My Network Toolkit: Korey Rebello

Name: Korey Rebello
Title: Network engineer
Location: Rhode Island
Certifications: CCNP R&S, CCDA, CCNA Security, JNCIA, Security +

About Korey
Korey is a network engineer, Cisco Champion, and military veteran with over eight years of IT experience. He’s currently responsible for network architecture, design, and implementation for a company that maintains a large global network. Korey is interested in advancing his network passion and knowledge, as well as teaching others.

Korey’s Network Toolkit

Every network engineer tends to have his own personal kit, and what’s in it can vary depending on the role. Are you an install tech, a hands-on troubleshooting guru, or do you mainly work from your desk all day?

My current role involves bits and pieces of all of those. Some days I’m at my desk and other days I’m in a wiring closet or data center.

This has been my go-to kit lately.

1. MacBook Pro or Dell laptop, depending on the scenario for that day. It ensures I have several necessary tools to get the job done—for example, Putty, Wireshark, GNS3, Evernote and some form of Visio or PowerPoint.
2. Portable USB charger to charge a phone or USB-powered device on the run.
3. Cisco console cables, both new and old.
4. Manhattan USB-to-serial converter to be able to use the older Cisco console cable.
5. Great Scott Gadgets Throwing Star LAN Tap Pro is an extremely useful little device. It provides passive monitoring capability between two endpoints. Drop it between two switches and capture the packets!
6. 6ft DB9 serial male-to-female extension cable, useful for consoling into various switches and devices.
7. Assortment of CAT5E cables in different lengths and colors. Useful in a pinch.
8. Velcro tie wraps for when you need to clean up a bundle of cabling mess.
9. Pen and Sharpie for obvious reasons.
10. Assortment of SFPs (small form-factor pluggables) and GBICs (Gigabit interface converters) to replace on the go if needed.
11. Pad of sticky notes. I use these for everything. I’m a big Evernote fan, so I’ll jot down quick notes on a sticky, then snap a picture of it and send it off to Evernote.

Another item I carry around in my car and backpack is a Leatherman Super Tool.

Meet Korey Rebello, military veteran and experienced network engineer, and explore his personal toolkit for network architecture, design, and implementation.

It has wire cutters and strippers, a crimper, various screwdrivers, pliers, and more. It gets used for literally everything, not just networking, hence the reason I left it out of the network kit.

What do you have in your kit? Tweet @AuvikNetworks and @KoreyRebello to let me know. I’m always open to adding new and useful gadgetry to my arsenal.