True story: My first job out of college we made our own patch cables. Usually we'd make them one at a time, as needed for a new server or workstation. My (then) boss didn't want to buy patch cables even though we knew that we (mostly software people) weren't doing a good job. Any time we had a flaky server problem it would turn out to be the cable... usually one made by my (then) boss. When he left the company the first policy change we made was to start buying pre-made cables.
That was during the days of Category 3 cables. With Category 5 and 6 the tolerances are so tight that just unwinding a pair too far (for example, to make it easier to crimp) will result in enough interference that you'll see errors. That's why it is so important to make sure the cables are certified. It isn't enough to use the right parts, you need to test it to verify that it will really work. There are people that will install cable in your walls and not do certification. Some will tell you they certified it but they really just plug a computer at each end. I found the best way to know the certification was really done is have them produce a book of printouts, one from each cable analysis. Tom -- http://EverythingSysadmin.com -- my blog (new posts Mon and Wed) http://www.TomOnTime.com -- my advice (more videos coming soon) _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
