Planning a home network solution

[MrRockliffe]

My father is due to renovate his house in the next year or so, and has tasked me with drawing out plans to kit his house out with some proper networking equipment, including running ethernet and building a NAS.

He's completely stripping most of the house, and wants to future proof as best as possible.

I've added a floor plan below. Essentially, current plans are to take the house out to the edge of the conservatory on the left (on both floors). The general inside layout will change but the outside shape (other than extension) will remain mostly the same).

The master socket is located in the dining room (it's been repurposed as an office now)

Initial thoughts were to run 2 10Gbit (or 4 to cover uostairs and downatairs) cables to each end of the house (width wise), and put in gigabit switches in and run gigabit cabling from there to multiple rooms that's easily upgradeable in the future. That way the overall bandwidth is still 10Gbit when you have multiple devices connected.

A full WiFi system will be needed throughout. I'd likely get some equipment from Ubiquiti for this.

Next he's after his own NAS for his business, that's secure enough to keep confidential files on, which he can access with ease when he's working away, so there's no risk of files getting stolen if he lost his laptop, for example.

As I've never looked into this sort of thing myself before, I'm not sure what else I need to add, so please ask if you would like any clarification.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[BigT]

So it's more normal to run cables to a central location (study/dining room would be a good choice). If you're pulling everything apart and getting a professional in to do it then may as well do it properly and run a couple of Cat 6 cables from a patch panel in your study out to each of the rooms that you want a wired connection in where you terminate in a couple of wall sockets.

If you want to use Ubiquiti UAPs then run ethernet to the ceiling at either end of your upstairs landing/corridor and that should give you coverage across the whole house. One near the landing corner above the letter L of the word 'landing' to your diagram and one outside bedrooms 2/4. That size house you may even get away with one in the ceiling outside bedroom 3 in the corridor. To be honest if you're going to all that trouble there are apps you can run on your phone to see how the coverage varies around the house to guide placement. Worth doing as real world is affected by stuff you can't put on a floorplan like construction materials, interference, wifi density with neighbours etc.

 

[Armageus]

Not sure how/why you are running 2 10Gbit cables?

Ideally you just want to choose a central location (e.g. maybe the dining room because of the master socket already being there), and run cat5e cables from there to wherever you need devices (if you have multiple devices in a room then either run multiple cables or have a small network switch in that room).

The central location should be terminated with a patch panel, and then use patch leads to connect from the patch panel to your "main" switch.

At the other ends, terminate properly with faceplates and keystone jacks.

10Gb is largely unnecessary imo, it's still relatively expensive and outside of a few rare use cases will be unnoticeable in the home.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Not sure how/why you are running 2 10Gbit cables?

Ideally you just want to choose a central location (e.g. maybe the dining room because of the master socket already being there), and run cat5e cables from there to wherever you need devices (if you have multiple devices in a room then either run multiple cables or have a small network switch in that room).

The central location should be terminated with a patch panel, and then use patch leads to connect from the patch panel to your "main" switch.

At the other ends, terminate properly with faceplates and keystone jacks.

10Gb is largely unnecessary imo, it's still relatively expensive and outside of a few rare use cases will be unnoticeable in the home.

At the moment, I agree, but who knows what the future holds, and as he's going through a major renovation in the near future I thought it would make sense to put in the cabling now, rather than have to pull it all out and replace in the future. Hence why I thought doing the main cable runs in 10Gbit to a few hubs and then a few 1Gbit to the rooms, so total bandwidth is 10Gbit.

Worth doing as real world is affected by stuff you can't put on a floorplan like construction materials, interference, wifi density with neighbours etc.

It's a 1930s full brick building. Detached and neighbours WiFi isn't picked up by my mac anywhere in the property

 

[MrRockliffe]

Also as he's looking into a NAS, I thought it would make sense to run 10Gbit to a few hubs, and then Gigabit from there so that if multiple devices are connected to it they're not being bottlenecked by connecting over a single gigabit line

 

[bremen1874]

If you use Cat6 you should be okay for 10GBe on all of the cables. None of them look to be long enough to need Cat6a.

 

[Nikumba]

Also look at using Nexan products for wall ports, patch rails, we using them in work now and finding them much more superior to the traditional punch down stuff

 

[Armageus]

At the moment, I agree, but who knows what the future holds, and as he's going through a major renovation in the near future I thought it would make sense to put in the cabling now, rather than have to pull it all out and replace in the future. Hence why I thought doing the main cable runs in 10Gbit to a few hubs and then a few 1Gbit to the rooms, so total bandwidth is 10Gbit.

