Networking Layout.

Pulse

Pulse

Pulse

Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2006
Posts
3,526
Location
Taunton
Hi guys,

Just wondering if anyone on here would be willing to give some advice on how best to expand the network in the house for better coverage, both wired and wireless?

I'm not looking to throw loads of money at it, but willing to make reasonable purchases to achieve what I need.

So I'll try and explain how it is currently and what I'm looking to do:

The main Fibre comes into the house in the living room where we have the BT router (been reasonably happy with it, no issues at all really). This feeds a small network switch on my desk just next to it, where I have my PC, a small PC (for Plex and CCTV) and a NAS drive. There is also a 20M LAN cable that is run under the living room carpet to an upstairs bedroom (this has potential that I'll explain later). There is also a Wi-Fi extender for a Roku unit (this is needed as the Roku is wireless only and has terrible Wi-Fi so won't pick up the BT wireless itself). I'm also looking to extend the wireless into the garage where the wireless currently is non-existent. I have some Wi-Fi sockets in there and they keep disconnecting due to poor signal and another Roku box that gets 1 bar of signal from both the Wi-Fi extender and the BT router due to it being about the same distance from both, but they both go through an external wall.

The potential from the 20M cable is that it could easily be ran into the loft where I could have another switch (maybe even one with POE for future proofing and to assist a possible upgrade of CCTV cameras that I've been contemplating). From here I could also get a cable into the garage without much issue, and feed a cable back into the bedroom where it is currently run.

If I can get a switch into the loft, would it be worth moving the small PC and the NAS drive up there? Would there be much issue with cold/hot temps? They're fine currently on my desk but as it is in the living room they would be completely out of the way. Would it be silly to run a cable from the loft switch to the garage and have that service a Wi-Fi AP? What would be the best sort of hardware to use?

If a network typology diagram would be better to assist, I can try and get one made up for the current and future layouts?
 
Pulse said:
If I can get a switch into the loft, would it be worth moving the small PC and the NAS drive up there?
Click to expand...

I'm in a minority here but don't do it. It's a fire risk. Because the kit is unattended you never know when an insect or rodent is going to crawl in and cause a short circuit and fire.

Pulse said:
Would there be much issue with cold/hot temps?
Click to expand...

Temperatures in your loft may get very high in summer.
 
Quartz said:
I'm in a minority here but don't do it. It's a fire risk. Because the kit is unattended you never know when an insect or rodent is going to crawl in and cause a short circuit and fire.


Temperatures in your loft may get very high in summer.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%. A device in my rack started smelling really hot last week, I noticed it and powered down and sorted it. Would've gone unnoticed in the loft

And like you say, my loft gets roasting and humid as hell in summer.
 
How hot a loft will get will depend on many factors. It isn't going to get any more humid in the summer but may feel like it.

I wouldn't want much more in my loft (it does get stinking hot) than some basic networking kit. I certainly wouldn't want anything up there with spinning drives.

If you are putting equipment up there a linked smoke alarm is an easy addition.

You say you can easily cable into the garage. That's where my server sits, up on a high shelf (above head height) where it's completely out of the way.
 
Smoke alarm might help. Personally I'd prefer my kit to be in main parts of the house in case of any issues for visibility and quick access. In my comment above I noticed the smell before any alarms set off.

Anecdotal - one of our neighbours houses was completely gutted by fire in lockdown 1.0 because of their "cinema" in their loft. Appreciate that could've happened in the lounge too but there may have been better opportunity to notice a smell or act quick with an extinguisher etc

But it your houses, your decision.
 
I've thought about this a lot. I'm soon to be moving into a new place, and I was thinking of putting Servers/Routers/Core networking stuff in the loft to be fair.

I'd prefer to avoid the garage because it's equally harsh with cold, potential metal and fibreglass dust as well as exhasut fumes - the latter of which prevents me from putting my normal Nest Protect smoke detector in there.

I think with sufficient monitoring I'd still be fine with going in the loft - with temp, humidity and smoke detector as a minimum.
 
Any sign of rust on the cabinet or server for those that have it within a garage? Although I suppose it depends on the type of garage is integrated or concrete panel or timber etc
 
Thanks for the replies. Picture of garage setups would be good for sure!

Are you not concerned about the moisture in the garage?

And if that's the case, I might have to just run everything to spare bedroom and have a small cabinet in there, just hope it won't be too much of a pain running everything into the bedroom rather than the loft.
 
also dont forget to use cat9 or cat10 cables for the jigabitz.

cat9.jpg

cat10.jpg
 
You could always put an automatic fire extinguisher if you are concerned about fire, but it will be absolutely disgustingly warm in the heat of summer though without any kind of ventilation in a loft.
 
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