What networking tools do I need?

[Biggerhammer]

I inherited a disorganized network. Most things work, most of the time, unless a left-handed clown thinks of the color pink... it's a bit frustrating to try to keep it running. My toolbox is full of broken tools, incomplete tools, and imported crap with quality that would make Walmart blush.

After working 55 hours last week to get the network to be as reliable as a 1972 Gremlin, I had a miniature tantrum and told my boss that I was going to order a complete tool set, so that when the next thing failed at least I would have a sporting chance of getting things running again.

Anything over $1000 total is going to get an automatic 'no' answer. It's just the way they work here.

So, if you had a budget of $1000 to build a toolkit to fix a diverse network including VPNs, remote VOIP users, 75 Windoze machines and a few Macs thrown in, what network tools would you buy? I'm assuming some basic stuff like cable testers, tone generators/tracers, and maybe a very cheap analyzer.

 

[spidey07]

Honestly, the best tool is a cable certifier which runs a few thousand bucks.

If you can't certify your cabling you are just guessing as to what the problem is. Cabling has a fabulous ability to make really weird things happen. Don't muck around with the physical layer, it's the most important one.

 

[jlazzaro]

no toolset is going to "fix" issues...they're a troubleshooting aid. are you talking about strickly physical layer issues or entire network management?

network configuration management - Kiwi CatTools
syslog database - Kiwi Syslog
network management and notification - Zenoss, Nagios, OpenMNS
software / end workstation management - SpiceWorks

Without knowing the types of issues you've been pulling your hair out over, its hard to recommend something specific.

 

[kevnich2]

Judging my how I'm understanding what you're asking, here's my thoughts. A power screwdriver with various bits, dozens of several length of pre-crimed CAT5e or CAT6 ethernet, RJ45 keystone jacks, RJ45 crimping tool, punch down tool with both 110 & 66 dies, decent tone generator, cable tester & a bag to put all the tools in to carry around with you. I had to do to this same thing at one of my last jobs. It was easier & cheaper for me to troubleshoot network & phone issues myself than always having to call in somebody to do it. My toolkit after I was done ordering everything came to a shade over $700. This allowed me to run cable, punch cable down to 110 & 66 blocks, find unlabeled cable, test cable to make sure there were no shorts in it, etc, etc. I used this both for the data network as well as our Nortel phone system which is what the 66 punch down tool was for. The most important thing to know here though is how to use these tools properly, without that, it's just $700 paper weights.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
RJ45 crimping tool,

youre gonna get flak for that, and ill tell you why:

i had to crimp my own cables for a long time, there was no way around it for me, and when i started doing it i had no idea what i was in for. i worked for a wisp mounting client radios outdoors on customer homes so every run was a custom job and mounting a weathe-proof box outside with a punch-down jack is considered very impractical.

after i mentioned here that i crimped my own at work i was told why it was such a bad idea and very, very soon after that i found out how right everyone here is.

crimped cables can really, really be a bitch. youre far better off to just carry keystone jacks and a punchdown tool and do any long runs with those, and go from the keystones to the final jacks with pre-made jumpers.

i can crimp a cable fine, ive never had one *tested* with a certifier, but ive had the speeds consistent with that of a pre-made cable doing big file transfers.

thing is, theyre still really, really easy to screw up to start with, pretty unreliable, and not worth the trouble. ive crimped hundreds of ends and i still wont ever bother doing it again unless i absolutely have to (which should only happen in really abnormal networking situations)

anyone who doesnt have to do oddball custom-length runs should avoid crimping their own cables. much time and money is saved using punchdowns and pre-made cables instead because the reliability is far, far greater, and if youre not experienced at it, crimping can take some time to do right anyway.

 

[cmetz]

Biggerhammer, what's broken?

If money's tight, perhaps your tools should target the problems you have.

Here's some ideas:

1. Managed switches. By virtue of their error counters, they can help you identify bad cables. Not as good as a real cable scanner, but...
2. Rent a cable scanner for a couple of days, and go through your entire cable plant. It's a lot cheaper than buying though not as cheap as it should be. Still, it's well worth it to get the physical plant to a known state.
3. A cheapo cable tester, the kind that tells you if the cable is connected right or not. Ideal makes one for $50. Keep for the long run.
4. Hand made cables? Remove and replace. Factory made cables are much cheaper than man-time.
5. A small, simple, cheap laptop. This is your portable, simple, known good diagnostic station. You'd be surprised how much headache can be avoided by having a known good station. Also buy a few USB 10/100 Ethernet adapters so you can have multiple NICs. A built-in RS232 serial port is an absolute MUST - do not accept USB serial as an alternative. You'll need it when routers or switches need configuring!
6. Software! Nagios or OpenNMS, log collector, etc. You need to be doing proactive health and traffic load checking. Your equipment (if it's anything even remotely close to modern) will tell you a lot if only you'll listen.

