I Friggin LOVE You, NetAlly LANBERT

His name was LANBERT and he came from the west
To show which cables sucks and which are best
With a push of a button it’s doing it’s stuff
Hopefully for mGig the existing wire is enough…
Oh looky there, this one passes just fine
That LANBERT just saved us money and time

–Ode to LANBERT, by Wendall Pissmont Jr

There’s a new Bert in town… forget about Reynolds*, Bacharach*, and that whiny neurotic muppet from Sesame Street. Them cats is yesterday. NetAlly has recently introduced LANBERT (at Mobility Field Day 6), and if you are in the business of network wiring then you should pay attention.

This was easily one of the more thought provoking sessions of MFD6, says I. Let’s set the stage: you have an installed cable base, and are migrating access points to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, and at long last we hopefully will see the massive throughputs that WLAN industry marketers have been telling us we should expect for years… like to the point where the old reliable 1 Gig uplink may not cut it. Do you need to replace that cable to get mGig performance?

LANBERT to the rescue! There should be no mystery when it comes to cabling performance capabilities. Many of us grew up knowing the value of cable certification testing, and now the free LANBERT app adds a much needed evolution to the notion.

Working with NetAlly’s Etherscope nXG and and LinkRunner 10G portable analyzers, LANBERT “generates and measures the transmission of line rate Ethernet frames over your network cabling infrastructure, qualifying its ability to support 1G/10G on fiber and 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G on copper links.” You are proving what an installed UTP or fiber run can really do despite what a certification report might say, without needing a standalone certification tester.

Test that existing cable for mGig before the new AP goes in, and don’t assume that “old” runs can’t support the new speeds.

I’ve long beaten the drum that the physical layer is critical to good networking. I’ve always viewed each part of a structured wiring system as it’s own component, worthy of note when it comes time for labeling, troubleshooting, and yes- performance testing. I’ve seen old cable work surprisingly well, and new cable disappoint for a number of reasons. There is simply no reason to guess how UTP and fiber will perform FOR REAL, with LANBERT. It’s the shizzle, baby!

View this fascinating Field Day presentation here.

*Yes, I know these dudes are actually named Burt and not Bert. Shut up.

Another Example of How Important Wire is to Wireless

A house built on a shaky foundation cannot endure. And a WLAN built on a shaky wiring foundation likewise cannot endure, I tellya. My friends, is your foundation shaky? Is it? CHECK YOUR FOUNDATION NOW. (I happen to sell foundation-strengthening herbal supplements on the side, if you need that sort of thing…)

I’ve long been a proponent of recognizing installed UTP as a vital component in the networking ecosystem. Too many people take Layer 1 for granted, and forgivable sins of of our 10 Mbps and Fast Ethernet pasts won’t fly in a Gig world. Toolmakers like Fluke Networks sell cable certification testers that take the guesswork out of whether a given cable run can be relied on to perform as expected. Don’t use one of these testers at time of cable installation, and you are only assuming you have a good station cable.

I just had an interesting situation come up that I helped a very skilled field tech with. He was working in several different small buildings, each serviced by a Cisco Catalyst Switch and a handful of 3802 802.11ac access points. The switches and cable had been in place for years, and the APs for many months, all with no issues whatsoever.

Then, we changed out the old 3560X switches for shiny new 3650s (curse you Cisco for your bizarre fascination with part numbers so close together), and suddenly some APs weren’t working any more. Between us, we checked all switch settings, POST reports, CDP tables, logs, etc- everything you can dream up on the switch. We put the APs that weren’t working back on the old switches, and they came right up. Hmmm… thoughts turned to PoE/code bugs, but then I went a-Googlin’ before consulting TAC.

I found this document that put me on the path to righteousness. Though we weren’t having “PoE Imax Errors”, a couple of nuggets jumped out at me about our new switches.

Holy guacamole- We got us a situation! But wait… THERE’S MORE!

