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Should Network Cables Be Replaced?
Jyms writes "As technology changes, so hubs routers and switches are upgraded, but does the cabling need replacing, and if so, how often? Coax gave way to CAT 5 and CAT 5e replaced that. If you are running a 100Mbit/s network on old CAT 5, can that affect performance? Do CAT 5(e) cables get old?"
For best performance, replace it with a genuine high performance cable like this: http://www.usa.denon.com/productdetails/3429.asp
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Should I have a plumber re-run copper all over my house?
maybe if your new sink is capable of 1000 gpm (gallons per minute) and the pipes can only provide 100 gpm. but that's only if you care about using your new sink to its full potential.
You should replace your tired old CAT5 with brand new, all-gold Monster-CAT6+++++++!
Only $1000 a foot, starting in 10 foot increments!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Obligatory:
When it was installed, your old cable had to run signals uphill through the snow, both directions. They didn't have electrons back then, they had to nake do with quarks. Time hadn't been invented yet, so the direction and speed of network traffic was hard to estimate.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
It's not pipes. It's a series of tubes.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
If you do not, then cracks will appear and bits will start to drip from it. Soon, that drip will become bigger and you will have bytes dropping out. Cheaper to replace them now, then to lose all those bytes. I can be over there next week to replace them all for a low low price.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Do not replace network cables just to do it. That is a waste of time and money Replace them in two situations:
1) You are moving to a faster signaling speed and need better cabling. 10mbps requires Cat-3, 100mbps requires Cat-5, 1000mbps requires Cat-5e. Do not run higher speeds on lower standards, it works sometimes but often it "works" in that you get link but there's all kind of errors.
2) A cable has a fault. Sometimes they will break because of strain. In this case, you need to replace them to make them work.
Barring that, keep the cable you have. No reason to replace it just for fun. Also no reason to upgrade to new standards without a reason. It isn't as though it makes shit work better. 10mbps is 10mbps no matter if it is on Cat-3 or Cat-6. Also sometimes you get standards that aren't useful. Cat-6 is likley to never be useful for anything. 1gbps only needs Cat-5e, and 10gbps is likley to require Cat-6a. So if you upgraded a Cat-5e network to Cat-6 to prepare for faster speeds, well then you probably wasted your money and will have to upgrade again to Cat-6a if you want 10gbps.
CAT6 is a PITA to use residentially. It is much stiffer, due to a "coffee stirrer" embedded in the middle, and doesn't bend well at all. I just downgraded from CAT6 to CAT5e for hooking portables up to my GbE LAN, just because of how unwieldy CAT6 was.
The CAT6 plugs can also be a problem -- they are by necessity slightly thicker (the strands alternate in height when crimped), which can make them a tough fit for some devices.
its the interfaces, not the bandwidth
rewriting history since 2109
The bathroom stalls where I work are always full. There's not enough toilets for the number of butts. They could certainly benefit from upgraded bathroom bandwidth.
yeah, I'm sure the bandwidth (drain pipe) is large enough for all the shit. It sounds more like they need to increase the number of connections allowed.
Bull - you can do Gig-E (IEEE 802.3ab) perfectly fine up to the 100 meter spec over regular old CAT-5 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit_ethernet. You don't need CAT-5e or CAT-6 unless you have incredibly shitty cable, splices, runs approaching max length, or too many patch panels along the route (IE, a crappy install in the first place).
Now, I personally use shielded CAT-6 for everything, but I believe in overkill :)
OF WHAT?! Ewww...
Instead of increasing bandwidth, what about using traffic-shaping instead? I'm not sure if this is something that could be automated, or if it would need to be done manually [shudder].
Obviously, to anyone familiar with overselling is aware of, the problem is not the number of users for the bandwidth assigned. The problem is likely that 2% of your poopers consume (bad word choice, I know) 98% of your bandwidth, resulting in a logjam of epic proportions just after lunch. They key would be to cap their usage, so that everyone else can use the bandwidth in moderate amounts.
