Selecting and Understanding the LAN standards

There are various types of LAN standards. They all have some basic differences in the area of speed, range, capacity and many other things. For selecting a LAN standard that is perfect for you for now and for the future, needs some knowledge about them. Let’s start.

There are some types of LAN standard. In its simple form they are as follow:

1. 10base- 2
2. 10base-5
3. 100base-TX
4. 10base-T 2
5. 100base-T4
6. 1000base-T
7. 10Gbase-T 4

Etc.

10base- 2

It is also known as cheapernet, thin Ethernet, thinnet etc. In this standard, thin coaxial cable used as communication medium. Hence it is known as thinnet. For attaching T type BNC connectors are used. Both cable and connectors are less expensive. So they know as cheapernet.  It is kind of early standard for communication of LAN and becomes obsolete in modern technology.

10base-2 contains some meaning. Here 10 stand for 10Mbps speed, base stands for base-band transmission and 2 stands for range of 200 meters. Though is 185 meter actually.

The limitation of 10base-2 makes it obsolete. Speed is its one of major limitation. The other limitations are at best 30 devices can be attached its port per segment. Also for connecting two network devices more than 3 repeaters can’t be used. And at best 5 connected segments are allowed.

10base-2 is less expensive but as it has too many joint so the network open for attack of disturbance. Also it is not possible to extend without interrupting network.

10base-5

In 10base-5 the coaxial cable used is little bit thicker than that is used in 10base-2 or thin Ethernet. For this it is also known as thick Ethernet. The use of this kind of coaxial makes it range wider than 10base-2 ranges which 500 meters. Number of connecting nodes also improved. It is 100.

But it still its speed not improved. It has the same speed, 10Mbps. Also 50ohm terminator used at the end of physical network.

10base-T

Here in 10base-T “T” stands for twisted pair as twisted pair cable is used as transmission medium. And it use 8P8C modular connector or RJ45 connector as media of attachment. Its transmission speed referred as 10/100 which means it support both 10 and 100 Mbps speed. Category#3 cables are used in 10base-T. But higher order cable can also be used. Both UTP and STP cable can be used. If UTP cables are used then the range will be 100 meter and if STP cables are used then the range moves to 200 meters.

Installation of 10base-T network is pretty much easy and comparatively less expensive. In twisted pair cable there are 4 pair of cable but in 10base-T only two pair is used. It is position to run another network connection or phone connection using these two pairs of used cable. But it is not said in standard.

10base-T use TIA/EIA-568-A and TIA/EIA-568-B wiring standard. It is possible to use up to 1024 nodes in 10base-T network. Normally use a star topology with a center Hub. 

100base-T

100base-T is referred as Fast internet because of speed. Its speed is 100Mbps. It can be classified in three different standards.

1.       100base-TX

2.       100base-T4

3.       100base-T2

In all three cases one thing is common. All of them use star topology. And 10base-TX is the most popular and mostly used standard.

In 100base-TX from 4 pair of cable only two pair is used as like 10base-T. Hence it can be used as the up gradation of 10base-T with changing all of it. One pair cable is used for transmitting and another is used for receiving.  It uses good quality cable like category 5 cable as transmission medium and RJ45 connector as attaching medium. Use point to point connection so hub or switch required for connecting more devices. In 100base-TX 4 bits transmitted per symbol and 4B5B binary encoding system is used.

In 100base-T4, as the name suggests all 4 pair of cables are used. But it has an advantage. That is category#3 UPT cable can be used as the transmission medium. It transmits 8bits per symbol and use 8B6T encoding system. Here one pair cable dedicated for transmission and one pair cable is dedicated for reception and other two pairs can switch. Actually 3 pairs cable are used for transmitting. It is half duplex.

In 100base-T2, two pair of cable is used just as 100base-TX. The difference between 100base-TX and 100base-T2 is that it100base-T2 uses both pairs of cable for either transmitting or receiving simultaneously. For that reason it is full duplex.

1000base-T

Also known as gigabit Ethernet as its speed is 1000Mbps or Gigabit. Some classification found of this kind. Some use 4 pairs of cable and 5 levels pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-5) and some use two pairs of cable and 3 levels pulse amplitude modulation (PAM-3).

Some examples of gigabit standard are as follow:

1.       1000BASE‑CX

2.       1000BASE‑SX

3.       1000BASE‑LX

4.       1000BASE‑LX10

5.       1000BASE‑ZX

6.       1000BASE‑TX

100base-FX

100base-FX use optical fiber as transmission medium. It uses two strand of optical fiber. One for transmitting uses another for receiving.