Can't see how you plan to implement this? There isn't such thing as 10Gb cable, it's either Cat5e, Cat 6 or Cat6a. As above Cat6 is ok for <55m, longer than that and you need 6a (up to 100m). Cat 6a is a pain to terminate, and the patch panels/keystone jacks are more expensive.

Network switches with 10Gb uplinks (E.g. to link the switches together as you suggest) are still expensive.
Having a single central point would be no more bottlenecked than your solution.

Unless you have SSDs in all of your machines, and a very capable NAS, then even that doesn't necessarily justify a 10gb connection. You can bond multiple gigabit ports together (assuming you have a NAS with multiple ethernet ports), to create e.g. 4x1Gb to create a "bigger" link between the NAS and switch, so that 4 clients can use the NAS simultaneously at gigabit speed.

If you really do need 10Gb between switch and NAS, then a switch with 10Gb ports, and a DAC (Direct attach Copper) cable between the switch and the NAS would do the job, and would allow 10 Simultaneous clients to access the NAS at gigabit speeds (assuming the NAS can cope).

Personally don't think 10Gb is ever going to take off on in a home environment - Wifi standards have already surpassed Gigabit ethernet in certain circumstances (appreciate it doesn't necessarily help you with the construction of your walls), and newer 25Gb/50Gb/100Gb standards look like they might be more promising with regards to future adoption.

 

[MrRockliffe]

Can't see how you plan to implement this? There isn't such thing as 10Gb cable, it's either Cat5e, Cat 6 or Cat6a. As above Cat6 is ok for <55m, longer than that and you need 6a (up to 100m). Cat 6a is a pain to terminate, and the patch panels/keystone jacks are more expensive.

Network switches with 10Gb uplinks (E.g. to link the switches together as you suggest) are still expensive.
Having a single central point would be no more bottlenecked than your solution.

Unless you have SSDs in all of your machines, and a very capable NAS, then even that doesn't necessarily justify a 10gb connection. You can bond multiple gigabit ports together (assuming you have a NAS with multiple ethernet ports), to create e.g. 4x1Gb to create a "bigger" link between the NAS and switch, so that 4 clients can use the NAS simultaneously at gigabit speed.

If you really do need 10Gb between switch and NAS, then a switch with 10Gb ports, and a DAC (Direct attach Copper) cable between the switch and the NAS would do the job, and would allow 10 Simultaneous clients to access the NAS at gigabit speeds (assuming the NAS can cope).

Personally don't think 10Gb is ever going to take off on in a home environment - Wifi standards have already surpassed Gigabit ethernet in certain circumstances (appreciate it doesn't necessarily help you with the construction of your walls), and newer 25Gb/50Gb/100Gb standards look like they might be more promising with regards to future adoption.

I thought Cat6 was rated for 10Gb at 100m?

I think it's unfair to say 10Gb won't take off - as you say, wireless is getting better, but you're limited by bandwidth and frequencies, and the higher the frequency, the shorter the range (currently). Running proper cabling throughout the house means if in 15 years time a NAS goes in with SSDs, he can access it at full speed anywhere without needing to replace the cabling.

Edit: Reason for cat 6 is future proofing. Sure, 5e will give higher bandwidth by running multiple channels, but may as well go with 6 so avoid having to take the walls down again just to lay cabling. It's barely any cost increase. He doesn't need to get the equipment to transmit the speed right now, but having the cabling in will mean he doesn't have to do it in the future.

And by 10Gbit cabling I mean cat 6 - from what I can see, 5e doesn't officially support it, and certainly not at the distances I'll need.

 

[Caged]

If you're concerned about future proofing then you need to pull in conduit, anything else is guessing. I don't think 10Gb ethernet over copper will take off, you're more likely to see 2.5/5 Gb becoming cheaper.

Where abouts is the socket in your dining room? I'd be tempted to chuck a cabinet on the garage wall and pull everything back to there.

Don't do distributed switches in a house - it's not big enough to need them, you have the luxury of stripping the whole thing out anyway so you can pull in tons of cabling, and nobody wants to see network gear in living areas.

 

[MrRockliffe]

If you're concerned about future proofing then you need to pull in conduit, anything else is guessing. I don't think 10Gb ethernet over copper will take off, you're more likely to see 2.5/5 Gb becoming cheaper.

Where abouts is the socket in your dining room? I'd be tempted to chuck a cabinet on the garage wall and pull everything back to there.

Don't do distributed switches in a house - it's not big enough to need them, you have the luxury of stripping the whole thing out anyway so you can pull in tons of cabling, and nobody wants to see network gear in living areas.

