Best way to wire premises?

[lumencreative]

We have an industrial unit that has a mezzanine floor upstairs and workshop downstairs. We are currently using WiFi but want to install cat7 cable.

Would we be better having a separate switch for upstairs and downstairs, with a single cat7 cable connecting them, rather than wasting what would end up being 100m+ of cables going from each device upstairs to a single switch that’s downstairs? Or, would this impact on network speed somehow?

 

[MassiveJim]

Usual practice is to install wall plates wherever you want to connect computers and have them all run back to a single patch panel.
Obviously this will use more cable but the cost of cable is not that high in reality.

As for network speed being affected it entirely depends on your usage case.
You could link 2 switches together with either a pair of CATxx cables and aggregate them for better throughput or a Fibre link to save on cable and cabling costs.

What are you doing with your network exactly and why do you want/need CAT7 ?
How many users on network at a time ?
Who is doing the cabling, you or a contractor ?

 

[lumencreative]

Usual practice is to install wall plates wherever you want to connect computers and have them all run back to a single patch panel.
Obviously this will use more cable but the cost of cable is not that high in reality.

As for network speed being affected it entirely depends on your usage case.
You could link 2 switches together with either a pair of CATxx cables and aggregate them for better throughput or a Fibre link to save on cable and cabling costs.

What are you doing with your network exactly and why do you want/need CAT7 ?
How many users on network at a time ?
Who is doing the cabling, you or a contractor ?

Sorry, yes I intend on using wall plates, etc but there’s about 5 metres between the upstairs and downstairs so just trying to simplify things if possible and make it easier to add more network points upstairs if needed in the future. I’ll look into aggregating and fibre options but I’m guessing switches that will have those options might make it more costly than just running the cable haha.

To answer your questions though, we are a digital print company. We will have 10 devices upstairs that need to connect (a mixture of PC’s, voip phones and 2 office printers), and downstairs approx 20 devices including digital presses, voip phones, PC’s, the server, and network storage. Probably only 6 ‘users’ on the network but could be 6 computers, 4 phones and 5 presses running simultaneously.

Cat7 purely to be as future proof as possible. Did look at Cat6 but doesn’t look much better spec than Cat5e. Doing the cabling myself. In a previous life I was a network administrator. I installed all our cabling in our previous unit but that was single story and cat5e.

 

[Caged]

All your network kit in a single location is much easier to handle in terms of management, powering from a UPS etc. If it's just 5 metres then I wouldn't consider having a second switch and a cabinet - just a single 48 port PoE switch and a bunch of cable runs.

If you're looking for savings then do it all in Cat6 rather than the mythical Cat7.

 

[Ayahuasca]

CAT7 is pretty much pointless in this country, you might get the benefit from it as a pensioner or if you transfer very large files internally.

 

[MassiveJim]

Sorry, yes I intend on using wall plates, etc but there’s about 5 metres between the upstairs and downstairs so just trying to simplify things if possible and make it easier to add more network points upstairs if needed in the future. I’ll look into aggregating and fibre options but I’m guessing switches that will have those options might make it more costly than just running the cable haha.

To answer your questions though, we are a digital print company. We will have 10 devices upstairs that need to connect (a mixture of PC’s, voip phones and 2 office printers), and downstairs approx 20 devices including digital presses, voip phones, PC’s, the server, and network storage. Probably only 6 ‘users’ on the network but could be 6 computers, 4 phones and 5 presses running simultaneously.

Cat7 purely to be as future proof as possible. Did look at Cat6 but doesn’t look much better spec than Cat5e. Doing the cabling myself. In a previous life I was a network administrator. I installed all our cabling in our previous unit but that was single story and cat5e.

Even if you used CAT6 it is unlikely you will be able to correctly run it all and connect it to the "official" CAT6 standard, same goes for CAT7.
I personally wouldn't bother.

Also none of the usage you have listed will need above Gigabit, and if you really want 10Gbit Cat 5e/6/6a will support that depending on the total length of the run for each port.

I would be installing a single patch panel in the most convenient location and using a single switch with either CAT6 or CAT6a, especially as you are running the cable yourself as there is no labour cost, and the cost of the cable itself is next to nothing.

Might be worth contacting a cabler to come and test each port for you though, just to make sure everything is wired correctly. The testing kit is quite expensive, I use a £200 tester as I don't do much cabling myself, but a pro cabler should have a Fluke tester.

 

[lumencreative]

Even if you used CAT6 it is unlikely you will be able to correctly run it all and connect it to the "official" CAT6 standard, same goes for CAT7.
I personally wouldn't bother.

Also none of the usage you have listed will need above Gigabit, and if you really want 10Gbit Cat 5e/6/6a will support that depending on the total length of the run for each port.

I would be installing a single patch panel in the most convenient location and using a single switch with either CAT6 or CAT6a, especially as you are running the cable yourself as there is no labour cost, and the cost of the cable itself is next to nothing.

Might be worth contacting a cabler to come and test each port for you though, just to make sure everything is wired correctly. The testing kit is quite expensive, I use a £200 tester as I don't do much cabling myself, but a pro cabler should have a Fluke tester.

Thanks for the suggestion. Out of interest would you say there’d be any gain in going with cat6a vs cat5e if I went for a high end cat5e?

 

[Quartz]

Even if you used CAT6 it is unlikely you will be able to correctly run it all and connect it to the "official" CAT6 standard,

Get it professionally done. This isn't a home network.

