Networld+Interop (N+I), produced by the Key3 Media Group, is one of the largest computer network showcases in the world. Nearly every major company in the networking industry is represented at the exhibition. At N+I, the InteropNet Event Network (eNet) provides connectivity to more than 800 exhibitors, conference and meeting rooms and Novell Connecting Points, servicing more than 12,000 nodes.

This year marked the fourth in a row that Fluke Networks served as the testing and troubleshooting cosponsor of eNet, which was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center in May and at the Georgia World Congress Center in September. Fluke Networks was responsible for supplying the technical staff and tools for the installation, verification and troubleshooting of the eNet.

Volunteers have always been the driving force behind the installation and the operation of the eNet. Network professionals from all over the U.S., South America, Australia and other countries volunteer their time to gain education and experience working side-by-side with their peers from a variety of organizations, as well as learning about the industry's leading-edge products and technologies. Chris Greer, network engineer for Fluke Networks, has seen five N+Is, with the Las Vegas show his first as leader of the testing and troubleshooting team.

The eNet begins with a clean slate--an empty convention center--nearing two million square feet of space. Electricians place the fiber backbones and copper ribs along the rafters nearly 50 feet high. The ribs have a "biscuit" box every 10 feet and, where needed, there is a drop to a booth location.

Placed strategically throughout the convention center are "peds." These are the "pedestals" or network racks in which the equipment is mounted. This is where the fiber comes down to a junction and connects to a switch. The ribs are already terminated to patch panels that are dropped to the ped for the teams to mount them in.

The first day is spent wheeling these peds into place to connect the network drops. According to Greer, "This gives the teams an understanding of the floor layout, as well as a visual indication of where they'll be working on the ribs when they begin patching and troubleshooting. They see where the main drop is and, as they follow the blue (cable) and the pink (fiber) to each drop, they understand its relationship to the ped. It also helps with direction and orientation when the team goes back out to troubleshoot."

The next few days are spent patching. Provided with network diagrams and other documentation, teams go out to the individual peds and begin patching the ports on the patch panel to the correct ports on the switch. Some of these are easy, with only a few patches to service one or two large booths. Others count between 30 and 50 patches.

Amidst all of this, booths are being moved in and set up. What was once a bare floor is now a maze of pallets, flying forklifts, beeping cherry pickers and just about every type of worker imaginable.

The thrill for the "network newbies" comes when they first hit the floor, equipped with network testers to troubleshoot drops and test connectivity. They experience, firsthand, the time saved with tools that pinpoint problems before ripping out cable or repatching.

Every drop has to be tested for link from the drop to the ped, to the NOC and to the outside world. Teams randomly throughput test five out of 20 drops to other peds and to the outside. After spending 15 to 20 miles on their feet, volunteers begin to appreciate the need for light gear and tools with a long battery life.

By Sunday morning, five days later, the show's network is up and running. Nearly every cable-related problem has been met and mastered. In cases of wire breaks, patch cables and biscuit drops have been swapped out and bad terminations have been reterminated. Volunteers have moved drops closer to switches and moved switches closer to drops with short cable lengths.

As vendors set up booths, the troubleshooting team gets a taste of what every IT department handles on a daily basis from testing new and moved drops to terminating cables. IP addresses have been incorrectly inputted, hubs are misconfigured, jacks are plugged into the wrong port, laptops need PCMCIA NICs and browsers have configuration issues.

In between installation and troubleshooting, volunteers and eNet team members are encouraged to sit in classes headed by the various network experts and sponsors, eNet leaders explain everything, from the basic OSI layers to understanding routing protocols and the mechanics of hubs and switches. Not only will this serve the teams when they go out to the show floor to patch or troubleshoot for an exhibitor, the experience will reinforce their day-to-day responsibilities as network engineers.