Guide to Networking Essentials

Fifth Edition

Chapter 3
Networking Media
 Objectives
• Identify general cabling characteristics applied to
physical media
• Describe the primary cable types used in networking
• Identify the components in a structured cabling
installation
• Describe wireless transmission techniques used in
LANs and WANs

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 2

 Network Cabling: Tangible Physical
Media
• The interface between a computer and the medium to
which it attaches defines the translation from a
computer’s native digital information into the form
needed to send outgoing messages
– Because all media must support the basic tasks of
sending and receiving signals, you can view all
networking media as doing the same thing; only the
methods vary
– You need to know the physical characteristics and
limitations of each kind of network media so that you
can make the best use of each type
• Each has a unique design and usage, with associated
cost, performance, and installation criteria
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 3
 General Cable Characteristics
• The following characteristics apply network cabling:
– Bandwidth rating
– Maximum segment length
– Maximum number of segments per internetwork
– Maximum number of devices per segment
– Interference susceptibility
– Connection hardware
– Cable grade
– Bend radius
– Material costs
– Installation costs
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 4
 Baseband and Broadband
Transmission
• Baseband transmission uses a digital encoding
scheme at a single fixed frequency, where signals
take the form of discrete pulses of electricity or light
– Repeaters can be used to deal with “attenuation”
• Broadband transmission systems use analog
techniques to encode binary 1s and 0s across a
continuous range of values
– Multiple analog transmission channels can operate
on a single broadband cable
– Amplifiers can be used to deal with attenuation
– Two primary approaches: mid-split and dual-cable
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 5
 The Importance of Bandwidth
• The trend in networking is to offer more complex,
comprehensive, and powerful services
– These require much higher bandwidth
• Users demand access to these applications and
have increased their use of existing networked
applications, consuming still more bandwidth
• Technologists find ways to stretch bandwidth limits
of existing technologies so that older, difficult-to-
replace networking components can remain, yet
support higher bandwidth than originally rated

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 6

 Primary Cable Types
• All forms of cabling are similar, in that they provide
a medium across which network information can
travel in the form of a physical signal, whether
electrical or light pulses
• The primary cable types are:
– Coaxial cable
– Twisted-pair
– Fiber-optic cable

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 7

 Coaxial Cable
• Was the predominant form of network cabling
• Shielding: protective layer(s) wrapped around cable
to protect it from external interference
• Less susceptible to interference and attenuation than
twisted-pair, but more susceptible than fiber-optic

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 8

 Coaxial Cable (continued)

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 The Use of Coaxial Cable for Ethernet
• Ethernet’s beginnings are in coaxial cable
– First, it was run on a very thick, rigid cable, usually
yellow, referred to as thicknet (10Base5)
– Later, a more manageable coaxial cable called
thinnet (10Base2) was used
• 10Base5 is an IEEE designation
– 10 Mbps
– Baseband
– Maximum segment length is 500 meters

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 10

 Coaxial Cable in Cable Modem
Applications

• Coaxial cable in LANs has become obsolete

• The standard cable (75 ohm, RG-6; RG stands for
“radio grade”) that delivers cable television (CATV)
to millions of homes nationwide is also being used
for Internet access

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 11

 Coaxial Cable in Cable Modem
Applications (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 12

 Other Coaxial Cable Types
• Other applications for coax include ARCnet and
computer terminal attachments to mainframes and
minicomputers
– Attached resource computing network (ARCnet)
is an older networking technology developed at
DataPoint Corporation in the late 1970s
• Supports a bandwidth of only 2.5 Mbps
• Implementations that use fiber-optic and twisted-pair
cable are available but usually limited to specialized
applications that require properties unique to ARCnet
(e.g., deterministic communication and low overhead)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 13