 

[MassiveJim]

Thanks for the suggestion. Out of interest would you say there’d be any gain in going with cat6a vs cat5e if I went for a high end cat5e?

Can't answer that question without knowing
1 - What is your longest run ?
2 - what speeds are you wanting from this setup ?

for reference
http://www.kit-communications.com/FAQCat5evsCat6.htm

Cat5e:
Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters
10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 45 meters

Cat6:
Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters
10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 55 meters

Cat6a:
Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters
10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 100 meters

bear in mind that the length quoted includes any patch cables that will be attached patch > switch and wall jack > device

Also that it is unlikely that you will terminate and run it all correctly so you can safely knock a bit off to account for that as well.

Have you ran and terminated cable before ? (ie do you know what you are doing ? )

 

[Avalon]

Personally - 5e, no CCA, it’s a job for two people and basic testing kit over the course of a few hours after work or on a weekend when things are quiet. If you want to sub-contract it, then feel free, but it’s very basic work unless the runs are horrifically long or you need some form of certification for the landlord/insurer.

Cable wise, just buy a box, they’re cheap enough and 305m will keep you going for a while.

 

[lumencreative]

I

Can't answer that question without knowing
1 - What is your longest run ?
2 - what speeds are you wanting from this setup ?

for reference
http://www.kit-communications.com/FAQCat5evsCat6.htm



bear in mind that the length quoted includes any patch cables that will be attached patch > switch and wall jack > device

Also that it is unlikely that you will terminate and run it all correctly so you can safely knock a bit off to account for that as well.

Have you ran and terminated cable before ? (ie do you know what you are doing ? )

Thanks. Longest run will definitely be below 45m. I fitted our previous premises out with cat5e and have done a few other cat5e installs in a previous life (used to be a network admin but feel like things have moved quickly since I changed careers haha).
At the moment all our equipment is gigabit but would like to upgrade to 10 Gigabit in the next few years to speed up the transfer of files across the network.

 

[lumencreative]

Personally - 5e, no CCA, it’s a job for two people and basic testing kit over the course of a few hours after work or on a weekend when things are quiet. If you want to sub-contract it, then feel free, but it’s very basic work unless the runs are horrifically long or you need some form of certification for the landlord/insurer.

Cable wise, just buy a box, they’re cheap enough and 305m will keep you going for a while.

Landlord isn’t bothered what we do as long as we aren’t knocking the place down haha. Have been reading lots and it seems if I buy solid copper cat5e I should be fine, so I’m leaning towards going that route and using Cat6 patch cables at either end.

 

[Avalon]

Landlord isn’t bothered what we do as long as we aren’t knocking the place down haha. Have been reading lots and it seems if I buy solid copper cat5e I should be fine, so I’m leaning towards going that route and using Cat6 patch cables at either end.

Yep, solid copper is generally good to 10Gb on normal length runs, no CCA (Copper Coated Aluminium), it’s horrible. If you go 5e, it’s easy to work with, the tools and fittings are cheap and readily available, people keep saying buy 6, in all honesty we’re only just starting to see 10Gb on top end consumer boards, 6 is only beneficial on longer runs and beyond 10Gb.

 

[Quartz]

Landlord isn’t bothered what we do

What about the insurers?

 

[Rainmaker]

people keep saying buy 6, in all honesty we’re only just starting to see 10Gb on top end consumer boards, 6 is only beneficial on longer runs and beyond 10Gb.

While you're usually on point, Avalon, I think you may have missed something in the OP. Do remember this isn't a consumer install - it's a digital print business in commercial premises, with a lot of high end equipment. What is and isn't available in the consumer space atm isn't very relevant to the OP's situation, as you know. Moving masses of uncompressed digital print around in an environment where time is money, I'd definitely be wanting 10Gbe even if it was only between a central server and the main print machines.

 

[Avalon]

While you're usually on point, Avalon, I think you may have missed something in the OP. Do remember this isn't a consumer install - it's a digital print business in commercial premises, with a lot of high end equipment. What is and isn't available in the consumer space atm isn't very relevant to the OP's situation, as you know. Moving masses of uncompressed digital print around in an environment where time is money, I'd definitely be wanting 10Gbe even if it was only between a central server and the main print machines.

It's an industry I know quite well - I ran/owned such a business from 1996 till 2017. Low end you'd run a local RIP instance on a workstation to feed the presses, but if you're running several or very large jobs, you'd have a dedicated RIP server and work would be queued up well in advance. Most RIP set-up's and indeed digital pess/large format solvent/UV/sublimation kit tends not to come with 10Gb, remember they're using wifi at present.

 

[Rainmaker]

It's an industry I know quite well - I ran/owned such a business from 1996 till 2017. Low end you'd run a local RIP instance on a workstation to feed the presses, but if you're running several or very large jobs, you'd have a dedicated RIP server and work would be queued up well in advance. Most RIP set-up's and indeed digital pess/large format solvent/UV/sublimation kit tends not to come with 10Gb, remember they're using wifi at present.

Ah in that case I bow to your superior knowledge (no scarcasm). It was just when you started talking about availability on consumer boards I wondered if you'd skim-read somewhat.

 

[Caged]

Cat6 is a tiny bit more expensive than Cat5e and is a good way of avoiding the endless sea of garbage quality Cat5e products out there. The spine in the cable also helps you avoid kinking it when pulling it in, and I've found the cable jacket is easier to work with.