below shows the XGIMI projector, AppleTV, air conditioner, and Smartmi used in my room. Fan, Genelec remote control. As a person with only 7 seconds of goldfish memory, sometimes it is really troublesome to look for it.
If you want to save yourself the trouble of searching for and switching remote controls, I will give you another universal remote control - iclick. The so-called universal remote control realizes All In One control of smart devices through multiple connection modes such as radio frequency/Bluetooth/infrared. From the appearance point of view, the iclick universal remote control has a slender body and a moderate weight of 120g. The mirror black style of piano paint also presents a certain sense of luxury.
iclick super remote control supports three modes: Infrared infrared protocol, BLE Bluetooth, and radio frequency 433/315 protocol. It can control almost all the equipment in the house, including TVs, sound bars, Apple TV and other TV boxes, amplifiers, lights, curtains, curtains and even air conditioners. Fans can be adapted.
And in terms of button functions, the iclick super remote control has 20 customized buttons, including 18 customized buttons and 2 shortcut buttons (lights, curtains). The upper part of the remote control also uses a 1.92-inch high-definition OLED display + 8 visual buttons, and there is a circle of ambient lighting at the bottom that lights up when the buttons are pressed.
When "adapts the device" , you need to download the iClick mobile APP with the same name in the app store, follow the prompts to match the remote control, and then you can adapt the device. In the APP, the more mature one is to connect the TV box, which has preset mainstream TV solutions including Xiaomi , Zhidu, Amazon, Sony , Apple, Google , Nvidia, Samsung , simple and easy use. If you can't find the presets for infrared and radio frequency, you can also customize the button names through learning to meet your personalized needs.
I have matched the iclick home super remote control with Apple TV, air conditioner, Genelec, XGIMI and page turning pen solutions (Mac). After using the AIO solution, I have indeed reduced the trouble of rummaging for the remote control.
Moreover, this remote control also has a multi-functional trackball. You can scroll to switch control devices. Press and hold to call out the mouse, and it is very practical to use it as a page-turning pen.
I personally use it more often to control Apple TV, turn on the air conditioner, and control the computer. And if you use it with Miqiao/Cat Bridge/Crow Bridge, you can also connect to Mijia/ Tmall Elf /Tuya Smart IoT smart home ecology. In the future, I plan to bring the iclick super remote control to my new house to truly realize whole-house AIO.
▼ Control Apple TV
▼ Control air conditioner
▼ Control Mac PPT page turning
Finally, in terms of device power supply, iclick super remote control is designed with magnetic charging and a standby time of 180 It can last for a week with normal use, and it is still very convenient to use. Personally, I hope that the next generation of products can improve the front's ability to resist oil stains, and at the same time make the body shape shorter, so that it will be more friendly to users with small hands like me.
3. [Front-end Equipment]: If you want to pre-lay 10G optical fiber, what front-end network equipment do you need?
In the last part, I will tell you about the hardware purchase knowledge for home pre-laying fiber optics. For specific wiring ideas, you can first refer to @carrot848's masterpiece "Life is about tossing. Part 1: How to lay out a fiber optic 10G LAN in the home?" Summarize your own tossing process》.
I mainly analyze it from the perspective of equipment demand. It currently involves the following products. For details, see the mind map below.
(1) Optical fiber/network cable
❶ Optical fiber type
The first step to pre-lay optical fiber is to confirm [fiber type] . For household use, single-mode single core or single-mode dual core is recommended. Industrial-coated cable is enough, and the price is extremely low. 1,000 meters is just over a hundred yuan, and I chose "single-mode dual-core optical fiber" .
In contrast, if you want to use Category 6e cables to achieve 10 Gigabit bandwidth, the price is already close to 10-15 times that of optical fiber. Moreover, electrical port equipment is generally more expensive than optical port equipment, and future upgrades are not easy. Convenience, this is the advantage of optical fiber.
