Hardware Tools

Snip/Cutter

cuts a piece of cable-like scissors

Cable Stripper

• strips cable-removes outer plastic jacket

Cable Crimper

how we attach a connector to the end of the cable

Cable Tester

used to verify the continuity

wire mapping tool

like a cable tester, but it works specifically for twisted pair ethernet cables

• can diagnose issues like open pair, shorted pairs, short between pairs, etc.

• see chart 1/3 through #215

cable certifier

used with an existing cable to determine its category or data throughput

multimeter

a way to check the voltage or amperage or resistance of a copper cable

punchdown tools

widely used to terminate the Ethernet cables

tone generator/ toner probe

generates a tone on one end of the connection, and you can use the probe to audibly detect the wire connected

-aka fox and hound

-useful for finding undocumented cables

loopback adapter

can be used with special diagnostic software to test connectivity

• different for fiber and copper

Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR)

locates breaks in a copper cable and provides an estimate of the severity

fiber optic version= OTDR (optical TDR)

Fiber Light Meter

provides a continuous wave of stable source of energy for attenuation measurements

fusion splicer

a machine that’s used to permanently join two fibers together

TAP

connects directly to the cable infrastructure and splits or copies those packets for use and analysis

spectrum analyzer

measures and displays the signal amplitude