Aruba s2500 48 port Gigabit + 4x 10gig uplink SFP+ and Layer3

Zarathustra[H]

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
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I wanted to thank IdiotInCharge for cuing me in to these in another thread (which I don't want to pull off topic anymore than I already have)

IdiotInCharge said:
Z, why not grab a used Aruba S2500 (or better) off the bay? <US$200 shipped usually, I paid less than that, with 48 x 1Gbase-T and 4 x SPF+. Trunked two of the SFP+ to an HPE 10Gbase-T workgroup switch that has two SFP+.

The Aruba has a nice terminal. Main concern is noise, I'm currently working on upgrading the fans to Noctuas before I lock it into my new minirack.
Click to expand...

They are original pre-HPE MAS Aruba switches.

I just ordered mine, $125 on eBay, with a 1 year warranty included at no added cost. Seems like A LOT of switch for the money.

Originally I was considering trying to get 10GBase-T SFP+ adapters for it, but I guess instead I'm going to put Intel x520 fiber NIC's in both my workstation and NAS.

I did some googling and found a tutorial on how to set the thing up on Youtube here.

Also a guide for a fan mod if you find it too loud here. Apparently it really isn't too loud as is, but you may want to do this if its right next to you in your office. It seems to take standard PWM PC fans. The Noctua 40mmx20mm fans seem to fit perfectly.

And here is another guide for VLAN's Jumbo Frames, Users and more.

Apparently the web interface is somewhat limited, so for anything beyond basic layer2 stuff you'll likely need the console.

The console is similar to, but different when compared to Cisco, but it sounds like people familiar with Cisco consoles can navigate it with a few educated guesses and tab completion.

This seems like the used Enterprise switch to buy as a hobbyist in 2019.
 
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Awesome, I just bought one off ebay as well, I snagged a POE version for under $100 shipped! If you have time would love to hear about your experience setting it up.
 
She loved E said:
Awesome, I just bought one off ebay as well, I snagged a POE version for under $100 shipped! If you have time would love to hear about your experience setting it up.
Click to expand...


Nice! I had an interest in the POE version, but when I was searching eBay, the only 48 port POE model I found was $500, so I decided to go for the non POE. There was a 24 port one, but I wanted all the ports! I doubt I'll ever use all 48, but chances are good I'll need more than 24.

My only POE devices are my two Ubnt Unifi AP's, and they have their own POE injectors, so It's not a major loss for me.

I haven't received mine yet, but when I do I'll definitely post my experiences here.

I currently have a HP ProCurve 24 port managed switch with all but 3 ports occupied. I also have a 10 gig copper direct line going between my NAS server and my main workstation.

For this project I ordered:
- The Aruba switch (s2500-48T)
- Two Finisar 10-gig SR transducers for the switch.
- Two dual port Intel X520 fiber NIC's, including 4 SR transducers
- Some OM3 LC-LC cables

My plan is to keep the 10gig direct line between my workstation and NAS, but now via fiber instead of copper. Also, at the same time I plan on running 10gig from my workstation to the switch and from the
server to the switch.

I currently have 4 ports aggregated to a quad port gigabit adapter running to the server, so I figure I'll just remove that, and instead just have the single 10gig line.

I'll certainly post my experiences here as I go along.

Most of it seems fairly straight forward. The biggest challenge - I think - will be to set up my VLAN's, as I understand the web interface on the switch doesn't allow all configurations. For the advanced stuff you need to use the console. I don't have any experience with configuriong switches via console, so I am unfamiliar with the syntax. The videos I linked above are helpful though, so I am not too worried.
 
Switch hasn't arrived yet, but my fiber and NIC's did, so I spent today installing the NIC's, running the fiber (Desktop to Server (direct line) and switch location. Server to Desktop (direct line) and to switch location.

Ran into a snafu when I opened the server for a first time in a while. My three Yate Loon fans I bought in 2014 for this server build (Norco RPC-4216 with optional 3x120mm fan wall) were in rough shape. One of them was completely dead, and the other two were making bad bearing noises. One of them REALLY bad. Luckily I had 3x spare Noctual Industrial iPPC PWM 120mm fans I could pop in in their place, but damn. Not very much space to remove screws for those fans in this case. I drew blood multiple times trying to manipulate the screwdriver with my stupid big hands.

Anyway, done, and up and running. Direct link seems to be working fine. Looking forward to the switch arriving so I can finish the job.

Question:

What do you look at to make sure you haven't messed up your fiber while routing it? Just make sure you have good mW / dBm values? Anything else?
 
If you have a meter for the fiber then yea that's what you look at. With those short runs you shouldn't be seeing much signal loss at all, if you are it's because of a bend or possible damage
 
Eickst said:
If you have a meter for the fiber then yea that's what you look at. With those short runs you shouldn't be seeing much signal loss at all, if you are it's because of a bend or possible damage
Click to expand...

ethtool -m <interface> in linux gives me a whole bunch of status info from the SFP+ module. It shows me a whole bunch of diagnostic information:


Workstation
Code: 
    Identifier                                : 0x03 (SFP)
   Extended identifier                       : 0x04 (GBIC/SFP defined by 2-wire interface ID)
   Connector                                 : 0x07 (LC)
   Transceiver codes                         : 0x10 0x00 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
   Transceiver type                          : 10G Ethernet: 10G Base-SR
   Transceiver type                          : Ethernet: 1000BASE-SX
   Encoding                                  : 0x06 (64B/66B)
   BR, Nominal                               : 10300MBd
   Rate identifier                           : 0x00 (unspecified)
   Length (SMF,km)                           : 0km
   Length (SMF)                              : 0m
   Length (50um)                             : 80m
   Length (62.5um)                           : 30m
   Length (Copper)                           : 0m
   Length (OM3)                              : 300m
   Laser wavelength                          : 850nm
   Vendor name                               : Intel Corp
   Vendor OUI                                : 00:1b:21
   Vendor PN                                 : AFBR-703SDZ-IN2
   Vendor rev                                : G2.3
   Option values                             : 0x00 0x3a
   Option                                    : RX_LOS implemented
   Option                                    : TX_FAULT implemented
   Option                                    : TX_DISABLE implemented
   Option                                    : RATE_SELECT implemented
   BR margin, max                            : 0%
   BR margin, min                            : 0%
   Vendor SN                                 : AA1209AK0BN
   Date code                                 : 120301
   Optical diagnostics support               : Yes
   Laser bias current                        : 6.246 mA
   Laser output power                        : 0.5605 mW / -2.51 dBm
   Receiver signal average optical power     : 0.6843 mW / -1.65 dBm
   Module temperature                        : 53.92 degrees C / 129.05 degrees F
   Module voltage                            : 3.3157 V
   Alarm/warning flags implemented           : Yes
   Laser bias current high alarm             : Off
   Laser bias current low alarm              : Off
   Laser bias current high warning           : Off
   Laser bias current low warning            : Off
   Laser output power high alarm             : Off
   Laser output power low alarm              : Off
   Laser output power high warning           : Off
   Laser output power low warning            : Off
   Module temperature high alarm             : Off
   Module temperature low alarm              : Off
   Module temperature high warning           : Off
   Module temperature low warning            : Off
   Module voltage high alarm                 : Off
   Module voltage low alarm                  : Off
   Module voltage high warning               : Off
   Module voltage low warning                : Off
   Laser rx power high alarm                 : Off
   Laser rx power low alarm                  : Off
   Laser rx power high warning               : Off
   Laser rx power low warning                : Off
   Laser bias current high alarm threshold   : 10.500 mA
   Laser bias current low alarm threshold    : 2.500 mA
   Laser bias current high warning threshold : 10.500 mA
   Laser bias current low warning threshold  : 2.500 mA
   Laser output power high alarm threshold   : 2.0000 mW / 3.01 dBm
   Laser output power low alarm threshold    : 0.0600 mW / -12.22 dBm
   Laser output power high warning threshold : 0.7900 mW / -1.02 dBm
   Laser output power low warning threshold  : 0.0850 mW / -10.71 dBm
   Module temperature high alarm threshold   : 85.00 degrees C / 185.00 degrees F
   Module temperature low alarm threshold    : -5.00 degrees C / 23.00 degrees F
   Module temperature high warning threshold : 80.00 degrees C / 176.00 degrees F
   Module temperature low warning threshold  : 0.00 degrees C / 32.00 degrees F
   Module voltage high alarm threshold       : 3.6000 V
   Module voltage low alarm threshold        : 3.0000 V
   Module voltage high warning threshold     : 3.4600 V
   Module voltage low warning threshold      : 3.1300 V
   Laser rx power high alarm threshold       : 2.0000 mW / 3.01 dBm
   Laser rx power low alarm threshold        : 0.0000 mW / -inf dBm
   Laser rx power high warning threshold     : 0.7900 mW / -1.02 dBm
   Laser rx power low warning threshold      : 0.0200 mW / -16.99 dBm


