Cat 6 is one of the best network cables available, and is responsible for delivery – sending and receiving. RJ45s are network connectors – and then there are keystone jacks of different types. For a patch cable, you need a straight through cable, meaning, it’s the same type on both sides, and not cross-over cable. Loadable patch panels have the punch-downs in the back, with pins in the front, corresponding to the punch-downs.
On removing the sheathing of the cable, you’ll find 4 pairs of twisted wires – browns, blues, greens, and oranges; these are twisted together as brown-white-brown, blue-white-blue, etc. It’s important to untwist the wires, and separate each strand, and straighten them out. It is recommended that you hold the wires in a pinch to prevent them from crossing one another. Keeping just about ¾ of an inch, cut off the rest. It becomes easy to insert the strands into the RJ45 cubes – just line them up with the channels inside the cube and push the wires in till they reach the marked line. A crimping tool is used to push down on the cube’s pins – which push down on the copper wire strands, making the electrical connection; here, the 8-pin side is used
Female versions of RJ45s are usually color coded as T56A or B, and A type is normally used for residential. They need to be removed from the sheathing as before, and separated. The brown and blue wires go on one side, and the green and orange on the other. After you have straightened them out, you hold the cable jacket as close to the cube as possible and insert the wires into the slots. With a punch down tool, you ensure that the wires lock in place. If you have any residual wires hanging out, just twist to break them off – and the connection is made.

While setting up a networking infrastructure around your workplace or any other domain that requires the use networking devices such as a server, switch, routers, etc., it is important that all incoming and outgoing cables that help connect and manage your network, are well organized and flexible to change. This is where a patch panel can help you.

Patch panels are effective pieces of equipment that are also referred to as patch bays, patch fields or jack fields and are part of a network. They are mounted assembly units that contain ports that are used to connect and manage incoming and outgoing cables as per their configuration i.e LAN, WAN, ETHERNET, etc. They help keep the cables in your server room or data-center organized and easily accessible and flexible too. This means with the help of a patch panel you can easily add or change the cabling infrastructure of your network.

A patch panel extends can be used with both interconnect and cross-connect methods to splice and terminate cables. In order to do so, you need patch cables that help terminate and route signals to the required destination via the patch cables. With a patch panel, all you need to do is plug or unplug the corresponding patch cords to create flexible connections and arrange circuits. We have an informative video as to how this can be done.

How is a T568-B is terminated on a loadable patch panel?
While working with a loadable patch panel in a network, we make use of the standard T568-B color coded patch panel. The panel you will see in the video has to punch down sections on the back that corresponds to the pin positions on the front end. Also, we make use of the Cat6 cable in the video.

A cable network never consists of only a single cable. There is a complex and intricate web of cables which create a network. All the cables in the network meet in a server room where detecting which cable goes where is almost impossible.

Maintaining and organizing these cables is a hard process, however, it is very important if you do not want any interruptions in your network.

In case of a network error, for example, if your telephone line stops working; you do not have the time to check all the cables and devices just to see where the problem occurred. However, your dead telephone will also hamper your working, which you can’t afford!

The best way to trace cables without wasting precious time is by using Tones and Testers. By sending a tone down the cable, you can detect the other end of the cable which is causing the disturbance. Tone testing is very useful when it comes to remote locations. The tone will travel through one end of the circuit and the technician will check all the cable ends present in the server room until the problematic cable is found.

How does it work?

1. Switch on your tone device or meter and go to the menu and select the cable you want to tone.
2. Plug your cable to the meter port.
3. Go to the network or server room where the other end of the cable resides.
4. Switch the wand on.
5. To detect which cable is the right one, take the wand near all the cables present in the network room one by one.

As soon as the wand comes near to the cable receiving the tone, it will start beeping. This will alert you about the right cable.

Now you can check and rectify the issue and bring your network back on track!