Cabling with RJ45 for LAN setup

Now a day’s normally we use 5e or 6 categories UTP cable for 10mb, 100mb or Gigabit LAN setup. The cable conductor can be both solid or strand. You should keep in mind that, they are RJ45 connectors in market which only support either solid or strand cable. There are also some connectors which support both types of cable. Both types of connector look like same. So you should be careful about this.

In a common LAN setup two types of cable connection needed. One is straight through cable and the other is crossed cable. Though the modern switch and Hubs can auto sense the cable connection type but you still need the old convention if your system use old instrument.

Straight and Cross connection

PC to PC cross connection

From the above picture it is clear when to use straight and when to cross. So crossed cable used for connecting switch / Hub to switch / hub or only single PC to single PC and straight cable used to connect switch to pc. In modern technology crossed is rarely used straight is used in everywhere (with modern switch and hub which have auto sense capability).

In cabling LAN the most important thing is to understanding the color code. In a UTP cable there are 4 pairs of cable with 8 different colors. These colors are not random and follow the standard color rules. There are two standards for numbering these color cables. They are as follow:

1.     TIA/EIA 568A 
2.    TIA/EIA 568B

Both standards have the same performance. Normally 568B wiring is popular for straight through cable.

TIA/EIA 568A standard

TIA/EIA 568B standard

From the picture you see two different numbering system of UTP cable.There are various standards for using LAN. Cabling connection is also varies according them. It also defines which type of cable we have to use. So you should have a little bit knowledge for better understanding what you are doing.

Some standards in its simple from are as follow:

1. 10base-T 2
2. 100base-TX
3. 100base-T4
4. 1000base-T 4
5. 10Gbase-T 4

There is a little bit more understanding needed to know the cabling scheme for different standard.We discus about common scheme for 10base-T and 100base-TX. Both standard use two pair of cable, one pair for transmitting and another for receiving. That's why the cable wiring of these two is similar and easy.

The numbering of RJ45 connector pin is also very important. Put the metallic part of the connector upside and face it to you then count from right to left 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8.

Here is an example

RJ45 connector pin numbering

You know two types of cabling required for LAN setup. Straight cable is also some time defined as patch cable and the cross cable type. Again Remember do not use both numbering format, use any one of them, either 568A or 568B.For straight cable normally 568B numbering system followed. In this type on the both end of the cable same connection sequence used.

 

For 568B
Number of the cable	Cable Color	RJ45 Pin Number
1	white and orange	1
2	orange	2
3	white and green	3
4	blue	4
5	white and blue	5
6	green	6
7	white and brown	7
8	brown	8

 If 568A numbering system is followed then the connection will be as follow:

For 568A
Number of the cable	Cable Color	RJ45 Pin Number
1	white and green	1
2	green	2
3	white and orange	3
4	blue	4
5	white and blue	5
6	orange	6
7	white and brown	7
8	brown	8

568A straight Through

568B straight Through

Cross cable connections are used in single PC to PC connection or Hub to Hub connection. For connecting PC to hub straight cable connection is used. So don’t confuse yourself about this. Though modern Hub or switch can sense cable connection and straight cable connection can be used but there still some requirement to follow.

For cross cable connection on one end of the cable connect using 568A standard and on the other end connect using 568B connection.

One end of the cable  568A Other end of the cable 568B Connector pin Color code Connector pin Color code 1 white and green 1 white and orange 2 green 2 orange 3 white and orange 3 white and green 4 blue 4 blue 5 white and blue 5 white and blue 6 orange 6 green 7 white and brown 7 white and brown 8 brown 8 brown

 Here is the connecting procedure with RJ45

1.   Cut the cable according to your required measured length. Always cut some extra length in case of your emergency. Do not cut exact what you measured.
2.   Skin the cable at both end
3.  Untwist the cable
4. Place the wire according to your cable connection 568A or 568B.
5. Arrange them together close enough there were no gap among them.
6.  Cut them with a good cutter smoothly
7.  Insert them into connector carefully
8. With a good quality crimping tool attached them with RJ45
9.  For security check it with a cable tester. 

