Having this debate myself, deciding on the location for the server also is proving a little tricky I don't want a bedroom as MassiveJim pointed out change of use issues, server cabinet mounted in the garage or attic are my two options anybody done similar? I'm thinking I may need extra cooling in the attic during the summer?
Cat5e vs Cat6a vs Cat7
- Thread starter jellybeard999
- Start date
I'm looking at under the stairs or a cupboard on the landing 
Soldato
Wouldn't worry
You probably should worry, but my experience says otherwise....Mine used to be in my "office", then my son came along. I kept the router in the bedroom and ran cat cables up in to the attic, down the stairs and in to my utility room. Should have been there from the start but we thought it wasn't possible to have more kids.
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Might do this myself... Been thinking where house stuff.
Downstairs will boiler etc seems fitting.
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My rack and server are under the stairs and against an external wall so if I i want to add some more runs i can always run them outside.I'm looking at under the stairs or a cupboard on the landing
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I have just finished rewiring my house in CAT6. Working out cable routes to my TV room on the second floor was bit of a nightmare but I managed to pull a pair to an 8 port switch in the knee-wall space. I've bonded the pair together back to my 24 port switch in my comms cab, to give me a 2Gb link, which is more than enough for me (netflix, ps4, xbone, firestick, TV etc). The rest of the house is cabled back to the main comms cab in my garage. Cat 6 is pretty easy to work with, radius tolerance is pretty good (just don't bend it through right angles). Take your time, plan your routes and always install twice as much as you think you need. Try not to run data cables parallel to mains cable
I have 8 drops in my living room, 8 in my office, 2 in the master bed, 2 to the second floor, plus drops to all of my cctv, and 3 drops to my ubiquitis (one on each floor) and I have already used all of them. I will be running some more into the new kitchen extension and will run 2 into the summer house when the builders are digging the garden up.
My advice is invest in a set of cable testers (test every cable) and invest in a cable toner (no matter how well you mark them up, at least one gets away), buy a decent punch down tool (and practice with it before you use it in anger), buy a decent ratchet crimper, side cutters and a good straight bladed screwdriver (I like Wera). Also a set of cable rods is a very good idea, 5 or 6 rolls of electricians tape (lots of colours) and 3 or 4 sharpie pens, to write on cables. If you are going to crimp RJ45 Cat6 plugs onto cables, buy the 2 part plugs, they make life much easier.
Don't buy CCA cable its false economy. Don't try and do it on your own, its a miserable job and you are more likely to damage cables when pulling them (as they often snag) and always try and pull a pair at a time as you will mostly run pairs of drops (or multiples of) to each location. Buy a roll of 1mm or 1.5mm single core cable, its very good to use as a puller cable and stops you straining the Cat 6.
I have done about 10 domestic installs ranging from 10 to 120 drops and every one has had its own unique problems, but nothing that wasn't doable, with time and effort, you just have to think laterally sometimes. I am more than happy to provide advice to anyone who is thinking of doing the same.
I have 8 drops in my living room, 8 in my office, 2 in the master bed, 2 to the second floor, plus drops to all of my cctv, and 3 drops to my ubiquitis (one on each floor) and I have already used all of them. I will be running some more into the new kitchen extension and will run 2 into the summer house when the builders are digging the garden up.
My advice is invest in a set of cable testers (test every cable) and invest in a cable toner (no matter how well you mark them up, at least one gets away), buy a decent punch down tool (and practice with it before you use it in anger), buy a decent ratchet crimper, side cutters and a good straight bladed screwdriver (I like Wera). Also a set of cable rods is a very good idea, 5 or 6 rolls of electricians tape (lots of colours) and 3 or 4 sharpie pens, to write on cables. If you are going to crimp RJ45 Cat6 plugs onto cables, buy the 2 part plugs, they make life much easier.
Don't buy CCA cable its false economy. Don't try and do it on your own, its a miserable job and you are more likely to damage cables when pulling them (as they often snag) and always try and pull a pair at a time as you will mostly run pairs of drops (or multiples of) to each location. Buy a roll of 1mm or 1.5mm single core cable, its very good to use as a puller cable and stops you straining the Cat 6.
I have done about 10 domestic installs ranging from 10 to 120 drops and every one has had its own unique problems, but nothing that wasn't doable, with time and effort, you just have to think laterally sometimes. I am more than happy to provide advice to anyone who is thinking of doing the same.
I have ebay krone tool and cable tester from when I did my cat5e install at the present house What is a cable toner?
I plan to label the cables properly, as that was a big regret on my current install when it came to fault finding and making any changes! I'll probably buy some of the proper tags
What is a cable toner?I plan to label the cables properly, as that was a big regret on my current install when it came to fault finding and making any changes! I'll probably buy some of the proper tags
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A cable toner is a device that injects an oscillating tone into a cable at one end, then you use a probe that has a speaker, which makes a sound when you touch the cable that has the tone injected in it (at the other end). Very useful for finding a specific cable in a bunch or braid. A lifeline when you have 50+ cables in a drop and the sparky only labelled 50% of them or the labels or tags fall off and you are trying to find one specific cable. Oh a roll of velcro is also very useful for bundling and un-bundling cables (a lot of cable monkeys prefer to use velcro over cable ties, as over-tightening cable ties can have similar effects to bending cat6 through 90 degrees)
Soldato
Toners are useful, but if you're not doing a lot then just use a sharpie and write on both ends of the cable. Take a look at the end of the cable, and write about two inches in from the end "1 . 1 .1 .1", "2 . 2 . 2. 2." etc etc
Soldato
Haha that's another way
They used to actually do this, I've seen it a fair few times when stripping out existing installs. We decommissioned an old data centre (it was old!) and it was full of it, the scrap was a stupendous amount. You had bundles of 16 or so cables, all different colours wrapped in a clear plastic wrap, the cables were combed perfectly but twisted. Was meant to speed up install time because you could pull in more cables at one. It caused huge alien cross talk issues however.