Server:
Code: 
    Identifier                                : 0x03 (SFP)
   Extended identifier                       : 0x04 (GBIC/SFP defined by 2-wire interface ID)
   Connector                                 : 0x07 (LC)
   Transceiver codes                         : 0x10 0x00 0x00 0x01 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00
   Transceiver type                          : 10G Ethernet: 10G Base-SR
   Transceiver type                          : Ethernet: 1000BASE-SX
   Encoding                                  : 0x06 (64B/66B)
   BR, Nominal                               : 10300MBd
   Rate identifier                           : 0x00 (unspecified)
   Length (SMF,km)                           : 0km
   Length (SMF)                              : 0m
   Length (50um)                             : 80m
   Length (62.5um)                           : 30m
   Length (Copper)                           : 0m
   Length (OM3)                              : 300m
   Laser wavelength                          : 850nm
   Vendor name                               : Intel Corp
   Vendor OUI                                : 00:1b:21
   Vendor PN                                 : AFBR-703SDZ-IN2
   Vendor rev                                : G2.3
   Option values                             : 0x00 0x3a
   Option                                    : RX_LOS implemented
   Option                                    : TX_FAULT implemented
   Option                                    : TX_DISABLE implemented
   Option                                    : RATE_SELECT implemented
   BR margin, max                            : 0%
   BR margin, min                            : 0%
   Vendor SN                                 : AD1209A0723
   Date code                                 : 120304
   Optical diagnostics support               : Yes
   Laser bias current                        : 5.844 mA
   Laser output power                        : 0.5594 mW / -2.52 dBm
   Receiver signal average optical power     : 0.4748 mW / -3.23 dBm
   Module temperature                        : 31.21 degrees C / 88.19 degrees F
   Module voltage                            : 3.3056 V
   Alarm/warning flags implemented           : Yes
   Laser bias current high alarm             : Off
   Laser bias current low alarm              : Off
   Laser bias current high warning           : Off
   Laser bias current low warning            : Off
   Laser output power high alarm             : Off
   Laser output power low alarm              : Off
   Laser output power high warning           : Off
   Laser output power low warning            : Off
   Module temperature high alarm             : Off
   Module temperature low alarm              : Off
   Module temperature high warning           : Off
   Module temperature low warning            : Off
   Module voltage high alarm                 : Off
   Module voltage low alarm                  : Off
   Module voltage high warning               : Off
   Module voltage low warning                : Off
   Laser rx power high alarm                 : Off
   Laser rx power low alarm                  : Off
   Laser rx power high warning               : Off
   Laser rx power low warning                : Off
   Laser bias current high alarm threshold   : 10.500 mA
   Laser bias current low alarm threshold    : 2.500 mA
   Laser bias current high warning threshold : 10.500 mA
   Laser bias current low warning threshold  : 2.500 mA
   Laser output power high alarm threshold   : 2.0000 mW / 3.01 dBm
   Laser output power low alarm threshold    : 0.0600 mW / -12.22 dBm
   Laser output power high warning threshold : 0.7900 mW / -1.02 dBm
   Laser output power low warning threshold  : 0.0850 mW / -10.71 dBm
   Module temperature high alarm threshold   : 85.00 degrees C / 185.00 degrees F
   Module temperature low alarm threshold    : -5.00 degrees C / 23.00 degrees F
   Module temperature high warning threshold : 80.00 degrees C / 176.00 degrees F
   Module temperature low warning threshold  : 0.00 degrees C / 32.00 degrees F
   Module voltage high alarm threshold       : 3.6000 V
   Module voltage low alarm threshold        : 3.0000 V
   Module voltage high warning threshold     : 3.4600 V
   Module voltage low warning threshold      : 3.1300 V
   Laser rx power high alarm threshold       : 2.0000 mW / 3.01 dBm
   Laser rx power low alarm threshold        : 0.0000 mW / -inf dBm
   Laser rx power high warning threshold     : 0.7900 mW / -1.02 dBm
   Laser rx power low warning threshold      : 0.0200 mW / -16.99 dBm

So. Desktop is receiving at 0.6843 mW / -1.65 dBm from the server, and server is receiving at 0.4748 mW / -3.23 dBm.

I'm no expert, but those numbers seem pretty OK. Is that all there is to it? If you have good signal values everything else is happy?
 
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