Fluke Networks
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@DustinB3403 said:
Does Fluke have any tools that are capable of scanning multiple connections at once? What if we had to run several lines at once, terminated them and wanted to check for any issues.
Testing each line is doable, but if I were an installer I'd want to check several at once to see if there were any issues and resolve them immediately before moving my equipment / ladder etc to the next location.
The answer to this question really depends on your testing objective. If you need to validate connectivity to multiple resources such as intnernal FTP sites, external web sites, key cloud services used by your organization, you can do that by setting up a test profile in either the LinkRunner AT or OneTouch AT and program in up to 10 "targets" to validate in a single test. If you need to validate the cable, you will need to plug into each cable individually.
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Speaking of wall jacks... what tools do you have that can verify correct voltage to a wall jack, for things like AP's and VOIP phones?
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@DustinB3403 said:
Does Fluke have any tools that are capable of scanning multiple connections at once? What if we had to run several lines at once, terminated them and wanted to check for any issues.
Testing each line is doable, but if I were an installer I'd want to check several at once to see if there were any issues and resolve them immediately before moving my equipment / ladder etc to the next location.
Having actually been an installer, I do not see this ever being needed. I terminate line 1 and put the tester on it while I terminate line 2. Continue until all lines are tested.
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@art_of_shred said:
Speaking of wall jacks... what tools do you have that can verify correct voltage to a wall jack, for things like AP's and VOIP phones?
Now that is a great question - unfortunately it's less SMB, and more dedicated cabling company (unless the cost is just fantastically low).
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@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey at what point do you (Fluke) see the NetRunner being a useful device? I loved the features from what I have seen demo'd but outside of installers, I do not see the benefit to the device for most SMB admins.
If you already own a LinkSprinter and you're thinking about adding a LinkRunner, let me ask you a couple of questions so I can give you the best answer. 1. Are you a one man shop or do you have other field technicians either at your site or remote? What model LinkSprinter do you have? Do you have PoE enabled devices?
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@art_of_shred said:
Speaking of wall jacks... what tools do you have that can verify correct voltage to a wall jack, for things like AP's and VOIP phones?
Yes, can the PoE system in the LinkSprinter understand the difference between the PoE versions?
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@KendallHershey said:
@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey at what point do you (Fluke) see the NetRunner being a useful device? I loved the features from what I have seen demo'd but outside of installers, I do not see the benefit to the device for most SMB admins.
If you already own a LinkSprinter and you're thinking about adding a LinkRunner, let me ask you a couple of questions so I can give you the best answer. 1. Are you a one man shop or do you have other field technicians either at your site or remote? What model LinkSprinter do you have? Do you have PoE enabled devices?
We are specifically a consultancy. The need for a LinkRunner is low, but it can see benefits when new clients are onboarded. Currently I have access to a LinkSprinter 300 if I ask.
We actually have an old Fluke unit (forget the model) that runs XP and weighs about 100 pounds. I drop it on a network for any potential client to get an idea of what they have quickly.
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A question for you all: Does anyone know if they have non 802.11 interference on their networks? If so, how do are you checking for that today?
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@JaredBusch I suppose it's not common, I was thinking at the Closet end, if you wanted to test outwards towards the office end of the cable.
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@art_of_shred said:
Speaking of wall jacks... what tools do you have that can verify correct voltage to a wall jack, for things like AP's and VOIP phones?
Great question! We have a few different options for you. LinkSprinter will give you green LED light indication on the unit itself if PoE is seen, and it reports the actual voltage level to the Link-Live cloud service, your mobile device and in the e-mail reply. If you need a more in-depth measurement that reports Req. vs. Rec. as well as class of PoE, then you will want to look at the LinkRunner AT or OneTouch AT. Both of those also offer TruePower PoE measurement, which allows the tester to accept a full 25W load into the tester as an additional validation of full power level reaching the wall jack.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@JaredBusch I suppose it's not common, I was thinking at the Closet end, if you wanted to test outwards towards the office end of the cable.
My concern with testing from the closet to the PC is that the PC does not provide DHCP, so the fluke would have to do that to create an IP test, and doing this also disables the ability to test the 10 testing options mentioned a bit ago.
