Fluke Networks
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@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey said:
@JaredBusch said:
@KendallHershey at what point do you (Fluke) see the NetRunner being a useful device? I loved the features from what I have seen demo'd but outside of installers, I do not see the benefit to the device for most SMB admins.
If you already own a LinkSprinter and you're thinking about adding a LinkRunner, let me ask you a couple of questions so I can give you the best answer. 1. Are you a one man shop or do you have other field technicians either at your site or remote? What model LinkSprinter do you have? Do you have PoE enabled devices?
We are specifically a consultancy. The need for a LinkRunner is low, but it can see benefits when new clients are onboarded. Currently I have access to a LinkSprinter 300 if I ask.
We actually have an old Fluke unit (forget the model) that runs XP and weighs about 100 pounds. I drop it on a network for any potential client to get an idea of what they have quickly.
Jared - I'll give you a few key differences between LinkSprinter and LinkRunner AT but you might also want to take a look at the OneTouch AT based on your note about your older tester that ran XP, I'm guessing that was an OptiView. If you would like the ability to get a more in-depth look at cable, LinkRunner adds the ability to get reversed pairs and cross pairs, in addition to distance to open/short/split. It also has the ability to do cable toning and supports wiremap adapters, a handy feature for quickly identifying connection paths between wall jack and switch port in an unmanaged switch environment. With a managed switch environment, you can just run the simple switch test and in less then a second it will tell you the switch slot/port/vlan speed/duplex and PoE level.
LinkRunner AT also supports both copper and fiber network connectivity test and has a more in-depth PoE test than LinkSprinter. The OneTouch AT will do a discovery to tell you what devices are out there as well as connectivity issues and supports copper/fiber and Wi-Fi testing. -
Does anybody have the need to validate 1G or 10G link throughput, latency and packet loss performance?
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@KendallHershey With the new Hypervisor system that we are going to be kicking off at some point * we likely will need to confirm our throughput and performance between our closets.
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@KendallHershey Thank you, it is the OptiView. We picked it up used about 5 years ago and it has been a great tool when doing initial discovery.
The OneTouch AT sounds like the comparable current device. I will certainly look into it.
This unit is what I have. It does not look that shiny anymore..
http://www.aaatesters.com/img-fluke_networks_optiview-series_iii-15.jpg
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@KendallHershey said:
Does anybody have the need to validate 1G or 10G link throughput, latency and packet loss performance?
We need that for all the Scale lab stuff mostly.
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@KendallHershey said:
Does anybody have the need to validate 1G or 10G link throughput, latency and packet loss performance?
This would be very one off for me.
Generally, if I know the plant is wired good, I don't care to test that. I'll just hook up and then only troubleshoot if there is a problem.
Edit: also, I am not an installer anymore, I contract that out.
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@DustinB3403 @Minion-Queen For the reply to testing throughput between our closets: Our OneTouchAT offering support throughput testing based on RFC2544 between two 1Gbps location. For testing up-stream/down-stream rate seperately, two OneTouchAT units will be needed. For round-trip validation, OneTouchAT can work with a LinkRunner to perform the test.
If 10G link is needed, the OneTouch with 10G test module can work with a OptiView XG to conduct the test.
The OptiView XG to OneTouch 10G test will be based on Y1564 that allows multi-streams (up to 4) with different patterns that can be defined for testing SLA when multiple traffic streams are loading the link -
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
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@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
I do play to replace my ancient (8+ years) cisco WAP system. replacement is in the budget for this year.
YEAH! -
@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
Not planned, but I hope to find a new client or three this year that wants to hire us to fix their stuff!
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@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
I do play to replace my ancient (8+ years) cisco WAP system. replacement is in the budget for this year.
YEAH!Awesome!! Are you planning on doing the survey and deployment yourself or will you be contracting that?
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@KendallHershey said:
@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
I do play to replace my ancient (8+ years) cisco WAP system. replacement is in the budget for this year.
YEAH!Awesome!! Are you planning on doing the survey and deployment yourself or will you be contracting that?
I plan to do everything myself.
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@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
I do play to replace my ancient (8+ years) cisco WAP system. replacement is in the budget for this year.
YEAH!Awesome!! Are you planning on doing the survey and deployment yourself or will you be contracting that?
I plan to do everything myself.
You'll definitely want a planner/survey tool to help make sure you're maximizing your coverage - check out our planner (http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/wireless-network/AirMagnet-Planner) and survey tool (http://www.flukenetworks.com/products/airmagnet-survey). The AirCheck (mentioned earlier) would also be a good option for post-installation maintenance and troubleshooting, or OneTouch AT which would include both wired and wireless troubleshooting in one tool, with VoIP and throughput testing as well. We're one of the only vendors that actually services every point of the wireless life cycle.
