Server room help

[Smartiepants]

Hey, All you computer guys out there. This year I am a summer student working in IT. And I have been given the glamorous job of labelling everything in the server room. Two of the things I have been asked to find out are, is there a tool which would allow me to test a CAT5 cable at both ends without unplugging it to make sure it is the same cable? I also need to do the same thing with a power cable. I can't jsut visually follow the cable because they run beneath the floor and in the roof. Any help would be much appreciated. Even if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be awesome.

Nick

[Billip]

Re: Server room help

There are signal/noise generators that you can use to trace UTP (unshielded twisted pair) cabling like CAT 5 or phone cables. Can't remember if you have to unplug them or not, but even if you didn't the line would be useless because of all the garbage being thrown across it (which you would use to detect which cable it was at the other end).

I know of nothing like this for power cables, but that's not to say that something doesn't exist.

It is next to impossible to figure stuff like this out without unplugging stuff.

[Smartiepants]

Re: Server room help

Do you know where I could get something like this, and the aproximate cost.

[Mr. Burns]

Re: Server room help

It is next to impossible to figure stuff like this out without unplugging stuff.

Werd to that. That is what network outages are for.

[James]

Re: Server room help

Ya, that job sucks.
Generally you can tell from the switch/router (via MAC address) which cable goes to which server..gotta have somewhat decent network gear for that however..hope it helps

[Smartiepants]

Re: Server room help

Yeah, here though because this company manages the power grid, they have a limit on how much network outage there can be. So unplugging things is really a last resort kind of thing. We were thinking that in theory it should be possible to measure what is flowing through the cable and verify if it is the same or not at both ends.

[R_Ethug]

Re: Server room help

LOL have fun i'll post a pic if i have one lying around of my server room i helped build to show you how it should be done

[NeonGTI]

Re: Server room help

Wow, that job would make me pray for death in under a week.

You could use a squawker, which you can get at Home Depot, of all places, but you do have to unplug stuff. Even if you had a passive noise generator you would still be screwing up the transmission down the line by generating the signal.

You could get on the machines, one at a time, and drop them down to 10 megabit then go over to the switch and see which port lost its 100 light. It would involve a momentary drop in the NIC and possible loss of session for connected users.

May the force be with you, young Jedi.

[Bora_4_Me]

Re: Server room help

There are only two infinites, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
--Albert Einstein

Sounds like the last network team fits in to your sig

[Khyron]

Re: Server room help

When I worked at Cadvision we unplugged network jacks all the time - if your system can't handle a 1 second burp, it sucks anyways and is not worth labeling.

Seriously - you pull the jack from the machine for 1 second and someone at the switch makes a note of which light went out. You can do a whole server room pretty quick assuming you have access.

As for power, if you are a power company, every system had better be on UPS - if it can't handle being unplugged for a few minutes, again, your system needs to be upgraded/fixed anyway.

Edit: If your actually labeling the power cords from machine to UPS, then the installers were fucking idiots and should have to come back and do it. There's no good way other than bringing stuff down. :(

Khyron

[Stonewall]

Re: Server room help

Back when I sold stuff like this and all my years in electronics I can tell you there is no simple or cheap way you are going to be able to tell which cable is which without unplugging them. If you try to inject any type of signal on the wire to tone it out your are going to destroy most of the data anyways.

[James]

Re: Server room help

When I worked at Cadvision we unplugged network jacks all the time - if your system can't handle a 1 second burp, it sucks anyways and is not worth labeling.


Khyron

Hahaha I would get canned SO fast for pulling something like that

Dropping the nic's from 100 to 10 isnt really feasable (unless the servers are 2003, they have that gray screen feature that keeps the sessions alive) because you'll for sure drop any connections.

Im kind of confused as to what you're doing - are you trying to find out what server is on what port or find out if the integrity of the wires is pooched?