Installing a Physical Network (LAN) in Medium to Large Organizations

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Chapter 6

• Installing a Physical Network (LAN) in Medium to
  Large Organizations

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Structured Cabling

• A set of standards
• Established by EIA/TIA
• Specifying how to install communication
  infrastructure (e.g., physical network) in medium
  to large organization
• Structured Cabling Certifications (by BICSI)

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Which network technology?

• To build LAN
• Ethernet
• XBaseT
• Why not XBaseF?
• Why not wireless?

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Standardized elements in the network
Horizontal Cabling
Working Area
Telecommunication (Equipment ) Room
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Standardized elements in the network

• Telecommunication (Equipment) room (MDF/IDF)
• Containing central wiring devices (Hubs,
  Switches, Routers)
• All cables concentrate in this room

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Standardized elements in the network

• Horizontal cabling (wiring)
• Cables (usually running vertical in the walls or
  horizontal in the ceilings) from the equipment
  room to the work area
• A single horizontal cable is called run

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Standardized elements in the network

• Work area
• Containing nodes (computers) connected to the
  network
• Work area is the area where USERS can use
  computers to access resources available in the
  network

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Horizontal Cabling (Wiring)

• Most popular cable UTP (Why?)
• Maximum length 90 meters (Why not 100 meters?
  See Work Area slide)

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Horizontal Cabling (Wiring)

• Which UTP should we use?
• CAT Rating Use the highest CAT Rating you can
  afford
• Solid Core versus Stranded Core Use Solid Core
  cable
• Solid Core
• Each wire is a single solid wire
• Better conductor than the Stranded Core
• Stiffer than the Stranded Core (more difficult to
  twist around)
• Easier to break than the Stranded Core
• Stranded Core
• Each wire is a bundle of tiny wire strands
• Worse conductor than the Solid Core
• More flexible than the Solid Core (easier to
  twist around)
• More difficult to break than the Solid Core
• Two Pairs (unpopular) versus Four Pairs
  (popular) Use Four Pair cable
• Fire Rating Use Riser or Plenum, never PVC

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Equipment Room (Intermediate Distribution
Frame/IDF)

• Organizing equipments
• Equipment Racks
• Holding various networking hardware devices,
  including Patch Panels
• Standard width 19 inches
• Height measurement unit U (1 U 1.75 inches)
• 1U devices, 2U devices, 3U devices

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Equipment Room

• Organizing equipments
• Patch Panel
• CAT Rating (match it with your cable)
• A row of ports (RJ-45) in the front to connect to
  the Patch Cable going into hub, switch, or router
• Permanent connection (110 punchdown block) in the
  back to connect the Horizontal Cabling
• Why do we use Patch Panel? Why dont we connect
  the Horizontal Cabling directly to the hub,
  switch, or router?
• Rearranging the cables connected to hub, switch,
  or router is not uncommon. Horizontal Cable is
  easy to break during rearrangement (Why? Solid
  core UTP). To prevent Horizontal Cable from being
  moved, it is connected to Patch Panel that is
  connected to the hub, switch, or router by using
  Patch Cable. Rearranging the cables can now be
  done without moving Horizontal Cable (by
  rearranging the Patch Cable connected to hub,
  switch, or router).
• Patch Cable
• A short UTP cable
• Stranded cable (NOT solid cable)
• Having reinforced RJ-45 to handle frequent
  insertions and removals
• Connecting the Patch Panel to a hub, switch, or
  router
• Connecting a computer to a wall outlet

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Equipment Rack
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Patch Panel
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Patch Panel
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Work Area

• Containing RJ-45 wall connector (wall jack, wall
  outlet)
• CAT Rating
• Patch cable (short, stranded UTP cable) is also
  used to connect a node to the wall connector
• Patch cable can be up to 10 meters only
  (Horizontal Cabling 90 meters Patch cable 10
  meters 100 meters the maximum length for the
  cable connecting a node to a hub for 10BaseT,
  100BaseTX, 1000BaseT)

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Demarc and MDF

• Demarc
• The physical location at which the LAN is
  connected to the outside world (e.g., the
  Internet)
• MDF
• The room within which the demarc is located
• IDF
• The room where switches connecting MDF and work
  areas are located

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Demarc and MDF

• Vertical cross connect
• A part of a network backbone that connects
  different building floors (IDFs)
• TIA/EIA-568-A specifies four types of cables for
  backbone cabling (e.g., connecting MDF to IDFs)
• 100 O UTP
• 62.5/125 µ optical fiber
• Single-mode optical fiber
• 150 O STP-A (not recommended)

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Planning the Networking Cabling Installation

• Make decision Running the runs INSIDE the walls
  (preferable), or OUTSIDE the wall (e.g., use
  RACEWAY)
• Make decision The location of the equipment room
  (floor plan)
• Distance lt 90 meters from ALL drops
• Power enough power, backup power and power
  stabilizer (UPS battery)
• Dry low humidity
• Cool air conditioned
• Access
• Easy access to authorized people maintaining and
  troubleshooting the networking cabling
• No access to unauthorized people
• Expandability Does the room has enough space for
  new networking devices? Is the room close enough
  to rooms potential to have new drops?

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Raceway for Outside the Wall Cabling
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Planning the Networking Cabling Installation
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Cable Tray
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Organizing the cable
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Organizing the cable
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Labeling the Cable

• You can use
• EIA/TIA 606 labeling scheme
• Your own labeling scheme
• Labeling a cable aims to help identify the two
  ends of a cable (one end in the Equipment Room
  and the other end in the Work Area)
• Label the patch panel, the outlet/jack in the
  work area, and horizontal cable in a ceiling/wall
  if possible

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Youtube.com videos

• Structured cabling
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vey_DCXT9800
• Example of real world wiring standard
• Patch panel
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v--MrdYsiPB8
• MDF/IDF tour
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vA-1e_uEkg3M

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Testing the Cable

• Cable tester
• Continuity tester
• Continuity the cable is not broken, the signal
  can travel from one end of the cable to the other
  end without any problem
• Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR)
• More than just continuity tester (e.g., telling
  where the break is located, telling the length of
  the cable)

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Testing the Cable

• Cable tester
• Cable certifier (more capabilities than TDR)
• Crosstalk signal travels in one cable creates
  undesired effect in the other cable
• NEXT test near end crosstalk test
• FEXT test far end crosstalk test

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Testing the Cable

• Cable tester
• Toner
• Tracing cable
• Tone generator sending an electrical signal into
  the cable
• Tone probe sensing the electrical signal sent by
  the tone generator

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Testing the Cable

• Cable tester
• Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR)
• Fiber optic cable tester
• Testing dispersion attenuation for fiber optic
  cable
• Testing light leakage the light escaping the
  fiber optic cable because of bending

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Youtube.com videos

• TDR
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vnR8TtaLuFZEfeature
  related
• Cable/networking device tester
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v6C3mxcNWxhE
• Tone generator/tone probe
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vjP0AtN9hTP4NR1
• Cable certifier
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vBo_T6g7OynApA7291
  A15F80F0686playnext1index2
• OTDR
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vMcqDd45xuE0

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NIC

• NIC defines the network technology
• To use 100BaseT, use 100BaseT NIC
• To use 1000BaseT, use 1000BaseT NIC
• To use WiFi, use WiFi NIC
• Expansion slot NIC versus USB NIC
• Expansion slot NIC
• Expansion slot standards (PCI, PCI Express)

PCI Express Connector
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NIC

• How to install NIC?
• Step 1. Insert the NIC into the expansion slot
• Step 2. Install the driver of the NIC
• What is a driver?

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NIC

• Troubleshooting NIC
• Link light
• Steady light
• ON when connected to a hub, a switch, a router
• Activity light
• Flickering light
• ON when there is an incoming/outgoing traffic
• Collision light (rare)
• ON when there is a collision

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NIC

• Troubleshooting NIC
• Loopback test
• Diagnostic software and a loopback plug (see page
  127)
• Sending and receiving a signal by using the NIC
• Testing if the NIC is able to send and receive a
  signal properly