netAlly LRAT-1000 LinkRunner at Copper Ethernet Network Tester

I purchased this product to disagnose network issues at customer sites. I have ran every one of my cables and installed all the switches and firewalls/routers so I know mine are correct as i have tested each cable as I completed them, but at a customer site I have no idea what has or has not been done. I opened the product and started using it after the recommended 4 hour battery charge. With a basic knowledge of networks and cabling it is very easy to use and does not require much documentation (in fact I have not even reviewed the documentation outside of the basic info on charging the battery). I tested it on my DHCP network and it was able to obtain an IP and DNS along with routing out correctly and I was even able to do simple "ping" type performance tests to sites I entered into the unit. I also tested it on my non-DHCP network and after entering the IP address, subnet, gateway and DNS's it also was able to connect and route and perform the same tests. The most impressive thing to me is it can determine within a few inches the length of the ethernet cable (I use CAT5 RJ45) and even has a feature that you can determine where the cable is connected on a specific switch or hub. This is done through the included tone probe and then a nifty feature that, once you have located the cable bundle going into the switch or hub via the probe you can put the unit in a mode that flashes the Link, 10/100/1000 and on some switches the full/col light all together. This makes it very easy to determine which port the cable is connected to. You can then place the Wireview Cable ID connector(includes 6 of these in the extended kit that I purchased) on that end of the cable and then place the main unit in cable disagnose mode and it will even tell you if your pin outs from end to end or correct or which ones are dead or crossed. It also determins the connect speed of the cable/switch 10, 100 or 1000. I wish these were around 10+ years ago when I wasn running cables and crimping ends. It is pretty pricy, but with a few uses and the time savings it will more than pay for itself and considering you can do most of the basic cable, switch, routing and performance diagnostics, you can save yourself a ton of money over having a networking company come in and diagnose your issues on your network. Again you do need a basic knowledge of cabling and networks to use the product sucessfully. I would recommend this to anyone that has the basic knowledge of networks and cabling as a great time saver in diagnosing issues unless you have personally ran all of your cables and tested them when you installed them and they have never been touched, pulled on or accidentally cut at your site (like this doesn't happen regularly in the real world). Another great product from Fluke.

The NetAlly is a Fluke Network Testing tool. The great thing about this one is, it is easy on your pocket. I don't know if that will last long. Update! So far after a few years of use, it works just as good as day one. Great tool.

I had a read a bad review of this after I bought it. The review is a bit suspicious. It's a lot of money and I'm not a company. I'm a tech, yes and I think a tool like this is worth the money. I can plug in a jack and learn a lot of the network from this device. Combine something like this with a mapper and you can walk into someone else's network and start to understand things. I've always hated how in tech support you get a call to visit some desktop and you're expected to pull some rabbit out of your yahoo and figure out whatever the problem is. Why can't the user gain access to the internet? Who the heck knows. Where is this user even connected? If it's not your network, how would you know? And users and management think we all "just know". Well, this tool is a part of that. Assuming the network is made up of Cisco switches and such you can find out which VLAN and switch the user is actually connected to. You will see speed. If the wire is broken you will know where the break is. You can add tests and save the additions as a profile. So I can make a profile for home and one for the office and one for xx client and so on. Just plug in and get answers in a few seconds. Wish it were cheaper but then I guess there isn't a big audience for these kinds of things. I'm an individual and I bought it with my own money. A company should be buying these for their techs. You'll get a bit of sticker shock, but a tool like this is just makes a lot of sense. Techs can solve problems faster and be less stressed about troubleshooting a problem. That means they waste a lot less time which is good for the tech and the user waiting for resolution. I guess the buzz word is that it pays for itself. The stress factor is enough for me. I'd like to be able to easily troubleshoot connectivity. I'd like to know what's going on with the wire and what the port is. Unless you built the network yourself odd are you could use help understanding it. 5 stars.

