On site networking tool kit

[shonen]

I am currently working a few days a week at a small local dekstop/laptop store doing your standard A+ and sales orientated work while I study.

Anyways my boss mentioned that he recently has been getting a fair few requests from local home and small businesses for network related work which he previously has never catered for due to the number of staff and not having a networking guy so he offered to swing this work my way which will mainly be done after hours and at a better pay rate (details are still in negotiation).

Which leaves me to a few questions seeing as I am use to working at a bench with everything at arms reach and I have had very little real life experience with dealing with networks other than family and friends (previously studied networking for 2 years at Tafe). I am curious as to what tools or software will be useful to take along to sites.

At the moment I only have a laptop, usb keys, external hdd, assorted screw drivers and a few spare networking cables. I think I should invest in a RJ45 crimping tool seeing as the one I have is on loan from a class mate.

Was also curious as to some legal issues that I may want to be aware of so it doesn't bite me or my boss in the ass down the track. For example I can't legally do data cable installs seeing as I don't currently hold a licensee for it.

Any input or life experience on this will be very much appreciated.

[h3%5kr3w]

Well, I wouldn't really worry about legal issues.. that is as long as it's residential work your doing. I wouldn't worry either about business related work. Just inform them you'r not a security person, just a networking professional.

As far as tools here is what you need to invest in:

At least a couple of boxes of cat6e

Either one really good made crimper or two cheap ones..

A cable tester. This is generally overlooked but you can save a hell of a lot of time (and sometimes a lot of money) in just going ahead and dropping a couple of pinches on a good one.

t568a/t568b sheet tucked away in your pocket just in case you cant remember the t568 cabling color scheme..

fyi:

for both the clip should be turned away from you and the bottom (where cable inserts) toward you.

t568a - (for crossover only use on one end) white green, green, white orange, blue, white blue, orange, white brown brown.

t568b - white orange, orange, white green, blue, white blue, green, white brown, brown.

Here's the way I remember it: whites/solids alternating with white always first, then just the colors:ogb-brown

568a - gob-brown

As far as software, for residential, you may wanna find one of those auto install cds for a couple of routers for residential use routers (i.e. linksys,etc.), but be warned these cds usually don't work very well. It should be straight foreward though.

Just look on the bottom of most home routers, it should have the starting i.p (ie, usually 192.168.0.1) so go there and usually it also has the default admin/pass under it as well. If you don't know about setting a router to use pppoe, try it yourself on your own connection because it does a better job (since you only will have one dhcp running), write down all the settings info on the modem connection screen, disable dns(if it has it) and dhcp, but usually it has some setting that sounds right like inactive passthrough mode or something of that nature, then in the router set the pppoe settings (for dsl, i believe it's different for cable) to those settings and your golden. BTW, when you set the modem like this it usually turns off all functions, and just uses pppoe to route per layer 2 to the router, therefore, you will NOT be able to go back into the modem pages to check the settings again unless your reset the modem back to defaults...

If you don't feel comfortable with that (i.e. you don't wanna bork the modem connections, and then it takes like 2 hours of tinkering with settings and hoping that the person your setting it up for remembers their username/password for their telco modem connection till you finally just reset the modem to go to defaults) just set the router up with 'automatic config' and put on a different subnet than the modem. This is way less efficient since the packets have to pass through 2 dhcp servers to get to the computers but it's a safer way that can save your butt if your unfamiliar with a lot of the settings in their boxes they have.

As far as enterprise/soho style ala. Cisco... I know what I gave you a while back, and I would do some labs if you know what I mean.. But for Cisco routers since you wanna just jump in, I would take that BBIIIIIGGG ASSS switch you still have laying around (don't try to hide it.. I know you still have it :P) and see if it's running SDM. If it is, check it out cause any newer cisco router in the last like... I think 3 years runs it? About 99% of all other soho and up style routers have an interface like this as well if they were made in the past 5 years.

Oh something else too. Make sure you have these things at your disposal at ALL times for the money shots:

-Retractible ladder of a decent length

-carpenters knife/hammer/screwdriver set* (a carpenter type set not computer types)

-at least a small handfull of cat6 wall receptacles

-a tool belt

-cable ties (by the loads of them)

-tyvek suit (if you need to get into heaps of insulation in the ceiling) they are a tad expensive for what they are, but it's a full body suit that will definitely help you not itch your ass off.

Hope this helps mate, and cheers on your new endeavor!

[digip]

The only thing I would be concerned with is if you do work in a bussiness to pull cable through walls, floors and ceilings, that its plenum rated cable for fire safety reasons. This will depend on the spaces you are installing the cable in, so you will have to chekc with the establishment on the regulations. There are certain requirements for cable when in a commercial environment, because plenum cable can help reduce the spread of fire and oxygen that feeds a fire through the PVC within the cable itself.

