Dawood University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi

Department of Computer Science

Faculty of Information and Computer Science

Computer Network (0+1)

Semester: ______________________ Date of Experiment: _____________________

Student name: __________________ Faculty Signature: ______________________
Student ID: ____________________ Remarks/Comments: ____________________

Lab01 How to Wire an Ethernet Cable

LAB PERFORMANCE RUBRICS

Excellent Average Poor
Aspects of Assessments Marks
(75-100%) (50-75%) (<50%)
Recall: Recall the associated concepts Complete understanding of Understand some concepts / Student lacks clear understanding
form theory regarding digital signals and the concepts / actively participates less in class but of the basic concepts of digital
systems and their processing. participate during lecture. unable to interpret them systems.
accurately.
Objective:
 To wire Straight through and Cross over UTP cables.

Components Required:
 Unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cable (Cat 5)
 Wire stripper
 Modular connector (8P8C plug, aka RJ45)
 Crimping tool
 Cable tester (optional, but recommended)
.
Types of Area Networks:
A computer network consists of two or more computers that are interconnected with each other and
share resources such as printers, servers, and hardware and exchange the data in the form of files,
facilitating electronic communication. Computers on a network can be connected through twisted pair
cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites or optical fiber cables.

 Local Area Network (LAN)

 Wide Area Network (WAN)
 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)
 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
 Storage Area Network (SAN)
 Controller Area Network (CAN)
 Personal Area Network (PAN)
 Global Area Network (GAN)
 Internet Area Network (IAN)

Local Area Network (LAN):

A Local Area Network (LAN) is a network that is restricted to smaller physical areas e.g. a local office,
school, or house. Approximately all current LANs whether wired or wireless are based on Ethernet.
On a ‘Local Area Network’ data transfer speeds are higher than WAN and MAN that can extend to a
10.0 Mbps (Ethernet network) and 1.0 Gbps (Gigabit Ethernet).

Wide Area Network (WAN):

Wide Area Network is a computer network that covers relatively larger geographical area such as a
state, province or country. It provides a solution to companies or organizations operating from distant
geographical locations who want to communicate with each other for sharing and managing central
data or for general communication. WAN is made up of two or more Local Area Networks (LANs) or
Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) that are interconnected with each other, thus users and
computers in one location can communicate with users and computers in other locations.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN):

A Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is a network that connects two or more computers,
communicating devices or networks in a single network that has geographic area larger than that
covered by even a large ‘Local Area Network’ but smaller than the region covered by a ‘Wide Area
Network’. MANs are mostly built for cities or towns to provide a high data connection and usually
owned by a single large organization.

Explanation:
Twisted Pair Cable:
A type of cable that consists of two independently insulated wires twisted around one another. The
use of two wires twisted together helps to reduce crosstalk and electromagnetic induction. While
twisted-pair cable is used by older telephone networks and is the least expensive type of local-area
network (LAN) cable, most networks contain some twisted-pair cabling at some point along the
network. Other types of cables used for LANs include coaxial cables and fiber optic cables.
CAT5 Cable:
CAT5 is the fifth generation of twisted pair Ethernet technology. CAT5 cables contain four pairs of
copper wire supporting Fast Ethernet speeds (up to 100 Mbps). As with all other types of twisted pair
EIA/TIA cabling, CAT5 cable runs are limited to a maximum recommended run length of 100 meters
(328 feet).

RJ45 Connector:
Registered jack-45 (RJ45) is an eight-wire connector used to connect computers on local area
networks. They were initially used as a telephone-only standard but have since been applied to high-
speed modems and other computer networks. There are four pairs of wires in an Ethernet cable, and
an Ethernet connector (8P8C) has eight pin slots. Each pin is identified by a number, starting from left
to right, with the clip facing away from you.
Straight Through and Cross Over Connection:
The two standards for wiring Ethernet cables are T568A and T568B. T568B is the most common and
is what we'll be using for our straight Ethernet cable. The tables below show the proper orientation of
the colored wires to the pins.

Straight through Cables:

Straight-through is used for connecting different devices to each other (switch to router, computer to
switch). Straight-thru cables have identical terminations on each end. Both sides (side A and side B)
of cable have wire arrangement with same color.
Cross Over Cables:

Crossover is used for connecting the same devices to each other (router to router, switch to switch,
and computer to computer). One end of cross over cable is a T568A and the other end a T568B.
Procedure of Wiring Straight Through Ethernet Cable:
Step 1: Strip the cable jacket about 1.5 inch down from the end.
Step 2: Spread the four pairs of twisted wire apart.
Step 3: Untwist the wire pairs and neatly align them in the T568B orientation. Be sure not to untwist
them any farther down the cable than where the jacket begins; we want to leave as much of the cable
twisted as possible.
Step 4: Cut the wires as straight as possible, about 0.5 inches above the end of the jacket.
Step 5: Carefully insert the wires all the way into the modular connector, making sure that each wire
passes through the appropriate guides inside the connector.
Step 6: Push the connector inside the crimping tool and squeeze the crimper all the way down.
Step 7: Repeat steps 1-6 for the other end of the cable.
Step 8: To make sure you've successfully terminated each end of the cable, use a cable tester to test
each pin.
Procedure of Wiring Cross Through Ethernet Cable:
For crossover cables, simply make one end of the cable a T568A and the other end a T568B.

Point-to-Point Connection (PPP):

A point-to-point connection is a dedicated communication link between two systems or processes.

Think of a wire that directly connects two systems. The systems use that wire exclusively to
communicate. The opposite of point-to-point communications is broadcasting, where one system
transmits to many.

Simply, when you establish a connection to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) through a modem.
The connection between the ISP and you make up two points on the network. Therefore, the protocol
that is used for establishing this connectivity between the two of you is the Point-to-Point Protocol or
the PPP.

Q1: Describe the basic difference on Straight Through and Cross Over Connections.
Q2: Discuss various types of Cables used to establish a Computer Network.