Top right corner

 

[Armageus]

Edit: Reason for cat 6 is future proofing. Sure, 5e will give higher bandwidth by running multiple channels, but may as well go with 6 so avoid having to take the walls down again just to lay cabling. It's barely any cost increase. He doesn't need to get the equipment to transmit the speed right now, but having the cabling in will mean he doesn't have to do it in the future.

And by 10Gbit cabling I mean cat 6 - from what I can see, 5e doesn't officially support it, and certainly not at the distances I'll need.

If you're set on 10Gb then by all means run Cat6a, but there is no need to over-complicate it. Run it all to a central location and be done with it - you then will only ever need a single 10Gb switch, not multiples. Direct Attach 10Gb cables are then usable to directly connect a NAS to your switch (or bonding of multiple Cat6a cables between your NAS and switch)

10Gb was standardised in 2006, and 12 years on, it's barely anywhere outside the server room. In contrast 1Gb was standardised in 1999, and by 2000 was being shipping in Apple PowerMacs.

 

[#Chri5#]

If you're concerned about future proofing then you need to pull in conduit, anything else is guessing. I don't think 10Gb ethernet over copper will take off, you're more likely to see 2.5/5 Gb becoming cheaper.

Where abouts is the socket in your dining room? I'd be tempted to chuck a cabinet on the garage wall and pull everything back to there.

Don't do distributed switches in a house - it's not big enough to need them, you have the luxury of stripping the whole thing out anyway so you can pull in tons of cabling, and nobody wants to see network gear in living areas.

I'd also go with a cabinet in the garage. If you've got the budget, time (or somebody else to terminate) and want to be covered for 10Gbps, run CAT6a everywhere. The cabinet in the garage keeps anything with fans out of the residential areas - so PoE switch, CCTV DVR, NAS etc. Be generous with the outlets in the rooms.

 

[BigT]

Oh didn't see the garage on there. That's definitely the place to pull everything back to. It's next to your office/dinign room as well which is handy given where your internet enters.

 

[MrRockliffe]

If you're set on 10Gb then by all means run Cat6a, but there is no need to over-complicate it. Run it all to a central location and be done with it - you then will only ever need a single 10Gb switch, not multiples. Direct Attach 10Gb cables are then usable to directly connect a NAS to your switch (or bonding of multiple Cat6a cables between your NAS and switch)

10Gb was standardised in 2006, and 12 years on, it's barely anywhere outside the server room. In contrast 1Gb was standardised in 1999, and by 2000 was being shipping in Apple PowerMacs.

I'd also go with a cabinet in the garage. If you've got the budget, time (or somebody else to terminate) and want to be covered for 10Gbps, run CAT6a everywhere. The cabinet in the garage keeps anything with fans out of the residential areas - so PoE switch, CCTV DVR, NAS etc. Be generous with the outlets in the rooms.

What would be the benefits of running cat6a over standard cat6? I can't picture any runs that would exceed 40m, let alone 55

Edit: I guess it's probably worth it just in case there are interference issues

 

[MrRockliffe]

I'd also go with a cabinet in the garage. If you've got the budget, time (or somebody else to terminate) and want to be covered for 10Gbps, run CAT6a everywhere. The cabinet in the garage keeps anything with fans out of the residential areas - so PoE switch, CCTV DVR, NAS etc. Be generous with the outlets in the rooms.

Oh didn't see the garage on there. That's definitely the place to pull everything back to. It's next to your office/dinign room as well which is handy given where your internet enters.

The garage currently has a cupboard in it too which would serve well as a room to keep all the gear. Only concern is that it is used for cars due to salt water in the air

 

[Armageus]

What would be the benefits of running cat6a over standard cat6? I can't picture any runs that would exceed 40m, let alone 55

Can't figure you out, you don't want to run cat5e as not future proof, but yet don't want to run the "newest" standard cat6a either.

Entirely possible that other future standards could be made to run on cat6a (however unlikely)

 

[Caged]

Only concern is that it is used for cars due to salt water in the air

Don't drive into the cabinet

 

[MrRockliffe]

Can't figure you out, you don't want to run cat5e as not future proof, but yet don't want to run the "newest" standard cat6a either.

Entirely possible that other future standards could be made to run on cat6a (however unlikely)

Future proofing isn't the same as unnecessarily spending money. E.g. no performance boost over cat 6 from 6a, just longer distance. If I'm not running cable over that distance, what's the point spending extra for it? Cat 6 will mean I'm getting bandwidth improvements over cat 5e at a given distance. As you very well pointed out, adoption of 10Gb has been slow as is

 

[MrRockliffe]

Don't drive into the cabinet

The garage isn't very wide - a 5 series just about fits with being able to open doors each side. He's already got a few storage cupboards in there for tools, so it's finding the extra room.