Always Check Your Work

Always Check Your Work!

Normally, you install cable and equipment at the same time you build a network. You may run your own cables for your network and perform all equipment installation and configuration yourself, you may contract both the cable and equipment installation out to third parties, or you may choose some point between these two extremes. Whichever way you go, somewhere along the way you'll be ready to put the finished pieces of your network together.

When it comes to installing cabling, we highly recommend that you employ experienced cable installers with good references. The company that owns or operates your office building may even require a licensed cable installer to perform any such work. Here's why this is a good idea:

• Adherence to building and fire codes is mandatory, but it can also be tricky; using an experienced professional is a good way to avoid trouble.

• Cable placement and routing are sensitive; trained professionals know how to avoid potential trouble spots and always test their work to make sure that the network will behave properly.

• High-speed networks are much more finicky and prone to installation difficulties than lower-speed networks. The faster you want your network to go, the better off you'll be if you leave the cabling to an expert.

We strongly advise that you bring up your network in small, manageable pieces. When installing multiple cable segments, bring up individual segments one at a time and test them to make sure each one works before connecting all of them. Likewise, if you're installing a backbone or a server cluster, test individual components separately before trying them out en masse.

When you install equipment, apply the same principles. After you install and configure a machine, check it by itself to make sure it works before attaching it to the network. This is as appropriate for hubs and routers as it is for server and desktop computers.

KEY CONCEPT 

Our suggestions on piecewise checking and gradually increasing the complexity of your network come from experience. We found out the hard way that throwing everything together at once can cause problems that are too hard to troubleshoot because you have to deal with too many unknowns.