The LRAT-2000-KIT provides almost everything (see below) needed to diagnose cabling and detect network configuration issues with copper or fiber runs. The LinkRunner AT unit has a dedicated 10/100/1000 copper port, a copper loopback port (for pair testing), and a modular SFP port that can be used for either fiber or copper transceivers. The one gotcha with this kit is that it does not include a fiber SFP so if your workload includes fiber link checking, you may want to acquire an SFP from vendors such as CXtec (Cisco-compatible at a fraction of the cost of OEM). In terms of functionality, the LinkRunner AT can detect incorrect pairs and display what is wired incorrectly just like any network tester on the market does. Once Layer 1 is up, you are presented with link speed, duplex mode, switch port name (from either STP or CDP), VLAN ID, PoE port data, 802.11x parameters as well as any DHCP offers presented to the unit. Once the unit has an IP address, it can run an arsenal of user-configurable test including DNS lookups, Pings, HTTP queries or TCP sessions on any port. What this all translates to is, it's possible to test cabling, switching and routing at a specific jack all in one go without ever pulling out a laptop. This makes this kit indispensable for LAN admins, LAN techs, field techs or anyone having to jack equipment at a multitude of sites with varying levels of on-site support. This gear can finally give onsite personnel an immediate answer to the old "did the wiring guy punch and crimp this run correctly?", and the "did the network guys put this on the correct VLAN?" and the "did this site's firewall guys remember to open up port X?" in just a few seconds. Bravo Fluke Networks, well played.

The device worked sometimes... one out of five times it would let you add a comment to the test when uploading it to the cloud service. This is a pain because you need to keep the cloud open on a laptop to comment on each test as they come in so you know which one is which... This defeats the idea of just using this device. The second issue I had was the USB connection would drop when connected to download reports. I opened a trouble ticket with Fluke over the comment issue and their support told me not to use it on a domain network... if it will not work on a domain network what is the point of using it. I returned this and bought a NaviTEK NT and saved about $500 and so far so good with their device. Also the device holds 100x more reports and the reports look a lot nicer.

Not cheap, but this thing will save you money and time. I walked into a plant that had new cable runs installed and knew very quickly which runs had what issues. Made dealing with the contractor a whole lot easier and sure beats stumbling around with a laptop. Like all Fluke gear we have, this one is rugged, easy to operate, and easy to maintain. It boots in 3 seconds (takes slightly longer to turn it off), battery lasts a long time, and it will stay charged while stored. It is not a network analyzer, but it identifies shorts, breaks, crosses, switch connectivity, switch port info, and general connectivity to your (programmed) IP's on your WAN. You can also test patch cords in seconds. The kit I got comes with one WireView wire mapper terminator and it has been handy. I have not found the need to get more than one but you might. Also in the kit is a RJ45F-RJ45F connector, charger (bulky), and software. I installed the software to setup the auto-test function for my WAN (which is small) so I can take this tester to any site and run tests to all other sites on the WAN. Handy. Wish I bought one of these years ago.

This thing is great! It tells you what port the line is plugged into on the Cisco switch. You can identify jacks from the patch panel by plugging in the identifying sticks (probably just reading resistors). You can store up to 50 reports on test's you have done and then upload them to your computer. Nice case that stores everything neatly. Battery life is good and the device boots up quickly, I think around 3 seconds. The toner is neat. It has traditional capabilities but it also has a digital tone that the LRAT will produce on a line. The only thing is, if you don't have the line terminated, you're SOL until you terminate it and plug it in to the LRAT and generate a tone. Frankly, it doesn't bother me, I'm still using my old Tempo toner that I inherited from another installer. Love that thing. One minor thing I don't like is that after you put on the protective case for the LRAT you can't store it in the case with the harness. You just have to store it without the harness. Also, the protective case makes the LRAT seem too big, but the case will still zip up. I don't get what the second harness if for. I'm assuming it's for the actual equipment case itself, but there's nowhere to clip it to other than the handles. No stars off for this since it's an amazing device.

Very nice tool and carry case to keep everything together. This unit uses a rechargeable battery, as opposed to AAs like my old netscout unit, and I cant currently decide if that is a positive or a negative, but it does have a nice long charging cable. You can update the firmware with the included USB cable, and the protective case for the linkrunner is of nice quality. Overall, I like the additions offered in this kit, and would recommend purchasing it as opposed to the bare link runner itself.