Network Labelling

[PaulRenda]

Hi guys,

 

I went on holidays when I came back, our electrician/network technician had updated some network sockets. He failed to label these sockets and now I'm left with fully working network points but can'y seem to find where to patch in the comms cabinet.

 

PS: I know some of you are going to say, go logically with the previous network sockets numbering on the trunking, but being this school as it is, nothing really makes logic. I've tried the next ones and they didn't work.

 

Is there any equipment that might help?

 

Thank you

Paul

Edited January 21, 2016 by PaulRenda

[smithson83]

You want something called a "Tone and Probe". It comes in two parts, you plug the tone generator into the socket, and using the probe, which will make a noise when you get it close to the cable that has the tone plugged in, you should be able to follow the cabling back to the other end.

 

Failing that, if you have a bog standard cable tester, plug one end in to the socket, and just go round all the cabs with the other end and keep plugging away, pun intended, till you find it.

Edited January 21, 2016 by smithson83

[southhamster]

I have one crom CPC that works well except that the sliding power switch gets stuck on the case and runs the battery down but ok for the money.

cpc.farnell.com/paladin-tools/1573/toneprobe-kit/dp/IN05644

[Davit2005]

+1 Tone Probe

 

I had to re-patch 48 cables to a new patch panel in a completely different comms room, this was so handy.

 

An emergency visit to Maplin to pick one up for about £30 quid and charged it back to my company, easily worth the saved time as I was doing the whole job on my own with absolutely no assistance :-( .

Edited January 21, 2016 by Davit2005

[dry]

I've tried using a tone generator in the past but have found there's so much interference from everything that it's pretty much useless. I guess a more expensive tester is probably needed than the £9 ebay jobby!

 

Tbh I'd have a look at the run and keep an eye out for disturbed ceiling tiles etc. Open the trunking up near the port and identify the brand/colour of cable and go to the other end (where you think he's terminated it) and look for that same brand/colour of cable. It's also quite a useful exercise to check his workmanship. I very recently discovered a company had run Cat5e instead of Cat6 despite us specifying Cat6, so had them come out and re-cable the whole lot! The boss wasn't very happy but serves them right for trying to pull a fast one.

[MatthewL]

Get them back in and get them labelled, it's something you would expect to be done when its installed.

[southhamster]

I've tried using a tone generator in the past but have found there's so much interference from everything that it's pretty much useless. I guess a more expensive tester is probably needed than the £9 ebay jobby!

 

Tbh I'd have a look at the run and keep an eye out for disturbed ceiling tiles etc. Open the trunking up near the port and identify the brand/colour of cable and go to the other end (where you think he's terminated it) and look for that same brand/colour of cable. It's also quite a useful exercise to check his workmanship. I very recently discovered a company had run Cat5e instead of Cat6 despite us specifying Cat6, so had them come out and re-cable the whole lot! The boss wasn't very happy but serves them right for trying to pull a fast one.

 

I Find As long as I plug the output from the tone gen onto the rj45 wire copper direct (sacrifice a drop cable) it can discriminate enough to I'D one cable in bunch.

[Sagima]

Get them back in and get them labelled, it's something you would expect to be done when its installed.

 

Surely this is the immediate answer

[adennis]

I found the £30 cable tracer from Maplin invaluable at the Summer when I was installing cables for a new phone system. I did find that our Fire Alarm cables interfered with the tone receiver but once I worked that out I was fine.

 

I have also found it hit and miss if companies label the points correctly or following on your existing sequence unless I have specifically told them that’s what I want. I would have thought it was obvious

[PotNoodleTech]

Yep you can get cable tracers for a few quid which lights up LED when you get the right port. But I would say as above, get the guy back to sort it pronto - if it's unlabelled then it's half a job.

[Oaktech]

In terms of a labelling strategy for non-sequential port-patch assignments cabinet letter/port number or cabinet letter/patchstrip/port number

 

I have a 6 cabs, labelled A,B,C etc, some of those cabinets have 4 or more 24 port strips, these are labelled in the cab, either sequentially if they were installed in one go or as individual panels, and then the corresponding port

 

So, cab A, Patch panel 2, port 4 would be labelled on the outlet fascia as A/2/4

 

Seems perfectly logical to me, but not everyone gets it!

[Gibson335]

Agree with getting them back to finish the job properly - i.e labels at both ends of termination.

 

If you can squeeze it from the school budget, treat yourself to a Fluke meter - best bit of kit we've ever bought.

[PotNoodleTech]

I really want a fluke network tester.

 

Not gonna happen with current budgets though