Chapter 6: Installing a Physical Network

Question 1

Structured Cabling

Answer 1

The set of cabling standards

Question 2

Telecommunications Room

Answer 2

The central location to which all cabling from individual PCs runs.

Question 3

Horizontal Cabling

Answer 3

All cables run horizontally (for the most part) from the telecommunications room to the PCs

Question 4

Work Area

Answer 4

Where the cables go to from the telecommunications room

Question 5

Run

Answer 5

A single piece of cable that runs from a work area to a telecommunications room

Question 6

Solid Core Cable

Answer 6

• A cable that uses a single solid wire to transmit signals

- A better conductor than stranded core, but more fragile

Question 7

Stranded Core Cable

Answer 7

• A cable that uses a bundle of tiny wire strands to transmit signals.
• Not as good of a conductor as solid core, but less fragile

Question 8

Should horizontal cabling be stranded or solid core?

Answer 8

Solid Core

Question 9

Intermediate Distribution Frame (IDF)

Answer 9

The more technical name for the telecommunications room

Question 10

Width of an equipment rack

Answer 10

19 inches

Question 11

Size of a unit (U)

Answer 11

1.75 inches

Question 12

Patch Panel

Answer 12

A box with a row of female ports in the front and permanent connections in the back to which you connect the horizontal cables.

Question 13

110 block

Answer 13

The most common type of patch panel connector

Question 14

Punchdown tool

Answer 14

A tool used to connect UTP to a 110 block

Question 15

TIA/EIA 606

Answer 15

Defines an official naming convention for labeling cables

Question 16

Patch Cables

Answer 16

Short, straight-through UTP cables that use stranded cable.

Question 17

Demarc

Answer 17

Where connections from the outside world come into the building.

Question 18

Network Interface Unit (NIU)

Answer 18

Another term for demarc

Question 19

Smart Jack

Answer 19

A type of NIU that enables ISPs or telephone companies to test for faults in a network, such as disconnections or loopbacks.

Question 20

Customer Premises Equipment

Answer 20

The primary distribution box and customer-owned/managed equipment that exists on the customer side of the demarc.

Question 21

Demarc Extension

Answer 21

Any cabling that runs from the NIU to whatever box is used by the customer as a demarc.

Question 22

Vertical Cross-Connect

Answer 22

The main patch panel in a telecommunications room.

Question 23

Main Distribution Frame (MDF)

Answer 23

The room in a building that stores the demarc, telephone cross-connects, and LAN cross-connects.

Question 24

Cable Drop

Answer 24

Location where the cable comes out of the wall at the workstation location

Question 25

Split Pair

Answer 25

A condition that occurs when signals on a pair of wires within a UTP cable interfere with the signals on another wire pair within that same cable.

Question 26

Short

Answer 26

Allows electricity to pass between two conductive elements that weren't designed to interact together.

Question 27

Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR)

Answer 27

An advanced cable tester that tests the length of cables and their continuity or discontinuity, and identifies the location of any discontinuity due to a bend, break, unwanted crimp, and so on.

Question 28

Crosstalk

Answer 28

Electrical signal interference between two cables that in close proximity to each other.

Question 29

Far-End Crosstalk

Answer 29

Crosstalk on the opposite end of a cable from the signal's source.

Question 30

Near-End Crosstalk

Answer 30

Crosstalk at the same end of a cable from which the signal is being generated.

Question 31

Attenuation

Answer 31

The degradation of signal over distance for a networking cable.

Question 32

What unit is signal loss measured in?

Answer 32

decibels (dB)

Question 33

Cable Certifier

Answer 33

A powerful cable testing device used by professional installers to test the electrical characteristics of a cable and then generate a certification report, proving that cable runs pass TIA/EIA standards

Question 34

Optical Time Domain Reflectometers (OTDR)

Answer 34

Tester for fiber optic cable that determines continuity and reports the location of cable breaks.

Question 35

Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)

Answer 35

The expansion slot which you insert a NIC into.

Question 36

Bonding

Answer 36

Two or more NICs in a system working together to act as a single NIC to increase performance.

Question 37

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)

Answer 37

Specification of certain features and options to automate the negotiation, management, load balancing, and failure modes of aggregated ports.

Question 38

Activity Light

Answer 38

An LED on a NIC, hub, or switch that blinks rapidly to show data transfers over the network.

Question 39

Collision Light

Answer 39

A light on some older NICs that flickers when a network collision is detected.

Question 40

Loopback test

Answer 40

Sends data out of the NIC and checks to see if it comes back.

Question 41

Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

Answer 41

A device that supplies continuous clean power to a computer system the whole time the computer is on.

Question 42

Online UPS

Answer 42

- Continually charges a battery that powers the computer components. - If the telco room loses power, the computer stays powered up

Question 43

Standby UPS

Answer 43

-Doesn't power the computer unless the power goes out

Question 44

Tone Generator

Answer 44

Connects to a cable and sends an electrical signal along the wire at a certain frequency

Question 45

Tone Probe

Answer 45

Emits a sound when it is placed near a cable connected to the tone generator.