REAL WORLD Network Assessments!: Real World Cabling Ep.2 - Keeping IT Simple

performing a network assessment on your first building buy time this nugget is done you will be able to walk into a new building and assess network requirements based on devices what on earth are we doing here this is a great question to ask no matter where you are well as I mentioned at the very beginning of this series we are departing from the traditional method of Education and taking a project-based approach so in order for us to be successful we have to have a project to work on and this is it the company that we're working for or were contracted with is growing as a matter of fact they've just expanded to a brand new office suite and they've brought us together to set up the network so all the IT things function remember this is how business owners think of IT they think well in order for my pet store or bowling alley or shoe store or whatever the the business is they go I've got to have computers to be successful to process the accounting to do the inventory and all of that so in order for all of those computers work I need somebody to do the IT and that's our job so congratulations tenant we just got the keys to the brand new building so our first question is now what well our first step is getting everything connected together it's pretty rare that I'm left speechless when somebody asks me a technology question but it actually happened not too long ago when my six year old came up and said daddy what is the internet it was funny because my mouth opened to say something but I actually stood there and no words came out and my wife in the other room just started cracking up because she saw me and I think she literally saw my brain melting down as I was trying to take all this technology and disseminate it at a six-year-old level but then something brilliant happened I said honey well let's say let's say I have a picture on this laptop and I because I always have a laptop on my lap right it's in matte effect look let's take a picture and so I did I open the little webcam and I took a picture of me and I said now I know mommy really wants this picture as her background and of course she's now playing the game she's like oh I do I do I do and I said so there's a couple ways that I could get that to her computer I could connect it with a cable that's the old way we used to do things where we would cable everything together now as you might imagine my six year olds already starting to get antsy like oh no I've asked the wrong question at this point right but I just keep going and I said I could connect it with a cable and that's exactly what happened a long long time ago before you were ever born there's a whole bunch of schools that said you know what we have a bunch of pictures and we want to share all those pictures together so we're gonna connect all our schools up and then the other school saw them and they're like oh man we're we're jealous we want to get connected up to to your schools too and then some people were like well I want to connect to the to the school from my house and and before long everybody's like you know what we should all just connect together and that's what we now call the Internet and I think my six-year-old goes okay and and ran away I don't have the inventory allottee that's why most people draw the Internet as a cloud it's not that it is a cloud it's just that there's so many connections tying everything together that the only way cui can really represent it is just this big cloud of connections and people have now coined that phrase and said oh well it's stored in the cloud that just means it's stored somewhere on the internet that you can get to it from anywhere and in order for us to get our new office suites connected so that we can join ourselves to this big cloud we have to use some network cabling now this is what I refer to as the old way of connecting but it's actually the better way of connecting you all can see Wireless down here and I'm gonna talk about wireless but network cabling should be used anywhere and everywhere that you can it's way more reliable and most of the time is way faster than a wireless connection there's two kinds of network cable that you can use copper and most people call that Ethernet cable or fiber the beauty of copper cable is it's cheap easy to work with and really good for short distances and I define short as a hundred meters or less fiber is a little bit more expensive it's a little more difficult to work with but it can go really long distances that's what these schools use when they connected together even way back then fiber optic cabling was real and instead of going a few hundred meters it could go miles and miles and miles and kilometers and kilometers large depending on which part of the world you're in to connect these big buildings together the newer way of connecting that I've already mentioned is Wireless and that's stretching the cables into the air so let's just say we have this building and we have a computer over there and that's daddy's computer right and there's mommy's computer but mommy also has a smartphone that she wants to use well that doesn't even have a port on it where I can plug in an Ethernet cable or a fiber-optic cable it connects via wireless and the way Wireless works is you install a wireless access point in the ceiling or set it on the desk and connect it to a network cable and it takes that signal from the network and broadcast it into the air the first thing that we're going to do as we walk into this new building is to perform an assessment specifically I want to assess where are the devices going to go that need to be connected together and to do that well we need to mark them down on a piece of paper and that's why we need a building floor plan now I've done this enough times that you'll often walk into the building with whomever is helping you get in there and you'll say hey do you have a floor plan and they'll go somewhere and the chances are pretty good if they say