-: 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 could 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.
It'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 I'm going to 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 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 dry walled
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.
So 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 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.
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 were 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 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 five 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 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.