[Tfug] Cabling

[Bexley Hall]

On 12/2/2013 5:38 PM, Bender wrote:

>> Things were *so* much easier with 10Base2! Easy to make the
>> cables, daisy chain wiring (instead of star), trivial connector
>> attachments, etc.
>
> OMG!
>
> Missed this part... *so* much easier? I beg to differ.
>
> I worked at places that had 3com servers which were later upgraded to
> Novell
>
> Easy to make the cables, perhaps. Not easy to make them so they work
> well... over time.
>
> Some knucklehead moves their PC and something gets loose. Then at once a
> bunch of people are off the fileserver and can't print. To find the
> problem, the LAN administrator travels the bus on their hands and knees
> under desks, verifying connections.

You're confusing a technology with the user's of that technology!  :>

An idiot unplugging power to the switch takes down a star based
topology.  (Solution:  don't let people muck with the network
fabric!  :>  Ah, like coaxial cables and BNC T's... )

> Where are the terminators? Is only one end grounded? What kind of ground?
>
> Uh oh! Section 2330 moved and a week later some other section moved in.
> Uh oh! The LAN is down. After days of consternation and wasted time, it
> turns out the movers or someone trashed a cable under a heavy file

How is this different than the uplink cable from "your" department
switch getting mangled?  Or, running out of ports on switch for
that "new department"?

> cabinet. It was reused a week later because it looked good and suffered
> a casualty that was only measurable by a TDR unit...
>
> Then the solution was.... BUY FACTORY MADE PATCH CABLING...
>
> Use of UTP and physical star is a wonder!!!! OMG!

I found 10Base2 much easier to maintain -- if I moved a piece of
kit 3 ft, all I had to do was replace one cable with another
that is 3 ft shorter and the *other* cable with one that is
3 ft longer.

Add another drop?  Open the connection to the nearest node(s)
and slip the new node in.

Remove a device?  Remove one cable and replace "the other" with
one that is long enough to bridge the missing length.

Now, I move something 3 ft and I have to remove a wire -- all the
way back to the switch -- and replace it with one that is 3 ft
longer or shorter.

Add a device?  String another cable all the way to the switch.

This is even worse on larger scales (i.e., the whole house instead
of *just* the office).  E.g., I want to put a pair of security cameras
in the NW corner?  Run *two* drops to that spot (or, find a little
3 port switch to hide in the "attic" *and* run PoE for the switch).

10Base2 solution:  a T and a short length of cable -- repeat as
often as required.

I.e., I had to consider *everything* that I might *ever* want to
use, here, and run all those cables *from* the switch because
there's no easy way to "tack something on the end" or "slip
something in the middle".

Solutions that work for a business don't necessarily work for
an individual  :>