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@JaredBusch No the LinkSprinter can't, but see the above post on LinkRunner and/or OneTouch - it CAN tell Req. vs. Rec. as well as class of PoE
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@Dashrender said:
@DustinB3403 said:
@JaredBusch I suppose it's not common, I was thinking at the Closet end, if you wanted to test outwards towards the office end of the cable.
My concern with testing from the closet to the PC is that the PC does not provide DHCP, so the fluke would have to do that to create an IP test, and doing this also disables the ability to test the 10 testing options mentioned a bit ago.
Sort of, the point of devices like the LinkSprinter are to test from the end generally, but to do the cable test portion, it has to be unplugged form the switch anyway, so the side you test form is not relevant.
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@Dashrender Well (and Jared be the test here) which seems easier to test just for cable quality, connecting to every wall outlet, or connecting to the panel and performing the test? And if you were doing a clean install, from the wall makes more sense.
But if a client acquired a new building where would you prefer to test from?
Maybe it's weird, and I'm by no means an installer.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender Well (and Jared be the test here) which seems easier to test just for cable quality, connecting to every wall outlet, or connecting to the panel and performing the test?
Maybe it's weird, and I'm by no means an installer.
See previous reply. It really comes down to which end you do first. Either way, you have to test completely from the desktop though. SO you will always be testing twice.
Once prior to connecting the switch for cable faults (assuming the LinkSprinter 300) and once after.
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender Well (and Jared be the test here) which seems easier to test just for cable quality, connecting to every wall outlet, or connecting to the panel and performing the test? And if you were doing a clean install, from the wall makes more sense.
But if a client acquired a new building where would you prefer to test from?
Maybe it's weird, and I'm by no means an installer.
If a client acquired a new building, I wouldn't expect PCs to be at the end of the PCs now either.
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@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey said:
@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey at what point do you (Fluke) see the NetRunner being a useful device? I loved the features from what I have seen demo'd but outside of installers, I do not see the benefit to the device for most SMB admins.
If you already own a LinkSprinter and you're thinking about adding a LinkRunner, let me ask you a couple of questions so I can give you the best answer. 1. Are you a one man shop or do you have other field technicians either at your site or remote? What model LinkSprinter do you have? Do you have PoE enabled devices?
We are specifically a consultancy. The need for a LinkRunner is low, but it can see benefits when new clients are onboarded. Currently I have access to a LinkSprinter 300 if I ask.
We actually have an old Fluke unit (forget the model) that runs XP and weighs about 100 pounds. I drop it on a network for any potential client to get an idea of what they have quickly.
Jared - I'll give you a few key differences between LinkSprinter and LinkRunner AT but you might also want to take a look at the OneTouch AT based on your note about your older tester that ran XP, I'm guessing that was an OptiView. If you would like the ability to get a more in-depth look at cable, LinkRunner adds the ability to get reversed pairs and cross pairs, in addition to distance to open/short/split. It also has the ability to do cable toning and supports wiremap adapters, a handy feature for quickly identifying connection paths between wall jack and switch port in an unmanaged switch environment. With a managed switch environment, you can just run the simple switch test and in less then a second it will tell you the switch slot/port/vlan speed/duplex and PoE level.
LinkRunner AT also supports both copper and fiber network connectivity test and has a more in-depth PoE test than LinkSprinter. The OneTouch AT will do a discovery to tell you what devices are out there as well as connectivity issues and supports copper/fiber and Wi-Fi testing. -
Does anybody have the need to validate 1G or 10G link throughput, latency and packet loss performance?
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@KendallHershey With the new Hypervisor system that we are going to be kicking off at some point * we likely will need to confirm our throughput and performance between our closets.
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@KendallHershey Thank you, it is the OptiView. We picked it up used about 5 years ago and it has been a great tool when doing initial discovery.
The OneTouch AT sounds like the comparable current device. I will certainly look into it.
This unit is what I have. It does not look that shiny anymore..
http://www.aaatesters.com/img-fluke_networks_optiview-series_iii-15.jpg
