[COLUG] Testing Cat5e

[Ian Wilson]

On Jan 22, 2008 10:37 PM, Mike Harrold <harrold.family at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have cat5e all over my house all coming down to the basement where
> the switches and router sit.  At some point in time, some of the labelling
> has detached from the cables in the basement so I am unsure of what
> came from where.

In the future, the next time that you're cabling a house (or anything
else) and you'd like to keep track of things, what I would suggest
using is a Sharpie.  Mark the wire number (or room) at 6 inches, 12
inches, and 36 inches past the start of the wire, and do the same on
the other end once you've clipped it from the box or spool.  Labeling
the cables so they don't break off is the more difficult part -- if
they're going into a patch bay, you might not want to use the wire
ties with flags, but find a permanent labeler (I bought a Brother
P-Touch Pro XL on newegg that prints permanent lables), and lable the
wire number on the jack and the faceplate (if there's one provided --
I'm a fan of the Panduit or the AMP connectors, both of which have
designation strips on the faceplates that the jacks sit in).

Also, If this is something that you're doing on a regular basis, I
would suggest buying a Fluke IntelliToner -- when I bought one
(admittedly, a few years ago) it was a little more than $100, but, it
includes a toner and a probe, and will blink the "Link" light of
whatever is plugged into the other end -- which is great for
troubleshooting live connections on a Switch or if you just want to
verify that the cable is good.

Hope this helps;

Ian
-- 
Ian Wilson
ian.m.wilson at gmail.com
http://ianwilson.org || http://www.ians-blog.com

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