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Question

Difficulty: HardNetwork Hardware Devices

A field technician is tasked with interconnecting two copper Ethernet switches located in separate campus buildings spaced 180 meters (590 feet) apart. Because standard twisted-pair cabling exceeds maximum distance limitations, single-mode fiber optic cable was installed between the facilities. However, neither existing switch includes SFP optical transceiver slots or modular bay expansion options. Which hardware device must be placed at each cable termination point to enable connectivity across this link?

  1. Media converterAnswer
  2. B
    PoE injector
  3. C
    Patch panel
  4. D
    Wireless bridge

Answer

The media converter is the correct hardware device required to bridge copper Ethernet cabling to fiber optic cabling.
The media converter is designed specifically to connect differing media types (such as fiber optic and copper UTP) at Layer 1. It converts optical light pulses to electrical signals, allowing legacy or unmanaged switches without SFP transceiver ports to utilize long-distance fiber links.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze distance and physical layer cabling constraints.
Standard Cat 6 copper Ethernet has a maximum segment length of 100 meters. The 180-meter distance necessitates fiber optic cabling.
Exceeding 100 meters on copper UTP causes attenuation and packet corruption.
2
Evaluate existing hardware capabilities.
The switches lack SFP/SFP+ transceiver slots to natively accept fiber optic patch cables.
Without built-in optical interfaces, direct fiber connection to the switches is physically impossible.
3
Select the appropriate network hardware device.
Deploying a media converter translates the optical signals from the fiber link into electrical signals for the copper switch ports.
Media converters perform physical layer (Layer 1) signal translation between incompatible physical media standards.

Key Concept

Physical Media Signal Translation (Media Converters)
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Network Hardware Devices

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