3 Common Solutions for Media Converter Crash

Media converter is an Ethernet transmission media conversion unit that exchanges short distance twisted pair electrical signals with long distance optical signals. It is also called fiber converter in many places. The product is generally used in the actual network environment where the Ethernet cable cannot cover and optical fiber must be used to extend the transmission distance, and is generally positioned in the access layer application of broadband MAN; For example: HD video image transmission of monitoring security project; At the same time, it has also played a huge role in helping to connect the last kilometer of optical fiber line to the MAN and the outer network.

The  is an indispensable device in network communication. The transmission distance of Ethernet can be extended to more than 100km by using the media converter. However, the media converter will crash once every more than 1 hour or so in the long distance transmission process and cannot access the Internet. Just restart the power supply and it will return to normal immediately. This will happen in a period of time, and it has not been stable. It can be said that the failure of the media converter is very common. What is the cause of the failure of the media converter? 

In view of this problem, according to the analysis and understanding of the fault causes, three solutions are proposed to minimize the crash of the media converter.

1、 Heat dissipation of media converter. Generally, the media converter has been used for a long time: Aging. The heat of the whole equipment will become greater and greater. If the temperature is too high, the system will crash. Solution: Replace the media converter or add some heat dissipation measures to the operating environment. The heat dissipation measures are similar to those of computers. 

2、 The power supply of the media converter is faulty. Some power supplies with poor quality will be aged and unstable after being used for a long time. You can touch the power supply with your hand; See if it's very hot. If the power supply must be replaced immediately, the cost of the power supply is low---- No maintenance value.

3、 Data transmission process and error control point. After the effective data at point A is sent out, no error check is performed in the two media converters on the way. Only when the data frame reaches the switching core at point B, error check is performed. The error frame is discarded, and the correct frame enters BUFFER for forwarding. However, all error checking processes are program controlled. When some specific error frames enter, neither frame length detection nor CRC inspection can detect errors. This frame is also considered as a correct frame entering BUFFER. However, such frames can never be forwarded, resulting in accumulation in BUFFER. When BUFFER occupies a certain amount, the switch cannot continue to run.

At this time, restarting the media converter or switch can clear these, but after a certain period of work, the buffers will be piled up again, which will cause the switch to crash. This is usually accompanied by packet loss. Therefore, users usually think it is the problem of media converter.

In view of this situation, the solution is to build an Ethernet switching core and a big BUFFER in the media converter, so that it has the error checking function. At the same time, the automatic reset function is added in the system design. When the system judges that it has entered a serious fault state, it will automatically reset, so as to maximize the possibility of failure of the upper system.