Stuff worth plugging in

The classic Cisco-blue rollover cable, just with a USB-C end instead of USB-A.

Covers crimping, punching down, and testing in one case — cheaper than buying three separate tools.

Finds shorts, opens, and miswires fast. A common pick for a tech's bag.

Compact crimper with a built-in wiring guide, so Pass-Thru terminations come out clean even if you're new to it.

Spring-loaded, switches between 66 and 110 blocks. Easier on your wrist for big termination jobs.

Self-adjusting blades strip Cat3 to Cat6a jackets without nicking the wires inside.

Mirrors live traffic for packet captures without interrupting the link you're monitoring.

Powers a remote AP or camera over one cable — no PoE switch needed.

Pliers, screwdrivers (flathead and Phillips), knife, and scissors in one clip — covers most on-site fixes without a trip back to the toolbox.

Shielded Cat6a that hits its rated 10Gbps speed.

A 1000ft box of solid-copper Cat6 for wiring jobs — pulls straight from the box, no tangled spool.

Pass-through style, easier to seat correctly than the old kind. The 200-pack means you won't run out mid-job.

OM3 multimode jumper for 10G/40G runs, plenum-rated and inexpensive.

Same LC-LC patching as the multimode version, built for longer runs and higher speeds.

Cleans fiber connectors without chemicals — hundreds of pulls per cassette.

10GBASE-SR module for short 10G runs, up to 300m over multimode fiber.

10GBASE-LR module, reaches up to 10km over single-mode fiber — good for links between buildings or floors.

1000BASE-SX module for gigabit links over multimode fiber, up to 500m.

1000BASE-LX module for gigabit single-mode fiber, up to 10km — good for campus links.

Finisar module that switches between 1G and 10G over multimode fiber.

Finisar module that auto-negotiates 1G or 10G over single-mode fiber, up to 10km.

SFP on one side, RJ45 copper port on the other — an easy way to bridge fiber and copper.

Gigabit SFP module that gives you an RJ45 port — useful when a switch only has fiber slots left.

A reliable, accurate multimeter that electricians and network techs commonly use.

A cheap way to see waveforms on cabling and signal issues instead of guessing.

Simple 2-port KVM switch — plug in, tap the button, done.

Full 8K/4K@120Hz bandwidth, so the cable won't be the bottleneck.

VESA-certified, rated for 8K/4K bandwidth — good if your monitor and GPU both use DisplayPort.

Lets you kill power to a hung box remotely, so you don't have to drive to the rack at 3am.

Pure sine wave output, with enough runtime to shut gear down cleanly during an outage.

Reusable velcro straps — no cutting needed when you add or swap a cable.

A grounded mat and wrist strap in one kit, for working on boards safely.

Low-profile, 14 inches deep, ships pre-assembled with cage nuts included — enough room for a switch, patch panel, and a small router.

Full-height open-frame rack rated for 1,323lbs, for when the home lab outgrows a wall-mount box.

The bolts and square-hole inserts that actually mount gear into a rack rail — always run out at the worst time.

Keeps a router, modem, and NAS alive through short outages — sized for a home setup, not a server room.

Keeps patch cables from turning into a rat's nest in front of a switch or PDU — mounts with the same cage nuts as everything else in the rack.

Labels ports, cables, and patch panels so "which one is this again?" stops being a 3am problem.

A basic, reliable USB drive for OS installers, quick file transfers, or the "just hand me a USB" moment every admin runs into eventually.