Physical Media: Network Cabling and Wireless Media
Types of media
Twisted Pair
- STP – Sheilded twisted pair -
- UTP – unsheilded twisted pair – small diameter, reduced interference.
- - 22 or 24 gauge wire, 100 Ohms
- Cat 1 – 56 K (telephone comm only)
- Cat 2 – 4 mbps – token ring
- Cat 3 – 10 mbps
- Cat 4 – 16 mbps
- Cat 5 – 100 mbps
- Cat 5e – 1 gbps
- Cat 6 – 1 gbps, 24 gauge wire
N<signal>X
N = speed in mbps (ie “100″ in 100baseT)
signal = signaling type – base or broad (baseband or broadband)
x = cabling scheme – either distance or type (ie “5″ in 10base5 represents 500 meters in thicknet coaxial cable. “T” in 10baseT represent “twisted pair”)
Coax -
10base2 – thinnet – more flexible, needed to be grounded, 3.5 mm
10base5 – Thicknet – very rigid, used as backbone cabling, specific purpose.
Fiber Optics -
support speeds of 100 Gbps
Parts of Fiber Optic Cable:
Core Fiber – made of pure glass or high grade plastic.
Cladding – made of plastic or glass, prevents light from escaping from the core in a process called “total internal refraction.”
Modes of Fiber Optics:
Single Mode: Uses lasers, alows one mode of light to pass at one time. greater bandwidth and greater distances than multi mode. more expensive. max cable length of 60 kilometers.
Multi Mode: uses LED, allows multiple light modes to pass through, max cable length of 2 km.
Physical Media: Network Cable Connectors
Twisted Pair:
- RJ-11
- RJ-45
Coax:
- AUI/DB-15 – Thicknet
- BNC – Thinnet
- F-type – “normal”
Fiber:
- SC – Subscriber Connector – duplex
- ST – Straight Tip
- LC – Local Connector
- MT-RJ – (replaced SC)
IEEE 1394 – Firewire/i-Link
Physical Media: Network Installation Tools
Patch Cable > Wall Jack > Drop Cable > Patch Pannel > Switch/Hub
Tools -
- Punch Down
- Crimper
- Wire Map Tester
- Continuity Tester – Checks for opens, shorts and crossed pairs
- Toner
- OLTS (Optical Loss Test Set) – Tests Fiber Optic Cable
- Multifunction Test