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I know a lot of guys around here talk about SMB cost for things. How can a single shop IT guy not use this stuff? Yes there is a cost to purchase said item but, the cost saving in time and frustration, now that is where it's at!
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@Minion-Queen said:
I know a lot of guys around here talk about SMB cost for things. How can a single shop IT guy not use this stuff? Yes there is a cost to purchase said item but, the cost saving in time and frustration, now that is where it's at!
So I'm thinking about this. I guess it boils down to - how much do I have to pay someone who already owns this equipment to come in and do a survey versus buying the equipment myself, learning to use (always a good skill - I do get this) and then using it. If the cost of purchase vs paying a company to do a survey is close, then buying starts making sense, especially when you look at the ability to use it in the future at low/no cost.
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@KendallHershey said:
@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
@Dashrender said:
@KendallHershey said:
Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?
I do play to replace my ancient (8+ years) cisco WAP system. replacement is in the budget for this year.
YEAH!Awesome!! Are you planning on doing the survey and deployment yourself or will you be contracting that?
I plan to do everything myself.
You'll definitely want a planner/survey tool to help make sure you're maximizing your coverage - check out our planner (http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/wireless-network/AirMagnet-Planner) and survey tool (http://www.flukenetworks.com/products/airmagnet-survey). The AirCheck (mentioned earlier) would also be a good option for post-installation maintenance and troubleshooting, or OneTouch AT which would include both wired and wireless troubleshooting in one tool, with VoIP and throughput testing as well. We're one of the only vendors that actually services every point of the wireless life cycle.
can you provide the MSRP on these two items?
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@Minion-Queen said:
I know a lot of guys around here talk about SMB cost for things. How can a single shop IT guy not use this stuff? Yes there is a cost to purchase said item but, the cost saving in time and frustration, now that is where it's at!
That's a great point - we had one university that used to verify the connection of all ports in all of the dorms. With student help it used to take them 4 full weeks running around with a laptop and a clipboard verifying each drop, and with a LinkSprinter they could cut the project time down to one week. And with the online results management platform that automatically flags failed tests (and stored all of the test information), their follow time on any issues decreased dramatically as well!
Another school district I talked to had multiple locations, and left a LinkSprinter with each on-site admin (because it's so simple anyone can use it). And when someone had an issue they would go plug it in, the IT team could see the results remotely, and sometimes they could avoid a truck roll to the district which saved them a ton of time and money. Then they had a LinkRunner that all of their techs shared for some more advanced troubleshooting. Quite a cool set up!
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@KendallHershey said:
@dafyre It runs on the 2.4 band, but they are for checking wired only, it's just a way to communicate from the Linksprinter to your mobile device.
But we do have a killer wireless troubleshooting tool called AirCheck that can tell you all kinds of information like signal strength, detecting rogua APs, interference testing (if you have a crazy microwave or something), etc. But that tool is definitely a bit pricier around $2,000.
http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/network-testing/AirCheck-Wi-Fi-TesterThanks!
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@Dashrender said:
@Minion-Queen said:
I know a lot of guys around here talk about SMB cost for things. How can a single shop IT guy not use this stuff? Yes there is a cost to purchase said item but, the cost saving in time and frustration, now that is where it's at!
So I'm thinking about this. I guess it boils down to - how much do I have to pay someone who already owns this equipment to come in and do a survey versus buying the equipment myself, learning to use (always a good skill - I do get this) and then using it. If the cost of purchase vs paying a company to do a survey is close, then buying starts making sense, especially when you look at the ability to use it in the future at low/no cost.
The MSRP of the Survey/Planner bundle is $4,360. The skill is very valuable to learn! But, that's always the key question. We've got a ton of resources to help you learn about migrating to 11ac, for example, if you're interested: http://www.flukenetworks.com/content/802-11ac-University?ls=PRML&lsd=WLAN11acUni
But I think either way, you're going to want a post-install troubleshooting tool. Wireless can be extremely tricky. Sometimes something like getting a new microwave in the kitchen could cause issues for the users on the other side of the wall. In my experience, it can require more upkeep than something more static like a wired infrastructure. It's very dependent on many different factors.
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@KendallHershey said:
The MSRP of the Survey/Planner bundle is $4,360.
And there's the reason we'll never own one. A survey will cost less than $1000. It would take dozens or more calls after a survey to make it worth the cost.
Definitely a tool meant for someone who does this regularly.