Cables

Use a crossover cable to connect two workstations to each other through their NIC’s Ethernet port. This is an Ethernet cable. When you look at the plug you will notice that the orange and green wires are in opposite positions on each end of the cable.

Use a straight-through cable to connect the router’s Ethernet port to a switch port or a workstation to a switch port. This is also an Ethernet cable. When you look at the plug you will notice that both ends of the cable are exactly the same in each pin position.

I.e use cross over cable to connect two workstations, other than to connect two workstations, use straight-through cable.

Straight-cable is also called patch cable.

Cable tester:
1. Cable type
2. Length
3. Wire map


Typical cable problems:
1. Wrong cable type
2. Broken cables

A properly functioning cable today may be broken tomorrow. This isn’t unusual, and is part of the learning process.