CablesAndKits Blog

Do you remember the day you got your new computer and the desktop was clean and organized? The trash file was completely empty and the files on your computer were the ones from the manufacturer. Today is Clean your Virtual Desktop Day – the perfect day to clear out any old files, sort your files into folders and keep your computer running smoothly!

In This Issue: Fall Craft Projects | Cisco 10GBase-SR SFP+ Modules | 8 Steps to Set up a Network Disaster Recovery Plan | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Fall Craft Projects

Happy Monday!

I enjoyed another Fall weekend and was able to get some outdoor chores done. I encouraged my daughters to collect some sticks and acorns for a little crafting project we’ll be starting next week.

We discovered this very intriguing artist while watching random youtube videos. His name is David M Bird, and he’s created Becorns, woodland creatures crafted from acorns and other natural materials. He’s pretty creative and I encourage you to check out his work! We’re going to “attempt” and that’s a very charitable word to create Becorns of our own, I think it will be a fun crafting project. Wish us luck!

I’m trying to draw my daughters away from too much time with electronics. Do you have any fun and successful crafting projects you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them! Have a great week!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco SFP-10G-SR module gives you a wide variety of 10 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity options for your data center, enterprise wiring closet, and service provider transport applications. The SFP-10G module boasts a variety of features and benefits, including being the industry’s smallest form factor, which results in the greatest density per chassis. The SFP-10G-SR is hot-swappable and can be switched out with ease. Cisco 10GBase-SR SFP+ modules also feature Digital Optical Monitoring (DOM) functionality, which allows you to monitor the signal strength, the temperature of the SFP, and the transceiver voltage.

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Learning Center Article – 8 Steps to Set up a Network Disaster Recovery Plan

Surely, your business has IT resources. Whether you run everything internally, hire external firms to manage IT for you, or use some combination of the two, you have access to IT experts when you need them.

That’s good because you do in fact need them.

Many businesses overlook network disaster recovery planning to their own detriment. Network downtime can be devastatingly expensive to any business. When you have a recovery plan, you can minimize that downtime and any associated fallout.

Building a recovery plan for your business will take careful planning and effort, but it’s more approachable than you might think. You can distill the entire process down to just eight essential steps.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Mastercard is launching a program to let financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading to their clients.
• Shares of South Korea’s top messaging app fell Monday after a major data center outage over the weekend disrupted service for more than 53 million users worldwide. KakaoTalk is not only South Korea’s top messaging app, but it is also heavily relied on for everything ranging from online payments, gaming, and ride-hailing as well as log-in verification for other major websites.
• Medieval Times filed a suit claiming that its employees’ union is infringing on its trademark. The company says Medieval Times Performers United and its branding are confusingly similar to the dinner-and-show venue.
• The NFL still hasn’t picked a winner in its Sunday Ticket negotiations. Apple’s discussions for the package are complicated by existing restrictions for the package. The tech giant wants to partner with sports leagues rather than act as a standard rental conduit for broadcast rights

Today might just be the best Friday in a while – it’s National Dessert Day! Head on over to your favorite bakery, grandma’s house, or turn on the oven at your house and whip up your favorite dessert. Enjoy!

In This Issue: We need your feedback! | Cisco XENPAK 10 Gigabit Transceiver Module | Basics of Port Mirroring Configuration | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – We need your feedback!

Happy Friday, folks! My family drove through the Great Smoky Mountains this week, and it was a fun drive! We were pleasantly surprised to see how much the leaves had changed colors, and the scenery was beautiful! I hope that you’ll get out and enjoy nature this weekend!

Jason and I have written over the past few months that we are transitioning our website to a new platform (the technical term is eCommerce platform or ECP for short). We are close to being done and would like to have a few of our customers experience the site and provide us with feedback before we go live. If you’d like to be one of the first to experience our new site, reply to this email, or you can reach me directly at [email protected]. I’d love to hear your feedback!

