Cabling.

qwerty_face

Hi all,

Just wondered if the information about cabling standards in Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit is necessary to know, i.e. the colours of internal wires and the pairs? I've just gone through the Train Signal and CBT Nuggets videos and it doesn't mention it.

Does cabling come up on the exams?

Cheers.

----
On second thoughts, are there any sections of the ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide that I can safely skip?

jamesleecoleman

I don't know your experience so I can't tell you what to skip. I wouldn't suggest skipping anything.

You don't have to know the colors, from what I know of. I didn't study the colors. I just knew what cable types connected to what and which wires transmit and recieves. Cabling has to come up on the exam. You have to know which cable connects to what.

xenodamus

Cabling is important on the exam, but more along the lines of which pins transmit/recieve and when to use a crossover vs. straight through. The color patterns are important for real life, but I doubt you'd see an exam question on it.

As far as skipping sections of the book, that's really going to depend on your knowledge level. The "Do I know this already?" quizzes at the beginning of each chapter are a good way to gauge whether you might could skip a section or not. Personally, I went through every chapter regardless of my score on the quiz. There's always going to be little pieces of info that you'll pick up even if you're familiar with the topic.

mikej412

qwerty_face wrote: »

Does cabling come up on the exams?

No one can tell you what's on the exam due to the Cisco NDA they agree to before they sit the exam -- but it's part of the trivia that's covered in the BOOKS you NEED TO READ. The CBTs are ADDITIONAL study material and don't replace the need to read the books.

There is a CCNA exam blueprint topic that seems to match the cable trivia from the books:
Select the appropriate media, cables, ports, and connectors to connect routers to other network devices and hosts.

It's probably a good idea to read ALL of the book and learn it if you plan to work with data networks since cabling does come up on the job.

earweed

It's probably a good idea, especially if you have a "real" Cisco lab, to get the necessary tools for making the cable and practice making them. I haven't gotten the first piece of real gear yet (switches,routers) but already purchased crimper and connectors and some wire. Never know when it'll come in handy and it's easier for me to make a cable than to drive 1/2 hour or wait for one I might order.
My first step was to replace all of my existing cables as I had a little lightning incident a short time back which may have compromised them. Good practice and it's the only way to really learn the pins and wire colors.

Somnipotent

qwerty_face wrote: »

Hi all,

Just wondered if the information about cabling standards in Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit is necessary to know, i.e. the colours of internal wires and the pairs? I've just gone through the Train Signal and CBT Nuggets videos and it doesn't mention it.

Does cabling come up on the exams?

Cheers.

----
On second thoughts, are there any sections of the ICND1 Official Exam Certification Guide that I can safely skip?

do not skip anything if you want to know everything. the best way i learned the cabling standards was buy cabling all the wires on my rack myself. i bought a 1000ft box of cat 5e from monoprice, a bunch of rj45 heads, and a crimper. after a few cables, you've got it down. as far as speed and distance goes, the name of the wires give it away most of the time... 10BaseT = 10mb baseband twisted pair, 100BaseT = 100mb baseband twisted pair, etc...

tiersten

phoeneous wrote: »

768-B is your friend.

TIA/EIA-568-B is more of a friend :P

chrisone

tiersten wrote: »

TIA/EIA-568-B is more of a friend :P

gross! j/k

I believe i remembered seeing at least one question about cabling back when the CCENT first came out.

tiersten

phoeneous wrote: »

Did I say 7? Yeah, that's supposed to be a 5.

I wouldn't worry about it. I looked at your post and went hrmmm that looks wrong and then had a brainfart and couldn't remember what it was for a good minute or two

Ivanr4g63

+1 on the 568-B standard...

you'll get this topic very well printed in your head by the time you're ready for your exam, but here's a quick wiring schematic on the 568-A/B:

Network pins: 1,2,3,6 (white orange, orange, white green, green are for data)
Telephone Pins: 4,5 (blue and white blue are for voice)
Power Over Ethernet: 7,8 (white brown and brown carry voltage)

Good luck

tiersten

Ivanr4g63 wrote: »

Network pins: 1,2,3,6 (white orange, orange, white green, green are for data)

Only if you're using 10BASE-T or 100BASE-TX. 1000BASE-T uses all 4 pairs.

Ivanr4g63 wrote: »

Telephone Pins: 4,5 (blue and white blue are for voice)

They did it this way so you could plug in a RJ11 plug which normally has the middle two pins used only. Its a bad idea to run ethernet and telephone over the same cable so don't get any ideas!

Ivanr4g63 wrote: »

Power Over Ethernet: 7,8 (white brown and brown carry voltage)

Thats only one side. If you're using 7+8 then you're doing 802.3af mode B and the other pair is 4+5.

Ivanr4g63

Indeed...

You see Qwerty_face, to answer one of your main questions I posted the basics on 568-A/B cabling, then Tiersten posted a more in depth and detailed to the same topic... so yes, it is important to know about this, it may or it may not come on the exam but it is part of the fundamentals of networking so suggestion is don't skip topics.

Best of lucks on your studies

Somnipotent

Ivanr4g63 wrote: »

Indeed...

You see Qwerty_face, to answer one of your main questions I posted the basics on 568-A/B cabling, then Tiersten posted a more in depth and detailed to the same topic... so yes, it is important to know about this, it may or it may not come on the exam but it is part of the fundamentals of networking so suggestion is don't skip topics.

Best of lucks on your studies

[redacted]

Netwurk

For the exams, cabling is just a question of knowing the basics

For your lab equipment, you better know as much as you can or you will go crazy troubleshooting things that turn out to be layer 1 issues.

And of course the same thing goes for on the job issues. For example, most places expect you to know what a toner is.

Hint: it's not used to refill the ink in the copier.

johnwest43

the wire colors in catX utp are something every good network tech should know regardless if they show up on a test or not.