If you do not have the conditions for pre-laying optical fiber in the wall, you can also consider [Invisible Optical Fiber] . You can refer to the following article "Save the Home with a Single Network Cable, Invisible Optical Fiber in Practice" to hide the bare fiber in the baseboard middle. But the disadvantage is that it cannot be bent excessively and its durability is not as good as the fiber optic cable buried in the wall, so be careful if you have pets and naughty children at home.
Finally, it is recommended to use a [eight-core network cable] and the optical fiber in a pipeline in parallel, one light and one electricity to ensure the whole house network. In terms of network cable types, Category 6 network cables can already support 10 Gigabits within 100 meters. If it is Category 6e, it can meet 10 Gigabits over 100 meters. Home users can choose according to distance requirements. Category 6 unshielded network cables within the wall are sufficient. If you are really worried, you can consider Category 6e, but Category 7 cables are IQ taxed.
Because sometimes there is a certain distance between the wall network socket and the device, it also involves the need for flying wires. Personally, I recommend ultra-fine network cables. For example, the room I rented before did not have the conditions for fiber optic modification, so I chose "Green Alliance Category 6 Super 2.8mm Thin Cable" .
Green Internet Cable Home Gigabit Super 6 Category 6 10 Computer Router Broadband 55 High Speed Finished Network 20 Meter Flat Tmall Selected Go to buy
From the measured data in the previous article, we can see that the upstream bandwidth of Mac → NAS is 10.9Gbps, and the NAS →The Mac downlink bandwidth is 8.20Gbps, which shows that the speed of these two Green Link Category 6A is very up to standard.
Directly connect the network cable from the desktop to the end of the shelf. The best route is from the baseboard to the door frame. The length is estimated to be about 10 meters. Group link aggregation requires two lines, so I prepared two and fixed them with adhesive cable management buckles. The effect is as shown in the figure below.
You can see that although there are some black lines on the edge of the door frame, the overall look is relatively refreshing. Finally, it is not recommended that you consider flat wires, as their applicable scenarios are limited unless you want to pass through a door.
❷ Optical fiber connector
The end of the optical fiber is [Optical fiber connector] . Currently, there are five common types: LC, SC, FC, ST and MPO, but the two specifications commonly used in households are SC and LC, commonly known as large square head and small head. Square head.
▼ The main optical fiber we plug into the home is "SC connector" .
However, the optical fibers laid in the wall are mainly "LC-LC" plugs. Compared with the SC plug that can send and receive with one, LC requires a total of two optical fibers to receive and receive (as shown in the figure below). Of course, if you encounter a scenario that requires an SC port, you can also consider the SC-LC fiber jumper method.
❸ Optical fiber connection mode: cold splicing / hot fusion
Because the length of the optical fiber required for decoration is difficult to predict, and the plug is easy to get stuck when passing through the pipe, so bundles are often purchased instead of finished wires. Therefore, the connection between the covered optical fiber and the pigtail connector also requires "cold connection or hot fusion" . Generally, there is not much difference between household cold splicing and hot melt splicing. Cold splicing is cheap and suitable for those with strong hands-on skills. Hot melting has better stability, but it requires the help of a hot melting machine, which is expensive. You can consider asking a telecom master to come to the welding site and charge per core.
I personally prefer cold splicing, which is more affordable than hot fusion. Moreover, if the light attenuation becomes larger in 5-10 years, it will be a big deal to do it manually again. By then, if optical fiber becomes popular and the price of hot fusion machine drops, it will still be possible. You may consider changing to hot melt.
❹ Fiber optic socket
Once you have the fiber optic and the connector, it is time to connect it to the device. If you are wiring inside the wall, you can consider pulling the wire directly out of the wall and plugging it into the optical switch. However, "fiber optic socket" will be more beautiful. Some rooms currently only have optical ports reserved without equipment matching. Root wire never looks good on the wall.
At present, Baojia’s fiber optic panels are relatively cheap, but when purchasing, you need to confirm with the store whether it is LC or SC, and just plug in the fiber optic connector. If it is the main switch, you can choose a dual-optical port panel, but three-optical port or above is not recommended.
