Thanks Jason. That's a great use of the console for this purpose ;-)
I"ll give that a run.
Jon
On Jan 27, 2006, at 6:39 PM, Jason Dixon wrote:
On Jan 27, 2006, at 9:21 PM, Jon Wynacht wrote:
Hi,
Kind of off topic but not really...
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.
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. 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.
--
Jason Dixon
Manager, IT Services
Raba Technologies
