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How long do FC HBA lasers last ?
https://3parug.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2788		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  markinnz [ Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:57 am ]
Post subject:  How long do FC HBA lasers last ?
Here is a question for you guys ... How long does the laser LED in FC HBAs and SFPs last for ?

We've in the middle of migrating a number of old (old!) servers that have dual port HBAs, only 1 port has ever been plugged in and working (awful stuff we inherited when we bought out a company).

As we migrate we are also dual attaching the hosts by connecting the unsused port to the new switch zoning in 3PAR etc and then bringing the original FC port over to the other new SAN switch.

I've noticed that the unsued ports gets significantly better power levels than the port that has been running for the past 6 years ... making me wonder if the LED/laser wears out over time to a noticeable degree ?
Author:  mastrboy [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:45 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How long do FC HBA lasers last ?
They do experience some degradation over time, but I'm not sure by how much pr hour of service.

But they also get "dirty", and cleaning your optics might help:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/d ... iber2.html
http://www.flukenetworks.com/products/f ... aning-kits
Author:  ailean [ Mon Feb 05, 2018 9:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: How long do FC HBA lasers last ?
Have 1000+ SFPs running and maybe replace 1 a year (I don't even remember the last failure that wasn't a DoA). We don't run SW anywhere near the max optic length so any power loss is unlikely to cause us issues so not something I monitor. ISL LW is another story but that's normally down to loss on the fiber and the SFP is typically fine after clean or repatch. ;)

We did see more failures in the past but resent years have been good with the ones supplied by HPE, Brocade or QLogic (probably since 8Gb gen).
Author:  Richard Siemers [ Mon Feb 19, 2018 2:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: How long do FC HBA lasers last ?
I've seen some die within a year, and many more outlast multiple generations of servers and eventually go to the recycler because servers no longer support PCI-X slots.

Cleaning is an important first step to troubleshooting, and a great step to add to the process of plugging in any FC connector.
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