Home Network infrastructure. What should I look out for?

Butters

Butters

Butters

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Hi all,

A friend of mine who happens to be building a £3m house :rolleyes: has asked that during the electrician install, I swing along and rig the house up with CAT5e network cables terminating in at least 8 rooms at wall sockets.

I have no issues doing this and the house will be in such an early build that it will be a walk in the park.

What I would like is to know what I should look out for.

Types of cables to use, types of wall sockets to use, etc.

An 8 port router will look after all of this (possibly 10 port) and should also Ideally be wireless. Each wall socket will terminate at this router.

Is CAT5e crossover cable what I want to be looking at?

Also, if I want wireless, should I be looking at a 4 port wireless router and a 8 - 10 port switch?

TIA
 
Wire at least 2 ports to each room, then extra ones near AV equipment.

Terminate them all to a patch panel somewhere out of the way, and patch to a switch / phoneline as nessecary.
 
Standard 4 port router > 24 port switch > patch panel > cables going to each room.

Do 2 or 3 in the main rooms (lounge, master bedroom, kids rooms, office etc.)

Wireless access points in key locations.

Use straight through all the way. Crossover cables are only used at the end user equipment.

Wall plates, mount box's (is that what they are called?) 0.5m patch cable. TO make life easier for you, get as many box's of CAT5e cable as you are going to have in each room. Get a small cabinet as well to make it look nice.

Btw. Ask him the layout of all the rooms so the wall sockets are in the right place.
 
Maybe a little OTT, but i'd cable it up with Cat6... you never know what may be around the corner and it totally future proofs you.

Is he going to want a home server? May be useful and if so you will need to think more carefully about the layout and where the switch/router is likely to be placed.

Defiently 2/3 points per room.. more and more electrical devices are becoming network compliant so it future proofs you some more.

As said, think carefully about the placement of WLAN points... is he going to want coverage in his gardens for instance?...

Stay stringent with your cabling standard... defiently terminate them to a patch panel somewhere, but don't switch and change standards as that's where you'll start to make mistakes and become frustrated when there's no connectivity.

And get a gigabit switch, makes all the difference and he'l thank you when he's sharing files!!
 
Ok, thanks

Can I ask, where does the patch panel come in? Does it just make sure the right traffic goes to the right destination?

and is there anywhere location wise I should put it i.e. near the switch / router, etc.
 
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The patch panel should be directly above of below the switch. I prefer it above.

It is not necessary, but looks neater terminating it into a patch panel, and having .5m patch cable going into the switch. Also you can name the ports on a patch panel. LR 1,2,3; K1; D1; AP1,2,3; etc. which makes it easier fault finding.

Oh btw. I will hunt you down if you don't make the patch panel neat. :p
 
Butters said:
Ok, thanks

Can I ask, where does the patch panel come in? Does it just make sure the right traffic goes to the right destination?

and is there anywhere location wise I should put it i.e. near the switch / router, etc.
Click to expand...

A patch panel takes sets of cables in on the back, and terminates them to a grid of female RJ45 sockets. Then you can use a short length of cable crimped with 2 normal RJ45 connectors to connect either two patch bay ports, or a port from the patchbay to a switch/PBX/whatever.

Its fairly standard practise to run phones over the same cables now too, so you just need a BT > RJ45 cable (you can crimp your own) and a little dongle (about £3, containing a ring capacitor) on the socket in a room with a phone on.

You'll need a punchdown tool to connect cables to the patchbay and wall sockets, and a crimper to make up patch cables.

Patch panels are normally 19" rack mountable, so stick it on a bracket or half-depth cabinet somewhere out of the way, with a rackmount gigabit switch next to it, and get BT to end thier lines there.

If your runs are fairly long, go for CAT6, that should make it good for 10GigE and nicely futureproof. Remeber to use all 4 pairs or you wont get anything above 100mbit.
 
Ahh. ok.

So, i assume, because you can plug an RJ11 plug into an RJ45 socket that if the house is wired using CAT5(e) and say they terminate at double sockets in the rooms one can be data and one can be voice?

Is the principle the same for CAT6? What about bends in the cabling, etc

EDIT: ignore me, I found the BT to RJ45 connectors. They look more fun and neat. :)

If I get BT to terminate their lines can you then just use another port from the patch panel to connect to the router?

What I mean is, If we have one line coming into the house which is broadband enabled, does this terminate at the patch panel?
 
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Yeah if you terminate double sockets in each room then you can use one for voice and one for data, or both for data, or both for voice.

Bending the cable will be fine. Get 305m reels of stranded CAT5E so you have better flex. Are you using trunking or you pulling them under the plaster and conduits?

You would simply patch the switch into the router then from the router into the BT socket. Thats for the data side of those. Im not sure how you'd go about patching the voice into the BT line though.

Butters said:
Ahh. ok.

So, i assume, because you can plug an RJ11 plug into an RJ45 socket that if the house is wired using CAT5(e) and say they terminate at double sockets in the rooms one can be data and one can be voice?

Is the principle the same for CAT6? What about bends in the cabling, etc

EDIT: ignore me, I found the BT to RJ45 connectors. They look more fun and neat. :)

If I get BT to terminate their lines can you then just use another port from the patch panel to connect to the router?

