When your talking about cabling, what is termination?

StonedHitman

I hear this term used alot but it kinda confuses me. Is it when say a t1 line comes into the room where your equipment is and goes into the csu/dsu? I also hear the term used when your running wires into patch panels. If someone can give an example that would be great, thanks.

mistabrumley89

If you ask, "Where are the termination points on that cable?" it is equivalent to "Which devices do that cable run to?"

Think of termination as an end-point.
Idk if this helps you at all or not.


Another example could be "What type of termination does that fiber cable have?"
This would be equivalent to saying "Does that fiber cable have an LC, SC, ST, or MTR-J"


Or

"What kind of termination is on that STP cable?"
"Does that cable have a crossover, or straight through endpoint (termination)?"

Hope this helps.


There can be many uses to the word termination, depending on the context of the sentence.

xnx

Cable Termination: The end of an cable
Cable Terminator: The connector used to terminate a cable.

awitt11

It can also designate that the end of the cable is finished in some way. Instead of saying you dropped 5 cables into the closet (unfinished ends), you terminated 5 cables (plug or jack).

MTciscoguy

Thinking about it logically, termination only means one thing.

networker050184

^If only things were that easy. It can mean anything from the device it connects to to the connector on the cable. The context of the conversation is key.

MTciscoguy

There is only one real meaning to the terminology "Termination", it means to end, no matter how it ends, it means end of the line, when I was in the military, it had a far more foreboding meaning, but it still meant to "end"

colemic

you are correct in your definition. However, as Networker noted above, context is key. As using mistabrumley's (modified) example:

"What kind of termination did you put on that STP cable?"

Knowing the strict definition of termination won't help you answer that question.

geek4god

If you are talking patch cables it is when you rollover one with your office chair and it gets all jacked up in that stupid wheel slot on the chair!

colemic

LOL we used to see that all the time with fiber going to a media converter, then to the NIC... all shoved under the desk.

StonedHitman

Thanks for the replies guys, that makes sense. So if I understand correctly, termination is where the cable ends? Like, if I'm running cable to a patch panel, the patch panel is where the cable terminates?

Jon_Cisco

That sounds right to me StonedHitman.
The few installers I have worked with consider a cable terminated after the have connected the ends. Often that just mean attacking the RJ45 clip to the end of the Ethernet cable or attaching the line to a wall jack. Usually they will make the connections and use a tester to verify signal and cable length.