Now the cabling has done. But the LAN setup is not finished yet. Now you have to configure LAN in PC.
This article is for those who use 10base-T or 100base-TX standards. But if you use 100base-T4 or 1000base -T standards then the cross cable connection will be slightly different because they use all the four cable. The other things will be remain same. For this modified cross cable connection see the article The Crossover connections.

Network Cables Introduction

Cable in Network is like vein in human body because it is the medium through which all information transmits. There are various types of cable. Selection of cable needs some consideration such as cost, protocol, network topology etc. Some of them are as follow:

Twisted Pair Cable

As the name suggested in twisted pair cable, a pair of cable twisted with each other. In this formation they cancel the internal magnetic field created by them for carrying signal and external magnetic field when they pass beside electrical circuit or devices. It gives better protection from internal and external noises. Most telephone communication and Ethernet media use twisted pair cable as transmission medium. Two types of twisted pair cable exist.

1) Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable (UTP)

2) Shielded Twisted Pair Cable (STP)

Unshielded Twisted Pair Cable

It is most common and popular cable used for general purpose by the general people. Because it is cost effective and satisfy the demand and can be used anywhere except environment with lots of interference and where 100% accuracy is needed. In unshielded twisted pair cable there are no shield provided. The interference from noise is avoided only using twisting technique. Some variety of UTP exists according to type and speed of the network. They are as follow:

Category 1—1 Mbps — used for voice communication (Telephone wire)

Category 2—4 Mbps—can be used for Local talk but it is rarely used.

Category 3—16 Mbps—used in 10BASE-T Ethernet.

Category 4—20 Mbps—Used in Token Ring.

Category 5—100 Mbps (2 pair)/1000 Mbps (4 pair)—Can be used in 100BaseT Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet

Category 5e —1000 Mbps—Gigabit Ethernet

Category 6—10,000 Mbps—cable consists of four pairs of 24 American Wire Gauge (AWG) copper wires.

The standard connector for UTP is RJ45 and its range is 100m.

Shielded Twisted Pair Cable 

Shielded Twisted pair cable reduces the limitation of unshielded twisted pair cable. It can be used in almost any area which has highly potential interference as it combines the shielding technique with twisting technique.  In STP each four pairs of cable are wrapped with metallic foil then all four pairs again wrapped with metallic foil making it more interference resistance. STP shielding must be grounded on both ends. STP data connector usually used for STP cable but RJ45 also can be used as connector.  Its range is also 100 meter. STP is less used than UTP due to its difficult termination and cost.

Coaxial Cables

Here “Coaxial” stands for the common axis of the two conductors. The two conductors are the central solid conductor and the outer metal shield. In a coaxial cable a solid conductor in center is surrounded by a non-conducting /insulating material. Which is by then surrounded by metal foil or bread and finally a plastic cover is surrounded all over them.

Coaxial cable is most popular for transmitting the video signal like cable TV etc. It is also used as Ethernet transmission medium. Two types of coaxial cable used as Ethernet transmission medium.

1)                  Thin coaxial cable

2)                  Thick coaxial cable

There are also other classifications. Coaxial cable that satisfy the United States Government specification are designated as RG such as RG59/U, RG6/U and RG11/U. Here R stands for Radio Frequency, G stands for Government, the third digit specifies government approval number and /U stands for universal specification.

The most common connector used for coaxial cable is BNC connector. BNC stands for Bayone-Neill-Concelman. There are several types of BNC connector.

Its range is better than the Twisted pair cable.

Fiber Optic Cable

Another revolutionary communication media of the modern world is Fiber Optic cable. The details of fiber optic are found in Wikipedia. It has greater range and speed. Used in super fast communication.

How to transfer files to remote server from windows 7

With command prompt it is also possible to transfer files to remote server from windows 7. See How to transfer files to remote server using command promp.

But There is also another easy way in windows 7. Graphically you can transfer files. You just need to configure it only for one one time. So it is also time saving. Here is the step for configuring windows 7.

Open My Computer and in open space right click and select Add  a network location.

add a network location

Welcome message will be shown. Click on Next.

Welcome Message

Choose a custom network location

Then you will be prompt to provide your server address. Provide your correct server address followed by ftp.

add your server address

Now provide a user name and unchecked the Log on anonymously check box

username

Provide a name of the future shortcut icon

Name of the shortcut

The connection is set now and you can easily transfer files form now on. just drag and drop the file and it will be transferred.

You will also see a shortcut created on the My Computer page. Whenever you want to transfer file just double click it. But before it ensure your net connection. And you will connected to your desired server.