You can troubleshoot fiber optic links to ensure that the optical transmitters and receivers operate correctly, and to determine if a receiver is saturated, or does not receive enough power.
To troubleshoot optical links and devices, you can use Digital Diagnostic Monitoring (DDM), as well as published optical specifications.
For more information about transceivers, see Extreme Optics website.
Important
As a best practice, use transceivers documented in Extreme Optics website, as they have been through extensive qualification and testing. Extreme Networks is not responsible for issues related to third party transceivers.
The values are similar. If the measured power is far below the specified value, a faulty transmitter is a possible cause.
Large differences can mean that the optical devices are mismatched (that is, -SX versus -LX).
For short fiber links, the transmit and received power are similar (after taking into consideration connection losses).
For long fiber links, the transmit and received power are similar (after taking into consideration connection losses and fiber attenuation).
Large differences can mean a damaged fiber or dirty or faulty connectors. Large differences can also mean that the link does not use the right type of fiber (single mode or multimode). If the receiver power is measured to be zero, and the link worked previously, it is probable that the far-end transmitter is not operating or the fiber is broken.
Large differences could mean that the optical devices are mismatched (that is, -SX versus -LX). If optical devices are mismatched, the receiver can be saturated (overdriven).
For long-haul optical devices, the receive power must be significantly less that the transmit power.