IDENTIFY TYPES OF NETWORK CABLES AND CONNECTORS

IDENTIFY TYPES OF NETWORK CABLES AND CONNECTORS

You're expected to know the basic concepts of networking as well as the different types of cabling that can be used. For the latter, you should be able to identify connectors and cables from figures even if those figures are crude line art (think shadows) appearing in pop-up boxes.rj45 unshielded connector

There are three specific types network cables, and the connectors associated with each, that you must know for this exam: fiber, twisted pair, and coaxial. Fiber is the most expensive of the three and can run the longest distance. A number of types of connectors can work with fiber, but three you must know are SC, ST, and LC.

Twisted pair is commonly used in office settings to connect workstations to hubs or switches. It comes in two varieties: unshielded (UTP) and shielded (STP), the two types of connectors commonly used are RJ-11 (four wires and popular with telephones), and RJ-45 (eight wires and used with xBaseT networks—100BaseT, 1000BaseT, and so forth). Two common wiring standards are T568A and T568B.

Coaxial cabling is not as popular as it once was, but it's still used with cable television and some legacy networks. The two most regularly used connectors are F-connectors (television cabling) and BNC (10Base2, and so on).Fiber-optic cabling is the most expensive type of those discussed for this exam. Although it's an excellent medium, it's often not used because of the cost of implementing it. It has a glass core within a rubber outer coating and uses beams of light rather than electrical signals to relay data. Because light doesn't diminish over distance the way electrical signals do, this cabling can run for distances measured in kilometers with transmission speeds from 100 Mbps up to 1 Gbps higher.
Often, fiber is used to connect runs to wiring closets where they break out into UTP or other cabling types, or as other types of backbones. Fiber-optic cable can use either ST, SC, or LC connector. ST is a barrel-shaped connector, whereas SC is squared and easier to connect in small spaces. The LC connector looks similar to SC but adds a flange on the top (much like an RJ-45 connector) to keep it securely connected.

Note: In addition to these listed in the A + objectives, other connectors are used with fiber. FC connectors may also be used but are not as common. MT-RJ is a popular connector for two fibers in a small form factor.