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco 10GBASE-SR Module supports a link length of 300 meters on 50 or 62.5-micron OM3 multi-mode fiber or 400 meters on OM4. Hot-swappable input/output device plugs into an Ethernet XENPAK port of a Cisco switch or router to link the port with the network.

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Learning Center Article – Basics of Port Mirroring Configuration

When you have an important network, it’s a common practice to use some form of network monitoring. This can help you keep an eye on things for better security and network performance.

How do you implement monitoring techniques into a network?

One of the most straightforward methods is to use port mirroring.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Netflix announced that its new ad-supported offering will cost $6.99 in the U.S. when it launches on November 3rd.
• Fats Domino, one of the founders of rock n’ roll will officially have a street in New Orleans renamed in his honor.
• SpaceX and NASA are aiming to undock the Crew Dragon Freedom from the International Space Station today, Oct. 14, at 11:35 a.m. EDT (1535 GMT) to return its four Crew-4 astronauts to Earth. The mission’s departure has been delayed two days due to bad weather at the Dragon’s splashdown site off the coast of Florida. NASA’s live webcast of undocking will begin at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
• Climate activists have thrown tins of what appears to be tomato soup over a Van Gogh painting of sunflowers at the National Gallery in London. Footage showed two people in Just Stop Oil T-shirts opening tins and throwing the contents on the masterpiece before gluing their hands to the wall. The gallery said the painting was covered by glass and therefore not damaged.

Happy Thursday & Happy Train your Brain Day! Today calls from some puzzles, brain games, and riddles to keep our minds in tip-top shape! Wordle anyone?

In This Issue: Community Creates Change | Cisco Catalyst 3560-CX Series 8 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch | What is switch stacking & Why is it important? | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Community Creates Change

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Almost a year ago, a neighbor and I had a discussion and came up with a vision for starting a running club in our neighborhood. We had just met, while we were running separately one day, but we both really wanted to create a group for people who had the same passion and love of running that we did. A place where we could share tips, encourage and challenge each other, hold each other accountable, and help each other with our running and health, no matter the running level. A place where everyone felt comfortable to share whatever was on their mind running and health-wise; and ask for help or share help with others.

It is a bit wild to think about and write about the vision for the group above and see where the running club is now in just eight short months. What started with just two of us has grown to about 30 people from all walks of life, ages, backgrounds, running levels, and health levels. The encouragement that everyone gives to each other in the group cheering them on to overcome fears, issues, and mental roadblocks has been amazing. The group really has become a community within a community. It has been a blast and joy watching people smash their goals for running and health. One lady had “never run in her life”, and now she is able to run a 10k in an hour and just signed up for her very first half marathon. A guy in the group has dropped 25 pounds since he joined the group and started running. The community has created an environment where change can happen through support, encouragement, and accountability.

All of this has been on my mind over the last week as we head into another group race this weekend, a Zombie 5k. Several in the group have never run a race before. It’s going to be fun, but even more than that, it has been awesome watching the people in the community grow.

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Jason

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The WS-C3560CX-8PC-S is part of the Cisco Catalyst Compact Switch family built to expand Ethernet infrastructure outside of your network closet. Virtually silent (Fanless) switches can be mounted on the wall, under desks, in tight spaces, or anywhere they are needed. Unlike hubs or unmanaged switches, the 3560CX series switches provide advanced security and networking features for flexibility and scalability.

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Learning Center Article – What is Switch Stacking & Why is it Important?

There are countless ways to design a network and meet the criteria it needs to follow. Not all of these methods will be as efficient or affordable as others. That’s why network administrators are constantly learning new concepts.

Switch stacking is commonly used in high-end networking, but many small and medium businesses are missing out on the technique. Taking a minute to learn more about it could reveal a better way to run your network that saves time and money while improving network functionality.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Microsoft is launching a simple graphic design app called Designer that will be available for free and as part of Office productivity software subscriptions
• The price of Bitcoin has edged higher by about 0.4% and was trading at $19,072.00, while Ether rose 0.6% to $1,290.73.
• Nikola agreed in August to acquire battery-pack maker Romeo Power for $144 million in stock. At least half of Romeo Power shares had to be “tendered” to complete the deal. Nikola said that just enough Romeo Power shares were tendered and the deal will now close.
• The Waterbury jury unanimously determined Wednesday that Alex Jones will have to pay nearly $1 billion in damages to Sandy Hook families.

