[c-nsp] Galvanic isolation for Ethernet?

[A.L.M.Buxey at lboro.ac.uk]

Hi,

> The choice is really big, Google gives many vendors and a wide range
> of models of Ethernet protectors.

yes....so why did you originally ask about them? ;-)

> Well, er, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_isolation ;-)

yes, I believe in wikipedia. sorry, the term is not one I was familiar -
know it by many other names - the only 'galvanic' I knew was 'galvanic corruption'
but thats because of my background in chemistry :-)

> There are many methods, optical is one of them. What kind of optical
> isolation devices do you use?

SFP/SFP+s (as another posted) - so purely optical links  , and also media converters
(so the local converter ends up being sacrificial but they are cheap(er) than
most other options we were aware of

> My experience so far is that the current model we use does not really
> protect. I will report later which model is that. The location where
> the last switch died is remote and normally unmanned.

this is why running direct copper between 2 buildings that are on different
grounding potentials etc - and running copper outside a building generally - are
frowned on (if not breaking any local building regulations as each country has their own
laws regarding that aspect).  its similar to the need for lightning arrestors and
isolators for wireless (both on coaxial feeds from antennae to AP but also on the feed
from switch to AP) - its not a direct strike to worry - that will fry - its a nearby strike
that will also fry your kit

alan