Using fiber between buildings

I'm using two Dell PowerConnect 6248 GbE stacked in my server room in one building and I'll be adding another one soon.  The other building currently has some old off-brand 100 Mb switch.  I'll be replacing it with a Dell managed PowerConnect (not sure which one yet).  I dont have an exact figure on how long the distance is, but it's gotta be 100 meters or less (it's got a single Cat5e cable connecting these switches).  It's pretty far between the two switches.  The other building will be even father away (close to 3 or 4 hundred meters) and is scheduled to be finished next year.  Speed wise, I'll eventually be putting in a small file server and an extra backup unit in this building.  Backups run at night in a 4 hour window when no one is here, so it needs to be as fast as possible - especially with the expansion we're planning in the next two years.

Hopefully that answers your questions.  I've read a few guides on fiber cabling, but I'm still not sure exactly what I'm able to do with the switches I currently have, or what equipment/supplies I'll need once I do select a specific fiber technology.  Any help or guidance is greatly appreciated. :)

PC6248 could give you 10Gbs with a proper multimode fiber up 550 m or 1Gbs up to 600m/1km (a different fiber, but cheaper) - this rely more to your future building. For the existing (second) building, if you are planning to stay with 100Mbs, the existing Cat5e is fine. For anything higher, you need a new cable/fiber.

10Gbs sounds good.  :)  What would I need to accomplish that (aside from the switches)?  I know, I sound like a complete n00b, but nothing I've read so far gives me any sort of step-by-step or even a short list of exactly what I need to put it together (such as mini-GBIC connector type, fiber cable type or how to set it up in the switch).  Any help is appreciated.

Thanks again for all the replies.

Dell is selling :

10GbE Uplink Module for XFP Opticals, Customer Kit           part number 320-5166 

 You need one of each for both end of the fibre. Also you need multimode fibre which you need to check with your local supplier, depending where you are located.

Awesome!  Thank you!

So, for the complete setup to link two buildings together, I would need two uplink modules, two optical transceivers and a LC/LC multimode patch cable like this from CDW:

Tripp Lite 400ft LC/LC Duplex Multimode 62.5/125 Fiber Patch cable, 400'
Patch cable - LC multi-mode (M) - LC multi-mode (M) - 400 ft - fiber optic - 62.5 / 125 micron - orange

So, to hook up this other building, I'd need another Dell PowerConnect 62xx switch with the connectors mentioned above and the cable and I'd have the complete setup - like this:

PowerConnect 6224:
PowerConnect 6224, 24 GbE Ports, Managed Switch, 10GbE and Stacking Capable   PC6224   [222-6710]  

Modular Upgrade Bay 1: Stacking or 10GbE uplinks:
Dual-port 10GbE Uplink Module with 1 Short Range 10GbE Optical LC XFP   10GXFPS   [320-5164][320-5166]  

Modular Upgrade Bay 2: 10GBE uplinks:
Dual-port 10GbE Uplink Module with 1 Short Range 10GbE Optical LC XFP   10GXFPS   [320-5164][320-5166]

The 2 switches I have in the first building are already stacked using a regular stacking module, but each one has an additional modular bay in the back.  So the first switch could use this setup to link to one building and later on, when we have the additional building, I can use the second switch's modular bay to do the same thing.

Does this make sense?

Thanks!

IMHO 10gbit is a bit expensive.... consider this:

Atm you a a 100mbit switch in the other building, so you bandwidth hunger cannot be that high.. 

Fiber is placed in pairs: one fibre to send, one to receive.... obvious right?

Consider putting in more than 1 pair.... the extra costs wil only be a few dimes a meter.... but you wil be able to trunk them for a redundant connection with more bandwith than the normal 1gbit. You do offcourse need extra spf (or is it sfp) modules to do that.... but they are not that expensive.

Having said that.... 10GB is cool.... and if you need it? 

Yeah, you're totally right, it is a bit expensive (though not terribly - still have to find out how much the fiber will be).  Do we need it?  Possibly.  I actually have to sit down and add up the bandwidth necessary for where we're going in the near future before I'll be able to figure it out.  I work for a machining shop with several semi-independant systems for redundancy.  This organization runs way more high-end than any other organization I've worked for, but for good reason.  Downtime is very expensive for this place and I'm a one-man crew.  I get to work on all sorts of cool stuff though. :)

Do all fiber installations run in pairs?  I had thought a few fiber types can run on one line (though obviously that's not what I'll be doing.)

Thanks for the help!

You do have an option of running 1gbit over copper by using cat 6e cable... but since that would mean replacing your cable anyway I would go for the fiber option. Fiber gives you the possibilities to expand in the future.

But get a sub-contracter to put the fiber in.... allthough not hard to do its still a specialists job to mount end connectors on a fibre cable. He wil - I presume - mount the fibres on a junction box - sort of a patch panel - from which you can connect to your switches. Works about the same as witch RJ45/copper

You could go to:

http://www.corningcablesystems.com/web/library/litindex.nsf/Cable!OpenView&Start=1&Count=1000&Expand=1.3#1.3

and learn everything you need to know for the fiber cables. 

Another good source on info on copper and fibre connectivity is Panduit, with easy to read whitepapers.

http://www.panduit.com/products/articles/107253.pdf