 Twisted-Pair Cable

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 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP)
• 10BaseT
– Maximum length is 100 meters
• UTP is now the most popular form of LAN cabling
• The UTP cable used for networking usually
includes one or more pairs of insulated wires
• UTP specifications govern the number of twists per
foot (or per meter), depending on the cable’s
intended use
• UTP is used for telephony, but requirements for
networking uses differ from the telephony ones
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 15
 UTP Cabling Categories
• UTP cabling is rated according to a number of
categories devised by the TIA and EIA; since 1991,
ANSI has also endorsed these standards
– ANSI/TIA/EIA 568 Commercial Building Wiring
Standard for commercial environments includes:
• Category 1 (voicegrade)
• Category 2: up to 4 Mbps
• Category 3: up to 10 Mbps (16 MHz)
• Category 4 (datagrade): up to 16 Mbps (20 MHz)
• Category 5: up to 100 Mbps (100 MHz)
• Category 5e: up to 1000 Mbps (100 MHz)
• Category 6: up to 1000 Mbps (200 MHz)
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 16
 Shielded Twisted Pair (STP)
• Shielding reduces crosstalk and limits external
interference
– Usually, wiring includes a wire braid inside cladding
or sheath, and a foil wrap around each wire pair
• Enables support of higher bandwidth over longer
distances than UTP
– No set of standards for STP corresponds to the
ANSI/TIA/EIA 568 Standard, yet it’s not unusual to
find STP cables rated according to those standards
– Uses two pairs of 150 ohm wire (defined by the IBM
cabling system), and was not designed to be used in
Ethernet applications, but it can be adapted to
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 17
 Twisted-Pair Cable (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 18

 Twisted-Pair Cable (continued)
• Typically, twisted-pair systems include the following
elements, often in a wiring center:
– Distribution racks and modular shelving
– Modular patch panels
– Wall plates
– Jack couplers

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 19

 Twisted-Pair Cable (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 20

 Twisted-Pair Cable (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 21

 Making Twisted-Pair Cable
Connections
• One of the skills required of a network technician is
making a twisted-pair patch cable
• To do this, you need:
– Wire cutters or electrician’s scissors
– Wire stripper
– Crimp tool
– RJ-45 plugs
• There are two standards for the arrangement of
wires: TIA/EIA 568A and TIA/EIA 568B
– You must stick to one throughout your network
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 22
 Making Twisted-Pair Cable
Connections (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 23

 Making Twisted-Pair Cable
Connections (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 24

 Fiber-Optic Cable

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 Fiber-Optic Cable (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 26

 Fiber-Optic Cable (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 27

 Fiber-Optic Cable (continued)
• Installation of fiber-optic networks is more difficult
and time-consuming than copper media installation
• Connectors and test equipment are considerably
more expensive than their copper counterparts
• Two types
– Single-mode: costs more and generally works with
laser-based emitters, but spans the longest
distances
– Multimode: costs less and works with light emitting
diodes (LEDs), but spans shorter distances

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 28

 Cable Selection Criteria
• Criteria to be considered for a network installation
– Bandwidth
– Budget
– Capacity
– Environmental considerations
– Placement
– Span
– Local requirement
– Existing cable plant

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 29

 Cable Selection Criteria (continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 30

 Managing and Installing the Cable
Plant
• Important to understand basic methods and
terminology of cable management
• The TIA/EIA developed the document “568
Commercial Building Wiring Standard,” which
specifies how network media should be installed to
maximize performance and efficiency
– Standard defines “structured cabling”

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 31

 Structured Cabling
• Specifies how cabling should be organized
– Relies on an extended star physical topology
– Can be applied to any size network
– Details of a cable plant have six components
• Work area
• Horizontal wiring
• Telecommunications closets
• Equipment rooms
• Backbone or vertical wiring
• Entrance facilities
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 32
 Work Area
• The work area is where computer workstations
and other user devices are located
– Faceplates and wall jacks are installed in the work
area, and patch cables connect computers and
printers to wall jacks, which are in turn connected to
a nearby telecommunications closet
– Patch cables should be less than 6 meters long
– TIA/EIA 568 standard calls for at least one voice and
one data outlet on each faceplate in each work area
– Connection between wall jack and telecommunica-
tions closet is made with horizontal wiring
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 33
 Horizontal Wiring
• Horizontal wiring runs from the work area’s wall
jack to the telecommunications closet and is
usually terminated at a patch panel
– Acceptable horizontal wiring types include four-pair
UTP (Category 5e or 6) or two fiber-optic cables
– Horizontal wiring from the wall jack to the patch
panel should be no longer than 90 meters
• Patch cables in the work area and in the
telecommunications closet can total up to 10 meters

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 34

 Telecommunications Closet

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 35

 Equipment Rooms
• The equipment room houses servers, routers,
switches, and other major network equipment, and
serves as a connection point for backbone cabling
running between TCs
– Can be the main cross-connect of backbone cabling
for the network, or it might serve as the connecting
point for backbone cabling between buildings
– In multibuilding installations, each building often has
its own equipment room

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 36

 Backbone Cabling
• Backbone cabling (or vertical cabling)
interconnects TCs and equipment rooms
– Runs between floors or wings of a building and
between buildings
– Frequently fiber-optic cable but can also be UTP
– When it connects buildings, it is usually fiber-optic
• Multimode fiber can extend up to 2000 meters
• Single-mode fiber can reach distances up to 3000
– Between equipment rooms and TCs, the distance is
limited to 500 meters for both fiber-optic cable types
– From the main cross-connect to equipment rooms,
fiber-optic cable can run up to 1500 meters
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 37
 Entrance Facilities
• An entrance facility is the location of the cabling
and equipment that connects a corporate network
to a third-party telecommunications provider
– Can serve as an equipment room and the main
cross-connect for all backbone cabling
– It is also where a connection to a WAN is made and
the point where corporate LAN equipment ends and
a third-party provider’s equipment and cabling
begins—also known as the “demarcation point”

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 38

Wireless Networking: Intangible Media
• Wireless technologies continue to play an
increasing role in all kinds of networks
• Since 1990, the number of wireless options has
increased, and the cost continues to decrease
• Wireless networks can now be found in most towns
and cities in the form of hot spots, and more home
users have turned to wireless networks
• Wireless networks are often used with wired
networks to interconnect geographically dispersed
LANs or groups of mobile users with stationary
servers and resources on a wired LAN
– Microsoft calls networks that include both wired and
wireless components hybrid networks
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 39
 The Wireless World
• Wireless networking can offer the following:
– Create temporary connections to existing wired
networks
– Establish backup or contingency connectivity for
existing wired networks
– Extend a network’s span beyond the reach of wire-
based or fiber-optic cabling, especially in older
buildings where rewiring might be too expensive
– Enable users to roam with their machines within
certain limits (called “mobile networking”)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 40

 The Wireless World (continued)
• Common wireless applications include:
– Ready access to data for mobile professionals
– Delivery of network access into isolated facilities or
disaster-stricken areas
– Access in environments where layout and settings
change constantly
– Improved customer services in busy areas, such as
check-in or reception centers
– Network connectivity in structures where in-wall wiring
would be impossible to install or too expensive
– Home networks where the installation of cables is
inconvenient
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 41
 The Wireless World (continued)

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 Types of Wireless Networks
• Three main categories
– Local Area Networks (LANs)
– Extended LANs
– Mobile computing
• An easy way to differentiate among these uses is
to distinguish in-house from carrier-based facilities
– Mobile computing typically involves a third party that
supplies transmission and reception devices to link
the mobile part of a network with the wired part
• Most often, the company providing these services is a
communications carrier (such as MCI or AT&T)
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 43
 Wireless LAN Components
• NIC attaches to an antenna and an emitter
• At some point on a cabled network, a
transmitter/receiver device, called a transceiver or
an access point, must be installed to translate
between the wired and wireless networks
• An access point device includes an antenna and
a transmitter to send and receive wireless traffic,
but also connects to the wired side of the network
• Some wireless LANs use small transceivers, which
can be wall mounted or freestanding, to attach
computers or devices to a wired network
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 44
 Wireless LAN Transmission
• Wireless LANs send/receive signals broadcast
through the atmosphere
– Waves in the electromagnetic spectrum
– Frequency of the wave forms is measured in Hz
• Affects the amount and speed of data transmission
– Lower-frequency transmissions can carry less data
more slowly over longer distances
• Commonly used frequencies for wireless data
communications
– Radio—10 KHz (kilohertz) to 1 GHz (gigahertz)
– Microwave—1 GHz to 500 GHz
– Infrared—500 GHz to 1 THz (terahertz)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 45

 Wireless LAN Transmission
(continued)
• Higher-frequency technologies often use tight-
beam broadcasts and require a clear line of sight
between sender and receiver
• Wireless LANs make use of four primary
technologies for transmitting and receiving data
– Infrared
– Laser
– Narrowband (single-frequency) radio
– Spread-spectrum radio

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 46

 Infrared LAN Technologies
• Infrared light beams send signals between pairs of
devices
• High bandwidth (10 to 100 Mbps)
• Four main kinds of infrared LANs
– Line of sight networks
– Reflective wireless networks
– Scatter infrared networks
– Broadband optical telepoint networks
• Infrared transmissions are being used increasingly
for virtual docking
• IrDA: Infrared Device Association
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 47
 Laser-Based LAN Technologies
• Laser-based transmissions also require a clear line
of sight between sender and receiver
• Any solid object or person blocking a beam blocks
data transmissions
• To protect people from injury and avoid excess
radiation, laser-based LAN devices are subject to
many of the same limitations as infrared, but aren’t
as susceptible to interference from visible light
sources

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 48

 Narrowband Radio LAN Technologies

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 Narrowband Radio LAN Technologies
(continued)

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 Spread-Spectrum LAN Technologies

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 802.11 Wireless Networking
• The 1997 802.11 standard is also referred to as
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)
– Current standards include 802.11b and 802.11g
running at a 2.4 GHz frequency (11 Mbps and 54
Mbps, respectively), and 802.11a, which specifies a
bandwidth of 54 Mbps at a 5 GHz frequency
– 802.11 wireless is an extension to Ethernet using
airwaves as the medium; most 802.11 networks
incorporate wired Ethernet segments
– Networks can extend to several hundred feet
– Many businesses are setting up Wi-Fi hot spots,
which are localized wireless access areas
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 52
 Wireless Extended LAN Technologies

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 Wireless MAN: The 802.16 Standard
• One of the latest wireless standards, 802.16
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave
Access (WiMax), comes in two flavors: 802.16-
2004 (previously named 802.16a), or fixed WiMax,
and 802.16e, or mobile WiMax
– Promise wireless broadband to outlying and rural
areas, where last-mile wired connections are too
expensive or impractical because of rough terrain
– Delivers up to 70 Mbps of bandwidth at distances up
to 30 miles
– Operates in a wide frequency range (2 to 66 GHz)
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 54
 Fixed WiMax: 802.16-2004
• Besides providing wireless network service to
outlying areas, fixed WiMax is being used to deliver
wireless Internet access to entire metropolitan
areas rather than the limited-area hot spots
available with 802.11
• Fixed WiMax can blanket an area up to a mile in
radius, compared to just a few hundred feet for
802.11
• Los Angeles has begun implementing fixed WiMax
in an area of downtown that encompasses a 10-
mile radius
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 55
 Mobile WiMax: 802.16e
• Promises to bring broadband Internet roaming to
the public
• Promises to allow users to roam from area to area
without losing the connection, which offers mobility
much like cell phone users enjoy
• The mobile WiMax standard is not yet finalized
– Expected to be approved in late 2005 or early 2006
• Fixed WiMax is expected to be the dominant
technology for the next several years, but mobile
WiMax will win out in the end
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 56
 Microwave Networking Technologies

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 57

 Microwave Networking Technologies
(continued)

Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 58

 Summary
• Working with network media requires attention to
requirements, budget, distance, bandwidth, and
environmental factors
• Cabled networks typically use one of two
transmission schemes: broadband or baseband
• For wired networks, the primary choices are twisted-
pair and fiber-optic cables
– Twisted-pair cable can be unshielded or shielded
– Fiber-optic cable: highest bandwidth, best security and
resistance to interference, but the most expensive
• Structured cabling facilitates troubleshooting,
modifying, and expanding a network cable plant
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 59
 Summary (continued)
• Wireless networking is gaining popularity
– A typical wireless network acts like a wired network,
except that wires aren’t needed to carry the signals
– Wireless networks use a variety of electromagnetic
frequency ranges (narrowband, spread-spectrum radio,
microwave, infrared, and laser transmission)
– 802.11 family promises to make wireless networking
commonplace in homes and corporate environments
– 802.16 provides up to 70 Mbps of bandwidth over long
distances (30 miles) and can be used to create MANs
– Mobile computing involves using broadcast frequencies
and communications carriers to transmit and receive
signals with cellular or satellite communications
techniques
Guide to Networking Essentials, Fifth Edition 60