interesting interview question?

[PsyWulf]

I get it now, interesting take on crimping and cabling I must say....

It's essentially how telephone cabling works,you buy big cables with 16/32/64 pairs and then split and jack them out to points as required

 

[Slootvreter]

Combines knowledge on CAT5/Networking and some ingenuity

Anyone may know this, but when told I may not cut the cable into two, I'll assume I may not cut it at all :hmm:

 

[PsyWulf]

Anyone may know this, but when told I may not cut the cable into two, I'll assume I may not cut it at all :hmm:

They didn't ban the use of cutting tools

You can only use the whole network cable, you may not cut it into two pieces

One cable,didn't cut it into two pieces
Mission accomplished

 

[Slootvreter]

They didn't ban the use of cutting tools


One cable,didn't cut it into two pieces
Mission accomplished

Yes, therefore I said, trick question.

 

[RedViking]

Interviewer (Director): If I abuse one of my employees what will you do.

A: I'll use the network cable without cutting it into 2 pieces.

 

[PsyWulf]

In fact now that i'm thinking about it,if you were unclear about something rather than assuming you can't cut at all per Slootvreter,if you asked the question you'd have scored at least half points

I've had a similar one in an interview that was a bit of logic and wordplay,they admitted nobody got the answer right off the bat,but tested logic and thought process,so if you asked the right question(s) you got bonus marks

 

[D4N_CPT]

The question can be improved with measurements to avoid any misunderstanding, something in the line of;

How do you connect two PCs to a router (which has 4 ports) 3m away, you are not able to relocate any of the equipment? You only have to 4x RJ45 jacks, a crimping tool and one 3.5m piece of network cable.

However, wording it in this manner, you pretty much provide the answer as well.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

my question still remains, how would something like this look?

I mean if you move the cable slightly it will disconnect the network completely,
if you even touch the cable ,it will disconnect.....

 

[PsyWulf]

The question can be improved with measurements to avoid any misunderstanding, something in the line of;

How do you connect two PCs to a router (which has 4 ports) 3m away, you are not able to relocate any of the equipment? You only have to 4x RJ45 jacks, a crimping tool and one 3.5m piece of network cable.

Part of the challenge may be to either DIY because you understand,or ask for clarification to indicate you grasp the concept

 

[Sinbad]

my question still remains, how would something like this look?

I mean if you move the cable slightly it will disconnect the network completely,
if you even touch the cable ,it will disconnect.....

Why? Not if it's crimped properly.

 

[paul5186]

How do you connect two pcs to a router (which has 4 ports) with 4 rj45 jacks and one piece of network cable? You can only use the whole network cable, you may not cut it into two pieces

You go out and buy another network cable....seriously, why bother.

 

[D4N_CPT]

my question still remains, how would something like this look?

I mean if you move the cable slightly it will disconnect the network completely,
if you even touch the cable ,it will disconnect.....

When you have limited resources available and HAVE to get the clients connected as soon as possible, looks does not matter. As long as you correct it when you get the supplies you need to do the job properly.

The problems start when you do not replace the temporary fixes with permanent ones soon enough.

 

[PsyWulf]

This is a 200 pair telephone cable,same concept

 

[Nerfherder]

Move the cable very fast between the different ports.

 

[DMNknight]

Move the cable very fast between the different ports.

Move it at the wrong time and you're going to have packet loss splatter on the walls and ceiling, very messy

 

[Sinbad]

Catch it in an ether net

 

[SauRoNZA]

my question still remains, how would something like this look?

I mean if you move the cable slightly it will disconnect the network completely,
if you even touch the cable ,it will disconnect.....

Why? It's just using an RJ45 with less wires inside.

So instead of 8 wires per RJ45 you have 4 per RJ45 connected through one cable.

Did this plenty of times in production where we didn't need full Gigabit etc, especially for VOIP phones etc.

 

[SauRoNZA]

You go out and buy another network cable....seriously, why bother.

Which is fine if this is all out in the open.

But say you have a situation where a cable has been run into some precarious place and let's say it's no longer accessible (cement or concrete...or the security office can't give access until next week whatever).

You just splice the Cat5/6 in two and put two new RJ45's on and boom you have two cables instead of one.

It's certainly not best practise, but sometimes it solves a problem.

 

[SauRoNZA]

This one will blow @eg2505

Q : How do you connect 4 analog phones with one Cat5 cable?

A : The exact same way as the example above. You only need two wires for an analog phone so you can split 4 pairs into 4 RJ11's on each end.

http://www.cabling-design.com/images/split_cable.gif

You even get these that will do it for you, no crimping required.

https://www.amazon.com/Splitter-Connector-interface-Ethernet-Internet/dp/B01MS2J9RS

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

It's certainly not best practise, but sometimes it solves a problem.

id agree there, I mean it looks very jury rigged if you see something like that sticking out a router.....
so its a "temporary" solution, not for long term use, at least not if anybody likely to complain about cables any time soon.