I'm looking for recommendations for network testing equipment. I
have to install an Xserve and a bunch of macs and networking
equipment for a customer. They're moving to a new building and the
previous tenant left their equipment rack and all their wiring in
place and nicely set up.
However, not everything is labeled so I'm looking for the best device(s) to:
1. Test whether the Cat 5 is good.
There are numerous inexpensive cable testers out there. I got one
free from an associate. On the other end of the spectrum, you have
the Fluke devices which run around $7k, but do _everything_ you
could imagine.
The cheap ones aren't really worth much, they tend to verify the
electrical characteristic but not much more and that's the least
important type of tests you need to run.
2. Test to see if both ends of the Cat 5 are good, so I can
determine which port in an office maps back to which port on the
patch panel.
The easiest/cheapest method I've encountered is when you have a
serial console into a managed switch. If you have a wireless laptop
you can carry with you, go to each workstation and unplug the cat5.
A ethernet loopback connector is far lighter and cheaper.
Have an SSH connection already open to the server where your console
is connected to the switch. When the link state changes, you
_should_ see a console message telling you which port has just gone
down/up. At least, this is what I've seen on various Cisco/Dell/HP
network equipment I've worked with.
Why not just look at the lights?
--
-dhan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan Shoop AIM: iWiring
Systems & Networks Architect http://www.iwiring.net/
email@hidden http://www.ustsvs.com/
1-646-217-4725
iWiring provides systems and networks support for Mac OS X, unix, and
Open Source application technologies at affordable rates.
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