Nine network pros give first-person accounts of working through tough situations.
Michael Koontz: Independent consultant, Mexico, Mo.
Networking in the oddest of places, in the strangest of ways
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Michael Koontz
Independent consultant, Mexico, Mo.
Several years ago, I worked for a technical service company in Kansas City, Mo. One of our biggest clients had a break in a fiber line that ran from the main office 745 feet to a remote office. This company was located underground in some caves, and the cabling was in desperate need of repair.
What happened is that the president had run zip-grade fiber cable to the remote office – rather than put the fiber into conduit, he zip-tied it to a pipe. This worked fine until he had the maintenance guys run Category 5 for security on the same pipe. When they were pulling that cable, the Cat 5 burned right into the fiber.
The president’s solution was to run a single Cat 5e patch cable to the remote office. Keep in mind the remote office is 745 feet away and, according to Network Theory and Rules, Cat 5e is only rated for approximately 324 feet. This was against all my teachings and experience, but the boss said, “Do it.”
So with a 1,000-foot box of wire, a scissor jack and a pocket full of zip ties, I set out on my mission of failure. First, this being an underground factory, I visited all the forklift drivers and told them what I was doing. “I’m running some computer wire this morning. It is orange in color and the floor is gray, so don’t run over it with your 4,000-pound forklifts.” They said OK, but I should have known better.
I laid out the wire between the two offices and began to zip-tie it to the overhead pipe. I wasn’t 20 minutes into my quest when one of the forklift operators ran over my cable twice! (4,000 pounds vs. Cat 5e – KO!)
Well, I couldn’t run another – I only had 1,000 feet of cable – so I continued to zip-tie the cable to the pipe continually telling myself: “745 feet, patch cable, forklift, 4,000 pounds. This isn’t going to work! Why am I doing this?!”
Finally, I terminated the ends knowing that all my work was in vain, and plugged it in to the hubs. It worked!
The network gods must have been watching over me. I couldn’t believe it!
Previous account: Unplugging a decades-old mainframe