(2) Network module
❶ fiber optic module
fiber optic plug In addition to communicating with terminal equipment, a module that converts optical signals into digital signals is also needed - [SFP+ fiber optic module] , two LC (receiver/transmit) ) into the end of the optical fiber module, and then insert the other end into the optical port of the switch.
When purchasing fiber optic modules, you need to pay attention to the markings on the label, as shown in the figure below. "10G-1310nm-10KM-SM-SFP+" . 10G represents the bandwidth rate of 10Gbps, 1310nm represents the wavelength, and 10KM refers to effective use. Distance, SM represents single mode, SFP+ represents type, generally choose this specification for home 10G.
❷ Cat Stick
Speaking of fiber optic modules, many friends have also considered [Cat Stick] . This product actually integrates the functions of the optical modem into an optical fiber module and plugs it directly into the switch, saving money. The space occupied by the light cat. If you are interested, you can take a look at "Use cat stick to replace light cat, support 2.5G and break through 1000M broadband, 100 yuan can bring you cat stick pon stick onu" .
❸ photoelectric conversion module
Later we will introduce fiber optic switches and RJ45 electrical port switches. The two can be interconnected, which involves a new device - [Photoelectric conversion module] , whose end is an RJ45 electrical port, front end It is an SFP+ optical port. The
photoelectric conversion module converts the electrical signals transmitted by the RJ45 network cable (copper) and the optical signals transmitted by the optical fiber into each other. It is mainly plugged into the optical switch for use. The left side of the picture below is the photoelectric conversion module, and the right side is the LC optical fiber and SFP+ optical fiber module. The disadvantage of the
photoelectric conversion module is that it generates a lot of heat. When the temperature threshold is exceeded, the bandwidth may experience a slowdown, so the optimal solution is actually photoelectric multiplexing or both optical and electrical ports.
(3) 10 Gigabit switch
❶ 10 Gigabit optical port switch
Finally, there is often more than one optical fiber, and the equipment that aggregates optical fiber modules is [fiber switch] . Currently, the cheaper ones are like TP-LINK. The 10 Gigabit switch TL-ST1008F has 8 SFP+ 10 Gigabit optical ports and costs only 749 yuan. Of course, you can also go to the second-hand market to buy some switches that have been eliminated from the computer room.
❷ 10G electrical port switch
However, when you still need network cables at home, you can add a [10G electrical port switch] , such as TP-LINK TL-ST1008, which has 8 RJ450,000 electrical ports , connect the electrical port to the switch, and then output it to the optical switch. In this way, you can basically output 6 RJ45 and 7 optical fibers from the cabinet, which is enough for small studios, not to mention home use.
❸ Optical and electrical multiplexing switch
But if you consider the All in One solution and need a device to output both optical port (optical fiber) and electrical port (network cable), you must consider integrating optical port + electrical port or optical and electrical multiplexing port solution, I personally recommend optical and electrical multiplexing, which means you can choose between optical and electrical ports. I am currently using QNAP QSW-M408-4C switch.
It has built-in 4 Gigabit optical and electrical multiplexing ports (supporting 10Gbps, 5Gbps, 2.5Gbps, 1Gbps, 100Mbps adaptive) and 8 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and also supports Layer 2 (L2) network management functions: LACP, VLAN, ACL, LLDP.
In my current room, I connected Synology DS1621+ to two of the electrical ports, and set up link aggregation in the background of the switch. Finally, in the background of the NAS, I can see that the network bandwidth of 20Gbps has been successfully handshaked, and the performance is directly maximized. .
However, QSW-M408-4C supports up to 4 channels of 10G, and fiber optics throughout the house are not enough. In the future, I will put it in the study room, and then consider the higher specification QNAP QSW-M1208-8C as the core switch. It has 12 10G ports, 8 of which are optical and electrical multiplexing ports. One machine can handle the whole house. , but the price of 5,000 yuan is twice as expensive as separate equipment.