Most likely, your excessive users are illegally logsharing anyway. There can't be any legitimate reason for someone to spend 4 hours a workday on the crapper, can there?
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Foresight certainly helps. I wired my home twelve years ago with 622 Mbit/s teflon-coated copper twisted-pair ATM wiring. It was the best I could easily (and cheaply since it was left over from a large commercial project) obtain. Except as noted below, since then, I've detect no material degradation in cable testing, and, needless to say, it handled the leaps from 10 Mbit/s (1997) to 100 Mbit/s (2002) to 1 Gbit/s (2009) with no difficulties.
According to a new (borrowed) cable tester, all the runs look capable of sustained 10 Gbit/s.
At current rate of progress in speed that should take me at least to 2021 before I start noticing that I'm no longer keeping up.
Of course with my luck, in my area, broadband will still probably be 10 Mbit/s and capped at 90 GB/month.
In my (admittedly limited) observations, you can have about four sources for run destruction:
1. Work hardening and breaking due to excessively sharp bending. (Be careful on insulation, and teflon coating = nice -- makes cable much harder to bend sharply)
2. Oxidation problems especially at the terminal. I've had terminal problems with wiring in an indoor pool area (vapour barrier separating it from rest of the home). Salt water + generated chlorine seem not to like metal in general. People unlucky enough to have installed the Chinese contaminated drywall might have similar problems.
3. Tension on cable (especially at terminal). Buildings shift, flex, settle, and twist. And not just in earthquakes. Competent installation helps here, especially if you have to redo a corroded terminal and need more run length.
4. Renovation. Whether it's a nail through the wall, a drill in the wrong place, mistakes can happen.
5. Animals. Squirrels getting into the attic managing to destroy infrastructure in a friend's house.
I've not had problems with (1), (3), (4), (5) but friends have. I would assume (5) is not a big danger in most office environments, but one never knows. As I say, my experience is primarily limited to my home and those of friends who've also wired up. And my sole problems have been at the termination point, not with cabling itself.
My advice is... buy good quality cabling -- better quality than you need. Don't get your installs done by cowboys, and try to think ahead.
Tough advice sometimes to follow when you don't control the budget.
-Holmwood
Any category of "cat" can certainly help with that...
Rather than standard cat6, get Denon's super high fidelity cable. http://www.usa.denon.com/productdetails/3429.asp
/smirk
"AK-DL1
$499.00
Denon's 1.5 meter (59 in.) proprietary ultra premium Denon Link cable was designed for the audio enthusiast. Made from high purity copper wire and high performance connection parts, the AK-DL1 will bring out all the nuances in digital audio reproduction from any of our Denon DVD players with the Denon Link feature connected to a Denon Link enabled Denon A/V receiver. The AK-DL1 employs high level tin-bearing alloy shielding not typically available in commercial cabling, to eliminate data loss caused by noise. Additionally, signal directional markings are provided for optimum signal transfer. Attention to detail when building this cable was used by employing high quality insulation and woven jacketing to reduce vibration and to add durability. Rounded plug levers help prevent breakage.
For operational and technical assistance 24/7, use our self help Online Support Center, where answers to many common questions can be found."
If it's good enough for high fidelity audio reproduction, it should be good enough for our crappy data only needs.
Do you think Sherlock Holmes would have solved so many cases if he smoked a tube? No, Watson, he fucking well wouldn't.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes, transfer speeds can vary greatly depending on the hardware being using, including the Ethernet controller, bus, CPU, drivers, etc.
No, transfer speeds will NOT vary for two cables with the same 1000BASE-T link and no Ethernet transmission errors. I'd suggest you get some hardware that lets you monitor for Ethernet transmission errors (not TCP/IP errors) and run your test again.
A 100M Cat5e cable will transfer at the same rate as a 100M Cat6 cable IF there are no transmission errors. In my experience, a well terminated Cat5e cable does not get regular Ethernet transmission errors with a 1000BASE-T link.
This may be one instance where REDUCING the amount of fibre in the network may help ease the load.