Posts made by KendallHershey

@JaredBusch said in SpiceWorld Craziness 2016:

@TechnicalAngel talking about women in IT.

Really bummed I missed this session, it looked like a really good one! How'd it go?

@Dashrender said:

Fastest prize delivery in the west!

Thanks again @KendallHershey and Fluke! and of course ML!

I'm magic. Shh don't tell.

@crustachio said:

The AirCheck tool sounds pretty intriguing. How does it compare to something like Wi-Spy (MetaGeek's USB dongle that works with their InSSIDer/Chanalyzer product)?

@crustachio They're really completely different products. The AirCheck is an instant-on custom built tool with active test mechanisms. It can do most everything that MetaGeek does plus optional directional antennas for locationing, profiles for easy attach and testing, network health, and so on. Does that help?

A quick follow up for @travisdh1 and @dafyre - The network taps we offer are through VSS Monitoring. They were a sister company to Fluke Networks, but were also part of the NETSCOUT acquisition.
Here's a link to a single port fiber tap that might be of interest:
http://www.vssmonitoring.com/high-density-fiber-tap/
But here's a more general view of everything we have:
http://www.vssmonitoring.com/products/

I honestly don't have much of a background here personally, but I'm more than happy to connect you with our VSS team if you're looking for something more detailed or have additional questions! Just PM me.

@Dashrender Did you hear that Fluke Networks split and part of us was acquired by NETSCOUT? So we're currently transition our products and part of the company to NETSCOUT - although the datacom installation and certification will stay with Fluke. Here's a link that outlines everything a bit more: http://www.flukenetworks.com/content/fnet-netscout-social-migration-page

Thanks to everyone who participated in the AMA! Some great conversation today, we had a ton of fun.
I know I owe you some more info on network taps @travisdh1 and @dafyre so I will post back in here once I can track something down for you.
I'm super happy to announce the winner of the LinkSprinter Network Tester chosen at random very scientifically by me closing my eyes and scrolling through the thread is... @Dashrender! Congrats!! I'll PM you for shipping information.

If anyone has any other questions, feel free to PM me or tag me in a thread. As one last note, just a reminder that the Enterprise/network test side of Fluke Networks (everything we talked about here today) is now with NETSCOUT! So be sure to check us out there in the future.

Thanks again everyone!!

@travisdh1 said:

Didn't think I had any questions for Fluke, but I do! What's the pricing on your gigabit network taps?

It can range - from several hundred dollars for a single port inline tap to 100K for multiple port 10/40G taps. I could track down more info for you if you like, just let me know.

@Dashrender said:

@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.

Yea, I will say most of the users I talk to of these tools are installers. Or someone with multiple locations that they're doing deployments for.

@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.

@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!

@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.

@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?

Does anyone have any wireless issues or projects coming up at all? Or mostly concerned with wired in this group?

@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 anybody have the need to validate 1G or 10G link throughput, latency and packet loss performance?

@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.

@JaredBusch No the LinkSprinter can't, but see the above post on LinkRunner and/or OneTouch - it CAN tell Req. vs. Rec. as well as class of PoE

@art_of_shred said:

Speaking of wall jacks... what tools do you have that can verify correct voltage to a wall jack, for things like AP's and VOIP phones?

Great question! We have a few different options for you. LinkSprinter will give you green LED light indication on the unit itself if PoE is seen, and it reports the actual voltage level to the Link-Live cloud service, your mobile device and in the e-mail reply. If you need a more in-depth measurement that reports Req. vs. Rec. as well as class of PoE, then you will want to look at the LinkRunner AT or OneTouch AT. Both of those also offer TruePower PoE measurement, which allows the tester to accept a full 25W load into the tester as an additional validation of full power level reaching the wall jack.

A question for you all: Does anyone know if they have non 802.11 interference on their networks? If so, how do are you checking for that today?

@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?