1.3 Cables And Connectors

Question 1

Cat 5

Answer 1

1000base-t
1000 Mbps
100 meters

125 MHz frequency

Question 2

Cat 5e

Answer 2

(Enhanced)
1000base-t
1000 Mbps
100 meters

125 MHz frequency

Question 3

Cat 6

Answer 3

10g base-t
10 Gbps
Unshielded: 55 meters
Shielded: 100 meters
500 mhz frequency

Question 4

Cat 6a

Answer 4

10g base-t
Augmented
100 meters
500 mhz frequency

Question 5

Cat 7

Answer 5

10gbase-t
Shielded only
100 meters
500 mhz

Question 6

Cat 8

Answer 6

40Gbase-t
Shielded only
30 meters

Question 7

Twinaxial

Answer 7

• Two inner conductors (Twins)
• Common on 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ cables
– Full duplex, five meters, low cost, low latency compared to twisted pair

Question 8

Coaxial / RG-6

Answer 8

• Two or more forms share a common axis
• RG-6 used in television/digital cable
– And high-speed Internet over cable

• RG-59 used as patch cables
– Not designed for long distances

Question 9

TIA/EIA 568A

Answer 9

100 ohms
White/green
Green
White/orange
Blue
White/blue
Orange
White/brown
Brown

Question 10

TIA/EIA 568B

Answer 10

100 ohms
White/orange
Orange
White/green
Blue
White/blue
Green
White/brown
Brown

Question 11

SFP / SFP+ / QSFP / QSFP+

Answer 11

SFP and SFP+
• Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP)
– Commonly used to provide 1 Gbit/s fiber
– 1 Gbit/s RJ45 SFPs also available

• Enhanced Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP+)
– Exactly the same size as SFPs
– Supports data rates up to 16 Gbit/s
– Common with 10 Gigabit Ethernet

QSFP
• Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable
– 4-channel SFP = Four 1 Gbit/s = 4 Gbit/s– QSFP+ is four-channel SFP+ = Four 10 Gbit/sec = 40 Gbit/sec
• Combine four SFPs into a single transceiver
– Cost savings in fiber and equipment
• Bi-Directional (BiDi) QSFP and QSFP+
• Additional efficiency over a single fiber run

Question 12

66 punch down block

Answer 12

• A patch panel for analog voice
– And some digital links
• Left side is patched to the right
– Easy to follow the path
• Wire and a punch-down tool
– No additional connectors required
• Generally replaced by 110 blocks
– Still seen in many installations

Question 13

110 punch down block

Answer 13

• Wire-to-wire patch panel
– No intermediate interface required
• Replaces the 66 block
– Patch Category 5 and Category 6 cables
• Wires are “punched” into the block
– Connecting block is on top
• Additional wires punched into connecting block
– Patch the top to the bottom

Question 14

Krone block

Answer 14

• An alternative to the 110 block
– Common in Europe
• Options available for many purposes
– Analog and digital communication
– Different models can support higher frequencies

Question 15

BIX block

Answer 15

(Building Industry Cross-connect)
• Created in the 1970s by Northern Telecom
– A common block type
• Updated through the years
– GigaBIX performance is better than the Category 6 cable standard

Question 16

100 megabit Ethernet over fiber

Answer 16

• 100BASE-FX
– Pair of multimode fiber
- Same fiber as FDDI
– Laser components
– 400 meters (half-duplex), 2 kilometers (full-duplex)

• 100BASE-SX
– A less-expensive version of 100 megabit Ethernet over fiber
– LED optics, 300 meters maximum distance

Question 17

Gigabit Ethernet over fiber

Answer 17

• 1000BASE-SX
– Gigabit Ethernet using NIR (near infrared) light
– Usually over multi-mode fiber
– 220 meters to 500 meters, depending on fiber type

• 1000BASE-LX
– Gigabit Ethernet using long wavelength laser
– Multi-mode fiber to 550 meters
– Single-mode fiber to 5 kilometers

Question 18

10 gigabit ethernet over fiber

Answer 18

• 10GBASE-SR
– Short Range
– Multimode fiber
– 26 to 400 meters, depending on the fiber

• 10GBASE-LR
– Long range
– Single-mode fiber
- 10 kilometers maximum range

Question 19

WDM (fiber)

Answer 19

• Wavelength-Division Multiplexing
– Bidirectional communication over a single strand of fiber
• Use different wavelengths for each carrier
– Different “colors”

• CWDM (Coarse Wavelength-Division Multiplexing)
– 10GBASE-LX4 uses four 3.125 Gbit/sec carriers at four different wavelengths

• DWDM (Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing)
– Multiplex multiple OC carriers into a single fiber
– Add 160 signals, increase to 1.6 Tbit/s