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Cisco Certification: A Survival Guide To The Cisco Cable Jungle |
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One of the most confusing parts of beginning your Cisco studies
is keeping all the cable types separate in your mind, and
then remembering what they’re used for. This often occurs
when a CCNA or CCNP candidate starts putting together their
own home practice lab, and they suddenly realize that they
have the equipment to run labs, but not the cables.
With this in mind, here are some common Cisco cable types
and their primary use.
First, there’s the regular old “straight-through
cable”, so named because the eight wires inside the cable
go straight through the wire. While the wires may be twisted
inside to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), the wire
that’s connected to Pin 1 on one end is connected to
Pin 1 on the other end, and so on. In a home lab, a straight-through
cable is often used to connect a switch port to an Ethernet
port on a router, with a transceiver attached to the Ethernet
port. Straight-through cables are also good for connecting
a BRI interface to an ISDN simulator.
The “crossover cable” is so named because the wires
do cross over between pins. This allows the devices to both
send and receive at the same time, and crossover cables are
a must for directly connecting ports on Cisco switches to
create a trunk.
The “rollover cable” allows you to connect directly
to a Cisco console port with your laptop or PC. This is the
blue cable that comes with new Cisco devices, and it’s
the one that engineers tend to hold on to with their lives.
Without a rollover cable (also commonly called a “console
cable”), you can’t connect your laptop directly
to a Cisco device.
Finally, there’s the DTE/DCE cable. To create a frame
relay cloud in your home lab (using one of your Cisco routers
as a DCE), or to directly connect two Cisco routers via their
serial interfaces, you will need a DTE/DCE cable. Remember
that the DCE interface will need to supply clockrate to the
DTE interface.
The different cable types can be confusing when you first
read about them, but after tearing down or building your home
lab a few times, you’ll definitely have them straight
come test day!
Best of luck in your lab and your exams.
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. For a FREE copy
of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and
“How To Pass The CCNP”, visit the website and download
your free copies. You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam
questions every day! Pass the CCNA exam with The Bryant Advantage!
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