that it's gonna be lost in a series of files that will take forever to find one of the great things that you can do is just go to the wall most of the buildings will have them and grab the fire escape plan it's usually just a high-level view of what the building is and it shows how you can get out of the building in case of a fire ask the person when you see it hey can I just make a quick copy of that now some buildings will be small enough that they don't have a fire escape plan because everybody knows there's only one door and so for those you may just have to grab a piece of paper and sketch it out and say okay there's our front door over here is an office there's a little door going in that office you know over here is the desk etc etc so it's not too hard in those size of buildings to write your own floor plan so you will walk through the building and assess the areas needing connections and the way that you'll assess them is you'll say okay what device says go where your rule of thumb is if it can be wired do it you'll see a lot of devices that support both wired and wireless connections always prefer the wired it is more stable more reliable it's faster it's more consistent you want to stick with Wired if you can and leave the wireless to devices that have to be wireless so look around where are the desktops or the laptops where the server's going to go printers Oh most people will get printers that support wireless and wired and they'll say yeah we'll just do it wirelessly don't do that if you can wire the printer and IP phones IP cameras wireless access points again those devices extending the wired network into the air they need a wired connection connection of their own security systems power control thermostats there's almost everything can be connected to the network nowadays identify where those devices are in the building so you can already have in your mind where the network cables going to go you might just choose a strategy to plan for the unexpected and put one connection for a wall if this is your floor plan you might say hey I'll just put a cable here a cable here cable here and a cable here so I know no matter where they locate the desks or the devices in that room there's gonna be at least one wall jack that's there now if you do that you you risk wasting because you may end up installing wall Jack's that never end up being used you might choose to install wall jacks with two ports or three ports they make these things sometimes that have eight ports on them and you can run eight individual cables so maybe this room is a copy room and you've got all kinds of printers so you can fan out from that one wall jack to all the different devices that are in there all right we just walked into the new office space front door is sitting behind me assessment mode on now what are we assessing we're looking for devices that will connect to the network and usually you'll have the building owner or the somebody with an authority to say yeah this device is gonna go here this device is gonna go here but we don't have that person with us so I'm gonna give you the questions that you would be asking them as you went through and did this first thing that I see here I see a couple off this is one right there one right there I see a desk sitting right here with the computer so I go okay Network device computer I see a phone sitting right here now my mind immediately says is that an IP Phone and I'm looking at that logo right there on the back it says Cisco so I go yes it is that's a phone that runs off of the data network it's gonna be our responsibility and that's becoming more pervasive throughout the world is voice over IP systems where you have one network entity that rules them all so at this desk se two devices computer phone my eyes tracked to that corner up there where I see it looks like a motion sensor of some sort so that tells me there's this security room my mind is already going is there a security system that needs to be connected to the network this is a troubling corner to be I see a couple printers obviously not set up all the way yet because they would be sitting on a desk behind there is a network jack and I go okay I see one cable going to this printer there's no cable going to this printer so it's either not on or somebody took a shortcut and tried to make it a wireless I see Wi-Fi on the printer itself right there and I'm like I don't like that I don't like printers being on wireless it's not as stable I see another cable coming across the floor here to this device so that tells me they positioned the computer in this desk here but they did not run a network cable to that wall and now I will say kudos to them because I've seen a lot of people rearrange their office seating in a non ideal configuration because they're like oh I guess the network jack is there we're gonna have to move that person there you don't want to do that you want to have people sit where they should sit and have the network come to them now I come into this room right here and I see a desk computer sitting on the floor looks like an IP phone and a printer so immediately my mind goes 3 Network Devices here I'm also looking at the ceiling because I'm looking for a wireless access point I haven't seen one as of yet I see a little motion sensor sitting on the ceiling there but no wireless access no this office right here I'm gonna keep off the grid because it's my CBT Nuggets room and I know this ones of course we've got a solid network so we'll keep that one out two hallways it looks like one going down this way one going down this way now again I'm trying to train your eyes my eyes go to the thermostat on the wall I go okay Honeywell is that a network connected thermostat just from the archaic look of it I would say probably not but that might that goes through my mind because a lot of those will have network cables that go into the back of them some of them will be Wi-Fi connected I walk into the second portion of this building looks like there's a security system