Happy Wednesday! We’re halfway through the week and I don’t know about you, but the weekend is calling. Do you have weekend plans you’re looking forward to?

In This Issue: Preparing Plants for Winter | Cisco Aironet 1130, 1140, 1240, 1300 Series Power Supply | Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Network | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Preparing Plants for Winter

Good morning and happy Wednesday!

Last week I spent lots of time on the road, so I’m happy to be back home this week. It’s so nice to be back and to get back to my normal routine.

This week I’m spending some time giving some TLC to all of my plants. With the weather starting to cool down, it’s time to bring them in and give them the care they need to prepare for the winter.

How do you prep your plants for the cooler months?

Ashley

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Put the power back where it belongs…in your network. Use our Cisco Aironet 1130, 1140, 1240, 1300 Series Power Supply and feel the difference for yourself. Our power supplies will help keep your operation running efficiently. We individually bag and label every one of your purchases so you can easily store and identify your Cisco accessories.

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Learning Center Article – Importance of a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Network

You run a modern business. You use computers, and you’re connected to the internet. That’s just how things work these days, and when things are in fact working, it’s pretty nice.

Networking resources allow for instantaneous communication, easy data management, and a whole bunch of efficiencies that improve your bottom line.

Unfortunately, all of those advantages come with a hidden downside. What happens if your network goes down? How can your business deal with such a problem?

The answer to that is typically found in a network disaster recovery plan, and when you understand exactly what is involved, you’ll see that a good recovery plan can be truly priceless.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Japan’s space agency says an unmanned rocket carrying satellites had to be aborted with a self-destruct command minutes after takeoff from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.
• Amazon’s Prime Day Early Access Sale is here for another day. Check out this article for some of the best deals.
• NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming return activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.
• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reported that his company’s newest virtual reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, will cost $1,500 and start shipping on Oct. 25.

Happy Monday and Happy Columbus Day! We’ve all grown up learning “In 1492, Colombus sailed the ocean blue.” Today we celebrate Christopher Columbus’ arrival in America!

In This Issue: Fall Traditions | Cat6 Shielded Crossover Ethernet Patch Cable | Data Center Server Rack Sizing Guide | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Fall Traditions

Hello and Happy Monday!

I am currently traveling back home from a nice little weekend getaway. My mother-in-law invited us to stay with her and friends of the family at a rather large cabin in Morganton, Georgia. The drive up was beautiful… It’s not quite peak fall colors, but close enough to see different hues of yellow and orange.

We spent a lot of time exploring around the mountain the cabin is nestled in, and later visited a beautiful Apple orchard in Blue Ridge, GA – Mercier Orchards. We didn’t get a chance to pick any apples (it was very very crowded), but we did enjoy some treats including some Apple cider donuts! I was also fortunate to find my favorite apple varietal – the Crimson Crisp apple. This is a crisp, sweet, and slightly tart apple that I think is just the best. We tried other apples (as there was a sample area), but Crimson Crisp is still my favorite. I also discovered another apple called the Sun Crisp, which is definitely in my top 5. It’s not as tart as the Crimson Crisp and has a sweeter flavor.

It seemed like we walked over 20 miles over the weekend as we also explored downtown Blue Ridge and as we hunted for deer sightings in the woods. We did see some deer and a lot of woodpeckers (they looked like a woody woodpecker and even laughed similarly). Overall it was a great weekend and a great time decompressing. Now I need the next day to recover from the vacation, haha. Do you have any fall traditions or trips planned for this year? I’d love to hear about them!

