Cabling

The most comprehensive guide to network cabling. Designed for cable installers and contractors, network administrators, and PC and network technicians, this book provides all the information you need to know to work safely and effectively with cables in the workplace. Coverage spans cabling system design and installation, electrical and security issues, cabling components, and documenting and troubleshooting your system. Includes a 32-page color insert for quick identification of connectors and cables as well as vendor information and recommendations. Nearly 70 percent of all network-related problems result from poor cabling or cabling problems -- but the cables, hubs, and bridges that carry a company's vital data remain the most neglected and under-appreciated components of the typical network. Writing from extensive and sometimes painful experience -- but with a sense of humor -- networking experts and trainers David Groth and Jim McBee show you how to avoid these problems, how to build an infrastructure for optimum performance now and in the future, and how to make your cabling system a thing of unseen beauty and a joy to users.

Coverage includes:

• Choosing the right cables for your network architecture (Ethernet, Token Ring) and topology (star, bus, or ring)
• Understanding the limitations of data communications and network cabling and the laws and building codes that constrain cabling
• Selecting quality components and installing them effectively to build a reliable network
• Getting the tools you need -- from crimpers to fish tapes to continuity testers -- and using them properly
• Integrating voice and data on the same cabling system
• Saving money bysharing cabling among PCs, printers, terminals, copiers, and other applications
• Understanding bandwidth, impedance, resistance, attenuation, crosstalk, capacitance, propagation delay, and delay skew
• Knowing when to integrate legacy cabling and when to rip it out root and branch
• Documenting your cabling system so that you can maintain, troubleshoot, and upgrade it easily
• Creating and distributing a Request for Proposal, and managing the vendor-selection process

Introduction

Part I: Cabling Technology and Components

Chapter 1: Introduction to Data Cabling

Chapter 2: Cabling Standards

Chapter 3: Choosing the Correct Cabling

Chapter 4: Cable System and Infrastructure Constraints

Chapter 5: Cabling System Components

Chapter 6: Tools of the Trade

Part II: Network Media and Connectors

Chapter 7: Copper Cable Media

Chapter 8: Wall Plates

Chapter 9: Connectors

Chapter 10: Fiber Optic Media

Chapter 11: Unbounded (Wireless) Media

Part III: Cabling Design and Installation

Chapter 12: Cabling System Design and Installation

Chapter 13: Cable Connector Installation

Chapter 14: Cable System Testing and Troubleshooting

Chapter 15: Creating a Request for Proposal (RFP)

Chapter 16: Cabling @ Work: Experience from the Field

Appendix A: Dictionary of Cabling and Telecommunications Terms and Concepts

Appendix B: Cabling Resources

Appendix C: Registered Communications and Distribution Designer (RCDD) Certification

Appendix D: Home Cabling: Wiring Your Home for Now and the Future

Index