May 5, 2005
Seen at Interop: Networker's 5-in-1 Road Warrior Kit
A datacenter manager at Networld+Interop this week showed me one of the coolest little road warrior cable kits I've ever seen. He built it himself from off-the-shelf components, following instructions posted online by Michael Ossmann, a security administrator for Exempla Healthcare. The kit is ingenious in providing five data cables in one: ethernet cable, crossover ethernet cable, modem cable, null modem cable, and Cisco console cable. And you can build it yourself using just a few ordinary parts and an RJ-45 crimping tool.
My current road warrior kit consists of several Ethernet cables of various lengths, several crossover Ethernet cables, also of various lengths, a slew of serial cables for Cisco and other devices, along with a variety of DB9 and RJ-45 adapters, gender changers, and magic spells. This all takes up one half of my briefcase. Half the time I can never find that weird sky-blue flat Cisco console cable and adapter, so I'm wasting time with my EasyBOB (break-out-box) re-inventing that combo.
With Michael's clever kit, a single male-to-male CAT-5 cable serves as both serial and Ethernet cable, and various plug-on adapters convert that cable to different uses. The adapters alone are invaluable, because they let you turn somebody else's CAT-5 cable into the cable you need at the moment. I often find that the gear I want to connect to via serial cable is way over yonder. I don't carry a yonder-length serial cable, however, so I usually end up perched on a ladder precariously, balancing a notebook computer on one knee, trying to get close enough to the gear's serial port. If I could swap iany old Ethernet patch cable for my serial cable, my problems would be over; I can scrounge up CAT-5 patch cables of most any length.
The parts you and tools you need are available at any Radio Shack or Frys Electronics:
- Two DB9 female to RJ-45 female modular adapters
- Eight extra female pins for the DB9 connectors (just canabalize another adapter)
- Four crimp-on RJ-45 modular plugs
- One eight-wire RJ-45 modular coupler
- RJ-45 crimp tool
- Teeny screwdrivers
- Diagnal wire cutters
Michael's site provides crystal clear, step-by-step instructions with beautiful color photos. Michael also explains how to use the kit in novel ways, such as plugging a network sniffer into an existing cable in receive-oly mode for quick-and-dirty traffic capture without interposing a small hub or switch.
You could have your kit built by lunchtime tomorrow. I'm making mine right now in my Interop hotel room.
Posted by Mel Beckman at May 5, 2005 2:17 AM