again the same thought as the thermostat is that network connected and it looks like a little break room or break area this is where I would start asking questions do you want an IP phone on the wall sitting right there sometimes people like having a phone in the break area or any of the break room device is going to be network connected it sounds crazy but a lot of times you'll have coffee makers expresso machines in that case that'll be not more connected walk over here let's take a look at some of these other offices I'll go left first like we have a flow around the wall a couple looks like IP phones sitting here look at that I'm seeing the computer over here network cable stretched across I don't like that I'm a big fan of the big wall Jack should be hidden behind whatever desk is there so you would either turn this desk which again is changing the configuration of the room based on where the network is or run a network cable on that wall I'm getting ahead of myself oh look at this here's a wonder less access point but it's obviously not connected anything now some people when they first see this are surprised because they expect to see the little antennas and stuff coming out actually in most business networks you're gonna see ones with internal antennas like this that are very aesthetic very pleasing to the eye revenue all having all these little antennas sticking out the ceiling this is obviously not connected to anything right now let's continue on walk across the hall to this side I see a computer I see an IP phone I see a laptop I see another computer over there is the network wall jack so again just getting a feel still not seeing any wireless access points on the ceiling that's fine looks like we've got a snowflake on the ceiling come over here look at this room it's empty it is where I would start questioning who's gonna be in here where are they gonna be sitting what devices are they gonna have are they gonna have printers computers phones in this room how are we going to set this this room up so that that looks like a room yet to be charted we would interview the business owner they're coming back over here we're actually into another tenant of this building shirt printing company they print logos and whatnot on shirts there's their shirt printing machine obviously I see a laptop sitting right there with the network connection now immediately I go okay laptop network connection that probably means there is no wireless network in this facility because they would have connected that wirelessly or they're just going for more stability because maybe it's a poor wireless network and so on I see over there in that corner past all of these shirt hanging racks there's another desk with a computer on it so I'm thinking okay network jack another potential Wireless thermoset they don't see any phones in this room so I'm thinking to myself do they not want them do they need some I'm always thinking network devices looks like a room here with a couple computers again I still don't see any phones on the desk fine printer right there on the wall I see a network connection coming out of the back of that so somebody has wired that in it looks like a equipment storage room in this case so another interview who's going to go in there what network devices and then I'm coming over here off the most important room of all this is the main distribution facility or MDF we'll talk a lot about this room look at that in the upper they're all the network cabling coming out and terminating right here into that that's actually a patch panel going to the network switch this is actually a mess network room should not look like that but far too many of them do I see just piles of equipment you'll see a lot of times people turn these things into mop closet you'll see people using them as file rooms and oh it's shoved over here in the corner you should have a dedicated room even in an office this size this is this is the scope of this suite all right we're back at the front of the building and there's one more seed I want to plant in your mind while we're at this assessment phase and that is Wireless now Wireless is going to be a completely different topic a completely different series to get into the depth of wireless that we need to but I will tell you just on a precursor as I'm thinking about cabling a building of this size would probably need two wireless access points I'd stick one right here or or here in this hallway to cover the front portion of the building and then I would stick one probably right here or more likely actually right here to cover the back half of the building so that we've got two wireless zones it'll give a good overlap and signal between the two so that we have a solid coverage for them I get more on Wireless nape later I'm just identifying where these devices will go at this point now walking away from that building this is the floor plan that I created it's definitely not perfect from a square footage and placement and all that kind of stuff of all the different walls and doors I think I even have an office over here without a door because I used pen when I drew this thing up but it's perfect for what it's used for and that is to start a discussion look at what I've identified here in the back of the building I identified the MDF the main distribution facility I showed where all the cabling drops are coming down I show where that server cabinet is here I also identified that storage room as no devices question mark why did I put that there because my next step is now to communicate to the management or the customer whoever I'm working with as I'm doing this cabling installation I want to be sure that when I walk away they knew that I had identified that room as no devices and they had said yes that's okay I identified this room as two computers with no phones because I'm starting to think this is very strange we've got a shirt company that have no phones either it's very small shirt company that runs everything off of their cell phones or this is a