Anyway, give us more details on the problem and we can give you more hints on how to solve it.

 

[kevnich2]

Originally posted by: xSauronx

Originally posted by: kevnich2
RJ45 crimping tool,

youre gonna get flak for that, and ill tell you why:

i had to crimp my own cables for a long time, there was no way around it for me, and when i started doing it i had no idea what i was in for. i worked for a wisp mounting client radios outdoors on customer homes so every run was a custom job and mounting a weathe-proof box outside with a punch-down jack is considered very impractical.

after i mentioned here that i crimped my own at work i was told why it was such a bad idea and very, very soon after that i found out how right everyone here is.

crimped cables can really, really be a bitch. youre far better off to just carry keystone jacks and a punchdown tool and do any long runs with those, and go from the keystones to the final jacks with pre-made jumpers.

i can crimp a cable fine, ive never had one *tested* with a certifier, but ive had the speeds consistent with that of a pre-made cable doing big file transfers.

thing is, theyre still really, really easy to screw up to start with, pretty unreliable, and not worth the trouble. ive crimped hundreds of ends and i still wont ever bother doing it again unless i absolutely have to (which should only happen in really abnormal networking situations)

anyone who doesnt have to do oddball custom-length runs should avoid crimping their own cables. much time and money is saved using punchdowns and pre-made cables instead because the reliability is far, far greater, and if youre not experienced at it, crimping can take some time to do right anyway.

Honestly you are right, but I still recommend having a crimping tool JUST IN CASE. I haven't crimped a cable in years because i prefer pre-crimped cables, they're cheap and I don't have to worry about trying to separate the wires, align them up, trim them, etc. But I still carry one with me. I'm confident in my crimping, I still have several cables that I crimped from...5 years ago that work flawlessly still. I don't do it anymore because to me, it's just not worth it. I am wanting to get one of those Fluke rapid punchdown tools just for punching cabling into the RJ45 jacks though, save my hand some pain.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: cmetz
Biggerhammer, what's broken?

If money's tight, perhaps your tools should target the problems you have.

Here's some ideas:

1. Managed switches. By virtue of their error counters, they can help you identify bad cables. Not as good as a real cable scanner, but...
2. Rent a cable scanner for a couple of days, and go through your entire cable plant. It's a lot cheaper than buying though not as cheap as it should be. Still, it's well worth it to get the physical plant to a known state.
3. A cheapo cable tester, the kind that tells you if the cable is connected right or not. Ideal makes one for $50. Keep for the long run.
4. Hand made cables? Remove and replace. Factory made cables are much cheaper than man-time.
5. A small, simple, cheap laptop. This is your portable, simple, known good diagnostic station. You'd be surprised how much headache can be avoided by having a known good station. Also buy a few USB 10/100 Ethernet adapters so you can have multiple NICs. A built-in RS232 serial port is an absolute MUST - do not accept USB serial as an alternative. You'll need it when routers or switches need configuring!
6. Software! Nagios or OpenNMS, log collector, etc. You need to be doing proactive health and traffic load checking. Your equipment (if it's anything even remotely close to modern) will tell you a lot if only you'll listen.

Anyway, give us more details on the problem and we can give you more hints on how to solve it.

Nice!:thumbsup:
Cough up some details and you will get some better recommendations.
I have a client who is currently out of money. When the time(money) comes I will fix the cable plant, but it is a fine example of what to look for:
1) Patch panel with 5 cables going into the back, but 8 patch cables plugged in to the front.
I roll it over to find 4 cables split out to "save some wire". Twist is not maintained, not even close. I have not looked at the keystone jacks on the other end, It would be a waste of time.
2) hidden little switches. I have found 5 so far, Any one of which can bring a network to its knees.
Any time you see a bunch of switch cascading going on, do what you can to drag in enough drops to minimize it.
Sometimes you are stuck with really hard to get at runs, and a remote switch is the only way to keep it going. Use good hardware in those cases to help limit any future troubleshooting.