General Networking Flashcards

1
Q

When should you use UTP?

A

When the permanent link and patch panels are UTP.

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2
Q

When should you use STP?

A

When the permanent link and patch panels are STP.

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3
Q

How can I tell if it is a UTP or STP installation/cable?

A

UTP connectors are typically made out of plastic while STP connectors are made from metal.

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4
Q

What is PoE?

A

PoE stand for Power Over Ethernet. It is used to transfer electricity on a network cable to power devices like a desk telephone or an access point.

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5
Q

What is the difference between PoE, PoE+ and PoE++?

A

PoE has a wattage of 15.4 watts. PoE+ has a wattage of up to 30 watts. PoE++ has a wattage of up to 100 watts.

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6
Q

What is the transferrate/bandwidth of Cat. 8?

A

Cat. 8 has a maximum speed of 40Gbit/s (Gigabit per second). It is designed for data center and switch to switch communications. Maximum channel length is only 30m(!).

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7
Q

What is the transferrate/bandwidth of Cat. 7?

A

Cat. 7 has a maximum speed of 10Gbit/s (Gigabit per second). Requires special connectors and sockets (GG45 or Siemon Tera).

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8
Q

What is the transferrate/bandwidth of Cat. 6a?

A

Cat. 6a has a maximum speed of 10Gbit/s (Gigabit per second).

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9
Q

What is the transferrate/bandwidth of Cat. 6?

A

Cat. 6 has a maximum speed of 1Gbit/s (Gigabit per second).

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10
Q

What is the transferrate/bandwidth of Cat. 5e?

A

Cat. 5e has a maximum speed of 1Gbit/s (Gigabit per second).

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11
Q

What is meant with bandwidth?

A

Bandwidth means the amount of data that can be transferred in a certain amount of time.

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12
Q

What is OS2?

A

OS2 is single mode fiber optic.

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13
Q

What is OM4?

A

OM4 is multi mode fiber optic.

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14
Q

What is single mode good for?

A

Long distances (up to 80km).

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15
Q

What is multi mode good for?

A

Short distances. Typcially within buildings as uplinks between racks.

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16
Q

What does STP stand for?

A

STP stands for shielded twisted pair. Be aware, that the abbreviation STP does not specifiy the type of shield. In our case it is U/FTP.

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17
Q

What does UTP stand for?

A

UTP stands for unshielded twisted pair.

18
Q

What is a switch?

A

A switch is an active component in a network that enables communication between connected devices.

19
Q

What is a channel?

A

A channel is a permanent link with a patch cord on each end.

20
Q

What is a permanent link?

A

A permanent link is a so called installation cable in buildings that typically runs from a patch panel to a outlet like on a desk.

21
Q

What is a patch panel?

A

A patch panel is a passive component in a network where all the permanent links are terminated to sockets that allow connecting a patch cord to it.

22
Q

What is a splice box?

A

A splice box is a patch panel for fiber optic.

23
Q

What is a UPS?

A

A Uninteruptible Power Supply (UPS) is a battery, typically placed in a network or server rack that continous to deliver power to connected devices during a blackout. This is important to properly shut down servers and not to lose data.

24
Q

What is the difference between a network and a server rack?

A

A server rack is typically narrower than a network rack as it does not have to deal with as many cables. Also server racks are more common in data centers where space is limited and expensive (cooling, redundant power, security etc).

25
Q

How does cable spaghetti happen?

A

By adding, removing patch cords with standard lengths or changing the port that a patch cord is connected to. It is a slow but steady process.

26
Q

Why not just use very short patch cords?

A

The ISO (International Standardization Organization) has ratified in the ISO/IEC11801 that a patch cord needs to be at least 50cm long.

27
Q

What is ISO/IEC11801?

A

ISO/IEC11801 is the standard for structured cabling that defines all criteria from form factors of connectors to transmission speeds etc.

28
Q

What are threaded hole racks?

A

This is a common type mainly used in the US. The 19” rail has threded holes where you directly insert a screw.

29
Q

What is a square punched hole rack?

A

This is a worldwide common type of rack. It has square punched holes in its 19” rail and requires a cage nut or /dev/mount to mount equipment.

30
Q

What is a cage nut?

A

A cage nut is a nut with mostly a M6 or M5 thread that is contained in a cage of spring steel. The cage needs to be pinched to be inserted in a 19” rail.

31
Q

What is a cable guide/cable management?

A

This typcially is a 19” device to be mounted in racks. It comes with hooks to guide and hold patch cords. Available as horizontal and vertical options.

32
Q

What is a DAC cable?

A

DAC stands for Direct Attached Copper cable. It is a copper cable with a SFP module on both ends. Mainly used as an uplink between active components. It allows speeds of up to 100Gbit/s.

33
Q

What is a SFP module?

A

A SFP is a fiber optic transceiver that converts optical signals into electrical signals. Typically used to connect a fiber optic to a switch.

34
Q

What is a Keystone Jack?

A

A keystone jack is used to terminate the end of a permanent link so you get a socket where you can plug cables in. Keystone Jacks are widely used nowadys and they can be inserted in either a patch panel or a outlet.

35
Q

What is LSA?

A

LSA was a termination method for permanent links used prior to Keystone Jacks. It required a special punching tool with which each wire was then terminated.

36
Q

What is a Uplink?

A

A uplink is a connection between two switches or two racks that allows communication between each other.

37
Q

What is a NAS?

A

NAS stands for Network Attached Storage. Back in the days these where pretty much just hard drives that you could connect to a network. Nowadays, NAS have become way more functionalities and can even act as servers.

38
Q

What is a server?

A

A server can be anything from a little Raspberry Pi to a several 100k€ expensive machine. A server provides services that hosts can rely on, like a mail or file server.

39
Q

What is a host?

A

A host is any end-point device in a network. Like your Laptop.

40
Q

What is RJ45?

A

RJ45 is the most common connector in a network. It has eight pins and a worldwide standardized form factor.

41
Q

What is RJ11?

A

RJ11 is the little brother of the RJ45 connector. It has a slightly smaller form factor and relies on only four pins/wires. You find it very often on the handset of a deskphone. It mainly is used for telephone applications.