potential missed expectation where I'll do all the cabling and they'll say well what about the phones and I'll go what phones again notice this is I'm not even identifying the cable drops and where the actual wall Jack's are going to go right now I'm just saying here's the devices can we agree on this I'll identify the wall Jack's in the next nugget after we have identified these are truly the devices that are there notice I also identified the shirt printing machine why because I don't know what that thing is I think it might connect to the network it looked big and it had a screen so maybe it's network compatible maybe I need to put a wall jack there eventually maybe not I just want to identify it because it's a point of discussion identified the computer that was sitting there I said hey there's a wireless access point that's going to be needed there as I move down a little bit I've identified the security system I saw on the wall the thermostat I put phone question mark because that's a point of discussion hey are you going to want a phone on that wall like we identify at the front of the building I identified the wireless access point that's needed up there I noted for myself that there's a glass window that may come into play a little bit later I noted the printers that I saw sitting there in the corner and that there was a computer and a phone sitting at this desk I noted the forbidden CBT Nuggets room because I said well it will just leave that one off but when I'm communicating with the management I want to have a full sign-off expectations are fully set that these are all the devices that are in the network ID aren t you as you sit down and talk to the management they're gonna say oh actually we don't we don't want that computer over there it would be ideal if we put it over here in this corner or you know what we're gonna be moving somebody else into that office so we're gonna put them right there this is the time to have the conversation not after we've done all the cabling for this building here's what you're after in this phase one sign-off you want to find out are these the correct locations of the devices are they going to move just because you walk in and see a desk in a certain position doesn't necessarily mean that's what they want or the ideal position for the will there be other devices that you're adding maybe other computers laptops is it other IP phones I mean start start also thinking about the non-traditional technology that needs connections like that shirt machine or thermostat or security system or IP surveillance the stuff that we didn't even think about when we were walking through there's a lot of non-traditional stuff stuff that you don't usually think about when you think of IT that needs network connections would you like the potential of adding devices in the future get a sign-off on that storage room that we saw the empty office room where there was nobody sitting in there yet are you going to be adding maybe to three different people the whole goal of all of this is that you are doing a cabling installation one time you don't want to have to come back and come back and come back and go oh well now we're doing this and now we're doing this one create a final document and now I'm talking more on the contract sense if you are working this as a consultant you're gonna want to make sure that you have that final document that floor plan probably looking a lot more professional than this by time you get to this phase signed and dated even if you're working for a company and this is your employer you want to make sure that you do have that documentation that everybody fully agreed on that you can always come back to if there is any disagreement because that is what keeps your relationship happy now I mentioned at the beginning of this nugget that you will be able to walk into a new building and assess network requirements based on devices and here's how we're going to prove that ideally you'll be able to do a practical assessment of your first building meaning perform a device assessment of your home or office as possible or if you've got a church or nonprofit that will allow you to do some network cabling for them for free maybe they'll buy the cable for you and allow you to get the experience of doing this yourself the first thing I want you to do is to document the device to be installed and their locations if you're in your home we live in a world that there's enough network connected devices find your Roku find your Xbox if you've got it on wireless it's time for that device to be wired I Shirley wants you to create a floor plan just like we did right here but I want you to do it for your environment and identify where the devices will be installed once you have at least two or three locations identified I want you to identify the MDF as an where will the cable go from those locations that you've identified it could be a spare closet it could be a bedroom and it could even be a small portion of the bedroom like this is what my network closet got reduced to and we had child number 6 my wife said dear husband our home will not fit six children and have an entire bedroom dedicated as the MDF my point is your MDF does not have to consume a huge amount of space but you will want to make sure that it has power we'll be plugging some devices in if you are in a place where the practical is virtually impossible then dive into the theoretical which is a writing assignment do some google searching and find a building floor plan and then write a one paragraph explanation to your manager describing what the floor plan is showing [Music]

Channel: Viatto

Views: 12,410

Keywords: Fiber Cable, Network assessment, CCNA, fiber, fiber types, information technology (industry), information technology, it, tech, networking, it jobs, it fundamentals, how to, learn IT, networking tutorial for beginners, home network, CBT Nuggets, Keeping IT Simple

Id: YSoqisRiFe8

Length: 21min 51sec (1311 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 16 2020