Other than that, always carry spare patch and crossover cables for testing devices, a cable tester, and possibly usb nic's just to be sure its not a nic card in a workstation. Anything you would do at home, is pretty much what you would do on the road. I have yet to see the need for a crimping tool, but if someone was using some cheap cables and managed to foo bar the RJ-45 jack connection, you could try reseating the cable to the jack. In most cases, its easier just to test the line, and if not working, sell them a new patch cable to garuntee it works. Makes yoru boss more money, and in turn makes you more money and saves time having to fiddle with faulty wiring. If its 100 foot cable, well, then its nice to be able to fix the cable ends, but I've never had an issue with long runs of cable, its usually the small patch cables from workstation to local mounts because they get stepped on or pulled under peoples desks.

[shonen]

reason I asked about the legality is because we have a contract for any A+ work undertaken which basically states we don't guarantee software, hardware (unless we replace the part) and the data on the computer. I know networking is a little different but just figured I would ask to be on the safe side.

I was actually pondering over investing cable tester. I just kind of figured I could plug it into my laptop and a switch or something on site and test it with a cable I know that is working. Then again the cable tester will save me a crap load of time.

Was also considering using your standard cat5e depending on network cards and devices on site due to cost. Thanks for the tip on making the cables. I will have to do some brushing up on that seeing as Aus and the U.S have different standards for A and B. From memory we are the opposite from you guys. lol I didn this stuff a year ago so its not exactly fresh.

I personally hate those configuration C.D's, I find it easier to just use the web gui. Thankfully most of it will be all home related stuff and I wont need to be using a console cable. lol My cisco shit is so rusty, i like forgot everything over the xmas holidays.

True true I am not a security professional however my diploma states network security when we did stuff all 0_o wtf?

**EDIT**

Good point with having a spare USB NIC, I will have to add that to my purchase list. Well if it comes to doing those pain in the ass cable runs through ceilings or walls I wouldn't do that anyways seeing as my work would be an illegal install. Especially in business implementations this is best left to the experts.

Thanks for the advice Digip and the info on cabling, never knew some of that. Interesting.

oh and hex, that has to be the biggest edit of a post I have ever seen. I will read it after I submit this one.

Thanks again guys

[h3%5kr3w]

This is true digip, but I was thinking as if he's going to be set out for new/pro installations.

Yeah dude, if your just going to be troubleshooting and doing home installs/upgrades and things I wouldn't worry about it much, and instead of buying cables though just make your own. You'll make more money :D

On a side note.. Our teacher made us make all our own cables in CCNA4. We now do about half the new drops @ school...

[shonen]

Thats pretty cool, We only ever made cables once after the first 4 months and I failed pretty hardcore. I only learned a while back when I had to cable that LAB setup I was building.

hahahaha that big ass switch doesn't support SDM, let alone IOS. It runs on CATOS. Its a bit of a pain in the behind to use compared to the IOS but seeing as the cisco 4000 only has the supervisor engine 2 its only good for VLANing anyways.

I still have most of the stuff I got off your FTP server stored away on my external drive. I did started reading it but got hit with a fair few big assignments. My course was more writing and designing network Topologies than configuring them which is rather annoying. I was gonna do some cisco lab work over the holidays but I got caught up with work and playing around with Server operating systems so that didnt happen. Still have the discovery shit in a folder sitting on my desk. =P

By the way I made some new additions to that LAB and spent a fair bit of time re cabling, installing new hardware a week ago.

Thanks for the heads up on configuring cable modems, I have only ever did one that belong to a friend of mine. It was a little different to what I was use to but worked it out in the end.

Good idea on tools hex especially those cable tidy things, can't believe I forgot about those suckers. lol I used all mine last week......

Thanks again for the advice guys.

[wh1t3 and n3rdy]

In Australias you wont be able to install cabling in homes or business without a license, in fact it is illegal to even do it in you own home.

[Charles]

I did some cable pulling as an intern. Hated it, but I learned a fair bit.

Good screwdriver, both Flathead and Philips

Cable tester, cheap ones work, but the ones I saw being used were badass - one of them showed which cable was shorted and how far on the line it was. That rocked.

Non-conductive ladder

Good pair of crimpers

Electrician's Snips. I was using the ones listed as 44500-000

Glo stix (very handy if you are feeding cable thru walls/ceilings)

Fishing weight and pull string/twine

sharpie or similar to label yer cables before cutting and whatnot.

Few boxes of cable. (CAT5e or CAT6).

Hope that helps.

Also: The job goes quite a bit quicker if you have 2 people.

