In this video, I want to show you how
to test the network.
Now, when we created a cable, I showed you this device,
which is known as a cable tester.
In this video though, I want to show you a little bit
of an extension on a cable tester known
as a fox and a hound.
So I'm going to get rid of this one
for us 'cause we don't need that.
And instead we're going to focus on this device right here.
Now, like the cable tester I showed you
before, you can actually pull this apart into two pieces.
So in this case, I'm just going to slide it apart.
And you see I now have two pieces.
Now the good thing about this is it does have a cable tester
built in, and you can see that down here at the bottom
where it'll test pins one through eight.
And over here we can test pins one through eight.
So if I want to use that functionality,
I'll simply take a patch cable
and I would be able to plug it in
to both sides just like this.
And then we'll be able to run it by doing a test.
And you can see here the lights are lighting up
as they're changing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and continue to go through it over and over and over again.
But that's not the special thing about a fox and a hound.
Really, it comes down to this piece right here,
which is called a probe.
A fox and a hound is also known as a toner probe.
Now when you're dealing with a toner probe,
what it allows you to do is plug in one end
to a network jack,
and then use this metal tip
to touch cables along your distribution path
or your patch panel or your switch,
and it will make a noise when it finds the right cable.
Now let me show you how this works
and it'll make a lot more sense.
First, I'm going to show you here in my studio
and then we're going to go and do it on my live network.
So what we're going to do is I'm going to take this patch cable
and I'm going to connect this sender
that's going to send the noise and I'm going to plug it in.
Now, once I plug that in, I need
to plug this into a network somewhere.
So I'm going to take our old fashioned jack that we used,
that we created, and I'm going to plug it in there.
Now, once I do that, I'm going to have this set to scan.
Now by setting this to scan, it's sending out a signal
through this cable to the other end
of this, wherever it connects to.
Now we'll go ahead and put that down for a second.
And as you can see, this cable really doesn't go anywhere.
It's just going into my hand.
But if I take this other device
and I turn it on, you're going to be able to hear
that little beeping noise, right?
As I get closer to the cable, it gets louder.
And that's the whole point of this.
If I have a bundle of wires, I can touch that cable
and know exactly which cable it is that I'm touching,
and that tells me this is connected to that network jack.
Why would you use a toner probe?
Well, because a lot of networks you go
and work in, they didn't do a good job of documenting it.
They didn't label which room or which port it was.
And by using this toner probe,
I can figure out exactly which port is tied to which part
of the patch panel by tracing it
throughout all of the walls
because in most places, the walls are drywalled
and you're not going to be able to get to those cables.
But by going through where the cables start
and end the office jack and the patch panel,
I can identify it and relabel the network.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to set up my scanner on
and push that signal out from one
of the network jacks in my office.
And I'm going to go back to our patch panel
and we're going to figure out exactly which port it's tied into
because we're going to be able
to use this toner probe to figure that out.
I'm back in the server room now.
I had my production assistant Jay run out
and plug it into one of the ports in the office,
and he hasn't even told me where.
But we're going to figure it out
because we're going to use our handy dandy toner probe.
So what I'm going to do, I'm going to turn it on
and as I go through, I'm just going to start on the patch panel
and figure out where it is.
So that one's not it, that one's not it.
Number three, number four, number five.
It's getting noisier. (device ringing)
I think it's number six.
Number seven's a little less, eight less, nine less.
And so you can see it went away.
So obviously it's number six.
So if I look up here at number six
and I use my little flashlight, it tells me
that is in the break room.
So Jay had gone
and unplugged apparently our wireless network
in the break room and decided to plug that in.
And that's great so now we know where it is.
And so if people are going, "Hey,
the wireless network's not working," we can figure out why,
because maybe he went
and cut the network wire someplace between here and there.
We'd be able to figure that out as well.
But we wouldn't be able to figure it out here
because if there's a cut in between,
we're going to have to backtrack.
And so we can start looking what's before the patch panel.
And in my case, we look up
and there's actually going to be wires coming in the ceiling.
So Jay, if you can move the camera over here,
we're going to show these blue wires.
All right, so you can see these blue wires.
And again, so if I start out over here,
these are actually cable TV.
That's not where we're sending the signal,
but I do hear a little bit of noise and that's
because these blue wires behind it are our Cat 5 cables.
And so if I go over here and put my thing in,
the one I'm touching is not it,
but as I go through, I can poke
until I hit the right wire
(device ringing)
and I found it.
So now I can take that particular wire
and I know that it's getting a signal at least to there,
and I can trace that wire down using my toner probe
until I find where the break in the wire is.
This is a way that you can troubleshoot your networks,
and that's why using these toner probes is so important
and a good understanding of these.
On the exam, if you hear fox and hound
or toner probe, think about using it
on your cable distribution network
to find breaks in the wire or
to identify and document your network.