I certainly can't afford $7k for a Fluke (!) but spending a couple
hundred for the other tools will be worth it. It's all Cat5e wiring,
btw.
Thanks!
Jon
On Jan 28, 2006, at 6:32 AM, After Hours wrote:
On Jan 27, 2006, at 9:39 PM, Jason Dixon wrote:
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.
That's a bit of a horrible idea. This only lets one know if the
twisted pairs feed back to the switch for 10/100bT. And since
some, but not all, NICs built into some Macs (and other laptops)
will autonegotiate a crossover connection, you won't be able to
determine the true state of the wiring from termination to
punchdown. And it'll do nothing for testing of future systems that
might want to run gigabit. Do you have cat6 or cat5e wiring? Down
the road, other users with other equipment will discover any
difficencies much to your dismay. Do it right the first time.
1. Use an inexpensive tone probe to plug into each termination
(that's the wall jack at each cubical) and map your network at the
patch panel <http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/
ProductDisplay?
langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&productId=227898>
then,
2. Use an inexpensive lan continuity tester such as <http://
www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=213663> to determine the
state of the wiring.
(or you could just use the continuity tester and systematically
test each port at the block).
This won't tell you the quality of the connections beyond simply
having it wired correctly, but that's a huge step in the right
direction. You could have unwound pairs, iffy splices and cat3 or
RJ15 runs between your ports, along with corroded contacts and all
manner of other misadventures with left-behinds, but for mapping
the overall cable runs is a start.
We find a tone probe VERY handy in following wires between points A
and B, and other testing that you wouldn't have considered if you
didn't have it in your toolbox. And, it isn't risking a laptop NIC
port on a bad short somewhere -- say, where they cross-wired one
port to a live analog phone line running 40 VDC -- and it's unlabeled.
Spending $200-$300 for both tools is hardly a sneeze in the budget
compared to the (billable) time it would cost you to blindly plug-n-
pray mapping. The $7k flukes are rarely worth it -- you can figure
out 99% of your job with the other two tools, and save the $6500
for running fresh cat6 drops to replace anything that takes more
than 15 minutes to figure out.
vail
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