[shonen]

In Australias you wont be able to install cabling in homes or business without a license, in fact it is illegal to even do it in you own home.

Was well aware of that and stated it in the above. But with all the text I don't blame ya for missing it. XD

I was at one point considering getting a license for data cabling just in case I ever needed to do work and for curiosity. Still kind of considering it but I am doing another full time course this year so I may not be able to fit it in.

Thats a pretty kick ass cable tester charles, we only used the cheap shitty ones in school. Thanks for the aditional info mate even if I aint doing cable runs. XD

[Charles]

I still want to get a nice pair of snips for if/when I need to replace cable or re-crimp it. They are so much better then a regular knife/boxcutters.

Working for a professional cabling company definitely spoils you.

[psydT0ne]

As far as i'm aware...you don't just do a cable licence test and away you go. You have to complete a certain amount of training and work hours with a registered cabler and then log it all and then be eligible to apply.

[wh1t3 and n3rdy]

Sorry about that, was tired and too lazy to read it all so just skimmed.

[digip]

In Australias you wont be able to install cabling in homes or business without a license, in fact it is illegal to even do it in you own home.

In Australia, its illegal to do ANYTHING without a license or permission. Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. http://www.theweek.com/article/index/10576...mall_breast_ban

In other news, you now can't procreate in Australia without permission...it requires a 12 week course in which all participants undergo rigorous training and moral lectures. After the 12 weeks are finished, you must write a 10 page essay and give an oral dissertation as to why you should be aloud to procreate. If your reason for procreation is not judged sufficient, you are then flogged by a group of your peers until you pass out, by which time they will then perform the little "snip snip" to remove your ability to procreate. j/k :)

Seriously though, Auastralia is starting to sound like a communist China.

[gcninja]

In Australia, its illegal to do ANYTHING without a license or permission. Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. http://www.theweek.com/article/index/10576...mall_breast_ban

In other news, you now can't procreate in Australia without permission...it requires a 12 week course in which all participants undergo rigorous training and moral lectures. After the 12 weeks are finished, you must write a 10 page essay and give an oral dissertation as to why you should be aloud to procreate. If your reason for procreation is not judged sufficient, you are then flogged by a group of your peers until you pass out, by which time they will then perform the little "snip snip" to remove your ability to procreate. j/k :)

Seriously though, Auastralia is starting to sound like a communist China.

http://hak5.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=15606 we know..

[subl1m1nal]

Here's what I carry (not just networking, but PC/server support):

-Netbook for troubleshooting.

-Network cable, crimper, punchdown, cable ends and jacks

-Cable tester

-Cable toner (especially if they're bad at labeling)

-Cable labeler

-Screwdrivers

-Canned air

Keeps these handy in the car:

-Replacement switches (these go bad all the time in businesses)

-Home router

-Premade patch cables

-Console cable

-Various boot disks

-Network cards

[wh1t3 and n3rdy]

In Australia, its illegal to do ANYTHING without a license or permission. Australia's government is "banning" adult publications and films featuring women with "small breasts," says Aussie activist Fiona Patten, on the grounds that such images encourage pedophilia. http://www.theweek.com/article/index/10576...mall_breast_ban

In other news, you now can't procreate in Australia without permission...it requires a 12 week course in which all participants undergo rigorous training and moral lectures. After the 12 weeks are finished, you must write a 10 page essay and give an oral dissertation as to why you should be aloud to procreate. If your reason for procreation is not judged sufficient, you are then flogged by a group of your peers until you pass out, by which time they will then perform the little "snip snip" to remove your ability to procreate. j/k :)

Seriously though, Auastralia is starting to sound like a communist China.

Some of the people I have encountered merit such a procreation policy.

[subl1m1nal]

Oh, I forgot, velcro tape is good for keeping cables tidy. Also fish tape/rods if you're pulling cable.

[Deveant]

The biggest issue your gonna have is running the cables in the walls and roof, even for residential. Incorrect installation can lead to fire... Thats pretty much everything thats included in the open cable registration for australian.

The issue is running cables near power lines can cause attuenuation on the lines, and or cause fires. If you are to install them in someones house, and say Telstra come in to work on the phone lines and see shotty run cable, they will cut it.

[shonen]

As far as i'm aware...you don't just do a cable licence test and away you go. You have to complete a certain amount of training and work hours with a registered cabler and then log it all and then be eligible to apply.

I wasn't aware that you needed to make up x-amount of hours before you are issued with a license. A mate of mine does security camera installs among other things and said its just a Tafe course, guess he neglected to mention that part.

lol @ digip, I wonder when the Australian government will be lecturing what times of the day I can take a shit and how many breathes of air I am allowed each day.