Cabling Certification for Creating Crossover Connections with Cat 6 Cable

Addressing the Issue of Rebuilding Cable for Crossover Connections

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Question

A new cabling certification is being requested every time a network technician rebuilds one end of a Cat 6 (vendor-certified) cable to create a crossover connection that is used to connect switches.

Which of the following would address this issue by allowing the use of the original cable?

Answers

Explanations

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A. B. C. D.

D.

The correct answer is D. MDIX.

Explanation:

To understand this issue, it's important to know what a crossover cable is and how it is used in networking. A crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable that is used to connect two devices of the same type, such as two switches, or two computers, directly to each other. In contrast, a straight-through cable is used to connect devices of different types, such as a computer to a switch.

When a network technician rebuilds one end of a Cat 6 cable to create a crossover connection, they are essentially modifying the cable to make it a crossover cable. This means that the cable can no longer be used as a straight-through cable, which is the type of cable that is typically used to connect switches.

To avoid the need to rebuild the cable every time a crossover connection is required, the network technician should use a feature called MDIX. MDIX stands for "Medium Dependent Interface Crossover" and is a feature that allows network devices to automatically detect the type of cable that is connected to them and adjust the way they communicate accordingly.

When MDIX is enabled on a device, it can automatically detect whether a straight-through or crossover cable is connected to it and make the necessary adjustments to its transmission and reception capabilities. This means that the original Cat 6 cable can be used without the need for any modifications, and the devices will still be able to communicate with each other.

To summarize, MDIX is the feature that would address the issue of needing to rebuild a Cat 6 cable every time a crossover connection is required, by allowing the original cable to be used without modification.