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Lazy Patching! any ideas?

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3 replies

by deskmonkey

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I've just been given the task of tidying up comms room which has been looked after by some lazy patchers - knots, cut wires etc. Its a mess! I know there should be numerous free ports both in the hubs and switches but the're full at the moment.
For info we have 2 Catalyst 5501 switches and 8 3Comm Hubs, serving 410 users, printers n servers on three floors.
I need to pull out the un-needed patch cables. Is there a way of determining if a port has not seen any activity in say 3 weeks?, I'd know it would be safe to pull. Could it be done from the cmd screen?
The only easy way do it, that I know of - though I don't really want to, is to wait 'till every one has left, turn everything on and check for lights! I'd rather not though as they dont pay me overtime.
BTW I've inherited a database which is way out of date too, so can't use it and I need to find 20 spare ports by Tuesday. I'm only a quarter of my way through an MCSA so my knowledge of "shortcuts etc" are not great.

Any ideas guys?
Thanks

3 replies

by joseph moore

Link lights are the easy way to tell, honestly. You could try Telneting into the Catalyst and check the ports for anything useful. But that might not tell you exactly what you need to know.
Just run around during the day, while people are there, and look for dead link lights. Trace the cables from the dead lights to see if they go anywhere or if they are not plugged into any computers.
It is not a fun job, but we all have to do it on occasion.

by uffe.sommerlund

Thought of an easy way to do this
how about making a Database
Access the Catalyst
show CAM table put the addresses in the database
luck on to the DHCP server compare the MAC
addresses in there then you'll have the
different parts to delete / remove from the
catalyst's hope it helps

by techkid

This is definitely an after hours job as Joseph hints at.

Turn all the equipment on, then check the switches for link lights... go from there.

If you get it worked out now, it'll save you a ton of headaches in the future.

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