(4) Terminal 10G port expansion
❶ PCIe to SFP+ expansion card
The front module is mainly responsible for the connection between the optical fiber and the switch. Next, let's take a look at the 10G connection module between the switch and the terminal. Because it is very rare to use optical ports on Windows desktop computers at present, unless you directly buy [PCIe to SFP+ expansion card] (as shown in the figure below), you can also connect to the SFP+ module through LC optical fiber.
❷ PCIe to RJ45 expansion card
Or you can consider [PCIe to RJ45 expansion card] . Currently, the more common one is the intel X540 T2 10 Gigabit dual electrical port expansion card, which costs around a few hundred yuan.
If you order an iMac from the official website, you can upgrade to a 10Gbps electrical port for +750 yuan. Of course, if you are richer, you can consider Mac Studio. The default 10Gbps network port can be connected to 10G with a Category 6 network cable.
❸ Thunderbolt 3 to RJ45 (10Gbps)
Laptops are all electrical ports, 2.5Gbps specifications are rare, 5Gbps and even 10Gbps are unheard of, so they can only be connected through USB ports. But this involves a port bandwidth issue. The common USB 3.2 Gen 1 bandwidth is 5Gbps, so 2.5Gbps and 5Gbps network cards are sufficient. But if it is 10 Gigabit, you have to use USB 3.2 Gen 2 or above, among which Thunderbolt port transfer is the most common.
For example, I used a Thunderbolt to 10GbE solution for my MacBook Pro 16. I chose [QNAP QNA-T310G1T Thunderbolt 3 to 10GbE Network Converter] , which has a 10GbE NBASE-T port.
▼ You can see that the full-duplex 10Gb/s
converter has been shaken in Mac. This converter has a good speed, but one disadvantage is that it is relatively noisy and generates serious heat. As long as it is powered on for a period of time, there will be continuous mid-to-high frequency noise, so Not suitable for placement in the bedroom. At least not on the table. The original 0.5-meter Thunderbolt 3 data cable is very short, so I paired it with a 2-meter-long Green Link Thunderbolt data cable, and the noise is obviously much smaller when placed next to my feet.
❹ Thunderbolt 3 to SFP+ (10Gbps)
QNAP also has an optical port QNA-T310G1S converter. Not only is it cheaper, but the optical port generates less heat than the electrical port, but the premise is that the switch must have an optical port. If you use an optical-electrical multiplexing switch like me, it will be fine.
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❺ USB-C to RJ45 (5Gbps)
Thunderbolt 3 to 10 Gigabit converter is great, but it is expensive. The optical port costs 1,200 yuan, and the electrical port costs almost 1,500 yuan. So I paired 2 [GreenLink USB-C to 5Gbps Network Converter] in the terminal equipment. The price is less than 400 yuan. In comparison, the cost of the latter is only 1/4 of the former, which is cost-effective It's very high, and it comes with a USB-C cable, which generates little heat and makes no noise. The network card chip of
Greenlink USB-C to 5Gbps network converter is AQC111U, which can adaptively handshake between 10Mbps / 100Mbps / 1Gbps / 2.5Gbps / 5Gbps. In terms of compatibility, macOS and iOS are driver-free, and Win7/8/10/11 can also be used after installing the built-in driver. Moreover, this converter has an aluminum alloy casing with hollow designs on the left and right sides, which can effectively improve heat dissipation efficiency.
can see that after the Windows computer uses this Green Link USB-C to convert to 5Gbps, it has successfully shaken 5000Mbps in the network settings of the menu. Judging from the test results of iPerf3, the measured uplink rate of a Windows notebook can reach 2.18Gbps, and the downlink rate can reach 3.87Gbps. The price/performance ratio is still very cost-effective.
The above is the list of most of the equipment you will encounter when pre-laying home 10G fiber. Of course, high-end players will consider adding "soft routing, bypass routing" and other equipment. Due to space reasons, it will not be expanded. You can search the content yourself for supplementary study. This ends
's sharing. Thank you for your patience in watching. I am Geek research monk , a graduate student who loves evaluation. The author of
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