connecting a tone generating device to a switch safe???

[baselzind]

sometimes in my building i have network points on the wall where i need to find out where they are connected to on the patch panels using this two devices , one which generate a tone and another which detect the tone sound , but can connecting such device to a cable connected to a switch cause any damage to the switch? as i noticed the tone will come out of all switch cable but at a lower intensity???

[pwwiddicombe]

I don't know about the impact of a tone generator on switch ethernet ports, but you could do one of several things first:

1.  There are cable testers that can identify Ethernet, analog phone, or no connection, with a wide range of prices and capabilities.  Some of these will also estimate cable length; and even identify if some pins aren't connected or crossed.

2.  Higher end of these (maybe $1000 and up?) that will identify the SWITCHPORT they connect to (uses CDP to get device name, blade, port).

3.  Carry a cheap minihub with auto-mdix (most of them are these days).  Plug it in, and see if the light comes on.  If so, it's connected to a switch or end device somewhere.  NOTE - set it up for no spanning-tree detection if possible; this may disable network ports if you have configured bpduguard.