Shazam! Which, of course, translates in Esperanto to “maybe your cable is actually kind of iffy, and all the CDP stuff that happens at the milliwatt level before PoE gets delivered worked OK with your old switch but not with the new one that has the enhanced PoE controller”.

If you don’t know that the newer switch does PoE differently, you might wrongly assume that your cabling is “good” because the APs worked on it when those APs used the old switches connected to that wiring. By now, you can probably guess where I’m headed…

Our tech tested the cabling on the new-switch-problem APs and in each case found that they needed help to work with the new switch. He re-terminated and tested each, with the APs then coming up with no issues. I have no doubt that this cable was certified 10-12 years ago, but in that time a lot can happen to either end of those cables depending on the environments where they are used.

Live and learn!

 

 

NETSCOUT’s Next-Gen LinkRunner Tester Is Ready For The Changing Network Landscape

Just when you thought that maybe all of the cool testing innovation was reserved for Wi-Fi and the likes of the AirCheck G2, NETSCOUT brings out an equally impressive wired networking tester. The new LinkRunner G2  (shown on left below) sports the same color scheme and physical profile as the AirCheck G2:

But a closer look topside reveals some tell-tale features:

What isn’t obvious from these images is that NETSCOUT made the LinkRunner G2 with a whole new user-customizable philosophy in mind that applies to both hardware and software. See the fiber SFP on the left and the USB WLAN adapter on the right side in the second image? You don’t HAVE TO get those from NETSCOUT if you find a better price on similar interfaces elsewhere. Unlike some vendors, NETSCOUT opted to be very accommodating of 3rd party adapters. And the LinkRunner G2 is actually a hardened Android computing platform that you can tweak in a number of ways- but let’s come back to that in a bit.

Recognizing the LAN-Scape For What It’s Becoming

In talking with LinkRunner’s product management, I was able to hear the inside scoop on where the company sees the product fitting into the connected world. It’s no secret that the number and type of network-connected devices “out there” is skyrocketing, but investment in support staff and their capabilities isn’t for many organizations. That being said, the LinkRunner G2 is viewed by NETSCOUT as the “smart network tester for the connected world”. Now, I’m as buzzphrase-adverse as anyone, but the deeper you dig into the LRG2, the more you realize that NETSCOUT is not over-hyping the new tester’s capabilities. With strong physical layer support capabilities, LRG2 is handy before the network even goes live. On active networks, Ethenet and core services are tested and characterized nicely. Then there are the true differentiators- and Power over Ethernet (PoE) functionality is a prime example.

Robust PoE Measurement and Charging

NETSCOUT points out that today’s LAN environment is no longer just a client-access domain, it’s also a power-distribution system for a growing number of devices. Beyond VoIP phones, CCTV cameras and wireless access points, we now have lighting systems, locks, and Bluetooth sensors among the many devices using PoE for operating power.

Netscout describes the LRG2 as the only current tester fully able to support all versions of PoE including Universal PoE (UPOE) that sources 60 watts at the switchport and up to 51 watts at the field jack. And this LinkSprinter also charges off of PoE!

Link-Live

Depending what other NETSCOUT (or Fluke Networks) tools you use, you may already be a Link-Live user.

 

Link-Live makes the storing, sharing, and reporting of test results and absolute cakewalk. When you have a number of staff with varying skillsets, NETSCOUT’s Link-Live-capable tools can bring a uniformity of testing that reduces errors and faulty troubleshooting, and makes the results available for reference and escalation. It’s a free service, and LinkSprinter G2’s tests are as well formatted as the likes of the AirCheck G2’s. I’m a fan.

The Multi-Function Tester That You Can Customize

This tester is still a LinkSprinter, so you’d expect to see views like this on the crystal-clear touchscreen as you test copper and fiber links:

 

But there is sooooo much more. Remember, I said that this is a full-blown Android device. It also happens to have many “phone-like” features including a built-in flashlight, camera (attach pictures to Link-Live reports or email them from the LRG2), web browser, screen shot capabilities, Micro SD slot for file storage and portability, and even access to other apps that can be installed on the tester.

