Help me with a simply cabinet/patch panel setup

DJMK4

DJMK4

DJMK4

Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2004
Posts
23,081
Location
S.Wales
Help me with a simple cabinet/patch panel setup

Iv been asked to help set-up two comms rooms with cabinets and patch panels.

All the cabling has been done, all that needs is for the purchasing of two cabinets, one for the upstairs comms room, and one for downstairs.

Upstairs
Upstairs will accomodate around 120 ports on the patch panels.


Downstairs
Downstairs cabinet will need around 40 odd ports.

We are only installing the cabinet and wiring the cables into the patch panels, no more.

Problem is iv never really specced up cabinets so not really sure on what size cabinet I would need for that amount of ports on the panel and taking into concideration fitting in the required switches.

Would anybody be able to help me?

If there is any other info you need, please could you let me know.
 
Last edited:
Depends if they are putting systems into the cabinets as well as the Switches I guess? Otherwise a comms cabinet would do...But then again it depends on what switch they are installing as well :p As some can be rather...Hefty so to speak.
 
I need to get more info really, my dad is not the most technical person so the requirements from him were quite vague, im assuming..

I think They have a server downstairs along side a downstairs office, the server will be connected to the switch downstairs, along with all the users network connections, then the cabinet upstairs will just contain the patch panels and switches to accomodate the upstairs with network connectivity, then an uplink connection will be made from the downstairs switch to the upstairs switch.

I will post back when I get some more info.
 
Last edited:
The capacity of cabinets is measured in Us. General a 24 port (or smaller) patch panel takes up 1u, a 48 port will take 2u. So that's 5 u.

General switches work to the same formula although you can get 1u 48 port switches (are they using existing switches?). So you're looking at a 10u cabinet absolute minimum for the upstairs office.

However you should allow extra for expansion and also because you might need extra space for cable management.

You also need to consider the depth of the cabinet. Some switches can be very deep, you also need to take into account the need for space at the front for patching and space at the back for the power plug. You will not fit a 700mm deep switch into a 700mm deep cabinet.
 
K.C. Leblanc said:
The capacity of cabinets is measured in Us. General a 24 port (or smaller) patch panel takes up 1u, a 48 port will take 2u. So that's 5 u.

General switches work to the same formula although you can get 1u 48 port switches (are they using existing switches?). So you're looking at a 10u cabinet absolute minimum for the upstairs office.

However you should allow extra for expansion and also because you might need extra space for cable management.

You also need to consider the depth of the cabinet. Some switches can be very deep, you also need to take into account the need for space at the front for patching and space at the back for the power plug. You will not fit a 700mm deep switch into a 700mm deep cabinet.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info :) I will take all this into concideration.

Once I found out exactly what is needing doing, I will try and spec up the tools/equipment I need and check back here before anything is purchased.
 
Tool wise the only specialist kit you'll need is a punchdown tool for connecting the cables to the back of the patch panels and ideally some sort of network tester. A basic network tester that simply check that each connection is properly wired should only be about £20.

EDIT: This thread is worth a look.

Picture003.jpg


This is probably quite similar to what you'll be trying to achieve. It seems to be 1u 50port HP switches (think the Procurve 2650) with 2 1u 24 port patch panels in-between. This pic also shows another good rule with cabinets, get the right length of cable. I had to pull apart a cabinet and every cable in there was 2 meters long (fun fun fun).
 
Last edited:
Update: Should be easier than I thought :)

The upstairs and downstairs are two different companies (two networks) so they dont have to be uplinked, me and my brother are being payed to fit the cabinets, patch the cables in, tidy and test them all.

We do NOT have to supply networking equipment as they have a guy coming in to do all that.

Im an IT Support analyst, my brother an alarm engineer, £800 split two ways, £400, plus a free night out in kingston :)

Sounds like im onto a winner here
 
[Sniper][Wolf];12299227 said:
Im an IT Support analyst, my brother an alarm engineer, £800 split two ways, £400, plus a free night out in kingston :)

Sounds like im onto a winner here
Click to expand...

Do you have to provide the cabinets and patch panels with that budget?
 
K.C. Leblanc said:
Do you have to provide the cabinets and patch panels with that budget?
Click to expand...

This information I will find out on Monday

EDIT: Nope that £400 is for me i think just phoned then. Will get the exact details and requirements monday
 
Last edited:
Just wondering, are you going to patch the phone lines through the panel aswell so an employee can have a double socket with a phone on one gang and the computer on the other gang. If i am not mistaken you need a voice panel in the cabinet for that but I could be wrong.
 
Scream said:
Just wondering, are you going to patch the phone lines through the panel aswell so an employee can have a double socket with a phone on one gang and the computer on the other gang. If i am not mistaken you need a voice panel in the cabinet for that but I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Yes you would need a voice panel in the cabinet. And also an inline adaptor.

RJ-45 to BT6L Adaptors.
 
Last edited:
[Sniper][Wolf];12304631 said:
More info on this please? voice panel? cant you just allocate certain ports on the standard patch panel to be voice?
Click to expand...

You basically have another "switch" which is connected to the telephone system, which you can then patch into your patch panel.
 
swinnie said:
You basically have another "switch" which is connected to the telephone system, which you can then patch into your patch panel.
Click to expand...

I see, to be honest im not sure if this even going to need to be done, because as far as im aware all the phones are installed from what iv been told. Tomorrow is the day which will hold all information :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom