Home Networking Help

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 09:39

I am currently in the process of renovating a house we recently purchased.

All of the walls are going to be plastered and an electrician is in next week to do a full rewire so its seems like a good idea to run network cables to the upstairs bedrooms at the same time.

One faceplate in each room will be enough and there are 3 bedrooms. The router will be located by the master socket in the front room. Can anyone recommend what kit I will need to purchase? I plan on buying everything then giving it to my electrician to chase into the walls whilst he is doing a full rewire.

Thanks in advance.

bledd · 21 Mar 2017 at 09:42

1 faceplate = 2 ports by the way.

Pick a central location and run 2x cables (one as a spare) from your BT/fibre point to this central location.

Then from the central location, have a patch panel and switch and run the wall ports from the rooms to this patch panel.

How many ports would you have?

Which make/model faceplates are you getting? buy a 'euromod' facia, then fit these in them..

http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat5e...tp-rj45-modules-low-profile-euromod-size.html

Patch panels typically come in 12 or 24 port..

http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat5e-patch-panels/9159-24-port-cat5e-utp-ccs-elite-patch-panel.html

Cable..

http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat5e-cable/50519-excel-cat5e-utp-cable-pvc-outer-sheath.html

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 10:04

Thanks for the quick reply.

Where do people tend to have the patch panel? We have an airing cupboard with plenty of space in it in a fairly central location. Would this be suitable (ie heat etc)? Easy access from there to the other rooms under the floorboards.
I'd probably opt for a 24 port in case more are needed in the future. Not a massive difference in price anyway.

Haven't chose the faceplates yet. What sort of switch would I need? Just trying to get my head around why a patch panel and a switch is needed.

Sorry quite new to networking so its all new to me!

bledd · 21 Mar 2017 at 11:04

Ok, so a switch is for turning 1 ethernet port into 24.

You connect one cable from your router to your switch, then everything else goes into the switch. Any PC to PC traffic (ie sending files, streaming local media) will only go from a PC to the switch, to second PC. -it doens't all travel through the router.
-If you only had 4x wall ports, then you could do away with a switch.

Patch panel is a neat way of connecting all the cable ends into a central location, then between the patch panel and the switch, you would use ~30cm patch leads (short network cables).

Using a patch panel ensures the connections stay perfect. Some people do away with them and just RJ45 ends on the cables, then put these directly into the switch. This can stress the jacks and the switch ports (due to the angles and cable tension etc), causing disconnections. It's faster to punch down 24x cables than it is to make 24x jacks. So it's win/win.

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 11:14

Thanks that makes perfect sense. I couldn't understand the need for both a patch panel and a switch but that explains it.

Would it be prudent to use Cat6 instead?

BigT · 21 Mar 2017 at 11:15

Re location, somewhere central and that you can run power to. Under stairs is probably the most common, but it doesn't really matter. Personally I'd avoid an airing cupboard, a loft and anywhere that moisture or temperature might be a problem. I run everything to my study because, while it's not centrally located, cable is cheap so once I'd committed to cables being routed the distance/cost isn't so important and the study is dedicated to kit and tech so it was an obvious choice for me.

If you're doing it properly I'd definitely go with @bledd's advice and terminate centrally into a patch panel. Set and forget then in terms of your core cabling infrastrucutre.

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 12:08

Thanks chaps.

I will definitely follow the advice above and use a patch panel. What sort of case/rack will I need to mount the panel and switch?
They seem quite pricey from what I have seen.

bremen1874 · 21 Mar 2017 at 12:34

There's no simple answer to the mounting question.

If you're just mounting a switch and patch panel, and it'll out of the way, have a look at simple wall mounting brackets (Google 'AD2UWB' for a typical example).

You fasten it to the wall and have the switch and patch panel hanging down. They're cheap, and they don't take up much space.

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 12:37

Thank you, that looks ideal

Time to do some shopping!

BigT · 21 Mar 2017 at 13:37

£10 Ikea table makes a good rack:

https://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack

DIABLO · 21 Mar 2017 at 14:38

Also what are you doing for WiFi? You might want to consider having a couple of runs in optimum positions for AP.

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 15:09

I was just looking at the UBIQUITI AP. Would this work with the standard Sky Router? Do they extend the existing network rather than add a second?

bremen1874 · 21 Mar 2017 at 15:12

They'll work with your Sky router.

They'll create their own network.

You'd usually disable the router's wireless and add as many managed APs as you need to cover the area. There's a fair chance you'll get away with only using a single AP.

DIABLO · 21 Mar 2017 at 15:20

Depending on composition and layout of your house of course. My house is small but i need 2 AP because the internal walls are brick.

thenewoc · 21 Mar 2017 at 15:44

This is the rack I used as it's wall mountable and was able to fit it quite high in some dead space at the top of a cupboard. This one is 350mm deep and is big enough for the patch panel and switch, some are less deep and not suitable for the depth of a switch.

http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/brackets-frames/10512-350mm-deep-wall-mounted-19-frame.html

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 15:54

Thanks, looks good too. Need to get to the house and do some measuring to see where would be best to put it.

The cable that runs from the router to the switch, does this need its own faceplate at each end? Or can you, say, put a 4 gang faceplate by the router, use three for devices and leave one for the connection to the switch?
If that makes any sense!

bremen1874 · 21 Mar 2017 at 16:11

The answer is probably yes.

Upload a sketch of what you're intending to do and someone will check that it looks sensible. You're going to want a plan on paper anyway.

lee1101 · 21 Mar 2017 at 16:35

Like this...

bremen1874 · 21 Mar 2017 at 16:44

I meant a sketch of the entire setup.

In your diagram treat all four ports the same. They'll all connect back to your patch panel, and then to the central switch.

Plug your router into any of the four ports and that'll provide it with a connection to the switch.

lee1101 · 23 Mar 2017 at 21:41

I need to get the cable sorted as the electrician is coming Monday.

Shall I go for shielded or unshielded? Been looking at the excel stuff as it gets pretty good reviews.