Cris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

Make the easy choice with our CAT6 shielded patch cables. Our 7-foot, gray CAT6 Shielded Crossover Ethernet Patch Cables are a smart investment for your IT network. They feature a braided core that connects to RJ plugs on either side of the cable and provides you with the most important line of defense. Common sources of interference include radio towers, high-powered electrical conduits or any other device emitting electromagnetic or radio frequency signals.

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Learning Center Article – Data Center Server Rack Sizing Guide

Data centers run on server stacks, and they are usually stored in server racks. So, if you need a lot of processing power and/or data storage, then you’ll need to understand rack sizes in order to strategize.

Unfortunately, server racks are not measured according to specific official dimensions. Fortunately, they are standardized, and you can read those standards when you understand the measuring unit utilized across the industry.

This quick guide will explain how racks are measured and what you need to know in order to pick the correct server rack for your operation.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• Russia unleashed a barrage of deadly attacks on cities across Ukraine on Monday, hitting the heart of the country’s capital as part of a wave of strikes against civilians and infrastructure not seen since the very earliest days of the war.
• The Bank of England on Monday announced further measures to ensure financial stability in the U.K., building on its intervention in the long-dated bond market.
• Apple recently introduced crash detection for iPhone 14 and Apple Watch. It’s supposed to detect when users get into a crash and help them reach emergency services. It seems to be overreacting in some cases, though. Crash detection is calling 911 when users go on roller coaster rides.
• Facebook’s owner Meta is warning users that as many as one million users may have had their login information stolen.

Happy World Smile Day! There are so many benefits of smiling. Be sure to take some time to smile at those around you and Happy Friday!

In This Issue: Let the Playoffs Begin! | Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adapter | How to Calculate Power Consumption for your Server Room | News to Start Your Day

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The CK Daily – Let the Playoffs Begin!

Happy Friday, folks! Today is the day that the playoffs begin in Major League Baseball! The energy and excitement pick up when the playoffs start. You can feel it in the air at the ballpark! I played baseball as a kid and always got excited when the postseason began. It’s even more exciting where your team (Braves fan here) is in the playoffs.

This past week, I had an opportunity to watch the New York Yankees take on the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. The energy at the ballpark was amazing! Aaron Judge of the Yankees had not yet broken the American League home run record, and the crowd was on edge for every pitch to him. Judge did go on to hit the 62nd home run Tuesday night! Here is a video showing Judge’s 62 home runs (5-minute watch).

Since you’re reading this in your favorite email client, I want to share a humorous video depicting Email in Real Life. Take 3 minutes and have a good laugh!

Are you watching the baseball playoffs this year? Which team are you rooting for?

Have a great weekend!

Chris

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Product Spotlights & Updates

The Cisco ATA 190 Analog Telephone Adapter is an excellent solution to be able to transform your traditional devices into VoIP devices. These adapters allow you save money by continuing to use your existing phone investment while enjoying the benefits of VoIP.

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Learning Center Article – How to Calculate Power Consumption for your Server Room

When it comes to maintaining a server room, there are many balls to juggle. You have to constantly expand the capacity and throughput of the server systems. Demands only ever rise. At the same time, the space inside the room seems to perpetually shrink. Then, the ambient temperature rises, and you draw more and more power.

That last issue is the topic of discussion here. Power draw is one of the most limiting factors when it comes to operating servers and high-end networks. Eventually, you hit a ceiling and don’t have enough power for more expansion. So, as you continue to adapt and redesign your server room, you need to be able to keep track of power consumption. These tips will help you do that.

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Today’s News to Start Your Day:

• A 19-year-old U.S. chess grandmaster “likely cheated” in more than 100 online games, including several prize money events, according to an investigation by an online platform where many top players compete.
• U.S. employers added 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.5% from 3.7%.
• About 2.55 million middle and high schoolers in the United States reported using e-cigarettes, an increase of 21.5% from those who reported using those products last year.
• Human rights groups from Russia and Ukraine – Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties – have won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022, along with the jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski.