I need advice on a higher end network cable tester

[schwags]

I have searched the forums and found a little information about this, but it's all a few years old and I was hoping for some up-to-date advice. I am recently gaining more and more medium size clients (20+ stations) and I think I am in the market for a more robust network tester to help me troubleshoot some of their network issues. I want something I can plug into a potentially malfunctioning drop and get a readout as to how well the cable is working, what the problem is, where the problem lies etc...

I'll give an example: I have a potential client, a large church with 13 workstations, 2 servers, and un-documented cabling running all over the place. They have complaints of the network being spotty at some stations. DNS doesn't seem to work all the time, server access is intermittent. Is it the workstation or the network? I could swap in another workstation, but we would have to wait for a month to know if it is better or worse as it is so intermittent. Running cables would be expensive as the walls and floors in the place are all masonry with no real chases to lay wire, so I don't want to replace anything that isn't absolutely necessary. I would like to come in and plug the tool into each existing port and know that this port and cable is good or bad. Can it handle Gb or not, it isn't spliced or run too long or looped or run over a light etc... so I can either recommend to replace it or not.

I think the linkrunner LRAT-1000 from fluke will do this, but I want to know what I am missing by not having something like the 1t-1000. There is no way I can afford $10k right now for this tool, but $1k is an acceptable expense if it has the capabilities I need.

 

[frederick]

Good luck hunting that down for $1k and it being new. Better luck looking for something used.

For the issue you described, where the client has no documentation on their network, your best bet is to crawl on the floor and start tracing cables. Labeling as you go of course. A label maker and some packaging tape goes a long way with this one. A basic cable tester is usually all you need. The more indepth cable testers, like the linkrunner, are more large networks or complex networks. 13 workstations and 2 servers is still a pretty small network setup. The church may be large, but their network is small. They shouldn't be operating a complex network with 20 vlans and then a development network with its own equipment and backbone.

Other tools can also be found in the software department, like Dude by Mikrotik. It'll give you a very decent look at how the network is connected to help you out.

I would not look at getting something like the linkrunner, or anything that complex unless you are maintaining a 100+ system network. The costs vs. benefits are just not there.

 

[Markverhyden]

To be honest the only reason you need a true certifier, like a DSX5000, is if you do major cabling/fiber work where the circumstances require a real certification. This may be because of an EU requirement or it may be because they are taking advantage of the cable manufacturer warranty which requires a completion report using a real certifier.

The blinky light things are nothing more than simple continuity testers. Nothing wrong with having a set, I do, for simple quick testing. A real tester can take some time to complete testing and unplugging them after they have confirmed continuity but not completed the rest can make them act wanky in my experience.

From my experience the most important data cabling related things in a small business environment are the following:

1. Cable continuity, including pin outs.
2. Cable identification
3. Basic cable speed test - 100mb, etc
4. Induced voltages
5. Some form of QA like NEXT, FEXT, BERT, etc (I say this because I have had cables pass 1-4 and still have connectivity issues)

Several years ago I bought a JDSU ValidatorPro NT1150 which covers all 5 above. Plus can save reports for printing. Also has coax and fiber capabilities. Been very happy with it and have no plans on replacing it.

One tester that is very popular with many techs is the Byte Brothers RWC1000K. When I bought my JDSU model I considered the RWC but decided the JDSU, as 3-4 times the price of the RWC was well worth it. Today, if I had to replace the JDSU I'd probably go with the LRAT 2000.

 

[tek9]

I have the LRAT 2000 and it's saved me quite a bit of time and effort. It comes with a probe and six remote identifiers for ID'ing patch panel ports, jacks etc. It verifies cabling length and pinouts, POE voltage, and if you're connecting to a Cisco switch, it'll even tell you the port number you're connecting to. It checks Internet connectivity via pings and port open tests, and it takes a few seconds in total. It saves so much time over connecting a laptop and running the tests. I use it to test google.com, DNS servers, etc. It's a quick and effective way to ensure the Internet is working from the port, not just that the cabling is correct.
I also used it on more than one occasion to check the NICs on network printers and laptops to troubleshoot why I couldn't connect to them. The time saved on those tests alone was totally worth it.
I bought my set on overstock.com, since they had it for around $1,900 at the time, around a year ago.

 

[OaksLabs]

I have one of these, and I think it is what you're looking for (for part of what you need at least): http://www.amazon.com/SC8108-Networ...439333157&sr=8-2&keywords=sc8108+cable+tester

It is a Chinese clone of the real product (which is $400). It does nothing with cross talk (or firewire), but otherwise the description is accurate (it's just a bad translating job).

It has a wiremap function, were it will show you how the cable is wired (everything that is not a straight through cable is flagged as a mis-wire, so knowing what you're looking at is required). It also gives you the length of each conductor in the cable (useful for measuring cables and determining where the fault is in a run of cable). In the wiremap it also shows cross wires and can indicate if the fault is in the first 30% of the cable, the middle, or the last 30% of the cable (without doing the pair length test).

The remote receiver has a speaker in it and will beep when the cable is connected to the main unit.

For $38 it's a really low risk option, and it would still be a god useful tool for you even if you decide you still need a beefier tester.

 

[Markverhyden]

I have the LRAT 2000 and it's saved me quite a bit of time and effort. It comes with a probe and six remote identifiers for ID'ing patch panel ports, jacks etc. It verifies cabling length and pinouts, POE voltage, and if you're connecting to a Cisco switch, it'll even tell you the port number you're connecting to. It checks Internet connectivity via pings and port open tests, and it takes a few seconds in total. It saves so much time over connecting a laptop and running the tests. I use it to test google.com, DNS servers, etc. It's a quick and effective way to ensure the Internet is working from the port, not just that the cabling is correct.
I also used it on more than one occasion to check the NICs on network printers and laptops to troubleshoot why I couldn't connect to them. The time saved on those tests alone was totally worth it.
I bought my set on overstock.com, since they had it for around $1,900 at the time, around a year ago.

Thanks for the review. One thing I noticed that it says it does is tone cable. Other tone but you have to plug cables into the remote rather than use it like a traditional toning wand. Does the remote work like a toning wand or can you use a toning wand with it?

 

[tek9]

The LRAT unit does the toning functions, and you use their probe "Intellitone Pro" (included with the LRAT-2000-KIT model) to sound the tones received over the wires. It does 3 types of toning: Analog for non-active networks, where nothing is connected on the remote end; and two types of Digital tones, for active network where there might be a node connected at the remote end. One type of digital toning is to trace a bundle of cables, for example, then when you get closer, you switch to the second type of digital toning, to trace the individual cable in the bundle.
I don't know if it'll work with a different toning wand/probe. I just use the included one.
If you want to trace and identify ports on a terminated patch panel, you can use the six included adapters. They're numbered 1-6, so you put them all into the patch panel and you plug the LRAT into the remote end (jacks) and if there's one of those adapters at the other end, the appropriate number would appear on the screen, along with the length and pinout information. so you know which port this jack is connected to.
Hope this rambling is clear enough...