Learning by Doing: CISCO Certified Network ... - SCN Research

Paper Lab: Proper Cable for the Proper Job
Objective:
To learn which type of networking cable to use in which instance.
Tools and Materials:
Paper and pencils
Different colored pencils or markers would be nice.
Background:
You will be putting together lots of equipment with plenty of cables during your career.
Knowing which cable to use and when will save you plenty of time, trouble, and potential
embarrassment if you get it right from the start. Heck, you can even help someone else
later…most network administrators do not know a straight through from a rollover.
Telephones have been around since the late 1800’s and our wiring patterns have evolved
from the telephone industry. The two most common wiring patterns are EIA/TIA 568A
and EIA/TIA 568B (Electronics Industry Association/Telecommunications Industry
Association). There are four pairs of wires in a Category 5-type cable. Pair 1 is the blue
pair, pair 2 is the orange pair, pair 3 is the green pair, and pair 4 is the brown pair. For
you football fans…”The Blue and Orange Gators play on the Green Grass with the
Brown Football.” In fact, 66 and 110 punch down blocks are wired in this fashion:
White/blue
Blue
White/Orange
Orange
White/Green
Green
White/Brown
Brown
White/blue
Blue
White/Orange
Orange
White/Green
Green
White/Brown
Brown
Figure 1—punch down block.
Unfortunately our wiring patterns for our cables could not align easily with this pattern
(figure 2). They had to go and come up with some other ones (see figure 3).
White/blue—blue—white/orange—orange—white/green—green—white/brown—brown
Figure 2—Matt’s “nice” pattern.
34