This is so handy, and almost too good to be true. The caveat to the starting app paradigm? You don’t have access to the full Play Store. This is a hardened Android device after all, and you do not log in to the Play Store with your own account. But you do have access to a wide range of vetted network/documentation/productivity apps via NETSCOUT’s partnership with Google. If you find an app that you’d like, NETSCOUT provides an easy path to request it.

Within five minutes after discovering this capability, I had my test unit nicely loaded with some of the same Wi-Fi and network apps I use on my own Android phone and tablets, and the ability to run them all off of a robust network tester feels incredibly empowering.

There is just a lot here to appreciate in the LinkRunner G2. It’s clear that NETSCOUT was shooting for versatility and expandibility with this network tester, and they hit both targets nicely.

Learn more at product web site.

 

The Red Hot Cable Peppers

It was only a dream. But it was a c-r-a-z-y dream. There were no chemicals ingested prior to the slumber that contained the dream, either- so just get those thoughts out of your head up front. But it seemed so real. Me and the Red Hot Chili Peppers… doing some cabling work. I kid you not. Here’s what I recall of it, and the lessons that these awesome rockers took away from our imaginary time together.

I was up front at a Peppers concert, and they were just getting into By The Way.

Standing in line
To see the show tonight
And there’s a light on
Heavy glow
By the way I tried to say
I’d be there, waiting for
Dani the girl
Is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, overload

And BOOM! All the stage equipment went dead as soon as Anthony got to “overload”.

Inexplicably, I was suddenly backstage with the band (in my own favorite incarnation- Anthony, Chad, Flea, and John Frusciante). Chad looked disgusted, and before he wandered off he said something like “I’m getting too old for this. Why the hell do we run our own data cables any more for these shows?” That was the last I saw of him. Flea (who is not English, but he had a Cockney accent for some reason in this scenario) shouted “I told you wankers to actually LABEL things and test your work!” Then he too disappeared.

Anthony said nothing, but he looked seriously pissed. John asked me “can you help us? We gotta get this stuff going again, man…” Now, I have no idea why a bunch of data cables would have anything to do with the lights and sound on stage crapping out for the Peppers,  and I’m here to tell you that it’s irrelevant. These guys needed my help.

For some reason we had to climb on top of an RV to where like fifty or so UTP cables were hanging, and a bunch had sloppily crimped-on ends and were coupled together with RJ45 couplers. Flea was right, nothing was labeled. Anthony continued to say nothing, and John did all the talking. In magic dream speed, he showed me a few patch panels, their patch cables, and lots of odd little things that needed straightening out. We had to rerun a bunch of cables, and even put a new rack in the RV.  John got a roadie to film the whole thing, so he could play it back to Chad and Flea later, which I thought was really good thinking.

Anthony worked with us, still never saying a word and looking angry, sometimes at me. It was freaking me out, because I was trying to help him.

So how it finished out… We basically got all their wiring issues fixed. John was excellent, and he told me Anthony was just intense, and not really pissed which I was okay with. Anthony actually gave me a hug, and a carton of Dunkin Donut Holes. The band got back on stage to finish the concert, and I got to hang out offstage and monitor their “LEDs”, having no idea what I was looking at. The crowd didn’t seem to notice that the band was gone for however long it took to fix all the wiring. At the end, Anthony said “Goodnight, Poland! We love you!” and I was now mildly worried how I’d be getting home from Poland.

Before we went to what certainly would have a been a kick-ass afterparty, Anthony called us all into a room and wanted to white-board what they would do different on their next cabling job. Here’s what that amounted to:

Alas, I did miss the dream party because I woke up, but felt that I got to be pals with John Frusciante which was pretty cool. And I KNOW that if the dream Chili Peppers keep running their own dream data cables for other people’s dream concerts, they have me to thank for doing it right from now on.

(This is a true story- I bored my wife with it at breakfast.)