Network Technicians....

[pacman]

What do you normally keep in your bag?

Usually I have a 5 port switch, a pair of crimpers, Ethernet ends, a netbook, calbes of various lengths, a cable tester and a crossover.

What say ye?

[charm5496]

I have a LAN tester to go along with everything you listed

[Ollie1981]

I've got the usual 8 light LAN cable tester and a five port switch. I have my work laptop that has my dispatching software, manuals and firmware that I also use for diagnosing connectivity issues.

I do have a set of RJ-45 crimpers but I have never had any cause to use them as of yet.... well not at work anyway I have ran Cat-5 throughout my house when I last redecorated and now have gigabit ethernet throughout my home. Wireless is convenient for laptops, but you just can't beat the reliability of a wired connection when you are online gaming/streaming video.

The LAN cable tester is a godsend, if a customer's I.T are being argumentative about whether it's a connectivity issue, connect both parts of the tester to either end of the cable and if all the lights don't flash in turn then it ain't a problem with my copier mate!

[blackcat4866]

What do you normally keep in your bag?

Usually I have a 5 port switch, a pair of crimpers, Ethernet ends, a netbook, calbes of various lengths, a cable tester and a crossover.

What say ye?

Same items. =^..^=

[mojorolla]

About the same. I would say the laptop and crossover are used the most frequently. And the Wireshark program for those IT people who cannot admit the issue is in their network.

[mjunkaged]

I rarely need to put on my 'network tech' hat but have all tools listed except an 8 light lan tester. I just have it in a tub in the back seat. Use the switch, cable and laptop most often....what mojo said!
No, I don't throw the lappie in a tub in the back, keep the ol' turd inside when not needed. Which is most of the time.

[TheOwl]

I try to run a lot lighter.

I just have my work laptop with a couple of CAT5e and CAT6 cables and do all machine testing through a Virtual Machine Windows 2008 R2 server that is on my laptop. That way I can DHCP, DNS, Email and Printing issues all from my laptop direct to the copier.

Doing it this way eliminates the copier and throughs everything back onto the customer or the customers IT. If they then want me to go further, I know that the call is then chargable, but I can figure that out alot quicker with the way my laptop is setup.

I try not to carry a switch, but I do have a second network card that I can put into my laptop for doing things like Wireshark Captures.

[Hansoon]

a 5 port switch, a pair of crimpers, Ethernet ends, a netbook, cables of various lengths, a cable tester and a crossover.

About the same + a router for easy DHCP testing.

Hans

[Lawrence]

I carry all that stuff but i avoid using it. As soon as sales see's me cutting cable they think i can install it for the customer which is illegal in our province unless you have the proper licesne.

Owl thats a pretty good idea with the virtual machine. If you install the demo of 2008 can you set it all up, save the state and then you won't have to worry about the trial running out?

[TheOwl]

I don't know about running the trial as we are Microsft Gold Partners and have plently of licensing that we can use internally. I would assume that Microsoft or VMware would be still date stamping the VM as you can run into trouble with DC's presenting the wrong time.