What I mean is, If we have one line coming into the house which is broadband enabled, does this terminate at the patch panel?
Click to expand...
 
Thats what I'm confused at now. If I'm getting BT to terminate thier lines at the the patch panel do I then go from patch panel to BT adapter to ADSL line in on the router?

Hmmmm :confused:

I understand that if the BT line is terminated at the patch panel then all the rooms could effectively have a phone in them without the need for seperate wall sockets but I'm not sure how the BB would work.

Also, I was thinking more about CAT6 infrastructure now. It is compliant with CAT5 devices, etc isn't it? Would just future proof things a little. What's this like with bends, etc?

The beauty I have with this house is that its at such an early build stage that I could run a cable along the floor if I wanted to and everything else could be built around that as opposed to me having to install through existing walls. We are only at the air brick stage at the moment :)
 
You are confusing a patch panel with a switch. All cables in a patch panel are seperate. They communicate with each other when plugged into the switch. Unless you are going to use VOIP you couldn't have a phone line in each room over the networked CAT5e.

CAT6 is backwards compatible. Just costs a bit more. I haven't touched a cat6 cable but I am going to say it would be the same.

I assume when you said on the floor you meant under. ;)
 
There's the potential for a good number of monumental cockups here and, without wishing to sound rude but considering your evident lack of experience, you're going to make at least some of them. Here are some tips:

Buy a good quality punch-down tool (or two, just in case).
Ditto a cable tester so you can check your work (vital!). One that has multiple remote units is useful.
Leave plenty of slack in the cables in the floor - you might have to re-terminate some more than once and it also gives you the freedom to move the patch panel around a bit.
Label each end of every cable - if something goes wrong you'll have a chance of finding it.
Practice terminating the cables in the blocks and make sure you know the order of the wires without having to think about it - buy a few extra for this.
Make friends with the electrician doing the mains wiring - you might need his help at some point. He'll know the building regulations about where sockets must be placed. They may not apply to data/phone but it'll look neater if everything is lined up.

Good luck. Preparation is the key. It'll be enormously satisfying when it's finished so be well prepared.
 
Thanks Snapshot

That helps a lot. I've done a few network installs but never any on this scale. I'm quite looking forward to it.

I will be working at the same time as the electrician so that is good.

Do BT terminate their lines at the switch then?

Thanks
 
As someone said earlier - thsi project is obviously a little beyond what you've done before and would benefit from a proper structured install with patch panels etc.

My basic advice would be to terminate as many boxes as you can justify (in each room) back to one or more patch panels in a suitable location (one with plenty of space, light, power and ventilation).

Treat that as project number 1.

Have a think about how many phones this person wants (does he want them to be seperate lines for each handsets or extensions like an office - if the latter you will need something more than just BT phonelines).

Also think about audio and video distribution and so on.

It gets quite complicated quite quickly....

I'm not taking the **** but if I were spending £3m on a house I wouldn't be asking a mate to pop round and run some Cat5. I'd want audio and video distribution, a PBX based phone system, CCTV, X11 home automation and then IP for my PCs.

Specialist companies exist to do this sort of thing - be careful you don't get out of your depth. By all means, stay involved helping him make decisions and so on but consider getting someone who really knows what they are doing to build the basic system - you can always be his sysadmin afterward if you really like.

Mind the language please!

Z.
 
Has provision been made for separate trunking for the data from the power cables?

I'm also surprised at the 'casual' nature of the request as there is a lot more to consider than just putting a few Cat 5/6 sockets around the place.

AV signal cables, speaker cables and other control links should be part of the cabling spec if he wants the best solution.

If he really does just want a few PC points then np of course.

Provision where the patch panel is for a ventilated/sound insulated server area as well as the patch panel would be sensible if not for PC equipment then for AV kit.

Doesn't have to take a lot of space if it is planned right though.
 
No, the original provision was for 8 rooms to have an ethernet wall switch. I didn't think there would be anything wrong with running this cabling straight back to a 8 port hub and I still don't think there is if its done right. I'm just trying to understand, now that patch panels have been thrown in, how to go about this new possible route.

Perhaps I'll outsource :p
 
Just think of the patch panel as a way of running all the sockets back to a collection of sockets in one spot.

Then you just plug a cable into the patch panel and the other end into the switch.

That leaves you with total freedom over the length of the cables you use to connect from the patch panel to the switch or whatever else you need to connect.

If you just run a terminated cable with a plug on the end back from each socket at some point you will find the cable is too short or the spare unused cables get in the way etc.

The patch panel gives an elegant solution and leaves you with maximum flexibility.
 
Teal said:
Just think of the patch panel as a way of running all the sockets back to a collection of sockets in one spot.

Then you just plug a cable into the patch panel and the other end into the switch.

That leaves you with total freedom over the length of the cables you use to connect from the patch panel to the switch or whatever else you need to connect.

If you just run a terminated cable with a plug on the end back from each socket at some point you will find the cable is too short or the spare unused cables get in the way etc.

The patch panel gives an elegant solution and leaves you with maximum flexibility.
Click to expand...

Thanks Teal. So can I ask, how come you only need one cable from the switch to the patch panel if the patch panel was to be a 12 port say
 
He means a patch cable from every used port in the patch panel to a port on the switch.

A patch panel is completely dumb. Doesn't do anything different than a RJ45 coupler.
 
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